Chapter 3 – New Beginning Part 1

At the time I was confused. (What was that all about, I died forty-nine times!? I thought this was some kind of otaku hell, but it just turns out I'm a disaster magnet! Not to mention, what the heck was that achievement crap about? If I didn't know better, I would have thought God is the CEO and Chairman of Macrohard, but that can't be right since that's an Earth company.) It took a while for me to calm myself; however, before I came to terms with this darkness, I was foisted into another life.

"Congrats, Anna. It's a healthy baby boy!! What shall be his name?"

"Yuriy, named after my ancestor, Grand Enchanter Yuriy Markov! May my little Yuriy bring glory to our family!"

(Hold up! Did this broad just call me Yuriy Markov? As in grand-uncle Yuriy!?!?) I always thought he was really drunk or smoking them rocks when he went on his tangents. There's one story I'll never forget. Whenever I asked grand-uncle Yuriy how he and grand-aunt Katya survived Holodomor since at that time both had been married at the ripe old age of 15, he would always say,

"Little Yuriy, (that's what he called me since I was named after him) Let me tell you a secret! This is not the first life I've lived. My last life, I was a great sorcerer a lot like Rasputin only without the four failed execution attempts and the dark past. The magic I used created a barrier over our thatch cottage and land. To the Soviets, all they saw were trees and fowl lands. One day, I will teach you a thing or two… wink."

(I guess this would explain it, but it doesn't make any sense, since there's no such thing as magic on Earth. Or maybe, it was told to the masses as a way to hide the existence of magic? Still, there's no way this is true. I must be in hell or some kind of sick dream!!) Noticing my upset demeanor, a male voice spoke up,

"Anna, little Yuriy looks hungry,"

The doctor(?) said. I've never seen a doctor like this fellow. He had no gloves or facemask and looked like he came from a cultivation novel with his black silk robes embroidered with golden dragons around his cuffs and around his waist. He even had a golden hair tie only royals within the Han Dynasty would wear.

(Please dear God, don't tell me this is a cultivation world!?!? I can't stand the unreasonable decision making, the "your courting death," the unnecessary grievances over stupid things and other nonsense. Those guys are complete madmen.)

"Come here my little Yuyu, let mommy feed you."

The woman… Anna said, as she brought me closer to her now bare breast. At first I just stared blankly, but then snapped out of it. (Hey lady, I don't know you, and my habit of putting random titties in my mouth got me into loads of trouble! I only do it when I'm gonna sleep with a woman. You're beautiful and all, but you're gonna need to take me on a date first before I put those jugs in my mouth.)

"What's wrong, my little Yuyu, are you not hungry?"

Anna asked as if she knew I could understand her; mother's intuition I guess, or maybe my face since I was scowling at her. If I could, I would have shaken my head no or just said no, but I was too tired for all that. I guess she knew my answer, seeing how I closed my eyes to sleep. At that moment, I heard that noise again,

"Congratulations!! You've unlocked the Achievement, Baby, my Baby! Since you survived more than 10 minutes after being born/inhabiting a vacant body (Finally!!) and even denied initial breastfeeding".

(Shut up, Wsphere online achievement message. This better not be what that admin dude was saying he'll give me, or I'm complaining to the top!)

"You've received a message for your designated administrator Uriel"

"No, the achievement system is not that special something as everyone I manage receive it. And I dare you to complain. Go on! You're gonna wish you'd never been born a 50th time."

(Not cool reading my mind, admin. That's invasion of privacy! I don't recall saying I agree to your terms and conditions! Whatever, I'll deal with you when I wake up.)

And so, my new life began. In this new world I go by my grand-uncle's name, Yuriy Markov XV and am the second male child of my parents Anna Markov and Johanne (Jo cuz I'm rude) Von Engelberg. Apparently, only the first male child takes on the father's surname. All other male children take on their mother's family name.

This is to ensure the lineages of each family continues to be passed down through the generations. Or so I was told by my parents. It was at the age of 2, my parents decided to relay this knowledge to me given I was a "highly active and well-mannered" toddler.

