Goldilock Estate

It took 4 days of uncomfortable carriage riding, wild camping and tons of thinking but we finally made it to the Baron Goldilocks estate.

I had plenty of time to run away if I wanted to, even with 3 soldiers and 2 maids looking over me but I chose not to. The main reason for that was information. I know nothing about this world at all the baron's house might be a better place to get some knowledge about this world than just wondering on my own and another reason was my lack of strength.

Thanks to the memories of young Damian I knew for a fact that there were adult knights who could slice a thick stone wall with a single swing of their swords and they were at the bottom of the power hierarchy. So I was like an ant living among dinosaurs.

The large gate opened and the carriage entered the premises and stopped in front of the main entrance of the villa. A soldier opened the carriage door and I was met with a group of people. The most eye-catching of which was a young girl of 7-8 years with her short golden hair and big black eyes. On the side was a maid with black hair with a sweet smile on her face. And then there was a middle-aged butler-looking guy with a white beard who came forward to greet me. There were other maids in the back but they didn't look that important since they were standing at a distance with their heads lowered.

"Master Damian, I welcome you to the estate of Baron Marcus Goldilocks."

"Ah.. yes nice to meet you."

For some reason, my simple reply surprised them but it was just for a second. The man smiled brightly while placing his hand gently on my solder.

"Yes, Master Damian it is indeed nice to meet you."

He guided my focus towards the young lady and introduced her as Lucian Goldilocks - My future wife. I made a courtesy to her as well but I only got 'humph' in return after which she turned around and left.

Yeah, that's exactly how I thought this would go. The maid did an apologetic bow and hurried after her lady, while the butler started giving a tour of sorts until we reached a room where I was supposed to stay. They left me there telling me to ask if I wanted anything.

The soldiers and maids that came with me returned the same day while I was lying in my new bed which was more or less the same as my last bed.

That night Baron's family who were present in the keep held a small welcoming ceremony of sorts for me. I met the lady of the house and some cousins or relatives who were either squires or in handmaid training.

My supposed fiancé ignored me with passion and other people had somewhat similar opinions of me except the butler who was for some reason adamant about making me feel welcomed. I ate, showed the minimum respect that I was supposed to and left right after it ended.

Finally, alone in my room, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was afraid they would ask me to show my status tool but it seems that wasn't such a big thing for them. Perhaps they already had all the information on me and judged it meaningless, but anyway, it was good news for me.

Now all I needed was information about my place in this world, as much strength as possible to survive in the wild and a chance to run away.

So the first thing I did the next day after waking up was to head directly towards the Library. It was far from my room and I had to ask several maids for directions before I reached the large room. It was pretty big with thousands of books neatly placed on shelves.

"I guess Baron Marcus really is loaded!"

From last night's absent-minded conversations, I knew that Baron was in a better situation than the rest of his neighbours including us even though we had higher status as the Marquises.

It was nice to see that I was not under any kind of supervision, or maybe someone was keeping an eye on me but I just didn't know. But then again I was just a 5 year old dumb kid.

I started to just walk through the Isles first to see what kind of books they had. Fortunately, the young Damian was taught reading and writing even though it took him far longer than his siblings compared to Earth this world sure was hardcore.

After checking all the bookshelves I started with history, then geography somewhat avoiding philosophy and politics since it was not that important yet and finally went into the main dish which was magic and the class system.

History was mostly useless crap about propaganda and what king defeated who. The most important bits were that this world or this continent had a rather strange strength-based class system. The more power you have, the higher your position. The royalty must be the highest ranked individual in the area, while Dukes, marques, counts and other nobles were a fixed number of people and one could get that position with individual strength. There are various rules of course and rarely anyone gets it with a challenge but still, it was an option.

The kingdom I was in was called Dawnstar and the area I was currently in was far North of the mainland.

The magic system though, now was a game changer. According to my few hours of reading, there were five main classes that every person could choose. You needed mana for some of that but even without mana you could train your body to the limit and become a pugilist.

Five classes :

1) Mage: Those who possess mana in large quantities and can control it with Fiennes. High INT is needed to become a mage class. There are hundreds of subcategories of a type of mage one could be which are still refreshed every few decades.

2) Pugilist: At the peak of physical limit one's body breaks through the limits of humanity and becomes a conductor for the world's mana which a pugilist could use as their aura. The amount of mana a pugilist can channel is only limited by their body limits.

3) Spellsword: A unique combination of physical techniques and Mana channelling that only the very best can achieve. Balanced stats are needed to become one.

4) Esper: A unique magical ability that is different for every individual who receives this class. Everything that is strange or unclassified belongs to the Esper class. A large amount of mana is required to activate their abilities. Considered to be the weakest or strongest class depending on what ability you get, which is always a gamble.

5) Rune Shaper: Mainly a crafting class. Every profession that uses runes for channelling or harnessing mana is called the Rune Shaper Class. It is rumoured that Runes are the ancient language of gods which was left in the mortal world for the betterment of humanity.

"If strength is what I am most after than becoming A Spellsword is a good option but a balanced stats are needed for that. With my 45 INT mage is most likely what I would be offered and should select. But mages are very limited in practicality, right now my INT is high but for future growth I am wholly relying on my bloodline. Which is another form of gambling. Hmm I will have to think this through."

The fact that to get a job people of this world had to do an ascension ritual which was more like a rank-up exam was fascinating to me. My first Rank-up would commence when I reach level 25. The job options you get offered during this ritual are based on what kind of skills you acquire before ascending. Most nobles put emphasis on trying to get all kinds of skills to unlock a prestigious job.