Reborn in another world as a Hermaphrodite

Thirty minutes later...

As Alex walked on the road, the six of them were hiking towards a mountain in the distance.

Despite them having only walked out of Ironpeak's outer castle, Mary was already complaining about the walk.

"Moooooom, how long do we have to walk for?"

"Thirty minutes before we can take our first break. Stop leaning on me and walk properly."

Katherine gently pushed Mary aside, ending her attempt to get an easier time walking uphill road.

"Mary, if you're tired, I can——"

"Alex?"

Seeing Katherine looking back at him dead in the eyes, Alex quickly zipped his mouth back up.

"Mom, why can't we just teleport there or something?" Mary complained, looking a little disappointed by Alex's withdrawal.

"Because you need some exercise. Look at your belly. It almost looks like a chubby teddy bear or something."

"T-That's not true. It's just my body hasn't digested the breakfast yet."

Despite Mary's attempt to argue back, her face blushed red as she looked down at her belly and squeezed it a little.

"Mary, you aren't fat. It's okay to be a little chubby as a kid when you're growing up."

Sophia's attempt to reassure Mary only made her even more quiet, as if she had accepted the need to continue the walk.

"Mom, Mary is only eight. Why are you trying to tell her to lose weight?" Sophia argued.

"Who said I was telling her to lose weight? All I said is that she needed some exercise from all that breakfast food."

Sophia rolled her eyes, giving up on arguing as she sped up to catch up with Alex and Luqing.

The two had been walking together in the front ever since they exited Ironpeak, and they showed no signs of slowing down.

"Why are you two walking so fast? Don't you guys get tired walking like this?" Sophia curiously asked.

"This is the normal walking speed. Mom and Meiya are only walking that slow because of Mary."

Alex's point made Sophia realize something. She didn't even notice that her natural walking speed had been readjusted to match Mary's.

"You're right... Are you two just walking in silence the whole time?" Sophia suddenly asked as she followed right behind the two.

"Yeah."

Both Alex and Luqing continued walking forward, seemingly completely fine with walking together with no interaction.

"Whatever."

Sophia slowed back down, joining the other two as Alex and Luqing maintained their normal speed, walking a few steps ahead.
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After walking for a while, Alex's breathing started to go out of pattern as he couldn't keep up with the pace.

In reality, his walking speed was way beyond what he could normally do, especially considering his short height.

Yet, he didn't slow down a single bit, forcing himself to keep up with Luqing's pace.

"Luqing, what do you think of the trip so far?" Alex suddenly asked, breaking the silence between them.

"It has been pretty eye-opening," Luqing quietly replied.

"That's good to hear."

Just as Alex was saying something else, the other three had caught up all the way to the front with them.

"How's your guys alone time?" Meiya jokingly asked as she walked right in between the two of them.

"Miss Meiya, I'm only ten. Please be more appropriate," Alex answered, his face not flinching a single bit.

"What? I am being appropriate. All I was asking is, are you two having a good time being friends?"

"Really——"

"Ahem, Miss Meiya, Luqing is our teacher. We all have great respect for her."

Sophia interrupted, ending Meiya's attempt as she turned her attention to Luqing, who didn't seem interested in talking at all.

"Whatever... Luqing, what are you looking at?" Meiya curiously asked as she looked over towards Luqing's direction.

"The trees look a little different from the one near Ironpeak," Luqing answered.

As Meiya and the three kids examined the trees closer, they soon realized some of them had weird cuts.

However, from the patterns and the angles, it didn't look to be some sort of animal or monster that did it.

"Mom, why are the trees like this?" Mary curiously asked.

"That's because the trees here are cursed," Katherine answered as all six of them slowed down a little.

"Why is it cursed?"

"Good question... Do you three remember how dark energy and dungeons are formed?"

All three of the kids thought for a second before Alex came up with an answer first.

"Both of them are formed when dark elements are gathered together in a specific area, right?"

"Bingo! It looks like Alex paid attention in class... Anyway, when a dungeon forms, it irreversibly changes the surrounding areas.

Since we're going toward a dungeon, it will only have more and more weird damage toward the surrounding area."

After walking for a bit, a question suddenly popped up in Alex's head.

"Mom, why would the dwarfs allow such a thing to form near them? Wouldn't it make sense to cleanse the dark element?"

"As I said earlier, it's irreversible. Once it has formed a relatively big size, it becomes permanent no matter how you try to remove it."

Alex slowly nodded as they walked continued walking down the paved road.

"Wouldn't the whole world be covered in dark energy then?" Sophia raised her question.

Katherine paused for a second, then answered.

"It's actually extremely hard for dark elements to gather so much that it becomes dark energy.

Usually, they just disperse naturally in the air, just like how in spells, the element attached to mana dissipates over time."

"What caused it to form in this one then?" Sophia raised another question.

"You guys want to hear an ancient story?"

All three of the kids immediately nodded in agreement, as there wasn't much to do besides walking down the road.

Both Meiya and Luqing also looked a little intrigued as they kept their ears peeled.

"This is going to be a long story. You guys don't interrupt me until I finish, okay?"

All three of the kids nodded again, zipping their mouths shut with their hands.

---

Hundreds of Thousands of years ago, there used to be a mountain called Ironpeak.

A few miles from Ironpeak was a city named Nytheris, where dwarfs and gnomes lived together in peace underground.

Together, they had made up the most advanced technological nation of all time.

They were the only ones who were able to create the first steam engine, allowing for various inventions that made their lives much easier.

However, one day, a gnome was sick of the smog and fog created by all the machines.

So, he decided to attempt to find a solution to it.

His dedication to finding an answer eventually led to a breakthrough, a change that would revolutionize the whole continent.

It was a white crystal, pure as the snow on the mountain peaks, formed in the deepest part of the mountain in Ironpeak.

They eventually came to name the material Aetherium.

A representation of the mythical material told in their legends, a legendary sword that could kill gods and goddesses.

With the ambitious name of the material, it was well-deserved as it could hold a scarce resource that was forbidden.

Mana.

It was something that dwarfs and gnomes couldn't gain access to as they were born with no magical talents at all.

What made Aetherium so special was its ability to release the mana as if it were coming from a living being.

It practically means gnomes and dwarfs could become mages, ditching the need for the hazardous steam engine.

At first, it was used to make dwarfs and gnomes live better together... But soon, other nations got a hold of it and began modifying it.

The material created to help people's lives soon turned into a weapon, a mass-killing machine for various nations and rulers.

Ironically, it was the opposite of what the legends entailed: Aetherium killed everything but gods.

With the disaster they had created across the continent, the dwarfs soon decided to seal Aetherium in the mountains of Ironpeak permanently.

But the gnomes had enjoyed the convenience brought by Aetherium for years now.

All of them voted against the dwarf's attempt to seal it, arguing that the misuse doesn't justify the need to ban it completely.

The debate eventually led to a bloody war at Ironpeak that ended in the dwarf's victory.

However, the gnomes activated their last-ditch effort by sealing themselves underground permanently.

Soon, the Dwarfs quickly realized that their victory was more of a defeat, as they also lost their homes permanently.

All of them were forced to move somewhere else, eventually deciding to settle near Ironpeak Mountain and name their new city after it.

This time, they choose to live above ground, trying to distinguish themselves from gnomes and fix all the mistakes they had created.

It took a long time, but they accomplished their goals as all the Aetherium had been destroyed or ran out of energy.

However, much of the damage couldn't be repaired, leaving dark anomalies that still linger in various areas.