His parents told him he would be able to read them all he wanted after he had some cake. So his mother cut him a piece of the cake, the glaze on it cracking as the knife slid down. After that, she put the piece of cake on a wooden plate that was about fifteen centimeters in diameter. The cake had a light sheen to it as the morning sun shone through the door.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. It was in a rhythm of Happy Birthday. Seemed whoever was here knew it was his birthday. As soon as he heard the knock his father moved towards the door to open it.
At the door stood a family of three, one man, a woman, and a child. Their faces were full of smiles as they saw Johnathan open the door. The man was holding an axe that was one meter long and had a head that stretched fourteen centimeters. It had a nice silver sheen to it that reflected light like a mirror. The woman was holding a basket full of various fruits and veggies. The child was holding a small wooden cat, it was in a sitting position with one paw up like a lucky cat.
The man spoke "Hey John I heard it's your boy's birthday today, I brought over a present for when he's older and some food. Little Percival here carved him a cat all on his own, why don't you show him bud." Saying this the child held up the wooden cat and said "I carved him all on my own! Dad just taught me how to do it a while ago for my birthday, do you like it?"
While they were talking Sargons' mother got another piece of cake cut for Percival. He got down from his chair and got another plate for him. Once he did that he came to the door and said "HI Percy, how's your morning? Do you want some cake, it's a strawberry cream cake that mom makes." Percival's eyes lit up at the sound of free cake, he nodded his head and said "I woke up early to finish this cat I made for you. After that we just got ready to come over here, I hope you like it."
At that moment Sargon handed him a plate with some cake on it. Percival handed him the wooden cat and he took a closer look at it. It was a beige color with two black spots for eyes, and three whiskers on each side of its face. There is a small red ring around the neck of it, likely its collar with a small spot of yellow in the middle. This was made with a lot of care, Percy put a lot of effort into it. His chest had a feeling of warmth from his friendship and how much he cared about him. They both said thank you to each other and then sat down at the table as they ate cake.
After they had cake the boys headed outside to play for a bit. Their parents took time to wonder where they would go in the future. They worried for them since they were the only kids who could talk and do stuff. Most toddlers their age would talk in incomplete sentences or just nonsense altogether. So they took time to discuss whether or not to send them both off to a great school. Percy's parents couldn't afford it, yet Sargon's parents were willing to send them both. Let's call them Jack and Jill. They both were shocked to hear that and immediately refused to have that. Such a burden could not be forced onto them.
Outside the boys were looking at an ant mound. This had many small red ants coming and going, some were large others were small. They were poking the mound with a stick, disturbing the ant mound and making them restless. Soon light rumbling came from the ground and a very large ant came out. This ant had a bright red shell that resonated with fire. It is around 6 centimeters in length and 3 centimeters wide. It looked absolutely pissed off with all that was happening to it's family.
The boys seeing that their quarry, smiled like little devils that found a soul to torture. This was a stage one ant thar had evolved to grow stronger. When it saw the two boys it felt a shiver run through it's shell. What had it just come out to? Death, that's what. They had a constant want to get stronger and the best way for that was to fight. They could not fight something so small and weak. Instead they would use the insects mana core to force a tempering of their bodies. Beasts and insects shared a kind or rough and harmful energy. This when ingested would force the body to fight it and grow stronger through survival.
Once the ant was at the surface they beat it relentlessly with a large rock. It's shell could only handle so much force before it cracked, revealing a yellowish green slime. They kept hitting it until it stopped moving, it screamed all the while. Stage one beasts can range from very weak to very strong depending on where they are in the stage. What separates stage one and zero is the body becoming adapted to energy, or mana as it was called in this world. When the body adapts to the energy it gains a core in itself, or someone can make it into a shape to gain various powers.
Once the bug stopped moving the kids tore open it's shell, looking for it's core. The core was located in it's head right next to what looked like a mass of nerves. It is a small marble about the size of a pea. The marble had a red sheen to it and was warm to the touch. Once the core left the body it stopped radiating heat yet retained it's lustrous sheen. They held the marble up to the sun in the sky trying to see through it. Inside of the marble was a small yet distinctive ant, it looked just like the one on the ground in front of them. When this happens it means the soul of the being resides in the stone, giving it's energy better control and a way to live after. If this marble were to be put in a golem or construct it could be made to revive it momentarily.
