At the end of the school day, the same carriage comes back to pick him up. It goes out of the city through the same entrance it came from in the morning. Only, it makes a turn right after exiting the city walls. After another 30 minutes of travelling around the city wall, it reaches a separate area that has a sign board that reads, ‘Guardian housing’.

“Sir! We-hear.”

“Yes. Thank you!”

He exits the carriage before a big building with walled grounds. Once he enters, a young, skinny mage woman meets him.

“Hello! Good to see you back here.”

“Likewise miss Anna! I’m here to meet Courage.”

Motioning him to follow her, she moves through the building and exits on the other side, into the walled grounds. A bit of a distance away from where they exit the building, there is a Massive black wolf sitting in a majestic pose. It turns to them as soon as they are in line of sight.

The wolf stares at him with its now clean mane, waving in the breeze. The eyes of the wolf are pitch black, instead of the reddish dark colour it had before. It was looking in his direction, and there was intelligence in its eyes. Once they close in on each other, it gets up without any hurry and walks towards him to nuzzle its head on him, showing some affection.

“Hello there buddy. I know it has been a while since I last saw you, but I was not allowed to see you till you were ‘cured’. I bought you fruits! Here.”

Its ears perk up at the mention of the fruits, and once they are bought before it, it quickly takes one in its mouth. But before it eats it, it pauses and places it on the ground as it looks questioningly at its master.

“Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t your fault anyways. Apparently, you were not well at the time. So, what I said no longer applies. Now, who is a good boy? Yeah you are a good boy!”

After listening to his words, its excitement comes back a bit and it starts eating the fruits with a wagging tail. It lets out a couple barks to show its happiness.

‘Woof! Woof!’

Looking at the wolf happily eating the fruits and running around in the breeze, he feels glad that at least the wolf has come out of this better than him. The thought that the wolf was his first and most trusted companion in this world and will probably remain the only one for the near future, leaves him melancholic.

“So, from what I understand, he was not well. Some sort of disease? I was told you would give me a proper explanation.”

“Not disease Mr. Inan. It was a curse.”

“Ah! yes. I keep forgetting that is the kind of world I am in now.”

If she understood what his words meant, she ignored it and continued with the explanation.

“A Blood Curse! It was a Blood Curse of all things. I honestly have no idea how you tamed a Blood Cursed beast without actually lifting the curse. Anyways, a Blood Curse is something lesser vampires, that have grown powerful, can place upon individuals, to help it manipulate the victim, to violently kill their surrounding creatures. At the end of which, it will completely drain the victim of its tainted blood. It’s not just the victim that ends as its nourishment but all the other life they would have claimed in the frenzy.”

“Wow! I did not realize it was in such danger. But his circumstances don’t completely match, with the fate of a cursed, as you just said.”

The man frowned in worry.

“Actually, we are also a bit lost with its case. All we could conclude so far is that, the wolf was a powerful Alpha of a pack before being cursed. We do not know how it avoided a confrontation with the rest of the pack, but we are sure it was able to quickly kill the lesser vampire before any further serious confrontations. It somehow ended up as a lone beast and even took over a burrow of a different creature before it met you, and that is when the actual mystery starts. We do not understand how it retained a modicum of intelligence even after the curse. We are also baffled at your claim that it acknowledged you as its master, completely dropping any hostile behaviour and has somehow turned into a cowardly, emotional creature.”

“We think it might be related to the brain damage it received with a massive blow to its head. As far as we can tell, the strength involved was out of reach of any normal or even strong human fighter. Do you have any clue about that?”

“What? I-I have no idea about that.” He shifts his gaze away from her uncomfortably.

“I see. I wasn’t really expecting you to know either.” She replies, with slightly narrowed eyes.

“So, Courage is cured now? Or may be Exorcised is the right word? What ever it may be, he looks hale and healthy, both in body and mind to my eyes. Can I take him with me?”

“I’m sorry, but neither is he ‘cured’ nor can you take him out of these grounds for now. Not until we get authorization from the city lord and that won’t happen till the healers working on him give him a complete pass.”

“What? Why? At least explain to me how he is still not cured? The curse is lifted right?”

“Yes and No. The Curse is mostly lifted but some of its effects are still lingering in its mind. The curse causes the berserk state by intensifying the victim’s feelings, and the lesser vampire creating rage inducing illusions in the victim’s mind. The emotions are now under control but not completely. It is currently treated with medicine that induces temporary effects. If you want it to be able to go outside without the use of said drugs, you’re going to have to be patient. It also hadn’t yet recovered its ability to connect with the system. It will take about a months’ time for it to heal that part. You’re lucky in that it still retains most of the memories from after the head injury, but we believe its memories from before might be jumbled up and confusing. Do not worry though. We were given strict orders from the City Lords building that it needs to be given our at most care.”

