Chapter 14: Laplace factor

"Since there's still time before breakfast is prepared so I guess we'll speed up your morning schedule straight to magic training..."

Zen said leading Markus away from the training ground and handling him a towel to clean himself, even if that was completely unnecessary as despite just having 46 different sword fighting matches with trained soldiers there wasn't a single speck of dust on Markus's body.

Markus put on the brown cardigan that he was provided with this morning even though they're not very fashionable for a noble's standards, there were no other clothes that could fit him, he followed Zen but not before putting in some final words for the guards.

""Thank you for having a match with me...in my humble opinion your ability to work together as a group is much better than your abilities as individuals""

That cheeky statement will be forever engraved into the mind of the guards, although from Markus's (or more specifically the Kazuki side of him) perspective he was only thanking them for entertaining him so much.

"Ow..."

Most of the guards layer sprawled on the ground unable to move.

"Wow...bocchama sure is relentless...both literally and metaphorically"

Gail said looking at his defeated soldiers.

"Who the h*ll is that kid?"

One soldier asked dragging himself up from the ground.

"..."

Gail was quiet for a moment, unsure of how to answer.

"that...my friend, is your superior"

Gail answered the soldier's querry with a wide grin plastered all over his face.

"...we got off easy didn't we?"

the soldier said looking at their vice captain Mutara who got beat by Markus thrice unlike the rest of them who got off easy after one match.

Making his way back and through the mansion with Zen guiding his way Markus retained his energetic, almost child-like footsteps.

((hah...so this is what being powerful feels like huh? It's not too bad if I do say so myself, if this was still a game than my experience right now would be akin to playing as a boss...oh wait I am a boss character))

Markus felt refreshed after that morning fight with the guards as unlike that little scuffle in the woods last night he didn't really have to worry nor think about much. it was just a friendly match with no threat of death for both sides and also he didn't have to worry about the future, he even got to put an annoying fly in it's place so his mood was through the roof right now.

"you seem quite upbeat master Markus"

Zen said noticing Markus's increased mood and wondering just what has gotten into him.

""yes I am thank you for noticing""

Markus replied.

"Is there a particular reason you're so cheerful?"

Zen inquired, curious at the reason for his master's mood.

""Do I need one? You're not young forever after all so shouldn't I be as happy as possible while I still can?""

Markus said looking at Zen with his usual blank stare, but there were some amusement mixed into that gaze.

"That's..."

The ever so composed Zen stuttered as if Markus just happened to hit a spot in his conscience that wasn't meant to be hit as Zen made a difficult expression.

((Yeah he's definitely feeling that guilt...let's see if I can use it probe more info from him))

""By the way Zen-san can I ask you something in return?""

Markus said trying to sound innocent while seemingly changing the topic.

"Yes milord?"

""Gail seems to believe that there is some other reason why I'm so different might you know why it is?""

"...!"

From the jolt in his body Markus already knew that Zen was aware about what Markus was trying to ask.

""Last night before the banquet Gail-san saids that the reason for my abnormal strength might be the result of something other than effort or training?""

Markus asked.

"...that's..."

Zen was at a loss for words.

((Come on...take the bait! I've spent all this time making you feel guilty for this reason))

Markus thought trying to attempt to emotionally manipulate Zen like he has been attempting to do all morning ever since he sensed the guilt in Zen's voice while he handed Markus his new sword.

((You're going to force me to become a servant of the Rosewood house at the end of the year anyway so what's the harm in telling me now?))

""I don't like it when people keep secrets from me okay?""

Markus tilted his head and looked directly into Zen's eyes trying to make it seem like he's pouting, this was very hard considering Markus's expression was unchangingly bland 99.9% of the time like he's constantly in the "meh" mood.

((Although I guess I have no right to talk since I keep secrets from people all the time))

Markus thought mocking his own hypocrisy.

"..."

Zen finally broke down upon hearing that and begrudgingly spilled the beans.

"I was ordered not to tell you much but I'll say this, part of your strength is because of a thing called Laplace factor"

Zen explained with a hoarse voice indicating his lack of want to share this information.

""!""

Now it was Markus's turn to be surprised although he didn't show it outwardly with his "poker face" still on full display like always.

