《The curse of eternity》 Prologue: The start of the endless Alice Leno, 16, high school student. Both my parents died in an accident when I was 5, leaving me in the care of my aging grandparents. As such, ever since I realized that they had not much time in their life, I decided to work my best in order to repay them for taking me in. Time became my best friend and my worst enemy. Never is there a moment where I relax, always rushing against the clock. Now, the only reason why I¡¯m able to go through my entire life story is simple. Everyone is too slow. This lesson is too slow. What should¡¯ve taken 20 minutes to explain, has dragged on for another 20. Making the most out of my time is my mission, so I absolutely can¡¯t stand the fact that this lesson about calculus is taking forever. This teacher is hopelessly inefficient. You would think that a bespectacled, big breasted woman would teach faster since she fits the typical trope of a confident and intellectual teacher; but no~. Shy and timid, roundabout explanations, she is the epitome of what people call incapable. I may be harsh, but clearly, this woman doesn¡¯t fit the bare minimums every teacher should have. No offense, but I simply think this woman is just here to fill up the spaces this school should have, probably on minimum wage too. Not good, at this point, I¡¯m simply just ranting. Well, since the teacher is this slow I¡¯ll just move on ahead to the next topic, advanced calculus *shudders*. Oh, there¡¯s the bell, school¡¯s out. Damn, wasted too much time monologuing as usual. Stand and bow, and there she goes. With practiced movements, I pack my belongings into my bag with ease and leave the classroom. Even as I walk I¡¯m reading up on the next topic, just to reduce the amount of time I need to spend on it. As I read, I grew deeper into a trance, focusing mostly on the book and walking, and as such completely neglecting my surroundings. ¡°AHHH!¡± A sudden scream shocked me out of my trance, by the time I looked up it was already too late. A truck was hurtling towards me, and I had no more time to dodge out of the way. A second later, I was sent flying from the collision, landing headfirst with a crack as I blacked out. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. I woke up gasping for air. Wait, how am I even awake? ¡°Greetings.¡± What was that voice? Where the hell am I even? I woke up surrounded by white walls, and now there¡¯s some random voice speaking to me, is this the typical reincarnation trope? ¡°Sigh. I told those goddamn idiots not to give those authors these ideas! There goes the goddamned surprise factor¡­ And yes. This is your typical reincarnation trope. I swear to god I¡¯m gonna murder those guys..¡± I heard most of it, except the last part, was whispered. It¡¯s probably nothing important. So you can read my mind, I¡¯m definitely dead I guess. At least tell me why I¡¯m here, aren¡¯t supposed to go back to the cycle of reincarnation or something. ¡°They even told them about the reincarnation cycle?! Excuse me, I shall explain to you now, why you¡¯re here.¡± Great! Finally making some progress- I mean thanks. ¡°No need for formalities, Alice. We both know how much you hate it. Moving on. The reason you¡¯re here is because Fate is especially cruel to you. It has robbed you of many things, the lives of your parents, and the time you could¡¯ve spent doing other things.¡± Okayyy. So some piece of shit decided to mess with me? ¡°Yes- I mean no! You can¡¯t call Fate a piece of shit- Nevermind, I take that back. Yes.¡± What now then? I¡¯m dead, I basically can¡¯t get back the time or whatever I lost right? ¡°Yes, yes you can. I¡¯m giving you the choice to reincarnate into another world-¡± With magic and swords and stuff right? Plus game-like status too? ¡°...Yes. I swear I¡¯m getting sick and tired of the shit the other gods are giving out- Ahem, and you¡¯ll get one power to go with you to the other world. Pick out one from the list, and if it¡¯s not there I could make it for you, as a special service *wink*.¡± How can you wink if you¡¯re a voice? Nevermind, don¡¯t answer that. Can you just display the time-related ones? ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking, and there are no time-related ones. Are you really sure you want to do this? It¡¯s worse than a curse by Fate you know.¡± Yes, I know what I¡¯m doing. I think. No point questioning me further. ¡°Understood. I shall create the skill and title for you. I hope you don¡¯t regret your choice, and good luck.¡± Thanks. =[Embodiment of time] created. Bestowing title and skills relevant upon Individual: [Alice Leno]= =Sending soul to the world of Chaos, Sengaia= =Soul transfer complete= Once the mechanic voice stopped, my consciousness faded again. And here I thought I¡¯d see God¡¯s face. Heh, guess I couldn¡¯t ask for too much. Good bye and good night. Chapter 1- Overview of the World, and a peak at status Chapter 1 Ah. Good morning. Why is it so cramped? It¡¯s pretty dark too. Eh? What the heck. What¡¯s pushing me? Wait¡­ I think I have an idea where I am. No wonder I couldn¡¯t breathe. Haha. Since I¡¯m in the womb it makes sense that I can¡¯t breathe. I¡¯m such an idiot. Ah, I see light! Let there be light! There we go. Woah. This lady looks pretty good. Shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes, sharp features, she looks like something straight out of a drawing. I wonder how good my mother looks if this lady looks this good. ¡°The delivery was a success, Milady.¡± Strange, how can I understand their words? A benefit from being reincarnated? I¡¯ll take it then. Oh the lady¡¯s passing me to my mother, I can¡¯t wait to see how she looks like! ¡°My! What a cute girl!