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Chapter 5: Seed

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I’m a year old now; which is more like 2 years old in human terms, and this is evidenced by the appearance of the children of Norr traders living in Knora territory born at the same time who look like 2 year old humans since pure Norr are more humanlike.

All breeds of Knora on the other hand look more like 4 and 5 year olds; in human and Norr terms.

I have thus concluded that the Knora are the Beastmen race of the world of Orro; all those light novels I used to read as a kid had themes of people with animal traits in fantasy realms so it kinda fits the role. However the Knora are not to be taken lightly and possess true power that was proven by their ability to hold hordes of Demons to a stalemate; not even the Vern kingdom was able to do that and the Vern are widely believed to be the most powerful of the humanoid races of Orro.

So the Knora can be understood to be powerful at the same level as the Vern. Such prowess is attributed to the Knora Fighting Aura; what the Knora call 【Full Might】. The Knora are very different physiologically; for one thing the torso is encased in a bone shell similar to the skull, and the hearts are connected to the spine which is encased in a further layer of thick bones along with the major arteries including the ones going to the head. The skull itself is encased in not just bone but also a thick layer of keratin that grows in as they grow older.

On the subject of 【Full Might】 it is understood to be the primary function of the second heart and the primary source of the Knora internal body enhancement magic. In the other humanoids the Mana Core builds a network throughout the body and this allows one to channel Mana to different parts of the body. In the Knora the Mana Core only builds the channels to the second heart; thus making the arteries, veins and the blood flowing through them the method of channelling Mana.

While this makes spell casting difficult it makes the Knora internal body enhancement magic instinctive and natural. That means they’re already able to use the Knora internal body enhancement magic from a young age; and they do this unconsciously. Few if any Knora are proficient in spell casting, and the Mana used to cast even the simplest of spells is extremely inefficient; using 11 times as much Mana as others for the same spell output. These are primary Knora traits passed on through the females so all types of Knora have them.

Consequently the Knora tend to abandon external Mana use because the process is so difficult for them. The only exception to these limitations are the Vnora breed who are born with a Mana channel through the brain to the Forehead Crystal Third Eye. In normal Vern the Forehead Crystal Third Eye would be connected to the network in the body but in the Vnora it links to the second heart. That means the Forehead Crystal Third Eye is probably the only part of the body that can efficiently move Mana outside the body.

However learning to inject Mana into elements is primarily about touch and feel and the Forehead Crystal Third Eye is particularly inconvenient. So in order to learn to Manipulate External Mana even the Vnora must inefficiently inject Mana through their hands which would cost 11 times more Mana. Since none of the humanoids are born with exorbitant amounts of Mana the Vnora reach their limit rather quickly making the learning process slower to the point where a Vnora would take 3 to 4 times as long to reach the Mana Capacity of an Arch-Mage.

However what the Knora lack in External Magic they make up for with their 【Full Might】. The way 【Full Might】 works is that the Knora Magical Heart pumps in increased amounts of Mana increasing Strength, Dexterity, Durability and Regeneration as compared to the Baseline. What that means is that a Knora using 【Full Might】 becomes several times more powerful; depending on the body condition. Thus 【Full Might】 makes the average Knora more than a match for the average Mage.

Depending on the psyche’s effect on the Soul’s processing of Ether into Mana 【Full Might】 is different from person to person; some gain more Strength, more Dexterity, more Durability or more Regeneration.

【Full Might】 is said to manifest when the seed that is the second heart blooms in response to crisis. Most Knora experience this crisis during the first ranking contest at 5 years old when they are asked to perform in front of others and be judged by the results. Depending on personality, physical exertion and level of desire 【Full Might】 is manifested with differing levels of Strength, Dexterity, Durability and Regeneration.

In most people 【Full Might】 generates increased levels in the 4 Baseline attributes with similar enhancement rates. The ones who are more competent are those whose enhancement rates favour 3 or 2 of the 4 Baseline attributes. The truly lucky ones are those whose enhancement rates favour only 1 of the 4 Baseline attributes; because the 4 Baseline attributes are related. Super-Strength gives you Super-Durability as a bonus because Super-Strength would destroy the body if it’s not durable; however the bonus Super-Durability would be at half that of someone who manifests Super-Durability.

Super-Dexterity would require a level of Super-Strength since moving speedily requires muscles. The rarest is Super-Regeneration which is usually manifest by children who face a deadly illness at a young age. Super-Regeneration requires high Mana Capacity of all things; a factor outside the 4 Baseline attributes. The few fortunate enough to survive and gain Super-Regeneration develop an oversize Mana Core during their long battle with illness and are sometimes regarded as the most powerful of the Knora. When not healing wounds Super-Regeneration takes the form of Super-Stamina.

Mother is someone with Super-Regeneration and it explains how she was able to give birth at the elderly age of 244.

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The lucky people who get Super-Strength are said to possess a Heroic Heart and my twin sister Ovis is such a person.

Our Mother who is said to possess an Unyielding Heart says they have never seen a Heroic Heart on someone so young and that it was her strong desire to protect me during my coma that likely triggered a blooming of her Heroic Heart.

I on the other hand was so afraid of being bitten, clawed, gored or eaten by monsters and demons that I manifested Super-Durability; said to posses a Protecting Heart. Honestly; I would have preferred Super-Regeneration but I’m told that the survival rate for the disease that afflicted mother is less than 1% so I’ll happily take Super-Durability instead.

