1 Awakening

As I lay on the floor, taking my last few breaths, I started reminiscing about my life.

Did I live the life I wanted? Did I achieve the things that I wanted the most? Those questions constantly kept revolving in my head; the answer?

No.. indeed, simple life for a simple man. Don't get me wrong, I had a loving family and friends, I wasn't rich or poor, but those weren't enough for me. Even though I had these ambitions, I never truly did something to elevate myself from mediocracy, which bothered me the most about myself.

Great ambition without the discipline or the dedication to back up all those dreams of mine.

`What a wasteful life,` this was my last thought as I drew my last breath.

…

The reverbing sound of the thunder woke me up.

"Fuck".

That was all I could say with how bad my head was hurting, as I was sitting in the bed clutching my head until the pain faded away and I could see things clearly around the room.

The thunder occasionally lighted the dimly lighted room. I could see a more medieval type of architecture. Standing up, I walked around the room to get a clearer picture. Looking around, I spotted a mirror. Walking in front of it, I saw myself. Black hair accompanied by crystal blue eyes, a well-defined face and a height of around 1.80m overall, a handsome man.

The problem was that the face in front of the mirror wasn't mine.

`Did I just transmigrate after dying, or was I reborn and just got the memories of my past life on earth?`

Taking a deep breath, I start recalling the memories of my current self. The basics are that I am the second son of a noble -count, to be exact- and this world has mana/magic. My sixteenth birthday is getting closer, as is my admission to the royal academy, which almost all noble children attend to increase further their martial or magic prowess and form connections with other nobles.

The academy also selects 50 commoners who display great talent or have potential. Even though most commoners get harshly treated once they step inside the academy since most students are nobles, that doesn't stop them from attending it since it's undoubtedly the best academy in the kingdom.

As all these thoughts about the royal academy, kingdoms, and nobility start to sink in, I can't help but think about my previous life and the fact that I'm already dead there. Sure, that wasn't the life I dreamt of living, but still, the lingering feelings towards my family and my friends and the 20 years' worth of memories make me unable to accept that I just died like that without any accomplishments.

`What a wasteful life… .`

My last thought before I died kept reverbing in my mind. Since I was given a second chance in a world where anything could be possible, shouldn't I make the best of it?

Having made up my mind, I once again focus on the memories of my current self, Michael Dacre; coincidentally, Michael was also my first name in my previous life. Anyway, the kingdom I'm currently in is called Kremia, one of the four leading kingdoms. The others are Xylem Kingdom, Sanctus Kingdom and Veeral Kingdom.

Humans populate Kremia, Sanctus, and Veeral kingdoms, contrary to Xylem, inhabited by elves. Unlike many stories from earth elves here aren't that reclusive, and they often interact with humans, albeit they prefer staying inside their elven kingdom.

Kremia, Sanctus, and Xylem are neighbouring kingdoms, and Veeral is a kingdom in the middle of the sea like an island.

Even though each kingdom has academies to nurture its younger talents, the Royal Academy is the best since everything there was built to bring out the best in each student and help them reach a good state before graduating. So its training grounds, professors even resources are one of the best, if not the best. And as I said, shouldn't I make the best of it since I was given a second chance?

Getting me out of a stupor is a screen that suddenly popped in front of me

--- Status ---

Name: Michael Dacre

Age: 15

Rank: E+

Strength: E+

Agility: E+

Stamina: E

Intelligence: E

Mana: E

Charm: A+

--- Profession ---

Swordsmanship lvl.2

Mage lvl.1

--- Techniques ---

Draconic sword art:

(A powerful and versatile sword technique made by Nathaniel Dacre, an ancestor of the Saint household.)

Ice Domain:

(A technique that allows the user to create a domain of ice. The more mana is used, the bigger the domain and the more skills the user can create.)

------------

As it is shown in my memories, the awakened get a status screen that shows them their progress in each stat and their profession.

"It seems that I'm somewhat talented."

The ranks for each awakened person are

G- /G /G+

F- /F /F+

E- /E /E+

D- /D /D+

C- /C /C+

B- /B /B+

A- /A /A+

S- /S /S+

Me being at E+, close to breaking through to D rank, is a significant achievement since only at 16, I'm ahead of most people since the majority of them when entering the academy, are between F+ and E-.

Of course, the first thing I should do since I was from the earth is to sense mana. From the memories, I calmly take a deep breath, and I get this feeling starting from my brain and going toward the rest of my body.

"Shit, this is addicting."

As I was marveling at the effects of mana on my body, someone knocked on the door.

"Enter."

"Master, it's time for your morning routine."

I just nodded, and the maid retired.

The good thing about being transmigrated into this person is that our personalities align, so I don't have to change much in the way I speak, only the etiquette and the manners since when greeting nobles, I should conduct myself in a certain way.

Now about the morning routine that the maid mentioned, it seems that I usually woke up at 5 A.M for a run around the castle and some basic exercises with my body and the sword before beginning the 'official' workout later in the day.

Changing my clothes and wearing something more fitting for a workout, I get in the bath, splash some water in my face, brush my teeth with this world toothbrush that is a stick that produces a mint flavor, and of course, clean the teeth.

Taking a deep breath and savoring the mint-flavored breath that is still residing in my mouth I calmly look at myself in the mirror.

"Aren't I a bit too good-looking? I might fall for myself."

Pushing off my narcissistic thoughts, I get out of my room and navigate myself outdoors while occasionally nodding at the maids and the guards.

Arriving outside the castle, I saw that it was still raining, but the occasional thunder from my awakening stopped.

`I always hated getting wet from the rain… .`

"Sigh."

What can I do? I have to keep the pretences up until I figure out everything, from how to treat my new family to, eventually, my future goals.

I started running, which doesn't increase my current stats, but my previous self always did it as a routine.

After finishing four laps around the castle, I arrive at the barracks, where I start doing the rest of the morning routine, which consists of push-ups, crunches, and the basic sword movements, which consist of, lunge, which is the basic attack move, parry which is the basic defensive action and finally riposte which is the counterattack after a successful parry.

Finishing my morning routine, I head straight back to my room, take my clothes off and go in to take a bath where the maid has already prepared everything.

Getting in the bath, I close my eyes and start thinking about my inevitable with my family. From everything that I saw in the memories is that the previous me had a closer relationship with his sister, which won't be too hard for me to imitate since I, too, had an older sister in my previous life, and we were close, but the relationship with his parents was a bit distant, not completely alienated, it was more like greeting someone politely rather than greeting your child.

Still, that was fine because I didn't want to act like a proper son when I already had the best parents.

And, of course, I wasn't the only one being treated like this by my family. My sister also was treated like this, which is why I think the siblings were close because they found solace in each other.

`Okay, enough thinking for now, let's meet my family.`

I can't help but feel excited and nervous at the same time.

Dressing a bit more formally, I let the maid stationed outside my room guide me to the dining room.

Walking, I can't help but marvel at the aesthetic of the castle since right now, with no sun rays, the only way of light is the mana candles -which essentially is a mana stone imbued with light magic- makes the corridor leading to the dining room somewhat eerie coupled with the stationed guards and the continued rain.

Yes, I like this type of setting.

Anyway, arriving outside the room, the guards officially greet me and start opening the door. I nod at the maid and take my first step inside.

Can't help but smirk a little and wonder what is in store for me.