The rest of the conversations were mostly Teres asking questions about how changing body felt like and different tests, both for health and his interests. 'Renal' couldn't really remember that clearly since was really distracted after thinking about what to do.
'I can't really kill someone just because they knew the old 'me' can I? But living as the son of a noble seems far better than working as a mercenary for a temple I don't know anything about. But how could I possibly pretend to be her lover? Not only am I nowhere near that good at acting, but also it could be crueler than having her killed. But no matter what Firth is dead and I should be Renal now he said to himself.'
'Guess I should start by considering what I want now as new me, and my first dream is to make a garden. Really I might have been forced upon the task when I was a kid but I grew to love it.' However he wasn't sure if this body has the same affinity as his last one so this could be hard, but even if it wasn't it was manageable. This dream should be equally hard to achieve whichever was picked, possibly easier to get land from the 'father' but that would mean he was under his wing instead of the relative freedom working for the temple.
His second dream is to see the world after all his entire last life was in a single building.
'This has good points on both ends; in all of history nobles have travel passes and if I'm working for the temple they will arrange one for me. Teres told me my father owns a few ships, but working for the temple means you travel for a living. Freedom to go where I want to go could be as stifled in either case, don't know enough. If I do work for the temple it means that I'm not thrown off the deep end with information of this world, but also I'm going to have to work for money. And getting the magic-tomes to read that fits the environment should be hard if I go join my family, Teres said magic is backwards in this world.' Looking around he noticed quite a few things that told him that Teres home had quite a good grasp on magic, the tent had a gentle glow, his gear was well enchanted and few small items as pens that worked on magic. 'I really do need tomes and knowledge because my way of working magic is made to work when you have to maximise the mana you use, not when there is ample mana. On the off chance, I have to figure out magic for other affinities I do have a good foundation in them, but a foundation doesn't get you all the way.'
No matter how he looked at it working for the Temple seems like the better choice, but still being noble looked so good in all the novels and biographies he read growing up so he was leaning towards that. So after some more back and forth probing about each other and what he was leaning towards Teres got up and left the tent.
'How hard can it be to pretend to have lost your memories?'
Having almost decided to join up with 'his family' he started to take note of the condition of his body.
'Well it still hurt like you wouldn't believe but it didn't affect my lucidity any more, I feel detached from the pain somehow.' He couldn't move his body but if he tried he could feel more pain from that area. He only tried to move his fingers and got a spike of pain that did affect my lucidity and almost made him pass out. Well, that, in turn, made him instinctively move other muscles...
'Guess everything is there because it all hurts, but I could move it.'
Once he again regained himself he started to focus on the magic, it didn't feel like it was correct either.
'So will this mean the current mana, fire-water I have in my body will be my new affinity instead of the old one, wood-earth, or will it turn back when I start working mana myself? There really isn't a lot of it in my body despite how much mana there is around me. It wasn't only because of the talent it isn't good but it isn't horrible either, this one should barely be able to reach grandmaster after which talent is no longer necessary. I wished I got a body that was as good for magic as my last body at the very least.' While feeling relieved that he has a body suited for magic he remembers the only spells he used from fire-water was chill, and only enough to cool down drinks. 'If my affinity changes it means I get something new to play with, always wanted to try to forge things and make alchemical concoctions. But I need books for that as well, Temple of Death seems very tempting... But nobility stands for both power and money!'
Things he never had tasted the feel of, he was extremely curious about all of that.
'Would I be able to go around wed people, order people to do things, pass judgements, not doing my own laundry? Life outside home is also supposed to have seasons. As a noble, I can easier hide indoors when it isn't perfect.' And from talking to the Templar he understood working for them means fighting. 'I was really bad at sparring, amongst the worst even, might have improved now that I am in a new body but I doubt it. It wasn't just that I simply had no hand-eye coordination but I never figured out what spell fits best against others, and I really never enjoyed it like the rest. What fun can you have in getting hurt intentionally?!'
'Oh, why don't you keep being noble while joining the temple?' passed through his mind but was quickly shot down, well joining the temple means that Renal is dead and his family is told that. And if he doesn't join them they won't invest into me, they will just make sure that I am not an evil spirit or old necromancer that took over a body, besides it isn't the temple that will 'invest' in me but rather Teres personally that will.
'And why do I understand the language when I can also clearly hear it wasn't the same as my own?' Is language something that is so drilled into the body that it passes over? Will other things also pass over? Will he feel something odd when meeting the lover of Renal or even recognise people he's never met. He felt it would be kind of creepy but interesting. 'What is body memory really? Should talk to Teres about this when he gets back since this is his interest more than mine.'
This would be under Life magic; wood magic just like Plant magic he practised last life however it is classified in a different school nonetheless. Even then is a subgroup of Life magic; Mind, it really is a vast specialisation. Plants were easier to study for him last life, especially when there really only are humans to study. And you couldn't really dissect any of them without getting into trouble.
And after thinking that he just accepted falling into a state of deep sleep his body craved.
After having another interrogation or 'health check-up' by Teres he traded knowledge of the local worlds, yea local worlds plural. Seems like there are three naturally connected worlds that exist with a pathway between them. 'Wonder if that book I read about portals will allow me to create more connections?' Teres is apparently from the most human-dominated world, that isn't as 'backwater' as this place, it is a place where mages are relativity common and respected. Unlike here where they are suspicious and hide in the fringes of society, or hired by the very top.
The world he is from, Zajia, is under the control of several large empires and almost exclusively inhabited by humans. Non-humans exist but mostly as servant classes or fringe groups.
The one we are currently on, Tyara, is far larger but humans don't have control of a large area. Mostly wilderness covered by ruins of other races. The large factions are the two kingdoms, one of which Renal is from, the empire, steppe warlords, and colonies from Zajia. And the large enemies are the elven empire that is large enough to cause all of the human lands to band up against it is they attack and a lot of smaller beastman enclaves or tribes. Also, Teres tells with a lot of revulsion that even his land's colonies use slaves here.
Lastly, there is Demon land. Not much is known other than some sort of insect species live there, they seem content living on their own world but will kill anyone that trespasses.
There are a couple of smaller 'shard worlds' or largely unexplored but not any of interest, too little mana or life he tells Renal.
"So where do you come from?" Renal asked the templar.
"Well the temple is in control of the land around one of the portals, or rather we govern it in conjunction with two of the three neighbouring empires. So I can't really call anyone empire as my own since they raised me but I can't really call the temple my home any more either since I've been travelling as a Templar since I became an adult." With a smile, he continues. "Though I do feel more at home in Zajia, I'm less of an oddity there."
