“Young master… young master it is time to wake up,” Murnia said to the sleeping Aegeus. She looked down at the boy with a smile on her face. This was her charge, Aegeus is to be her everything. At least that is what she was taught. In front of others, it was strictly a master/servant relationship, yet in private her young master spoke to her as if she was an equal. It was slightly baffling to her and she repeatedly warns the young master not to do so yet it went in one ear and out the other. Murnia decided another five minutes wouldn’t hurt the young master's schedule, but afterward by any means used to have him wake up. She thought back to the days before she was picked up by the Duke and trained into the personal protector she was now.

A few years ago…

Murnia ran through the alleyways turning left, right, right, left. She had stolen food from an outside vendor and the bastard sent some of his assistants after her. She was becoming tired, she tried so hard day, after day, after day, yet she knew she couldn’t give up. She could always go back to the orphanage, but you’d never become somebody through the orphanage. Murnia wanted to be somebody. Murnia wanted to be a hero. Like the Shinning Sun Asrealt or the Great Shield Vasu Kan. Their stories were some of her favorite. They never started from an orphanage, by the time they were 5 her heroes were already starting their stories.

That's why she ran away from the orphanage. It was time to start her story. So much for being a hero though. Heroes, heroes didn’t steal. They fought for peace and justice, but Murnia had no choice, she needs the food and her gang did too. The Slight Hands. That's what they called themselves. She was taken in by the group once she left the orphanage. Somewhere kids, who like her, decided they were old enough to set out and start their own story.

Murnia could finally no longer hear her pursuers and slowed her pace to a jog and then slowly walking until she came to a stop. She started laughing. One thing about the chase was that it was always exhilarating. The chase, the hunt, it always got her blood pumping in ways that would never come in playing games back at the orphanage. She heard it could be her magi core awakening, as magi cores will respond to their host in times of need. Changing and altering their bodies in ways to better suit them.

Murnia finally returned to the Slight Hands hideout. It was an abandoned shack in the slums that was partially burnt. The original owners left and nobody wanted to fix the small burnt district. She saw the leader Alex and the other 4 members. Ronwick, Rouge the two were twins and you wouldn’t see one without the other. Rouge was always her brother's shadow. He would distract while she would steal. Alex, Ivy, and Nick were solo like her. They all were recruited by Alex, Alex was the one who brought her out from the orphanage in the first place.

The orphanage was nice and they were never hungry, yet there is a price to be paid for the care they are shown. When they are older most of them are put to work in low-skill and low-paying jobs. Most never get to fulfill any dreams as they are to pay back for the care given to them all their years of growing up.

What hero did you know wasted their younger years basically slaving away. That's when Alex slowly found all of them either from the streets or as an orphan and convinced him to join his gang. They stole and did odd jobs around the city to accumulate funds. Once they hit twelve they were planning to join the Empires Guild of Emergent Requests or the EGER for short. EGER was responsible for monster eliminations and ruin explorations the most famous adventures and heroes had all been part of EGER at one point, and you needed to be twelve or look it to join.

Alex and Murnia were both magi humans, so they would age faster and look the part within 2-3 years. Ronwick, Rouge, Ivy, and Nick were regular humans all around the age of 10 or so and would be eligible soon. Murnia looked at Alex and smiled, he returned in kind before opening his mouth to speak.

“So you’ve finally caught up,” Alex said turning his smile into a grin.

“Alex you know-how district Y stands are, so stingy, not willing to lose anything from the stock. Not like they can’t afford it away,” Murnia said as she rolled her eyes.

Rouge spoke up in a bright and cheerful voice. “I hope you snatch some olive bread, you know what those do to me.”

Murnia flashed her a wide grin before opening her sack and presenting her spoils. Loaves of bread and meats of all shapes and sizes spilled out.

After whistling, Alex spoke up. “You had quite the hall Murnia, no wonder it took you so long. At least today we actually gonna eat ’til our fill. After we finish, we got a job for us in district Y. The stall owner Guava will give us 6 gold to steal and harass from Rufus, the one who hit Nick around last time. A little revenge and gold for each of us. The daggers Murnia wants are 15 gold for the set, and once we have them only Ronwick and Ivy will be the only ones missing weapons.”

Murnia opened her mouth to speak but before she could Ronwick interrupted.

“Guava been fishy ever since we hit Charles stall. Tried to hold back payment, ‘member? How you know he good for it this time Alex. Ion like the guy always smells fruity.”

Murnia rolled her eyes and let out a small chuckle. “Ronwick, you know the man sells fruits right?”

“Don’t matta, man a creep. I seen him licking his lips one time when Ivy passed his stall. Ion like da guy. He don’t feel right.”

“Yeah, he don’t feel right,” Rouge spoke up in agreement. The twins would usually repeat or reinforce one another in everything.

“He don’t feel right but he does pay decent and give out his slightly old fruit whenever we stop by. The last job with him then we moving business elsewhere” Alex said.

…

Snapping out of her thoughts Murnia returned to her duty of trying to wake the young master up. They never got that chance to move business elsewhere.

><>

A.K. awoke to the shaking of Murnia, he hadn’t slept well last night. Especially with the revelation from System. Then before he could contemplate on it deeply Murnia spoke up.

“Young master, we must get you ready for the training with your mother today. We will be going to the left of the estate as soon as you finish preparing. Duchess Kan is already preparing the training field for you.”

A.K. almost forgot, who was he kidding, he did forget. Too much running through his mind within the last 24 hours. Another thing he wondered about. Why did this planet have 24 hours like Earth but several more months? A.K. couldn’t distract himself now though. Finally, he would learn about magic and how to utilize it properly. A.K. could always feel it. Throughout the air and his body. It was a foreign sensation, yet now that he felt it A.K. knew he could never go without it. If only he could realize how to use it for himself.

‘System why was I not given any cheats as a transmigrator/reincarnator of this world?’

Dear A.K. System is your cheat.

Fair enough. If it was truly as A.K. assumed System allowed you full control of how your body progressed when increasing in strength. It did not randomly assign any stats or points besides the ones given every level up. A.K. continued with his morning routine and once he was ready Murnia lead him to the training ground prepared for him.

><>

Keala watch as A.K. slowly walked up to her. She could tell the boy was tired as he had slight bags underneath his eyes. Did he stay up thinking about the princess? She did, already putting plans and schemes into motion. The boy walked up to her and gave his proper greetings. Then perked up as he saw the straw dummies step around the field.

“Today we will begin your introduction to magic with a few points of its history and how you need to utilize it. First, what is magic? That question cannot be answered so don’t bother raising your hand to ask.” Keala said while looking at her son who was in the process of doing exactly that.

“I will explain to you the three truths and threes false of magic today. Truth number one. Magic is everywhere in every world, and plane we have explored to this date. No matter if it is a lessor or our high world magic can be found throughout every corner.” As she explained this to Aegeus is could see a troubling expression upon his face. “Go ahead and ask your question.”

“What would happen if a world had no magic?”

“Aegeus every world has magic. It just depends on what its inhabitants call it. Some have called it essence, some qi, others aether. We call it magic. The Empire as well as some of the surrounding races believes it to be the function energy of the universe. The Empire in collaboration, have created mana dead zones to test and see if anything could live. Within minutes any living being would die out. So to answer your question, no world will not have magic.”

Keala took a pause before drinking tea a servant was carrying on a tray close to them. “The second truth is. magic cannot be used up. Meaning you can suck all the magic out of a zone but Gaia will always return and refill it. In essence, it is an eternal resource. The Empire is slowly discovering ways to properly harness it.” Keala let A.K. process the information for a bit before continuing.

“The first false we know of magic is that it cannot be used in only one state. This means that no matter if the subject is awake or asleep magic, can be used by them. Before the Empire was established and humans were still slaves to the other races of the continent. Humans utilize magic by either ritual or sacrifices to ancient monsters. We never knew that we were only asking for permission to use what we always had. This is why the state of magic is the first false. The Empire is discovering new ways to use magic every day. For example, our magi cores are a product of that utilization. The idea came from the ancient and intelligent monsters humans used to worship.” Keala took another sip from her drink and continued her explanation to A.K.

><>

Moriah looked out the window at Duchess Keala and Aegeus. It looks like her plans would have to be put on hold for a bit. No matter the Angelo family always believed in completing multiple tasks at once without having to expend too much energy. That's why she was sent to the Duke's capital city with a few other messengers. The Kan had withdrawn from the capital in the last few decades only presenting themselves when necessary. It was part of Moriah's responsibilities to re-establish friendly relations and get a scope of what they were up to. Her part was over and it seemed her guards completed theirs as well.

Now she needs to do some serious planning on how to establish a firmer relationship between herself and Aegeus. She wondered if he inherited both abilities of the two different bloodlines. Moriah now had a year to plan out how to get A.K. into the capital or her out of it. After a year of magical training with his mother, she was sure the duke would start the brutal training regiment of the Kan successors. Hopefully, he wouldn't harden up into a shape she couldn’t manipulate. The training the Angelo family youths go through was already on for her. She used this event as an escape and moments of respite and gained from it.

Perhaps she could use her next birthday as the opportunity. Her Mother Empress would surely be more agreeable during that period. Moriah watched as A.K. tossed out his first fireball and turned away with a smile.

><>

Keala glanced at the window Moriah was at previously, then smirked. The little vixen thought she could benefit from the Kan without a cost. She was far too young to try and step into the world of adults so soon.