the monarch

After 6 months...

Kayden was in his room, like every other day. At 1.5 years old, he was already able to move around to a limited extent, like most babies his age. Other than that, nothing had changed; it was still the same blue ceiling and the same baby bed.

Without realizing it, he was also becoming attached to the old man like a father. In his previous life, he was not mature enough to know or value a father's brotherly love, but in this life, the impact on his mindset was evident.

As Kayden thought about his progress over the past year and a half, his body began to behave abnormally, particularly in the area of his head. It got to the point where it felt like it was in a sea of flames. Unconsciously, Kayden began to scream and cry as if his life depended on it.

Hearing the baby's desperate cry, the old man quickly went up to the room. In moments, he was able to realize what was happening: it was the baptism of mana, but that surprised the old man. It didn't make sense to him now; normally, baptism came only at the age of 2.

In seconds, the old man organized the mana from the environment so that it was better absorbed by Kayden. However, that was the most he could do; the rest was a natural process and could not be stopped.

"Well done Kayden looks like you're going to be a great wizard, early awakenings are great signs," the old man told the baby cheerfully. Unlike his joy, Kayden was feeling one of the worst pains of his life, every inch of his body felt like it was burning, but at the same time, he could feel his existence evolving into something superior as if every second in hell brought him closer to the end. Paradise. Perhaps his past experiences allowed Kayden to maintain at least a minimal level of rationality.

His body seemed to be expelling dirt and heating up as a result. It felt like his veins were being enlarged; every second he could feel his blood rushing at insane speeds enough for him to be able to feel movement. Its flesh seemed to be being consumed, but at the same time, it remained in its place.

In a moment of epiphany, Kayden tried to direct the fire... to no avail. Wasn't able to change anything. After what seemed like hours, his body slowly began to cool down. Forcing himself to stay awake through the entire process took a toll; his body and mind were exhausted, but even so, Kayden felt a sense of accomplishment.

"Congratulations little one, you have been introduced to the world of mana. May mana be with you," were the last words Kayden heard before collapsing from exhaustion. Then the old man placed a small pair of bracelets on Kayden's wrist.

The next day, Kayden woke up as usual, looked up at the ceiling, tossed and turned to try to get some more sleep, and rubbed his wrist. Without a doubt, those bracelets were giving him itches.

'Wait... BRACELETS????' Kayden was startled to wake up from his dazed state; he was pretty sure he never wore bracelets. In his fright, he tried to get up quickly on instinct, but he was so quick that he found himself dangling over the edge of the bed.

Kayden was extremely confused; he was never that strong. His body normally barely responded to his attempts to move. Organizing his thoughts, he remembered his last memory, more specifically the baptism of mana mentioned by the old man.

He paid more attention to himself and realized that everything was clearer and sharper in his vision, his sense of smell seemed to perceive odors that he had never been able to even imagine, his touch revealed details that seemed impossible before, and even his hearing became a little clearer. , it seemed that before he heard the sounds underwater.

Even his thoughts were slightly clearer; at that moment, Kayden felt a small energy around him. I didn't know how to explain it; it felt like it was always there. It was a feeling he had never felt before. There was no way to spell it out in his vocabulary; it was akin to explaining a 4D dimension to 3D beings.

Kayden tried countless ways to manipulate this energy, but nothing seemed to work for sure. Most of the time, it only caused a slight change in mana, and every time I tried something, the bracelets got hot and heavy. They were probably restraining handcuffs. It made sense to have this on babies so they don't use mana in a way that harms them.

Collecting his thoughts, a few things became evident. First of all, he had gone through an experience that probably no human being has, as one hardly has memories of that period of their lives. Second, mana was capable of increasing physical stats; that is, perhaps this world is not restricted to mages only; there may be warriors. And third, Kayden couldn't let this opportunity to get ahead pass him by; in this life, he would be king, and no one would stop him.

1 year later (Kayden is 2 and a half years old)...

By now, Kayden was already walking and talking normally, at least for his age. He tried to speak as little as possible so as not to show his "intelligence", since his awakening, he had no more drowsiness attacks and managed to stay 100% awake.

He quickly became attached to the residents of the orphanage and, whenever he could, he was playing with them. Most of his time was spent thinking his way through; Kayden was focused on not giving up on this, as it would make a difference in his future.

It turned out that after baptism, he was considered a level 1 apprentice, but that was about the way of magic. According to the old man, he would only learn other things when he entered school at the age of 4; until then, you shouldn't care about it. Only the old man didn't know that Kayden was desperate to continue on his path.

He tried asking the other kids for information, but they couldn't explain it in a way that Kayden understood. His explanations boiled down to telling Kayden to accumulate mana in the core, but since he had the bracelets, he wasn't able to do that.

As such, his main objective remained to figure out the path and try to manipulate mana in a better way. Each time he tried to change the energy around him, he had little success and if he tried too long, he ended up becoming mentally exhausted. But for every day that passed, he was able to do more with less effort.

At that moment, they were in the kitchen making lunch. This time, the old man let Kayden choose what they would eat. In that era, typical foods of his time were practically disappearing, and if there was something he wanted to eat forever, it was pizza. It was hard to explain what it was to the old man, but with a little drill down, he was able to get down to the most basic form of pizza: dough and cheese.

"That seems strange, Kayden", the old man had serious doubts about the palate of a 2-and-a-half-year-old child, even if he had a certain strange maturity at his age.

"Now we put corn and chicken". It wasn't a chicken, but a kind of wild chicken that grew in the surrounding forest. Kayden knew next to nothing about this world yet.

When everyone was at the table, the old man began to cut the pieces into small squares. "No, no, no, cut into triangles from the center, please." Kayden imagined an angry Italian appearing out of nowhere and beating the old man up for this crime.

Waiting for an opportune moment to ask the old man one more strange question, something that has become commonplace lately. Kayden tried to ask general, spaced-out questions, sounding like a child would ask.

"Okay, Kayden", nodding, cut it into weird triangles and tried to taste the taste, "okay even".

Without a doubt, the old man was a tsundere to the letter, because in his head angels were singing with the taste of this food. He had never eaten anything like it before and it was strangely good. And for some apparent reason, it was supposed to be eaten with the hands, without the aid of cutlery.

"Old man, what is the name of the country where we are?"

"Kayden, later you and I will have a private talk", the old man spoke with an angry face, scaring all the children around.