Chapter 3: Legends of Kirkegaard
"Fuck..."
I had gotten my memories back... Or at least the Miren side of my memories. At this point, my head had come to the conclusion that, as I died previously, I had gotten reincarnated, or fused with Miren. Strange, to some extent I was Miren, and to some extent, I was now an entirely other person. As my head slowly started to cool down, the memories got put in place as if it was a jigsaw. Miren and the nameless reincarnator were now me, a single entity.
All of my earlier struggles had become a part of my essence, from both worlds. The boredom from the other world, as well as the physical and mental anguish from this world. It was a strange sensation, knowing I was only one person but had the fused memories and experiences of both. All of the awkwardness when moving my body had washed away, now it was like my body remembered on its own how to utilize the right muscles.
As I started stretching my body, I got excited. This sense of physical freedom was something I, the reincarnator, had never felt before. Although the Miren side of me had more than experienced it, for the collective me everything still kind of felt new... As I said, it's confusing. Although this body couldn't be called strong in this world, it was stronger than my previous body and, more remarkably, it felt as if I could explode forward without any restrictions.
I had already realized that this was the world of "Legends of Kirkegaard", a world of horrible monsters and great heroes with magical capabilities. All beings were imbued with mana, some stronger and some weaker. Although mana was a core part in defining a person's strength, in the game it had more nuances. Mana in relation to physical performance, physical attributes in relation to skill in utilizing techniques, etc.
Wondering to which extent it was the same as the game, my mind began spinning once again. Weirdly, even though I couldn't remember much about my previous life I remembered the game. Not to the extent where I knew about dates, all the names, or what years it played out, but I could still recall the core mechanics of the combat system, as well as having a vague idea about the outline of the story.
While thinking about this I opened up my status window.
===Status===
Name: Miren Porter
Rank: I
Strength: I
Speed: VII
Stamina: III
Intelligence: III
Mana grade: I
Charm:?
--> Inherent Disposition : [Boundless]
--> Battle Arts:[]
==========
As I had stared at my status panel countless times as Miren, I wasn't too surprised when it showed up. Although it would have been a lie to say that my heart didn't flutter a little bit.
I was still the lowest rank, a rank I. With the basis of roman numerals, the status panel showed the characteristics of the person from 1-10, with everything being in relation to mana capacity. Even if you had an above-average rank of strength, if you didn't have an adequate mana grade you could still be physically weaker than someone with an average strength but a much higher mana grade. With the same line of thinking, it was possible for someone with an extremely high intelligence rank to have a higher amount of mana in their body than somebody with a higher mana grade but low intelligence. As stated before, individual power had more nuances than just mana grade in isolation but it was by far the most prominent way of developing one's strength, as well as the basis of one's overall rank.
"As expected, I really am weak..."
With a rank I strength and a mana grade II it could be said that I was only slightly stronger than the average person from my previous world. The worst part of this situation was that I for some reason knew the cause of it all...
When I had played the game in my previous world I wanted a speedster character, so when I made the character I had put almost all of the inherent physical attributes into speed, with some of it into intelligence and a little bit into stamina. It was really fun playing a character who chipped his opponent down by utilizing lightning-fast movements... This was also the explanation for my incredibly fast calculations. My above-average intelligence coupled with my insane amount of speed had probably created a situation where my mind can process information extremely fast.
Even more so when thinking about how ranks worked in the game. For example, a rank II wasn't a simple 1+1=2. It was more of a multiplicative calculation, rank II would be 1*2=2, and rank III would be 1*2*1,9=3.8. So although it was an incremental increase of 1 from rank I to II it was a 1.8 increase from rank II to rank III. This would also be in relation to your mana grade, which meant an even further multiplicative increase.
The average stats of a person was grade II, with most people having their mana grade at rank II from 15 years old and grade III as an adult. This meant that not only was my base strength about half of an average person, but this was also without considering the increase from an improved mana grade.
Thinking back on my memories as Miren it seemed like this life wouldn't be quite that simple. As humans evolved even regular clothes had gotten a lot tougher, heck even some people's skins could endure a torpedo at this point. There had been no chance for me to break anyone's defense even with my incredibly fast attacks, even the average orphans had defense too tough for me to break. This, coupled with the fact that I didn't have any battle arts led to a fate where no matter how fast I was there was no way I would be able to survive in an academy made for combat.
"Hmmm?"
Inherent dispositions. As all humans were to some extent different, people had different dispositions. Every human had, to some extent, a different reaction to the alignment of mana in their bodies. Some people got denser muscles and became even stronger. Some people had a natural ability to feel mana stronger than others, leading to a natural affinity to become a mage. When this reaction was strong enough it would register in their status as an Inherent Disposition, most often these would either be the main characters in the game or at least people important for the story to progress, like villains or specific demons.
Recalling the memories of Miren there had been no point in time where I had an inherent disposition in my status but, looking at it, now there it was. My chance at redemption, the key to break free from two lives of suffering!
[Boundless]
An inherent disposition that rids the entity of physical limits in relation to the inherent attributes, as well as the limit of accumulation of mana. Only an individual whom have been exposed to the bottomless well of infinity can gain this disposition.
....
"Wait...?"
'Physical limits in relation to the inherent attributes?'
Although it seems like a godlike disposition to not have any limits, there still seemed to be a problem. A character's attributes and status in the game would grow according to their talent, which in this case would be how I spent the points into my character in my previous world. Didn't this mean that my strength talent was pretty much nonexistent? Even if I somehow managed to increase my mana grade to an absurd level it still wouldn't help.
In simple terms, even if I had a mana grade of 100, with its multiplicative relation of 0... It would still be 0. Now, my strength wasn't 0 but it is still so low that my strength would most likely always be incredibly lackluster...
Feeling anger rapidly rising inside of me, I thrust my hand forward.
*Thud*
....
"OUUUCHHH!"
Unexpectedly, or maybe it was expected with how crazy tough everything was in this world, the mirror didn't break. Instead, I was stuck with lingering and stinging pain in my small fist.
Alright, at least it calmed me down again. Even if I was frustrated with my situation, where I could very well end up being weaker than a 12-year-old girl forever, there was still an enormous upside.
Being able to raise my speed to ungodly levels, as well as not be subjected to a bottleneck when improving my mana grade would probably be incredibly beneficial. Even if physical attacks were the bread and butter for any speedster there would be ways around it. I now live in a world of magic, what's the point if I don't learn to utilize it? Why should I shy away from my strengths just to chase something that just isn't in the cards?
Making up my mind, I exited the bathroom and laid down on my small bed once again. In contrast to other teenagers, Miren had never really needed an alarm clock in his life. Maybe it was his strong survival instincts but he always woke up early by himself. Every single day he woke up at around 4:30 in the morning just to be sure that no one would harass him in his sleep. As such, I had no idea what time it was but it was safe to assume that it was in the middle of the night.
Tomorrow would be my first real day spent in the academy as well as the day where they would measure my ability through a mana orb. A mana orb is a measurement device that could, relatively accurately, measure your status. Although it seems weird that it could measure your strength and speed when thinking that this world was originally a game it could be said to be understandable at least.
'This is gonna suck isn't it?'
While thinking about the reactions of the staff when they see that my mana grade was still at grade I, my eyes slowly started to close.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone