CH 4: Knowledge is a Nuclear Bomb!

Next to the lake, I was doing pushups. Otis was standing behind me in the shade of the trees, eating grass.

"Forty-two, forty-three, forty–"

I fell to the ground as my arms collapsed underneath me.

"Phew," I said, rolling over and wiping my forehead with my sleeve. "Every time I wake up after exhausting myself, my stamina goes up a little bit more."

[With the system, any effort will have a reward. If you train, your body gets stronger. Unlike regular humans, where your muscles tear and have to be rebuilt stronger than before, the system heals your muscles as you sleep and benefits are rewarded that can be noticed every time.]

"Sweet. Another cheat added to the list."

I got up and gazed at the lake.

"Huh, I feel exhausted but I don't feel the need to fall asleep this time."

[Now that your stamina and strength are high enough, you're body is able to remain conscious while the system heals your muscles.]

"The cheat gets an upgrade!"

Otis' head shot up in my direction after I yelled.

"Sorry, boy. I got a little too excited."

Otis went back to eating and I turned to face the lake again, scratching my head in embarrassment.

"Lucas' personality is rubbing off on me. Or is it the other way around?" I asked, confused. "Oh, whatever, we're the same person now."

At first, merging memories with Kaiser was pretty strange. I lived his whole life up until the point I, or Lucas, took over. Kaiser's personality was a lot similar to mine so it was an easy time. He would venture out into the forest and make friends with all the staff staying at the house.

Honestly, Kaiser was the perfect kid. He never got sad or angry at people and always cared for everyone that took care of him. He played with the maid's kids and talked with everyone he could.

"Lucas, you've got some work to do. You're nowhere near as nice as Kaiser."

My eyes widened.

"Oh no. I think I'm starting to form multiple personalities! Emy, do something!"

[Calm down, master. This is just the temporary effect of knowledge impartment. Your mind currently has two types of brain activity and they are merging into one. After you sleep again, they will merge completely and everything will be fine.]

"Ok, thank god. If I had two personalities, I would have gone crazy!"

Currently, the sun was at a considerably lower angle than when it was when I got here, so I hopped on Otis and headed back to where I came from.

…

"We greet young master Kaiser." Ryan and Frederick said as I neared the gate to the house.

I chuckled. "You don't have to do that every time you see me, you know."

The two guards bowed and opened the gate.

"But you are the young master. It would be disrespectful to the Raijin Family if we didn't greet you with respect," Ryan said.

"I guess I won't stop you now. I'll be leaving in two days, so I'll let you do what you want."

The two bowed again.

"Thank you, sir!" They said in unison.

As I rode past and through the gate. The two guards watched my back as I headed toward the stables.

"I'm gonna miss him," Frederick said.

"We just have to wait for him to have kids. Then, we can serve him more in the future by keeping them safe," Ryan said.

Frederick clenched his fist. "You're right! I'll get my children to guard his grandchildren, and my grandchildren to guard his great-grandchildren, and so on!"

"You and me both!" Ryan exclaimed.

…

"Welcome back, young master."

Mr. Davis, the butler, greeted me as I was walking to my bedroom in the main house.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Davis. How is everyone?" I asked.

He walked alongside me down the halls and out into the courtyard.

"Everyone is preparing for your birthday two days from now. They want to give you a proper send-off to the mana realm."

"Tell everyone not to work too hard and get their rest. I don't want Martha to break a hip before I leave," I said with the edge of my lips raised.

"Martha's a sturdy woman, she can handle a little overtime," Davis said with the same look on his face.

"Who's a sturdy woman?!"

A sharp, womanly voice echoed through the halls.

Mr. Davis and I stopped in our tracks and slowly turned around. Down the hall, a tall woman with broad shoulders and long white hair was walking toward us.

We both looked at each other.

"I think I have to go prepare for dinner, young master. I'll see you later," said the butler.

"You know what? I think I forgot to close the window in my room yesterday now that I think about it," I said.

We both fled the area, leaving the raging woman behind.

"Come back here you two! This 'sturdy woman' has a few words for you!"

…

I slammed the door to my bedroom shut behind me and exhaled, letting out the fear that permeated through my body at the sight of the monster.

"Thank god she chased after Mr. Davis or I would have been done for." I clenched my fist and put it to my chest. "Your sacrifice will not be forgotten, Mr. Davis. You will live on through my memory."

I sat on the edge of the soft, feather bed in my room.

"Emy, I've still got Skill Points left right?"

A semi-transparent, golden silhouette of a woman appeared in the center of my vision.

[Yes, you still have 2 Skill Points that have yet to be used.]

"Alright, show me what I can upgrade."

The silhouette disappeared and was replaced by a list of words.

…

Body:

Strength: N/A

Stamina: N/A

Agility: N/A

Endurance: N/A

Flexibility: N/A

{Fighting Technique Skill Trees} [Locked]

Mind:

Perception: N/A

Acuity: N/A

Memory: Tier I

Neurotransmission: Tier I

Intelligence: Tier I

{Knowledge Skill Trees} [Locked]

…

[Currently, you have seven options to choose from. Memory, Neurotransmission, and Intelligence need 5 Skill Points to evolve, which leaves Strength, Stamina, Agility, Endurance, Flexibility, Perception, and Acuity. Your stamina is what is improving the most when you train. If you upgrade that, then you will lose out on that XP, but having boosted stamina could also lead to your other physical skills improving faster. It is up to you. I can see either way working similarly.]

