I Have No Choice Except For Third Path

================================================================Authors note: ”So I thought about it and I found out that the naming of Edward Pendragon is cool and all but it doesn match what I wanted. Also, Duke Pendragon is a book that exists so I don want to be a man who is known for copying my MCs name from somewhere else. I will change the name to Aaron Kacper Redeemer. Again I am deeply sorry to those who read my first three chapters. Land naming will remain as pendragon layer. ”

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Magic measuring rocks is a mysterious rock. Its originally found on the west side of the Kharo Desart. Its main purpose is to measure the quality of mana people handle. Mana is the source of magic. Its found in the environment. Normally people are born in this world without any power to wield magic. By growing up in a magical environment the mana in nature starts to flow through peoples bodies. Soon children gain a small degree of magic control.

This control is not very sharp and it has a lot of limitations. This phase of life is known as recognition as a child learns the existence of magic. After that, a child is thought to learn how to control the mana flow in their body. The mana flow control will let them control the flow of outside mana into their body. The more a child uses flow control the more they will see that the mana in their body starts to form in a cloud. The cloud of mana will then start to become denser and soon it will turn into a solid form.

This phenomenon is known as the formation of the mana core. One hypothesis says that it happens because of the constant usage of flow control. Our body becomes more adopted in the usage of mana and somehow helps form a mana core which will act as a converter and storage to keep mana. Mana core helps convert environment mana into your own and helps to control a big amount of mana more flawlessly. The better the quality of your core the greater the quality of handling powerful spells.

After the mana core is formed, it contains a lot of impurities. Think of it as an engine, the best quality engine will produce more power while a low-quality engine produces low power. To upgrade your mana core the only way is to train, the more you train your core the more powerful your core becomes. There is no easy way. Even if you
e born a genius it will not help you much. It will only help you very slightly thats all.

By the way for the different races, the formation of the core is different. In this world except for humans, there are beasts humans, and elves. The Beast races children were born with a magic core inside them. But they also need to train hard to make it purer. While the elves they don need any core. Instead, they use their body as a mana core. This way they can wield more power but the drawback is that they need to train even harder to make their body purer. Thats why elves live in a land where there is more mana in the environment.

I stood up in front of the rock. Its a big chunky rock with a height of approximately 7 feet tall and 3 feet in width. I stared at the rock for a few minutes while I decided whether or not I should try a spell.

In my dreams, I was not a magic user but rather a magic swordsman. But I do know some spells. According to the mana theory, every living being who can control magic possesses an attribute of mana. Attribute means a type of magic that people tend to use more flawlessly.

”If I remember correctly I had a void type attribute in the dreams and the magic I used mostly related to space and gravity. ”

”But I never learned fully how to use them because there are very few people who can use them in the first place. ”

I looked at the room and soon found an empty bucket. I lift my hand and point it toward the bucket. In my mind, I imagined the magic circle that I learned called ”Pull ”. I let my mana flow into my hand and formed a delicate little circle in my palm. Soon I used the circle to control the environment close to the bucket. Within a few seconds, the bucket starts to move a bit. I used more pressure in the environment with the magic circle and soon the bucket starts to move toward me.

As I already drained quite a lot of mana I didn try to use too much power into the circuit. A magic spell is something where people use their mana to draw a shape. This shape will be used to control the mana in the surrounding area. For a large-scale spell, you need to create a large-scale shape. The shape is like a circuit to control the mana.

”The more you understand the circuit the better mage you become. ” I said to myself.

I give up the magic training for today and left the room.

****

After returning from the training I took a bath. The maid dropped by and asked if I am feeling ok.

”You don have to worry about my health, ” I replied to her with a smile. Her name is Claire Milton. She has long black hair and a pretty round face. If anyone sees her first time they would easily mistake her for a noble lady. She was born in a merchant family under who handled one of our businesses. She lost her mother when she was young and a few years later her father also died. Since then my mother took her to the castle as a maid. She has been working here for nearly 4 years. I didn hear what happened to her in both dreams but I can guess that her end was pretty bad as she was a personal maid of mine and since she is a pretty girl it was obvious that she was either sold into slavery or something else. I guess in the second dream she would have a better life.

”Is it dinner time already? Go and check if my parent has already at the table. ”

”Yes, Young Master they are already waiting for you at the table. ”

”Alright. Also, you should act more naturally in front of me. Its frustrating and tiresome for me to hear you address me like this every time and we are also the same age. So just call me master from now on when we are alone. ”

”Yes, master. ” She replied with a slight smile on her face.