¡± Oh my. I did not expect this. My mother looks just like an angel! How is this possible? Black hair that goes down to her waist, baby-faced yet looks refined and fresh, eyes that seem to accept everything. ¡°Dear! Come here and take a look at our baby girl!¡± Oh, is that man my father? He looks just as good as my mother! Sharp and aggressive black eyes, chiseled chin, short black hair, is my entire family a bunch of models? The way they dress seems elegant too, apart from my mother since she just gave birth to me. Eh? Why does he look worried? ¡°Angelica, are you sure she¡¯s fine? She didn¡¯t even cry when she came out.¡± ¡°Of course! Look, she¡¯s reacting to what we¡¯re saying.¡± As my mother said this, she flashed a brilliant smile at me. I couldn¡¯t help but smile back. I mean who could resist when an angel smiles at you? Ah what a loving atmosphere, hopefully it stays this way. ¡°We haven¡¯t named her yet, dear.¡± My mother reminded my father, as everyone seemed to have forgotten about naming me. ¡°Oh right. Hmm¡­ how about Alice? Alice Leno?¡± ¡°Perfect! From now on your name is Alice!¡± Is this some kind of coincidence? Thank god, at least I don¡¯t have to adapt to being called a different way. *yawn* I¡¯m suddenly very sleepy¡­ This must be because I¡¯m a baby, right? Well, I¡¯ll just take it in stride then. Good night. 2 years later. Turns out I was born in a noble household, namely the Leno household. Apparently, we¡¯re some upstart noble household, since my father¡¯s a general in the army. My mother is called Angelica, while my father is called Desmond. The lady that first carried me out is apparently our only maid, Lillia. At first, I was wondering why our house only had one maid, since I assumed we had a mansion or something. Well, I was almost right. Our house is something between a villa and a mansion, many rooms yet not that huge. In my first year after being born, or reborn for that matter, my mother read books to me, allowing me to pick up the language fairly quickly. The alphabets are much like the roman alphabets, making quite easy to learn. It could also be thanks to the skills I got after being reborn here. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Name: Alice Leno Race: Human HP:10 MP:10
STR:10 DEX:5 AGI:5
WIS:10 INT:10 DEF:6
RES:6
Skills: Otherworlder: Language comprehension, Appraisal, Enhanced skill acquisition, Enhanced status growth] [Embodiment of time: RESTRICTED] Titles: Embodiment of Time Otherworlder
The average stats of a child at my age is 4. At this point, it¡¯s painfully obvious how out of the norm my stats are. Hopefully there¡¯s no one that can check my status, since I¡¯d rather not let my stats out to the public. The first question is, why are my [Embodiment of time] skills restricted. Well, let god¡¯s note do all the explaining. Note: For the safety of your mortality, I have disabled the entirety of this skill. Upon release of skill, you will lose your mortality. I repeat, YOU WILL LOSE YOUR MORTALITY. You will never age, you will never die until the end of time. This is exactly why I told you not to choose this skill. Along with the loss of your mortality, you will lose your mana pool, meaning you will never be able to use magic. EVER AGAIN. Understood? Ok. That¡¯s all. End. Yes, this is exactly what it said. No mincing of words, just straight hard facts. I admit, maybe I wasn¡¯t in the right mind when I decided to ask him for this skill, but what¡¯s done is done. It can¡¯t be too bad, right? Moving on. Right now I¡¯m in the study alone, since I managed to learn how to walk around the second year of my birth. Everyone was freaking out when they saw me start walking away from the toys they gave me. I mean come on, you guys gave me a bunch of boring blocks to play with, who wouldn¡¯t walk away from them to find something else to do? Normal babies I guess. Anyways, ever since then my parents have let roam around the corridors, only when Lillia is watching me though. Which leads me to now. I begged my parents to let me into the study, just so I can find something more entertaining to use my time on, and to figure out the details of this world. No way did I not want to act like a kid. Definitely not. Right now I¡¯m sitting on Lillia¡¯s lap, reading a book titled ¡®The history of Sengaia¡¯. Yes, it¡¯s a history book of this world, Sengaia. Based on this book, it is widely accepted that a singular god created this world, before creating more gods to oversee it. This single god is referred to as The Creator, simply because he started everything from nothing. The main 2 gods he created were the Goddess of Light, Aleissa, and the Goddess of Darkness, Klarissa. From there, Aleissa created the humans, whilst Klarissa created the demons. Both races look very similar, the only difference being that demons use mana from the surroundings to cast magic, whilst humans rely on their inner mana pool to cast magic. This mana pool will regenerate over time, and the overall size of it determines one¡¯s lifespan. That¡¯s to be expected, since mana can also be referred to as Lifeforce, since every living being has or is connected to mana in some manner. Then we have the typical humans versus demons bullshit. This book was written by a human historian, most likely commissioned by the Kingdom to do so, in order to propagate the fact that demons are bad and humans are good. This is made more obvious by the fact that the Church¡¯s teachings say that the Goddess of Light and Goddess of Darkness are fighting against each other, with the Goddess of Darkness trying to cause