"What are the Fighting Technique Skill Trees and the Knowledge Skill Trees? How can I unlock them?" I asked Emy.

[To unlock the Fighting Technique Skill Trees, you need to upgrade each body skill to tier one. The same applies to the Knowledge Skill Trees.]

"Hmm. I have two Skill Points, which means I can unlock the Knowledge Skill Trees right now if I wanted."

After thinking hard for a while, I came to a decision.

"Alright, I'll do it. Upgrade Perception and Acuity to tier one."

[Upgrading Perception to tier one at the cost of one skill point.]

The pain in my head lasted for half a minute and quickly subsided. Even though I was used to it now, it still made me flinch.

[How is it, master?]

Emy's voice rang out in my head like a gong. I quickly covered my ears.

"Arghh! This is gonna be hard to get used to."

Every scent in the room was as pungent as if I was holding it up to my nose. The light from the setting sun outside almost blinded me and I quickly ran to the window and dropped the drapes. The rough textured cloth of the drape scraped along my skin and I winced at the bumpiness. I could feel every strand of the cloth weaving through each other.

I looked down at my fingers that were holding the drape in wonder. With my heightened perception and neurotransmission, the information came en masse. I could clearly visualize the weaving pattern of the cloth and commit it to memory. If someone handed me a thread and a needle, I was confident I could replicate it.

"Man, this is crazy. Every one of my senses is in overdrive. And with my heightened speed of electrical signals and intelligence, it's even more effective."

[If you want, you can tone down your senses to what they were before. Now that you have control over them, you can adjust them when you want.]

"No, it's alright. I'm going to have to get used to it if I want to be stronger. No use being a pussy about it."

I pulled up the drapes, letting in the sun through the window. The warmth and soothing sensation of its golden rays were amplified by 100. I squinted, trying to adjust my eyes to the light. They soon adjusted and the courtyard of the mansion came into view.

Every single nook and cranny of the square courtyard was easily visible. It was like I had the eyes of a hawk. The gurgling of the water out of the fountain in the center sounded like it was right next to my ear. I could clearly make out birds outside in the forest, singing to find their mates.

As I was gazing around the courtyard in marvel at my new senses, I heard the clicking and clacking of shoes on the marble floors of the hallways outside my room.

I hung the drapes up and sat back on my bed, waiting for who I'm sure was Mr. Davis to enter.

The footsteps got louder and louder… and louder and louder… and louder and louder.

'How much closer can he get?!'

When the footsteps sounded like they were inside my head. The sharp, creaking sound of the door handle and the joints of the door shot through my skull and berated my eardrums.

'Yeah, this is gonna be hard to get used to.'

Mr. Davis walked into the room holding a plate filled with delicious-looking food. But what made my eyes widen was the welt on the man's left cheek.

"Martha must have gotten you good, huh?" I asked.

Mr. Davis smiled awkwardly as he set down the plate on the nightstand.

"She sure has a strong right hook for someone so old." He rubbed his injury.

With my heightened senses, every pore on his face was visible to me. The injury on his cheek looked like a sea of light pink.

Suddenly, something in the room made my face twitch. *Sniff* *Sniff*

My eyes darted to the plate on my nightstand. The savory aroma from the marinated beef made my mouth drool. I audibly gulped and Mr. Davis chuckled.

"You must be hungry. Go ahead, I'll get out of your hair." The butler bowed and headed out of the room.

"Thank you, Mr. Davis."

As the door closed, I leaped off the bed and assaulted the beef with my bare hands.

[I swear, with every meal, you get crazier and crazier.]

I groaned as soon as the steak hit my tongue. "Ahhrrgg, Ibt bastes bo boohd."

Tears streamed out of my eyes. I haven't tasted anything this heavenly in my whole life!

…

After Emy had to stop me from shoving the plate down my throat, I belched and rubbed my stomach.

"Oh, my god. I knew I was right when I first got here. This is one hundred percent heaven."

[Haha, I'm glad you like it here, master. Now, onto Acquity. Are you ready?]

I took a deep breath and steadied my breathing.

"Alright, let's do this."

The pain this time was a lot worse because of my heightened senses. I clenched tightly on the bedsheets to bear the pain. It quickly resided and I exhaled in relief, glad that it was over.

"With my heightened senses, the pain was ten times worse than before."

[I can lower your pain sensitivity if you want.]

"Yeah, let's just keep my pain at a normal level, thanks."

The residual pain from the upgrade faded away and my head felt a lot better.

"There we go, that's a lot better."

I rubbed my hands together and a grin snuck on my face.

"Alright, let's see what the Knowledge Skill Trees are all about."

[On it.]

The system window appeared and started expanding, covering my whole vision. Words poured out like a waterfall, eventually stopping after a certain point.

With my heightened intelligence and senses, it wasn't overwhelming this time. As my eyes scanned the words, my grin only got wider and wider.

I started chuckling like an evil scientist. "This goes way beyond knowledge is power. This knowledge is a nuclear bomb!"