Chapter 1: ~Prologue~ (1/2)

***Arcane Academy, Eastern Plains***

-What a stupid looking chandelier.-

Hell. I am thinking this for the tenth time! The director should stop his stupid speech and hand out our diplomas!

I have way too much time to look around and think about this cursed world. Right now I am in the Eastern Plains which belongs to no one in particular. It's just a deserted region that consists of rocks, sand and more rocks. No interesting minerals, no people, and almost no living organisms.

So it is the perfect place for the most esteemed magical academy in this world. It's a multinational institute with the financial backing of several countries. Everyone is sending their most talented magicians to this place.

There are five big nations which are mostly at peace with each other.

First is the Mislow Kingdom to the west. It's a striving country with good access to all needed resources. Not that there is much that's needed anyway.... but I will explain that point later. Mislow is feared for their mind magicians. They are masters of illusion and trickery.

Once they were invaded by one of the other powers and trapped the biggest enemy army in a self repeating loop of its environment while marching though a big open field. The whole enemy army started to walk in circles for weeks until they died of thirst right next to a big lake. The Mislow military didn't draw a single sword.

Then there is Norfolk in the north. It consists of mountain ranges and from what I heard they have an everlasting winter up there. They mostly trade food in exchange for ores and other materials they mine in their mountains. It's a loose conglomerate of tiny nations, kingdoms and principalities.

They don't have any military power compared to other nations. That's because they have no real unity. But they are left alone because of the harsh environment up there. It's much easier to trade than to subjugate them. Their only central governing power is the Jarl. He is something like a king, though he has less power.

It's much more likely that any army that's sent to Norfolk would die of hunger and cold than in a fight. Even though it's true that Norfolk has a weak military, their territory is huge! You need weeks or months to march an army from one city to the next. On top come the mountains which just add to the problems.

The Jamaian Union is to the south. It's another big thriving country which is the most similar to a democracy in this world. They are renowned for their fire magicians. It's said that their mightiest arcane wizard created the Eastern Plains by burning a whole country to cinders during the last big war.

That was a few hundred years ago, so no way to tell if the story is true or not.

Then we have the Island Nation of Mist. They are strange people with long ears and a high build. They are very different from the humans on the main-continent. They control almost all islands on the great sea and are very xenophobic people.

Even though they control the trade on the ocean, they don't interact much with anyone else. Their ships moor in a port to sell and buy goods and then they disappear on the great Sea again.

Last but not least there is the great Phenex Empire. They completely control a whole continent which is five weeks to the south by ship. Admittedly, the Phenex Empire is only the size of a third of the main continent. They are still bigger than any other nation.

And they are ruled by a supposedly immortal Queen since a few hundred years.

Now for something that's shared by all nations. They despise technology! Everything has to be done by magic. And therefore, being able to use magic in this world is equivalent to having power.

People who are able to use a reasonable amount of magic are nobility by default. Someone without it is a peasant and treated accordingly.

The big noble families consist only of the most powerful magicians. Of course it's in the interest of nobility to suppress any technology and knowledge about science. It keeps the untalented worker class at bay.

Something which I really despise. Not that I would care for anyone besides myself. But I love technology and machines. It's my hobby! Yet I am forbidden from following my interests in this world. It's infuriating!

If it wouldn't have serious side effects I would slit my throat right here and now to start my next life. That's because I am someone who remembers his previous lives. I am quite old actually. From what I remember I have lived a few thousand different lives so far.

But there is a problem with reincarnation. If you die too early, you lose memories. That's not exactly pleasant and it already happened quite a few times to me already. Sometimes you are just unfortunate and die as an infant for example. That's the worst case. It blows a serious hole into your memories. Mostly you lose your oldest memories. But if you are unlucky you can also lose some recent ones. And that's really unpleasant!

So I will never commit suicide for a pathetic reason like that. Even if the reincarnation is really shitty like my current one.

I am the third son of high nobility from the Mislow Kingdom. Even though I was born into nobility I really hate this world. The biggest reason is the ban on technology. The second biggest reason is that I hate my family.

