Just The Beginning!
When he was sure that he was in the best possible state, he then tried to feel his body.
His mind was as still as a lake—no ripples, no waves. Every thought and emotion had been swept clean.
So, he poured all his concentration into finding something—anything. Any energy.
But he felt nothing.
Still, from what he knew, this wasn't something to be rushed.
He remembered the stories. An average person would take months to sense Qi. Someone with low talent might need years, and prodigies? Even they would need weeks just to feel the faintest stirrings of the energy called Qi.
But this wasn't Qi.
This was Mana—something different. Something foreign. And he didn't even know which was stronger between the two.
It could take longer. Or shorter. It was hard to tell.
But one thing he was sure of...
He wouldn't need twenty hours.
Even though it sounded insane, Leon believed it.
After everything the System had done—things most would call impossible—he had no choice but to believe.
It had transported him to this strange, mysterious dungeon without a spatial artifact.
It had given him power boosts with no backlash or side effects. As far as he knew, such things would normally require unorthodox methods or drain one's life force.
And yet...
"Stop thinking nonsense and focus!" Leon sighed inwardly, forcing himself to focus.
He was supposed to be calming his mind and cleansing his thoughts—and yet here he was, thinking about bullshit.
Again, he started from the beginning.
Calming his breath.
Emptying his thoughts.
Erasing every emotion lurking in the dark corners of his mind.
And then...
There it was!
He saw it!
A glimmer.
A wisp.
But before he could even celebrate—
Everything vanished.
"Fuck!"
Leon cursed through clenched teeth, his fists tightening in frustration.
"Don't get too excited," he scolded himself. "Keep your emotions in check."
Sigh…
He knew he messed up.
Why wouldn't he be emotional? After all the years he couldn't even sense Qi, and now suddenly—Mana.
It wasn't Qi, but it felt close. He could tell there was a connection between them.
All the ridicule, all the jeers, all the pain from being called a 'No-Talent'—they were finally catching up to him.
He had been overjoyed, drunk on the idea that he finally had something. That he was not a 'No-Talent' after all.
Even if he was, then he'd be the 'No-Talent' who would take over the world!
He could already see their faces—wide-eyed, jaw-dropped, shocked beyond reason.
But it was a shame.
Because when the time came, he would wear two masks:
One as the Supreme Thief.
And the other...
As the ridiculed 'Leon.'
He pushed those thoughts away before they could take root and ruin his concentration again.
Even though his intelligence and perception were greater than the average mortal—equivalent to someone in the fourth stage of body tempering—he still struggled to sense Mana.
It was no easy task.
Then...
He felt it.
Bit by bit.
Minute by minute.
He could sense it.
He was getting excited, but this time—he kept his emotions in check. He divided his attention carefully.
There it was again!
A wisp-like energy.
It shimmered with a blue hue and pulsed with a powerful, volatile aura—as if it wanted to break free and devour everything in its path.
But strangely, despite that threatening aura...
It moved slowly.
Calmly.
Almost peacefully—circulating within his body.
Nothing like the chaos its aura promised.
Thousands of them. Thousands of wisps.
He focused on his heart first—he assumed it would be the center of it all. The core. And indeed, he could feel more activity there.
From the heart, he moved his focus to his hands.
He kept observing.
Kept searching.
Thirty minutes passed.
Then...
There it was again.
The Mana.
Flowing—not in blood vessels or meridians—but in a space just beneath the skin, just above the bones.
It was like he was… an avocado.
Yeah. A ripe avocado.
His body had layers—like the skin, the flesh, and the seed. And in that narrow, unseen space between the layers, Mana flowed.
---
(Note)
The human body is more complex than an avocado, obviously. But this explanation is just so you get the idea.
---
The energy moved freely.
From leg to leg.
From arm to head.
It ignored transport systems. It didn't follow blood vessels. It had its own path.
It moved slowly, as if it had all the time in the world.
It moved like thought. It breathed like a storm.
It sang like the source of creation itself.
And then—
It responded to him.
Not just passively. It recognized him.
