Lucian was sitting in a wooden chair beside his son, his head tilted back, and nose plugged with a handkerchief, trying to stop the nosebleed caused by his stepmother, who at that moment was holding the bridge of her husband's nose and stroking his head while he was conversing with Cass.
'Well, what did you think? Did you understand why I showed that to you?'
'I was shocked, Father. Never in any of my sessions training with Marcus has he shown me that it was even possible. I couldn't see either of you at some points, and when I did see what you were doing, I could just barely perceive the moves you were making. As for why you decided to show that to me, I can imagine why, probably you intend for me to start learning to do that from now on, and were trying to prepare me for what will come.'
Lucian turned his head and looked at his son with immense pride, feeling that the intelligence and maturity displayed were far greater than that of an ordinary 10-year-old. Adeline, and Elizabeth who was sitting opposite them, looked at each other with knowing smiles; they were more than aware of how smart their son actually was.
'Something like that, yes. Actually, you will not be able to even start learning to do the majority of it until you are 18 years old, but today we will begin preparing you so that when that time comes, you will be more than ready.'
'Why, 18 Father?'
'Because that is when you will get your system'
For the second time today, Cass's mouth was left agape, unable to respond properly. In his previous life, the idea of a 'system' was very well known amongst those who liked asian comics, cartoons, and novels; and now he had just found out that in 8 years he would be getting one of his own.
'Essentially, Cass, a system is something that everybody gets when they become an adult. It dictates the area of their life where they will excel the most. When it comes to systems, there are some hard rules, and then there are some things that have zero logic.'
'In what way?'
'Every system is a foundation for a person to get better or stronger at what they do. In my case, I have a system that allows me to use some combat magic and sword skills, as well as skills that work well in conjunction with them. My disappearing and reappearing is one of them.
This is the case for most systems; it takes the things that people are good at and then gives them a unique path to improve them beyond what is normally possible. The systems can relate to many things. In my case, the zweihander, in Marcus' case, the twin swords, your mother has a system related to magic attacks with water, while your stepmother has a system that makes her good at channeling her emotions into physical ability.
The type of system you receive when you are an adult can be influenced by the skills you learn and interests you have before you get it. The race of a person can influence the system you recieve too, for example many beastmen never develop weapon based systems no matter how hard they train before they turn 18, also races like elves are far more likely to develop systems related to nature in some form, and mixed-race people can be even more varied.
No 2 systems are ever the same; they are always unique in some way, however, many of them can be very similar. Mine and Marcus' systems are 90% identical except for the primary weapon we specialise in, we both get sword skills, physical abilities, and attack magic based on our elemental affinity, does that make sense?'
Cass' mother turned to her husband 'Dear, don't overload the boy with information, he is incredibly smart, but he is still only 10, I think you need to go a little slower'
But Cass quickly responded, 'Don't worry, mother, I think I understand. Basically, my personality, past experiences, and any skills I practise or learn before my system activates, will affect the system I get, right?'
The woman stroking Lucius' hair giggled, 'I think you underestimate just how smart our boy is, Liz heheh'
Lucius continued with his explanation ' That is correct, Cass. Aside from getting skills from the system, you can also learn skills naturally, add them to your system, provided there are no existing restrictions, and then improve them either through training or system points, which you earn by completing various set tasks or quests your system provides you with.
With this in mind, things are going to start changing for you now. You will take on a number of apprenticeships before your 18th birthday, so that when you activate your system, you have the best chance of being able to turn this small village into something amazing.
In my case, I grew up on a farm and trained in swordsmanship with a retired soldier who lived nearby. I did many odd jobs to earn extra money for the family, so when my system activated, I had quite a few skills already, and I am sure that after what we have planned, you will have even more.'
'Ok, I understand completely, so that is why you want me to follow you today, you intend to introduce me to places where I will start working to gain some skills which could be useful for me in the future, right?'
Impressed by Cass's intelligence, Adeline jumped in, 'Yes, that is exactly what is going to happen. I will be one of the people you will learn from, too, so together we will learn the fundamentals of managing a domain. Liz will eventually take over your training in mana and magic when the time comes, and all of the places you go with your father today will have something to teach you, so prepare yourself!'
'Ok, so what you are saying is that everything I have done until now was basically playing around, because the next 8 years are going to be when the real work is done'
Cass' father and two mothers all nodded in agreement, and then his father stood up, 'Well, I think my nose has stopped bleeding now, so gather what you need and meet me at the front gate in 5 minutes.'