Eight long years had passed since Masaru was reborn into the new world he was sent to, and several things had happened.
His father had died four months before he was born, killed by a mid-class demon while on a mission.
His mother, who was a support-type heroine, died during childbirth due to various complications. So once again, he was born into the same situation as his previous life; his luck was still following him.
Here, instead of having dark, messy black hair, he had blonde hair with ruby-red eyes. He knew this was due to the transmigration he underwent; his soul had traveled into another body.
However, Masaru was raised by someone he knew especially well: his grandfather. Yes, it seemed his grandfather had been reborn alongside him.
He didn't know if it was a gift from God, but he was profoundly grateful for it... he could be with his grandfather again. His only family.
As soon as he learned to crawl, Masaru began looking for books to understand what awaited him in this new world. It wasn't a task he enjoyed, but he knew he had to do it.
He found an old encyclopedia and began to read... Yes, even at just a few months old, he was capable of reading; he had retained the abilities from his past life.
He soon discovered that heroes lived in a village hidden from the human world: The Village of Heroes, located in Japan. This world was similar to his own, but here, the supernatural existed.
The gods lived in a realm separate from humans, and the demons lived in the underworld, another separate world.
The gods were the ones who, descending from their celestial realm, granted abilities to humans so they could defend themselves from the demons, whose attacks were a daily occurrence. Thus, the heroes were born.
Heroes grouped together in different countries around the world, forming hero clans. He resided in Japan, the same place as in his previous life.
However, the demons weren't far behind. Commanded by the Demon King Wilbert, they attempted to invade the human world to later invade the realm of the gods.
Soon, a bloody battle began, but a powerful hero rose up, destroying the enemy troops. His name was Jin Toujou, and he was so monstrously strong that he was called the "God of War."
Masaru was excited to learn this and set a goal to surpass him one day. He was even more excited to learn that his grandfather had trained Jin when he was a child. His grandfather was a veteran hero of the village.
Masaru wanted to keep reading more, but when his grandfather saw him with a book, his eyes widened, thinking Masaru was playing with it.
"No, boy, that's not a toy," his grandfather said, picking him up and moving him away from the book he needed to learn more about this world.
"Waaahhh!" Masaru cried in his arms, partly because of the book, partly because he couldn't speak, and partly because his diaper was full of poop...
At three years old, his training began. He first started practicing with a sword to see if he had retained his skills. And yes, he had.
His grandfather was surprised to see how skilled he was at such a young age. Masaru just smiled nervously, as he couldn't tell him he had learned to use a sword in another life.
He also couldn't tell his grandfather that he was a child with an adult's mentality because he was a transmigrant from another world.
But he quickly realized that his kendo skills wouldn't be enough to survive in this dangerous world. He needed to learn magic.
Magic was the most basic skill, as it allowed you to strengthen your body, cast spells and incantations, use magical contracts, and wield spirit weapons.
Spirit weapons were defined as weapons containing a spirit that lent its power to the wielder... well, this didn't interest Masaru yet; he had other priorities at the moment.
One of them was learning magic. His grandfather taught him the basics, but he needed to know more, so he went to the village library... Yes, more reading, to his dismay.
There, he found an encyclopedia that explained in detail how to use magic. He didn't like reading, but he would do it. Whenever he wanted to learn something that interested him, he did it with relative ease.
In this world, there was something called mana, which was dispersed in the atmosphere. Therefore, mages would use the surrounding mana, attract it to their bodies, and finally condense it into their so-called "mana core."
A mage's mana core was like the heart for humans. All mana was accumulated there and distributed through deep veins that ran throughout the body.
There were two ways to use mana.
One was to cultivate all the mana absorbed from the atmosphere and release it externally in the form of spells and incantations... these were the so-called "Conjurers," who could also use elemental magic. It was common for many heroes to learn this more complex type of magic.
The other way was to extract mana from the mana core to strengthen the body and increase strength, speed, and stamina. These were called "Augmenters," a name that said it all.
The difference is that Conjurers need to borrow mana from the atmosphere, in addition to their own mana core, to exert mana into their surroundings in the form of a spell or incantation. Augmenters use the mana from their cores to a greater extent than the mana from the atmosphere.
Masaru decided to be an Augmenter. All he had to do was gather mana in his core, channel it through his deep veins, and increase his strength, speed, and stamina.
For now, he wasn't interested in casting spells or incantations; they were useless if he couldn't strengthen his body. So, for the past two years, he had begun his path to learning magic as an Augmenter.
But it was a complicated process. Augmentation requires proper distribution of mana to different parts of the body, depending on what the user deems convenient. While it seems simple at a glance, augmentation requires a vast amount of knowledge about one's own body. Being able to use the deep veins efficiently requires years of mental practice and physical training.
At this moment, Masaru was under the shade of a tree, meditating. Or, in other words, he was gathering mana into his mana core.
A year earlier, he had created his mana core after gathering all the scattered pieces of mana throughout his body. This phenomenon was known as "awakening," as it was the first step to using magic, whichever way you chose.
His training was slow. He still had trouble distributing mana through his deep veins to strengthen his body.
Masaru felt all the mana accumulating in his core, so he tried to channel that mana into the deep veins located in his arm to strengthen it.
