The sun rose to the sky as its warm sunlight illuminated the land. However, it was not the same to Snow County, for it was blocked by clouds.
As the morning continued, Alzer ate his breakfast in the dining room. In front of him was a long, brown table that was about 3 meters length. There were also people in the dining room eating breakfast.
At the middle of the table was his father, Count Alex Volheim III. The middle-aged man was now wearing a more expensive, and more extravagant clothing compared to yesterday.
Across Alzer was a beautiful, brown-haired woman who is his mother, yet her appearance was truly young. He knew that this was not because of her natural appearance, but because she used magic to enhance her beauty. He understood that behind this elegant face was a devilish, hypocritical old hag. He recalled in his past life when her mana ran out, her true face revealing itself to the public. Her name is Joanna Volheim, by the way.
Peeking his eyes beside him, a similarly beautiful girl surfaced in his vision. Her face was exactly the same as his mother, albeit she have different charm. Her curly brown hair flowed through her shoulders. A mischievous 15-year-old girl who didn't have much experience. Basically, she's one of those pampered young ladies that he disliked in his past life. This girl was his sister, Hannah Volheim, the "little princess" of the Volheim family. She's also the most beautiful girl in the whole county.
He recalled in his past life before the ceremony happened, she always clinged to him like a pest. She always call him "Big Brother" and always say that she would marry him once they become adult. And so, the ceremony happened, and she stared at him in fear and avoided him like a dead plagued.
Alzer didn't really mind though, he also didn't care whether they would have a good relationship this time or not. He has no interest of such thing. If it were the old Alzer who traveled back to time then he would do anything to change the result of the ritual, just because of this shitty nonsense called "family."
There was no such thing as "family" in his dictionary. All those fools in his past life who worked themselves out just to obtain familial affections were all weaklings. He disdained all those people. The care that they gave him before that fate-changing day…he didn't care about it at all. What was more is that with his plan to become a powerful Mage again, having ties with this so-called family will just give him another weakness for his enemies to exploit at. There's no way he'll do wasteful effort for a useless thing. There was one principle that he always follow; that is to not do anything useless.
Placing the utensils elegantly on the plate, that bitch, Joanna Volheim, finally broke the silence. "Little Al, it seems your coming of age ceremony will happen a few hours later. Have you finished your preparations?"
Alzer sneered inwardly and thought, 'As expected, she's already asking whether I'm prepared or not rather than worrying if I'm not nervous. What a greedy bitch.'
He knew that the benefit of being a Mage was tremendous. Not only would it benefit the Awakened Mage himself, but also those who are close to him, such as those related by blood. Once he became a Mage and succeeded his father's position, the rule of Volheim dynasty within the Snow Count will continue. It has been 25 years since the Volheim family was promoted to the Count position. By succeeding the title, there's a possibility that the family could even become a Marquis rank! However, Alzer knew that there was no such easy thing. The current Marquis families spent more than a hundred years just to reach that position. Unless their family head could become a member of Royal Court, they would probably use more fifty years solidifying its position as an overlord.
To be promoted, there were only three ways to that. The first and easiest, but the longest thing to do, was to continue working under the rule of the kingdom. The second way will depend on opportunity and luck, which was to do a meritorious deed and they will be promoted to a position according to the level of their merits. The third and last way, which was also the hardest, is that a member of that family should become a Royal Mage.
Alzer suppressed his disdain and plastered a wonderful smile, as though he didn't know her true nature. "Of course, Mother. Since I will be awakened today, how could I forget such thing?"
"Well that's good. I really hope that you'll have one of those rarer elements such as lightning element." Joanna nodded her head.
'You're asking the impossible.' Alzer's face slightly twitched when he heard this. Lightning element was one of the things that he couldn't even dream in his past life. As a Dark Mage, Lightning and Holy elements were his natural nemeses. Unless it was the Grand Chaos Lightning that he used in the final battle, it will never happen.
"I really hope so," Alzer didn't spit out his thoughts and just agreed with her. He also hope to have that element as it was famous of having a thunder-like speed of cultivation. He had encountered a rare Lightning Mage in his previous life and he was shocked by it. Their destructive power greater than fire, an agility as fast as lightning, and their Thunder Armor that only people with Lightning element could possibly have… Those abilities were truly overpowered. They were the kings of battlefield. After that, the whole family continued eating in silence.
