“Makes sense. Wait - children?” I paused and stared at Aston. Why didn’t I ask before? “My, I mean, I have siblings?”

“Indeed, Your Highness.”

I resumed walking. “Well? Tell me about them!”

“As you command, Your Highness.” He cleared his throat. “Prince Leri Alaster is twelve years old. He is quite smart and strong for his age and shows remarkable martial talent. Princess Leri Xiaodan is eight years old. She too shows remarkable intelligence for her age, and is noted for her bright personality. Many assume the two will prove to be geniuses.”

I nodded, too preoccupied to reply. So, my predecessor had two younger siblings, quite far apart in age. At least by Earth standards. Isn’t Alaster a name from Earth, like Alistair? I think I’ve heard it somewhere. Maybe there’s the same name in this world. Not sure about Xiaodan. But more important than that was his description. I’d need to meet the two of them eventually, but just the thought made me nervous. I can put it off until I’ve learned more, at least. Damn, I miss my real brother.

That thought, I quickly pushed away, and concentrated on my surroundings. We were back in the vicinity of the family quarters, and Aston halted beside a pair of double doors, pushing them open silently.

I hurried inside, excited to see what the library held. I wasn’t disappointed. Inside, I saw a big room filled with tables, seats, and most of all bookshelves. Some held colorful little things that looked like a mineral or crystal shining with qi, but most were stuffed with books. Mostly big, hardcover books. The space was well illuminated with windows and light fixtures, silent, and covered in the scent of paper and books. It didn’t make up for losing the Internet, but it could make a pitiful try.

My guards distributed themselves around the library and the door, probably trying to cover every possible entrance. I ignored them in favor of examining the books. Some of them didn’t have any writing on their spines, but some did. To my pleasant surprise, I discovered I could read it.

At random, I pulled one from a shelf and opened it. It turned out to be a history book. I could read it the same way I did text in my native language, but when I slowed down and tried to really look at the words, the clarity left. Looking at the letters by themselves, they were just squiggles.

I frowned and took a closer look. The alphabet was like nothing I’d seen before. It looked like Egyptian cursive hieroglyphs, Chinese characters and tally marks had a threesome and produced a baby.

Well, it looks like I need to put my reading on hold. I wanted to understand the writing first, so that if I ever needed to puzzle something out or otherwise just deal with the letters, I’d be prepared.

So I searched through the books until I found what I needed, a guide to the language, which was apparently called Common or Common Imperial. It contained grammar rules, but also an alphabet with pronunciation and spelling instructions. So I scrutinized the letters displayed there and tried to memorize everything. At least this appeared to be an alphabetic language, with a few flourishes that changed how certain letters looked depending on their place in a word and accent marks that relied on the type of word.

It didn’t take long for me to realize something was weird. Experimentally, I closed the book and tried to recall the alphabet. It was right there in my mind, every letter exactly as the table in the book had portrayed them. Well, well. I suppose if something else is to mess with my mind, it could be worse.

Shutting the book, I looked around for the nearest person to pester. One of the guards stood not far away, an Asian-looking young woman. “Hey,” I called.

She turned around and bowed. “May I be of service, Your Highness?”

“Well,” I said, lamely. “Did the princess — I mean, did I … perhaps have special cognitive abilities?” Wow, awkward.

But the guard seemed to know immediately what I was getting at, her face brightening. “Yes, of course, Your Highness. You are a low-level genius.”

“A low-level … genius.” I rubbed my temple. Were they obsessed enough with levels and stages to rank geniuses? This sounded like it was a thing.

Wait, a real genius? Like on Earth, with intelligence, not cultivation talent? I was probably one. My IQ was around 130, so far as I knew. But here? “How do you know?”

“It is common knowledge, Your Highness. Your esteemed self was declared so at the age of ten. This was after a demonstration that you had successfully developed a genius’ memory.” Perhaps sensing my skepticism, she continued. “Some say that this world is alive, with intentions and agency of its own. That is for wiser masters to debate. But it is known that long-term exposure to qi during development — such as everyone born on this world — can lead to certain benefits. Anyone with the strength of mind and sharpness of wit to count as a genius will develop a perfect memory. However, this does not raise anyone’s intelligence as such, and it will really only happen to those who possess enough of it.”

I whistled. That sounded hard to believe, but then so did everything else about this world. So I made a mental note that my guards were no uneducated brutes and provisionally accepted her explanation.

An eidetic memory! I couldn’t help but laugh. Look out, world, here I come! This is going to be so much help. Now I’ll have a much easier time catching up on learning everything I need about this world. Let’s see, history, culture, geography, biology, scientific knowledge, and of course cultivation … and politics.

Still feeling a bit giddy, I scanned the shelves for the first book to dive into. If I just needed to read something once to retain all its information, that was a huge advantage. Hell, any college student would give their left arm for that. I needed to make some plans, once I knew what was available. And remember to go to the training courtyard tomorrow.

Maybe I could even run a few simple tests. But for now, I pulled down a children’s book.

I was going to be busy.