Seven years later…

“Happy Birthday Drake!”

Inside a grand hall lit with countless candles, a little boy with short, thin hair was dressed in clean, dark blue robes. He was standing behind a wooden table, on top of which was a large birthday cake.

Drake Reynard was none other than the scientist Drake Ludwan who had been reborn into this world after dying in the nuclear explosion. Now, at seven years old, he possessed an ordinary, but innocent-looking face. His most striking feature was his dark eyes which had a sharp, wise gaze.

His oldest brother Elwin Reynard was fifteen years old. He was now standing to the right of Drake, wearing blue robes as well and smiling warmly. Elwin had short, emerald hair and light blue eyes, just like his mother June Reynard.

His second brother Hazezel Reynard was twelve years old and stood to the left of Drake wearing a plain black shirt and trousers. Hazezel playfully ruffled Drake’s hair as he thought about how quickly Drake had grown.

Not only could his brother walk after just a few months of being born, but he learnt to read when he was just a one-year-old and started teaching himself history, geography, and everything else! After another few months, he could also talk fluently.

It was as if the only thing limiting his growth was the fragile body he was in. Drake was a genius whom everyone loved.

Finally, on the opposite side of the table was Astoria Reynard. She was also twelve years old and was the twin of Hazezel Reynard. She had beautiful blue eyes, fair skin, and dark, shoulder-length hair, and was wearing a pink dress.

Drake glanced around himself.

His mother died soon after giving birth to him due to many problems that arose during the delivery. Hence, she wasn't here now. Despite that tragedy, he could tell how much everyone here loved him, and he also felt the same.

Back on Earth, he had a wife and two children that he still loved and missed. But he also knew that that life was over now. The last seven years had helped him to move on from his past on Earth while helping him embrace his new life in this world.

Guess time really does heal all wounds, he thought to himself.

His previous family would have also mourned for his death and moved on. Or at least, he hoped that they did.

Drake didn’t know about the true scale of the explosion that he had caused. He imagined that more people would have died than just Steve and himself, but he thought that at a maximum, their whole research facility would have blown up. Never did he imagine that half of the country was caught up in the disaster, and that the news of his exploits had shaken the whole world.

If he knew that, he would have guessed that his family had passed away in that same explosion.

Even though he had moved on, he still had many questions. The biggest was about that strange, middle-aged man he had met after his death - the Orion Immortal, as Drake liked to call him. Although Drake had left within a few minutes, the encounter left a lasting impression on his mind.

Drake could remember every word that the man said that day and had analysed it for many years. However, nothing made much sense to him.

How could he give an ‘acceptable performance’ in this world? On what grounds were they assessing him? Who was assessing him? The man didn’t even ask if Drake wanted to join their ‘organisation’ before he sent him to do the ‘tests’, which Drake figured had something to do with this world.

Drake had constantly ruminated over those events countless times in his mind but couldn’t find a reasonable explanation.

For a while, he thought that the whole thing might have been a hallucination, a dream, or maybe some strange experiment he signed himself up for, or was forced to undergo by the government, or maybe even some aliens!

However, after experiencing this world and his life over the years, he had to come to terms with the fact that everything was indeed, very real.

The only thing he was mildly hoping for now was that maybe some of his family, or even Steve, might also get reincarnated into this world, after their death. But Drake knew that even on the slim chance that that happened, he would most likely not be able to find them. It was more like a wishful thought that he had in order to make it easier for him to come to terms with everything and start his life anew.

In this world, one was considered an adult at fifteen years of age. Seven years was the equivalent of becoming a teenager on Earth, so it was a huge milestone in a person’s life.

Hence, they celebrated the grand occasion.

But of course, given that he was thirty-two years old when he died in his previous life, he was actually one of the oldest in this room.

Drake looked at his perfectly round, chocolate cake. It was filled with various decorative designs and looked delicious. He slowly picked up the knife and started to cut the cake.

Cheers echoed across the room as his father, siblings, guests, and even the servants started celebrating. The whole house was filled with joy as an orchestra started playing some traditional music.

Drake finished cutting out a few slices and he gave a piece to all his family members. They also took the initiative to feed Drake a small piece in return.

After the initial partaking of the cake, his father, as the chief of the village, sat on the main seat in the hall. Next to him was Elwin, followed by Hazezel, Astoria, and finally Drake. Many guests approached Drake one by one to pass on their wishes.

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These people managed many internal affairs of the village. There was a head for agriculture, trade, hunting, healing, and the academy that would teach the village’s youth. These five elders were the backbone who helped Drake’s father maintain peace and order in the village.

Drake hadn’t interacted with them much before, but they were all introducing themselves in a pleasant tone. Drake welcomed them warmly and talked with them about all sorts of things. He understood, even more than his siblings, about how important these people were and how much they helped his father. So, he was very grateful and extremely courteous towards them, which left everyone with a good impression of Drake.

“I feel like you were just born yesterday! I can’t believe that you grew up so fast…” sighed Hazezel once they got some space from the others.

The four siblings were gathered together.

“It is only natural for people to grow up,” Drake replied casually while watching a dance performed by a group of beautiful women.

This world’s dancing was very different to what he was used to on Earth, but it was great, nonetheless.

The siblings chatted for a while and the party progressed smoothly. After nightfall, the guests started leaving one by one. Eventually, only their family and the servants were left, who were tidying up.

“Come here Drake, I would like to introduce you to someone,” called Holt.

