Second Wind: Rebirth of the Strongest Fighter

the swordsmanship, but I could tell it was fake. Stylized. Flashy for the sake of a movie screen. And also stripped of any real violence, obviously censored for children.

This did not at all reflect the gritty reality of combat.

Which confirmed to me that this was, like movies, made up. Or at the very least, not an accurate retelling of the actual story of Erengar, if he was indeed not just a character or piece of folklore.

”Elseus was one of four great heroes, and all of them were alike, ” continued Eyva. ”Strong from birth, blessed with bodies seemingly shaped by the gods themselves.

One of them Aife, was an Elf just like myself.

Together, they rallied to end the tyranny of the Old Gods so very long ago. ” Eyvas tone darkened for a brief moment. ”Before men razed the forests and built their steam and smoke spewing cities. Her tone resumed its usual cheeriness. ”And to this day, thousands of years later, they are remembered. ”

Eyva reached out and held my hand. ”Nowadays, however, especially in the lands of man, such natural strength is seen as brutish.

A relic of an old, old age before magic developed to what it is now.

In this Age, the Arcane is revered, and the Wild shunned. ”

I cooed at Eyvas explanation, hoping she would explain more, and she nodded, pleased at my listening. ”In my many years of seeing the birth of new life, I have not seen a child as attuned to the Wild as you, especially not from these lands.

Were you in Tir Nala, my homeland, your size and strength would have been celebrated as a sign of closeness to nature. ” She sighed and shook her head. ”But I worry for you here.

Those who live with the Wild in their hearts find it difficult to practice magic. The might of ones body draws one away from the might of the mind. I fear it will be like that for you, and without magic, you will be nothing here. ”

Eyva started to talk more to herself than to me, but I could understand her regardless.

”You will no doubt Submerge into the Swirl and develop magic. After all, you are the child of a Magic Lord; it is almost inevitable unless you are by some vanishingly small chance a Fell.

But you may not live up to expectations placed upon you.

In this land that values magic above all else, you may even end up an outcast, especially if the Lord has another child.

Life will be hard, especially as a Magic Lords heir. The expectations will be great. ”

I groaned internally.

Great. So, I definitely was not in for an easy life.

Not with an asshole father and a mother that didn love me. The only chance for me to survive here was to somehow develop magic, but from what I could tell, the capacity seemed entirely hereditary.

At the very least, I did not feel anything within myself that felt special in any way shape or form which I could identify as magic.

Honestly, the only thing I dealt with within myself were farts and growling hunger.

I did not know exactly what the Arcane and the Wild were, but I could hazard a guess that they were not compatible with each other if Eyva was saying that I wasn going to be a good magic user because of my attunement with the Wild.

And that whole thing about being a Fell, my mother had been worried about that too, back when I was freshly born. I could only deduce that was the title given to those who could not use magic at all.

I shuddered to think what would happen to me if I was one. Did the people of this land practice infanticide? It seemed entirely possible, and I had seen it happen plenty of times in my past life.

If my father wanting to hide my existence was any indicator, whatever fate was in store for me if I lacked magic was not one that was going to be any good.

But at the least, Eyva seemed to think I wasn going to be a Fell, and I deferred to her expertise.

After all, I still only had a babys worth of knowledge about this world.

”But hopefully, you will remember these tales and know that your body is nothing to be ashamed of. Once, in the age of heroes, you were to be celebrated, not reviled. No, even now, in some lands, you would be a blessed child.

I will leave this crystal ball with you when it is time for me to leave.

In the future, when I am gone and you feel yourself down, you can look back at the tales of the great heroes and see that they were just like you. Deserving of love and praise. ” Eyva patted my head and beamed down at me with an angelic smile.

All I could think was this: why couldn she be my mother?

I was realistic, though.

Eyva would have to leave me soon, and that would leave me alone. Alone in a world of magic that I was not suited for.

The realization hit me that it was looking like living in this world was not going to be as easy as I thought it was.

If I wanted to survive past being a dead baby, I needed to learn, and I needed to learn fast.