Suddenly—
{DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!}
{DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!}
{DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!}
Three chimes tore through the fabric of reality—clearer than fate, louder than destiny.
Then—
{You have discovered a Superior Energy: Mana.}
{EXCEPTIONAL.}
{The Akashic Codex has been stimulated.}
{The Akashic Codex is stirring.}
The sky quivered. The earth pulsed. Every breath he took felt… divine.
{Assessing your existence…}
{…}
{…}
{EXCEPTIONAL.}
{Unique Resonance Detected.}
{Affinity: Perfect.}
{Willpower: Irregular. Unrestrainable. Undefined.}
{Trait Alignment: Transcendent of Self – Verified.}
Then—words etched into light, spoken by the Akashic Codex itself:
{You have touched the Origin Flow.}
{You have grasped the breath of creation itself.}
{Where others saw energy... you saw meaning.}
{You did not reach for power—you listened to it.}
{And it answered.}
Leon inhaled deeply. The energy danced along his skin, entered his body. He had no energy within him, so he was the perfect match. It didn't blend with his Affinities.
It replaced them.
Rewrote the rules.
He saw it now—mana was not just superior. It was source. The canvas. The brush. The painter. Everything.
Then, the world changed again.
{Congratulations. You have received the Title: Mana Sovereign.}
"You are not a king of lands. You are the ruler of energies. Not of nations... but of the force that shapes them."
{Your existence has been elevated.}
{You have achieved a feat beyond mortals. Beyond gods.}
{You're the second to Achieve this...}
{You have broken through to the next existence threshold.}
{Existence Level: 900}
{Next Threshold: 3000}
{New Classification: Transcendent Mortal}
{The Codex has recorded your ascension.}
{Your path is no longer walkable by others. It is your own.}
The energy around Noah bowed.
Yes—bowed. As if in acknowledgment. Or reverence.
His veins burned with golden blue light. His heartbeat echoed like thunder against the walls of the void.
Mana expanded.
It didn't just flow through him—it became him.
His aura began to twist—no longer brute force, no longer divine pressure—but pure resonance. A vibration in harmony with the world, and in opposition to it.
He raised his hand slowly.
And the skies changed color.
Not because he willed it.
But because his existence now sat at the center of nature's hierarchy.
He whispered softly to himself:
"I see..."
"This is what it means to be… before the world."
Then—
{All lesser Multiversal systems of energy —Qi, Ki, Aether, Mana, Abysmal Energy —can now be absorbed, refined, and rewritten into Mana.}
{You do not cast spells. You do not cultivate. You embody possibility.}
{You do not wield Mana.}
{You are its throne.}
---
Leon's eyes slowly opened.
Starlight flickered in his irises.
And the Crystal?
It was watching in silent amusement.
'As expected of the reincarnation of a god… it thought, his talent is immeasurable.' The Crystal wasn't surprised, but it was still impressed.
In the Mana World created by the God Of Mana, if a prodigy like this was ever discovered...
The world would descend into chaos.
Powerhouses would go insane—scouring every region, every kingdom, every corner of existence just to find such an individual.
And if it turned out to be false?
The one who spread the rumor would be killed on the spot.
That was how brutal the world truly was.
The stronger you became, the more enemies you'd attract.
Some would hunt to recruit.
Some would hunt to kill.
And some... would hunt out of jealousy alone.
Even in this current world—this weak, undeveloped world—Leon was still the highest prodigy among both the living and the long-dead.
Just one hour.
That's all it took.
One mistake, one reset... and in an hour, he could already sense and stabilize Mana.
When the Crystal met him... it had been shocked.
It had scoured countless worlds, sifted through countless dimensions...
And this was the one his Lord chose.
Here.
A low-level world.
A world without even the barest understanding of Mana.
Why?
Why would someone so great—so divine—choose to be reincarnated in a primitive world like Hearth?
What was he searching for?
What secret was he chasing?
What mission had he locked within himself?
The Crystal didn't know.
But it was sure of one thing:
This was only the beginning.