-Chapter 2: Laplace the Technique God-
AN: This is my first Fanfiction, so it's taking me a while to figure out how to write this. If you have any feedback to give, please give it, any advice is useful. I have a general idea of what I want to happen as the story progresses, so hopefully I can get there. I don't know exactly what I want for an update schedule, but I'm thinking maybe 1 or 2 weeks per chapter. It all depends on my motivation and how busy I am with other things. I'm thinking about maybe having a chapter or 2 ready before publishing them, this will help me develop arcs and how certain things work such as how I explained souls through Hitogami last chapter. Does this plan sound good to you more experienced authors? It might delay my writing for these first few weeks, but after that it should pick up.
WARNING: This chapter contains spoilers for the web novel and Redundancy chapters of Mushoku Tensei, it's recommended to read those first.
-Laplace (Technique God) POV-
It's K481 of the armored dragon calendar and I have now been reborn, I died to a monster randomly appearing in my lab, how did it even get there!? It seems Hitogami has taken a page out of my book and is conducting experiments. He has sent a soul to be infused with my soul. Well, Hitogami has tried sending individuals to infuse their souls with my own. This one has a Laplace aspect like every other soul but isn't acting like the other souls that were powerless against me, they seem to have a much bigger mana pool than all the others that have come here. It appears to be a late-stage combination of souls. This power is of great benefit to me, it will help me improve the knowledge of magic across the world. I have no idea what Hitogami's intentions of pulling this one into my battles is for, but no matter what Hitogami does this is of great significance.
A soul's strength in taking control of a body is determined by their mana capacity and their skill in using that mana to take control. My skill far surpasses this soul's skill, so I should be able to take some control of our body's actions despite their larger mana capacity. They appear to have type B Hitogami interference. At least I don't have to worry about Hitogami invading my thoughts for now.
'Hello? Who are you? I am Rudeus Greyrat the magic king.' Rudeus said. Interesting that he has a title, but I've never heard that title before, so I have no idea what it means. Most of the people Hitogami has sent at me knew of me and didn't like being stuck with someone who lead an army to kill thousands, even if that was wrong because it was Demon-God that did that. I doubt this "Rudeus" is any different than the others that were combined with my soul, so I should come up with a fake name. What would a standard name be again? The common names have probably changed since my time, so I'll just use an old one. ...I guess Saleyakt will do.
'My name is Saleyakt.'
'Great to meet you Saleyakt, I can't see you, but I can see through these baby eyes we appear to have. …Wait, if you're a baby then how do you know your name…? You don't receive your name until you're named.' Oh no, I forgot I was a baby now! Well, how do I respond to this without giving myself away…? I suppose I could just say that I liked the sound of the name.
'I just liked the sound of the name.'
'…Is that all? Well, I suppose it's fine then… I am the one invading your mind.' Well, that'll keep him off my case for now.
'Well, it doesn't appear I'll be leaving anytime soon, so I guess we'll have to work together for now.' Rudeus communicated.
That's right, I'll be here with this person for a while, so we should try to get along. I believe the best way to do this in human terms is to become friends.
'Wanna become friends?' I asked.
'Sure.' Rudeus answered.
Well, that settles that, it might be inconvenient for me if he's gonna call me out on practicing magic in the future. However, I never said that I haven't been reincarnating, so I can argue that he's leading to his own assumptions in assuming things about me.
While we were having an internal talk our parents were worried because we weren't crying. It is normal for a baby to cry, so I suppose I should try to cry. I don't want superstitious parents coming to crazy conclusions. I begin pretending to cry and their faces return to normal… I must keep this up for a little while, to make it convincing that I'm a child, which is quite annoying. I began to look around the place, as much as a newborn can, the house appears to be made of wood and our parents appear to be of the Superd race. I don't know what my name is yet, so I will just refer to us as Rulace, combining Rudeus and Laplace.
After a while we were set down in a crib and Rudeus began casting some magic when they left, probably to boost our mana capacity. I let him cast the magic as he wants because it would be good to boost their mana capacity. I may be able to use that mana in the future to help pass on my powers. I just need to keep them under control, and we should be fine.
