Half an hour later, 10:23 PM, 20th February, the Year 2253.
Battered and bloody, Blake limped down the street, the pain in his limbs barely registering as he made his way toward a nearby convenience store. His clothes were torn, and blood dripped from his wounds, leaving a trail behind him. He had a single-minded focus on his destination, fully aware of the stares he was attracting from passersby.
As Blake pushed open the glass door of the convenience store, the bell above jingled, announcing his arrival. The employees behind the counter exchanged nervous glances as they took in his disheveled appearance. But Blake, now inhabited by Luke, the soul from another world, remained completely unfazed by their reactions.
"Good evening, esteemed shopkeepers," he said with an air of nonchalance as if he were a noble addressing his subjects. "I require supplies to tend to my injuries."
The employees exchanged puzzled looks, unsure how to respond to his refined manner of speaking. One of them hesitantly pointed toward the first aid aisle, and Blake nodded in gratitude.
"Thank you kindly," he replied, limping toward the indicated section.
The customers in the store tried to give him a wide berth, their eyes following him warily as he collected bandages, antiseptic, and other supplies to treat his injuries. He then approached the counter, placing his items before the cashier, who tried to mask her concern.
"I believe this should suffice," Blake announced, his tone dignified and composed despite his disheveled state. He reached into his pocket, taking out a few crumpled bills smeared with blood.
The cashier hesitated for a moment before gingerly accepting the bloodstained money. "Uh, yeah... this will do."
"Excellent," Blake said, unfazed. The cashier completed the transaction, and Blake took his purchases.
As he made his way to the exit, he turned to address the store employees once more.
"Your assistance has been most appreciated," he said, offering them a bloody but genuine smile before limping out the door.
The employees exchanged incredulous looks, each silently wondering if they had just encountered a time traveler, a madman, or some bizarre combination of the two. Little did they know that the truth was even stranger than they could imagine.
Blake's weary footsteps echoed in the desolate streets as he made his way back to his makeshift home. His residence was a run-down apartment in a building that seemed to belong in a ghost town, but it provided him with the bare minimum shelter he needed.
Upon arriving at his apartment, Blake set down the medical supplies he had purchased and began the process of tending to his injuries.
He meticulously cleaned his wounds with the antiseptic, wincing in pain as it stung his raw flesh. He then wrapped his broken hand and head with bandages, ensuring they were secure but not overly tight.
After his injuries were taken care of, he started focusing on what had happened. By the time he had walked back to his own apartment, he had somewhat collected his thoughts.
No matter how absurd the thought was, he had taken over the body of a young guy named Blake in a world completely foreign to him. Luke's centuries of experience made him not waver at his own situation, as this wasn't the first time something like this had happened to him.
Centuries ago, he had unwillingly transmigrated into the world of Arcadia, a world of swords, magics, and mysteries. Apart from his earlier years, he was never disappointed in ever being transmigrated to that planet, as it held something his previous world didn't: Magic.
"Hmm, at least this world holds mana," Luke—now Blake—contemplated. His seething rage had calmed down, and the rage of the body that he now possessed was also fairly gone.
Luke sympathized with the Blake he had seen in his memories. His life was anything but a happy one. He had to suffer since childhood, but he had never given up on the hopes of getting out of Old Manhattan.
"Manhattan?"
For some reason, Luke couldn't help but think that the name sounded familiar, so he dug through his memories to find out more about this world.
This world which once used to be a normal planet with no magic, changed after the 'The Great Cataclysm' two centuries ago.
On that day, the sky cracked open. From it, torrents of magical energy poured into the world, seeping into every living being and reshaping the planet.
The once-familiar landscape transformed into a bizarre tapestry of magical flora and fauna, and dungeons filled with deadly creatures emerged out of nowhere.
Monsters started rampaging around the world, ending almost half of the human population.
With the influx of magical energy, some people began manifesting unique powers that were linked to mysterious symbols, called insignias, which appeared on their bodies.
These insignias appeared on random people throughout the world, blessing around 5% of the world's remaining population, giving them powers to summon powerful beasts and turn the tide on the monsters who had started ravaging the world.
In addition to the natural occurrence of insignias, there was a method to bestow them artificially.
While it wasn't the most cost-effective option, it greatly increased the number of people with insignias. Instead of a mere 5% of the population, now 30% of the people were blessed with these mysterious symbols.
This artificial insignia process was made possible by 'Materia Prima' or the 'Philosopher's Stone.' Discovered 130 years ago in an S-rank dungeon that had claimed the lives of many powerful Tamers, this enigmatic stone granted artificial insignias to those who sought them.
However, the likelihood of obtaining a mid-tier insignia through Materia Prima was slim, and high-tier insignias were even rarer. Moreover, the process consumed vast amounts of Mana Crystals, making it an expensive endeavor.
Despite its limitations, Materia Prima was a valuable resource, albeit only for the wealthy. As the world became more brutal, the rich grew richer and the poor poorer.
The government struggled to control powerful independent Tamers, leading to a vast chasm between the haves and the have-nots.
Blake couldn't help but chuckle at the irony, "Ah, yes, the universal constant. No matter the world, the rich get richer, and the poor... Well, they just keep on struggling. Why should I have expected anything different?"
