Chapter 12: Preparing To Return Home

Kingdom of Luvet

Duke Zane's domain

Duke Maxwell Zane is a pragmatic man with simple principles and morals. He was active in his younger days working directing under the royals taking on missions that were off records. These missions were mostly aimed at the empire to derail their plan of expansion which was heavily aimed at the kingdom. 

After he inherited the dukedom from his father, he worked tirelessly to ensure the prosperity of his dominion and the kingdom as a whole.

Like any other day, Lord Zane was in his office taking care of documents that needed his direct intervention. 

~Knock, Knock~

A knock reverberated in his office. 

"Enter." He responded without lifting his head from his work. An old man in his fifties wearing a butler's suit appeared at the entrance with a letter in hand.

"Lord Zane, you received a letter from the Headmaster of the Academy the young lord works." The butler informed, moving towards the head of the desk to hand it to the duke.

Lord Zane removed the wax seal of the academy on the letter and read the contents. A few seconds later, he sighed loudly and got up from his seat to face the view from the window behind his desk.

Standing at a height of 2m, Duke Zane was a heavily built man with dark short hair and blue eyes. His entire visage was that of a veteran warrior who has seen a thousand wars. Dressed in his official robes; a blue-black long coat with a lanyard and white pants, he gave his instructions.

"Prepare Caleb's room. He will be returning to the estate soon. Also, remember to inform the teleportation guild to expect Caleb's return."

Accepting the command, the head butler turned around to leave and carry out the instructions. Before he could open the door to exit, Lord Zane cautioned. "Do not inform Selina and the kids about Caleb's return." 

The butler once again acknowledged the instruction by bowing slightly and exiting. Hearing the door behind him, Duke Zane let out another sigh. This one being one of immense fatigue. While he knew the risks involved in the kind of missions his son takes for the royals, it had never crossed his mind that his son would lose his memories.

'What am I going to tell this boy's mother to console her once she hears about her son's situation?' Pondering on the issue, he returned to his seat to finish his pending work. 

....

The Academy

Two days later

Caleb has been taken around the academy to unfamiliar himself. Unfortunately, this attempt had no effect. The Caleb the academy knew was long gone. Caleb was the only one with this fact. With the unsuccessful attempts, Caleb was summoned to the headmaster's office.

Taking a seat in front of the headmaster's desk, Caleb awaited the headmaster's next instruction, already guessing what was to come.

"Caleb, it's unfortunate what happened to you. But as you are right now, the academy can only let you go. Hopefully, you find a way to regain your memories." George spoke reclining in in his chair.

"I understand, headmaster. Honestly, I don't even remember my parents, much less anyone else. And I want to rebuild my relationships with everyone again. I don't want to wait for something that might never happen." Caleb confessed his honest thoughts to the headmaster. 

The headmaster's presence, albeit suffocating when he desires, has a welcoming feeling, like a wise and benevolent man. Well, that image was slightly ruined when he recalled what Kathleen had told him a few days ago.

Acknowledging his words, he said, "Before you go..." the headmaster opened a small hand-sized wooden box with engravings. He took out a ring and handed it to Caleb. "This is your storage ring with your personal belongings. Nothing has been touched since you entrusted it to me." 

Caleb gave him a questioning look as if to ask why he had it. Understanding his gaze, George said, "You entrusted your ring to me before taking the mission. And as you can remember, you didn't return in one piece." 

"Thanks" Caleb uttered.

After exchanging a few more words, Caleb returned to his suite to prepare for tomorrow's departure. 

In the past two days, he has gotten to know more about Kathleen and her relationship with the former Caleb. Apparently, they were in a relationship that was in its initial stages. And honestly, Caleb has grown to like her as a person and a potential partner. But telling her the truth about himself was gonna have to wait. 

Back in his room, Caleb took a look inside the storage ring with his perception. He had already been given the basic tutorials on using mana as a mage. And like a system recalling its backup files, his body regained the ability to refine mana to increase his strength. 

This had increased his [Stats] a bit after his gene editing. The little he derived from the experience was that, although he had an increased limit, his body was not yet saturated with the needed mana to express its potential.

[Stats] 

[Strength: 123/500] ~ [Strength: 137/500]

[Speed: 98/120] ~ [Speed: 105/120]

[Perception: 50/60] ~ [Perception; 54/60]

[Mana: 302/500] ~ [Mana: 456/500]

Focusing on the storage ring, he noticed a lot of mana stones, some books, documents, gold coins, and clothes. The space inside the storage was large enough to serve as a standard-sized bedroom. The insides were also designed in compartments with unique signatures that a user can use to retrieve specific items.

'Nice...' Caleb began contemplating, '...But this won't be enough for the gene changes I plan on doing. But being the son of a duke will surely come in handy.' 

Caleb then moved on to take a bath and retire early. He was in no rush to perform any genetic manipulations. He intends to learn all he can about his genome and how it differed from the people of Earth. Knowing the ins and outs of his genome before making any modifications will draw a clearer path to what he can modify about his genes and to an extent, other people, and to maximize using mana and magic.

'Hopefully, the duke doesn't skin me alive.'