From the moment I could walk, I would always be seen in my father's study. Even now as a 6-year-old, I just can't get enough of this place. The smell of leather-bound books and oakish(?) wood furniture always reminded me of grand-uncle Yuriy's not so secret cabin he called the "secret cave."

"Man, I love this smell. Uncle Yuriy, I hope you're in a better place with Aunt Katya."

I said to myself while studying my (now) dad's almost endless archive of this world's knowledge. For starters, this world is known as Ohmdorra which is a fantasia world of swords, magic, and everything else D&D. Like most fantasia-based worlds, Ohmdorra didn't have any firearms or steam powered industrial technology. It was almost like living in a world before the dark age. The major difference, however, was the existence of magic!

For the most part, 1 out of every 1 billion people were born without magic ability; therefore, everyone either pursued power themselves or raised their children for this pursuit or sometime both or neither. Even though there are billions upon billions of people in this world, not everyone uses magic even if they have the ability to. A lot like Earth, not everyone drives even though they are of age and can.

In case someone doesn't want to use magic, they can always pursue power with their physical prowess. Though, there will always be those who don't use magic, nor physical strength to gain power, but by networking, or scheming.

You might be thinking, damn… that's a lot of people on this planet! There's no way things are like this, right? Well jokes on you! Despite a large number of people having the ability to use magic, only 10% of the population actually pursue it and 35% aim to be warriors. 5% of the population make up the schemers and merchants. Which leaves everybody else who'd rather live a simple life. You know… home, cattle, sex, children, and die of old age… simple life.

Anyway, in this world there are two common paths to take for those seeking power: The way of the Arcane and the way of the Battlemaster. The way of the Arcane was divided into many classes or schools, yet the levels of progression stayed the same. According to dad's books the levels of mages are Fledgling mage, Acolyte, Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, and Master.

During my magic studies with mom, she has each of us recite the known stages a mage can develop. After getting my hands smacked by a stick often enough times, I have instilled it into memory. I can still remember this one lesson a year ago, mom was like,

"Yuriy, recite to me the known stages of the Way of Arcanists."

"Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, and Master. Anything before that is not even worth mentioning…"

SMACK!!

"Ooww!"

"Now, now my little Yuyu. Do you think your ancestor would be proud of such an answer?"

Mom said after smacking my right arm with her pointing stick. It seems she doesn't agree with me regarding the Fledgling mage and Acolyte stages aren't worth shit as your no different from everybody else.

"Now enough trouser trumping! Pay attention as this is important to know when gauging others.." Moving her glasses to the tip of her nose, mom began to school me.

"A Fledgling mage is someone who can sense the magical energy called magoi and learns to interact with said energy."

"An Acolyte channels magoi into their body to temper their organs. A Novice is someone who has absorbed enough magoi into themselves and gave birth to the magical organ known as a mage core. With me so far?"

I nodded my head, and she continued,

"An Apprentice uses their mage core to house the absorbed magoi and tune it to their school of the arcane. Depending on the school, the Apprentice will need to create auxiliary cores which are smaller mage cores to house the different elemental magoi."

"Take Ancestor Yuriy for an example. He originally was Primal Apprentice who focused on channel the forces of nature and need to have a mage core of nature and auxiliary cores of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water! Later on, he needed to learn and master an arcane art meant for using all of those elements! Not many mages can do this now! But back then, mages with 5 or 10 mage cores was commonplace!"

I could see the starlight beams in mom's eyes! She loved speaking about Ancestor Yuriy. Funny, I still can't wrap my finger around how my ancestor has the same name as Uncle Yuriy. To be honest, I get the feeling this is some kind of trope straight out of a Shonen jump manga. Anyhow, mom continued with her lesson saying,

"A Journeyman is one who has mastered at least their initial arcane art and begin to embody said art. Example a Fire Journeyman needs to change at will any body part into fire without dissipating and revert back to their normal form."

"This is called Arcane possession. Sadly, I don't have any info on Expert and Master Arcanists. It's common practice for mages to be very secretive of their knowledge and only provide knowledge to those either at their level or to those who have signed a soul binding contract with them."

-End of Chapter