chaos throughout the world. Sounds like a load of nonsense to me. If both Aleissa and Klarissa were on bad terms on each other, why would both races look similar to each other? Well, enough of that religion stuff. Based on the book, the Kingdom has summoned heroes to fight against the so-called Demon King, in order to ¡®preserve¡¯ the safety of humanity. I definitely won¡¯t believe it until I see the demons for myself. There are also other races apart from the humans and demons, such as elves, dwarves, dragons, and mermen. Each race strives in a specific environment. The elves are at their best in forests, where they are in tune with nature. For the dwarves, they prefer to live in secluded areas, preferably near ore deposits, where they then build their communities in tunnels. For the dragons, they are rather spread out, but most live in high altitude areas, such as the top of valleys, or caves atop mountains. Last are the mermen, where they live in the sea and protect the sea life from excessive hunting or killing. The thing that sets apart the demons and humans from the other races, is their adaptability. You gotta admire the foresight of the Goddesses, making it so that their races could live almost anywhere. Next is the history of the Kingdom, at first, the Kingdom was fragmented into four different kingdoms, which waged wars on each other for territory. Well, that was about a thousand years ago. A hero was summoned by one of the kingdoms, who then forcibly took over the throne of the kingdom that summoned him, and quickly conquered the rest of the kingdoms with unparalleled strategies and tactics, making him the first person in history to unite the four kingdoms. Well, all the names of these kingdoms are lost, and now the Kingdom is simply called the Kingdom. Me and my family are located in one of the four major districts, Ravia. We are down in the south, and the other three districts are called Lemia, Selomn and Welia, for the north, east and west districts respectively. The Ravia district is the closest to the demon kingdom, and as such many soldiers are sent here to join the frontlines. My father was no exception, as he joined the army as a commoner before climbing up the ranks to become a general, and starting his household. The other three districts are focused mainly on production and training of soldiers, however, the book does not go into detail the specifics of each district. ¡°Lady Alice, that is enough reading for today, it is time for bed.¡± Oops. Time¡¯s up. ¡°Yes, Lillia.¡± Lillia then brought me back to my room and put me in bed. And yes, my speaking is perfect, those hours of practice really paid off. Apart from my parents making fun of me, that is. Well then, good night, and till next time. Chapter 2- Status check Chapter 2 Hello again. I¡¯m 10 years old this year. If you¡¯re wondering why I¡¯m suddenly 10, well, not much happened in the past 8 years. Well, I spent most of my time reading, so much till the point where my parents were worried whether I¡¯m sick. Whoopsie daisy. After that my parents limited my time in the study to 4 hours, which is still pretty long in my opinion, but the problem isn¡¯t that. The problem was, they tried to get me a playmate after that. Like, a kid who was 4 years of age, about the same as I was at that point in time. Of course I refused them, I had a mental age of 20 years, and still had to deal with a kid who couldn¡¯t keep up with my conversations. I was literally on my knees, begging my parents to not find a playmate. In the end they settled by letting me choose a playmate, much to my reluctance. After much screening, mostly just me asking the kids about the history of Sengaia, I found a boy who seemed much more mature than his age, which made it less painful to have a kid playmate. His name is Rufus, and he came from the Cabal household, which my father has close ties with. He¡¯s around 6 years of age, well, now he¡¯s 14 years old. He¡¯s quite into books, same as me, and when I asked him about the history of Sengaia he could recite it down to the letter, which was pretty impressive for a 6 year old boy. Well, despite getting a new playmate, my lifestyle didn¡¯t really change much. Since both Rufus and I liked reading so much, we both cooped up in the study and read books together, much to the dismay of my parents. Well enough of that. I got out of my bed and peeked my head out into the corridor. Seeing that it was empty, I put on a one-piece dress, got out and started roaming around. I walked till the living room, where I noticed my mother quietly sitting at a table drinking tea. Wanting to surprise her, I sneaked behind her before covering her eyes with my hands. ¡°Guess who!¡± ¡°Oh dear, good morning, Alice.¡± ¡°You could have at least acted a bit surprised, you know?¡± ¡°Haha. Would you like a cup of tea, dear?¡± ¡°Yes please.¡± I took my hands off her eyes, before sitting on the chair at the opposite end of the tea table. My mother took the teapot and filled a cup with tea before passing it to me. I accepted it and took a sip. Hah¡­ This world¡¯s tea is pretty good, at least the tea I¡¯ve been drinking so far. It¡¯s sort of a mix between Earl Grey tea and Green tea, I¡¯m not really sure to say the least. Hmm. My mother is acting suspiciously normal despite knowing today¡¯s my birthday. Maybe she already told me what we¡¯re doing today? I can¡¯t really remember, but I remember her saying something about going to a church¡­ ¡°Alice, do you know what we¡¯re going to do today?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ Something about going to a church?¡± ¡°Close. We¡¯re going to get your status checked at the church today.