5 years later

My new life in this world of magic has been… interesting to say the least. Since me and Curtis have been old enough to speak, which I waited until he could since I didn't want to seem abnormal, was around 2 and a half.

Sadly that form of speaking was not entirely coherent, so I took some liberties to ensure I was understood.

I imagine most people would find it incredibly boring to have to live through so much time as a baby, but truthfully it wasn't much different from what I had been used to. I laid in the bed most day for the longest until they finally let us out to crawl. At least I got to do that much here.

As for pride? There's not much of that to be had when you were bed ridden for nearly 14 years, having all your needs taken care of by others. If anything I transitioned into this life as a prince fairly easily, no need to be embarrassed about being seen naked or taken care of by others.

Especially when this new life came a lot of perks! Once I was able to walk I was allowed to walk pretty much anywhere as long as I had someone with me. Which usually led to the scene of me marching around the palace followed by Curtis that tried to keep up and a maid that trailed just behind us.

Now, however me and Curtis were 5 years old and it was time to start our sword training and magic lessons.

"Corbin, can we go see the baby before lessons? I don't want to see Miss Neyla yet." Curtis asked from beside me as walked the corridors. Neyla was our etiquette instructor, an ornery old woman that found flaws in every movement.

"If you just learned your etiquettes, she would be a lot kinder." I huffed. I wasn't really annoyed with Curtis, but the longer he took with the lessons the longer it was until we could go to the stuff I really wanted to do. I'm not sure why we are taught things at the same time when it's obvious I've already learned the basic etiquette lessons.

"But yes, we can go see baby Kathlyn before lessons." I looked to Maid Michelle who just nodded at my question. Michelle had been mine and Curtis' maid since we were born, along with a rotating crew, but she was the main one. Which was surprising considering she was only in her late twenties, compared to most of the other maids being late forties or in their fifties.

When we arrived at Kathlyn room, the closed doors muffled a crying baby on the other side. Our little sister has been like this since birth. She makes sure her presence is known by everyone in the immediate vicinity.

Entering I see mother picking up the nearly 1 year old baby from the bed, cooing and rocking her as the cries quieted down. The queen was a great mother. Well not that I had much experience on that front, but she was definitely better than the one I remembered from my previous life.

"My beautiful boys. Are you here to see your sister, or to skip Neyla's lessons?" She asked as she sat down in a rocking chair, rocking the fussy Kathlyn back to sleep. Her eyes mostly pointed to Curtis as she said that and I couldn't help but snicker a little bit.

Curtis was a good kid, he was polite to most people and acted a way that befitted a prince. He was a little arrogant and had a tendency to skip classes to play every now then, but he always owned up to his mistakes and didn't try to lie. Well except for now, but I'll let it slide.

"What? Nooo mother, you know we love our lessons with Miss Neyla! Right Corbin?" Curtis looked to me for help. I smiled at my brother in a way that I knew made him worry. As brothers and twins no less we spent much time together for him to know that my next words weren't exactly the help he was looking for.

"Hmmm. You do love etiquette a lot. Mother, maybe since Curtis loves etiquette lessons with Miss Neyla so much we should increase the length of them. Since he enjoys it so much." I said with a tilt of my head as if I was actually thinking about it. I could see the panic rising on Curtis' face, but before he could protest a sweet laughter filled the air.

Looking to mother she waved us over with a beatific smile. She stopped rocking the chair and leaned forward so that we could see baby Kat when we got close.

"Corbin don't tease your brother too much. Besides who is going to protect your baby sister if you 2 don't take your sword and magic lessons?" I patted Kathlyn's head at mother's words and Curtis hovered nearby afraid to touch the infant.

"I'll protect her, mother! You can count on me!" Curtis finally said in a near shout when he finally crossed the distance to poke Kathlyn on the cheek. I stifled a snicker as mother laughed softly. Reaching a hand out to brush the hair out of the now embarrassed Curtis' face.