****

I went downstairs to the living room. Redeemers castle is big but most of the space is used by soldiers living quarters, staff members, office rooms, and other miscellaneous stuff. The family member only uses the highest floor of the building with some personal attendants.

The living room is a big space that is used by family members only. On the farthest side opposite the stairs is the dining table. As I went close to the table my mother noticed me and smiled at me.

I have seen her smile many times. Even the last night I had seen her smiling happily. But for some reason, I feel like I hadn seen her smile for a long time. I felt the emotion of all these years on my dream of losing my parent going away as soon as I saw my parents faces.

”Aaron, I heard from your maid that you fell asleep on the balcony and then you stayed all day in the library. You should visit the soldier training hall a bit more. Else how will you become a tough fighter. ” My father warned me with a harsh voice.

”You shut up. Whats wrong with spending the day in the library. ” My mother snapped back at my father angrily while comforting me saying, ”Aaron dear, you don need to feel pressure about anything. Do whatever you feel good about. If you feel that you want to be a scholar we will fully support you. ”

As my parents started arguing about my future I finally felt that I had returned home. ”Its nice to be with family. ”

Both my parents heard what I said and looked at me with a surprised faces. Immediately they stopped arguing and started enjoying the dinner. After dinner, I asked my father about the training facility close to the library.

”What? You are interested in training? ” My father asked me. ”Not exactly. But I felt the need for strength recently so I decided to gain some muscle. ” I replied.

”Then you can join the Soldier training hall. It will be easier to monitor you in sword training. ”

Hearing this I quickly replied saying, ” I just want to gain muscle at first. I have read in a book that if you train yourself at first you can understand your body much better like where your limitations are and how can you solve them. I feel like I can do this on my own. So I will train alone someday. If the whole thing doesn work I can still switch training grounds. ”

My father listen quietly and started thinking about the whole thing. After a few minutes, he gave in and said, ”Ok. Ill send someone to fix the place with new equipment. Also are you sure you don need sword training? ”

”For now at least. But in the future, when I am ready in I will come looking for you. ” After hearing this my father became extremely happy. There is no greater joy for a militaristic man other than teaching his kin his sword technique. My father is an A+ rank swordsman. In the entire Gondor Kingdom, there is a very few people who can rival my father. Its just that I am a very incompetent man in both of my timelines resulting fathers doom. I am sorry pops.

On the other hand, my mother is concerned about the whole issue. She asked me with concern, ”Son, are you sure about this. ” ”Don worry mother I am quite optimistic about this, ” I assured my mother.

”Ok. But you have to promise me two things. The first rule is under no circumstance, you will push beyond your limit. If it feels like you can take it any more stop immediately and take a rest. You can always start a few minutes later. The second rule is, that you will be accompanied by Claire while you are training. ”

”I don think its necessary for Claire…. ” before I can finish my word my mother interrupted me.

”Its necessary. She will help you with training. Also, she will stop you if you push too much. And finally, if you got fainted while training she will call for help. If you don accept this rule I cannot allow you to train alone. ”

Seeing my mother is hell bend on this matter and my father is also agreeing I have no other choice other than to accept her rule. ”Ok, I agree with your condition. ”

****

After dinner, I returned to my room. Claire already made my bed but before sleeping I went to the balcony. It was cold outside but the visibility is better than last night. The moonlight is sinning on my balcony. The size of this balcony is not so big. But you can easily fit two big armchairs in here.

As I set in the armchair I started thinking about all thats happened to me so far. Both dreams made me realize one thing I don want to live like that. I don want any bloodshed. I want to live peacefully as much as possible. In both my dreams, I became legendary but I lost so many things. This time I will acquire power but not let a single people know about my existence. I will lay low as much as I can. If people know about me less they will be less interested in me and while no one is looking I can do whatever I want. But there is one thing, people already started coveting my familys power. From the first dream, I realise that someone deliberately led the prince into our fiefdom, and the judgment against us is also quite cruel and unfair. Somebody wanted us to be removed from the duke position to put someone of their own. From Anns story, I can assume who did that but right now they are too strong. I need something to make them weak secretly while hiding my presence.

”Well, I will figure it out eventually, ” I said to myself.

For now, I will not change anything on both timelines. I feel like they had sent the prince to this place to start trouble, in the first dream they got lucky because the prince beat me up. But the second time they had to change the plan since I became friends with the prince. For now, I will not meet the prince and will not cause trouble in the city. That will do I guess.

I get up and went to bed after closing the door.