I woke up, sore and fatigued.

I didn't see any of Blake's memories today, I haven't seen any since that dream where he was a ghost in my world, does that mean he really died? Can I not let him take control of this body and live the rest of his life? Is it really okay to live in this body?

I sat up and looked around me, Sylvar was sleeping on the other bed next to the one I was sleeping on, I recalled what he told me yesterday.

Would Blake really not mind it if I continued to live in this body? Is it true that he would already be dead if he didn't come to borrow spiritual power from me to? It was a theory after all he could be wrong.

At first, I didn't mind living in this body even after knowing it was Blake's, but if he died because of me, I'd be appalled, but then again, if he really died before coming to the Noah on Earth, then I technically helped him right? He said goodbye to his parents before they died, I saw that memory, and even if he lived after that, the disease, or as they call it the curse, Blake was inflicted by it, so would he be cured if he didn't my sou-

...

I need to stop thinking of excuses, I was never one to find excuses to feel better about a mistake I made, weather I like it or not my soul that fused with Blake's put more pressure on his body which lead to his untimely death.

Blake died, I can't deny that anymore, and now I have to live, he either died because of me or not, but it doesn't matter what was the cause of his death, the result is the same, he died, I need to stop thinking about the cause because it wouldn't change the outcome that has already happened...

So what do I do now?

It's obvious that I should live happily, not live letting this drag me down, but I will keep thinking about it no matter what...

Ignoring the thought wouldn't solve anything, it would weigh down on me more with time passing, I should be thankful instead of regretful, I won't forget Blake.

I've already dealt with this before, my mother has died for me, I was sad, but I knew it was out of my power to change anything, so I didn't dwell on it, but I still remembered her, every year I offered flowers to her picture and was thankful for her because she wanted me to be happy, her life didn't end because of me, but for me, if I lived a bad life then I would be doing the opposite of what she wanted, which is selfish.

I can't say the same about Blake whom I met briefly, but I will be thankful to him for this opportunity, and I will live a fulfilled life!

Okay! New life here I come!

I got up energized after cheering myself up.

Fwomb! Oh...

I was still worn out from my journey so I fell down back on the bed because I sat up abruptly.

I want to get up and tidy the house before Sylvar gets up, if I want to live with him for now I have to do something in return, so I'll help him with the house work.

I got up from the bed steadily and tidied it, I folded the blanket and fixed the bed sheet, after that, I went down to the first floor.

ah.. It's already tidy.

the table was clean and the chairs were in place, the window was also wiped clean and the ground was swept.

he's surprisingly responsible for such things as a king, to be fair he lived alone for a long time as it seems and he said that status didn't matter for Ancient Elves.

What do I do then?

I was contemplating how to not be dead weight for Sylvar when I heard him coming down the ladder.

He yawned "Good morning Noah, why are you up from the bed so early? You did sleep early yesterday but going through the forest while you are still so young physically must be exhausting."

"I was trying to think of a way to help you, because if I start living with you without doing anything in return, I would feel like I'm being a nuisance." I replied

He yawned again "Not at all, you must recover right now, doing a bit more chores would be new for me, I've been having the same dull days for a tens of years, so don't worry and relax, it's still early so go sleep, and when I prepare breakfast I'll wake you up."

But I can't sit around doing nothing... wait, food! I'm good at cooking!

"That's it. I can prepare food. I'm quite good at cooking." I said.

"Are you?" Sylvar asked, he looked at me intently for a while, "oh, you are!"

did he just look into my past?

"didn't you say that you can't read me correctly?"

"I can't Noah, but you mentioned a keyword, which is cooking, and your memories of cookinng resurfaced in you, so I can see them a bit more vividly than other memories." He explained "are you sure you're well enough to cook?"

"Positive, lead me to the kitchen."

We went to the kitchen on the first floor, it wasn't what I expected, it was more developed than I had thought, there was a stove but it had magic stones, and there was a fridge which also had magic stones and some cupboards that had glass jars with labels on them.

How did you get these? is what I wanted to ask but he answered before I voiced the question out loud.

"Although I'm in a secluded place, I can see how the outside world has developed with my ability, so even though these inventions are relatively new, I have them, I saw how they were made and imitated them, I'm quite good at crafting and building, everything here including the tree house was made by me, I also have the fog affinity which means I could cast an Illusion on myself and I can go out every once in a while to get supplies." He said proudly and puffed his chest.

"How do they work?"

He went to the stove "for this one that is called a 'stove' you run pure mana through the fire magic stone and it will generate a flame on top, the more mana used the bigger the fire," he then pointed to the fridge "for that one the 'fridge' is the same thing, but it generates cold air instead, they usually stay running for 10 minutes when supplied with mana."

they even have the same name as the ones on Earth, coincidence? I think no-

"Do you want to try?"

