Chapter 2

The sunlight poured into the room, rousing the boy currently in his slumber to wake up and greet the morning air. The boy slowly opened his eyes, a look of confusion was on his face while his eyes glanced down at his own body with disbelief.

“Where is this place, and why did my body become like this? No…this is not my body. But how did I end up in someone else’s body? Did that bastard Rendell use some weird spell on me?”

Tanos tried to move his body and realized that this was not the body he was accustomed to at all. The body that was once elegant and fit now turned to be a skinny one. His skin now clearly looked more youthful than it should, so he knew this was not his body. Suddenly, countless events started to flood into his mind and caused him to feel as if his head was about to explode.

“ARGHHH! My head!”

The pain quickly became too unbearable, and it made him scream out loud, his voice filling the whole room. Despite how great a mage he was, the pain he was experiencing was too much to endure and this body was too weak and vulnerable. To remain conscious alone was already a difficult task.

At last, the pain subsided before it vanished altogether. However, he was now full of confusion. New memories were embedded into his mind, integrating with the old ones. It left him confused, uncertain of who he really was. However, with the strong spirit of the one who was once a grandmaster mage, he finally managed to regain his composure.

The owner of this body was named Arias. He was the grandson of Farhan, the leader of the Scarcia Clan. Arias’ father, Albert, was Farhan’s eldest son. His mother was named Maria. She was the daughter of Colrien, the leader of the Richart Clan. Both Albert and Maria were very gifted mages as well as heirs to two great clans. The two were a match made in heaven.

Everyone had expected that the couple’s child would inherit their talents. Unfortunately, they gave birth to a powerless son. Even at the age of sixteen, Arias was still unable to use any kind of magic. Even a test with the Testing Stone yielded no result. Their son did not even become a first-level neophyte mage. Although he could sense a magical aura like others, he was unable to use any kind of magic. So, in the end, they had to accept that he was powerless. This was an unfortunate fate that only occurred to one in thousands of people. Normally, all human beings were born with one type of element they could use. The chance of being born without an elemental power and magical force was very low. Thus, Arias was like an outcast of the clan. Despite how much his parents had tried to help and comfort him, it did not help much with his situation.

“Hah! A powerless child? When had the knowledge in the world of magic regressed this much? Even all magical beasts have magical power within their bodies. Then, how could a human be without power? How foolish.”

Upon learning from the memory that the boy was powerless, Tanos did not fall into despair. In the era where he came from, being powerless was unheard of as all humans were born with magical power. However, the ways to coerce such power might be different. He pondered the possibility of this boy’s elemental power with a cunning smile on his face and excitement in his eyes.

After dealing with the boy’s memories in his head, Tanos finally realized that this was the same magical world that he had once lived in, except that two thousand years had passed. In this world, a lot of things were different. While some things had progressed, some had also regressed. Mages of the emperor and grandmaster level now only existed in legends. Even the mages of the king level were so scarce in number they could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Truly, it was an era of decadence for magic. He did not know if Rendell was still alive but if he was, Tanos would make sure to seek vengeance.

As for this unfortunate boy, he fell into the furious river. Although he was found and rescued before the current took him away, he remained unconscious for three days and three nights and showed no sign of recovering. In fact, it should be said that he was already dead. If it was not for the boy’s parents who had used a certain relic to sustain Arias’ body, then it would have already rotted away. Moreover, if Tanos’ soul had not come to possess the body, there was no way it would have breathed life ever again.

“The boy did not fall into the river by himself. He was pushed! Since I am in this body, I shall repay you for once. I swear to make the culprit pay for what he did. From now on, my name will be Arias Scarcia!”

Arias’ eyes were filled with the flame of vengeance, his teeth gritted with anger. This was an oath he gave to himself in this life. While he did not remember who saved him, he did recall the face of the one who tried to kill him. He would remember it until the day he died, that face and the evil smile of the person who looked at him cold-bloodedly when he was struggling in that raging water. One day, he would avenge this boy who had departed the world. This debt could only be paid by blood.

Still, the reason that he who should have been dead was now reborn in this body was still a mystery. This was not the kind of rebirth as it should be according to Samsara. Rather, it was an unprecedented break of the cycle. Despite not understanding much of anything, he did not panic. As the one who was once a grandmaster mage, he was able to maintain his composure. For the several hundred years of living in his past life, he had encountered enough unimaginable events, thus making his mind far stronger than that of a normal person.

“First of all, I should inspect inside this body.”

