Five years had passed since my reincarnation into this world.

In those years, I had experienced many things that seemed foreign to someone like me…

…who had come from an entirely different one.

Enigma, thank you.

I would have never gotten this chance to start my life from the beginning of it weren't for you.

Nor would I have felt the warmth of 'family' again.

Without sickness, without loneliness, without pain… It was a bliss to be born into my new family.

Compared to the isolation of my past life, this warmth was worth fighting a hundred soldiers for.

"Hah... And good morning to you, my brand new life~!" I muttered to myself after opening my eyes.

The world around me looked fresh and vivid.

It probably has to do with my young age.

It felt so great~ The feeling was like my young heart and aged soul having been birthed anew~

Though I feel the greatest change in my body was the strange, miraculous energy called Mana

It was coursing through my veins silently...

I might not understand how to utilise this magical power just yet, but just knowing that I'll one day be able to use this alternate world's 'Magic' was enough to make me feel anticipation for my future!

Isn't Gaia really wonderful? The clearness of the air around me makes me feel exhilarated even now.

I focused my concentration and looked at the small bedroom I was in, then make my way to a towering wardrobe to get my clothes.

My small body stature made it harder for me to reach the pegs, but through toiling effort, I was able to succeed in grabbing it's edge!

"Simon, the closet is too big… so stop forcefully trying to grab them by yourself." The effort I put was into my independence became a meaningless struggle. My loving mother walked into my room door and pulled the peg off the clothes rack.

I pouted my lips and looked at her with clear dissatisfaction. My head turned away angrily.

Who didn't hate being treated like a kid?

I'm definitely the older one here!

"Don't pout, big boys don't pout. Where has the usual 'mature' look you have on run off to~?"

My mother said before handing me my clothes.

The weird thing about reincarnation is that the past life one had experienced was like a long dream…

…or in my case, an incredibly long nightmare.

I truly accepted even in the deepest parts of my heart that this woman named Martha was my new mother…

I had truly became a part of this world.

This was my new start and beginning, so feeling melancholic about the failures of my past life would be meaningless.

It's best to just allow my mindset to change and grow similar to an ordinary to my present age.

Even if that meant losing the patience, wisdom, and everything else that came with growing old.

Hmm... Why do I feel like I don't have a choice when it comes to that matter in particular?

"Mother, stop teasing me and tell me why you're even here. Shouldn't Mark and Anna be the ones taking care of us?" I snatched the clothes out of her hands and gave a bored look. A smile was etched on her face. She giggled in response.

"On a normal day that would be the routine, but today's a special day." Mother said mysteriously

She left me in my room with a puzzled expression.

"Special...?" I murmured to myself. A force of habit.

In my past life, I spent too much time talking to thin air as a retired soldier… since I had no one left.

No friends, family, or acquaintances to talk to…

An old man like me couldn't really find anyone to talk to after retirement. I had no friends or relatives to take care of me in my old age, so most of my last moments was wasted musing about the past.

I walked out my room door after changing my clothes and followed my mother.

She was waiting outside to the Training Grounds of the Swordwick Household.

A place that was kinda unique within the Drakeyol Kingdom. No one could say otherwise.

Even the King of Drakeyol Kingdom would be respectful to Swordwick Household. Mostly due to their tradition in grooming powerful Grandmaster Swordsmen in every generation of their bloodline.

Duke Swordwick values strength to the point that every servant he recruits always turned out to have a background of a mercenary. I had always watched as the servants of the household trained their martial arts everyday from a distance.

This wasn't due to me being interested in swordsmanship, nor was it because of my interest in battles themselves. It was only my curiosity to this world's style of combat kicking in.

My curiosity couldn't be helped…

"So you're finally here." The voice of my father could be heard from the unusually quiet Training Ground.

One that seemed to have been cleared out.

It seems that the other butlers and maids, who periodically trained here on a routined basis, all left to complete their chores.

How suspicious...!

"Pick up a wooden sword.

Today's your fifth birthday, so you have to train your bodily coordination and reflexes to create a foundation for future development in swordsmanship." As I heard these words, my eyes almost shot out of their sockets in disbelief.

My mouth fell fully agape…

What the hell is this idiot saying?!

"I refuse. I'm merely a five year old! A young and immature five year old! Not an grown adult!

There's no way for me to train my undeveloped body!" I shouted towards my crazy father.

Fredrick, who was a strong bodied, average faced, brown-haired man, didn't retort immediately.

He looked at me closely with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes...

"No excuses. I'm not telling you to train your body. I already know doing that is impossible at your age.

However, make no mistake that I'll definitely train you to be familiarised with the sword in these five more years to come." I frowned at my fathers words and gave him a glare to show my stance in this.

What's the point in learning swordsmanship? It's not like I'm ever going to get into a fight in the future. A peace loving pacifist like me is unlikely to make enemies or cause himself to be harmed.

"Tell me the true reason for this." My eyes were stern. I gazed directly at the similarly stubborn look on my father's face. He glared back in order to scare me, but failed even after a few attempts.

Well... it's not like a person like me, who had stared death in the face multiple times in my past life, would be scared by a mere glare...

Hahahaha! Others might find my father's current expression as extremely scary. Horrifying, even.

I, on the other hand, only saw it as hilarious!

My father sighed helplessly before lowering his sword.

He started to explain the reason he wanted me to go through spartan training slowly.

"If you were a normal and ignorant child, there would have been no reason for me to force you into this. However, your high intelligence at a young age made things different. You have enough 'talent'.

Though small, it's enough to create a miracle.

I know the amount of Mana your body possesses. It is thanks to the measurements that were done on the day you were born, and do you know what was the result?

