Chapter 02: Study room

When Alice was busy cooking on a regular day, Arthur crept to a specific door and sat on his behind, watching it. He looked around, as if preparing to commit a crime, and when he thought no one was looking, he pushed the door open and crawled in as quickly as he could.

I noticed our mother humming as she cooked and, after some thought, I decided to follow Arthur. I left behind a sort of toy carriage that I was watching curiously and, I crept over to where he was. I found him reaching for a book that was a little high on the shelf. It wasn't particularly high, but for a baby who can only crawl, the lower shelves are quite high. When he finally got there, he laughed like a child, fell on his buttocks, and then lay down on his stomach, curiously opening the book.

I crept up behind him, surprising him with my sudden appearance. Arthur looked perplexed as I made a spot for myself next to him. He made a couple of gestures and babbled, but I didn't understand what he meant. He finally shrugged and turned to the first page. It was an encyclopedia-style book that contained useful information about the world and its current state. This proved to me that Arthur was a reincarnate. No normal child would seek out that type of book, and besides, a child his age should not be able to read unless he was a prodigy among prodigies.

Arthur opened a book and began to read, or so I assumed based on the way his blue eyes scanned the strange but familiar letters. I did the same thing, reading and absorbing important information into my brain, where my subconscious quickly compiled and sorted it. According to what I was reading, this continent was known as Dicathen.

There were three kingdoms on this continent; that of the dwarves; Darv, which was in the south; the kingdom of the elves, which was basically an enchanted forest in the north of the continent called Elenoir; and finally, the kingdom of the humans, Sapin, in the west. There is also an unknown area known as the Beast Glades. If they hadn't yet explored their entire continent, I could only lament humanity's slow progress on this planet.

Arthur looked at me after he finished reading, as if he wanted to know if I understood what we was doing. I simply squinted my eyes and wrinkled my brows, as if I didn't understand anything and was simply trying to imitate my brother. He nodded and turned to the next page. When his attention was drawn away, I began to read at an almost inhuman pace, thanks to my training in the white room,were those who learned slower than the rest were punished.

Arthur finished the book with a satisfied sigh, as if gaining a better understanding of his situation had been removed a heavy burden on his shoulders. After a brief pause, he picked up the book I was most interested in reading, a kind of magic guide. The book was dusty and the rudimentary cover was cracked, but the letters, which I could understand for some reason, were still legible.

I concentrated this time. My blue eyes narrowed in anticipation of what was to come, as it would mean a shift in my perspective of the world and the natural laws with which I was so familiar.

(***)

Arthur Leywin's point of view:

I was a king, a supreme being capable of bringing an entire country to its knees. But now, I'm... gloating in front of a baby, proudly demonstrating my ability to crawl as if it were one of my greatest accomplishments.

'Heh!' I considered strutting in front of my twin brother. 'You are not the only child prodigy!' I told him by lifting my chin and looking at him.

My twin brother, on the other hand, just stared at me with his usual unamused expression; his bright blue eyes seemed to be an exotic contrast to his emotionless expression. His patch of dark brown hair gave him the appearance of a cute, if emotionless, baby.

Despite my smile, he did not respond. He appeared to be wearing a mask, similar to those council elders in my previous world, but instead of them ever-smiling face, he had an ever-stoic face. But what was I up to? Putting a child in the same category as those leeches is wrong. Anyway, he was my brother, Kiyotaka Leywin, a strange name for a boy, but they weren't expecting twins, so they only had one name planned.

Heh... we know who wasn't planned.

I was the oldest, though only for a few minutes. Kiyotaka, in contrast to the children I grew up with at the orphanage, was silent and barely babbled, as a child would when attempting to utter anything resembling words. But one thing was certain: he was a prodigy, or at least someone like me.

I couldn't be certain, but the possibility existed. He learnt to crawl faster than me, despite the fact that I had one life in advantage in motor skills. Hell, I was the best at it, I was a elite warrior! But, as if conditioning his body, he tried a couple of times and succeeded, as if it were just one more step to overcome.

Was he reborn? Or just a child prodigy? I had no idea. If you take away the fact that he never cries and his face is always stoic, he resembles a typical child. I've seen this type of child before, but it was usually due to an illness. Is my brother sick? I don't believe so, but I should do some research just in case.

But let's return to the present, where I was bragging to my brother about my ability to crawl, and our mother was clapping as she jumped up and down like a excited teenager. Having a family was an exciting feeling, and with my new special ability, crawling, going to the home study hall was no longer an impossible task. I was eager to discover how far my knowledge could take me in this world.