¡± ¡°Really?! I can¡¯t wait!¡± Shit. I really hoped that this cliche event wouldn¡¯t happen. I just hope it doesn¡¯t display any skills. ¡°After you¡¯re done with your tea we¡¯ll go, the carriage is already waiting outside.¡± ¡°*Gulp* I¡¯m done! Let¡¯s go!¡± My mother then led me out of through the front door, where there was a wooden carriage waiting. The driver opened the door for us to get on, before closing it and moving the carriage off. *** Well, the ride was bumpy, to say the least. Our house was located quite far from the main city, about a 20 minute ride on a carriage. From a distance you could already see the massive city walls, that encircled the city. As we got closer, I could see the guards patrolling the top of the walls. How did they even get there in the first place? I guess some things are meant to never be found out. The carriage suddenly came to a stop. As I peeked my head out, I noticed that we had already arrived at the entrance to the city. There were two guards donned in full plated armor, both wielded massive pikes as they stopped the carriage for an inspection. How do they even move that quickly? You gotta admire the strength of these guards! After a quick check and greeting by my mother, the guards let us into the city. The streets were quite lively, merchants set up stalls at the sides of the road with some that were particularly popular with the people. As we travelled further down the road, the merchant stalls were replaced by actual shops. Oh, those clothes look so cute! As I asked my mother why there were so many shops, she simply laughed it off and told me that there were more shops in the shopping district of the city. How do these people even make a living with all the competition? After a few more minutes, not that I really know how long, the carriage finally stopped at a very fancy building. The doorway was arched, and two wooden doors with window panes made up the only the entrance into the church. There was tower-like structure emerging from the back of the church, yet there were no windows whatsoever, it seemed fairly creepy. The roof of the church was pointed, just like any normal house, however, the walls had many huge colorful windows.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Both me and my mother alighted the carriage, before entering the church through the wooden doors. What greeted me as I walked in were rows and rows of benches, arranged such that they were facing the altar and statue at the innermost of the church. Behind the altar was a stone statue of a woman dressed in something like a greek dress. Looking closely, I could only assume that this was the Goddess Aleissa, since her beauty looked inhuman. What happened to creating a race in your image? Maybe she just forgot the rule? Or does it not apply here? Whatever. ¡°Good afternoon, Miss Angelica. To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence to?¡± Eh?! What the heck! Where did this baldie even came from? I couldn¡¯t even hear his footsteps! ¡°Good day, Archbishop Kaloth. I came here today to register the status of my daughter, Alice.¡± Clearly my mother isn¡¯t surprised. Hmm. This old man looks pretty crafty, maybe it¡¯s just me? His white robe basically screams ¡®Holiness¡¯. His cuffs were lined with golden threads, similar there was a golden thread of sorts going down both sides of his robes, and there was a weird symbol at the center of his collar. ¡°I see. Well then, follow me this way.¡± The old man led us down some corridor I didn¡¯t manage to notice at first, into a waiting room of sorts. There were two couches, and on the table there was something like a keyboard and a crystal ball. So this is how magic replaces technology, interesting. He then motioned for me and my mother to sit on one of the couches, before sitting on the couch with the keyboard thingy facing him. ¡°Now then, I shall use the skill [Appraisal] to see Alice¡¯s status, before recording it down onto a status card.¡± Oh no. Not good, please please don¡¯t show my skills. A wave of ¡®something¡¯ went through me. So this is what being appraised feels like? So uncomfortable. Eh? I saw the baldie¡¯s brow twitch for a second. Mother doesn¡¯t seem to have noticed. I¡¯m probably just seeing things. The old man then started typing away on the keyboard thingy, before putting his hand on the crystal ball. It started glowing, before something rectangular came out. So that¡¯s the status card? ¡°It is done, Miss Angelica.¡± The old man then passed the card to my mother. Her eyes widened in shock. Eh? Is my status really that bad? I strained my neck just to take a peek at my status. === Name: Alice Leno Race: Human HP: 1000 MP: 1000 STR: 50 AGI: 37 DEX: 40 DEF: 46 WIS: 60 INT: 78 RES: 58 Skills: -NIL- === Wait. What? Aren¡¯t these stats a bit overboard? I don¡¯t remember doing anything to increase them or anything. Well, WIS and INT makes sense, since I¡¯m always reading. The rest however, seem utterly ridiculous. What kind of cheat character am I? ¡°My, my daughter is truly a prodigy! Thank you very much, Archbishop Kaloth. We shall take our leave now.