Chapter 2: "The ritual begins"

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I was sitting in front of Father. This was a sturdy man, with a fair complexion and a dark mane falling over his shoulders; his long beard showed some white hair, exposing his advanced age; another testament to this fact were his eyes, of a simple dark brown color, but denoting the wisdom of the years. His attire consisted of a deep navy blue robe with gold embroidery, an ankle-length cloak of the same color with leather embroidery, dark brown knee-high heeled boots of the same material, and a majestic gold crown on his head. Father had turned 49 years old five months ago, but still maintained a strong vigor.

At first, I did not recognize these people as my family; after all, I already had one in my previous world. However, I could not help but accept my situation after these years.

My previous world was lost, and if there was any way to return to it, it would only be possible after a long, long time.

In the meantime, these people had managed to gain my respect.

Father is a great commander; he knows how to lead his kingdom and do battle, but still manages to find time off so as not to neglect his descendants.

Mother is kind and cares extensively for me and my siblings, but, because of her administrative role, she does not manage to have enough time.

My older brother, though annoying and somewhat foolish, has a heart of gold; he is the kind of person who would sacrifice himself to try to defend his family.

Lastly, my little sister, the youngest in the family, is an interesting person. She was born with great physical capabilities that far surpass those of me and come close to those of my older brother, her attitude is closer to what you would expect from a boy than a girl.

But little of that matters right now, as the important one on this day is me. Yesterday, I officially turned 14, which is a milestone in this world.

Since I arrived, stories of knights and other legends kept coming up, but, to my surprise, they were much more than mere legends.

The knights of this world are not the same as those of my former world, for here there is something we could only dream of: magic!

That's right, knights, army members, guards, etc., are magi. And apparently, most nobles are too.

From birth, your body has both a physical and a magical heart. The physical one is in charge of circulating blood, nourishing the body, and getting rid of waste. Meanwhile, the magical one is in charge of similar functions, since it circulates mana, nourishes the body and magical reserves, and gets rid of energetic waste.

At least that's my theory after mixing the knowledge from my previous world with the books and information I've obtained in this one.

When someone turns 14, their magical heart is considered to have reached maturity, and with it everything related, so this is the age at which a person's aptitude is sealed, something that can never go any further forward or backward. If it were measured before this age, the result would be totally wrong, since the magic circuit is unstable and immature. It could result in higher measurements due to a streak of great mana or lower measurements due to the scarcity of circulation in some instants.

The skills are divided into 7 categories, from best to worst: Alpha (A), Bēta (B), Gamma (Γ), Delta (Δ), Epsilon (Ε), Zeta (Z), and Ōmega (Ω). The higher the aptitude, the rarer it is to develop.

From Alpha to Zeta, people can become mages, knights, and other important positions. However, an Ōmega aptitude means that your magic circuitry is so underdeveloped or so focused on feedback that it is incapable of manifesting in the way of spells or other forms of magic. Basically, it makes you a normal person from my old world.

Obviously, there was also something that caught my attention in a big way: the Greek letters. I didn't understand it at all, and to this day, I still don't. How is it possible that such letters existed in this world?

I made countless theories, such as that there was some kind of connection between my old world and this one, which would also explain how I got here. Also, that maybe this kind of language tended to appear because of some circumstances, just as some organisms end up evolving in the same way despite being completely different.

However, there are no records that would allow me to come to a conclusion, so I decided to stop thinking about it, put those theories on hold, and just keep worrying about things of greater importance.

While I was fantasizing, a hand landed on my head and began to mess up my hair. My eyes, showing my clear annoyance, only directed a slight glance towards the causer, who was none other than my older brother.

"Brother, at last your day has come! Aren't you cheerful? Come on, cheer up that face! I've never seen you smile!" my brother said with a big smile. He was obviously playing with me and not trying to convince me of anything, but he was also showing his optimism that I had a good aptitude.

My gaze returned to Father's, and I stopped paying attention to my brother.

"Son, leave your brother," Father said, showing a slight smile at the interaction between his offspring. "Such an important day shouldn't be ruined, don't you think?"

Immediately, my brother withdrew his hand and gave a slight bow. "I'm sorry, Father and Brother! I shouldn't have done it!" he said quickly. After a nod from Father, my brother went to his respective seat around the round table.

My eyes scanned the room one last time. In the center of the table, which appeared to be made of a marble-like material, were carved numerous magic circles and symbols. These were nothing more or less than artificial runes and magic circuits, and, despite knowing of their existence, I could not decipher the meaning or usefulness of them.

Around the table, seated in elegant wooden chairs, were Father and I, seated facing each other; at Father's right was Mother, while, to my right, was my brother and, to my left, was my sister.

Silence took over the room, with all of us waiting for the right moment according to tradition. Then, as the clock chimed on the dot, the ritual finally began.

I rose from the chair and extended both arms, my left hand holding a dagger with a metal handle with strange engravings, while the blade seemed to have a blue veil wrapped around it, which flashed at times.

With a slight movement, the dagger passed through the tip of my index finger, leaving a cut from which a drop of blood slowly fell.

First it was one, then they began to fall faster and faster; however, the faster they fell, a difference was marked in the drops of blood, and they began to have a slight glow; that was the manifestation of mana.

The blood mixed with mana circulated through the crevices of the table, following the beautiful patterns.

This was something I had seen before in my brother's ritual, but it still seemed wonderful to me; it was too beautiful.

When the outer cavities were filled, the blood flowed into the inner circuit, where the seven Greek letters were located.

First it filled Ω, passing by without stopping, then Z, to proceed to E.

