Chapter 2: A New World

A few weeks had past.

At this moment, I am being carried by my new mother as she was showing me around Ashber with my brother, Arthur, who was strapped to my mother's back.

I recently came into grips about the situation that had happened to me and still cannot comprehend how I have ended up turning into a baby.

These few weeks have completely taken my dignity as a knight. Becoming a human baby meant I had practically no control over my own body which had been extremely humiliating.

Having my new mother shove her busom into my face so I can drink milk made me feel very guilty. A knight was meant to represent honor and integrity, and this felt sinful due to my memory of my past life.

Of course, I didn't just stare at the ceiling all day. In these few weeks, I have always listened intently to my new parents carefully, in hopes of deciphering the language that they speak. I had even managed to link a few words together, examples being my name which is the same, my brother who is called Arthur, my mother who is called Alice and finally my father who is called Reynolds.

I am now called Artorias Leywin, which had a nice ring to it.

I've also realised that this world was unlikely to be my world in my previous life. I have deduced this from the fact that this language bares no resemblance to any language I've heard of.

Moreover, I had witnessed a new form of magic in this world.

My brother, Arthur, had been injured due to my father's clumsiness which had made my mother use some kind of energy to heal him. At first, I thought that it had been the work of miracles in my previous world, however my mother hadn't used any prayers to heal my brother.

Furthermore, as I am observing the residents of Ashber, I have noticed that it was rather common to have weapons and armour equipped despite there being no conflict. 

This world was very strange, however I didn't particularly hate it. My parents were very loving and caring whilst my brother always seemed extremely curious, evident in how his eyes and head dart from place to place. It was a nice break from my usual lifestyle.

-

I was sitting on my mother's lap with my brother next to me as I watched my father seemingly try to do magic.

My brother looked at our father with a lot of enthusiasm, expecting a grand scene to manifest.

However, as my father finished his chant that took around a minute, a few pebbles had been lifted from the ground before being thrown at a tree. A soft thud sounded as the pebbles were rebounded off the tree.

Needless to say, I was rather speechless... And so too was my brother.

My brother looked rather annoyed as he flailed his arms at our father which was rather amusing. My father however, interpreted that as us being in awe and gave us a thumbs up with a toothy grin.

Although my father gave us quite a lacklustre display of magic, he was undoubtedly quite skilled at physical combat. His movements and combat experience had been displayed when he uses his gauntlets to fight, carrying a decent amount of power and skill.

-

A few months had past and not too much has changed.

Apart from the fact that me and Arthur are now able to crawl, my day to day routine was very simple. I didn't particularly move much like Arthur nor showed an extreme outward curiosity of the world like he did.

I simply just stayed near my parents and slowly learnt their language which had been an extremely hard challenge. Nevertheless, I've achieved a basic mastery and understanding over the language now! I've even learnt to read after analysing some books in the library whenever everyones asleep, though my vocabulary was still somewhat small so I can't understand complex words.

I also found my brother to be very interesting. He must be a genius! I always feel as if his intelligence was very high evident in how he always seek out knowledge. He would also frequently crawl to the library and read books. 

I've also manged to find out what I looked like after becoming a baby. After taking a glimpse of myself on the reflection of a metal sheet in the washroom, I must say, I looked quite cute as a baby. I had my father's ash brown hair and my mother's brown eyes which looked a little paler compared to her's. Other than that, I looked quite similar to Arthur.

-

4 weeks had passed.

Today, I feel as if I should go to the library now. I have noticed recently that Arthur seemed to always be sitting with his eyes closed. At first, I simply thought he had trouble pooping, however as he does this frequently, I suspected that there was a deeper meaning behind it. 

With that thought, I sneakily crawled to the library. As I entered, I noticed a few books scattered on the floor. My curiosity was peaked, as this was probably what Arthur had been reading. Can babies even read in only a few months? It might just be this world's speciality.

I could now understand the language of this world on a basic level, I simply just need to replace some complex words with simpler words that would fit given the context of the material.

With that I picked out the first book closest to me and crawled towards it.

"Beginner's Guide for the Privileged Mage"

"Is this what Arthur has been reading?" I contemplated.

Without any delay, I flipped over the pages and absorbed the contents of the book.

-

Within a quiet, dimly lit room, one could hear the sounds of pages being flipped and one would also see a person reading. Whilst this might not sound very strange, the person doing this was around 8 months old.

"Flip"

"Flip"

"Flip"

"Huh, this world is quite intriguing. I can now confidently say that this is definitely not my world."

There are 'mages' in this world. They bare a resemblance to sorcery in my previous world, but the fundamental laws behind the magic was very different.

In this world, there exists mana that surrounds us, where mages that are split into conjurors and augmenters would utilise this mana. One mainly uses the mana outside whilst the latter mainly uses mana inside. By inside, I mean the mana core that all mages have. Apparently 1 in a 100 children have the capability to sense mana and be a mage, being able to form their mana core during early adolescence to late teen years. 

Mana was very useful for mages as it could be used in numerous ways. An example would be augmenters who can enhance their physical capabilities using mana and another being conjurors using mana to bend their surroundings to their will.

One also has mana channels and mana veins which pretty much decided your talent between the two types of mages. Moreover, as most are born with a skewed difference between the channels and veins, mages were generally categorised in only one of the division of mages.

My father was an augmenter evident in his physical prowess and his lacklustre capabilities as a conjuror.

My mother however, seemed to not be part of the two types of mages, instead she would be classed as a 'deviant'. She was what was called an emitter or simply a healer, having restorative powers.

"Hmm, mana core..." I contemplated.

"How does one create this. If ones talent is determined by how soon someone is able to sense mana and create their own mana core, does it happen instinctively and naturally? Or do you try and create a connection with the surrounding mana?" 

"Is that perhaps why Arthur has been meditating? If so, his talent must be overwhelming if he can already sense mana before even turning 1 years old." 

Let me see If I can sense the mana also.

Without another thought, I crossed my legs together and positioned myself in a meditative pose. I easily entered a state of peace and tranquility as I regulated my breathing to slow my heart rate whilst I completely concentrated on emptying my mind. This was all so I could enhance my sensory abilities to try and get a better feeling for the invisible mana.

After a few minutes as I was completely immersed in the task, my senses seemed to finally make out something. I could see small particles of light that was scattered inside my body which I assumed to be the specks of mana required to create your mana core.

Now what?

Do I perhaps just try and will it towards me? 

I observed the thousands of mana particles for a few seconds before I tried pulling on a single speck of mana. It seemed to have worked, however I noticed that is was extremely slow.

After what felt like an eternity, the small bit of mana had now relocated to the centre of my abdomen.

I've finally managed to move a single bit of mana to form my mana core which made me realise how long this process would take. Its no wonder it takes a person until their early adolescence or later, before their mana core is created.

Let me try and get another one.

However, before I tried to do the process again, I was suddenly interrupted by my mother's voice.

"Tori! Honey, I've been looking all over for you." She spoke with her soothing voice, her expression one of worry.

However, her expression quickly turned into a smile and a light chuckle. "Oh? It seems you're going to be more troublesome now like your brother. What's with you two and the library?" She said, before carefully lifting me up.

Sigh. It seems I'll have to do this later. I should also find more information about this world as the library here seems to have quite a lot of useful information.