Chapter 1 : The Trip to Xyrus

A little over 2 years had passed. Arthur was born a few moments after Itachi started collecting the Magic Shards.

Arthur also loved going into the study to read books. Itachi had explained to him by simply showing him the books, that there was magic in this world and various things that could help him. He showed him examples or just showing pictures from the books in case he didn't understand.

Arthur was grateful for his older brother. He may have been a king in his past life but was not fortunate enough to be loved by a family. He was really happy to have found himself in such a kind family. And from what Itachi had shown and explained to him, he concluded that his older brother was a genius himself. They were both drawn to magic but they couldn't do much because of their mother who berates them every time their father tries to train them in combat.

Itachi and Arthur watched their father make some sort of magical spell. They understood what he was doing. They were curious what kind of magic he was going to cast. He had concentrated for a few minutes and then he made small surrounding stones fly and threw them a ridiculous distance.

The 2 had an expression of death seeing the uselessness of this movement for a concentration of 3 minutes. Their mother had come to hug them both from behind while letting them watch their father working in the garden.

She also told them that Rey was a reinforcement mage, which sparked interest from both of them.

After watching for a while, the mother took the 2 children to give them a nap. But both of them refused and wanted to go to the library. The mother refused but Itachi and Arthur gave each other a glance before nodding their heads. They pleaded with their mother with the cutest face possible to convince her. Alice couldn't resist such a fatal attack and therefore let them go to the office for a while.

She was going to stay with them to watch, but a tree creak was heard outside so she walked outside to see if her husband had destroyed a tree again.

Itachi and Arthur smiled at each other then began their meditation to continue training their mana core in their abdomen.

Itachi could already finish training his for a while but wanted to wait for his little brother so he did not rush to train him and therefore practiced physics to wait for Arthur.

Now he was sure he would finish making his core, so he also did the same and added the last shard needed to complete the core.

"Now !" cried Itachi mentally.

* BOOM * a big explosion has occurred in the house.

The 2 parents outside were horrified and quickly rushed into the rubble to pick up their sons.

"Itachi! Arthur!" Reynolds managed to clear some rubble and then the sight in front of him shocked him that he even fell.

"What's wrong ? Did something happen to them ?" Alice also rushed with tears in her eyes to see her 2 sons in meditation which surprised her too.

"They aren't even 3 years old... and they already have their mana core ?! My sons are geniuses !" Reynolds shouted in excitement but also relief but quickly felt a shiver.

"You 2... You scared me ! Don't do that again ! Reynolds, you'll fix the house !" she left to hug her children as Rey had a downcast look on her face.

The 2 brothers felt guilty because of the destruction of the house but they were not aware of such a phenomenon so they felt less guilty.

After this incident, 1 year had passed. They had obviously rebuilt the house. Alice also taught her children to read and write. Although they both understood each other orally, they did not know the language itself.

Reynolds had also given them physical training despite their young age. They had learned the basics of mana manipulation and empowerment. Their young body did not allow them to exercise with mana at this time.

They had also received as a gift, a wooden sword from their father for training.

They were both out for their daily training. This time around, they had to be able to use the mana with the sword while attacking their father. Itachi had managed to strengthen his sword with mana on his first hit, which shocked his father. Whereas Arthur took a little longer to get there but they both did. Their father still wondered why life was so unfair.

After that, they went back to their room to meditate and strengthen their core. Strength is divided by the color of mana. At first, the core is black due to blood and other impurities from the magic particles. The kernel becomes more and more pure as the body filters out the impurities. There are 6 core colors which each level was separated into 3 tiers, namely Dark, Solid and Clear. The brighter the kernel, the purer it is, and the more power it has.

The colors are as follows:

-Black

-Red

-Orange

-Yellow

-Silver

-White

During their meditation, the 2 were called to go to dinner. During their family meal, the father suddenly said that it would take a real mentor for their sons not to waste their talent on someone who does not know much about teaching.

Alice didn't agree to send her sons thousands of miles from home and then they started having a little argument.

Itachi sighed then decided to intervene with his small voice.

"Mum, dad. We just have to go together and see the professor. At least the case is solved." Arthur mentally thanked Itachi for calming the situation.

The parents looked at them intently and then started to laugh for not having thought of such an idea. They finally agreed to go see the professor together in the city of Xyrus. The trip will last 3 weeks. They were going to leave the next day, Reynolds chatting with the Twin Horns to go with them to Xyrus. They were old friends of the couple, so they easily accepted. They had even helped repair the house in the past.

Itachi and Arthur slept in the same bed due to their age. Itachi started to speak.