-3 months later-
Rudeus and I have talked a bunch more and I learned a bit more about his time before coming here. He wanted to talk about his life in chronological order, so I learned of his time in Buena village up to the event called the 'mana calamity.' He still believes that I'm a baby, so he doesn't ask me about the past. It would be inconvenient were I to explain my past, it is controversial for most humans. I assume this Eris Boreas Greyrat girl that he mentioned in his story will come and take back her family name, so it may be useful if I can get information on her children. They may be in powerful positions I can take advantage of. I shouldn't get to ahead of myself, but there just isn't much to do as a baby even with a friend and a surplus of mana to siphon from that friend.
Although, Rudeus seems to be good at making entertainment for me, he makes figurines using magic. These figurines represent people from his past life so far, he has made four individuals, Roxy M. Greyrat, Eris Greyrat, Sylphiette Greyrat, and Ruijerd Superdia. He hid these figurines in the attic by using gravity magic, it was quite an effective hiding spot because our parents never looked there, a storage room for all intents and purposes. Furthermore, they wouldn't be suspecting us because we can't reach high places yet. Judging by the names, three of them are his wives, Eris doesn't have Boreas in her name anymore, so I can't use her children as political figures. Most Asuran nobility take great pride in their names, so it is unlikely they still have ties. Her children may still be of use as they could come back and take the Boreas name for themselves. I don't have enough information on his other two wives, but this Ruijerd Superdia probably lives somewhere in this village, Rudeus may want to contact him in the next few years.
On the outer world front it appears that my parents' names are "Lukaria" and "Verrena." At some point within the last few months, it appears that they attended a funeral for Rudeus' past self. They were delayed by our birth but came to his grave after a while. During this time, we were looked after by our aunt and uncle. We didn't get to know their names, but we did get to spend time with our cousin, "Neklala." She was a baby, so no significant notes on her for the moment.
After our parents picked us up and took us home, they put us in the crib. Rudeus began creating more figurines. This time he created ones of his children. It seems that Eris married Rudeus in his past life, I can't imagine she would be the first person he made a figurine of if he wasn't, the biggest sign though was that he was mumbling about missing her and wanted to have more babies with her. I was a bit confused when one of the children had a middle name, but the others didn't. Did he marry into another household giving him a middle name? I've never heard of a Saladin family before though. Either way it'll be worthwhile to form a close bond with this "Sieghart." The rest may also be useful, but from what I see he's the most important for my purposes. I will catalogue the rest of these names to memory. While Rudeus was creating these figures I figured out how to mimic the art. It took a little longer than I would've hoped for, but I managed to mimic the magic despite it being incantationless-casting. That's a rare ability if I remember correctly, it was falling out after the collapse of the six worlds, but it still held on with a small number of the immortals from the demon clan. In addition, it's harder to teach, so it's more valuable to me because most people don't know how to use this magic.
I'm beginning to see why this individual has been granted the title of "Magic King." I haven't seen a human race use magic like this in so long… Well, I suppose he isn't human anymore. I'm surprised he hasn't freaked out at being in a new body, but it is of little concern to me.
Now that I've aged into being a toddler, I should begin planning out my future actions. The first thing I should do is gain knowledge of the region, Rudeus seems to be the easiest choice for that. He most likely has knowledge of the surrounding area because his friend Ruijerd lives here. I've seen Ruijerd in passing a few times, but not much more of that. He came to guide my parents to Rudeus' grave. It seems illogical to ask Ruijerd about it because Rudeus will probably take control because he would want to talk to Ruijerd and talk about there past. If I shine in the spotlight, it may be of displeasure to be in the spotlight.
'Hey, Rudeus, what do you know of the village?' I asked curiously.
'Hmm… Well, there was a war around 50 years ago between the Superd and another faction.' Rudeus earnestly replied. If I'm to be honest, that seems an important piece of information. Although, it shouldn't be hard to gain information on something like that.
'What was the war like?'
'It was a war between a few very powerful figures, such being people with "god" in their names. The first that comes to mind for instance would be the Dragon-God.' Rudeus thoughtfully replied. It seems that the current Dragon-God was included in the war, that's useful information to me because I need to pass on my skills to the first Dragon-God's child. The Dragon-Gods will pass down their abilities until it reaches the Dragon-God's child. If I teach this Dragon-God of my techniques, then it will eventually be passed down to Orsted.
'The only remaining things around here are Badigadi who was sealed in the depths of a nearby cavern and the Superd which are clearly apparent around here.' Wait, Badigadi is around here? He may be a useful piece for my future goals. An immortal will be very useful as a bodyguard to protect this weak body. I'll go find him sometime soon.