¡± My mother finally snapped out of it. We bade farewell to the baldie, before returning to the carriage home. Whew! At least my skills weren¡¯t visible to him, otherwise it¡¯d be quite problematic. Well then! When I get back I¡¯m gonna drown myself in books! *** Good. They finally left. Just what were those skills? I¡¯m fairly sure the [Otherworlder] skill is meant for the summoned heroes. Does that mean someone summoned this girl? No, impossible. The summoning ritual is a royal secret, and replicating it would also take several skilled magicians. And that [Embodiment of time] skill. Never have I seen such a skill before, and it was even restricted. Judging from the skill, it seems to be a unique skill. I think she¡¯d be a good addition to the hero¡¯s party, except I don¡¯t think her mother would allow it. Furthermore, it¡¯s still restricted, and the only way to unlock it would be to cause extreme stress. Hmm, her father is also a threat to the throne, I have the perfect plan to get this girl. I typed out the status of the girl again, printing another status card. ¡°One!¡± As I called out, a man dressed in black seemingly came out of nowhere. ¡°Take a look at this.¡± As I showed the card to the man, he eyes widened in shock, before turning to one of curiousity. ¡°My lord, what is this [Embodiment of time] skill?¡± ¡°That is what I want to know. It is the perfect time to get rid of General Desmond, and to also add another member to the hero¡¯s party. Stage an ¡®accident¡¯, fire preferably, and kidnap the girl. You have 1 month.¡± ¡°Yes, my lord.¡± The man then once again vanished, most likely off to inform the others of the plan. ¡°Maybe with this, we can finally conquer the demons. Haha, hahahaha!¡± Chapter 3- Birthday party Chapter 3 We spent the trip back mostly in comfortable silence. I gazed out of the carriage, appreciating the lush and green scenery. However, as we were almost back home, my mother asked me a sudden question. ¡°Dear, would you like anything else for your birthday?¡± Another gift? I thought that the status card was my birthday gift, but it turns out it was something every kid did once they became 10. Why didn¡¯t Rufus show his to me then? Anyways, a birthday gift huh... I know! ¡°Mother, I want to learn how to use a sword!¡± As I declared this, my mother¡¯s smile cramped up, but upon seeing how I was so visibly excited, she relented. ¡°Would you like your father to teach you? Or maybe a tutor from outside?¡± Hmm. A tutor? I don¡¯t think a tutor could compare to my father since he¡¯s a general and all. ¡°I would love for father to teach me!¡± Mother merely giggled at this, as the carriage finally arrived at our house. There, Lillia was waiting on the front porch. She came up to the carriage to the carriage and opened it, before stepping aside and bowing. ¡°Welcome back, Milady and Lady Alice.¡± Mother nodded at Lillia, before heading back into the house. I quickly followed after her, where we headed up to the study to look for father. Coming up to the study¡¯s door, it was slightly ajar, and I could see father looking over some documents. Hard at work as usual. Mother gestured for me to go in. Ah I see, she wants me to surprise him right? I slowly open the door, sneaking up behind him. I took a quick peek over his shoulder and saw that most of the documents were about military supplies. Is there even a point to this war? I jumped towards him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. ¡°Father, we¡¯re back!¡± ¡°Woah there. Welcome back Alice, welcome back dear.¡± Mother stood there with a smile on her face as she watched the situation. ¡°Father! Mother said you would teach me how to use a sword as my birthday gift!¡± As I said this, father stiffened for a second, before turning his head to look at mother. She was smiling the whole time, but it felt as though there were some hidden conversations happening as they locked eyes. Eventually, father dropped his shoulders as he sighed. He put his hand on my head before he started ruffling it. ¡°Sure. When would you like to start?¡± ¡°Tomorrow!¡± ¡°Haha. Alright, off you go.¡± After that father shooed me away. Maybe mother and father have to discuss something? I hope my birthday party isn¡¯t that fancy, though. I walked away from the study, without a destination in mind. As I was wondering around, I caught Rufus hanging around in the garden. When did he get here? I walked up behind and peeked over his shoulder. He seems to be wrapping something up? ¡°Hey, Rufus.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.Woah. He suddenly jumped when he heard my voice. Suspicious. ¡°O-oh, hey Alice. I- I thought you were out with your mother today?¡± ¡°We just came back. What¡¯s that with you?¡± ¡°O-oh. This is uh¡­ A project! Yeah, it¡¯s a project I¡¯ve been working on! Hah...haha.¡± ¡°Really? Can I see it?¡± ¡°No! I- I mean, I¡¯m not done with it yet, and I don¡¯t wanna show something unfinished.¡± I guess I¡¯ll stop teasing him now. ¡°Eh~~ Alright then. But you gotta promise to show it to me once you¡¯re done with it ok?¡± ¡°Sure thing, I promise.¡± After I flashed him a smile, I turned around and headed back it, and I could hear him letting what seemed to be a sigh of relief. I suppressed my giggles as I headed off to figure out what to do to pass the time. *** It¡¯s night time! Every birthday party has to be held at night, right? Ah¡­ I can¡¯t wait to see what everyone¡¯s gotten me. ¡°Lady Alice, it is time for dinner.¡± ¡°Okay~¡± I hopped off my bed and followed Lillia to the dining room. As I opened the door to the dining room, I was greeted by the sight of a giant banner with the words ¡®Happy birthday Alice!¡¯ and my family and Rufus standing around the dining table. On the table was a creamy white cake, with a candle sticking out which was already lighted. ¡°¡±Happy Birthday Alice!¡±¡± Everyone shouted out together, snapping me out of my momentary stupor. I couldn¡¯t help but smile, as my mother beckoned me to take a seat. ¡°Blow out the candle and make a wish, dear.