Affluent families could afford to give their children artificial insignias, but they typically waited until they turned 16 in the hopes that they would acquire a natural insignia with a higher likelihood of being mid or high-tier.
If they didn't receive one by that age, they would then resort to using Materia Prima.
There was one more way to obtain a natural insignia: by subduing a wild beast and taming it, making it part of one's own insignia collection.
However, this method was virtually impossible for those without a single insignia, as even the weakest beasts refused to acknowledge a master devoid of mana.
"This world changed two centuries ago, and some of the names feel familiar to me for some reason…"
Blake couldn't help but run towards the worn-out computer that was beside the study table. Since the previous Blake couldn't afford proper education or schooling, he had self-studied even though he lived in the slums.
This computer alone had cost him two months' worth of his rations, even though the computer was a junk box when he bought it.
"Hah, this world even has smartphones and the internet."
The more Blake noticed such things, the more ominous he felt.
But the final nail in the coffin was his search result on the Doodle search engine.
What he had searched for was his own name, not the name that he possessed currently as Blake, but his name as Luke.
[Searching for —- Luke Wallace
234,453 search results:
The Genius of Theories, the disappearance of Luke Wallace. (Posted 231 years ago)
A murder? A kidnapping? A conspiracy? Luke Wallace, the man known for his groundbreaking scientific theories, disappeared without a trace on 26th January 2022. (Posted 231 years ago)
Exactly what happened to Luke Wallace? Here's all you need to know. (Posted 231 years ago)
Was it really not a govern...…..]
"Kuk!"
Blake couldn't help but control his laughter at the absurd situation.
"To think I'd be thrown back into the world I had once forsaken. Moreover, in a different body. Haah! Fate truly is amusing."
He had lived for almost half a millennia, but he was thrown back on earth 231 years after his disappearance.
"I still have an opportunity to fix my mistakes."
Blake came to a conclusion as a burning rage appeared in his eyes, the silhouette of a beautiful woman flashed through his vision, and he felt an indescribable pain in his heart.
When he died as Luke, he had too many regrets to count on two hands.
"Not anymore, for I shall return to Arcadia once more by any means possible. And I'll make sure to pay back every single one of those scheming bastards with due interest."
Blake resolved. He once again thanked the previous Blake; as saddening as his death was, he had ended up creating an opportunity for Luke—-now Blake.
After an hour, Blake finally calmed down and came to terms with his situation.
"Nobody in this world can use mana independently; how strange."
As convenient as insignias were, they also brought along glaring limitations with them.
People in this world could do just about any magic with insignias that mages in Arcadia could, but they needed a medium, and that was the magic beasts that were bound to them through insignias.
"And this one doesn't even have an insignia," Blake laugh-scoffed, finding it absurd that the Genius of the Western continent now didn't even have a shred of mana in him.
Getting off of the computer, Blake sat on the rough bed and closed his eyes. His whole body was aching due to wounds, and he couldn't even do a proper sitting stance, so he decided to just sit as comfortably as possible.
In Arcadia, there were a lot of methods for someone who had never harvested mana into their bodies to learn how to do it. But most of these methods brought about limitations and slow-acting side effects.
Throughout his life, Luke had created mana-breathing methods that minimize the side effects to the minimum and increase the rate at which one accumulates and stores mana.
Although this method also had a limitation. In exchange for the exorbitant quantity, the quality of mana was sacrificed, making all sorts of mana enter a person's mana core. But Luke could easily manage all kinds of mana, so this was more of a boon than a bane for him.
Mana core was formed in a person's heart, and it worked like a storage device for mana. The more rings one formed around their heart, the more mana they could store and use.
"Shall we begin?"
Blake took in a deep breath, hurting his own lungs that were still bruised, and exhaled loudly.
Then he started using 'Breath of the Silvermoon,' the mana breathing method that he himself had created.
Particles of mana formed around the atmosphere and started entering from every pore of Blake's body, running through his veins like blood.
The strangely warm yet cold mana started elevating the pain throughout Blake's body, a major property of mana—healing. He focused on the mana running throughout his body and guided it directly toward his heart.
It went in and out of his heart, sending shivers and a pleasant sensation throughout his body.
The process kept on repeating until, eventually, a small, blueish-white colored core formed in the middle of Blake's heart, and a small ring appeared around it, circulating like the core was a planet.
Blake was happy with the results and was about to stop when the core suddenly started sending mana toward his left palm. To be more precise, it was sending mana toward the back of his hand as it visibly started shining.
Blake felt a searing yet cold sensation on the back of his hand as if something was getting etched on it.
It didn't even take a second for Blake to realize what was happening.
"An insignia, huh?" Blake couldn't help but chuckle bitterly. The previous Blake had longed for an insignia his whole life but was never blessed with one. And then some stranger from a different world took over his body and was easily able to gain it.
'The irony.'
Blake felt a bit at a loss, but his attention was soon diverted towards his left hand, the light finally receding slowly, indicating that an insignia had successfully formed.
'What kind of beast will I get?'
He was curious as he looked at the tattoo-like imprint on the back of his hand and couldn't help but chuckle.
The shape of the insignia was all too clear for him to mistake it for something else.
'It's a ….'