Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I did not know how many days had passed since I was born.

By my sense of time, perhaps around three months?

The information I had gathered during that time was greater than I had expected.

‘First, this place is not the Earth I have known until now.’

I had thought I had reincarnated into the modern era, but that was not the case at all.

This was a place where mages and knights, mana and dragons, monsters, and the like existed.

This place, the Pangaea Continent, was a medieval fantasy world of the sort I had only seen in novels.

‘And I was born into a family called a prestigious magical family of that continent.’

One of the three prestigious magical families that the Deccan Kingdom boasted of.

The McLaughlin Ducal House.

In that famous family, I had been born the youngest of four sons and one daughter.

‘To think I was born as the fourth young master of a family famous for magic. Am I lucky?’

That was what I thought, but once I realized that my mother was not the lawful wife, but a concubine, I could not help falling into despair.

Usually, a concubine’s child was bound to be viewed with prejudice.

‘Even the tags in my status window plainly say I am an illegitimate child, so there is no denying it.’

Still, I should count myself exceedingly fortunate that I had not at least been born a beggar or a commoner.

In a medieval setting like this, discrimination based on status was bound to be severe.

‘Well, I suppose the weak being oppressed is not much different from the modern world.’

This was a world where mages and aura users were treated as nobles, but in that respect, the modern world had been the same.

After all, it had been a world where gates and monsters existed, and Awakened Ones who wielded supernatural abilities as Hunters were given special treatment.

‘Still, to think I was born not into some other family, but into a ducal house second only to the royal family in power. My starting point is rather good.’

In novels, ducal houses usually carried a cold and stern atmosphere, but that did not seem to be the case here.

Not when the man called my father had been looking down at me with such loving eyes from the moment I was born until now.

“Look at our Zeke. He is looking straight into my eyes.”

“How could he not, when you are staring at him so intensely?”

Zeke McLaughlin.

That was my name.

The Western-looking man gazing at me so fondly was named Gerard McLaughlin.

Supposedly, he was the greatest mage in the Deccan Kingdom, having reached the 8th Circle.

‘If what the servants whispered in front of me is true, that is.’

At times like this, there was no better position for gathering information than that of a baby.

After all, no one would think that a child less than a hundred days old could understand their words.

“I wish his hundredth day would come sooner.”

“Wait just a little longer. There are only a few days left.”

“Hehehe, I cannot help looking forward to it. I wonder just how much genius our Zeke will possess...”

‘From the sound of it, my hundredth day must not be far off.’

There was a reason my father was acting so impatient.

It was because once a baby reached a hundred days old, there was a talent test that no child on the Pangaea Continent could avoid.

‘Since this is a family of mages, of course he wants to confirm whether his child has a talent for magic.’

I did not know what sort of result would come out, but I was nervous.

I knew nothing about how the talent test was conducted.

‘In any case, they would not do anything harmful to my body.’

When he looked at me with such loving eyes, he did not seem like someone who would do anything bad.

Nor did I want to give up the life I had been given with such difficulty.

‘The place I reincarnated into is very different from the world I knew, but I still have to live.’

Whatever the case, it was a newly granted life, was it not?

Now that things had turned out this way, I had to live.

‘And the system said it too. If I grow stronger, I can return to my original dimension.’

The original dimension must mean Earth.

At the very least, it would be best to prepare for that time.

‘From now on, I will erase the name Choi Kang-jun. I am Zeke McLaughlin, the fourth young master of a prestigious magical family in the Deccan Kingdom.’

Choi Kang-jun, no, Zeke, latched onto his milk bottle and once more strengthened his will to live.

***

Gerard McLaughlin.

He was an 8th-Circle archmage bearing the title of duke, the pride of the Deccan Kingdom, and the man who had founded the family called the greatest of the three prestigious magical families, but...

“Mmm.”

At least for today, he could not help being nervous.

It was the day of the talent test for his adorable youngest son, whom he cherished beyond measure.

“Are you nervous?”

“To be honest, I am.”

“He will take after you, so this time as well, he will be found to possess the finest talent. Why are you so nervous? Do you think he might have no talent?”

“I am not worried about that. He is my son, so of course he has a talent for magic.”