"Say Arthur, do you have a bad feeling about the trip?" he asked as he was with his back to Arthur.

"I don't know. But I hope there won't be any problems. If there is a problem, I will help them even at the cost..." Arthur felt a small tap on his forehead and then he looked up to see Itachi smiling at him.

"Don't worry. I'll handle the situation, you don't have to risk your life or anything. I'm the older brother, so you stand up straight and have no issues. With the Twin Horns, you're fine. So don't talk to me about paying the price for something, it's not necessary. Let's sleep or we risk being killed by mom." Itachi rolled over to sleep while Arthur was still in his thoughts.

'He's really protective of me huh ? Yet I am the oldest mentally. But that doesn't bother me to have a brother who cares about me.' He also fell asleep with a smile.

The day after. After preparing for the trip with all the necessary belongings, the family headed to the meeting place with the group of adventurers. Itachi and Arthur were in an outfit made of leather as usual.

Itachi had a black tunic with worm pants with small pockets in the front. His sandals were gray in color. He also had a satchel with the wooden sword he used for training.

Arthur was dressed the same but had opted for leather shoes instead. He had his satchel on the side of his left hip unlike Itachi who had it on the right side.

'So that's dad's friends. I can smell mana coming from them. They are pretty strong.' Itachi watched as his father greeted his friends.

"Guys, I want to introduce you to all my sons ! Itachi introduce you first and Arthur will be next." said the father with a smile.

"Hello everyone. My name is Itachi Leywin and I am the elder brother. Nice to meet you and thank you for being able to accompany us on our journey to Xyrus." Itachi introduced himself by bowing slightly with his hand on his chest.

"Hello. My name is Arthur Leywin, the younger brother. Thank you for accompanying us to Xyrus."

After they finished presenting, a red-haired man with a large spear behind his back came to rub their hair.

"They are well behaved! Are you sure Rey is your father?" asked the man named Adam but another woman hugged the 2 children in her chest.

"They're both cute! You have your mother's features ! Be more grateful !" the blonde woman smothered them between her big breasts as the 2 struggled to escape.

"Angela, you're hurting them." A tall man named Durden hugged the 2 children and put them down.

Another girl watched them from the wagon then walked inside. She was in her teens and her name was Jasmine. It was a woman with dark hair tied in a short ponytail and red eyes with a dagger strapped to her back. Itachi was interested in the dagger she had but didn't say anything about it.

"Don't mind her, she just needs some time to get used to you. Nice to meet you, I'm Helen." another woman came to introduce herself to them. She had blue hair with yellow eyes. A bow was tied to his back.

"Good ! Now that everyone has gotten to know each other, let's get ready to go !" after finishing the presentations, they put everyone's things behind the 2 carts and then set off.

Arthur was admiring the view of the mountains outside by being next to his mother while Itachi was on the other side, but he wasn't looking outside but rather his mother.

'Mother's breathing is slightly irregular. Does she have a problem?' He examined his mother and then his gaze fell on her stomach. He widened his eyes slightly in surprise.

'Her belly is not the same size as usual and is slightly bulging. It's not weight but... a child ?

I see. I guess they want to surprise us and therefore didn't say anything about it. I won't discuss it for the sake of surprise unless the situation is serious.' His gaze finally fell outside to admire the view.

After some traveling time, they stopped to take a break and spend the night. They had hunted surrounding animals to eat them. They were around the fire grilling them.

Arthur was annoyed as Itachi savored the wolf spit with thoughts in his head.

"What are you thinking, Itachi ?" Helen came next to him.

"Nothing special. This trip seems very simple to me." He always ate his meat without speaking too much.

"It's the first time you've traveled like this with Arthur so it's normal. Besides, your father bragged during the trip that you were both genius mages. You really awakened your core last year ?" she asked curiously.

"Yes. You came to help fix the house. It was due to our awakening the mana core. We did it at the same time."

"Oh, I see! So it was then! An explosive awakening for it." they continued to discuss various topics while Itachi spoke as little as possible.

"Reynolds, I have to stretch before I sleep. You told me you practiced with your 2 sons. Do you mind if I have a little fun with them ?" Adam wanted to make a spars before going to bed.

"Okay, but be careful, we just skipped the strength of light and mana in combat drills. Itachi is a little better at mana control than Arthur but they're the same. You can take some. one of the two if you want." said the father making Adam smile widen.

"So which kid am I going to take?" He looked at the children. He could see that Arthur wasn't very keen on fighting while Itachi wasn't paying attention and was calm.

'Ho? He doesn't seem to care and is quite calm and confident. It will be him !' He walked over to Itachi and wanted to grab him by the collar of his tunic but to his surprise he did a backflip while eating his meat.

