Why did I reincarnate before the plot?!

Chapter Three

Time passed by and I became six years old. At that time, I already had trained my magic to an extent as much as possible, without testing my ability. That meant I couldn't get a training program specifically made for me, but my parents told me it would be helpful anyway and they didn't want too much attention on me. So they hid it from everyone in the town and even from the lord of this land, the Duke of Belmere.

After someone got their magic tested, by the royal mages or an academy, they would find out their ability. That was the RPG part of the game and the part where everything in one's life really started. It determined your whole life, like a job but more important. Because you could change your job, but not your ability class. My parents told me their class, mom's was Support and dad's class was Tank. Yes, ability types were the same as classes in RPGs. It not only depended on one's physical state and genetics, but what truly determined the class of a person was their personality.

That one day, when I was three years old, I made a promise to my parents. I had to hide that I was able to feel and train magic, and I had to wait patiently until I became six years old. Then they would show me a way to see my ability class without anyone else finding out. And that day was today, my birthday was yesterday and when I asked them about this, they said "Tomorrow, we'll do it tomorrow, sweetie", with a smile and a pat on my head.

That's why I was standing in father's office. With an excited face, I was watching father and mother. Father sat on his desk, looking through some documents, and mother sat on a chair in front of him, with a box on her lap. Finally, after what seemed to be a quarter of an hour, father took the bundle of papers and put it neatly away inside a drawer. Then he put both his arms on the desk and looked at me, "Haru-chi come and sit next to your mother, we'll tell you something."

I did as he said and looked at mother and father in expectation. Mother put the box carefully on the desk, looked at me, and slowly took off the lid. She then took out something weird. It looked like a combination of an ampere meter and a ticket printer. It had no screen and the switch had only two stands. I assumed the result would be typed out automatically by the machine. Mother also took out two wires that had flat surfaces on one end and on the other an end that could be put into the machine.

She put them in and took the other ends and put them on my left and right end each. Then she told me "Close your hands, sweetie. Hold them like that, but not too tight for them might break." I did as I was told and mother switched the stand on the machine, which probably was to turn it on and off. It made a bizarre sound for a moment and then the machine began to type out something on a small paper, which was already inserted at the top. It took some time and then stopped as the paper got pulled out by my father. He nodded and smiled at me. "Offence. Not bad!" Yes! That's absolutely what I wanted! Thanks, God or whoever made it possible.

But mother hit father's head lightly. "Idiot! Could you not say it so fast! Why didn't you wait for the tension to build up!" I laughed at mom, she had such a weird thought. Then I looked at father. "Dad, is it all? There seems to be something else written, isn't it?" He laughed at me, "Right, right! Haru-chi is smart. You're true there's something else!" He looked at me and then at mother. While smiling slyly, he got closer to us over the desk and whispered "Your power..." I swallowed and mother's eyes widened. "...is at the seventh level of Qi Condensation!" Mother was silent for a moment, before snatching the paper from father and looking at it. It seemed to be amazing for someone so young. But that would make some sense, as I trained a lot. So why did she look that shocked?

How does the Chinese Qi system work again? Doesn't it start at Qi Condensation? But what came after that? I think my power then is in the last part of the first stage, right?

"Amazing...", mother uttered stupefied. With a bewildered face, I looked at her and said, "Is it that wonderful?" Father was the one who replied, "Well, yes. Children who are tested for magic are only at the early-stage of Foundation Building, which is a stage after Qi Condensation. Level seven is at the late-stage as each stage has nine levels and every three levels are counted as early-stage, middle-stage or late-stage. So this means you almost can test your ability. And that is... truly amazing at this age..." I made an 'o'-shape with my mouth and asked, "Then what is after Foundation Building?" Father just told me everything this time, "Then it's Core Formation where you form a Golden Core, which stabilises your ability. After that, it's the Nascent Soul stage and then Immortal Ascension. But that's only in the legends, as it's been hundreds of years since the last mage became immortal."

Obviously, I had to ask an important question. "What stage are you on?" Both of them looked at me, but only my mother replied. "Your father is at the early-stage of Nascent Soul, which is seen as extremely good. My stage is late-stage of Core Formation, this is also very good for normal people. And I mean people who aren't part of the royalty or a sect. Speaking about sects, I didn't explain them yet to you, did I?" At that, I shook my head. I did remember about it in the description of the game, but it wasn't quite helpful.

Mother explained, "After someone has graduated from a Magic academy, they can choose to join a sect. We both didn't, as you can see. People who join a sect have more privilege than others, even more so when their stage is better. But we didn't join any of the sects, because those people treat others as animals. They think they're better than the normal people, who don't have cultivation or are too weak to be able to join a sect."

"The Duke of Belmere, our lord, is just like us. He is also at the Core Formation stage and didn't join a sect. The king gave the title of Duke to him and gifted this land for him to rule. A few years ago, when we graduated and didn't choose a sect, the Duke met us and talked about his land. He told us interesting things, such as about his Guild where everyone can accept quests based on their ability and stage, but also get information on how to cultivate or other things. We were interested and so we chose a home. That's how we are here now."

That Guild sounds interesting! I want to check it out, but I'll have to wait a bit to grow up, I guess...

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Current knowledge:

Characters:

Main character (MC):
Haruka/Haru: Japanese - Black hair - Reincarnated - Offence Mage

Parents:
Mother (Nozomi): Japanese - Black hair - Support Mage
Father (Haku): Japanese - Black hair - Tank Mage

Support characters:
Claire (maid/nanny): Brown hair - Cheerful

Gods:
Black Tortoise God (the God who reincarnated the MC): Chinese - Black hair
God (many names, the God of this world): Greek or Roman - Long grey     beard

Game characters:
Heroine (unknown)
Capture targets (unknown)

Characters who don't appear but are talked about:
Duke of Belmere (lord of the land where the MC and her parents live)

Magic:

Qi cultivation starts at Qi condensation
-> Foundation Building
-> ability test > specialised training
-> Core Formation (Golden Core, ability stabilisation)
-> Nascent Soul
-> Immortal Ascension (legend, 100s of years since the last mage became immortal)
Part Chinese Cultivation System and part RPG system
Ability classes: Support - Tank - Offence
9 Levels: Early-stage/Peak (1-3), Middle-stage (4-6), Late-stage (7-9)

Image: Nozomi (mother)