Chapter 1
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Episode 1 - Akáshic Library [1]
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A 17-year-old teenager was running with all his might, but he came to a vast emptiness, a place known as the Akashic Abyss in this world.
His black hair waved wildly in the heavy rain and gusts of wind as the teenager continued to run. Behind him, a group of men in leather armour, mounted on horseback and wielding swords, pursued him relentlessly.
"Catch the brat before we lose him in the night!"
Night was approaching. A torrential rain was falling heavily on a forest of incredibly tall trees, as tall or taller than modern skyscrapers.
The treetops, all crimson in colour, and the wood of these same trees, brown with red stripes, looked like the depths of hell. However, in this world, such scenes were normal in some areas of the continent.
The boy, pursued by slave traders, was running desperately. If caught, he would be condemned to endless suffering. These slavers were no ordinary men.
Why... do they have wizards and... knights? As he ran,
the cries of the smugglers echoed behind him. Every second, every minute, they were closing the distance, getting closer and closer to the teenager.
Stopping was not an option.
The teenager reached the Akashic Abyss.
He looked down and saw an endless drop into the depths of the abyss. Looking back, he swallowed hard. His large violet eyes fixed on a dozen men on horseback, some dressed in garb that covered their faces and entire bodies.
They were wizards exiled from the empire for their crimes. Having escaped from prison, they had joined the slave traders. These wizards did not come alone; they had someone important to the whole kingdom with them.
"Catch the brat! Letting him escape means death, you bastards!"
"Yes, sir!"
The teenager looked at the people and the Akashic Abyss.
He swallowed saliva nervously.
"Running is not an option.... I must... jump... or not."
Tears streamed down his face. His whole life had led him to this place. Did the world really refuse to acknowledge him as a human being?
Yet.
"It doesn't matter..."
The teenager clenched his fists and bit his lips. Blood dripped from his mouth and hands, his fingernails digging into his palms with the clench of his fists.
He stared into the Akashic Abyss.
"Anyway... 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 looked up at the dark sky. The pouring rain was obscuring the stars, and yet....
"Stop."
The dealers stopped.
This was because the teenager had jumped into the Akashic Abyss.
"Damn it... Chasing him was a waste of time. This is your fault for not catching him sooner. Now you'll pay for it, you bastards!"
The teenager fell into the abyss known as Akashic. However, his body became a vessel for someone else to inhabit.
The boy fell to the ground and his life came to an end.
***
At the end of a life, comes death.
Some of the members of the organisation, especially those of high rank, used to read... Hmm... What was it like? Ah, yes, they used to read something called "Web Novels", something I didn't know what it was, but...
They used to talk about reincarnation, which I knew what it meant, but that was just a fantasy and very ridiculous for someone like me.
However, even though I was dead, I actually felt alive.
I slowly opened my eyes, blinking in confusion and my head hurt like hell.... Wait, pain, that's something I shouldn't be experiencing.
"What the... Shit?"
The pain in my head... I had been told about that, I guess it's the feeling of a pain in my head that was annoying but also amazing to experience for the first time.
Still, I looked confused as I rubbed my head with my hand.
"What is this, where is my body trained beyond its limit..."
Looking closely I realised that I was in another body, however, I was not immediately surprised no matter what happened.
To remain calm it was essential to know the current situation and what was happening without being surprised.
As I checked my body, I noticed that it was very and completely different from what I was used to.
My previous body was very hard, full of scars and although my muscles did not look too big or exaggerated like those of bodybuilders, my strength was superhuman and my endurance was equally ridiculous.
But my current body felt lousy in a weak state even though I have no injuries on my body.
"What happened? Ugh... Shit, the pain in my head again..."
However, my eyes widened.
There were some fragmented memories and I barely understood them but I caught some words from those memories.
Scratching my head I thought of the only words.
'A wizard, magic, mana, knights and akashic abyss...'
Those were the words I remembered or that came to my mind at the time.
"But what is this place?"
I didn't know what those words meant, so I left it for another time and looked around.
A library.
Bookshelves floated in the air as if they were in space, there was no ceiling and it was completely dark where the bookshelves floated, the rest of the place was like an old library but very clean.
Instead there was furniture placed in specific areas, like on tables for example, as if someone was reading every moment so I looked at most of the furniture.
Old as in the 60's at least.
Sighing, I got up from the ground, my body felt pretty good without any pain in my body, but my head was hurting quite a bit, although my head was slowly relaxing.
"What is this place... Hmm..."
For some reason I felt like someone was watching me at that moment, I quickly turned my head looking around but everything was empty and silent.
However, what I thought was empty was shattered and a voice came from behind me.
"What do we have here, so I was really going to have a successor huh?"
I turned my head and looked in the direction where the voice was coming from but just like before there was no one there which confused me for a second but I got on my guard and took a defensive stance in case there was a sudden attack.
Where is he? There's no way he's so fast that I can't see him...'
But the voice continued right where I was looking.
'You can't see me right now, you're not a first circle so you can see me yet.'
What the hell.
The voice was right in front of me but there was nothing there, it was completely empty.
"What the hell are you?"
The voice replied shortly after.
"I'm a human... Oh, maybe not anymore, I'm dead, but I can control my soul using my mana so I can stay in this world for much longer"
"...."
That doesn't even make sense.
As a soul that is not supposed to be seen and moreover, the word Manna is one of the words that had come to my mind when the fragmented memories came.
"What does that mean?"
"Hey, you ask a lot of questions, well, leaving that aside, I didn't expect a successor to actually come. Looks like that annoying woman was right..."
Successor.
This reminds me of being the successor to the previous Monarch of the organisation.
"What do you mean successor?"
I didn't let my guard down from the beginning, instead, asking questions was the best thing I could do to understand my situation.
"You are my successor, you inherited the mana of darkness."
"Mana of darkness... What is that or what do you mean?"
I didn't understand a single word, the words that came out of this person's mouth were unknown to me, I had never heard them before.
But it seems it was something normal or so I thought when the voice spoke.
"Well, I guess no one knows about this mana, forget what I said before, my name is Encrid and I am a wizard of the tenth circle from 10,000 years ago in the past of the Dark Age"
"I will explain to you what is going on so you will understand me and why you are my successor? Oh, right, I told you my name, tell me yours now, successor."
Still, I didn't understand his words, but since we were in a strange situation and although I am cautious, this voice didn't seem like it could hurt me, plus it said that I am his successor, if he kills me it means losing because of what I was waiting for.
I had more or less an idea, I could tell if someone was really hostile towards me or if he was trying to kill me, but this voice had none of that and instead I felt it wanted to help me.
Formulating the words I responded to his words.
"My name is Park Chan-woo"
"Your name is strange, but that doesn't matter, now I'll tell you why you're my successor.... Hmm... P-park... Park Chan-woo... It's hard to say your name, you know"
"....."