I reincarnated as the Duke from the North.

His grace has been acting quite strange these past few days. Since the day I saw him in the snowfall, his quiet demeanour has changed to a man of determination. On the days I return from buying his potion ingredients, his face becomes fuller and brighter. His ruby eye finally has the life returned to them. He often let me stay with him, asking me about the outside world, politics, and Osberg’s culture. He looked past my size, noticing that I was not just a laggard. Unlike the rest of the greystones, he treats me with kindness, like a friend. I once thought the days of me and his grace practising with wooden swords in the courtyard with laughter in our lungs and bright smiles were a thing of the long gone past. If Tarion can get better…

I knock on the dark wood door at the corner of the castle. No maid steps a foot in the darkened rooms. His grace called me. I open it to find him sweating a black ooze off his porcelain skin. His body, once skin and bones, have a touch of fat. He tied his long raven hair into a knot, refusing to cut it short because it looked “Cool”. Another bizarre addition to his newly eccentric vocabulary.

Closed eyes were forced open in a flash of shimmering mana.

“Congrats on the Silver Grade.”

Tarion return me a weary smile.

I will help you get better. No matter what. Dear friend.

10 days until Vanessa’s arrival.

Allocation window

This system sucks balls. No Ops skills. No easy guide. Hell, half my time was spent figuring this thing out. I even tried praying to the people of the ‘Land above’ and they stayed as silent as in my original world. But no problem. I am smart. I think. I can adapt. And did. If I can learn to shit in a pot, I can learn this system. The first thing I learned was that the system revolved around my circle and how I forge it. For every grade I upgrade, I receive POINTS to use and allocate. Each grade has given me five points, allowing me to use ten. And use as I please, as I can move points to whatever attribute I need to be enhanced. Another thing I learned was that I have a baseline for my attributes that I can only increase with training. That means push-ups, squats, running, and a fuck tonne of doping- I mean medicinal tea made from razzorflower. Thank the land above, I still had some gold hidden away.

It's been seven days since I started practising with steel swords. Charles advised against it, but I assured him I needed the real thing. I needed to know that making the wrong move actually mattered. Cutting the air with turns and flourishes, the form learned long returned like muscle memory. After a day of practising until a puddle formed on the dark wood floor, a blue notification popped up.

Plonk

SWORD ARTS LEARNT

Beginning of a journey to mastering the sword.

(LV.1)

Do I have to learn things? Fine then.

Wake up. Eat. Pretend to drink the tea. Meditate. Forge. Eat. Drink the good tea. Train. Train. Train. Learn sword art. Read Mana's guides. Eat. Rest. Play chess with Charles. Practice sword art. Read Magic. Sleep. And the routine repeats. The doping proved a success, having had to send Charles for larger clothes. Abs made of muscle other than starvation harden as I flex in the mirror.

“I am so hot.”

“What did you say, Tarion?” Charles asked, holding my long cloak

“I said I am so hot,” I reply, standing shirtless in front of my bedroom mirror. Flex the rest of my pale body. A body gym nerds would be jealous of.

“If you want, I can lessen the flame-”

“Haha, it's fine. So, are you sure?” I said, putting on my shirt.

“As sure as I can be. Multiple sightings of an apparition in the wood by loggers.”

“Alright. Time to test the fruit of my efforts.” I buttoned up my thick leather jacket.

“You’re going!?”

“Of ocurse. Hand me the cloak, please.”

Charles stood still. Holding on to the cloak. “Your Grace, I am happy to see you well and strong but this is an apparition, a demon! A man who has been stuck inside-”

I put a hand up and Charles was silenced.

“I appreciate and ignore your warning.” I pulled the cloak off the big man's meaty fingers. “I can manage a single demon beast, I will not be able to deal with the days to come.”

“Days to come?”

“Don’t worry, friend.” I hit Charles in the chest. He gasped in pain. “I have prepared well.”.

Status.

Plonk

Prepared well, I have.

I took the shining greatsword off the mantle piece. Its rough handle from generations of use felt soft in my callused hands. I swing down. A gust of air blew from my large blade, and the fireplace dimmed. I smiled wide, throwing on my cloak; its dark fur warms my neck.

“Come, Charles, drive me to my first monster hunt.”

3 days until Vanessa’s arrival.