Zeke’s older siblings had also been unable to avoid the talent test, which was practically a rite of passage.

Each time, they had been judged to have innate talent for magic.

That was only natural, since a mage’s talent was greatly affected by heredity.

It was also common for one family to produce outstanding mages generation after generation.

Therefore, Gerard was not worried about a poor result.

“The reason I am nervous is the opposite. It is because I am hoping my son might be an unparalleled genius.”

“You are hoping for a genius among geniuses? Even though the First Young Master has already surpassed ordinary talent?”

“Of course. We may be one of Deccan’s most renowned magical families, but you know as well as I do that we must not grow complacent here, do you not?”

“Do not worry too much. Deccan may be a small kingdom, but there is no one in Deccan who would dare touch you. And you have me, do you not?”

At the sight of his second wife taking his hand and smiling gently, Gerard’s tension melted away like snow.

“Thank you, Dana. Marrying you was truly the right choice. I will treat you well for the rest of my life.”

“Oh, goodness. Me too...”

‘My parents are positively dripping with affection, are they not?’

Watching through narrowed eyes a scene that would surely make the lawful wife jealous if she saw it, Zeke once again pretended to be asleep.

It was because he heard someone outside.

“Lord Patriarch! The Court Mage has arrived.”

“Is that so? Understood. I will go at once.”

At the servant’s announcement, Gerard and Dana quickly went out to greet him.

Outside, Christina, the lawful first wife, was already waiting.

“Ah, you were here too.”

“Hurry. His Grace the Duke is waiting.”

After saying that, Christina glared at Dana as she passed by.

As the first wife, there was no way Dana, who had taken her husband’s attention and love, could look pleasant in her eyes.

“Duke Gerard McLaughlin. Have you been well?”

Outside stood a robed mage with a graying beard, smiling.

“Welcome, Master.”

“Master? Did I not tell you to observe proper etiquette in public?”

“My apologies, Duke Dalfred Vigsland.”

At Gerard’s words, Dalfred smiled in satisfaction and stroked his beard.

For the oldest Court Mage in the Deccan Kingdom, it was a rather playful smile.

“I was joking. Call me comfortably.”

“Welcome, Your Grace, Duke Vigsland.”

“Have the two ladies been well? It has been a long time, yet both of you are as beautiful as ever.”

“Hoho, you flatter us.”

“So, the reason you invited this old man is inside there?”

“Yes. It is my youngest son. He has reached his hundredth day. I hoped that you, Master, would personally conduct his talent test.”

“Of course I should. He is my disciple’s child. Who would do it if not me?”

Dalfred’s eyes gleamed like those of a bird of prey as he gestured with his staff.

“Let us go. I am greatly looking forward to seeing how exceptional the child will be. Heh heh!”

Dalfred’s expectations were only natural.

His disciple, Gerard, had already reached the same 8th Circle as he had, despite being a young man in his late thirties.

How could he not have expectations when such an exceptional disciple had had a child?

“Is this the room?”

When they entered the reception room, the hundred-day-old Zeke was sleeping with an innocent face, oblivious to the world.

“My dear disciple’s baby is asleep, I see. I wonder if he will wake if I infuse mana into him.”

“If he is a child of our family, he will enjoy it instead. So please confirm his talent quickly.”

“Goodness, my dear disciple is terribly impatient.”

“Hoho, he has been looking forward to it so much that he could barely sleep for days.”

“If he was born into the McLaughlin family, he must naturally have been born with talent. The question is how much talent he has.”

“Master. Please stop talking and...”

“I understand, so stop pestering me. I will check at once. But even with us talking this much right in front of him, he sleeps remarkably well.”

Dalfred thought he had fallen completely asleep, but that was not the case.

Zeke had quietly opened his eyes to a slit and was observing the situation.

‘That old man is the Court Mage who is also Father’s master.’

Thanks to the servants chattering about Dalfred for days, Zeke already knew quite a bit about him.

They had said he was an 8th-Circle Court Mage who had stood like a pillar protecting Deccan whenever it fell into crisis.

He had heard that, despite being seventy years old, Dalfred still displayed vigorous skill and remained active.

‘Well, soon he will retire, and Father will inherit that position.’

That was probably why Father had called him to personally conduct the talent test, both to spend time with his master and for the sake of the test itself.

