Theretha kingdom, outskirt of the Maple village.
Adyah gazed at the bluey sky laying down on the grass field, his expression calms yet profound his childish eyes were as deep as the horizon itself, mesmerizing. His tattered clothes sways with blowing wind. It was past noon; the sun was blazing furiously but nothing seems to faze the young child in the slightest.
"How could this happen?"
"Is this even real or just another illusion that I have momentarily thrown myself into. But it way too practical to be an illusion everything about this is the same and yet nothing make sense at all." he was conflicted by the present. To think he wasn't going crazy already in itself was commending.
The last thing he could remember was being in a fearsome battle with a formidable foe. " It was a gruesome sight. Not only that Mage outwitted me in incantations, even his mana seems to be everlasting." he was nearly destroyed and was only able to escape in near death state due to his preplanning.
A safe escape has always been a top priority of Adyah's Adventures. He firmly believed that a day alive on the land was more worth than being praised as a Sacrificial hero for years buried within. But in all his journey as a mage he never once encountered death as closely as he did in his last battle.
He was still confused if he really did escaped death or was already dead.
"But why my hometown of all places, did I really miss this place as much that even after death I was still brought here of all the places." the past two days has been the most baffling days of his lifetime.
On the very first day he encountered a foe of such prowess that not only thrashed his body but even left him questioning his foundation as a mage. The day following that where he should be recuperating in one of his secret locations he surprisingly seems to have regressed to present. A time when he was still nothing but a young thirteen-year-old boy.
"If this is a joke, I hope you are having a heartly laugh out of it." He was at his wits end. No matter what he did nothing seems to be wrong with him and yet he was having a hard time to accept the reality.
It was certainly nice to came across some familiar faces again but as a powerful mage he has long forsaken morality and familial bonds. As such even though he was happy about his return it only lasted a few hours. Plus, it seems stupid to act like a young child after living for hundreds of years, annoyed he could only distance himself from the people.
"Have I really returned to past but why?"
"Does I have to restart all over again. Certainly, given my knowledge and experience it would be a breeze to reach my past self not only that but some mistakes that once costed me a weak foundation could also be ruled out. But would it all be worth losing my status as an Archmage?" he only gave it a slight thought before disagreeing.
It was true that things like regression were something only those novel Mc's could hopefully go through, but they did so happily with a motive behind it. But in his case, it was a total accident.
Though even if someone were to offer him the said opportunity, he would have most probably declined it. As a second chance at life might sound tempting at first but that aftermath of this only provides you with evident possible future and knowledge regarding it and yet your chances of dying would still remain the same or may even go up a notch.
A high risk that he was totally not in favor of. Most importantly he wasn't faced with such conditions where he was left with no choice but to go through all this. Given time he could have recovered and even benefitted from the spar.
Personally, Adyah was more confident of surviving a world ending calamity as a Archmage rather than being a young Wana-be Archmage. but sadly, such was his life now.
Conflicted between the reality and past he gazed at the sky unhindered until a soft and tender voice called him from behind.
"Is today a no show? Or you just Gona lay down while taking the beating." Though the voice sounded familiar Adyah couldn't recall a single incident regarding it. Curious he stood his ground and turned to the source.
A girl was standing a meter distance from him. She was probably of his age and appeared to have quite a good relationship with him from the way she talked earlier and yet he was totally clueless to who she even was.
'She doesn't seem to be from the maple village and couldn't possibly be a native of any other village. Her attire is nice and even her body is well toned as well. Her attires aren't fancy but not something a commoner could afford as well. Wait a min. 'his gaze become heated suddenly as he notices some peculiarity about the girl. But the thing he discovered next left him shell shocked.
'Holy shit!! she is already a ninth rank mage apprentice at this age. She must be one of lord's daughter or a student as only that guy can possibly nature such a genius.' A level ninth mage apprentice that young wasn't really a big thing for him. As in the past he had seen numerous individuals who even become a mage as early as only ten years of age.
But that was due to their fathom backing as well as unlimited resource they were provided with since their birth. But now he was face to face with such a genius just after his regression his shock was evident.
'Has the world been turned upside down. How come a genius of such caliber just pop up in this forsaken place.' Heck! Even being six or seven rank apprentices was considered a feat and a talent that only can only look up to. And yet someone that have suppressed all these norms was now before him.
"What! Stop acting like you do not know me already. Your fake expression is already pissing me off as it is." The young girl voice resounded once again but this time it was filled with visible annoyance.
'What do you mean fake?!! I was already restless these past days and then you just have to popup acting all friendly. To make matter worse I can't even recall anything related to you. F**k if not for me being considerably weak, do you really think I would have waited this long instead of forcing you to a total submission.' He was frustrated by her nonchalant behavior. But more so at his shattered memories.
'Well, whatever I can only wait now. Once I become a mage it wouldn't be hard to recover my lost memories.' Things were already messed up as they were. Hence, he figured it would be much wiser to not create confusion and just act with the flow.
Although he didn't want to arouse suspicion, he still hasn't figured out the basis of the relationship between him and the girl. Thus, he could only act as ordinarily as possible not too friendly but also not as a total stranger.
"What do you want." Adyah questioned nonchalantly.
"Oh pls! what do I want. I came here as our prior arrangement a month ago." The girl answered from her voice she seems to be getting impatient with all these questions thrown at her. Clearly, she wasn't one of chatty one's.
'I invited her. But why?' "Oh!" he nodded his head blankly. What could he have done otherwise. He could only act until she provided him with enough information to figure what was even this all about.
"Just Oh! You seem confident about the spar." The girl chuckled at Adyah answer. "As it should be but then I was already getting tired of your questions. I just hope you can still be this nonchalant after your through beating." Finished with her words she started cackling her joints as a sort of warmup.
Adyah on the other was still playing the friendly Character until the realization hit him.
'A spar, huh' 'Fk a spar!!' his eyes went wide with horror.
"Wait wait wait." He hurriedly acted to stop the ongoing event. "Are you saying I invited you here to spar with me?" He asked in confirmation his face totally betraying his nonchalant persona.
Seeing Adyah stupefied expression, the girl become eyes were filled with pleasure "stop acting I already grew tired of your question a while ago." Saying that she pounced at her prey like a hungry lioness.
Wtf!!
Adyah otherwise was totally caught off-guard with the sudden change of things and yet it only took him moment before regaining his composure.
Just a moment ago there were chatting merrily like two young children's and a second after he was forced into a fight against an opponent who was four level above him.
The funny thing about all this. Despite being in a highly disadvantageous battle. He still couldn't figure out the reason of the spar.
"Was the young me a total idiot or was it even worse than this?"
He became horrified at a sudden possibility that brought him more dread than facing the death itself.
"Was I in love with this tigress?!"
Though nothing mattered as not soon after a flying punch blasted him into distance.