In a special region of the Dark Forest avoided by most of the living... ran a woman in spider silk clothing, which seemed to have been spun from the threads by a very dexterous arachnid. Her long flowing hair colour displayed similarities to the moonlight shining down from above as countless pursuers chased her down relentlessly without pause. None of them seemed to fear the warnings of many that foretold the death of anyone who was to trespass on these lands close to the underworld!
"Subject #5689, give up the Anomaly! We must crack the code to its existence! 'The Truth'... That child is the key to finding The Truth!" A crazed expression appeared on the large white clothed biologist bravely leading the group of researchers who seemed to have strength that defied what common sense would normally dictate. He then reached out his hand towards the woman and fired out a bolt of lightning in order to paralyse her.
This didn't seem to scare the moonlight-haired woman as eight legs belonging to that of an arachnid grew out of her back, blocking the magic attack. In fact, she even subdued one of the people chasing her by 'slapping' the magic right back!
"Alchemist Sid, do not harm her! You might hurt the child she carrying... Not even Dr Frank will be able to forgive you if you caused this precious subject to experience a miscarriage." One of the white-clothed men behind the leading figure spoke in anger as the men felt like the precious clue they discovered would be damaged. A feeling of intense danger welled up in the leader's heart as he quickly put his hand down to calm his subordinates.
"I just wanted the Arachne to waste her strength and had no intention of actually bringing the subject harm. We'll pick up that guy we left behind later, alright?!" The man explained before speeding forth. They all knew now wasn't the time to argue and tried their best capture the Arachne woman before any complications were to occur.
The surroundings were becoming more and more lifeless as they entered deep into the most dangerous forbidden zone ever to be recorded, a place known to be owned by the most dangerous 'God', the Death Imperial... of the 'Dead Lands'.
It was only when they came across a multitude of bone-white skeletons piled along the ground did the researchers pursuing the moonlight-haired woman finally start to lose their composure.
They stopped in place as purple energy that seemed to originate from the netherworld itself expelled from the skeletons and merged together to form a massive skeletal figure of a giant!
"It's a Giant Skeleton! We can use this opportunity to capture her! Make preparations!" The leader charged out while a black magical energy focused into his palm. He was planning to ensnare her in shadows as soon as he got the opportunity.
However, things didn't go according to plan as the Arachne woman grit her teeth in determination.
"For my child's future...!" She roared inwardly and ignored the gigantic figure which had cast a great shadow that covered all of them. An ominous flame glinted in the skeleton's eyes as it lifted its large fist in a motion that contradicted its enormous size!
"Watch out!" The leader called out worriedly... not to his subordinates but to the Arachne who hadn't slowed down her steps. She seemed suicidal as she braced herself while running into the Giant Skeleton's fist that descended upon on her figure.
The sound of a meteor crashing into soil could be heard along with the crackling sounds of the eight spider legs that grew out of the woman's back. The entirety of her back became covered in blood as they shattered in order to endure the blow...
The leader chasing her was lucky enough to dodge before the strike landed. However, he and the rest of the researchers finally lost sight of her as she seemed nowhere to be found. It came to them as a shock but they had no other choice other than to swallow their failure and escape the undead skeletal figure that was currently attacking them.
The Arachne woman, on the other hand, didn't even seem to notice that she had finally lost her pursuers, and only stopped after she ran out of strength... In front of her appeared a rundown mansion in the distance, but she didn't have the time to read her surroundings before collapsing in pain. Her breathing was ragged and the silk woven clothes around her were damaged, but what was most eye catching of all was her back...!
The woman realised she wouldn't be able to witness her child's birth as she inching into death's embrace. Her Body Enhancement was destroyed and now her life force was slowly leaking away...
"What is your purpose for coming here?" A ominous looking man in expensive clothes, who seemed like a scholar belonging to the upper echelon of those who studied literature, suddenly appeared before her like a ghost, only to ask this Arachne woman in confusion. The man couldn't understand where this woman had come from.