Zeke had heard that it was customary for someone else to confirm the results of a talent test.

‘He probably wants to boast as well. To show that his child’s magical talent is this outstanding.’

Even Zeke did not know what the test result would be.

He had a skill related to mana, but he knew nothing about mana itself.

‘Well, I was born with the genes, so I should be found to have talent. Then will I have to learn magic as I grow up?’

If he had talent, he was willing to learn magic.

There was nothing bad about living as a mage.

‘In this world, becoming a mage has the same meaning as becoming a Hunter. There is no reason to refuse.’

He had already been born into a wealthy and privileged family, so he would not starve even if he played around for the rest of his life, but he had no intention of settling for an ordinary life.

He was interested in this thing called mana, and he did not know what disadvantages he might face if he was born into a prestigious magical family but failed to meet expectations.

However, if Mana Absorption was possible, the story changed.

‘According to the skill description, I can raise my stats just by absorbing mana. If so, there is no need to become a mage.’

Of course, he could decide later which direction, magic or the system, was more advantageous for growth.

If necessary, he could learn both.

The problem was that he did not know how to absorb mana.

‘The system clearly said it sent me to the optimal location, so this should be an environment where mana can be absorbed...’

He still did not know what he had to do.

In a baby’s body, there was no way to check either.

At that moment, as if he were about to begin something, Dalfred gently wrapped his hand around Zeke’s tiny wrist.

‘Is he trying to infuse mana into me?’

Just as Zeke nervously tried to feel what this thing called mana was, an unexpected message appeared before his eyes.

[Mana is being infused into your body.]

[You can absorb the incoming mana.]

[The ‘Mana Absorption’ skill has been activated. Would you like to use it now? Y/N]

‘I can use Mana Absorption?’

In his previous life, Zeke had lived as a Hunter for eight full years.

During all that time, he had never once seen a message saying that Mana Absorption was possible.

‘But it is possible now?’

Because it was an active-type skill, he could choose whether or not to absorb it.

‘What should I do? Would it be better to absorb it?’

His hesitation did not last long.

If only to unlock the next skill, he had to raise the proficiency of the Mana Absorption skill.

‘Yes!’

A golden activation message appeared, and for the first time in his life, he used the Mana Absorption skill.

SHWOOOOSH-

He could not say exactly what it was, but it felt as though his body was sucking something in.

[You have absorbed 1 mana.]

[The skill’s proficiency has increased by 1.]

[Proficiency until 2-Star Achievement : 1/100]

[You can turn the skill On/Off. Would you like to keep it activated? Y/N]

‘It really was absorbed?’

Zeke’s eyes widened.

Seeing that Mana Absorption could be used just as he had expected, a tsunami of emotion swept over him.

‘I will keep it activated. So give me more! More...!’

Zeke looked at the elderly mage with a gaze more intense than ever before.

***

“Ah, he woke up.”

“Has our baby woken up?”

It was not long after Dalfred placed a hand on him that Zeke opened his eyes.

“He must have been startled because I suddenly infused mana into him. He is certainly a talented child. To think he already sensed mana. Heh heh.”

Dalfred gave a hearty laugh at the talent shown so early, then infused mana again.

To confirm a mage’s talent, there was no choice but to use one’s own mana in this way.

“Do not worry, little one. I will finish quickly...”

Just as he infused mana and was about to properly observe the body’s reaction, Gerard’s worried voice came from behind him.

“Wait a moment, Master. Zeke must be startled. His eyes suddenly went wide, did they not?”

But Dalfred was just as startled.

Because he had sensed something and hurriedly pulled his hand away.

Gerard watched him with puzzled eyes.

“What is wrong, Master?”

“N-No. It may have been my imagination. I will begin the test again.”

Dalfred placed his hand on the wrist once more.

Then he infused mana.

He hoped that what he had just felt had been his imagination.

However.

“…….”

Before long, Dalfred had no choice but to withdraw his hand with a stiff expression.

“Wh-What is wrong? You suddenly look so serious...”

“Gerard... I do not know how to say this...”

“What are you trying to say that you are hesitating so much?”

“This child...”

Dalfred squeezed his eyes shut and said, “Has no talent for magic.”