Chapter 1

         Five years have passed. Kyle was living in the slums, and thus, he was having a difficult lifestyle with his new mother. He was aware that he was the son of the prostitute. She didn't give him a lot of love and he was able to roam almost freely all days. If he was honest to himself, Kyle was fine the way the things were. He didn't have conflicts between his affection for his late parents and his bond with her new mother since the later was nonexistent and he was able to gather some information, albeit incomplete since he wasn't allowed to leave the slums.

         The world in which he lived was called Entalia. The main continent measured around 275km and was surrounded by a narrow strip of water and a seemingly endless void. In the north of the main continent, simply named Continent, there was a bridge of water a bit shorter than the Continent that lied in the void and, on the other of this sea bridge, there was a single, extremely tall mountain that stood there. It was so tall that it was visible from the capital, even though they were separated by several hundreds of kilometers. It was said that all monsters were born there and that, several millenaries ago, the High-Elves secluded themselves at the top of this mount Primortis for some obscure reasons.

         The other races populating the Continent weren't really new for an adept of fantasy stories like Kyle. Dwarves lived in the mountains in the east, Dark Elves occupied the forest at the south whereas demons, beings with beast features lived in the meadows and swamps of the west and humans lived in the north plains.

         Kyle was born in the slums of the city ruling the Continent. By the name of Swordhold, it proudly standed in the center of the Main Land, standing against the tall dwarfish mountains. It was the siege of Consortium, four leaders, one from each race, ruling together in the Continent.

         The other reincarnated were all reborn in this city and Kyle caught wind of rumors that affirmed that they were astonishing the nobles by their sharp intelligence and were promised to a bright future. Kyle smiled really wryly when he knew it. 'Looks like I lost the lottery', he chuckled to himself.

         Today was a very special day for the little kids of this world. For the first time, they were going to be appraised by a priest of the church of Hina and Anih and would and long last if they were blessed existence. From time to time, gods were randomly blessing a newborn and give him a bright destiny. Around one toddler out of a thousand was gifted and they were really cherished by the Consortium that provided them with special education and care.

         Kyle, accompanied by his mother was going to the nearby church in order to get appraised. Magic was very scarce in this world and so a lot of people would be appraised only once in their lifetime. It was a very special day.

         Taking place at the end of the waiting line, Kyle was patiently waiting his turn when the carriages from the nobles arrived. There was only one cathedral at Swordhold and it was one of the scarce places where you could find both commoners and nobles. Getting out of these carriages, there was nine kids. Kyle instantly recognized them. Even though some hair or eye color changed, these facial features, expressions were undoubtedly his comrades'.

         Frantically searching through them, he saw almost everyone. Almost. Gwyn Fox, the teacher, was here and seemingly occupied a chief position along with Lion. Haedrig, Lyann, Logan, Farah, Krone, Sarah and Celes were following without precise order.

         Kyle stretched his neck to the maximum in order to see and hear what the priest was saying. And it was "As expected of heroes" like the priest himself said. They had amazing abilities like Mana Drain (extremely useful in a world were magic regeneration is really slow), or had access to lost magics like Time Magic or unique abilities like Farah Sandleader that got Lord Appraiser, an ability that allowed to appraise others without being noticed and without mana consumption.

         When the turn for Kyle to be appraised came, he was a bit anxious, like if he had a bad feeling. The priest appraised him with his remaining mana points and found something really disappointing. His mana was at rock bottom. Only 10 when an average citizen had between 50 and 100. His gift was rather cryptic, called Mana Increase, its effect wasn't stated.

         While leading the way back to home with his "mother", he didn't caught the ominous gaze full of disdain that was relentlessly casted at his back.

*****

         In the nobility carriages, the face of the children was stiff. They were pretty sure that Kyle was here, at the appraisal ceremony. He looked filthy, like if he hadn’t taken a bath in a long time but had the same gaze as before.

         “We will try to find him once back to our houses” Lion stated the opinion of everyone and they all nodded.