Truthfully I would be delighted with Super-Durability; I mean having a Super-Attribute is such a rare occurrence to begin with. The problem is that my Super-Durability looks shabby in contrast to my twin sister’s Super-Strength. Unfortunately Ovis has taken it upon herself to help me get stronger and I get to see just how amazing Super-Strength is compared to my Super-Durability. Ovis is stronger and faster than I am and the training we are doing revolves around using 【Full Might】 to Swim, Sprint and Lift Weights; none of which require significant Durability.

None of the other kids our age connected to the palace have manifested their 【Full Might】 yet so training with them is pointless at this juncture since the training revolves around us using our 【Full Might】. The one impediment we are faced with is our child level Mana Core; we simply don’t have sufficient Mana to use our 【Full Might】 the way it was meant to me used. 【Full Might】 is meant to energize your body for 11 minutes or about 9 Parbeats.

Again; the time system is weird.

This world’s version of the second is based on the heartbeat of King Vern; the first king of the Vern kingdom. It was about 80 beats a minute according to my calculations. 100 beats equals a Parbeat, 100 Parbeats equals a Zarbeats and a day has 13 Zarbeats. It’s unlikely that King Vern’s heartbeat would be as accurate as they make it out to be at around 80.246914 beats a minute so the Vern likely used it as a base rather than use the actual heart rate.

Anyway Ovis and I can’t sustain 【Full Might】 for anything more than 2 minutes, and even doing that much drains our Mana which takes about 2 hours to restore naturally; eating and meditation helps. However we’re kids so meditation is out of the question and since our family is wealthy mother supplies us with Mana potions in exchange for chores. The chores we do are probably not worth what I suspect are the expensive Mana potions made from the Mana cores of native animals and monsters. Demon cores are toxic and can’t be used for anything other than poisons.

Fortunately we have low Mana capacity so even the weakest Mana potion can last the whole day. At our age the chores are primarily gardening duties in mother’s private garden; watering flowers, digging out weeds and so on. We are too small to help out with any of the serious work around the palace but I can expect that as we get older we will be given harder tasks since mother isn’t the sort to overindulge her children; even if she’s at an advanced age.

Thus the only restriction to our use of 【Full Might】 is the toll it takes on our bodies. Nevertheless Ovis is adamant that we have to acquire the power to protect ourselves when we are older and sent to the military for our mandatory 4 years of service. All citizens of the Orro Federation have to complete 4 years of military service after the age of 10, and Knora being robustly physical often find themselves on the frontlines of the war against the demons.

The military service often involves routing out demons from islands between the Orro Federation and the Orrba Continent. The Orro Federation Islands are protected by magic barriers but it would be imprudent to allow the demons a nearby staging area, so raids on any demon settlement on the Islands receive the highest military priority. The Orro Federation military prefers fighting the Demons in the open ocean where they can take advantage of the poor seamanship of the likes of Goblins, Orcs, Serpentmen and Lizardmen.

The winged demons are reticent to fight away from home ranges after the failed attempt to conquer the primordial continents. Even the prideful dragons were slaughtered in droves by city size Primordials. Scholars suggest that a single primordial has enough power to defeat all of the demon armies on the Orrba Continent. It is believed that Primordials are immortal since there has never been a record of any Primordial death.

The Orro Federation Navy does not venture close to primordial continents on the other side of the world. I for one have no intension of ever going there.

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Ovis trains me hard because she claims to be trying to save my life.

By looking at her you wouldn’t think that she used to be a feminine Gay Canadian man in the previous life. However in this life she’s a determined Knora female in the truest form; so much so she manifested a Heroic Heart at 85 days old. Even the Knora have bee shocked by the fact that someone so young can bloom their seed into a Heroic Heart because it requires a resolve to stand and fight against an impossible enemy; children aren’t suppose to be prepared to sacrifice their lives.

There was no precedent for someone under 4 years developing a Heroic Heart. There had been a 2 year old with a Protecting Heart and almost all those who possess an Unyielding Heart are under 4 years old, but there has never been anyone under 4 years of age who developed a Heroic Heart. Somehow the crazy people of this Island simply say; as expected of the daughter of the Matriarch of the Ollo Bloodline. The both of us being Super is attributed to the Power of the Ollo Bloodline.

The Ollo Bloodline goes back to the last of the Knora Matriarchs and the one who led the Knora survivors to the safety of the Islands; fighting through Hordes of Demons. Ewim Ollo is the name of the legendary matriarch who saved the Knora; she had the Super-Regeneration that allowed her to possess an Unyielding Heart, and when mother became Matriarch she took the name Ewim Ollo II in recognition of them having the same Super-Attribute.

Apparently mother was a legendary warrior in her youth who earned the status of Hero of the Federation by stopping the demonic invasion of an island in the Far East during her tour of duty. She led 4 others against hundreds of Orcs and emerged victorious; saving thousands of live on a remote fishing village. In the aftermath of that battle all surviving free peoples in remote far flung areas of the world were forcibly brought to the safety of the Orro Federation; adding 10 million to the population.

The addition of people seems to have altered the timeline of the activation of the Super-Magic of the 17 Arch-Mages; delaying the activation by some 125 years.

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