He looked like he had never thought there would be someone who could willingly come all the way to his doorstep. An apologetic and somewhat pained look appeared in his eyes after seeing the blood that was still constantly streaming down the Arachne's back. He was speculating many things as he took the undead in the distance into account.
"Save... my child..." Was the Arachne woman's last words as she held her enlarged stomach.
The scholarly man hurriedly caught the Beast woman as the light in her eyes finally vanished. It was impossible to say how strong her conviction was to run all the way to his residence in such a condition. A helpless yet resolved breath of air left the scholarly man's mouth as he found himself in a predicament he had never experienced before.
"Are there any women ghosts here?! This is an emergency situation!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, causing the stagnant air around him to tremble. This was the first time in history life would appear in a land filled with ghosts and undead.
The man helped the Arachne woman give birth to the infant who would later on make his name known to many as 'Alex Stuman'. This was the beginning of everything, and also the start of his new life! His first ever encounter with 'death'...!
That was the story he told Arthur.
Again, for the millionth time...
He seemed to enjoy talking about his past when it came to Arthur, and was secretive to others.
"And that is how I was born!" The scholarly youth that was dragged to the nearby Boar's Bar laughed as he chugged down a cup of juice. He didn't lay a hand on alcohol since he believed he was too young to drink such a beverage given his age.
"Stop changing the subject and get to the point. Is it true you're STILL unable to form your Spirit Essence?" The brawny youth beside him didn't seem to have the same thoughts as he sipped on a glass of root-beer. Hmmm, did he remember 'that'?
Looks like Arthur's memory was coming back... and no one found his current beverage to be odd at all.
It was natural for someone of the age of fifteen to be considered an adult in this world. After all, their actions were something they had be responsible of by themselves once they grew to a certain point.
"Did you just ignore my epic backstory? Honestly, it is the story my mother's ghost always told me."
"Don't act like this is something new. I've already heard it many times before when we were young."
"You're such a boring guy... Can't you tell I don't want to talk about that illness of mine?"
"You said you'd tell me."
"And you too said you'd speak about that G-"
"Tell me." Arthur put his foot down on the matter and wouldn't budge until his childhood friend told him everything. He was barely listening to anything that didn't have to do with Alex's old 'illness'.
His attitude was a little like this: ╭(╯^╰)╮
Puffing his chest out and with narrowed eyes filled with the determination to get him to talk.
"Hah... Fine... You know the identity of the man who raised me, right?" He frowned in displeasure and decided to finally reveal the secret as to why he was unable to use Mana like others.
"A necromancer."
"Beep! Wrong answer! Idiot, didn't I already say that he was the Death Imperial? As in the 'Death God'?" These words were spoken after he had created a sound barrier of Wind Runes.
He didn't want anyone else to find out that he had been raised by the psychopomp all life feared...
"..." The brawny youth looked at Alex in disbelief after he made such a great and bold statement.
"It's true. Don't you dare doubt me."
"Okay, okay. Let me get this straight: Your mother was an Arachne, your father was most likely a Human, and the person who raised you was the God of Death himself...? Then why are you still ill?"
"Necron, the man who raised me, told me that it probably has to do with the damage my soul somehow sustained before birth. It might have been due to being born in a place that reeked of death or it could have been because of the injury my mother sustained before she gave birth to me.
Either way, I have realised many things after studying magic and am pretty sure the reason behind my lack of Mana is due to being the Anomaly those creeps who were trying to capture my mother were talking about."
The scholarly youth spoke as if the person who died back then wasn't his blood-related mother but an acquaintance he felt only pity towards. This made Arthur unable to understand what he was feeling after mentioning his biological mother...
To Alex, he already had a mother he accepted in his past life, and though she was distant to the point of never coming to visit him in the entirety of his previous life, she was still the person he considered as his mother even to this day. He didn't know if these feelings he had were right or not since he had always felt like a passerby on Gaia after having been born once again.
Life will come and go, that was only destiny, and that was also why he felt no hatred towards the assailants who nearly captured him in the past. As now he was more concerned about the 'Classless'.
