chapter one: a new world

"In the shadows of our sorrows lie fragments of the dreams we never dared to chase, Haunting us with echoes of what we could've been." That quote is all William could think of at the moment. He lifted his hand and saw deep crimson blood dripping from it. He couldn't hold in his tears. William had a daughter, and she would never see her father again, just because he decided to piss off the wrong politician. Someone had shot him in the chest. He was naturally afraid of death, but he was more grimaced at the fact that he wasn't strong enough to protect his daughter.

"I'm... I'm sorry," William managed to say in his last breath on this sad planet. He tried fighting to keep his eyes open, but finally, the urge to sleep overtook him, and his eyelids shut. "Am I dead?" As William opened his heavy eyelids and surveyed his surroundings, all he could see was white everywhere. He couldn't hear anything, but he could sense a strong force all around him. It was like a 7th sense. Suddenly, a voice was brought to his attention.

"Do not be afraid." William looked up, frightened, as he noticed seven massive eyes above him. They seemed to be radiating a large amount of energy, the same energy he had felt before. William trembled at the sight, but didn't even have the power to fall to the floor in fear. It was like he was stuck in one spot, unable to move an inch. Did he even have a body to move?

"I have taken a keen interest in you, young one. You see, I have become bored governing these worlds and want to see some action. So I'm going to reincarnate you. I will give you two powers in this new world. You can choose one yourself and will find out the other when you get there," announced the monstrous group of floating eyes. William quickly tried to pull himself together after realizing what the eyes had said and spoke, "Will... Will I retain all my memories from my life?" Tears uncontrollably flowed from his eyes as he remembered his daughter. "No, unfortunately, in the process of transporting your consciousness, your memories will be lost. But I can make it, so you retain your intelligence, even as a baby. Though that would have to be the gift I grant you," said the ethereal being. William didn't even have to think. He didn't want to remember for a second longer as he melancholically announced, "Yes, please, now send me to another world and get this over with." If he could cry, he would be on the ground bawling his eyes out, and suddenly… darkness.

He opened his eyes and looked up to see a beautiful woman. She had brown hair, a snow-white face, and blue eyes, with a stern but loving expression. "Good morning, my baby boy," she said, pulling out her breast to feed him. He didn't fight back; more like he couldn't fight back because he was a baby. This he knew for some unanswered reason in his head. For some reason, he knew that the girl in front of him was his mother and that he was a baby. But that was where it ended. He made this assumption based on the knowledge that he had, which he didn't know the context of how he acquired it. He knew lots of things: advanced mathematics, how to speak English, the history of an unfamiliar world, and also that he was probably a baby, and this was most likely his mother.

"Where the fuck am I? Who am I?" he thought as he was suckling on a breast to his right. Just as he thought this, a big screen, just like a start page from a video game, appeared in front of him

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System:

Name: William

Race: Human

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Level: 0

Experience: 0/10

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Attributes: Godlike Mana sense.

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Skills:

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Strength: 1

Agility: 1

Intelligence: 20

Vitality: 1

Charm: 8

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Mana Core Stage: 0

Mana Knight Tier: 0

Mana Core Capacity = 0

Mana Knight/Raw Mana Absorption Rate = 0

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Available Attribute Points:

Available Skill Points:

Missions: Develop a Mana Core – Reward: 100 exp.

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"I guess my name is William," he thought. "It's weird how I know things without knowing why I know. Let's not think about that for now. What is that mission? Does that mean magic exists in this world? But how do I develop a Mana core?" William contemplated. Just then, a man walked into the room.

He had a powerful authoritarian aura. "He looks scary," thought William. "Good and bad, William," the man said as he took him from his mother's hands. William struggled but couldn't fight back. He wanted to stay being fed by his mother, as it was comforting. "Put me down, you barbarian," William said, starting to cry. "Jeez, I guess being in a baby's body still means I can't control my emotions. I'll have to get a handle on that," thought William. "Wilhelm, please put him down. He was still feeding," pleaded William's mother. "No, William has to learn that he won't always get what he wants in life, even if he's just a baby," his mother seemed to not agree with him. She stopped speaking to not anger him any more. William saw this and thought to himself that his mother didn't look like she loved the man very much, but that she still respected him.

His father walked out of the room and to a balcony where two armed guards adorned with old military uniforms that looked like they were from the Napoleonic era were stationed. "You two are dismissed, leave us," said William's father with an authoritative voice. "Yes, sir," replied the guards.

"Son, you see all of this?" William looked up and saw a vast city that spanned hundreds of kilometres, winding cobblestone streets with children playing on them, a bustling city centre with stalls as far as the eyes could see, topped off with a massive urban district filled with hundreds of cobble houses. Around the city, there were fields and farmlands as far as the eyes could see. "Beautiful, this really is the most surprising thing about this world, apart from the game system," thought William. "My family must be at least barons or dukes in this world. I was expecting to be born as a peasant. Score!" thought William.

"This will be yours one day, William. Our family has a lot of enemies. That's why I have to teach you to be strong, my son." His father then kissed him on the head.

William was beginning to like this man because even though he was ugly and scary, he had power, and something deep inside William yearned for that power desperately.