System

"What do you mean? How is this even possible?" Kai asked, not fully believing in what Jane had said.

Everything was nice when he was born, and in the subsequent years too, but two years ago things had changed, and there was no denying that. Kai knew it, but wanted to ignore it.

'This has to be a joke. My parents are so lovely… why? Why did this happen?'

Jane could see how devastated Kai was, and she started to think if it had been the right choice to tell him. She moved closer for a hug, "I know this sounds awful, but it is the truth. Your parents can give some details in the future, as not even I know everything, but there is no denying that Zerin is not your father."

She sounded really confident about it, and Kai had to ask, "Did you use magic to know this?"

"Oh? So you know about magic already?" Jane said, shock evident in her face.

It was unusual for a kid like Kai to know about magic. That was something only the older kids knew about. But then Jane realized that Kai was getting close to his sixth birthday, and everything made sense to her.

"But yes, you are right. I knew that Zerin was not your father even before you came to this world, but Seneca made me promise I would not tell that to him. She told me the craziest story ever, one that I don't fully believe, but hey, maybe that is the truth after all, though it won't matter even if it is true."

"What do you mean?" Kai asked, eager to know more. The idea of learning the truth scared him. It hurt him. But it was something he needed to know, or else his life would never be complete.

Jane felt a little odd by saying that to a five year old kid, "Look, she told me that she was confident your father was, well, your father, and told me it must have been an illusion mage who changed his appearance to look like your father."

She couldn't tell that Seneca went to bed to a man that looked like Zerin, yet it was not Zerin but an illusion mage who changed its appearance. Kai understood all of it.

'A mage who uses illusion magic changed his appearance to look like my father and sleep with my mother? What the fuck? Where is this bastard?'

The story was indeed a bit crazy, but one that could have happened. Kai knew his mother, and she was not the type to lie about that.

"But even if this is true, then why didn't my father believe in her?" he asked.

Jane imagined Kai would ask such a question as she instantly answered, "Honestly, I think it's just because the whole thing sounds crazy. Illusion mages are rare, as it is not a type of magic many people are talented for, and people don't see it with good eyes either. Also, even if a talented illusion mage changed his appearance to look like Zerin, Seneca, being a decent mage herself, would certainly realize it once… uh, close enough to the fake Zerin. That and the fact she had been quite distant from Zerin made him not believe her at all."

Kai could see his parent's marriage was ruined. Even if Zerin believed in Seneca, things would never be the same anymore. She had still slept with someone else. Zerin, once he heard that story, could not believe Seneca had fallen for it.

"Even if this mage looked like me, he would not act like me. How did you not know your husband?" Zerin said as he punched the table.

No matter from where Zerin analyzed the story Seneca told him, it was just not realistic enough for him to believe it. They decided to live together till their children were old enough to go to the magic academies, as they did not want their problems to affect them.

'They are thinking about us in the end…' thought Kai, realizing how complex the situation was.

He was feeling like shit not because Zerin was not his father by blood, but because of the whole situation. For him, Zerin was his father. Zerin had been the one who raised him, took care of him, and gave him love. But Kai just hoped that things would turn out better in the end.

*

Jane never shared what happened that night with Kai's parents, and when Kai was six years old, the system appeared to him, and he started to learn more things about the world.

His first class was called [Mana-Infused] which was basically the same class that everyone who could feel the mana in the world had. It was the starting class, and from there, people could follow all kinds of different paths.

[Kai Silverbrook]

[Mana-Infused]

[Level: 1]

[Strength: 1]

[Vigor: 1]

[Agility: 1]

[Wisdom: 1]

[Spirit: 1]

Kai's attributes were pretty low — expected from a six year old kid — but what caught his attention was the fact there were no free points or experience. He asked his father about it, and he gladly explained it to him.

"Every time you do something related to your class, you get some progression in levels, which will add you some flat attributes and also the possibility of your learning new skills. But the best way to increase your attributes is by meditation and knowledge."

"Meditation and knowledge?" Kai asked, attentively listening to every word his father said.

"Indeed. You are seeking to be a mage, right? So your best ally is to meditate to slowly increase your Wisdom. But seeking knowledge is also the right path. Take me, for example, I loved studying about beasts, and the study gave me a passive called Beast Knowledge, which allows me to easily see the weak points of monsters, and it also granted me permanent attributes. Learning new skills is the best way to get attributes," Zerin explained.

The whole world operated with the help of a System, and according to Zerin, it had not always been like this, but everyone had adopted the System, and it was now how the world worked.

It was slightly different from what Kai had imagined when he first learned about the world having a System. Kai imagined that he would go around killing things to earn experience, and add the points the way he wanted.

"So fighting monsters is not good?" Kai asked his father.

Zerin laughed, "It is good. If you become an Arcanist, then anything related to magic will grant you progression, so just casting spells will increase your level, give you passives, or just make you better at using magic. But why do you want to go out fighting beasts?"

"I don't want to, this is dangerous stuff."

"Sure. Also, did you get any passive? Hugh got a passive related to ice magic, making him 10% better at using them, learning, etc. Lily got the same but for Fire magic."

According to Zerin, it was normal for people to get some passives related to their natural talent, but he reinforced that anyone could learn other things, it was just that the initial passive would make their life easier if they decided to pursue the path related to the passive.

"You should have either no passives, which is normal as these come with time, or 1 passive," Zerin said.

Kai checked his System, and to his surprise, there were three passives there, and one that he disliked because it made him think of his mother.

[Enhanced Illusion: Your illusion spells are 25% stronger, cost 25% less mana, and you learn illusion spells 25% easier.]

[Time and Space Talent: All spells related to time and space are 25% stronger, cost 25% less mana, and you learn them 25% faster.]

[Reincarnated Soul: You have a better understanding of souls.]

The first two passive abilities were easy to understand. Kai believed that the Enhanced Illusion passive came from his 'real' father, and the time and space was because he was from another world.

'This last passive is quite mysterious. It does not give me numbers like the others, so I don't know how much better I am at this soul thing,' pondered Kai.

Kai looked at his father with a sad face, "Father, I-I don't have any passives yet."

Zerin looked a bit sad too, but tried to comfort his son, "It's okay. You will earn them eventually. Now, shall we start your training to become an Arcanist?"