Drake was inwardly excited - this was what he was looking forward to the most today. He hurried towards his father who was standing at the gate.

Outside the gate, in front of them, stood a young boy who was no taller than Drake’s brother Elwin. He had fair skin and was wearing a brown, hooded robe. As soon as he lowered his hood, silver hair half the height of his body draped down his back. But the feature which immediately caught Drake’s eyes were the boy’s sharp, pointy ears.

Drake was surprised and confused at his young appearance and seeing this, his father laughed heartily, “Oh Drake, you are still too young! You haven’t seen the world yet. Meet Ray Dragmoor. He’s a genuine elf. Despite his looks, he is eighty years old. He will be your magic tutor.”

There were two main differences between this world and Earth.

One was the existence of intelligent, non-human races, such as elves.

The second was the existence of magic.

When Drake saw this elf boy and heard the word ‘magic’, he couldn’t help but get excited. He was from Earth where there was no magic, so being able to use magic was akin to becoming superhuman to him.

Drake had seen his father use magic once, two years ago, and was left awe-struck. Till then, he had no idea that human beings could use magic. Sure, the Orion Immortal most likely also used magic to reincarnate him into this world, but Drake didn't know if that man was human, and everything happened so quickly that he also didn’t experience it properly then. But when he saw his father use magic two years ago, his mind was truly blown.

That was a story for another time, but ever since that day, Drake had pestered his dad to teach him magic. However, his father told him that not everybody could use magic. Holt was the only one in their village who could, and that was the main reason why he became the village chief. Whether or not someone could use magic and become a mage would only be revealed when they reached seven years of age.

Drake was quite disappointed to hear that. So, Holt tried to comfort him by giving him a lot of books about magic and cultivation, since he knew that Drake loved to read. Being more curious about magic than anything else, Drake lost himself in those books over the last two years, studying the theory of magic, while anxiously awaiting his birthday. Now that that day had arrived, all of Drake’s excitement burst forth.

He couldn’t wait to begin!

Although it was rare for people to be able to use magic, Drake had a special identity – he was a reincarnator!

Even that unfathomably powerful Orion Immortal had taken an interest in him. So, in his mind, Drake thought there was a good chance he would be able to use magic.

Unable to contain his excitement any longer, he finally burst out, “Thank you so much for coming! My name is Drake Reynard and I kindly request you to teach me magic!”

The boy, Ray, looked at Drake with his cold, ocean-blue eyes. However, his response was not friendly.

“Humph! You are asking me to teach you magic when we haven’t even tested to see if you have formed a mana core yet!”

To do magic, one needed to be able to use ‘mana’ which was present everywhere. Mana was the essence of magical power, and it operated under the principle of like attracts like.

When a person was born, they would have no mana in their body – a mana void. The world’s mana would flow in to fill up the mana void. As it did so, the person’s body would refine the world’s mana into their own unique mana. The unique mana would then repel the world’s mana, slowing down the influx of the world’s mana.

Over time, if sufficient unique mana was refined, it would collapse into a mana core. The mana core would then allow the person to collect and refine more mana in the future. It was an essential tool to be able to use mana.

The time taken to form a mana core varied, but seven years was a benchmark. If a person didn’t form a mana core in this time, it was very unlikely that they ever would for the rest of their life.

Drake was slightly taken aback at Ray’s attitude.

“Um…” hesitated Drake. “I’m sorry. Please test me first… Master Dragmoor!” replied Drake. He wasn’t sure how to address him properly.

Ray's expression slightly eased upon seeing the boy’s polite attitude. Unlike the other people at the birthday party who were courteous and nice to Drake, Ray was under no such obligation.

The elves were part of an independent village to the northeast of Jain. Their villages had a cooperative relationship due to their proximity, but that didn’t mean that he had to be nice to them all the time.

Elves lived far longer than humans, and it was guaranteed that all elves would form a mana core and be able to use magic. He therefore felt a sense of superiority to this little, unknown human boy.

One of the businesses between the villages was that the elves would send someone to test for the mana core on the seventh birthday of every child in the village. If the child had one, the elf would also help nurture them. Then that person would become part of the strength that defended the villages from the Beast Woods.

“Hmph! Follow me!” said Ray, before walking ahead at a brisk pace.

Drake and Holt immediately trailed behind him and by this time, his siblings had also caught up.

Ray led the family to a nearby well. It was in the front yard of their mansion. Drake stood on one side while Ray was standing on the other.

Ray gathered his mana and raised his hands, making them glow a bright white colour. He brought his palms together and the light became even more intense.

Suddenly, Ray opened his palm and a white light shot out of his hands. The light circled in the air above Ray before condensing into a miniature figure in the shape of a fairy, before everyone.

The fairy was small and glowing in white radiance. It pressed its hands onto the walls of the well and the water level immediately rose up. Water mixed with mana shot up a few meters above the well before turning and flying onto Drake’s head.

Drake expected this.

He had long since known about this ceremony. Drake was as excited as he was when he was going to press that button to test out that nuclear reactor.

Of course, that ended up in failure, but he could only hope that this time would be different.

The water crashed onto his head, completely drenching him head to toe. For a moment, no one could see Drake, there was only a column of water which quickly crashed onto the floor, making the surroundings wet. Soon, the water flow stopped, and Drake was revealed.

Specifically, there was a small, dim purple light shining underneath his navel.

“This… Drake! My son! You… you have formed a mana core!” cried Holt.