The Old Dream

I was born into the Vanir race, one of the three ancient races.

The Aesir pride themselves on their manipulation of negative energy.

The Jotnar pride themselves on their boundless physical strength.

And the Vanir pride themselves on their sorcery.

But, as a member of the Vanir, I couldn't use sorcery.

Because of that, I was oppressed, humiliated, and mocked.

It was a horrifying childhood.

Those experiences made me vow to become the strongest.

Years went by.

Finally, I became the strongest.

Even the Aesir like Odin and Thor acknowledged me.

But I realized one disgusting thing: I was being manipulated.

The one who manipulated me was Loki, the god of trickery with a golden tongue.

Strangely, I wasn't angry. Instead, I admired Loki.

Because he managed to manipulate a creature as strong as me.

I thought, Loki is cool.

My goal to become the strongest was achieved, so I set a new goal: to become as cunning a manipulator as Loki.

Loki's goal was Ragnarok.

This is the event of the end times.

He succeeded in making it happen.

Before I started to become a manipulator, I had to complete this event first.

My role in this event was to defeat Surtr, the Fire Jotun.

I almost became a roast Vanir because of him.

Although in the end, I still managed to defeat him.

When I wanted to cheer for my victory, I suddenly realized that Ragnarok was not just a word for an event, but also for a creature.

A soulless and mindless creature, with only the desire to destroy the world.

Once again, I had to fight to save the world.

Ragnarok was very strong, even I, the strongest creature in the world, struggled to fight it.

'I will surely die,' that's what I thought.

But no, I managed to win and survive.

But it's bad! The world still collapsed even though I survived!

Earthquakes occurred all over the land.

Tsunamis happened across the seas.

Stars began to fall.

As far as my eyes could see, I found no life.

There was only destruction.

This means I can't become a manipulator.

A manipulator is someone who manipulates others.

If there are no other people, then I can't be a manipulator.

"This is bad... This is really bad…"

I suddenly remembered that the Vanir had a secret ritual that was taboo to perform.

A ritual that allows for reincarnation in the future.

"Maybe in the future, the world will recover, and there will be people to manipulate.

Alright, let's do it."

Even though it was taboo to perform, so what?

Now, the people who forbade me are dead.

I am free to do anything now.

*************

I successfully reincarnated.

My name now is Rhys Myrk.

I am ten years old.

My race is human.

Now, I am training in swordsmanship with my older sister.

With just a few strikes, she managed to knock me down, the strongest one.

"You are too weak!

How can you fall after just five strikes!

And you didn't even fight back."

"Big sister is too strong!"

To become a manipulator— wait, somehow I've always felt that the word 'manipulator' sounds evil and deceitful, I don't like it.

Therefore, I will change it; I will become the dark hand behind the scenes.

Similar to a manipulator who controls everything without being known, but not with an evil connotation.

I will play a role.

Behind the scenes, I will be a strong, mysterious, and untouchable figure.

But in front of the scenes, I will act as a weak, inconspicuous, ordinary person; so that my identity as the dark hand is not known.

That's why my sister can knock me down, even though I am the strongest creature.

"Listen, Rhys, our family has produced Dark Lords from generation to generation.

With your current strength, you will only bring disgrace to the family."

What's 'bringing disgrace'?

From the start, the Myrk family was just lowly nobility, almost like commoners.

As the lowest, it's impossible to fall, because there is no lower level.

"Rhys, before you swing your sword, you must infuse negative energy into the sword first.

By doing so, you can strengthen the sword.

This technique is called injection, part of low-level techniques, so you should be able to master it."

Civilization has regressed.

In the past, transportation was by airplane or car, now it's by horse or carriage.

The same applies to knowledge about negative energy.

The information my sister conveyed was wrong.

"But I can't manipulate negative energy."

That was a lie.

"If that's the case, keep practicing until you can.

I want to rest for now, continue your training."

"Alright."

After my sister left, I could finally stop my role as the obedient cute little brother.

It's quite difficult.

But I won't give up!

Negative energy is the energy within the soul generated by negative emotions.

Once mastered, this energy can regenerate on its own.

Negative energy has very destructive properties.

Almost everything has the potential to be destroyed by this energy, except its user.

Negative energy does not have the strengthening properties as explained by my sister.

It will only exacerbate the damage caused.

"Like this."

I channeled negative energy from my soul into my palm before touching the two-meter-tall stone in front of me.

The stone immediately turned to dust with just a slight touch.

