I sat in the magical workshop inside my estate completely at my wits end.
I was born in Japan on the first year of the Taisho Era (1912). 60 years.now on the verge of death I realize that life is too short.
A single lifetime is much too short to unveil the secrets of sorcery.
I had completely immersed myself in the magical arts, but even now I had only just gotten my foot through the door. There was much I still wanted to do.
With the techniques I had available to me now I could probably extend my life by a decademaybe two decades.
But whats the point of that?
To meagerly swindle death for a few more paltry yearsit wasnt enough.
At the very least I want ten times more.
However, I dont have that kind of power. This old decaying body. My mind which grows ever slower. I hate this body that ties me down and slowly sends me to my doom.
Thengive up?
Impossible! Absolutely not! My inquisitive and adventurous spirit screamed those words.
Just a little more and Id be able to open a new path. I was confident of that.
Thats rightsince this body can no longer suffice, then I might as well toss it aside.
I would go so far as to say that most magicians would eventually come to the same answer I have.
I could just have my soul move to a new body.
However, no one seems to know the right method.
Taking over another body is prohibitively difficult. Magic is basically a power that depends on your will. A soul and will within the original body has incredible power. Furthermore, its unconscious strength when defending its own body was extraordinary.
Lastly there is the issue of the souls compatibility with the body. A persons body matches with its soul and grows. Even as a baby it is slow. At the very moment the body comes into the world it is a vessel for that particular soul.
If you aim for that instant then things can still work out, but your life-force will be very fragile. If you inhabited a body that died almost instantly you wouldnt even be able to laugh at your bad luck.
Wasnt there a safe and secure way to accomplish this?
Were both geniuses and normal people forced to stop at this roadblock?
Magic was the research of the soul. Therefore, I should be more knowledgeable about it than anyone.
That is how I came to my final answer.
The circle of transmigration. Birth, death, and rebirth.
Thats right. Allowing my soul to return.
The soul departs for heaven and finally returns back to earth. However, this cycle would clear the memories from soul before completing the cycle. That was my conjecture.
However, there were exceptions. Powerful desires may allow the current soul to go on living despite going through such a cycle. There were those who retained memories from a past life due to such reasons.
Then, I would need to do the same.
I would have to intentionally engrave my memories and will so deeply into my soul, that they would not scatter even through the cycle of rebirth.
In doing so, when I finally enter samsara I could be born as myself.
I could probably only accomplish this now. Before age stole my mind and skills.
If I made a mistake my soul could be shattered as I lived the rest of my days as a soulless puppet.
Even if I succeeded I still didnt have complete proof that reincarnation even existed.
It was a bet with low odds.
But
I dont have much choice.
For me I had nothing else.
My desired path was right in front of me if I succeeded. So why should I hesitate?
I was born the fourth son of a knight in service of the royal family. It was a fairly free and easy life.
Here I recalled my previous lives at the age of 14.
It was there that I finally realized.
On Earth there was some unknown restriction on magic.
A spell on Earth would immediately begin to dissipate no matter how much you maintained its form. Whenever a magic spell came to your mind no sound would occur.
This world was great. There was tons of information about magical development here. Whats more, magic was actually useful in combat.
It was in this world that I truly shone. Magic dwells within the soul. After leaving the inferior environment of Earth my true ability was revealed. My position improved, I was taken by the castle, and became the Royal Magician.
In this world there was individual inherent magic and generic magic that anyone could use. Inherent magic was supposedly granted by the Goddess. It seems like anything goes in a fantasy world like this.
Generic magic had a certain reason and logic behind it, but inherent magic did not. I couldnt understand it despite using my own inherent magic. It seems The Goddess gives each person an inherent magical circuit inside their body. Generic magic seems to imitate that circuit to produce an outcome.
The form that my inherent magic took wasthe ability to return my body to its condition at some point in my past. Using this I could fight in my prime even when I got old, plus it appears I could recall my previous existences.
In this world I died on the battlefield.
I used the final breath in my body to record it upon my soul.
************************************************
After that I reincarnated over and over.
From Heisei Japan, to a fantasy world, a steampunk world, and France in 2210 AD. From worlds where only I worked upon magic, to other worlds that seemed straight out of gamesI reincarnated 15 times. Each time I would regain my memories around the age of 13~15.
After approaching the extremes of magic and the limits of self-educationI felt the desire to seek out pleasure outside the research of magic.
A particular enjoyment was in 2210 AD France. A new VRMMO was just coming in to popularity.
Using the VR technology they were able to recreate physical sensations within the game.
Within the VR world 1000 seconds would count as one second in the real world.
It was within this world that I allowed myself to enjoy some retro Japanese anime and games. I had originally been born in Japan and was missing the nostalgia of these old familiar things. In this nearly infinite time I could enjoy myself to the fullest.
In this world I abstained from magic and gave myself over to enjoying myself before finally dying of infirmity.
********************************************
As my reincarnation was about to exceed the twentieth time things had finally gone stale. I had the passion but my zeal was dying down.
It was at this point that I thought it was about time to end. My research was at a dead end and I did not feel that there was anything else that was worth doing.
On the twenty-first life I decided it would be my lastbut that was when I met a girl.
I met her in a world that had been ruined by the Demon King.
That girl was truly beautiful High Elf. Her beautiful golden hair and her black robe fluttered through the air as she faced down the being that had destroyed her world with her World Tree Bow in hand.
No matter how she was hurt or how many times she fell, she stood once more to fight.
Then, the decisive battle. The Demon King was attacking the last bastion of humanity.
She, along with her remaining companions, fought in a desperate battle. She didnt despair, she fought with the conviction that she would emerge victorious. Then one, then twoher companions fell one after another. Finally she was alone. She continued to fight and eventually struck the Demon King a telling blow while he did the same to her.
After the battle she turned to the people who watchedshe smiled as if to say everything was alright now.
She smiled despite having lost her companions. Despite having a wound deep enough that it wouldnt be strange if she simply dropped dead.
Seeing her, my heart beat passionately for the first time in an eternity.
Yes I knew. I knew that over the perpetuity of my life, the shine had worn from my soul. But seeing those people with such light within them could illuminate my own soul.
After that the High Elf girl went on a journey to make sure the Demon King would never revive. I set off on the journey with her and finally died at the end of my lifespan.
This lifetime changed me. Instead of simply seeking out pleasureinstead of simply searching out the ends of magicI would find those people whose souls shone with light. I would accompany them and watch over their stories.
Furthermore, I would do my best not to interfere with the life of my current incarnation.
However, it was on my thirty-first timethat my fated reincarnation began.