Thus, it continued to advance until it reached A, an Alpha aptitude, which is the same as what my brother has.

Although something strange happened, the blood imbued in my mana, after a few seconds, began to flow towards the center of the table. This was something that had not happened in my brother's ritual.

It is true that the core of the table contained more symbols and passages, but I thought they were merely decorative, or perhaps they had a supporting function for the rest of the magical runes.

When the blood reached the core of the circuit, a blue glow formed a circle around it. Letters of the language of this realm formed with the same mana appeared inside the illusory circle, being in a strange state of overlapping with the blood. These read: «Goetia».

After a few moments, all the mana disappeared, leaving as a remnant my blood, now dried, within the engravings on the table.

My eyes finally detached from the ritual, and my gaze moved up from the table to meet Father's. The expression on his face could be described by the look on his face.

The expression on his face could easily be described in one word: bewilderment. Mother was in a situation just like his.

I looked at my siblings, but they seemed as confused by the situation as I was.

When I least expected it, Father suddenly stood up, walked over to me, and hugged me tightly, I actually felt short of breath, but if that wasn't enough, Father burst out laughing.

Confusion was an understatement for what I felt; this was the first time I had ever seen Father lose his composure.

In a voice full of excitement and happiness, Father said, "Son, you possess one of the Mortalities! The Goetia Mortality! Your future is bright as the Great Star, and your potential is as wide as the cosmos!"

I noticed how something warm fell on my face; my Father was weeping with joy. Filled with bewilderment, I looked at Mother and noticed how she had risen as well. Tears were falling as she smiled and approached me.

I stopped paying attention to reality as I became immersed in my thoughts.

Goetia Mortality... This did not appear in the records, but that is natural, as the writings I could read were only the most basic and of minor relevance.

I possess one of the Mortalities... From the situation, it is obvious that it is something incredibly good, although the name is really strange.

Such a great aptitude, greater than my brother's, and enough to make them act this way... Why does this sound more and more like a stupid story like the ones in my old world?

Well... never mind; surrealism has already become my standard, what I must focus on is how to continue from now on, I will never complain about an easier path.

However, this is not so good news... According to his words, there must be several Mortalities, which means I am not the only one with that kind of aptitude. Also, the ritual did not show what the others are or which one is worse or better, which opens the possibility that there are more people with aptitudes far superior to mine.

This world... Why must it make things so complicated?

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After the big commotion, my parents held a big banquet, at which, for some reason, my sister was also a great protagonist, being highly congratulated.

But that banquet is completely irrelevant, as I had already finished hours ago and, currently, I was much more focused on the book I had in my hands.

Sitting at my desk, I opened the manuscript my parents had given me after the ritual; this one contained information about my Mortality.

The book was somewhat small; it seemed to contain only the basic facts about the Goetia Mortality, but that was not going to stop me in the least; any information is welcome, no matter how small.

Quickly, I lost track of time as I was completely focused on the information, my eyes reading paragraphs and paragraphs on end.

By the time I realized it, the book was already closed in front of me. I couldn't help but sigh as I leaned back in my chair.

The book began by explaining what Mortalities were. These were aptitudes beyond the ordinary, being the culmination of a magical biological circuit.

There is a Mortality for each element of this world, such as fire, water, wind, etc., and they offer great talent when learning these types of magics, as well as great efficiency.

If a fire Mortality were to use a spell of this element together with another mage, the Mortality's spell would be much more powerful than that of the alpha aptitude mage, while wasting less mana. This translates into greater magical efficiency.

Also, Mortalities usually have higher mana reserves than someone with Alpha aptitude.

Apparently, not all Mortalities of the same element are the same, as they may have mana reserves of different amounts and the efficiency of their magic circuit may vary slightly.

However, now let's get to the interesting part.

There are different Mortalities than usual; these are «Goetia» and «Soma». The first one, which is the one I own, means «Magic». It is a type of Mortality that increases mana reserves greatly, causes an increase in intellect and general talent, and has a higher efficiency than the Alpha aptitude for each element. However, it cannot be compared to the talent of other Mortalities in their respective element.

On the other hand, «Goetia» has a clear disadvantage: a weak body.

Magic can manifest itself in different ways; two of the main ones are through spells such as a fireball and through physical enhancements.

«Goetia» gives a great advantage in the former; however, in terms of physical enhancements, it is even worse than inferior aptitudes; the exact number depends on the person, of course.

The curious thing is that «Goetia» is very closely related to «Soma», which means «Body» and possesses a great increase in physical amplification, but a great disadvantage in external manifestation spells.

This, instead of great intellect, grants extreme physicality to the bearer, great strength, speed, and endurance, among others, which will increase as he advances magically.

The curious thing is that for every Goetia Mortality, a Soma Mortality will appear nearby; most cases are usually in twins; however, sometimes it occurs in siblings.

This explained my parents' odd attitude toward my sister, for, since Brother has an Alpha aptitude, it can only mean that our sister possesses the Soma Mortality.

I got up from my desk chair and plopped down on my bed, letting my mind go blank for a few seconds.

Now I understand why, despite putting in quite a bit of effort running, practicing with weapons with Brother and doing some exercise, they didn't increase my physical capabilities in the slightest...

Basically, I'm a good all-rounder; that's something that sounds good. But, in my eyes, there is a distinct disadvantage.

Most likely, in the future, most of my enemies will end up being other Mortalities, which would turn me into a typical case of an apprentice of everything, master of nothing... And that's not to mention my body, since now that my heart and magic circuitry are mature, that weakness will be greatly accentuated....

Three words echoed in my mind at this moment: hard, hard, hard!

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2,504 words.