I became a father with a genius face in the game

After finishing the headache-inducing writing task, I rode out of the lord’s castle with Lucis.

It was my first time riding a horse, so I was quite nervous, but it was simpler than I expected.

‘It seems Seymour’s body is used to horseback riding.’

The language of this world was the same, and it seemed that the things Seymour had ingrained in his body naturally transferred to me as well.

‘After all, it’s the same body.’

The horse might have been an excellent one, but it moved in the direction I wanted without much effort on my part.

‘Wait, is it more Lucis’s influence?’

Lucis seemed to enjoy his first time riding, holding the horse’s mane with one hand and petting the horse with the other.

“Clop, clop, clop.”

– Hee-haw!

“Clop?”

– Rumble!

It almost seemed like they were having a conversation, the horse and Lucis exchanging sounds.

Every time Lucis touched the horse, it became incredibly happy and moved cautiously, trying not to burden Lucis.

It seemed animals liked dragons, perhaps even more than humans.

‘After all, they’re similar animals, so they might be more familiar than humans.’

If I were like Lucis, a giant, and I saw an enormous and gentle creature approach me, I’d probably be intrigued too.

“Dragons are basically large lizards that evolved to be magically attuned…”

I must have unintentionally muttered that thought aloud.

“?!”

Lucis suddenly turned his head, looking up at me with wide eyes, clearly startled.

In his large eyes, there was a deep sense of betrayal, as if asking, Is that what you really think of me?

I instinctively realized I had made a verbal mistake, so I quickly changed my words.

“What I mean is… they are an incredibly great species, close to gods…!”

“?!”

It seemed the word “lizard” was a bit of a no-go.

“No, no, when I say lizard, I mean it’s short for a species that’s ‘incredibly’ powerful in magic and resembles a ‘serpent’—”

“?!”

“No, no, that’s wrong. It’s the serpent that resembles a dragon. Dragons have existed since the beginning and are beings of great power.”

“…….”

The great dragon seemed to be waiting for me to say more, silently staring at me.

“Also, they have wings… and their tail is beautiful… Um, well… anyway, they are such magnificent beings that words can’t fully describe them.”

“……Hmm.”

Lucis nodded as if that explanation would suffice, turning his gaze away.

I sighed softly as I looked at the little back of his head.

‘Such a huge reaction to one word from me…’

It was definitely a moment that reminded me to be careful with my words, especially in front of children.

***

I led the horse up a small hill near the lord’s castle.

It was a low hill with a few trees planted, a place where the young ladies of the territory sometimes went for flower viewing.

‘Fortunately, no one’s here today.’

I dismounted from the horse with Lucis.

“Wow…”

Lucis rounded his eyes in awe and looked around intently.

Come to think of it, this was the first time Lucis had been to a place so full of nature.

“Flowers.”

Lucis was drawn to the flowers blooming beneath a tree.

He waddled over and sat down abruptly on the ground.

‘Sia would scream if she saw this.’

Sia, who served as Lucis’s nanny, had recently taken to dressing him up in increasingly extravagant dresses. The dresses were extravagant in the sense that they were full of pleats and decorations, which meant that if he sat on the dirt floor, they would get ruined.

‘Not my problem.’

Besides, Sia’s potential screams were far from over.

“Ugh…”

Lucis stopped admiring the flowers and closed his eyes tightly, gathering his strength.

“Hmph…”

He looked like he was trying to push something out, and as he did, his back and bottom began to swell.

Whoosh—!

His dress ripped at the back, and pure white wings unfurled.

A hole appeared at his waist, and a tail shot out.

Lucis moved his wings and tail a few times, then looked satisfied with himself.

“Hmph.”

He then lay down flat on the grass.

It seemed like he wanted to bask in the sunlight on his wings and tail for the first time in a while.

“…Huh?”

After a while, Lucis, who had been lying with his chin on the grass, seemed uncomfortable. He turned his head this way and that before suddenly blinking his eyes wide open and staring at me.

“Eh, eh.”

He then smacked the ground in front of him with his hands.

I sat down at the spot where Lucis had smacked the ground. There was a tree stump in a good position to lean against, so I was able to settle into a comfortable posture.

Then Lucis immediately half-climbed onto my lap, in a posture that resembled clothes drying on a roof or a cat lounging lazily.

It seemed comfortable for him to only lift his head and upper body, and he let out a deep breath.

“Hihyoo.”

I gently raised my hand and pushed aside the strands of hair on Lucis’s forehead.

Our golden-eyed gazes met.

For a moment, I looked into the child’s eyes, then I lifted my head to take in the view below the hill.

The sunlight pouring through the trees. The pleasant breeze. The distant view of the territory. The small weight and warmth I felt on my lap.

Everything was so perfectly ideal.

‘Is this what happiness is?’

Come to think of it, this was a rare moment of rest.

After I had fallen into this world, I was busy adjusting and dealing with the collateral branches of the family.

‘It feels good to rest.’

Perhaps the overseas trip I had longed for before my overwork was exactly like this.

I patted Lucis’s back and enjoyed the scenery for a long time.

***

After enjoying the rest, I got ready to carry out the reason I had come here.

The reason I had left the lord’s castle and climbed the small hill was to practice magic.

‘I don’t really need to practice in a place with few onlookers.’

