Prologue: System awakens

The sound of flesh being pierced reached Alex's ears as he coughed out another mouthful of blood.

His handsome face was already covered in cuts and two swords were piercing his chest.

"Louis, do you think that father will overlook what you are do....ing. You won't be able to hide my death from him, and when he comes to know about this incident, you will be following me to hel.....

"Cough, cough..." Alex coughed out blood that was struck in his throat

"You think that this is something I did in the spur of the moment? How very unlike you! Little brother. " Louis laughed with a vicious grin on his face.

"Do you have any idea how long I have been planning for this day? Do you?"

"I have waited for this perfect opportunity for seven whole years. Do you believe that I haven't thought of the consequences of my actions?" Louis continued as he channeled his mana into Alex's body through his magic sword.

'Dammit! What kind of curse is this! Even after transmigrating in the world of magic, I still have to die on my nineteenth birthday. What's the use of having a second life if I have to die just six years after I transmigrate.' Alex thought to himself as he knelt on the ground with difficulty trying his best not to fall flat on the ground.

"Hey! Why won't you just die even after absorbing so much of my mana! Shouldn't your body have zero tolerance to mana?Just die already!" Louis screamed frantically as he repeatedly stabbed his swords in Alex's body.

The world in Alex's eyes began reddening as blood covered his pupils, and his eyes began to lose all signs of life.

Just before he lost consciousness, a screen appeared in front of his eyes. Alex could barely see the words.

[World energy absorption complete.]

[Symbiosis level 100 percent.]

[Mana synthesis complete.]

[Warning! Host's lifeforce has fallen to the certain death levels. Highest level emergency measures initiated. Preparing to enter emergency nervous lockdown. All body functions will be stopped to focus on healing the vitals....]

Before his brain could process what happened, the world suddenly became dark and silent in Alex's senses and he collapsed on the ground.

  "Dead already! Hahaha.... little weakling. How dare a powerless insect like you dream of ascending the throne that belongs to me? How can father announce you as his heir despite being the most useless one among all his children? You deserve death." Louis laughed viciously as he flipped the dead Alex with his feet to spit on his face.

   "My lord, it's already three in the morning. The patrols will be arriving soon. You must go, I will dispose of the dead body for you." A shadow appeared beside Louis and whispered in his ears. 

  "Alright I will leave it to you." Louis said as he stepped outside the room and vanished in the hallways.

   Early next day, the news of the eight prince's death at the hands of the fourth prince who had fled from the palace after the murder spread throughout the entire kingdom under the influence of some unknown force.

 "How useless are you people? Even the commoners outside the capital knew about this incident before you all." King Edward roared in the court.

"Your majesty, please pardon this subordinate for being inefficient, but our investigation signals the involvement of some unknown  organisation in spreading the news of this incident in the capital. Their goal is to spread chaos for personal benefits, but this news has already been spreading from three days ago which is very suspicious. "

  "What about the investigations on this incident?" Edward asked, trying to calm himself down.

  "Though this appears to be a setup, all the investigators have reached the same conclusion that the fourth prince murdered the eighth prince for some unknown reason and fled after killing 

him." The minister incharge of the investigation replied.

"Why would Alex kill his younger brother? He has no reason for doing this. He was going to be announced the crown prince today, so why would he do this at such a crucial time. Moreover, everyone here is aware of how perfectly he plans his every move. I don't believe that he would be this careless." The second prince Louis said, trying to act concerned. 

  "Your highness is right. There was no motive for this murder, but all investigations show that this is indeed what happened. Even the time spells used for viewing the past depict prince Alex killing the eighth prince. " The minister replied while lowering his head.

  While this heated debate was taking place, a shadow was seen throwing a sealed coffin in a far-away river. Inside this coffin was a dead body with cuts all over the body.

 'You should be happy that I can't destroy your body without being discovered by that old man's spirit, otherwise you wouldn't have died with a complete body.' The shadow patted the coffin and threw it in the river.

All the preparations from his side were complete. Even if the dead prince returned back to life by some miracle,  he would never be able to break free from the sealed coffin and return back to eternal slumber. After this was done, the shadow abruptly disappeared from the spot. 

