Chapter 13

From now on, I will study magic.

This will probably take longer than every round combined.

After all, it is ‘magic’.

Well currently I am still a baby so can’t study it, since father is a warrior, he practically never talks about magic.

I only know about magic due to my worship for the First Mage and the abundance of magic scrolls and artefacts.

That being said, I do know some things about magic.

While unexplainable and impossible according to ‘science’ and common knowledge, magic follows its own set of rules.

By the book, magic is the phenomenon ‘miracle’, something unexplainable, the impossible made possible.

Now however, when a person says magic, they think of mana. They think of mage craft.

The elements of the world are what allows us to live.

But mana is the energy representing power.

The better you can use mana, the more mana you have, the more power you have.

It isn’t an exaggeration to say mana is the base of all strength.

Unless one trains martial arts to the peak, it is impossible to compete against a normal mage.

Father is called the Crazed Devil when he fights.

I never knew that until a few rounds ago.

It refers to when he starts a massacre. He does not stop until killing his last opponent.

No matter how wounded he is, he continues fighting, like a madman, until the last enemy on the battlefield dies.

I’m a bit skeptical about it though, father isn’t like that.

So anyway, father is a special case, he is known for his strength, but what makes him strong is his speed.

The speed which allows him to dodge magic. In other words, you either have to be a master combatant, or have sufficient speed in order to defeat a magician.

From what I know, there are 7 elements in magic. Well, the seven greatest and most used.

Fire, earth, water, air. That what makes the world.

Space, time, illusion. That what allows the world to exist and keep it together.

The last three are also called the 3 supreme elements, primal elements.

However magic concerning those elements are lost, only basic space spells remain.

From what I know, there is pocket dimension, flash, teleportation, long range teleportation, space anchor.

Only those spells remain.

And, there are only a few hundred spatial mages in the entire world. Which is why artefacts engraved with a pocket dimension spell are incredibly rare. And the larger the pocket dimension, the more expensive it is, exponentially so.

Well that’s all I know about magic spells, I just have to wait a few years before I can study it more.

Well f**k.

Nevermind then, I’ll just have to study it next round.

A hooded man made me sniff something. It’s been a while since I died as a baby, not a 6 year old or a 12 year old or a 15 year old.

Those are the most common times I die.

Heart-rend poison, a rather interesting option they took.

It’s harmless for most, just slowing down the heart rate, in fact it is hard to call it a poison.

Since it is as good as harmless and often used as medicine instead.

For some it is used to calm people down or make them lose consciousness so they can continue their treatment without the patient screaming out of pain.

One of the things about the heart-rend poison is it is impossible to detect after 5 minutes.

It is the best assassination method for babies.

For an adult, it won’t threaten their life, but for a newborn, a slowed heart rate is deadly.

Ah, I'm already losing consciousness.

I’m in the eternal darkness again.

This is why I hate dying as a baby.

I can’t move properly so it takes longer to reach the invisible pillar of light.

And, that old man looks so tall then.

…

‘Haaaaaah’

I have to wait at least 5 or 6 years before I can reach the books about magic.

I look at the maids.

This is going to be boring.

…

I spent the past few years training my martial arts in my mind.

Rather hard to do, with an underdeveloped brain.

Well it was a challenge, and I managed to improve my mental fortitude I think.

If I had a fully grown body, I think I could beat my father. In several ways.

It’s strange. It’s like a dream even. Is all the time I spent even real?

Did I really practice for over a thousand years?

Father was always an unbeatable figure for me.

He is the Dabaira Empire’s sword, the strongest warrior.

So it is strange, strange I can see so many flaws in his swordsmanship.

Gaps in his defence.

…

So weak.

Sword, spear, dagger, thread, halberd, scythe, saber, staff, normal hand to hand combat, poison, trapping…

I can defeat father.

Isn’t… isn’t this enough?

Don’t think about that. My goal is a ‘perfect’ final round.

For that I have to understand everything there is to know about magic.

This will take longer than everything else.

It won’t be training to the death, nor mastering things. It is memorising information.

Information large enough to fill a library.

And understanding it.

Yes, don’t think, I only need to focus on memorising and understanding for the next rounds.

Kannon doesn't know himself, but I did. I counted every single second, every single one of his regressions. The number of regressions he had since he gained the ability to remember his past lives: 376. His age, according to his own memory: 4921 years old. His age when counting the regressions he does not remember: 14409