"Would you like to make a spar with me, sir?" he looked at him with innocent eyes as he finished his meat and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"Interesting, kid! Follow me, we're gonna fight over there." he walked to a flat area near the camp with Itachi following behind him.

The group also followed them including Arthur who wanted to see where his brother's strength lay in relation to him.

After finding a suitable area, they went face to face and then settled down.

"Your dad told me you're better at mana control than your brother, you can come anytime!" Adam watched him with a thirst for battle in his fighting stance while holding his spear with both hands.

Itachi looked at the group around him. They looked at him with encouragement through their eyes. He returned his serious gaze to Adam and then assumed a fighting stance, slightly bending his legs with his wooden sword in one hand, which surprised everyone present including his family.

'He usually holds his sword with both hands but in this fight he chose to hold it with one hand, why?' Arthur was analyzing his brother but couldn't find anything.

"Come to me with one hand. You are very confident of yourself, kid !" Adam exclaimed.

Itachi ignored him then concentrated the mana in his feet and his sword. He sprinted towards Adam who was smiling at him. He aimed the point of his sword towards the chest of his opponent.

Adam was going to ward off Itachi's attack with his spear. But to his surprise, Itachi ducked down and then wanted to give him a mana-boosted kick to the left side of his abdomen. He managed to dodge it with a back step but was surprised at the kid's speed.

Itachi retaliated with a rotating blow of his sword towards his opponent's head. Adam ducked down and then threw a spear at Itachi's body. Itachi jumped up to avoid the blow then threw a direct hit towards his face with his other hand. Adam blocked Itachi's shot with his spear but the child didn't stop there and jumped forward while holding the bar. Then he went over his head to get behind his back, Itachi sent a direct sword blow to his back.

Adam dodged by leaning to the side and then sent a spear blow at Itachi's stomach. The Shinobi put his feet on the iron bar that was about to hit him and then jumped straight at him holding his sword in both hands. Adam had time to replace his spear to block the attack and then managed to do so. They looked at each other for a moment. Itachi smiled slightly then put his left hand in his left pocket. He took out a wooden shuriken that had been made by him discreetly in his spare time. He hurled the mana-boosted Shuriken in a vertical motion at Adam's face.

Adam was surprised and managed to narrowly avoid it but a small mark was left on his right cheek. He kicked Itachi's abdomen with no mana and then hit him, which sent him waltzing a few yards away.

"Itachi!" Alice walked over to her child while Adam had taken a hit on the back of his head by Durden.

"My ass if he can't fight ! If that kid is a monster like that, the little brother must be about the same ! He even left a little trace of blood on my cheek. What a hellish training he was happened to get this strength ?!" Adam complained, showing his cheek.

"Uh ... I-I didn't teach him that..." the father scratched his cheek nervously.

"Is that what you 'studied' with Arthur? And where the hell did you find this ?!" she would use her healing magic on him when injured and show him the Shuriken in front of him.

"No, I learned it on my own and by reading books. And for that, I made it on my own in my free time because it would help me in combat to surprise the enemy." Itachi said calmly.

"No matter what you've done, you're going to teach me some of your movement techniques especially the moment you walked behind me holding my spear." Adam said.

"It's possible to do it only for my little body. You won't be able to do it and on top of that you use a spear so it will be useless." Itachi found a false excuse to avoid explanations and worries.

"Too bad, and you could too…" Adam received a glare from Alice so didn't pursue his question.

Arthur looked at Itachi with a small admiration for his brother's strength.

'I would say he's more skilled at melee than I am and on top of that he also uses hidden weapons like this Shuriken. I think I would have lost if it was me instead of his opponent.' Arthur sighed but still hadn't lost his will to get stronger.

After this friendly match, they went to bed and then left on a trip until 3 days elapsed... During this time, Arthur had also fought Adam and had shown his movements. It had surprised everyone to see that he also had unique moves and was just as good as Itachi although he had failed to touch him. His birthday had also taken place.

Jasmine had asked to learn Itachi and Arthur's moves for Itachi's drop kicks and some Arthur's techniques. Itachi was interested in learning Arthur's feint as he found it might come in handy later on and Arthur learned of Itachi's dropped kick as well.

They had hit the road after taking a shower in a waterfall. There were discussions in the group and a few moments of fatigue from Alice who was noticed by Itachi. Jasmine was nagging the 2 children to learn more things but they hadn't paid more attention apart from feeling unwell.

While Arthur was reading a book and Itachi was polishing his Shuriken, a scream from Helen was heard.

"Bandits! Prepare for battle!"