“That is a lot to process. So, it might not actually even remember our conflicts from before it became docile. But that head injury sounds like something that could have easily killed it or left it stupid if I hadn’t taken action back then.”

“Yes, that is another thing we are curious about. I can see that you are neither well versed in the healing arts nor do you have any magical background. How did you heal its bodily and mental injuries so thoroughly in such a short time? I’m sure you must have had a fierce fight with it if both of you have suffered significant, Amnesia inducing, head injuries from it.”

‘Nervous chuckles’

“Yeah I wonder how. I can’t seem to recall how I accomplished that.”

“Of course, Amnesia it was!”

[Crap! I’m bad at keeping a poker face in these kinds of situations!]

[So, that was the story that they made up. I got similar head injuries as the wolf from my fight with it and then we somehow connected with each other after I healed it and stumbled onto this place. Sounds like a good story. Would have been nice if they had kept me in the loop.]

“Alright Mr. Inan. I take my leave. You can have permission for the next 2 hours to spend with Courage.”

“Thank you, Miss Anna! It was nice meeting you too.”

After which they spent some time playing. He left to his assigned house by nightfall.

[This all still feels like a bad joke. Going to school with kids, having a giant wolf for a pet and yeah there was the whole being transported to a magical world too.]

“Lord, Dinner is ready!”

“Thank you. I’ll be there shortly.”

‘Sigh’

[No point in fussing over the things I cannot understand yet. I need to focus on the now for now. At least till I can go out, looking for the answers myself.]

*Two weeks later*

He ignores the embarrassment at having to study alongside teenagers and keeps focus on the things that he can do. After 2 weeks of school, A great deal is revealed about the world that he is stuck in for the foreseeable future.

At the end of that day, as he was about to leave the class, he was stopped by a school staff and was asked to follow to a room on the 3rd floor. Once there, he was told to take a seat and wait for the City Mage, Devian.

[I thought it was weird that I had to go to school to learn about the system, but it makes a lot of sense now.]

[This world is very intertwined with this system. These people need to depend on it so much, because there is a massive amount of advantage to those who do, over those who do not. Everything from a civilian skilled worker, to a veteran combatant, is part of the system. Everyone can be a productive part of a society by simply awakening to their respective system and accepting jobs from other existing skilled/unskilled workers. So, most of the governments of this world have public schools, that train and help young kids awaken, and impart a basic knowledge of the system and the history of the world.]

[A basic level course, lasting 1 month, is more than sufficient to awaken someone to their system and help them choose a job at the end of it. Apart from the mandatory language course, that they learn at an even younger age, every other field/subject is completely optional to them. Mathematics, Sciences, Geography, History, etc are all things that aren’t considered a part of their basic education because they do not help in acquiring a job to the same extent as in the old world. I have mixed feelings about that.]

[It would be stupid to not take advantage of it, considering all it costs the city is chump change while providing great potential for growth.]

[While none of the classes are even remotely challenging, the fact that they are made for the people born in this world is constantly throwing me off. For all they seem human and relatable, I keep getting harsh reality checks that this is totally an alien world to me.]

[The planet is much bigger at around 10k Km radius, but somehow, still maintains only about 10.5g gravity. The day and night cycle are more or less the same as the old world as far as I can tell. Only by building an accurate clock would I be able to tell if there are any minor differences. Finally, there may be some magic related shenanigans going on with how celestial objects interact with each other. I’ll have to spend a lot more time figuring that part out. It seems even the primary forces by which matter interact with each other needs heavy alterations in their models with Mana in the equation. I wonder if the universal constants remain the same, and if not, how that even works out?]

[The Humans of this world don’t really seem all that human either. For 1, they all seem to have slightly different brains compared to me. Either their conclusions are wrong, or both our brains are a bit different on the inside. Apart from the brain structure, I was also shocked to find out that pregnancy lasts for 11 months instead of the usual 9. Which was weird considering the babies seem very normal both in size and behaviour. I really wish I held back that comment about that 9month pregnant lady’s conceiving date.]

He slightly cringes thinking about the unfortunate incident.

[I even heard of a race of humanoids’ empire that have 12 fingers on their hands, instead of the 10, and hence, use base 12 number system. Fascinating stuff! I will have to visit that place! I wonder how they fare in basic math.]

