3 Activation!

Haaaa…

A slow steady breath came from my lips as I opened my eyes, my days have been increasingly filled with passing out it would seem. This time for good reason, thirteen years of information flooded into my head at a rate that I can only hope was several times faster than the original body progressed through them.

This body's name was Nikolai Nightingale, one of the three big houses in the second southern kingdom; the Kingdom of Green Roses, a name lost in time since no one had seen a green rose for as long as records have recorded this land. The Nightingale House was one of three, and the last in power.

The strongest was the Farseeker House, they apparently had people who could glimpse into the future in small margins. This made them a merchant family far overpowering any other family in the market, being able to see market trends before they happened was quite an advantage. With that they had a personal army that almost rivaled that of the king.

Their people weren't the best people, being flamboyant with their money and almost always scheming for another's gold coin to spend. Not to say they aren't good people, they'd save your life before asking for payment unlike some houses. Though if you were useful, a Farseeker friend was always the best to keep around for their connections and fierce loyalty.

The second strongest was the Lance House, named after their founding patriarch Lancelot, who used a weapon of his own creation to take down the titan Ogrith, upon his steed Lightmare. It was your basic knight in shining armor tale but I had a feeling this one was actually real. They were known for their warriors, fierce and glorious, fitted with magical arms and armor.

They were of course the most flashy of the three houses though, wearing the gold and red armor that signified their house. Flags billowed any time they had a big event together, and farms empty of cattle as the farmers got fat on gold. Horses were their most valued possessions though, treating each one like a life partner. The quality of your horse was also heavily considered before you married for how could you take care of a person if you can't take care of your horse?

The last house, the House of the Nightingale, my house the one who lead me to a promising future? They were almost the definition of dwarves if such a race existed in this world. Forges billowed across the land like farms in any other, black clouds swirling like an evil mansion from an old cartoon thunder and lightning the only things missing. Gothic black buildings filled with men creating barrels of alcohol, and strange alchemical creations not often confused for each other.

Swarms of drunken, short, stocky men filled the land to the brim covered in layers of black that couldn't be washed off no matter how hard you scrubbed. Even the women that lived in these lands looked like they were forged from steel cables. Where as the other families have wedding ceremonies, the House of the Nightingale had what I can only refer to as keggers.

With all of this, we were also the only family that raised nobles rather than the whole family being nobles. Anyone with a brain could see that there was no way to control these drunken smiths, so instead they raised a group of nobles away from the influence of the forges.

These were the alchemists, smelling strangely of herbs and blood since alchemists here also worked on beasts harvesting them for useful parts. Skilled with knowledge, and a blade they were taught rigorously in both combat, anatomy, and herbology. Unlike what many would think, considering the higher status, and the definite perks with being an alchemist, the house mostly pitied those who showed promise to be an alchemist.

One must keep in mind that this world is in constant war, and filled with beasts that can rip apart a person with ease. This was a world of magic, and blood enhancements where danger was always within arms reach. Alchemists, as good as the job sounded were killed far more often than any other group within the Nightingales.

Since they always had to keep their equipment light, their weapon was a short curved dagger shaped much like a tiger's claw, and only leather on the knees, arms, and over their ribs. Their mobility was key, their heaviest padding on the side of their ribs where they were meant to direct most attacks. This allowed them to gather up more materials, and maximize their speed between two points.

In a game they would be called glass cannons, or rogues. Their lethal poisons and quick reflexes the only thing keeping them alive. Sadly I was part of this group, though I had two years before I'd be sent out as an official alchemist so I had time to adjust to this world.

After organizing the information in my mind, I relaxed. There was at least time before I'd be thrown into bloodshed, and I'd be protected until then. Continual survival required me to work my ass off though, something I was fairly used to in my life before this.

*Ding!*

A robotic sounding notification came up, making me reach for my side to look for my phone. "Did my smartphone come with me? That's be amazing, I had a lot of books and PDFs saved on it about engineering." Sadly my hand came up empty.

'Castle System Activated! Spending resources…'

'Necklace worth 3 gold coins, amount enough to start tutorial!'

A holographic screen appeared in front of me showing a piece of ground covered in grass much like a mobile game. Little rock protrusions were scattered across it some with different colors and crystals jutting out from them. Sitting in the center was a small hut with the number 2 floating above it.

"This is far two small to be a castle," I looked at the hut curiously.

'Kill count, two. You gain two workers!'

Two small people came from the hut with pickaxes hanging over their shoulders. They weren't human, with pig like faces and tails coming from their rears, big pot bellies jiggling in their overalls.

'With your finger tap on a worker!' With a blank look on my face, I tapped one of them and a screen came up to upgrade the worker for one gold. Before the tutorial could tell me to, I tapped that as well the number changing to two gold as the little figure flexed a few times. His overall look stayed the same but it's overalls turned a darker blue.

'Leveled workers have lower timers, they will allow you to complete any task faster. Upgrading past a certain point will allow them to evolve becoming specialized in a specific action!' The voice was becoming less robotic with each word as it talked, starting to sound oddly like a Morgan Freeman.

A blue circle started pulsing on the map, a line appearing between the worker and it. Without thinking I clicked on the worker, before dragging my finger over to the glowing circle.

'This action can be used to move the workers from one spot to another. Click the land again to begin mining.' Tapping the land, the pigman lifted his pickaxe and started mining the dirt and rocks, a series of numbers appearing above his head.

'00:00:00:00:59'

After watching a moment, I realized that meant that he would be working on it for about one hour. The second one I did the same with, working at the land next to the other pigman.

'00:00:00:01:00'

There seemed to only be a one minute difference between the two, so I didn't bother setting up anything else. Most mobile games the resources you get at the beginning are very precious, and hard to come by so I didn't spend any more of my gold. Though waiting an hour for something to happen seemed silly so I got up out of the bed.

It was the same room and bed that I had been in earlier, a small bell caught my eye sitting on a small nightstand placed at the head of the bed. 'This is probably to call a servant.' Ringing the bell, I turned my attention to the large wardrobe, pulling it open to see several rather flamboyant outfits.

The only one that caught my eye was a deep red colored pair of pants, a black tunic, and a dark green cape that was meant for winter time. It was rather chilly, so I assumed it would be the right time to wear such a thing. Staring at my reflection in the mirror for a moment, I noticed how sickly I looked.

Dark raccoon eyes stared back at me, pale skin almost translucent, messy brown hair that went down to the curve of my back. I looked better when I was poisoned, and dying.

I was broke out of my stupor when the door was kicked in, a large bull like figure came barreling in not even pausing to use the handle to open the door. "Nikolai! I told you, you can't die until you beat me in combat. You little shit trying to get out of your responsibilities!"

This shouting mess of a man was my father, a hulking six foot seven of muscles, making He-Man look like a Barbie doll in comparison. His beard, came to his navel making him, like most of the other people in the House look like tall dwarves.

'Maybe these people all have Scottish blood somehow.' But of all things he knew this shouldn't be the part he was questioning, in a world of magic.