Chapter 2: Impact

Chapter 2: Impact

A figure of a handsome man with ebony hair, fair complexion, and unique silver eyes with drenched clothes could be seen levitating in the atmosphere over the southern sea, observing the devastation unfolding on the land below. The scene in front of him was nothing but the destruction that could be seen for thousands of miles.

"**Ayam zuta osmi?** (where am i)" The person's voice was composed yet confused. He looked around to figure out where he was., but all he could see was black smoke and water vapors coming up from the land under him.

(The words in ** are foreign, but for the sake of reading, I will be writing in English. I just did this so you guys know he is not speaking in any of Earth's languages.)

The energy released upon the impact of the asteroid was immense, causing widespread fires, tsunamis, and earthquakes. The impact site was completely obliterated, and the surrounding areas were severely affected by the shockwave and fallout.

The size of the continent was millions of miles, but all that could be seen for countless miles was complete and utter destruction.

As the person surveyed the desolate landscape below, his attention was drawn to a specific area in the southern ocean, He directed his gaze towards the location where the asteroid had impacted the sea.

"Mana?" He flew towards the place, but he couldn't maintain his flight well; it was as if he was losing power gradually. All the heat and turbulence of the ocean also made it difficult. As he was trying to get to the position of impact, he saw his hand and could see his skin melting because of the scorching heat emitting from the asteroid.

"That's unusual." He focused on his hand, and all of a sudden, the skin started to get repaired at a visible rate…

He started flying towards the area of impact with slow but steady movements, enduring all the heat emitting from the asteroid.

But as he kept getting closer, the scorching heat was fading away, replaced by a comforting feeling. When he stepped on the land which was a part of the ocean before all the water vaporized due to the impact, he saw that there was no sign of the chaos he faced on his way here. All he could see was a giant rock and a tremendous energy was emanating from a seemingly bottomless hole beneath the land's surface.

"Unrefined Mana coming out of the ground. Am I not on Norva?" He closed his eyes and started feeling the familiar yet alien energy around him.

"It feels different. It's akin to that of a newly born baby when compared to the mana I know."

The man pondered for a while before dashing towards the clouds. Upon reaching a certain altitude, he abruptly came to a stop and started to fall toward the ground like a crashing airplane.

"Swiiiish… swoosh…swoooooshh"

After falling for a few seconds, he regained control and levitated himself back into the air.

"It appears that the mana in this area is not distributed evenly,I could not sense or channel any in the upper regions of the sky. However, as I neared the surface, I was once again able to maintain my flight it was hard but still, I could maintain it…. Interesting."

With this realization, the man turned his attention to the colossal rock situated at the center of the crater and began to make his way toward it.

As he approached the massive rock, he could see millions of small rocks of various colors, each the size of a human eye, embedded on the surface of the asteroid.

*"Arsetu,"* the man said, his eyes wide open in disbelief.

"Why are there dormant mana crystals on this rock? From what I comprehend, I'm not on Norva, and this world's mana is prematurely releasing from inside the surface. It's not fully ready to be released into the atmosphere yet."

As he gazed once more at the crater and the devastation surrounding it, a look of recognition spread across his face. He nodded slowly as if a realization had dawned on him.

"I think this rock when it hit this place somehow disturbed the cycle of the mana, resulting in the premature release of the energy from within the surface."

The man kept staring at the stones on the rocky surface for quite some time, then looked at his hand and his body.

"I felt it before when I healed my hand, but this is really not my hand or my body. I am in someone else's body."

After pondering for a while the man lifted his clothes and look at his abdomen and chest

"Not even a scar on the body; this really is not my body…. Then, whose body is it?... I do remember I was fighting with the Lost King, and someone calling my name 'Goodbye Raven Whitelock'..after that, I can't remember anything...Did I die on Norva?

Raven walked away from the giant asteroid while thinking about the reason for his potential death…

After pondering for a while, Raven thought it would be better to leave the useless thinking for later and just try to completely grasp the situation he was in.

"Sigh, the second question is how big is this world? What is this world like, Are there still people left after this destruction?."

"If yes, I have to find a place where I can find other people to get more information about this world and how it functions or, well, used to function. Even if there are people left, there will be lots of changes in the power structure of this world due to the introduction of mana to this novice world."

"And the most important thing, can I leave this world or not?"

As Raven was immersed in these thoughts, the asteroid was going through some changes because of the constant supply of mana coming out from the earth. The dormant, shineless stones started glowing subtly, and suddenly the whole asteroid started shaking heavily and emitting a large amount of radiance in the surroundings, startling Raven.

"What the hell, now what's going on with this rock?" Raven said while observing the giant rock shaking madly. Then suddenly, pure white energy shot out of the asteroid in all directions. Raven tried to evade the sudden burst of energy by flying out of the crater, but surprisingly to him, the white energy just passed through him and formed a solid but transparent glass-like dome around the asteroid and the nearby area.

"What just happened? I thought I was going to die again, this body couldn't react in time. Fucking weak," Raven complained to himself.

After coming out of the stupor, Raven noticed the glass-like hemispherical dome he was now trapped in.

"It feels pretty solid," Raven touched the energy wall cautiously, but nothing happened. "It feels like a heavy steel wall."

Thump.....Thump...….Thump…

He tried to punch the transparent wall by circulating the mana inside the dome, but to his disappointment, nothing happened.

"The mana in this area is quite a lot, but unfortunately, it's not mature, so I can't get anything out of it. And also, this body is pretty weak. If the mana is really getting released for the first time in this world, the chances for me surviving the changes brought by the mana with this fragile body are close to zero. So first, I have to deal with this problem."

"It will be harder than I expected," Raven said, looking at his bleeding hand.

"Now that I think about it, my first memory of this world was that of drowning in the water. At that time, I didn't face any difficulty channeling mana in my body for flying, while it became a little harder when I healed my hand on my way here. And now it is much more difficult than before," Raven thought.

"Was it because of my survival instinct kicking in? Mana is like a natural energy and element of the world, just like air and all other nature present in the world, but the key difference is we can command mana according to our will. So, there is a high possibility that when I somehow got into this body in the middle of the sea, my survival instinct kicked in and the abundant amount of mana present in the sea somehow strongly reacted to my instincts but as the danger started to subside, and I calmed myself down, the mana stopped reacting to me the way it did in the beginning."

"It's best if I don't use mana until this body gets through its changes, my body is aching from the previous use of the mana" Raven looked at his hands noticing several contusions forming on his flesh

Coming to this conclusion and seeing that he didn't have any chance of breaking through the wall, Raven went back into the meditative position.

"I don't have much time I can just prepare my mind and hope that this body adapts to the changes that the mana will bring to this world"

While Raven was stuck inside the dome, the outside world was facing a lot of difficulties because of the aftereffects of the asteroid strike and the constant release of mana into the atmosphere.