This is important for them. With the soul in the gem it means it has a higher tempering rate. Meaning it does more for less, puts up more fight and if you win you might get a skill. It contains a soul after all, that holds all the knowledge it has. So if they get a skill from this ant it would be either cutting proficiency, explosive strength, or fire manipulation.
Once they saw that it had a shadow of itself in the stone they smiled. It was worth it to pester those ants. Sargon who was holding the marble to the sun, handed it over to Percival who tried to reject "I don't deserve this, it's your birthday today you should get it." Sargon shook his head saying "I don't need strength right now, I need knowledge. So here take it, you can use it so you can help your father. This should push you to the middle of stage one" Percival began to thank him dearly for this, his family was poor and any income they get would be used to better the farm. So he never had a chance to get anything for himself. They only brought presents today because Sargons family had done so much for them. They just wanted to pay them back for what they did.
Percival put the stone in a small pouch he had at his waist. Inside were other small stones that looked nice, he collected small rocks when he liked the way they looked. Once he put it away he closed the pouch and thanked him one last time. Sagon said it was no problem, there were countless times to pay him back in the future.
Saying this they headed back inside to see that they had finished talking. Percy's parents were getting up and ready to leave when they saw their boy at the door. When they saw him they smiled and asked "Are you done playing already? It looks like you had quite some fun with how sweaty you look." Percival only now took note of the ample amount of sweat on him and Sargon. All that work on the ant was quite tiring.
He smiled and said "Yes dad, we were running for quite a while. Are you guys done talking? Can we go home now?" His father nodded and said "Do you want a drink before we leave? It is a long walk back." Percy nodded, sargons mom was in the storage room already so she was able to get a cup out for them both. She used ice magic to make water in the cup, condensing from the air around it. She then handed the cups to both boys, who upon receiving vital fluid, drank to their hearts content.
Once they finished the water Percy left with his parents. He said goodbye along with his parents. Once they left sargon looked to the axe that was leaning on the table. He asked "Is that for me dad?" His father nodded "Jack brought it over, you can use it now to get used to it. But be careful about what you do with it." He nodded and grabbed the axe by the handle. Feeling the heft of the axe he deemed it a wonderful gift to give him.
He asked his father if he could look at the books now and learn magic, he was finally old enough. They still had to get over the fact he just lifted an axe the size of him like it was nothing. Then it hit them, they remembered the beetle incident 2 years ago 'He definitely isn't normal, let's give him some of those books to see how far he goes.' Both his parents nodded and let him go into their room to read the magic books. He was eager to learn the rules of this world and be somewhat normal.
As he entered the room he saw seven individual books each a different color. The colors were purple, periwinkle, black, white, red, blue, and lastly gray. He first picked up the periwinkle one, having seen that dad always had that color as hair.
He opened it to the first page and saw that it gave a basic introduction of how to conjure lightning. It required a base rune that determined the element then several others to determine the effect. There were only some runes that associated with lightning as the more complex ones involved different elements. To put it like this, in the center you would have the rune for lightning then build with other runes on the outside of it. Each connected. By tendrils of mana, kind of like a circuit for electronics. Although the position of the runes affects the effect they're normally ok to place in a general area near it. It's not exact for this world's magic yet it seems that it has endless potential. The more connections made the more mana it requires, this also helps determine the level of spells.
Thinking this he quickly read through the books remembering each rune and what it does. He wanted to experiment with these so he could understand more about this world. As such he began to head to the main room again, he wanted to tell them what he was planning yet they would only worry for him. This would be counterintuitive to what he wanted to do. So when he came out he said "Can I have another small piece of cake? Those books have a lot to remember in them, it might be a while before I get anywhere."