¡± I closed my eyes and clasped my hands in front of my, similar to praying. A wish¡­ I wish for the good times to stay this way. As I kept my wish in my, I blew out the candle, and everyone clapped. Mother and father came up to me with a black box. ¡°This is from us, dear.¡± I took the box from them, before opening it up. Inside was a necklace with a helix-shaped ornament. Within the helix was a red ruby shaped to look like a heart, making the necklace look somewhat exotic. ¡°Thank you, mother! Thank you, father! I¡¯ll treasure this!¡± After putting on my necklace, Rufus came up to me with something wrapped up. ¡°Here, this is my present for you. It¡¯s a journal that uses mana from the surroundings to add more pages when you run out.¡± ¡°Really?! Thank you so much, Rufus!¡± I practically tackled him with a hug, thankfully he didn¡¯t fall over. After that I took the present from him before unwrapping it, completely oblivious to his blushing face. The journal cover was brown, and the entire thing seemed to be held together by leather bindings. On the center of the cover was a blue colored crystal, surrounded by many geometric shapes that joined together. This is probably how the thing gathers mana, right? Afterward we all sat down and had dinner, whilst chatting about various things that happened throughout the day. Ah, how I wish these times would last forever. Chapter 4- Sword training, with a bit of a boom. Chapter 4 As I was laying in bed enjoying my blissful sleep, my door was suddenly slammed open, causing me to jump up in shock. ¡°Wake up Alice! Change and meet me in the courtyard in 5 minutes!¡± Charging into my room with an oppressive pressure was my father. Instantly I was swept up into his pace, as I quickly rushed to put on a simple linen shirt and trousers. As I was changing, my father was already waiting at the courtyard for me, and I quickly rushed down. He stood there waiting with his arms crossed behind his back. At his sides were two wooden swords embedded in the ground. ¡°Good job Alice, much faster than some of the soldiers in the army.¡± Ugh, should I call him father or sir? Better safe than sorry I guess.¡± ¡°Thank you, sir!¡± ¡°Haha. I guess I don¡¯t need to tell you what to call me anymore. Alright, down to business. Before you even pick up a sword, we¡¯re gonna have to do some basic training. 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and 100 laps around the courtyard. Go!¡± What is kind of training is this?! I pray that I don¡¯t go bald. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± This is gonna be a long day. *** ¡°Hah...hah¡­ That was hell¡­¡± Holy shit. You gotta admire the people who can do this shit every day. Even with my ridiculous stats, I was barely hanging on. ¡°Good job. Now get up, that was just the warm-up. Now pull out the wooden sword from the ground.¡± ¡°Is that all? Isn¡¯t that too easy?¡± ¡°Easy? You¡¯ll see for yourself.¡± Well then. I unsteadily got up to my feet, before staggering over to the wooden sword. I grasped the hilt, then tried to pull out the sword from the ground. Eh? Why is it not moving? This has to be a joke right? Instead of using one hand, I switched to using both my hands, yet it still refused to budge. ¡°Haha. Not so easy right? I used a strength of 100 to wedge that sword in the ground. That¡¯s the bare minimum for you to start learning the sword forms. Guess you¡¯re not strong enough yet huh? Go for another round of exercises, we¡¯re gonna focus on building up your strength.¡± Oh god. Please please tell me you¡¯re joking. You¡¯re not right? Hah¡­ Maybe it was a mistake to do this. ¡°Yes, sir!¡± I guess the long day became indefinitely extended. *** As usual, I get out of bed and slip into my training gear, a simple linen shirt, and trousers, before heading down to the courtyard to meet father. When I¡¯m there, he is already waiting there with his arms crossed in an imposing stance. ¡°Good morning sir!¡± ¡°Good, you¡¯re getting up much earlier than before. Do the same as usual.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100 rounds around the courtyard. This is the endless hell that had fallen upon for the past week. Wake up, do these exercises, try to pull out the sword and as usual, fail, before repeating the exercises. Today is different, though. For every time I try to pull out the sword, I could judge the progress I¡¯ve been making, and it seems like today is the day I finally succeed. Completing my exercises, I walk up to the sword and grasp the hilt as usual, yet this time I¡¯m brimming with confidence. Pulling on the sword with my full strength, it finally dislodges itself from the ground. ¡°Finally! That only took like what, a week of torture?¡± ¡°Good job Alice, most can¡¯t even take it out for months.¡± Well, I¡¯m basically a cheat character with this stat growth cheat. ¡°Now we¡¯ll start the actual training. Any sort of style you have in mind?¡± Style? Wait, does that mean my father knows different styles?! What kind of monster is he?! Mmm¡­ I lose if I mind it. Yes. Style huh? ¡°How about one that focuses on precise strikes and parries?¡± ¡°Haha! So the staccato style huh? It¡¯s a style that focuses on irregular strikes, focusing on pressure points and vital points. Add in parrying and you become a musical monster! Get it? Cause staccato you know. Hahaha.¡± Yeah¡­ Definitely funny father. I gave him a distasteful look when he told the joke, signaling for him to get over his joke. ¡°Ahem. Now then, have you already memorized the different pressure points in the human body?¡± How could I have not? I spent so many years reading, and the anatomy of a human body was one of the books I read the most. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.