After a few days, I decided to embark on the most important mission of my life: conquering the study room. I scanned my surroundings for potential enemies. My mother was cooking, my father was working, and my brother appeared to be playing with his toy, but he simply moved it from time to time with interest, as if he didn't know what to do with it. When the coast was clear, I ran, or rather crawled, as fast as I could to my target, although the sound of my movement on the wooden floor made me grimace.

'Mission failed!' I thought to myself, but when I looked around, my mother was still cooking while humming a song, and Kiyotaka just stared at me with his typical expressionless face; it's a little unsettling when a baby his age watches you so indifferently.

I pushed the door ajar with my small hands and crawled in. 'Success!' I smiled and reached forward on the shelf to grab a book, but something so tall was almost impossible for a little baby like me to get. I should look for a couple of- 'Shit!' Kiyotaka was behind me before I realized it, and I nearly died of a heart attack when I turned to look at him.

I made a sign with my hands that he should leave. This section is only for adults. I don't want my mother to punish us for going into forbidden or even slightly dangerous areas because this is where my father kept his real sword. Despite my babbling and beckoning, he simply tilted his head to one side, confused. I sighed.

Finally, I shrugged and let Kiyotaka stand beside me as I reached for the book. I learned a lot about the continent, but the magic book piqued my interest the most. When a person reached adolescence, he would awaken, causing a minor explosion or implosion depending on his affinity. Mages were classified into two types: conjurers and augmenters. Aside from that, people must refine their cores because when they awaken, they bring with them impurities such as blood and so on.

The levels are; Black, red, orange, yellow, silver and finally white, this being the most powerful. However, it is not so simple because each color has divisions, for example, dark orange, solid orange, and light orange. The last two levels are simply divided into two sections, possibly because they are more difficult to purify.

This was impressive, but something was off. Children in my world could sense Qi at a young age, and it appeared that Qi was similar to mana in some ways. So, in theory, it should be possible to manipulate mana to form a core like in my previous life.

I closed my eyes and meditated, trying to feel the mana fragments scattered throughout my body. After a while... there it is! I could feel energy strewn about my body. Now all I had to do was gather it, but first I needed to rest. I opened my eyes with a sigh, surprised by what I saw in front of me. Kiyotaka, my younger brother, was also in a meditative pose, as if imitating me. I couldn't help but smile when I realized my younger brother aspired to be just like me.

I decided not to interrupt and simply waited for him to finish, not because I thought he was doing anything other than closing his eyes, but because I thought it was amusing how he wanted to imitate me.

This, however, places additional strain on me. Being an older brother will be difficult, especially if Kiyotaka looks to me as a model to emulate. I'll have to be cautious. I don't want my younger brother to turn out to be a jerk... So I'll just have to do my best. Being a big brother shouldn't be a problem, I was a king, this will be easy. Or so I thought.

Kiyotaka's point of view:

I could sense them. It was a strange sensation, as if I became suddenly aware of something in myself that I was previously unaware of. I did not meditate frequently, but having precise control over my thoughts to clear my mind served me well. Right now, I'm working on moving the little bits of mana into my sternum to start forming my core. It was more difficult than I anticipated. Those small pieces that appeared to contain mysterious energy floated slowly.

Despite the fact that I could almost instinctively feel them, I couldn't see them. The magic was possibly a particle; the people know of its presence but are unaware of it, and we cannot feel it unless we conduct a proper experiment to confirm its existence. Only in this case have humans evolved to take advantage of this particle. Or was it more akin to a molecule? But, if so, it should be able to manipulate other molecules to its advantage in order to generate magical reactions. Maybe there's something else I'm missing besides this thing called mana.

These hypotheses may have some gaps, but they are only my initial thoughts on what this new energy could be. Maybe I could confirm if this new energy has a specific electrically charged subatomic or if it uses another type of energy with a simple experiment like Wilson's fog chamber. Still, I believe it would be difficult for a kid my age to obtain the ingredients needed to produce ethanol.

I opened my eyes when I realized I had begun to ramble. This world seemed to have piqued my interest, and I became lost in my thoughts.

As soon as I looked over, I noticed my twin brother Arthur grinning as he crawled towards me. He was too excited for me, so I fled in terror, crawling at full speed as Arthur pursued me. Was this the legendary game of catch that Haruka had mentioned? I didn't know, but I did know that our mother jumped happily when she saw us 'playing' like a good pair of brothers.

"Kya~" She said as she jumped from side to side, watching us. Meanwhile, I was fleeing from my brother, who wanted to hug me for some reason. She extended her right hand. "Go, little Art! Go!" She supported him.

I couldn't help but sigh; was this what it meant to be a family? Screams while being pursued by a baby, who be a reincarnated adult? It was very troubling.