Chapter II: Krodoa 

Now that we have established to a certain degree a small aspect of Michael's past life, let us now travel some time in the future. 

Michael, who had died from oxygen deprivation was reincarnated in this new world, which he later found out was called Krodoa by its inhabitants. 

The current place of interest is in Michael's room. He, who had been reincarnated as a newly born baby, spent much time getting acclimated into his new body. 

One time, Kenneth (Michael's given name) had attempted to crawl out of his bed while unattended, but had found out that the bottom part of his body was almost completely immobilized. 

It wasn't to the point that he couldn't move it, but his legs could only support him enough that he could walk slowly.

What came as a surprise to the baby was now something that had become a part of his everyday life. 

Kenneth had resorted to receiving assistance from his mother, who he had now known as Mikaela. She was the wife of George. A beauty that had all the curves in the right places, coupled with her mature aura had gotten her reputation as the "man" in the house. She was strict with her husband, and wouldn't be flirty if they were in front of the kids. 

George on the other hand, was a capable father. He had a raging libido, and would sometimes take it out on his wife in the middle of the night. 

This did not mean he was a bad parent by any means, no. He'd often come over to pick up Kenneth from his crib and play with the baby. 

Kenneth was not the only child in the family. Along with him, he had two other siblings, his older sister being Lena and his older brother Lucas. 

He'd never bothered to ask who was the actual older sibling, but it felt more like Lena was, mostly because she had inherited the same mature aura that Mikaela had. 

Lena, with her blonde hair and bewitching appearance had gotten her mistaken for an adult woman multiple times in the past, which led to unforeseen instances where she'd have to teach the men harassing her a lesson or two. 

Lucas on the other hand had a muscular and toned figure that didn't match his childlike immaturity. He was the typical musclehead that opted to solve problems with his fists, and think about the outcome later, whether it be good or bad. 

Kenneth had learned to grow accustomed to the eccentric behaviours his siblings often portrayed. And it wasn't like he was any different. 

The first time Mikaela had attempted to breastfeed the baby, Kenneth slapped her breasts away. This led to his mother doing what he wanted and giving him something else. 

One might still be able to remember the addiction that Kenneth had in his past life. It was that of an addiction towards coffee. Iced coffee in particular. 

Kenneth was disheartened that he wouldn't be able to drink it in the early months of his life, for there was a danger of his teeth hurting from the ice. 

So he did what he could to resist the urge to cry for the beverage, and by the time he was actually allowed to drink it, Kenneth settled for one drink only. 

This was a huge improvement from his original behaviour, where he'd drink two to three cups back-to-back. 

Even if the addiction towards the drink was lowered from withdrawal, Kenneth still very much loved the drink. 

People who heard it would be surprised to find out that Kenneth would take all-nighters many times during the night, foregoing sleep for information on this new world. 

There were so many things to find out about, and Kenneth's limited screen time during the day didn't exactly help much to satiate his curiosity. 

Inside the load of information that Kenneth had gained from surfing Foogle (Google), the most basic fact was what surprised him the most. 

And that was the fact that Kenneth had reincarnated into a world that had magic. Magic, the sort that would allow a person to cast a fireball, or conjure a wave of water in front of them. 

One must've surely heard of it. There was no explanation from where the supernatural powers that people used came from, but if it was free to be utilized, then where was the harm in doing so?

Kenneth too, was no different from any reincarnators one might've read about. Upon learning that people were able to cast these spells through the help of a Mana Core, he eagerly began researching ways to obtain one.

His search was in vain though, as he had recently found out that only select people were born with this privilege. 

So the general idea on how Mana Cores worked was that the person using it would breathe in the Mana particles that existed in the atmosphere. These Mana particles would then travel through the body of a person the same way air would travel to the lungs. 

Except the people of this world had a unique function in their body that had allowed the Mana to be sent directly to the Mana Core, which was located beside the heart. 

If one were to think about it, then the Mana Core was basically the heart for magic. The Mana particles would, after reaching the Core, be amplified multiple times and sent throughout every vein of the person's body. 

This was the way that people were able to cast magic spells. And thankfully, the way to do so wasn't difficult. 

To cast magic, one had to have their minds picture the rough idea on how their spells would affect the world, how the person it was used on was affected, and how the spell was to be perceived when it was casted. 

Let us take a basic fireball spell, for example. Fire itself requires oxygen to keep on burning, so what would happen if the spell was used in an enclosed area, one that had no way of getting oxygen from the outside?

Then the person would find themselves to be dying from the same way our protagonist had once died. 

Next, the person was to picture how their spells would affect the person it was casted on, if there was one. 

Let us take another basic spell, this time Water Gun. The idea of this was that the water would spray onto the person affected, and cause them to be wet. 