“Evening Mr. Inan, how are you adjusting to your new environment? I hoped to meet you more often but forgive me, I was a little busy the past 2 weeks.”

“Hello Mr. Devian! I’m doing as good as anyone could, caught in my predicament. And do not worry about it. These two weeks have been Enlightening and …interesting.”

“I see. I’m glad you seem to be making great progress as I expected.”

“I hope that wasn’t a jab at me Mr. Devian. I’m doing terribly even against little kids. Everyone got their names registered and a majority of them even got awakened today. I haven’t even covered the first part yet.”

“You’re too harsh on yourself. You fail to understand that you are not even a part of this world. It would have been perfectly reasonable for you to have completely lacked the ability to communicate with the system. And what’s more, I have come here to perform that first thing and discuss ways to aid with the second.”

“Oh! Finally, some progress! I will be honest. I was very afraid I would never be able to access the system at this rate. At least I have hope now. So, what do you mean by aiding me?”

“Don’t be impatient Mr. Inan. I will discuss with you later, but we must first see to it that you take the first step towards it. Please Follow me. I have a carriage waiting for us. I will perform your name registration myself.”

They both walk out of the school’s back and enter the carriage waiting for them. On the way to their destination,

“So, before we start, let me confirm the details. I presume ‘Inan’ would be your first name, but you have been recognized as a noble by one of the city Lords. So, it is expected that a noble has a house name, but you clearly do not belong to any of this world. You would essentially be creating your own house. So, please let me know your house name and I urge you to take this seriously.”

“Huh? You caught me off guard there. I don’t want to just use my Last name from the old world. Can you use a single letter instead of a word?”

“That would be novel but is permissible.”

“Then make it ‘G’. So, how do we do this? I know I should be doing my best, focusing on the connection with the system but we’re in a moving carriage.”

“Yes, but is that a problem for you? From what I’ve been told, that is within your capabilities.”

Says the Mage with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I guess I can manage that much.”

After which, he enters meditation and focuses on the elusive connection with the system. It takes a few minutes for him to finally feel the prickly sensation behind the brows. The mage notices this and a small invocation later, the information appears in his head.

System Details:

-Unawakened Nobleman

-Name: Inan G

-Age: 29 yrs

-Health: 73/76

-Mana: 5/5

-Stamina: 20/34

Personal stats:

?? Unawakened ??

After the briefest of the glimpse, it disappears amidst his excitement which breaks his concentration.

“Whoo! Finally, I see at least 3 of my stats and have a name!”

After the excitement dies down, he discusses what the numbers mean in comparison to an average person.

“Well, you have pretty much no mana, considering that you are a full-grown adult already, but that is not unexpected. The fact that your world had no concept of mana at all, I’m glad that you at least have 5 mana to work with. Which means you’re not completely hopeless yet.”

He winces at the mage’s evaluation.

[Well, there goes my fantasies of becoming a grand wizard. Where’s the fun in no magic life in a world of magic?]

“But that is not what you must be focusing on anyways. Mr. Inan, you are an exceptionally healthy man. I must say, I have never seen another with a larger base health pool. I guess you’re either the healthiest specimen of your kind or you have your secrets. I will not pry but if you have anything you can contribute to healing arts of this world, both me and the city lord will be very grateful to you.”

He almost winces visibly at the mage’s comment. Unfortunately, he has very little to offer in terms of the nanites. He is not even sure if they would work well on individuals from this world as they have differences in their core anatomy.

[This is probably what happened with Courage. I must be careful with how much I reveal, even to people I trust.]

“I-I see. That is very good to know but it seems my stamina isn’t that impressive, and I thought I had pretty good stamina.”

The mage just raised an eyebrow at that last part but made no comment.

The carriage arrived at its destination shortly and they entered what appeared to be the Mage’s home.

They are led straight to an underground room that seem to have been prepared beforehand with strange patterns and geometric shapes.

“So, as you already know, your meditation skills aren’t that bad, but your ethereal cognitive organ, that makes the connection to the system, is absent and will take time to grow. We obviously do not have records of your exact case, but there are plenty of people who either develop it slower or have accidents and mutations that make aid in its growth almost mandatory. Now if you will please take a seat in the centre of the room.”

“You lost me at the first sentence there, but I guess this was the aid you were talking about. I was expecting a tea break before this, but I guess we might as well begin.”

With those words, he sits on the floor and once again, enters a meditative stance.

-To be Continued.