*Crash*
Trees crumble and the earth trembles as thunderstorms unleash their fury upon the mountain.
Rain drop down like there was no tomorrow, saturating the soil with its relentless sadness.
On the outskirts of the city stands an old orphanage, its flickering lights cutting through the darkness.
*Boom*
With a thunderous roar, the children inside the orphanage rush toward the adult figure, seeking comfort amid their racing hearts.
"Settle down, everyone. There's no need to be afraid, we'll get through this. Come here, all of you. " a girl in her mid-twenties assures them, wrapping her arms around the frightened children.
"Sister, is it true that the thunder will kidnap us if we don't behave?" one boy asks, his voice shaky.
"Who told you that?" she replies with a chuckle, her tone gentle yet firm.
"Grid said that kids like us will be eaten by the thunder beast if we don't behave and quiet down," another child chimes in, eyes wide with fear.
"Come on, that was just a joke, right, Grid?"
In a shadowy corner of the dilapidated house, a boy with striking brown eyes and black hair is deeply engrossed in a book.
"No, it's true. It hunted me and some other boys. " Grid responds in a calm, stoic manner, unfazed by the fearful expressions of the kids.
"Now, now, don't scare them Grid. Be kind to them, their like you brothers and sisters to you," the girl urges.
Grid acknowledges her with a nod before diving back into his reading.
He flips a page every few seconds, a look of intense fascination in his eyes.
While the girl and other children assume he's merely admiring the pictures, they have no idea that this boy is absorbing every ounce of knowledge embedded within the text.
The scent and sound of flipping pages enchant the kids, creating a soothing atmosphere.
After an hour, he finishes the book, while the five children, who had been restless, have drifted off to sleep beside the girl on the couch.
Grid closes his eyes, contemplating how advantageous it would have been to have access to such knowledge in his past life.
The book he read, titled "Chemistry I," detailed the intricate mixtures and applications of various substances and chemicals.
In his previous life, Grid was an Archmage, devoted to the craft of golems and puppetry.
His golem and puppets were a terrifying force on the battlefield. Like a marionette unleashed, the corpses moved with the relentless determination like a zombies. As the battle raged on, his army would decisively overwhelm the enemy, leaving nothing behind but his golems and puppets.
The harsh realities of the magical world transformed his perspective on the living, driving him deeper into his studies with an unwavering focus to erase the feeling of loneliness.
He commanded legions of golems, wreaking havoc upon his enemies, and brought entire landscapes to ruin. Now, he finds himself in a different realm, ready to start anew.
After dying from a lightning strike that abruptly ended his quest for knowledge, regret washed over him.
However, that regret morphed into astonishing clarity when he discovered he had been reincarnated in a world known as Blue Earth.
In this modern age of relentless scientific breakthroughs, information streams into a black box they call a computer, unveiling boundless opportunities.
Now, four months have elapsed since reclaiming his memories. His soul traversed the void of death.
In a twist of fate, it was a second lightning strike that finally unlocked the door to his buried memories. Though life has played its tricks on him, he emerges from the storm with a profound gratitude. After all, who wouldn't cherish the gift of a second chance?
Living as Grid Alcov, an 18-year-old engineering college student at De La Salle University, he surveys his surroundings with newfound confidence.
The city he inhabits may not be large, still evolving like many others globally, but it provides the perfect backdrop for Grid to initiate his grand plans.
Equipped with the knowledge from the university's book, he diligently fills his mind with essential information needed to complete his previous work.
After finishing his last book, he decides to drop out of college, deeming it an inefficient use of his time. With his extensive experience as an Archmage, graduating doesn't hold value for him in pursuing success.
First on his plan is building his mana core. In this land brimming with mana, Grid feels an exhilarating sense of purpose.
As technology advances, the ambient mana is strikingly overlooked.
Even the house he resides in nearly overwhelmed him after unlocking his mana heart, coming dangerously close to a heart attack.