((Laplace factor!? How does the Silver house have information on that?))

What surprised Markus wasn't the mention of the "Laplace factor" but the the fact that the one who mentioned that was a servant of the Silver house.

((This wasn't in the game!? How did HE of all people come across information on such an essential game element of "fires of Valentia" while never having more than just a character model and a few dialogue lines in the game?))

With all due reason Markus shouldn't have been surprised here as the [eyes of the puppeteer] has already shown him this scene this morning when he used it and in fact it was the thing that told him how to direct this course of events into happening.

But despite it's absolutely broken power, the [eyes of the puppeteer] was not some all seeing eye of god as it still has many limitations, for example even though it showed Markus that Zen was going to reveal some sort of secret here, it didn't tell him exactly what the contents of that secret really was.

""What's a Laplace factor?""

Markus asked another question, feigning ignorance.

"I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to tell you that right now, let's continue this discussion at a later date"

Zen said pushing himself ahead of Markus.

""...""

((The Laplace factor was one of the main ingredients of the Exforia drug that they injected into me at birth, only a select few groups of people should know of it's existence how did he?))

((So the feeling I had from yesterday's swordsmanship test was right! Both of them were hiding something from me that could potentially affect my life greatly))

The Markus side of this body was both happy and frustrated that his intuition has been proven right.

Closely following behind Zen, Markus was now even more cautious of him then when they first met as Zen wasn't just an unknown factor that wasn't touched upon in the game anymore, he was now also someone who could potentially harm Markus with the information he possesses if Markus doesn't cut the strings Zen has on him and put some of his own back on Zen.

((I'll have to analyse and resolve this problem soon, even though did say that no remarkable events will happen today I was only referring to events pertaining to the game, not something like this))

And with that Markus has encountered his first problem that he needs to resolve in this world.

((But then again I did say that I would relax today, so maybe I'll do it later, there's no need to get work up over something that hasn't become a major problem yet so let's just continue today like how I planned for now))

Thinking that Markus regained his high spirits.

After a while both of them arrived at a grand double wooden door that seemed to lead to an important room.

Zen stoped here and turned around to face Markus.

"Markus-sama although I did say that you'll be doing magic training, unfortunately we couldn't find a trainer that is fit for your...talent"

Zen sounded apologetic especially with the word:"talent", a detail that didn't go unnoticed with Markus.

"So for now you'll have to study by yourself in the library"

Zen pointed Markus to the big door.

""Okay, anything else I need to know?""

"I'll call you when breakfast is ready and if you need anything please use this"

Zen handed Markus a golden bell.

""Got it""

Markus took the bell and headed into the library.

The moment he crossed that door, rows upon rows of high bookshelves stretched as far as the eye could see came into view. On top of them were books layered with an ancient and archaic feeling to them, seeing this the geek inside Markus couldn't help but be excited.

((Nearly all of them are Grimoires or books containing lore and knowledge on magic and skills, with only 10% being books on other things such as etiquette, politics, economy and miscellaneous subjects etc.))

Although the Silver house has been in a steady decline in recent years thanks to the issue of lacking a proper heir since most of them died, this house was still of an illustrious bloodline of heroes with a long history of service to the empire so their library wasn't losing to even ducal houses in terms of the knowledge it contained, with the only library Markus could think of was superior was the one belonging to the royal family.

Markus already had an encyclopedic knowledge of all the skills and magic in "fires of Valentia" but that knowledge of his was only limited to how to cast, the effects, duration and area of effect those things had, in other words he only knew one half of how it all worked however, Markus knew that in order to truly survive in this cruel game that he has been put into he needed the knowledge on how each spell and skill fundamentally worked, their structure, composition, the formulas that turns them from just raw mana to actual spells, the process of activating a skill and the level of attunement you needed to cast/activate them...basically he needed to understand the in-universe information on them, down to the most basic, technical and bare-bones way that everything worked.

""Although I did say that I would relax today, that doesn't mean I can slack off, let's get to work!""

Rubbing his hands together Markus began to get himself into the studious mood.

Since he was a fusion of a hard working university student as well as a child genius who has been taught the most effective way to study before he could even walk, it wasn't long before Markus was in the flow and started to consume every word the library had to offer at a rapid pace.