004 | New World

I am...unclear of who I am in this world.

I found myself bidding farewell to a brown-haired maid. At least that's what I presumed. I could not catch her facial features but I remember her distinct shade of brown colored hair. It felt nostalgic for some reason. This wasn't a feeling I felt, but rather, something that this body felt. I know, it's confusing. Not even I'm clear which part of me is feeling what emotion.

As for the reason I was saying goodbye to a crying maid, I seemed to have been abandoned. Yes, that's right. It's quite often that children that are deemed useless or have no talent in nobility be thrown out. It seems like the person I became was an example of such. The maid put me inside a basket and allowed the waves to carry me away. She rushed back to wherever she came, leaving me alone by myself. I looked down at my hands and body.

"I'm so small."

My own voice scared me. I am IN this child? No. It wasn't that. It's not that my consciousness invaded this child's, it was a fact that I WAS this child. I ruffled around my basket and found a smooth white piece of fabric with golden engravings on it. I felt the need to hold onto that tightly, I deemed it to be somewhat important as that was the only thing in my basket. Well, aside from the brown blanket that gave me warmth.

"I don't seem like a child from a noble family."

I said that as I examined the poor white rags that are my clothes. I can recall that this child is around four. I believed that I would have been completely reborn as a newborn child, not into a pre-existing kid. Does Alpha want me to die? I just started and I'm flowing down a river and splashes of water get increasingly louder the further the basket takes me down. There is no doubt that there was a waterfall at the end of the river. A very steep one at that. One that a mere child couldn't possibly survive.

"Damn it."

I struggled to get up as the weight of the blanket kept me down. I pushed and kicked with my tiny legs until I flung the blanket off my basket.

"Take that you little sh*t."

I bid my blanket adieu and sat up in my basket. I looked over and saw the waves carrying me slowly towards certain death. Droplets of water hit my head. I looked up to catch the rain spitting on me.

"What kind of cruel joke is this, Alpha?"

This kid has quite the looks as well. I glanced over the side to see a reflection of myself. Striking golden blonde hair and silver eyes that resembled the purest diamond. If you didn't know, diamonds are naturally transparent and colorless, diamonds with color are defects or contain impurities that give them color.

"What a waste of this child's looks. It would have greatly benefited any missions that require intel. A good face can get information easier than you'd think..."

I was somewhat saddened I had to depart so early. Perhaps Alpha can be more generous next time.

"...Wait."

How do I know that there will even BE a next time? This life is a gift from the Overseers, and you don't gift the same thing the second time. At least, not when it comes to giving a new life. This is a most valuable currency, the gift of life. Normally, you'd only have one, but miraculously, I was granted another. It would be a shame if I didn't make the best use of it. I let out a heavy sigh.

"My power is sealed. Alpha mentioned it was in Twelve different seals, with each one granting me exponentially more power than the previous. Yet, I don't even have one seal unlocked."

To make matters worst, I haven't even begun to grasp how to cultivate power in this world. Scratch that, I don't even know how to USE magic power in this world. There's no time to think, I have to act now or within a few minutes, I'll fall straight to my death. I quickly glanced around my surroundings for the slight millisecond I get of visual information.

"The nearest landmass is about 15 meters away from my right side."

I attempted to channel mana like how it worked in my past life. Nothing happened.

"F*ck."

I did it again, more forcefully this time. I sent signals all over my body to open up the gates to allow mana to flow all through my body. Something happened, my left shoulder began aching. Using magic as a kid isn't the smartest decision. If worst comes to worst, I may end up being crippled for the rest of this life.

"This is quite unfortunate."

I shrugged it off. When push comes to shove, I'll do whatever it takes to make the most in this life. I'll enjoy things I haven't, experience things I couldn't, and live freely like I always dreamed of.

I created a spell just now in order to get myself out of this predicament. A spell that doesn't require much except the death of myself, it's a one-time thing that must not fail under any circumstances, or else this life is as good as gone. Using my own death as the activation condition, I can expel whatever little mana this child has in his body outside. Once finished, mana will circulate through this body efficiently and constantly pump my heart, allowing me to fully awaken again. I laughed.

