The door burst open, and the family head rushed in along with his son and the family elders.
Lying on the bed was a fair woman, her hair disheveled and her face drenched in sweat from exhaustion. With a weary expression, she gazed at those who had entered.
A smile appeared on her face. Two newborn children lay beside her.
The family head cheered.
"Two grandchildren—I have two grandchildren!"
The family head turned to his son in joy and shook him. On the faces of all the elders, cheerful smiles appeared at the sight of new blood being born into the clan.
The son of the family head, slyly escaping the grasp of his father and the elders, came to the woman and sat beside the bed.
Holding her hand, the two gazed at their newborn babies.
One of them was cheerfully smiling. The newborn's smile was like a flower blooming in summer, instantly filling the heart with an extremely pleasant feeling. Upon his shoulder was a birthmark in the shape of a round object.
And the other one, whose eyes were slightly open, cried as if suffering from a terrible nightmare.
. . . . . . .
Seven years passed in a whim...
The seasons turned, and summer was right at the doorstep.
Above a beautiful pond stood a wooden pavilion. A dark-haired young boy leaned on the edge, looking down at the pond below. There, a group of fish competed for the food randomly thrown by the little boy's hand.
The white robe worn by the young boy gently waved in the wind, while the same breeze passed by the elegant maid standing beside him without effect.
"Alas, with today, seven years have passed. If this were a prank, a dream, or even a hallucination, it should have ended a long time ago. But reality continues to exist, denying all my thoughts.
It seems... I really am in another world."
The young boy contemplated as the fish below the pond once again competed for the handful of treats he had thrown.
"Last thing I remember is being on the top floor of the school and being pushed by that pig from the rooftop. That must be what they call karma."
Before rebirth, he was the only son of a middle-class family but had loving and caring parents. For the sake of education, he had arrived on the mainland of China as an exchange student. Although it was shocking and unbearable at first, he had come to accept the reality within these seven years that he was really in another world.
"How I was born in this new world is a question, and whether I can go back or not is also a question."
"Young master," the maid called to the young boy. Turning back, he saw a table prepared with plates of delicacies.
The young boy calmly sat at the table and started his morning meal.
"Young master, this is a fish we recently acquired from a fisherman. The elders said that once consumed, it will help circulate spirit energy within your body," the maid said, offering him a dish. A boiled fish lay in the dish. With razor-sharp eyes and rainbow-colored skin, it was not a type of creature the young boy had ever seen in his previous world.
This new world he was born into was unlike the previous one. Seemingly resembling the ancient times of his previous world, it was much more beautiful, but also far more chaotic.
"With all the things I've experienced up to this point, I'm now certain that this is a place from a TTRPG I was familiar with in my previous life.
The city where I was born, all the places, and the history I learned from the elders—they all exactly resemble the world described in the TTRPG. More than that, just like in the TTRPG, this world's power is similarly derived from another realm known as the Spirit Realm."
The Spirit World, as exactly as it sounds, is the birthplace of spirits—supernatural, magical beings that embody the concepts from which they were inspired to be born.
A spirit can travel between worlds, but only under the condition that someone invites it from the otherworld. To invite a spirit, one must first find the spirit summon: a subject that the spirit is deeply connected to. A spirit summon can be anything—a weapon, a tool for farming or fishing, a dress, or even a seemingly useless rock.
Whatever the object is, once someone has their hand on a spirit summon, the person gains the ability to call upon the spirit to this world and perform a contract. Every spirit has a certain power; some are extremely powerful, while others are extremely useful. A person who makes a contract with a spirit is called a Spiritmancer.
This whole world is filled with Spiritmancers; some are good, while others are evil. If someone is not a Spiritmancer, it is extremely hard for an ordinary human to survive in the outside world. To at least keep their life intact in the outside world, a person must at minimum have their fourth Gateway open.
That's the knowledge from the TTRPG, and from what I've heard, nothing is different here from that knowledge.
The young boy paused, the spoon he had lifted frozen in mid-air, and gazed at the bridge that connected to the pavilion. Another boy was heading his way, and behind him were a few male servers holding plates of delicacies.
"I'm slightly late, brother. Forgive me—it's really hard to get up early on such a cold morning," the newly arrived young master said as he sat on the opposite side of the table. His servers quickly placed the food plates accordingly in front of him.
