Chapter 2: He Tries

It’s been a week since the incident, and Julius has finally started to sort through the clutter of memories. The first important memory of note was that he was the son of Gregor Von Hyperius, one of many younger brothers of Lukas Von Hyperius, the current Patriarch of House Hyperius.

House Hyperius was awarded the rank of Marquis centuries ago by the Emperor for its achievements during the Great War. It governed over the Valorbury region, a large territory with many smaller houses underneath it.

He didn’t know who his mother was and had only seen his father a handful of times.

It seemed like his father and family overall did not particularly care about Julius. His father had returned to the estate several times over the years, but during that period, he had not visited Julius a single time. Not even a birthday note. Nothing.

Compared to other great houses, there were not many members of House Hyperius. The most recent monster flood took the lives of many of their elites. For a house that made its name for its martial prowess, this was a major blow to its power. Their remaining elites, few were either offered better options from more powerful factions or wanted to settle down to start families of their own. This meant that House Hyperius was under pressure from the remaining great houses, having lost much of its influence and holdings over the past decade. It was only due to the strength of their Patriarch that they weren’t swallowed up entirely.

Reaching Tier 5 before turning 40, Lukas Von Hyperius was considered one of the most talented individuals of his generation. His talent was what made the former Patriarch name him his successor. However, when the former Patriarch died in the prior monster flood, Lukas was still under fifty years old but was widely known as one of the most powerful Tier 5s in the Empire.

Julius had many questions. There were so many questions that he wasn’t able to answer. He was restricted to a few areas of the estate. There was something about his circumstances that confined him to the estate. He was not allowed to visit other areas and most of the time had to eat his meals in the kitchen or his room.

To be fair, the estate was massive. The mansion alone would make Bruce Wayne’s mansion feel like a studio apartment in comparison. It could comfortably house hundreds, and the land it sat on was even more ridiculous. So, even if you lived together, you could go years without seeing each other. So he couldn’t say it was even that bad; he had more space than he did in his previous life. With that being said, it was lonely being confined in these prison-like conditions.

Reviewing his memories, he found himself pitying the former Julius. There weren’t many children his age around in the first place, and the ones who were already had their groups. At seven years old, the only people he had interactions with were Gwen, Edwin, and a handful of workers, and even then, they were employees of the house, not his friends. It was also important to note that none of his blood relatives interacted with him during these seven years.

For the previous Julius, this was a curse. However, for the new Julius, this was a blessing in disguise. Because while he was confined to this part of the estate he was free to do whatever he wanted as long as he remained inside the compound.

Because of this, he didn’t need to worry about pretending to be a seven-year-old child all the time. But it was odd that in all these years, his family treated him like he didn’t exist. Another unanswered question.

However, there was one thing that he was very excited about.

Magic.

It seemed that magic was possible in this world and that everyone had the ability to use it to some extent. It also had something to do with skills. The memories he gained lacked many details, but he understood they were important. According to Gwen, he would learn more after his baptism when he was twelve. Unfortunately, even after pressing her for more answers, she said the house restricted her about what she could tell him.

Magic and skills were apparently what allowed him to recover so quickly. His caretaker, Gwen, was an accomplished healer and found him outside unconscious. From there, she healed him, and within a day, he awoke in his bed feeling better than ever.

It was truly an amazing feat, and he would be feeling even more excited if it weren’t for the fact that he had been under strict orders not to move for the last week.

Therefore, he has spent the last week sitting in bed eating, sleeping, and going over 7 years’ worth of memories. It seems that he didn’t just take over Julius’ body. It was more accurate to say that their souls somehow combined. There wasn’t a separation between identities. Nonetheless, because Julius was only around 7 years old, the memories and weight of his soul were slightly lower than Julian’s. This is why he suspected his personality hadn’t changed that much from his previous life.

He also still had many questions regarding the events that brought him here, like whether that light show was the reason why he arrived in this world or what else might have happened to his world during that anomaly. He couldn’t believe that something had only happened to him, but he didn’t have enough information to answer his questions. But learning and understanding magic would probably be a good start.

Unfortunately, there seemed to be an issue. Magic was not easy to learn. After a week of trying everything his brain could think of, he ended up back where he started. From visualizing to chanting, he made no progress.

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Although he would be damned if he didn’t stop trying, it was magic for heaven’s sake. He and every kid always dreamed about the day they acquired magic. Now, it was an actual reality for him, and he would be an idiot if he didn’t put everything into learning it. He would not allow this chance to pass him by without giving it his all. He made a pact with himself to commit to learning magic; even if it was extremely difficult, he wouldn’t give up.