Episode 1
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A 17 year-old teenager was running with all his strength. However, he reached a vast emptiness this place was known as the Abyss of Akashic in this world.
His black hair fluttered wildly in the strong rain and gusting winds as the teenager kept running. Behind him, a group of men wearing leather armor, mounted on horses and wielding swords, pursued him relentlessly.
"Catch the brat before we lose him in the night!"
Nightfall was approaching. Torrential rain poured heavily over a forest of incredibly tall trees, as tall or taller than modern skyscrapers.
The treetops, all crimson in color, and the wood of these same trees, brown with red stripes, resembled the very depths of hell. Yet, in this world, such sights were normal in some areas of the continent.
The boy, pursued by slave traffickers, ran desperately. If they caught him, he would be doomed to endless suffering. These traffickers were not ordinary men.
"Why... do they have mages and... knights?"
As he ran, the shouts of the traffickers echoed behind him. Every second, every minute, they closed the gap, drawing ever closer to the teenager.
Stopping was not an option.
The teenager reached the Abyss of Akashic.
He looked down and saw an endless drop into the depths of the abyss. Glancing back, he swallowed hard. His wide, violet eyes fixed on a dozen men mounted on horses, some clad in attire that covered their entire faces and bodies.
They were mages exiled from the empire for their crimes. Having escaped prison, they had joined the slave traffickers. These mages did not come alone; they had someone important to the entire kingdom with them.
"Catch the brat! Letting him escape means our death move, you bastards!"
"Yes, sir!"
The teenager looked at the people and the Abyss of Akashic.
He swallowed nervously.
"Running is not an option... I must... jump... or not."
Tears streamed down his face. His entire life had led him to this place did the world truly refuse to acknowledge his existence?
However.
"It doesn't matter..."
The teenager clenched his fists and bit his lips. Blood trickled from his mouth and hands, his fingernails digging into his palms.
He stared at the Abyss of Akashic.
"Either way... My family abandoned me when I was a newborn... It doesn't matter if I jump..."
The boy raised both arms like a cross and gazed up at the dark sky. The torrential rain obscured the stars, and yet...
"Stop."
The traffickers halted.
This was because the teenager had jumped into the Abyss of Akashic.
"Damn it... Chasing him was a waste of time. This is your fault for not catching him earlier. Now you'll pay for it, bastards!"
The teenager fell into the abyss known as Akashic. However, his body became a vessel for someone else to inhabit.
The boy hit the ground, and his life came to an end.
***
A remote and difficult-to-reach area, the Abyss of Akashic is a place that holds the mysteries of the entire history of the world. What lies at its depths remains unknown because no one has ever ventured into them. It is like a chasm combined with a canyon enormous and infinitely deep.
No one knows what's down there, and no one has descended.
However.
"Hmm..."
Park Chan-woo opened his eyes. Before killing the seven seats of the Triad Of The Night, he had seen the dark sky. Yet, due to the heavy rain, he couldn't see the stars before his death.
The wounds on his body had made survival impossible. It was unthinkable to live through something like that blades had pierced through him, stabbing all the way to the other side of his body.
How could anyone survive such a thing?
"What the hell..."
There was light emanating from candles, illuminating the entire area. The first thing Park Chan-woo saw was... something unnatural.
They were shelves that held books, but their sizes were immense, and they floated in a strange space. It wasn't just one shelf there were countless shelves floating as if in outer space.
Park Chan-woo's eyes widened.
At the same time, he looked at his body, and his eyes opened even wider.
"This body... It's smaller... I have no wounds."
He checked his entire body, but there wasn't a single wound. In fact, he felt better than ever, almost as if he were in paradise. It had been a long time since he had felt this way, but that didn't answer the question of where he was or why he was in a different body.
Park Chan-woo thought.
"Reincarnation, huh? That fictional crap, or whatever it's called, turned out to be real. This is shit, I thought I was dying forever'.