My father and my mother don't give a shit about their children and see us just as resources. When I was old enough to walk, they threw me out of the house and locked me up in an educational facility. The people there knew just two things. Training and sleeping! So I never really learned to know my parents until I was ten.

That was when I was taken back home to be -introduced- to the people which should be called my family. But what followed were just brutal and inhumane training lessons. It didn't matter how good I was. If I managed to achieve something, my father simply made it harder the next time.

Maybe he was annoyed that his third son is more capable than his first son who should inherit the house. Mother was always indifferent towards me. But I have to admit that she kept me alive during my infant stage.

It actually is very bad for a noble house to have multiple capable heirs. The nation's laws are very strict in that regard and are designed to protect the magical heritage. If there are multiple capable heirs, the noble house has to be split between them in order to ensure that both bloodlines are kept alive.

That's something my father doesn't want to happen under any circumstances. Having a big and powerful noble family split up would result in two smaller noble houses which aren't under his control any more.

In short, my family is the worst I can remember throughout all my reincarnations.

It was a blessing that I managed to sneak out of the house when I was twelve. I went directly to a testing facility which belonged to the Arcane Academy. There I took a test for the Arcane Academy and got a sponsorship.

So the brutal training had at least some worth. When the letter from the Arcane Academy arrived, my father fumed and beat me half to death. I may have had knowledge above my age but that doesn't mean that I could put up a fight against someone who was in the prime of his time.

In any case, it was worth the beating. After my potential was officially acknowledged by the Academy, my father had no other choice than to let me go. Magic ability equals power in this world. And hindering his own son in climbing the ladder of power would have looked very bad for him.

His house would have looked weak. And that's something that cannot be allowed in a world where all powerful bloodlines are eyeing each other with daggers behind their backs.

While there are no wars, it is far from peaceful. The climb and fall of a noble house can be decided by a single weak family member.

A few years have passed since then. And as long as I was protected by the Arcane Academy, I could live my life in relative freedom.

Though it should be a place that seeks knowledge, the Academy isn't any different in its pursuit of the status quo. You are allowed to seek any knowledge that's in line with the general world-view. But should you be found to dabble in technology or science, you can be sure to face dire and most likely final consequences.

“Ascathon!”

Someone elbows me into the side. “It's your turn in any second now! Don't zone out while looking at that creepy chandelier. Seriously!”

“Ahaha... sorry. What would I do without you mom!” I smirk at Kane who is the only person who is friendly with me. Because of the whole house splitting issue, it's uncommon for a noble family to send someone else besides their first son to the Academy.

Everyone tried to hold their distance from me during my time here. They don't want to be involved in any trouble by being associated with me. Kane is the only one who didn't care.

He is the son of a merchant house and filthy rich. He isn't very talented in magic but his family sent him here with money despite that. It gives a lot of prestige to have someone graduating from here.

Kane has short brown hair and dark brown eyes. He could be called a little chubby if you take just a quick look at him. But I know that he is just built very sturdy.

“Ascathon Arenzien!” The headmaster calls for me and I stand up. I walk with long measured steps through the rows of chairs with students. It's a big hall and there are about two hundred graduates.

When I arrive at the podium, the headmaster hands me a certificate, which acknowledges my successful graduation from the Arcane Academy.

“You managed to graduate with flying colours. Seven perfect scores on your seven main fields of study. That's remarkable! By the Academy's tradition, it will fulfill a wish for a student who managed five perfect scores. So what do you wish for Ascathon?”

The Headmaster looks at me with inquiring eyes.

I smile at him. That's the moment I was working for. The Academy should have the power. “I wish to cut all ties with my family. I want a new family name of my own. Never again I want to be mentioned together with the house of Arenzien.”

A murmur rises throughout the students and the director screams them down. “SILENCE!” Then he looks back towards me. “You realize that you throw away a name with history and power? Life will be much harder without it. It can also be seen as a serious insult towards the house of Arenzien.”

“I don't care.” I grab the certificate out of the directors hand and press my thumb onto it while infusing my mana into it. This acknowledges the document from my side.

The headmaster waves his hand and another document appears in it. It starts to glow while he sets up another document. “Then so be it. The Academy will change your name into....?”

“Ascathon Asceron.”