Right as she was grabbing him a piece of cake a light flashed in his eyes. This light made him involuntarily scream as it was not something he had seen before. His dad saw the light in his eyes and sighed after being given a mini heart attack. It was just the system recognizing him as a living being. He wondered why it took so long, he said "Don't worry, it's just the system finally popped into his vision. Scared the shit outta me, why did it take so long?" His mother was worried but when she heard it was just the system she relaxed. She sighed and said "Well it would normally pop up once he said 'system's yet we never made him say it. Let's hope he gets something good for a starter skill."
Sargon was losing his mind over this development. This shouldn't be possible to have, it went against every known rule. He's heard of systems before as they're a common occurrence in games. During his multitude of lifetimes he never saw anything like this before. He took a look at the system window and this is what it said:
[Name: Sampson Jonas Sargon]
[Title(s): (immortal king)]
[Skill(s): ]
[Resistance(s): ]
It didn't say anything about his title, he thought systems normally explain anything that's in them. He told his mother he didn't have anything other than a title. He did not want to say the title, it's something he should keep to himself. She said "Good job, never let anyone know what is on your status. It's personal information and could lead to trouble if it's exposed. For me and your father we only shared with each other when we absolutely had no other choice. That's the example I want you to follow."
Sargon nodded and decided to head outside after he ate another piece of cake. There was a forest about one hundred meters away from their house. Inside the forest were many strong beasts and plants. In this world anything can grow strong thanks to the system, it just takes time. Most living things don't have that time but plants do. They're naturally blessed with a long life. This could come with negatives for them if they weren't peaceful by nature. The plants who sought power made a body for themselves so they can move with ease. Being at a standstill won't provide benefits most of the time.
As sargon was approaching the forest he began to notice more flora as he walked. The grass got taller, there were occasional bushes, and some small trees starting to grow. As he was walking through the tall grass many insects were trying to get onto him, either to eat part of him or just hitch a ride. Every time an insect landed on him it was repulsed by a thin layer of water that sat one millimeter from his skin. This made sure no bugs were able to attach to him. He even saw a couple stage one rabbits eating grass and whatever bugs came close. They had three smaller bunnies that were brown and had white spots on them. They were cute.
He kept on walking until he entered the forest. There was no tall grass, no big bushes, and only big trees. This looked like a typical forest, he saw a squirrel here and there, some birds as well. He was looking for something specific, a clearing about twenty five meters into the forest. This clearing was about fifty meters in diameter. There was not one living thing in this clearing. Just barren dirt and one large shiny rock. The rock seemed to vibrate in the earth. It had a resonance that turned the barren earth to dust the closer it got to the rock. He liked coming to this rock to think, it was a simple thing that gave him relief from the worries of the future.
As he was sitting on the rock he played with some of the runes he knew. Allowing strands of lightning, balls of fire, shards of ice, rays of light, and globs of darkness to come into and out of existence. He wanted to see how they reacted with each other and if he could make them do something he wanted to do. He tried to make spells that shared attributes of other elements. Like fire moving at the speed of light, or lightning being as sharp as ice. Such things should be impossible for normal people. The true nature of magic though was that if you can imagine it you can make it. So when he was making an initial rune for fire he overlapped the rune for light on it. The fireball seemingly went out, yet the sound of the fire was still loud as ever.
Seeing he had succeeded he decided to test his new spell. He first chose a fitting target, a bird flying over the clearing. It was about one meter in length and five meters wide. It had massive talons that wanted to do nothing but tear away flesh. It had many white feathers and it's skin was black as pitch. The birds eyes glowed with lightning, this was a late stage one beast. It had likely discovered it's affinity and actively incorporated it into it's fighting. It stared with hungry eyes at the small child it saw in the clearing. The child was next to the singing rock, he would have to get close to that noisy thing to get it.
Sargon sat on the rock, silently getting ready to launch the fireball that was invisible. He had to wait for it to start diving before he launched it to avoid missing. He was still inexperienced in the way this world's magic worked. Once the bird started to dive at him he launched the fireball. There was now a burning hole in the bird from it's head through to it's tail. As the bird was falling an explosion occurred farther behind the bird. A sphere of fire and shining light appeared, it is about five meters in diameter.