"Come on... You can do it!" Masaru encouraged himself when suddenly, his eyes lost their light as a pair of small hands covered them.
Masaru lost his concentration, and therefore, the mana he had been gathering dispersed.
"Darn it!" Masaru exclaimed with a dramatic cry, but he immediately identified the owner of the hands obstructing his vision.
A girl with blue hair tied in two pigtails, a serene face, and honey-colored eyes, wearing a whitish strapless dress.
"Yuki-chan, I know it's you. I recognize your perfume," Masaru said, smiling, and gently took those soft, delicate hands.
Yuki, upon hearing how he addressed her, contorted her serene face into a grimace and pinched the back of his neck.
"Ow!" the boy exclaimed, falling to the ground from the pain. "Why did you pinch me, Yuki-chan?"
Yuki Nonaka, who was his best friend and playmate for several years.
"I told you not to call me that," Yuki replied coldly, and Masaru swallowed. "What were you doing?"
"Trying to channel my mana. Remember, the test is tomorrow," Masaru answered, while Yuki sat down next to him on the grass.
Tomorrow, they would have an exam to evaluate their strength based on their mana core. From there, they would be trained at a hero school.
That's why Masaru needed to be well-prepared; this would be the first step to becoming a hero and the strongest, which was his goal.
"I know, but you should rest, Masaru... you've been training all week," Yuki said calmly, and Masaru listened attentively.
'Yuki is exceptional at mana control,' Masaru thought, looking at his best friend.
Yuki had decided to be a Conjurer mage, so as soon as she created her mana core, she began studying various spells to learn them.
"Sigh... I guess you're right. I'll rest for today," Masaru said with a sigh of resignation and noticed Yuki pulling something out of her pocket.
"Want some?" Yuki asked, holding out some cookies. "My mother made them this morning."
"Awesome! Your mom's cookies are always exceptional!" Masaru exclaimed with a smile and gladly accepted the delicious cookies.
Masaru had met Yuki's mother, a beautiful woman with blue hair named Kaoru Nonaka, one day when his friend invited him over for a meal.
Kaoru then knew he must be a true friend for her daughter to bring him over; besides Basara, no one had had that opportunity.
In contrast, her husband, Shuuya Nonaka, didn't take the visit so well. He prejudged Masaru, labeling him as a bastard daughter-thief, but he soon realized he was a good kid.
And since then, the boy had been over for meals many times; Yuki's parents knew his grandfather, so there was no problem.
"Deliciousss," Masaru spoke with his mouth full but quickly emptied it upon noticing Yuki's cold stare for that action. "I-it was de-delicious."
Yuki smiled faintly upon seeing her friend had learned his lesson; he shouldn't talk with his mouth full. After twenty times, he had finally learned.
"I'm glad," Yuki said simply.
The two sat in silence for a few moments, enjoying the breeze that hit their faces and rhythmically moved their hair.
"Do you feel like playing something?" Masaru asked, looking at his friend with a huge smile.
Yuki nodded and stood up, waiting to see what game her friend would surprise her with this time.
Whenever they played, Masaru always brought something new and unpredictable. The blonde boy wanted to enjoy his childhood in this new opportunity at life.
"You've it, haha!" Masaru proclaimed, tapping Yuki's shoulder, and then took off running.
Yuki knew she had to chase him; when she caught him and tagged him, it would be Masaru's turn to chase her. They had played this game often.
Yuki then ran quickly, showing incredible speed for her age, but Masaru showed even greater speed than his friend.
Then, both left the forest and entered the city, running astonishingly fast past all the pedestrians.
The streets of the Hero Village had a certain modernity: there were telephone poles and streetlights... but the houses looked somewhat archaic.
"You'll never catch me!" Masaru shouted, sticking his tongue out at Yuki, who released an eerie aura upon seeing her friend's taunt. "Crap, I made her angry..."
Masaru continued running so Yuki wouldn't catch him, but he didn't notice someone jumping onto him, tackling him to the ground. He was pinned.
"Hmpf, I caught you."
Masaru rubbed his head and noticed a girl with violet hair, golden eyes, and a purple dress sitting on his stomach.
"Kurumi-chan, this is unfair!" Masaru complained, making a face. "You weren't playing!"
"Onii-chan, I wanted to play too..." Kurumi said, lowering her gaze sadly as Yuki stopped in front of them. "O-Onee-san!"
Kurumi Nonaka, Yuki's younger sister and also a friend of Masaru's since shortly after he became friends with Yuki. They got along very well.
"I finally caught you," Yuki said, tapping Masaru's shoulder, who put on a poker face at this and looked at Kurumi.
"Kurumi-chan, where's Basara?" Masaru asked, remembering his best friend.
Basara Toujou, son of the "God of War" and one of the village's prodigies. At five years old, he had successfully created his mana core.
Masaru wasn't a prodigy, but he had experience from another life plus knowledge of martial arts; with that, he would strengthen himself little by little.
"Training with Takashi for tomorrow's test," Kurumi replied as she climbed off Masaru's stomach, and he stood up.
Takashi Hayase, another friend of his.
"Good. It's my turn to chase you, right?" Masaru asked, cracking his knuckles as his face contorted.
Yuki and Kurumi felt fear upon seeing their friend's eerie smile; they knew they had to run like they had never run before in their lives.