It was a strange feeling of disconnection no one naturally born on Gaia would be able to comprehend unless they had similar circumstances to him. He hadn't even bothered explaining that he was an 'other-worlder' to his best friend since being an Anomaly itself was something hard for anyone to accept without seeing proof.
How was Alex an Anomaly? It had to be said that under normal circumstances, Beasts and Humans were unable to have children no matter how much they loved each other. Even Classless Beasts wouldn't be able to pass on having no 'Class'.
This wasn't specific to Beasts and Humans... Even Dwarves and Elves were unable to give birth to so-called 'half-breeds' with the bloodline of two races on Gaia. It wasn't a tradition but a law of the world that drew a clear line between all humanoid races.
The scholarly youth before Alex was an exception however, as he not only gained the innate Bloodline Inheritance of a Rare Species but also was capable of having a Class. This on top of having the Dark Attribute as his 'foundation'. You could even call it the best of both worlds if he didn't have an illness that restricted his potential in such a crucial way.
He was literally a 'weaver' of magic...!
"...I don't think that's the case though." Arthur, on the other hand, seemed to disagree with his opinion as he shook his head. A glint of interest finally appeared in Alex's eyes as lifted his head.
"Oh~? And why do you think that?"
"Because I've already met another Anomaly." This answer struck a chord in the scholarly youth's heart as he rose from his seat to look at his friend with glowing eyes. Although the brawny youth was expecting such a big reaction, he didn't think he'd feel so much pressure just from being stared at by his childhood friend in such an abrupt fashion.
'Why did you forget to mention this before?!' It was at that point that he remembered how he reset Arthur's memory and calmed a little, accepting that it might have been a little bit his own fault.
"Believe me, I'm not messing with you. Aren't you curious about how I gained more power than a normal Sword Warrior? Actually, back then you were wrong about my strength. I don't have seven Magic Slots, but two Magic Slots and five 'refills'."
"But I clearly saw the existence of five other Attributes within you." Alex sat back down.
From what he had personally seen, wouldn't it be normal to think his artificial Spell Slots could be used? Though it also made him remember that if that was the case, he wouldn't have been so easily captured by the Crown Prince. The Lightning Attribute of one of his artificial Spell Slots had an anti-magic property that negated others after all.
"Those are Attributes I forced into my body through well... What a certain girl told me was a so-called 'Body Refinement' technique." Arthur seemed to remember a companion he had made.
"You mean like in a Wuxia novel?"
"What's that?"
"...Nothing. What I mean is: You let yourself be struck by lightning to gain the Lightning Attribute?"
"Looks like your fame as a scholar of magic isn't for show! That's right! I also let the Water Attribute refine my blood by meditating under a waterfall for a few days without rest, the Fire Attribute seep into my muscles by surviving in a volcano, the Wind Attribute temper my bones by staying in the eye of a strong storm until it stopped, and felt the pulse of the Earth Attribute sink into my skin by meditating underground for a few months without food or sunlight." Arthur spoke proudly about his horrific experiences as if they weren't as bad as he let on.
He sounded so dramatical and unlike his normal self that Alex was sure he was trying to cover up the bad time he had back then. What kind of conviction did it take to do those crazy things?!
Even Alex's face couldn't help but change as he heard what his friend had gone through over the time they were apart. He couldn't understand what motivated his friend to the degree he would essentially torture himself just to gain power.
Others might have taken what the brawny youth said as a joke. However, Alex was the only one who truly believed each and every word of it, but also made a few connections to why his friend's conviction was so strong to the hatred he previously showed for the Radiant Sword Mirror Cult, a group of 'wolves in sheep clothing'.
He was now more curious than ever about that cruel 'Anomaly' like himself who would give his friend such a painful Body Refinement technique to train with. Who was this second naturally-born-half-breed seemed to be a researcher like him?
Was this girl too a Magic Prodigy?
"Take me to her. I want to meet this 'Anomaly'. You should've told me about this person before!"
"Sorry, bro! I forgot...! Let's go meet her!"