In the abyss of darkness, Randt floated about for what seemed to be a very long time before he finally regained consciousness.

Upon awakening, he immediately took note of his situation.

Before long, Randt had realized in dismay that he was without a material body. He was only left with a semi-translucent soul form, and he was also enveloped in a black-colored spherical cage.

At that moment, a blazing ball of white light shone through the end of the passageway, exuding a strong aura of life.

"Could this be the entrance to Heaven?"

Randt nervously looked toward the white light, feeling both upset and excited.

He was upset that he had died just like that but was excited to finally see this Heaven that people had been talking about during his past life.

In his past life, Randt was a prodigy in an archaeological institute, studying ancient tombs all over the world alongside his mentor.

He could clearly remember that he and his mentor had been cleaning up relics in an ancient cemetery before he became unconscious.

The cemetery where Randt had been cleaning relics at the time also seemed to be quite extraordinary. According to his mentor's initial appraisals, it had to be, at the very least, a duke's cemetery. It was even possible that it belonged to a prince.

That was why the federal government took the excavation of this ancient tomb very seriously. They were told to be extra careful and alert so as to not damage any of the relics inside.

After all, tombs of this caliber were quite a rare find. Randt had even heard from the whispered conversations among certain officials that this cemetery may have something to do with the legends of the gods.

That was why Randt had been especially careful with the cleaning process. He put his entire heart and soul into cleaning the mud off the relics.

As he cleaned, he realized that he had been cleaning a pitch-black pearl which he eventually realized was an extremely peculiar pearl. In fact, pearl actually looked more like a fossilized eyeball.

High on the thrill of a new discovery, that was reason enough for him to begin cleaning off the dirt with full concentration. In fact, he was concentrating so hard that he had not even noticed a sliver of light flashing on the pearl's surface.

As time passed, he continued staring at the black pearl motionlessly like a possessed man.

It was only when his mentor realized that something was wrong and yelled at him loudly that he finally awoke from his daze.

However, it was already too late by then.

As though given a nasty shock, the black sphere began to abruptly bounce around. Disregarding the gasps around it, it sank straight into Randt's left eye and in an instant, sucked away all of the life and mind essences from his physical body.

"Sigh... Whatever, whatever. I'm dead now anyway, there's no point thinking about all these things.

"I'm just upset that I actually got killed by a pearl. Damn, what a sh*tty way to go.

"If I ever get another chance, I'll definitely squash that stupid pearl!"

Randt roared furiously.

At this moment, the more he thought about his meaningless death, the more annoyed he got.

After all, Randt was an archaeological genius who was both handsome and talented. Although he was young and was only in his twenties, he had already built up a considerable reputation for himself in the archaeological world.

It was no exaggeration to say that if he had not encountered this accident, Randt would definitely have been able to become a world-famous archaeologist within ten years.

This was because he had an exceptional understanding and comprehension of the magic and aura system used in ancient times that nobody seemed to be able to emulate.

Besides, the field of magic and aura was the one with the fewest researchers in the archaeological world while also being the most mysterious one.

...

On Skyspirit Continent, in the palace of the Reyrano Empire.

His Highness the Seventh Prince of the empire was pacing back and forth before his chambers.

Today was the day his wife Alice's would deliver and was also the day his first child would be born into this world.

However, as the expectant father, His Highness the Seventh Prince was more worried than he was excited.

It was because his wife was a frail and dainty princess of Elven Royalty who had been carefully sheltered all her life. There was no way she could withstand the pain of childbirth.

Besides, everyone knew it all too well. Although elven men were handsome and their women beautiful, they were still physically-weak Mages.

That was why, the Seventh Prince was truly worried that Alice would not be able to survive it when it came to something as painful as childbirth.

Still, the love of a mother had always been invincible.

Although Alice's body may be frail, for the sake of her child, she determinedly used all of her strength and delivered the child safely.

However, when she did not hear her child's cry, she grew anxious and called out loudly, "My child, why isn't my child crying!? Carry him to me, quickly!"

Naturally, the child was in perfect shape. His dazzling beautiful eyes were wide open, carefully observing every detail in his surroundings.

The first thing he saw was a middle-aged woman with blond hair and blue eyes. She looked extremely warm and friendly.

"Heavens, wasn't I dead?

"How did I become a baby?

"Don't tell me... I reincarnated?"

When Randt saw what was before his eyes, his mind was filled with question marks.

When the middle-aged woman eventually picked him up and brought him to Alice, he was shocked once more.

"Wait a sec... Long jade-green hair, sky-blue eyes, a beautiful face, and pointy ears... It's a monster...

"Hold on... Could this be one of those elves mentioned in the documents?"

Randt's heart was in utter turmoil.

However, it was at that moment that he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly moved his tiny hand to his crotch.

'Phew, thank goodness that guy's still there. It scared the hell out of me.'

After all, he had been a man for more than twenty years. If he were to suddenly became a girl out of nowhere, there was no way he could get used to that.

However, just as Randt was secretly celebrating his gender, the large palace door was kicked open by a burly man.

"My dear, how are you? Are you okay?"

The man strode forth and was by Alice's bedside in an instant, holding her hand as he asked her with concern.

"I'm fine, dear. Everything is great!" Tears of happiness flowed down Alice's cheeks as she said with a smile, "Look! See how adorable our child is. He'll definitely be gorgeous when he grows up."

"You're absolutely right, Alice. This little guy looks just like you, he's adorable! The only problem is that he's a little too thin. Just the look of him says that he's not suited for cultivating aura.

"Hahaha..."

The Seventh Prince chuckled as he pointed out the flaws.

However, one could still tell that he was still extremely pleased regardless of what he was saying.

Still, he soon noticed something amiss and asked curiously, "My dear, why isn't the little guy crying? Don't tell me he's mute!"

"No, that's impossible! He's definitely not mute. I can guarantee you that.

"Besides, I want this child to cultivate magic. I don't want him to be a brawny brute like you."

Alice rolled her eyes at her husband who stood by the bed.

Then, she continued, "Did you know? From the moment this little guy was born, I had already sensed an intense mind essence within him.

"I believe that he'll grow up to be the pride of the magical world."

"Alice, is that for real? That's great, we finally have a Mage from the Ran family!" The Seventh Prince rubbed his wife's head affectionately and said with a laugh, "No, I have to tell this to father. He'll be ecstatic to hear this!"

...