Arias propped himself up to a sitting position before trying to concentrate. He used his mind to explore his own body, searching for elemental power and trying to awaken its force. To be able to use magic, humans needed to awaken the magical power inside their bodies first. In every human being’s body, there was a center of magical power called the core of magic. This core acted as a central point that accumulated and propelled all magical forces inside the body. The stronger the core was, the stronger the mage could be.

Inside the spiritual world within the core, Arias’ core of magic seemed very dim and powerless. The inside was full of thin white mist that seemed like it could dissolve at any moment. Actually, the mist was the magic power residing inside the core. Inside this mist, barely any power could be sensed. This was the reason he was deemed powerless.

Normally, being able to connect one’s mind with the core would mean taking the first step as a mage. When connected with the core, mages would be able to sense the element they were born with, which would then enable them to harness and utilize magical power. In Arias' case, even though he was able to connect with the core, no elemental power could be sensed which was why people thought him to be powerless.

However, Arias was not disappointed by this discovery in the least bit. Everything was just as he had expected. He concentrated his mind to the center of the mist. At the heart of it, there turned out to be a mysterious magic circle. It was a magic circle that people with irregular elemental powers were born with. This circle inhibited their power, preventing it from shattering until the wielders of irregular elements became capable of controlling the power themselves. The irregular elements were elements that had their foundations from the merge of two or more elements. In order to prevent the elements from conflicting with one another, the circles were needed for inhibition. Inside the circle was an ancient alphabet which even Arias was unable to interpret. The glowing alphabet was emitting pale blue light like a dim star that appeared during daytime. Without concentrating your gaze on the location, there was no way it could have been seen. Upon finding this magic circle, Arias’ mind was suddenly filled with excitement and joy. He carefully used his mind to connect with it. Then, as if responding to his action, the faded circle began to glow brightly like the Sun. When the magic circle was completely activated, the colorless mist began to change abruptly. The mist was radiating a pale blue light and there was an aura of thunder scattering all over it. Slowly, the magic circle disappeared, leaving only the mist that had transformed its property into the thunder element.

Arias opened his eyes, his entire body covered in sweat. While his face looked weary, it was adorned with a pleased smile. What he did might seem as easy as cutting firewood, but it was much easier said than done and the execution was in fact very difficult. If it was not for his experience and strong concentration, he would not have been able to awaken his elemental power.

“As expected, this body possesses an irregular elemental power. Still, I didn’t expect it to be thunder. But unfortunately, someone who possesses the power of thunder had become just a worthless existence to his clan.”

Despite feeling content, he could not help pitying the miserable faith of this body’s previous owner. The wielder of a rare thunder element turned out to be a mere worthless existence, just because he did not know how to use it.

“Perhaps I was fated to be reborn in the body of the thunder mage who had been abandoned by heaven. If it was not for my knowledge of the power awakening method, this body would have remained as worthless as it had been.”

Thunder was one of the irregular elements apart from the basic elements which were Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. It arose from the merge of two elements; Air and Fire. In other words, he was the wielder of two elements which were Air and Fire. But when the two were combined perfectly, they became the element of thunder.

Possessing the irregular elements was something powerful. However, without the knowledge to wield the power, one could say it was useless. The awakening of power required a special method. Without this know-how, he would have remained the same worthless person as he was in the past. In ancient times, this kind of method was no secret. But as time passed by, the wielders of irregular elements slowly disappeared. Eventually, people only knew about mages with the power of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. As for Thunder, Wood, Metal, Ice, and other elements, they became just a tale from legends.

“I’m not even a first-level neophyte yet.”

Arias forced a bitter smile. He slowly concentrated once again before beginning to draw the magic forces from the surroundings into his body. Suddenly, he heard someone’s footsteps walking toward his room. Even though his power was gone, his instinct was still as sharp as it was in his previous life. He immediately ceased all actions.

“Arias, you have finally come to! Dear, do you see? Our boy has regained consciousness.”

The door opened with a middle-aged woman who rushed in and pulled Arias into a loving and caring embrace. Her voice was filled with happiness as drops of tears shed from her beautiful eyes. There was also a middle-aged man who followed and stood by the side, watching him with the same kind of care in his eyes.

“Father, Mother...I am alright now.”

Arias slowly spoke with slight difficulty. It was the first time he ever referred to someone as father and mother and the first time he ever felt this kind of warmth. Up until this point in his life, the only things he ever knew of were struggling to survive and killing. Although he was still confused, right now he felt as though the missing parts had been filled up with the love expressed by these two people. The memories from the previous owner of this body made him think that they were his real parents. It was a pure love that he had received for the first time.