"I see you already started without me. That's just like you."
The newly arrived young man had a much more burly figure than the other and wore a cheerful expression, his blooming smile akin to a flower. His hair, the shade of the afterglow of a setting sun, fell upon his wide shoulders like a blanket.
"My apologies, I should have waited for you," the young boy said humbly, offering the newly acquired fish dish to his brother.
"No, no. As the older brother, I should have been the one to keep my word and show up on time," his brother gently refused, acknowledging his mistake.
In the TTRPG, the young man's brother is a choosable character—a character with capability and destiny for greatness. Unlike the older brother, the young man's own character is more of a background filler. Although his own situation is special—having something directly happen in this fairy-tale-like reincarnated into another world —he doesn't have any special ability that makes him extraordinary.
In a world where power is everything, not having strength is literally a death sentence.
But there was still one thing that reassured him, and that was his knowledge. The knowledge he possessed as a player of the TTRPG based on this world allowed him to see the future that others do not. In that future are countless opportunities, all of which would give a talentless lad like him a greater advantage for surviving in this world. But these opportunities are meant for the choosable characters to receive—someone like his brother. And taking them would mean the young man would steal his brother's opportunities.
Yet the young man wasn't in the slightest bit discontent. The two called each other brothers, but to the young man, the other one was just another person. To him, a brother is someone born from his own mother and father's love—and unfortunately, his own parents are in his previous world. So it's unlikely he would ever have a blood-related brother in this world.
Also, the fact that he was planning to steal from his so-called brother was a guilty barrier, preventing the young man from acting fondly on someone he planned to exploit.
But what could he do? In the journey of a hero, destruction is bound to happen suddenly, surrounding the hero. And knowing the future, the young man knows that chaos is about to arrive with the growth of a choosable character.
He is also mentally older than the other, so calling someone immature while he himself is more mature is unacceptable to him.
When the plates of delicacies were emptied one by one and only the last few remained, the older brother looked at his little brother—the young brother who was always so quiet and rarely spoke to anyone, and the brother who didn't show much interest in joining any of the fun activities he himself enjoyed. Some called him weird, but he knew that his little brother was actually extremely shy. As an older brother, he wanted to make his younger brother feel at ease and make his life more comfortable so he could open up a little to others. After all, this is their second life, and he wanted to make the most of it.
"Brother, what do you think about the upcoming affinity test?"
The young brother placed his spoon on the table after finishing his meal and gazed at his brother.
"It is important. In a way, it's the test that will determine our future."
In this world, if someone wants to become a Spiritmancer, they must have an affinity for spirits. Someone with a good affinity for spirits can circulate spirit energy greatly within their body, and spirits show much liking toward figures like these. On the other hand, someone who doesn't have a good affinity can only use a tiny portion of spirit energy, and with little energy to offer, they can only hope to make a contract with lower-tier spirits.
It's also the way for noble and ancient families, like the Hyra, to know which younglings to prioritize when providing resources. Since the brother and I are participants in the upcoming compatibility test, the family is paying close attention to us, with high hopes.
At the moment, my brother and I received the same treatment from the family. But that would change once they learned of our potential. The so-called older brother would receive tremendous support from the family once his potential was revealed, while I could only hope they wouldn't exile me or banish me somewhere else.
A cup of water was poured by the older brother at the end of his meal, and he raised it, offering it to me.
"Let us both hope to become great Spiritmancers."
It was a toast between brothers.
I stared at the cup of water and eventually accepted it.
In the TTRPG, the game starts at the point of the compatibility test. That means the day the compatibility test is held is the day the chosen one's journey begins. It's like a race—I may know that knowledge, but if I'm even a bit late, the chosen one would be the one to receive those opportunities.
No matter the result of the compatibility test, it doesn't make any difference to me. Since I know the path I need to follow, I don't care how others view me or treat me. This is just a world from a game; why would I care about the feelings of a video game character that has no relation to me?
Most of all, I'm not going to be surpass by him —especially since he has that "filthy" name attached to him.
"Young master Neragan, it's time for your training to start,"
a servant standing beside the older brother reminded him.
"Is it that time? Brother, I'm glad we decided to join breakfast together once in a while. Let's do this again soon."
He had finished all my plates, and soon after a farewell, he moved back along the same trail he had arrived on.