  The coffin was pulled in the water currents and began to move downstream while a large portion of it was submerged under the water.

    After an unknown time, Alex's consciousness which was in deep slumber started to slowly return back to his body. He suddenly woke up and tried to get up, only to bang his head to the lid of the coffin. Slowly, the memories of what had happened on his birthday began coming back to him and he became clear about his situation. 

    'So, my guess is that right now I am in some sort of sealed coffin and may be buried deep underground. No matter how I think, chances of survival are very low, may even be zero. 

  But the thing I am most unsure about is how I managed to survive until now and how did all my wounds heal.'

Just as he thought about it, a screen popped out in his field of vision.

  'A system interface.' Alex was so excited that he nearly jumped in excitement. 

After a moment of excitement he finally noticed that what appeared in front of him was an alarm rather than a welcome notice. 

   [System notification: a formation creating corrosive aura is detected in the environment around the host. Body corrosion level is 49 percent.]

  [All bodily functions will stop at a corrosion level of 52 percent. May lead to the host being permanently crippled.]

  [Do you want to activate the one time use special artifact Divine heart?]

[Yes/No]

Alex was taken aback. "Yes, yes, yes!" He shouted. 

 [System notification: Special artifact Divine heart activated.]

  [Artifact expires in 30 minutes.]

 With the sound of explosion, a bright multicolored light came out of Alex's chest and engulfed his entire body.

Bang!

The coffin was blasted into pieces and suddenly, water gushed in from all sides. The pressure of incoming water was enough to kill Alex, had it not been for the light protecting him.

  Just as Alex thought that everything was over, another system notification arrived. 

 [Detected corrosive mana in the water.]

[Initiating mana analysis.]

[Analysis 1% complete]

[Analysis 5% complete]

[Analysis 8% complete]

.

.

.

.

[Analysis 99% complete]

[Analysis 100% complete.]

Several pop-ups covered the entirety of Alex's vision followed by the final notification containing the analyzed data.

[Confirmed the presence of water element.]

[Mana nature analysis results: ]

[Corrosive mana 36%]

[Undead mana 30%]

[Piercing mana 18%]

[Miscellaneous demonic elements 16%]

[For details, select expand report.]

[Expand report?]

[Yes/No]

Alex pressed no without any thoughts. He was still trying to survive this new predicament. 

Who had the time to read the composition of the water while drowning?

He quickly swam upwards towards the surface.

Upon reaching the surface,his heart shook.

He was surrounded by bluish black water as far as he could see, and he was sure that there was no way he could reach any shore swimming at his highest speed before the protection of the Divine heart ended.

And that was the case assuming that he chose the right direction for the nearest shore.

[ Signs of terrestrial lifeforms detected at an angle of 108 degrees from the current direction.]

Another system notification appeared and Alex immediately started swimming towards that direction. 

[System notification: searching skills for survival....]

  After thirty minutes, Alex was still struck in his way when the lights covering his body began to fade away. At this instant, another system notification appeared before him.

[A suitable skill has been created to prevent corrosive mana from harming the host.]

[Skill name: Aronith's constitution.] 

[Skill type: passive (body alteration)]

[Do you want to learn the skill Aronith's constitution]

[Yes/No]

[Cost: 3 skill points]

[Available: 10 attribute points, 5 skill points, 5 fusion points.]

 Well atleast my system is reliable. Alex thought and pressed yes.

Immediately a nerve wracking pain invaded his body as he felt like someone skinned him alive and forcefully cut off all his nerves.

 Alex could feel every bit of his skin burning for some time until the pain finally subsided.

[Environment analysis complete.]

[Do you want to learn the skill: water movement (basic, level 1)]

[Skill type : element manipulation (active skill)]

[Yes/No]

Cost: 1 skill point

[Remaining: 2 skill points.]

Alex pressed Yes because he was unsure of how long he had to remain in the water. That being the case, he decided to get a skill which may be helpful in transversing without much exhaustion. 

 His swimming speed drastically increased and he could move in the water without spending much energy.

Finally, after three hours of continuous swimming, Alex reached the shore of the river.