"It's ironic that I need to die in order to live again."

Without further ado, I stopped my own heart from beating. I didn't know what happened during that, but I felt one of the Twelve Seals being broken. It must have worked.

Once I had fallen, my temporarily deceased corpse radiated the leftover mana inside my body out into the area. It was a colorless cloud that shone brightly even under the gloomy night sky and the pouring rain. As the spell continued, I have awakened again as my mana flowed back into my body.

Tricking my own mana to believe that its vessel has died before shortly returning back to life so that this body can experience what it feels like to have mana flow through its body, consequently, allowing me to control my own mana, even if only somewhat.

"It feels like I just woke up after a hangover, though, it worked."

A few drops of sweat went down my face. I might have pushed the spell a bit too far beyond this child's limits, but if I didn't, then there wouldn't be nearly enough mana to forcefully awaken this child's ability to use magic. There wasn't a lot of mana inside my body. It seems that the first seal was broken. This minuscule amount of mana wouldn't be nearly enough to launch me away from the fate of going down the waterfall.

I struggled to use my mana. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to obey me.

"Listen to me."

As if it was playing a joke on me, my mana immediately slipped out of my grasp. It was NOT listening to what I wanted it to do. It continued circulating my body, frolicking around as if it owns the place. As the owner of this body, I did not appreciate that. I pressured it, even more, I commanded the mana and forced it up to my hands, where tiny sparks started appearing.

Now, normally it's not a good sign when mana sparks appear. It usually means that your own magic is failing on you, or that there is something wrong with your mana. In some cases, it's a sign that you will start to suffer from Mana Instability. In my case, it's a good sign. My mana is mine, if it dares to disobey me, I'll show them that there is a better decision than going against me.

Half of my body felt numb and my sense of touch seemingly disappeared. My mana was going nuts inside my body. I could feel it moving around frantically, trying to escape my grasp. I wouldn't let it. Sparks of mana conjured all around my childish body.

"Listen! to me!"

I felt another seal being broken. The first time I felt it, there was a sword repeatedly being pulled back in and out from my back. It seemed never-ending and I was in a limbo of constant pain. I thought it would last forever until I snapped back into my senses. This time, I was once again being tortured by a sword being pulled back in and out from my back. Will I have to suffer through this ten more times to match the number of weapons my disciples stabbed through my back?

The second seal broke, I felt a sudden surge of mana pouring into my body. I grinned, the more mana there is in my body, the better my chances of escaping my foreseeable death. Alas, I'm greedy for more.

I smiled as I continued taking hold of every single bit of mana that flooded my body, not allowing it to set itself free. The sparks of mana lasted longer when sparked. My entire body was numb and black spots started to appear in my eyes. I could very well knock myself unconscious at this rate and single-handedly kill myself as I fall down the waterfall. Some mana got loose of my control. I immediately called it back into my hand.

"Don't think of going on your own! You WILL listen to me for your own good!"

Ah, finally. The pain of another sword being pulled in and out of my back. The third seal is finally broken. After my ordeal of torturing pain, I came back to an even bigger mana pool. I took a small breather before I did anything.

"At least Alpha was right that I get exponentially more mana."

I grabbed hold of the piece of fabric and jumped. I turned around to fire off a blast of pure magic power, it wasn't aimed at anything, I just needed an extra boost to propel myself forwards. It was more than enough to get me to safe land, but actually landing without injuring this body would be a bit difficult. Before I landed, I used magic to turn the area where I would crash into a soft platform.

I fell on my head and simply bounced before landing on my back. I looked back at the river and saw my basket fall down.

"That was close."

I simply relaxed and let the rainwater drench my face. I was exhausted from forcing through three of the Twelve Seals that Alpha put on my power. Though, at least I made it alive. If by any chance a wild beast wanders out here to look for a meal, I'd be too tired to do anything.

I drifted off to sleep.