But "Gun" is too much of a broad term for the spell. What type of gun was the caster employing? Was it a shotgun? Was it a sniper? There were many variables that one was to keep track of when casting magic. 

It is the same way for fireball. If the person casting it was imagining the fireball to be the size of a soccer ball, then they could, as that was the normal size for the spell. If they wanted it to be the same size as a car, then they surely could. 

The catch was that the mana required to cast the spell would increase in proportion to the factors stated. 

That was the beauty of magic. Everything was able to be modified. The weakest of fireballs could be adjusted to burn down an entire forest, or the weakest of rocks could be made to not shatter from any hits. 

Kenneth was different from the norm, though. His Mana Core, the one that he had been born with, was that of Mental Magic. 

His spells, or what he should have, weren't there yet. The only thing Kenneth had noticed from his new body was that he was more quick on picking up things. Not in the literal way, but in the sense that he was a quick learner. 

By the time he had reached six months old, he was already reading books on popular novelists. His parents, of course, did not miss his talent. He was tested on multiple occasions, and he proved that he was definitely in the top when it came to intelligence in his age group. 

The current Kenneth was lying in his crib, his back to the soft and plump cushion, while reading a book he had raised above his head. 

It just so happened to be that the light in his room was directly above his crib, so the light would often be shining into his eyes the whole time. He'd requested from George to take it out or at least lower the brightness, with the latter being done because his father didn't want to break it.

Thankfully, with the book above his face, he was able to block most of the light emitted, and allow him to put full attention to his reading.

There was always a danger of Kenneth accidentally letting go of the book and it falling onto his face, but the risk of injury was low. He had demonstrated multiple times that his arm strength was good enough for him to be able to hold a whole book without it falling for half an hour straight. 

"Yeehoo! Rise and shine, little brother! Today's a new day!" The door to Kenneth's room had suddenly burst open, revealing Lena, his older sister. 

Kenneth hadn't forgotten that blonde hair. His older sister would often wake him up every day, sometimes using forceful methods to get the baby to wake up if he didn't want to. 

So Kenneth had adopted a schedule of waking up very early. Thankfully, he still had his mental clock from his last life, as the feeling of waking up early to go to work had practically been ingrained into his head. Kenneth was so efficient at waking up early that he'd find himself to be up a whole hour before his alarm went off. 

"I'm already up, Lena. Been up for a long time already. This novel is just too good to pass up sleep for. Anyway, what's the plan for today?" Kenneth replied, his eyes focused on the book he was reading. 

Kenneth had long started speaking. It was actually the act of him talking that had sparked an idea in Mikaela's head for them to take their son to get his intelligence tested. 

The family had long accepted that Kenneth had grown up quicker, as the months went by he was seeming more and more like an adult than a toddler.

 "Oh, you know. The usual! Mother is taking us to go to the park. Isn't it a great day for a walk?" Lena exclaimed happily as she went over to draw the curtains. 

The sunlight from the newly risen star had already seeped through the lazily closed curtains, but now that they were fully open, Kenneth couldn't help but cover the front of his eyes with the book, shielding his pupils from the sunlight. 

"I guess so. Has Mother thought about my proposition yet? I've always wanted to go to the Argonsville Training Center."

The city where Kenneth was born was called Argonsville. A speck of land in the magnificent planet that was Krodoa, but still it was the capital of Fahndra, the main country of the continent. 

"Mmm, not yet. Mother says that you can't go until you display some form of combat prowess. You know how she's not that supportive of you fighting." 

Mikaela had originally disagreed with Kenneth using his abilities for fighting, but our protagonist thought otherwise.

"Come on. What's the use of all this power if I can't even use it to battle against some mythical beast? It'd be a waste if it was just left here, used for reading books." Kenneth replied, a bit disgruntled from Mikaela's unsure decision. 

"Well, it's Mom. She's a bit overprotective at times, but she means well. How about I show you some of my magic spells?" Lena smirked, gathering mana in her fingertips. 

Lena was a Light Magic user. One could say that this was a perfect fit, as her bright and cheery personality meshed well with her innate element.

"Sure, why not? I've always wanted to see your magic in action. And besides, I might be able to learn a thing or too from you." Kenneth responded, his tone sounding a bit more merry.

"Let's go then, did you bring your walking stick?" Lena questioned, worried that her little brother would trip over. 

Kenneth wasn't completely incapable of moving by himself. Whenever his siblings weren't nearby, he had grasped the idea of walking by himself. 

At first he'd trip a few times, but that was part of the process. Even if he was practically a cripple, he didn't intend to neglect physical exercise. 

The sight of a toddler walking around with a wooden stick not even the size of a chair was peculiar, but was not on the same level of the obscure secrets of this world.

Kenneth answered affirmatively, and soon the two were on their way downstairs.