"I know you will. Now off you go. Any longer and Miss Neyla will come looking for you two." Curtis stiffened and swiftly about faces before dashing out the room. I watched him leave with maid Michelle trying to keep up.

I looked back down at the baby and realized while I had laughed at Curtis' outburst, I felt much the same way. A feeling of wanting to protect this sleeping child, my sister, filled my body any time I looked at her.

"My dear Corbin. You're much too smart for your own good." Mother said as she repeated to me what she had done to Curtis, tucking a stray hair behind my ear. My looks had been a talk of the castle since I was born as not many were born with such bright red eyes, and then my raven black hair was nearly a shade darker than my mother's.

Some staff of the castle had even been unnerved by my appearance and I had even heard them whisper about me being a demon when I was a baby. Though it's likely I wasn't the only one that heard as most that I heard say such things were no longer working here.

"There's still a lot for me to learn though?" I responded questioningly and this caused her to laugh once again, i realized I really liked her laugh. I liked Curtis' laugh, the smiles they both would give when they laughed. I realized I didn't just want to protect Kathlyn, but all 3 of them. Of course there was my father, but he seemed apprehensive around us. I didn't know much about him, but he didn't seem to be a bad father.

"And that's why you're too smart for your own good. Now go to your lessons. Neyla tells me that you have mastered the basics and can move on to court and dance etiquette." I nearly fist pumped the air at not needing the basics any longer. I was tired of learning to walk, eat, talk and breathe like a noble.

With one last smile I took off down the corridor toward the lessons. I took the time to look over my stats.

[Corbin Glayder

5 Years (17)

Black hair

Red eyes

Affinities: Fire, Water, Earth,Wind, Lightning, Ice, Gravity, Sound

Mage Type: Augmenter

Points: 1,000

Stats:

Strength:100

Dexterity:100

Intelligence:100

Mana:400

Core:Unformed

Skills:

Language of the World-All

Mana Sensitivity

Mana Control

Mana Manipulation

Mana Rotation

Core Purity

Core Strengthening

Core Capacity]

I was confused why the number in parentheses had remained at 17, but perhaps it's a sort of mental age? Anyways as for the stats, well let's just say that I was bored as a baby. At least back in the previous world, I had books and shows to pass the time while confined to a bed, but here I only had the system and store.

I was beginning to worry I could use magic since no matter what I did or how much I put towards mana, nothing happened. I purchased all the cheapest affinities, and plan to save up for some of the more expensive ones like plant, lava, metal and healing.

Apparently the price is based off compatibility, as the ones I've already purchased had 100% compatibility score while these more expensive ones were much lower, plant being a measly 5%.

I was starting to wonder if I was missing something, or if 400 mana for a child is actually a minuscule amount in the grand scheme of things. But I had noticed the Core stat, and couldn't find a way to change it from Unformed. That's what I was so excited to finally be receiving magic lessons! I was truly hoping that guy hadn't dropped me into another defective body.

Well my other stats definitely worked so likely not entirely defective. The search for magic inspired all my skill choices. With any less will power I might have dumped every single point into only mana and magic related things, completely neglecting strength, dexterity and intelligence. Well probably not intelligence since it helped with mana manipulation and recovery.

Though I finally decided that I would wait until I unlocked my magic before I bought anything else. I hadn't even considered that I might not be able to use it before, but now after 5 years I couldn't deny my worries. On top of that I couldn't sell anything I had bought so I was stuck like this.

This would allow me to save up my points again though since besides the points per day I haven't found another way to gain points. Which is surprising because there are some skills and affinities on here that cost hundreds of thousands of points and some that even cost millions. Probably for the best though that their names are just a mish mash of letters and numbers or I might would go crazy trying to unlock them.

Finally I arrived at the room where we take our etiquette lessons.

"Nice of you to join us, Prince Corbin." A raspy voice scratched my ears as I entered.

"Of course, Miss Neyla." I nodded. It seemed it would be a while before the sword and magic lessons. Kathlyn was lucky she was worth it.