Several days had passed since his awakening. Keita was huddled up in the family library consuming knowledge. He could see the gingerly looks he got from the staff in his home.
Everyone was concerned for him, Keita knew this. He had been through an ordeal, in which no one could explain the cause and what eventually abated it. They all felt the boy was putting on a brave face. However, this couldn't be farther from the truth.
Things were looking up. For one, since the assimilation of the memories, he had not gotten any more trances or nightmares. While he could feel that this was not a temporary fix, he would not get any further nightmares. However, how could he assure others of this?
However, that was not his primary concern. He needed to adapt to his new life, to his current situation.
As it stood, Keita had to acquire as much knowledge as he could. With the memories of his past life, his personality had morphed to be that of a mature man who had seen plenty in his life.
Gone were the immaturities of youth. While his body was that of a feeble boy, his mind was rich in experience and knowledge. It had taken several days for him to come to terms with what had happened to him, and understand himself.
Even then, it was still a lot to take. Some memories would just creep up on him. Other times, he would find himself just knowing something, or simply understanding the atmosphere in the room, something no ten-year-old should know.
Right then, Keita had realized he needed to find his place in this world. To achieve that, he needed to marry the knowledge he had, with the knowlegde in the world.
His mind was overflowing with knowledge, and he wanted to leave a mark. This was the path he had decided for himself after much contemplation.
Therefore, in order to achieve this, he had decided to bury his head in books. The only way to improve the knowledge of this world without arousing suspicion was by first learning all there was to know in the world first.
In his past life, Keita had been a mechanical and engineering progeny from his youth. The closest thing he found in this world was smithing and forging. Luckily, the Rono family had dealings in both.
Part of their territory contained several mines. Smithing was one of the family's highest earning professions. They also had mines of several other ores. Some of these ores had mystical effects, making them extremely valuable. This was the reason for the Rono clan's massive influence.
This meant that the resources and materials available for him were abundant. When the son of the second young master of the family needed something, it would be availed.
For the moment, Keita had requested for all the books and materials he could find on smithing, and the huge machine that was the Rono family holdings had shown its capability.
"What are you reading?" A soft voice sounded in the library. Turning around, Keita saw his brother peeking at him from the door. While the boys had been forbidden from playing together, that did not mean complete isolation from each other.
"Just some books, a new interest I've picked up," Keita answered as he set the book down. With his new outlook in life, Keita's interaction with his brother was completely different. "How about you, how's life as a Tier 2?"
Zukov blushed with pride when his brother brought that up, and the two boys started chatting away. Turns out, Zukov was much more excited about his breakthrough than he let on, and only after his brother asked him did, he start telling.
He enjoyed outshining all the other vasili scions of the capital, especially now that he had left his peers with a wide margin. Matter of fact, in all the capital, there were only a handful who could compare with Zukov.
The boys had been rather close. With his new perspective, Keita sought to build the bond of brotherhood between them. He understood that both of them were victims of the vicissitudes of nature and fate, and his brother did not harm him intentionally.
Perhaps it takes a paradigm shift to see how much certain people mean to us, and this was what was happening to Keita.
As a younger brother, all he saw in his brother was competition and a big bully. However, now, with his much more mature brain, Keita learned to appreciate his brother, and the quarks that came with brotherhood. He could remember his own sons and grandsons roughhousing around his home, so he couldn't blame his brother.
As such, he learned to bring him closer, forming a bond between the two boys. This is what led to the story Zukov was busy telling his brother.
"... And that little fiend cannot stop smiling!" At some point, Keita had zoned out, thinking about his brotherhood with his twin. He missed out on what was an intriguing story.
After some coaxing, he managed to get the whole story from his brother.
Apparently, one of his competitors, a young vasili named Matti, hailed from the Sun sceptre sect. The boy was twelve years old, and couldn't stand the fact that Zukov had broken through the second tier while he was still stuck in the first.
The Sun sceptre sect had several supportive industries, and one of them was forging. The sect was known for their sword smithing expertise and their swordsmanship. It was the combination of these two that made the sect stand out from the rest, like a crane among chicken.
In the sect, once one was twelve years old, and they performed well and showed promise, the young ones would be granted a sword and begin training in swordsmanship.
The swords were some of the sharpest in the realm. Zukov's nemesis would be receiving one, and he couldn't stop bragging about it.