I nodded and headed to the stove, I moved the pure mana orbs to the stone and a flame was ignited, I move the pure mana faster and the flame grew bigger.

that's so cool!

I turned my head to see Sylvar, he was looking at my hand that was on the magic stone, he then said:

"Yesterday I saw you use magic and I thought you were influencing mana but I wasn't sure, but now I am after seeing you use it again."

"Is there anything wrong with how I use magic?" I stopped running mana through the stone and turned to him.

"Yes, and no, you see, for us Elves of any kind; Ancient, Forest or Dark, we influence mana, just like how you were doing just now, but humans can't do that usually, normally, they store mana in their gem core, and then use the stored mana for casting magic and spells" he explained.

"Gem core?" I tilted my head

"Pfft hahaha, so you really didn't know about it huh? If you use it then magic would be much easier for you to utilize."

so I've been doing it wrong this whole time? Ah! Blake why didn't you pay attention to classes the chief taught you?

"So how do- forget it we'll talk about it after breakfast, do you have seasonings? Like salt and pepper? I also need oil."

"I do" he went to a cupboard and got me a jar of salt and another of pepper, and a wooden bottle of oil "I have been saving them though, as I can't get them easily, but it's mostly because I don't go out of the forest much."

I grabbed them and got some horned rabbit meat from the fridge, I also got some carrots that were red, very yellow potatoes, gray onions and some purple tomatoes.

What was weird is that everything is very similar to Earth, they tasted the same and had the same name, just had weird colors.

this really seems like a strange game setting.

"Where did you get these Sylvar?"

"I have the wood affinity, it isn't hard to grow some plants."

"The green mana?"

"Yes, do you have it too?"

"I think so... also we're having lunch for breakfast."

"Ooh, I like the sound of that."

I wanted to show off my cooking skills, so I decided to make stew.

I cut the meat and seasoned it with salt and pepper, I got oil and started browning the meat in a pot, after that, I removed the meat and added cut onions, after the onions softened I added finely chopped tomatoes and a bit of water, I added the meat and then I put it in the oven to braise for a while.

"Wake me up in an hour or two, and keep supplying the oven with mana."

"Sure." He said "it smells nice already!"

After waking up, I put the chopped carrots and potatoes in the purple soup and let it cook until they were ready. It didn't look very appetizing, but the smell was.

We sat down and started eating.

"Wow~ it's been a while since I had food like this, I'm not good at cooking so I usually just roast these in the oven, and I still get them bruned sometimes!" Sylvar exclaimed.

I raised a brow "Aren't you very old? How do you not know how to cook after all these years of living?"

He looked aggrieved "Stop saying I'm old you'll hurt my feelings~," he then continued "Ancient Elves' memories aren't very good, we forget things really easily, unless something is important to us, we forget about it, I store most of my memories in magic stones using my ability, the magic stones are on the third floor above us."

"So you can give memories to me for example? You don't just see them?" I asked

"Yes." He finished his bowl and filled it another time "But it would be dangerous because most people can't handle it and would become insane trying to sort and fit them into their brain."

"Anyway, you said something about a gem core, can you explain?"

"Ah yes, Humans aren't good at influencing environmental mana, but the have a gem core in the center of their head, that gem core stores mana, and the stored mana can be manipulated easily by humans, a gem core's capacity differentiates from human to another, and the more attributes a human has often means they have a gem core with huge capacity for storing mana."

I nodded, I don't remember any novels who have this 'gem core' hmm, but I do think it's familiar, why though?

"speaking of attributes, how many are there?"

"Four basic they are the elemental attributes, water, wind, fire and earth, blue, light gray, red and brown are their representing colors in mana, each basic attribute has an advanced form or more, wind has sound, it's mana is also light gray but it distorts in the air, water has ice it's mana is light blue, and fog it's mana is cool gray, fire has lightning it's mana is yellow, and earth has metal, silver gray, magma, orange and gravity, light purple." He clicked his fingers on the table "there are unique attributes which are light, darkness, wood, and space, colors are white, black, green, purple in order."

Oh this is familiar too, but I seem to have forgotten about why it's familiar.

"Wind, sound, water, fog, wood and space, that means I have six attributes, is that normal? I don't think it is going by Blake's memories." I asked

"It's definitely not normal you monster" he said "my self esteem has been crushed, I'm a king and I only have 4, wood, water, ice and fog, excluding my ability to see the past and the furutre, normally everyone has one or two, but you have six! And you can gain ice with enough training!"

"Does it have to do with my soul adapting to this world? Blake only had two."

"Probably." He finished his second bowl "thank you it was delicious."

"No problem, I'm going to trouble you by staying here."

"No no, it's a good thing for me that you're here, and you're only going to stay for a couple of years before I go for my next outing, I can get you to the human kingdom then." He said.

"Thank you Sylvar."

I'm going to continue living here for some years then huh? I should take advantage of my time and train to become more proficient in magic.