***
Looking at the door, Alzer narrowed his eyes as he nonchalantly opened it. What entered his eyes was a circular room with the statue of a white-coloured phoenix at the end. On the floor was a red magic circle drawn by paint. Surrounding it were the members of Volheim family, its butlers, maids, and of course—the priest of Holy Church—Father Kuro.
Alzer focused his gaze at the statue, nostalgia kept coming at him. It seems this was it, the place where he will once again awaken his power and officially become a Mage. He didn't expect to return in this place after all these years.
"You're finally here," Father Kuro, the one who's in charge for the ceremony, said. "Sit cross-leg within that circle and close your eyes. You don't need to do anything after that. Just relax."
The young man nodded and did as he said. He sat cross-legged on the drawn circle near the magic circle. Then, he closed his eyes, darkness filling his vision. Suddenly, he heard the door closing and sound of footsteps. After that, the priest's voice entered his ears.
"O' Queen of Winter, the Empress of Ice;
Please bestow your blessing upon your believer;
In the domain of snow, you're the Great One;
In the domain of coldness, you're Omnipotent;
I, Kuro, shall become your bridge to Awaken your believer."
Following those words, the hairs on Alzer's skin prickled up. He felt a chill entering his flesh and penetrating his bones. After calculating the time, he finally opened his eyes and found himself in his Spiritual Sea. It was an endless darkness. But then, a white light appeared at the deepest part, gradually taking form to that of a white phoenix.
He couldn't take off its eyes on this scene. Its majestic light illuminated his pitch-black Spiritual Sea, making it wave left and right as though it was greeting its queen. But there's something he didn't anticipate.
The Snow Phoenix, or rather, the phantom of Snow Phoenix suddenly let out a shriek of alarm, as though it sensed a dangerous enemy. Suddenly, cracks appeared within this world as demonic thunderbolts emerged from it. It shot towards the bird in an unbelievable speed.
The Snow Phoenix once more shrieked as it opened it opened its mouth. It spat out a white mist which condensed into a white arrow a moment later. Then, the arrow moved.
The demonic thunderbolts and the arrow collided that caused Alzer's Spiritual Sea to shook intensely. He felt dizzy after that, yet he felt helpless about it. When the thunderbolts appeared, he immediately realized that the Book of Chaos placed within that mysterious dimension interfered. Now he couldn't predict what will happen next. He just hoped that it wouldn't affect his plans or else he will be more f*cked than in his previous life.
While the young man was thinking of this, black light appeared at the opposite direction of the phoenix, turning into the form of a book. It flipped itself repeatedly until it reached a certain, blank page. Suddenly, a black, demonic spear emerged from that black page as it emitted black mist.
The Snow Phoenix saw this and let out a shriek once more, before it flapped its wings and flew towards the book courageously.
The Book of Chaos vibrated when it "sensed" this. It manipulated the spear to fly towards the phoenix. In the blink of an eye, the distance between decreased into tens of inches.
The Snow Phoenix covered itself by its wide white wings but, to its dismay, the black spear was too sharp that its beautiful wings were sliced open. The black spear continued moving and soon, it pierced through its neck.
The Snow Phoenix let out a miserable shriek of pain and agony before its body twitched repeatedly, turned transparent, and finally dissipated. What left behind were nine crystals of different colors.
The black spear vibrated for a few seconds before it return to the black book. After that, Alzer saw the black book also dissipating before finally disappearing into nothingness.
Alzer was stunned when he saw this and it remained this way for a minute before snapping back to reality. He was too speechless to say anything, much less to process such information in short period of time.
He stared blankly at the empty space before finally shifting his gaze at the nine crystals that the phoenix left behind. He was left stunned when he saw this because this was too familiar. Not because of the crystals itself, but because of its quantity and colors.
There first four crystals were red, blue, green and yellow which corresponds to Four Natural Elements (fire, water, wind and earth elements). The other three were purple, white, and black which corresponds to Three Supreme Elements (lightning, holy, and dark elements). And the rest were colorless that made him think about the Two Supreme Laws (time and space laws).
"These are…the Affinity Crystals!"