He experienced a near-mana overdose, feeling as if he would burst from indulgence. To regain control, he locked his mana heart, preventing further overconsumption of the surrounding energy.
With his body now fully adapted to the ambient mana, he plans to gradually unleash his potential again until he can harness it safely and efficiently.
Grid closes his eyes, focusing intently on this planet, which once seemed inferior to his former world. To his astonishment, it feels like a treasure trove, just waiting to be unlocked.
Concepts and information flow at an unparalleled pace here, unlike in his previous world, where even the smallest piece of knowledge could spark an all-out war.
*Zap*
He opens his eyes, and his once brown irises now radiate with a brilliant blue light. His surroundings begin to shimmer with energy.
Mana particles in the area dance in recognition as if welcoming their master back, they congregates forming a vortex in the atmosphere.
This mana vortex starts to influence the real world. Although it seems unreal for this to happen, the density of mana surrounding him begins to spiral forming massive torrent of mana particle.
Mana is an ethereal concept, a form of imaginary energy that exists only when the human brain can comprehend it. If one is unfamiliar with it, mana remains merely an imagination, a distant thought visible only in the mind.
*Boom!*
A torrent of mana rushed toward his mana heart, filling almost all the gaps within it. The small vortex expanded like a balloon, drawing in all available mana.
The wind blew the curtains in the room, even though it was enclosed. To everyone else present, the curtains only fluttered slightly before calming down. However, they were unaware that blue particles filled the space like a thick gel.
As this immense amount of mana formed, Grid began to suffocate; it surged toward his heart, filling every void and overflowing into other parts of his body. But then, a sudden idea struck him, a concept that seemed feasible given the density of mana around him. Instead of focusing on creating a mana heart, he would attempt to forge mana veins and a mana brain.
A mana heart is merely a conceptual organ, it doesn't exist in the physical world but is a real in the spirit realm. It resembles a heart but takes on a different form. If he managed to visualize how his heart and mana could work together, he could create the mana heart.
With the remaining mana available and newfound knowledge of human anatomy that came from this new life, Grid felt this idea was indeed viable.
He closed his eyes once more and slowly guided his mana throughout his entire body. Using his mana heart as the initial point, he connected the veins. Gradually, ethereal veins began to creep into his existing veins until they encroach his whole body.
Finally, the veins reached his neck, intricately climbing upwards to form an organ. The mana brain began to take shape, and suddenly, an unimaginable pain surged through his soul.
To Grid, this pain felt as though it not only tormented his body but also ravaged his very essence, tearing it apart piece by piece. Yet, he endured it, he who had reached the pinnacle in strength and experience all kinds of pain, knowing that it took more than this suffering to become the strongest he remain unwavering.
This level of pain was unfathomable but manageable for him, as he realized no amount of pain could compare to what he experienced in his past life.
Minutes later, Grid let out a sigh of relief as the torment subsides, he had managed to suppress any cries of agony and avoid disturbing the kids in the room. The thick, gel-like mana that once filled the room vanished, replaced by open empty space.
In this enclosed environment, it resembled a jar from which water had been sucked by a sponge, leaving behind the boy's body, now his skin covered with high concentrations of mana that surrounded him like flexible act like a durable armor.
It took Grid five hours to combine all his knowledge to achieve this strength. If showed this to his previous self, he might have thrown a tantrum, but no use of crying over a spilled milk. He moved on.
In just four months, he managed to regain his original strength, as if it were no big deal.
Although his greed nearly led to his demise due to a mana overdose, it also opened up new opportunities to kick-start his grand plan.
With this newfound strength, he was back at his peak, ready to continue his lifelong research and create his masterpiece.
The golem scarab, a sophisticated, tiny golem that would streamline and expedite his work.
This groundbreaking concept will emerged after 400 years of dedicated research, weaving together centuries of expertise in golemancy and the art of puppetry.