¡°Good, now I will show you a demonstration of how the staccato style would look like.¡± As my father said this, he pulled out his own sword out of the ground effortlessly, before taking up what seemed to be a fencing stance. He started pulling off high-speed thrusts, before inclining his sword which seemed to be parrying an imaginary sword, using the momentum to pull off a quick slash into a leaping thrust, seemingly piercing through an imaginary heart. I don¡¯t know how to describe it. Beautiful? Maybe that¡¯s what it looked like, but there were things I was sure of. Simple, efficient, deadly. ¡°Okay, now we spar.¡± What? WHAT?! Ok ok, so basically, my father shows me the style once and wants me to spar with him. Why I am not surprised anymore. ¡°Yes, sir¡­¡± I replied in a dejected voice. As we took up arms, I tried to copy the stance that my father took, albeit failing in the process. ¡°You will strike first.¡± Well ok then. Nodding in response, I rushed forwards, pulling off a downward slash. My father remained in his stance, before redirecting my sword to the side, then thrusting the blade to my neck. ¡°First off, your balance is off. Place your left foot straight in front of you, your right foot will arch at a 45-degree angle. Next, stand on the balls of your foot, so you don¡¯t get easily thrown off balance. Second, use your body to add more force to your slashes. You don¡¯t simply use your arms and swing, there¡¯ll be no force behind it. If you¡¯re slashing downwards, lower your body slightly as you bring your blade down, so you have more force behind your strike. You can figure out the rest for yourself. Alright, continue.¡± Nodding in response, I head back to my starting position, before taking up stance again. This is gonna take a while. *** ¡°Start!¡± Rushing towards him, I started off with a leaping thrust, which was easily redirected by him. He slashed downwards, prompting me to leap to the side to avoid it. I then followed it up with a horizontal slash, causing him to block instead of parrying, due to his awkward position. I quickly spun on my heel, before launching off into another leaping thrust. Due to the fact that I spun to the side of him, he couldn¡¯t bring his sword up quick enough, thus making me sure that I was going to win. That is, until he hit the flat of the sword with his palm, causing my strike to go off course. He promptly took a step to the side to avoid me, making me hit nothing but empty space. I landed in a crouched position, before spinning around only to find his sword pointed at my neck. Another loss again. ¡°Hah¡­ And here I was sure I was gonna win this time.¡± ¡°You did good Alice, and who¡¯d think you barely knew how to swing a sword 2 weeks ago. If you repositioned instead of spinning on the point, you could have won. Simply the difference between experience.¡± Right. Experience. I almost forgot the fact that father is an experienced general in the army. Experience huh? I wonder if I¡¯ll be able to kill anyone. ¡°Alright then, that ends today¡¯s training. Go wash up and meet me in the study after you¡¯re done.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Finally a break! I went up to my room, grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom. Yes, we don¡¯t have separate bathrooms, it¡¯s like a communal bath. Anyways, I slipped off my dirty clothes in the changing room, tossing them into a basket meant for laundry. I grabbed my towel, before heading into the bath. There were two outlets, one for cold water and one for hot water. Both were powered by a magic stone, which uses the user¡¯s mana to operate. Filling the bath with warm water, I lowering myself in slowly, letting the heat relax my muscles. Hah¡­ Warm baths are the best. After what seemed like 20 minutes, I wasn¡¯t quite sure, I came out of the bath and drained the water, before changing into a one-piece summer dress. I then headed to the study, knocking on the door. ¡°Come in.¡± Upon hearing that, I opened the door to the study, only to see something wrapped in cloth flying at my face. Thankfully, from the training with my father my reflexes had improved, and I easily caught the object. ¡°Father, what¡¯s this?¡± ¡°My gift for training so hard. Go ahead, open it up.¡± Following my father¡¯s words, I opened up the cloth that was wrapping it. Completely unraveling the cloth around it, I was astounded. What my father had given me was a rapier. Like, an actual rapier, not the one used for fencing. The blade was straight, with a keen edge on one side, most likely meant for slashing. The guard curved towards the hilt, much like that of a bird cage. The hilt itself didn¡¯t look remarkable at first, but upon looking closely, I could see how intricately wrapped the leather was around the hilt. I was stunned, simply at a loss for words. I stared at the rapier, before staring at my father. I tried to open my mouth to say something, but no words came out at all. Seeing my conduct, my father chuckled. ¡°You did good Alice, I was always worried that I was taking it too hard on you, but you pushed through. I¡¯m extremely proud of you.¡± Hearing this, I finally snapped out of my stupor. I stood at attention before bringing my arm up into a salute. ¡°Thank you, sir!