The result was that you were diagnosed with Rank F Magical Talent!

A so-called 'Failure' that has no right to become someone with a combat-orientated profession.

The amount of magical energy within you is so scarce that you can barely cover your physique using the basics of the Burst Manipulation technique." My father said grimly.

His eyes seemed both determined and desperate.

It at this moment that I understood just how important strength was to the world outside the Swordwick Household.

I already knew long ago that the amount of Mana within my body was negligible compared to others through my own secret experiments.

I stealthily copied the other servants training their Burst Manipulation techniques.

I was then amazed at how their movements were similar to the martial arts of Earth.

However, after copying and repeating their actions every day, I was able to pinpoint the difference between the two styles of fighting.

The martial arts on Earth mostly focused on the physical body, but this Burst Manipulation technique changed many aspects of martial arts as a whole. It altered the rules 'fighting' took place in.

How to use Burst Manipulation was simple: All I needed to do was release my Mana as a 'flame' around my body. The Mana would increase its density with simple mastery garnered over time.

The amount of Mana a person could release depended on how much they had within them after they were born.

I spared no effort in trying to sense the 'magical energy' within me, but was disappointed to find that the result was just as my father had predicted.

I had a feeling like there was some kind of ethereal existence —one that was neither hot or cold within the centre of my body. Whenever I tried to expand and release it, I always found myself coming short.

Especially when I was trying to cover the entirety of my physique. It just wasn't possible for me to do…

After feeling that Mana within my body, I released it as a 'flame' that focused to one part of my body.

This was done after I'd experimented with 'cladding' myself completely in Mana.

However, the results found was that logic still applied to magic. I couldn't pick up heavy objects without covering all the places that needed to be enhanced by the manifested reinforcement energy.

The disproportionate balance of enhancement when using Aura could lead to F Ranked Magical Talent 'breaking' themselves. It was easy to accidentally die if they enhanced the wrong parts.

At that time when I was training alone, looking at the servants who were training their Aura Manifestation with such vigour, I found that was no one who WASN'T at least able to cover their entire physique with Burst Manipulation.

I wasn't depressed though. The passion to test many unusual applications of Mana arose within.

From what I overheard, 'Magical Talent' wasn't the only factor when training Burst Manipulation.

The second factor of the technique was 'mastering' it. The sublime power of technique!

Condensing Mana to a higher degree.

Once the mastery of the technique increased, the power it would display would improve as well.

This would allow even someone as untalented as me to take on opponents with higher Magical Talents. The reason for this was simple really, Burst Manipulation treated Mana like a weapon, and the density of reinforcement improved with mastery.

What was improving mastery?

When using one's Mana to use techniques like Burst Manipulation, a person would normally use a lot of concentration and focus. This, as well as other parts of their mentality at full throttle.

It was easy to create a dense reinforcement if one was to sit down and concentrate long enough.

However, how was a person able to have the same concentration in the midst of battle?

The distractions caused by uncontrollable variables in battle wasn't something users could ignore.

Mana Manipulation was a fragile balancing act…

This was why mastery over this technique meant being able to subconsciously cover oneself in a dense mass of magical energy, rather than consciously controlling it at every moment.

Willpower and Visualisation were the most prominent factors when mastering to control.

This not only encompassed one's manipulation over the elements, but also over Mana itself!

A castor's intentions could even change whether a Fireball Spell would be lethal or not.

In the end, discipline is needed to control and alter Mana, and it's a good thing I have a lot of that~

Ummm… I mean… 'Had' a lot of that…

My heart became weaker over the years…

The servants of the Swordwick Household had the lowest magical talents of D Rank (who were considered as those with average aptitude for Magic). They were able to easily subconsciously focus their manifested magical energy easily.

It would fit into their swords in order to create waves that could cut apart objects from afar.

I too tried sending a shockwave through my fist using my limited amount of Mana, but the feeling of exhaustion I felt straight after made me feel suspicious. Something felt seriously wrong…

Why had Enigma given me this low-level talent...?

Enigma, although I don't usually believe in Gods, let me make a prayer to ask one question:

'Where has my promised overflowing magical talent run off to?!'

Looks like I'm going to have to put my annoyance to the side for now.

I had to focus on my current circumstances and talk my parents about this.

"So what if I can't use a strong Burst Manipulation?" I asked my father aggressively.

I didn't understand what not being able to use the basic E Rank technique, Attribute Clad, meant.

Although having the the most basic form of Burst Manipulation was essential for Warriors, I wasn't one who'd care about something like that.

The reason I reincarnated into this magical world was to have a peaceful and interesting life!

It had nothing to do with me trying to seek out battle and conflicts once again...!

Enigma, this is all your fault!

If you could've reincarnated me as any child on Gaia, then why didn't you choose to reincarnate me as someone who didn't have the fate of getting into conflicts instead?

I've already lived in this place long enough to know that although the Swordwick Household looks safe on the outside, the reality is that there should be a good reason for the Swordwick Duke to hire so many Mercenaries as his servants!

What exactly is he trying to defend against with all these strong warriors?

Forget it. It has nothing to do with me.

It's not like I have to fight anyway. Less dangerous jobs should still exist in this magical world.

Perhaps I could become a normal farmer, or maybe I could just stay as a Butler in the Swordwick Household instead?

There are a lot of benefits from such a position as safety is guaranteed to all who join.

Even if I have the worst rank of magical talent, there should be no reason for me to go through this sort of desperate training regimen.

Looking at the sword in my father's hand, I couldn't help feeling there was a chance I'd become crippled by this training's intense difficulty.

I don't want to train! I don't just wanna!!!!