He instantly stood up from the wooden floor, which was decorated with antique, medieval-style furniture. Surrounding him was a library filled with floating shelves, and the ceiling above was as black as space.
"What is this place?"
Park Chan-woo remained unfazed by the strangeness of the location.
Even if he had died and reincarnated, what was the point of being surprised? He could still die again at any moment, for all he knew.
His mind stayed calm.
He walked around, inspecting books on the shelves. The shelves floating several meters above the ground made it impossible to reach some of the books.
"This place... No matter how much I wander around, I can't find an exit."
Park Chan-woo looked around.
He was literally in some kind of strange library, but more than that, it seemed to exist in a subspace separate from reality.
"As far as I can tell, this body belongs to a 17-year-old boy, with no family, pursued by slave traffickers, and also... Hmm..."
Park Chan-woo's eyes widened.
"What's a mage... A knight... Mana... Magic..."
This world... was strange.
The last memories Park Chan-woo looked into was of an abyss called "Akashic Abyss" from what I look into the memories, it was the cause of this body's death but also the entrance to this library.
"I understand something... Akashic Abyss, it's called that because people think something about Akashic is here."
However what the hell was Akashic, was it a person, a book or this particular library.
Park Chan-woo scratches his chin, even though he didn't really have one he still did it out of habit.
First being shocked by reincarnation and this place was affecting him, but as the previous and last monarch of the Triada of the night his fears and unnecessary thoughts were gone, but now it was different.
All of that was in this body, eliminating that is not at all easy and not fast either, Park Chan-woo had long since lost emotions, pain or sadness, but entering this body was different.
"My hands are shaking.... Even my whole body... I seem to be afraid to be here for some reason."
Park Chan-woo sat on the floor, even if there is furniture the seats were not even in sight.
"Then Akashic library..."
There were several questions.
How did I reincarnate, and why?
What was this world, really? What was Akashic—was it a person, a book, or perhaps the library itself bearing that name?
Park Chan-woo was confused.
"Hmm, you are... my heir."
"....."
A voice emerged from behind Park Chan-woo. His body froze, trembling with fear.
His eyes widened, and sweat instantly began to form. It was as if the presence behind him could kill him effortlessly. It was the first time Park Chan-woo had ever felt something like this.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
The voice of the man behind him sounded satisfied, accompanied by a grin.
"You truly are."
"You're my heir, and you even possess the same magic as me. That is strange, considering I'm the only one in all of history."
"But how did you get here? How are you alive in this place? Honestly, I don't know how it's possible, even if you are my heir. Regardless, I suppose introductions are necessary, right?"
"....."
"Anyway, my name is Encrid. And you are?"
"....."
Park Chan-woo swallowed hard.
"This is... impossible... I'm scared of someone..."
But he was in a new body that was the cause. Even if he had been his old self, he would have still been terrified of this voice.
He was completely lost in this place. He had just arrived and was now in this library.
Park Chan-woo only wanted to die and never wished for life again, but fate had taken him in the opposite direction. No matter how he felt about it, reincarnation seemed inevitable.
Park Chan-woo glanced to the side. Whoever the man was, he stood a few meters behind him.
His eyes darted backward.
But...
"There's nothing there."
There was no one. His body remained frozen in fear, completely immobile. Yet he kept looking.
"It's true, it's impossible for you to see me since you have no mana. But I can faintly sense a small particle of mana in your body, even if you can't."
Mana it referred to an energy used by mages.
Park Chan-woo blinked. Mana was something related to mages, at least based on the memories he'd glimpsed after awakening. However, its exact meaning remained unknown to him, and he couldn't define it clearly.
But he knew mages used it.
"Never mind. I'll explain everything since you seem unaware of your current situation, right?"
"....."
Park Chan-woo nodded his head, as speaking was impossible. His mouth wouldn't move, leaving him unable to utter a word.
"Very well, where should I begin... In short, you could say that I am the only mage in history to reach the tenth circle in this world."