¡± He put his hand on my head, patting it, before shooing me away so he could do his work. Afterward, not much happened throughout the day. I drank some tea with mother, watched Lillia prepare dinner, had dinner together with my family before heading back to my room for bed. Well, almost everything was normal that night. As soon I fell asleep, I was quickly woken up by a loud explosion before the sound of metal clashing started ringing. Chapter 5 The suddenness of it caught me off guard. I rolled off my bed, landing on the ground in a crouch. My eyes darted about in the darkness, one I was still not used to, looking for a threat. I relaxed slightly when the attacker I expected did not show. Moving to the corner of the room, my hand gripping the unfamiliar hilt, I unfurled the cover that wrapped around my blade. I stood up to full height. The blade, much longer than I was tall, scraped itself against the ground; Straining slightly, I hovered the blade above the ground, my feet moving silently across the wooden boards as I journeyed out into the hallway. The darkness barely impeded me; My body moved with the familiarity that came with 10 years of residence, and I moved down deeper towards the clashes. The sounds of clashing grew louder. Readying my blade, I turned the corner, ready to lunge at the first threat I perceived. I barely ducked under the flash of silver. I could feel the blade cut off strands of my hair, and I rolled backwards in panic, creating distance between me and the attacker. Scrambling to my feet, I held my blade in a guard, eyeing the masked figure in front of me.They were dressed in all black, their skin covered up completely. Their cold blue eyes stared down at me, widening slightly in recognition. My grip tightened on the hilt. It was obvious that who this was, was much more skilled than me. The only way for me to actually win would be through a stroke of luck or a stroke of divine intervention. Though, I highly doubt the latter would happen. ¡°What are you doing here? Why have you invaded my home?¡± I spoke out, trying my best to mask the nervousness I had at my prospective death beneath a calm exterior. They didn¡¯t reply, not that I really expected one. While it was not obvious why they were here, it didn¡¯t matter; They were here to hurt my family. On an unspoken signal, the attacker dashed forwards, and I barely brought my blade up to defend myself. My arms shook beneath the force of their blow. I barely held my guard, pushed down to my knees as I pushed back as hard as I could. I could feel the strain on my muscles, the pain increasing in intensity as I pushed my body to its furthest. I could barely defend against the kick that impacted against my side. The blow drove the breath from me, sending me crashing into the wall. The searing pain I felt in my side occupied my thoughts, and I hadn¡¯t noticed how close the attacker was until I felt their shadow loom over me. I looked up, frozen. My mind reached for the possibility of me using my blessing. I waited for the blade to descend upon me, but it didn¡¯t. They raised their foot, poised to kick me, and my eyes noticed the way the ground shifted when they stepped closer. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. I snapped into action. Ignoring the searing pain I felt in my side, I lunged forward with a yell, my attacker flinching for a moment. Wrapping my arms around their leg, I pulled back and lifted their leg up. With the difference between our stances, it was easy for me to leverage their weight against them, something they didn¡¯t expect. They fell backwards, slamming into the ground. A hole formed in the ground upon impact and the attacker was stuck in it. I scrambled for my sword, which had been knocked to the side upon my landing, knowing that they must have been dazed from the impact. Grabbing the hilt, I limped as fast as I could to the attacker, lifting up my blade overhead and preparing to swing down. I could see them scrambling to get out, but they had no way to leverage themselves out with the way they were stuck. They couldn¡¯t even hope to block my blade from descending down, splitting them from the top down, before the blade was stopped by the base of their neck. I watched as the blood seeped out from the split between their face, the way their grey matter spilt out and onto the ground. I turned around, bending forwards and puking my guts out at the nauseating sight. The smell of blood and vomit mixing together made me even sicker, and only served to prolong my agony. Wiping the remains of the vomit from my mouth, I stood back up, using my blade as a crutch as I stumbled my way out of the room. Finding my parents were of the utmost importance at the moment, though I had no clue of where they even were. The most likely place they would be is at their bedroom, and I made my way there, careful to make detours around any sounds of fighting I heard; The way I was now, I would definitely die if I had to fight another one of those assassins. Sticking to the shadows, I could only grit my teeth silently as I passed by my servants fending off the attackers. Though they were personally trained by Father, they were all felled one by one, and I could only berate myself for being so powerless at the moment. My condition was steadily worsening, the edges of vision blackening slightly as I felt faint. Thankfully, I had managed to reach my parents'' room in time. The door frame to their room was cracked, the door itself missing, and I couldn¡¯t help the pulse of fear that ran through me. I rushed over, leaning onto the door frame and peering in. The thing that caught my attention was the numerous bodies laying around, namely, those of the attackers. I fought down the nausea that struck me, my view snapping to the two people in the room. I let out a gasp of shock, wincing slightly as I felt the pain in my side flare up again. ¡°Alice?¡± My Father let out, having sprung up from the crouch he was in as he was tending to Mother¡¯s wound. I let out a sigh of relief. I¡¯ve found my parents.