I didn't destroy the stone with my hand or physical strength, but with my destructive negative energy.

"The world has indeed recovered, but civilization has gone back to the beginning."

This is not a bad situation for me.

Because it means I am a dragon among ants.

"This is not a bad sensation."

In my previous life, I couldn't possess sorcery.

That was because my negative energy was too destructive, destroying any sorcery placed within my soul.

But this life is different.

Negative energy cannot harm the user, including their body.

Before I reincarnated, I preserved my body.

When my soul successfully reincarnated and entered my second body, I took my first preserved body.

After that, I used my first body to create sorcery.

That way, my negative energy wouldn't destroy the sorcery I made.

Because this sorcery is essentially made from myself.

"I heard there are some bandits in the forest nearby.

They will be my test subjects."

*********

In the middle of the forest, a group of bandits was having a merry feast around a campfire.

Around them were the manifestations of their crimes.

A cart full of loot.

The corpse of a woman who died because of abuse and torment.

Heads that had been severed and hung on trees as their trophies.

"This robbery was really profitable!"

"You're right. Not only the loot, but we also got some fun toys."

"I loved the expression of that man earlier when we abused his woman.

That's why I said something like this—"

"Hand over your valuables, and I will kill you peacefully!"

I suddenly jumped into the middle of them energetically.

"Who is this kid!?"

Their party instantly ended, and they drew their weapons.

"Calm down first. First of all, I will introduce you to my masterpiece: The Old Dream."

For a long time, I had wanted to possess sorcery.

Even though I had become the strongest.

It had been my dream for a long time.

That's why, when I succeeded in creating sorcery for myself, I named it The Old Dream.

The Old Dream is a sorcery in the form of a sword with a transparent double-edged blade about one and a half meters long.

The hilt is black, suitable for holding with one or two hands.

The blade and hilt are connected by a mysterious dark blue rhombus ring.

The entire sword is enveloped by a terrifying aura of darkness.

"Who cares about your little toy, kid?"

A bandit whose body was covered in iron armor mocked me.

"You call my masterpiece a toy?

You deserve to be killed."

"Try if you can.

There's no way your toy can scratch my strong armor."

I immediately sliced him in half with a vertical slash.

"This sword is the sharpest in the world and can cut through anything."

"Impossible…"

"This kid, despite being small, kills without guilt."

"Kill him."

"Try if you can.

I will slaughter you in the name of justice!"

"A demon child like you is not worthy of saying that!"

One, two, three, four, five people I had slashed and sent to death easily.

The sensation given by this sword when slicing through humans was the same as slicing through air.

This was all thanks to its extraordinary sharpness.

I was so happy, I might even be addicted to doing this.

"Hmph…? Without realizing it, many bandits had already died.

The last one is you."

I turned my body and saw the last remaining bandit.

His body was now enveloped in electricity.

"Don't underestimate me! I am a sorcerer!"

In the eon after Ragnarok, humans had the blood of ancient races within them.

For example, the man in front of me now, he had Vanir blood in him, which is why he had sorcery.

"Take this!"

Lightning struck from the man towards me.

Intermediate-level technique: Emission = releasing negative energy from the body.

I created this negative energy to envelop my body.

When the lightning struck me, it was immediately destroyed by my negative energy before it could touch me.

"It was futile, after all."

"…What are you…?"

He looked desperate.

"Now it's my turn."

I pointed my sword at him before compressing negative energy into a ball at the tip of my sword.

"Wait! I surrender! Please spare my life!

From now on, I will live as a good person and never commit crimes again."

"You seem to misunderstand something."

"Huh…?"

"I didn't kill you for justice, but for my desire."

"…Psychopath…"

I launched the black ball at the sorcerer man to turn him into dust.

"My negative energy is indeed very destructive."

I destroyed his body into dust, but not his sorcery.

The blue ring on my sword formed a vortex to absorb the sorcery.

This is another ability of this sword, Absorption.

"Let's try it out."

I channeled negative energy into my sword.

Electricity enveloped my sword before I directed it to strike a tree, turning it into charcoal.

Simultaneously, a shockwave was created from the strike.

"This is much stronger than when it was used by the original owner."

The power of sorcery is determined by the negative energy possessed by the user.

"Let's go home— hmph?!"

Suddenly, I sensed the presence of a creature I knew.

This creature was the one I hated the most in the world.

Because of it, the world was destroyed, and I almost died.

"Ragnarok!"

That cursed creature was around here!!!