Chapter four: an old tale from father

While thinking about what to do next, a knock came from the other side of the door.

“Corentin, I’m coming in,” came the deep voice of a man. As the door slid open, I was greeted by an imposing figure; a tall man with a firm and commanding posture – if looks could kill. With a face like a hawk, his gaze alone sent shivers down my spine, but perhaps it was due to my [Ailment Resistance] passive ability I could stand before him without flinching. With heavy steps he walked up to my bed in a brisk manner. He glanced over to my sister who was asleep then let out a sigh. “How is your body? Any discomfort?” he asked.

“No, I’m quite all right, father,” I replied. ‘Gerald de Helvetius’, if memory served correctly, he was part of the military, though what sector and how high was unclear to me.

He continued to stare at me silently while I waited. Were all interactions between father and son supposed to be this awkward? I never had a proper father figure in my previous life and so this was genuinely new to me; the distance between two men in the family of a subordinate relationship was hard to gauge. Tough greyed out hair by the fringes of his temples and a face filled with wrinkles, yet instead of ‘age’ it was more sense of ‘wisdom’ I got from him. He seemed like the type of person who put his career before making a family, hence why he appeared a little aged to be a father of a seven-year-old girl.

[Gerald de Helvetius]

Level: 57

Race: Human (Elf Aspect)

Health: 4988/4988

Mana: 5236/5236

Stamina: 4311/4311

Physical Attack: 337

Magic Attack: 585

Critical hit Chance: 15%

Critical Damage: 2.0x

Physical Defence Pierce: 37

Magic Defence Pierce: 48

Physical Defence: 92

Magic Defence: 107

Magic: 541

Wisdom: 562

Dexterity: 429

Strength: 380

Agility: 394

‘Interesting…’

“…”

“…”

“…” so awkward! “Um, father, if you don’t mind my asking, do you know what an ‘Aspect’ is?” I had to find some way to break the ice.

“Aspect?” for a second I thought it might turn out to be a dead lead, but he suddenly nodded to himself and began to explain. “Hmm, I suppose you will be having your Aspect revealed this year so it’s a good idea to get you familiarized on what they are.” Then he proceeded to tell me a story that sounded like it jumped straight out of a fantasy novel. The basic gist of it was that several thousand years ago there were numerous races other than humans living in this world, however after a certain cataclysmic ‘incident’ a massive portion of those races were wiped out and faced decline. These races were the typical kind; Elves, Giants, Dwarves, beastmen, lizardmen, etc. Unable to replenish their population faster than their rate of decline, they were headed for an obvious extinction event. The other problem compounding this issue was the fact that interspecies crossbreeding wasn’t possible. Thus, in order to prevent this tragedy from happening the major races of the world gathered together and with countless sacrifices enacted a ‘World-tier’ magic known as ‘Harmony’. The exact details of this spell weren’t preserved very well since it had happened over thousands of years ago, but basically humanity served as the base template for the other races to implant their essence, or ‘Aspect’ as it’s known.

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To put it simply, every person here is a hybrid of human and another race. “I see, so that’s why sis is classified as ‘Human (Elf Aspect)’,” I muttered under my breath. “So then, how exactly does this ‘Aspect’ thing work?” I asked.

“After the age of five, all children are brought to the church to have their racial aspects revealed. After which, they are thoroughly trained to harness the power of their Aspects in school. That said, while it may be exciting, it’s not something that complicated. Your mother and I both carry the Aspect of Elves – and so does your sister – which would make it very likely you’d also inherit our Aspects,” father told me. Unfortunately, that didn’t appear to be the case with me.

“Is it possible to possess a different Aspect than that of the parents’?”

“It is – though rare – there are cases where certain recessive Aspects have surfaced in the offspring. Your grandfather, in other words your mother’s father, possessed the Aspect of the Giant. There is a small possibility you could inherit this Aspect.”

“Is there a case of Aspects fusing? For example, a person inheriting two Aspects?”

“No, that has never been documented, however the opposite has happened.”

“The opposite?”

“They’re known as the ‘Pures’, instead of receiving just an aspect, they’re born as one of the original races. Since Elves were the most numerous races after humanity, a Pure Elf is most likely the most common Pure you’d see, that said even this is extraordinarily rare. The chances of a Pure being is about one in one-hundred-million.”

“What are the advantages of being a Pure?”

“Depending on the race their natural combat capabilities far exceed that of normal people. Say a Pure Elf, their capacity for learning and mastering magic is unparalleled and a lot of them have engraved their names into the history books.”

“What about non-hominid races like the Dragons? Are they born the way their original races appeared?”

“No, non-hominid races were not a part of the Harmony spell. Their physiology made it impossible to crossbreed with hominids. That said, there are rumours that these races have managed to survive the decline and exist elsewhere. None so far have been documented.” Father was quite talkative when asked questions on topics he was knowledgeable on. The awkward tension between us has also disappeared which gave me relief. That said, it was an interesting harvest of information for me as well. Before I could ask anymore questions, the phone in his pockets began to vibrate. “Excuse me for a moment,” he said as he walked out of the room to answer the call.

“A fantasy world that’s progressed into modern times,” I nodded to myself.

“Corentin,” fathered walked in with a serious face – well, more serious than previously. “Work has come up and I’ll have to leave for a few days. Be sure to look after your sister and mother.”

“Understood father, but will you be all right?”

“Assuming everything goes as planned, there should be no problems.”

“That’s… that doesn’t boost confidence.”

He let out a small chuckle as he placed his hand over my head. “It’s important.”

“It sounds dangerous.”

“It can’t be helped, there aren’t many senior officers willing to go down into the exclusion zone,” I wondered if it was okay for him to reveal something like that to his son, though I felt like he was treating me more like an adult after the conversation we shared. Now ‘exclusion zone’ sounded like a place I wanted to visit, but it was unlikely anytime soon. I also wanted to ask about it, however I got the feeling he probably wouldn’t tell me about this one.

No choice then. “Father, if that’s the case then please take this,” I reached into my pocket and withdrew something from my inventory. It was a small grey pebble with a small inscription on it. “I found it when sis was dragging me along before,” I made up a suitable lie and handed it over to him. “Think of it as a good luck charm to keep you safe.” It was a fairly useful item known as the ‘Reaper’s Talisman’, its effect was simple in that it negated a single death. In the game it meant you could revive on the spot without any death penalty, but I wasn’t exactly sure on how it worked here. Either way, I didn’t want this man to die when I only just got to know him.

He took a good look at it and nodded. “I’ll be sure to keep it safe.” After that he left without saying anything else.

“… Damn, I’m actually pretty curious, but I’ll let it go for now,” I sighed. “A new world… A new life. So be it then.”