Still, I don’t know how to explain it, but I didn’t like the idea of people trying to gauge my magic power. I wasn’t at a level where I could show it to others just yet.

‘First, let’s check the skill window.’

As soon as I thought about it, a glowing magic window appeared in front of me, as if responding to my thoughts.

┏━━━━━━

┃ Faint Dragon Bloodline

┃ Basic Gravity Magic (1%)

┃ Basic Mana Affinity (0%)

┃ Highly Educated (17%)

┃ Strong Body (67%)

┃ Superior Mental Strength (32%)

┗━━━━━━

The percentage of the [Basic Gravity Magic] skill had risen by 1%.

I chuckled softly, wondering if it was due to the banquet incident.

‘Considering that event, magic training is a must.’

I wasn’t willing to let my magic cause a change in personality every time I used it anymore. I also didn’t want magic to burst out just because my emotions flared when I didn’t want it to.

So, I needed to train and completely internalize my power through practice.

‘Seymore’s power growth is fast because of the contract.’

Seymore reached “Level 3” after just one year of the contract.

The “Level” system in this game world represented strength.

It was a system based on the concept of “leveling up” used in mobile games where players develop characters, called “Star Creation”, and the number of stars indicated how many skills the character had mastered.

‘Each time you master a skill, your physical stats increase significantly.’

In mobile games, as characters “break their limits” or “transcend,” their overall stats rise with each new star. This system was based on that concept.

When you raise a level, it was said that your mastery or understanding of your abilities improves.

‘The skills Seymore mastered were [Gravity Magic], [Human Experimentation], and [Artifact Efficiency].’

Even so-called geniuses often take nearly a year to master a single skill. Ordinary people would take at least 10 years.

The reasons behind Seymore’s rapid growth were numerous.

‘The first was the contract with Mausoleum.’

While the contract was vaguely mentioned in the setting, I, now Seymore, knew exactly what the contents of that contract were.

The most helpful aspect of that contract in terms of growth was, without a doubt, the skill window.

‘Since the percentage increase is shown in real-time, Seymore could choose the most efficient methods to focus on.’

The visual quantification of growth was a tremendous advantage.

‘The second reason was Seymore’s personal characteristic: narcissism.’

Narcissism. Self-love.

In simple terms, it was a personality trait where he had a high opinion of himself.

While it might seem like this trait only served to highlight Seymore’s decadent and arrogant side, it was actually surprisingly helpful for magical growth.

‘The most important factors in using magic are mana and willpower.’

For reference, in divine magic, the most important factors are faith and willpower.

Both magic and divine magic are rooted in the power of “prayers.”

‘In divine magic, one prays for the god to perform a miracle, while in magic, one prays to themselves to perform a supernatural act.’

Willpower required for magic is often interpreted as “belief in oneself,” and the stronger one’s pride, the more firm this belief.

‘Just look at dragons. Even a hatchling with underdeveloped intelligence or wisdom can use powerful magic because of their innate pride, which is just as important as their raw magical power.’

This is why most wizards tend to have quirky or arrogant personalities. Seymore, a personification of narcissism, was the perfect example.

‘The third reason was the unique training method Seymore employed.’

In this world, the concept of gravity exists, and it is generally understood as “the force that pulls things downward.”

However, Seymore focused on the word “pulling” and trained his gravity magic not only by pulling downward, but also by pushing and pulling in all directions—up, down, left, right, front, and back.

This was also part of Seymore’s pattern of gameplay, where he uses his gravity magic to send the protagonist flying in all directions.

‘He instinctively found the optimal method to train his ‘willpower.’’

Looking at it from this perspective, Seymore was definitely a genius.

In the original story, he even used gravity like telekinesis to fix arrows and magic mid-air.

‘Maybe I should try it myself.’

I kept petting Lucis with one hand while reaching out with the other towards the tree’s fruit.

‘Fly.’

Since I had already tried making a pigeon fall to the ground before, this time I tried to pull the fruit towards the sky instead.

“……”

Swoosh.

The leaves above the fruit shook, but it was hard to tell whether it was my magic or the wind’s influence.

I focused again and willed it.

‘Fly.’

But still, the fruit showed no reaction.

I clicked my tongue.

‘Well, just because I’m in Seymore’s body doesn’t mean I’m completely Seymore…’

Even though Seymore had internalized things in his body, I couldn’t have inherited his personality or thoughts.

Genius, after all, isn’t something you can just gain through effort.

‘Can narcissism be achieved through effort?’

I thought for a moment and shook my head.

‘No matter how handsome Seymore is, falling in love with my own face would be hard.’

Of course, no one could deny that Seymore was the most handsome man in the empire.

If I were a woman and had possessed another woman’s body, I would probably have fallen for Seymore as well.

After all, I had spent weeks drawing him, so it was only natural.

‘In this world, Seymore is the most handsome and Lucis is the cutest—no gods could refute that.’

I nodded to myself several times.

‘In fact, the beauty of these two might even make the gods fly away to heaven…’

Just then.

Wham!

Whoosh—!

Suddenly, the fruit fell off the branch and shot up towards the sky with a burst.

“……”

I stared blankly at the fruit, which soared high before falling nearby, and slowly looked down at my hand.

…Could it be?

No, really?

“Am I a genius?”

“?!”

Lucis, who had been lounging on my lap enjoying the sunlight, looked up at me in surprise.