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Damon felt as if his soul was in a haze. A void full of indistinct feeling, energies, and emotions. The only things clear were two voices. They were going back and forth in what felt like it was simultaneously an argument and a calm discussion.

"Shame on you . You broke the pact."

This voice was ethereal and reverberated through Damon's soul. The words had a musical quality despite the calmness with which they were spoken. Despite the calm, the mention of then name "" felt like a hammer in his mind, sending him reeling. Once it was spoken his memory of it faded, as if it had never existed.

"And? You have no more power there's nothing you can do about it. What is done is done."

The second voice spoke with the same calmness, and yet it had a heavy, burning quality to it. Simply listening to it made Damon feel suppressed.

"I may be powerless to stop what you have done, but you must still face the consequences of breaking the rule."

"And who will punish me? The will of is faded and no power can match mine. What is done is done. Go on your way and go in peace ."

The first name was like a whisper, it made Damon feel a strong sense of loss, but both the loss and the name were gone before he could even process the feeling.

The mention of the second name, which likely belonged to the ethereal voice, brought with it a surge of energy, clearing Damon's mind, and sharpening his senses. The feeling did not fade, rather his mind was sharpened and cleared to the point of being overwhelmed, once more leaving him reeling. Again, the memory of the name faded as soon as it was spoken.

"Perhaps, , perhaps. But there is something that I could have done."

"You could have and you should have, but you did not. Lamentation is meaningless. I have won. I repeat. What is done is done."

"You broke the pact, and so, I have leeway to do what I should have done. And now, I have done what I should have done."

As the last sentence was uttered, the voices faded out, and so did the feelings that enveloped Damon.

A third voice echoed in his mind. A gentle voice that was neither masculine nor feminine. It spoke to him at length, and yet all he could recall were the words "I will grant you a second chance".

He felt a surge of energy and then his consciousness slipped again.

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Damon felt… lost? As if he were missing something important. Like a dream he couldn't quite grasp. But as time passed, the feeling of importance waned, and the details grew ever foggy. Only a statement was stuck in his mind - "I will grant you a second chance". Did that mean that had been re-incarnated again? Or was he sent back in time?

Out of habit, he activated true sight internally, looking in at himself. He almost rolled his eyes at himself – he couldn't quite tell yet, but he was sure he was a baby and as such, it should be impossible. And yet, a light surge flowed through him, and it activated.

It was a strange feeling, a power that felt like aura but was both gentler and more massive.

Mana?

That was odd, he couldn't control mana. In his previous life, when he had reached the age of ten, he had failed to awaken. It was only upon unlocking aura in his early twenties that he had awakened and discovered that his mana veins were damaged.

According to this world's mythology, individuals were all governed by a system created by the Old One. The Old One was the Great God of creation, the father of the current gods who had fallen into slumber, leaving only his offspring and his system behind. Through this system, beings born into the world could level up and gain strength beyond that of a regular mortal. At the age of ten, most individuals would have naturally built up enough mana to awaken and reach Level 1. From there, they would be able to interact with the system and grow stronger.

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It was in some ways like a video game system. Upon leveling up, the Great god's will would grant an individual five stat points, which they could use to strengthen their various physical aspects. They would also receive class abilities that they could use, and ability points that could be used to increase their proficiency. It was not completely the same as a video game though. There was no concept of "quests" or "experience". To level up, one would have to increase either their aura or mana through training. Upon reaching a certain amount of either, they would naturally go up a level.

In his previous life he had been unable to gather mana due to his damaged mana veins.

Well, his information window should provide him with some answers.

Upon awakening, the system allowed one to look inwardly at themselves in the form of a status window. This would display their basic information, level, stats, and abilities. It was a useful tool in growing stronger, and it was through this window that one would be able to allocate themselves with the stats they gained from the great god upon leveling up.

Generally, one could only see one's own status window, but the ability 'True-Sight' allowed Damon to, among other things, peer into the status of others.

He needed to be awakened to view his own status window, but with True-Sight, he could bypass this and look at himself. True Sight was an innate ability, so it technically did not require one to be awakened to use, but it was an ability that required a source of energy, so either aura or mana was needed to utilize it.

And yet, he was able to use it. Strange.

First, he looked at his basic information window.

Name: Damon Solis Aristum

Race: Human

Level: 0

Class: --

Sub-Class: --

As expected, he was level 0, and his class and subclass were grayed out, showing he was still just a regular un-awakened human. If that was the case, how was he able to activate true sight?

He focused a little but more, and felt more mana pool at his eyes, drawing out the advanced information of the status box.

Name: Damon Solis Aristum

Race: Human

Age: 0.3 years

Height/Weight: 2ft 1 inch / 8.2 kg

Level/Class/Sub-Class: Level 0 / -- / --

Title: Second Prince of Aristia

Alright, at least he could confirm that he had indeed regressed. He was once again Damon Aristum, second prince of the great kingdom of Aristia. With that confirmation in mind, he brought up his stats window.

Stamina: F (Low)

Speed: F (Low)

Strength: F (Low)

Durability: F (Low)

Agility: F (Low)

Mana: F (Mid)

Aura: --

Remaining Stat Points: 0 (35)

Innate Abilities: True-Sight (A), Mana Sensitivity (S),

Class Abilities: --

Sub Class Abilities: --

Miscellaneous: --

Remaining Ability Points: 0 (14)

A few things immediately stood out to him. Firstly, his mana sensitivity seemed to have carried over from his previous life, becoming an innate ability in this one. One of his innate abilities had yet to be unlocked, much like his previous life. Furthermore, whilst his physical level and abilities had gone, some semblance of his achievements remained. The stat points and ability points had carried over, though they were grayed out.

Much less clearing his doubts, this had brought up a whole list of questions.

Would he be able to use all those points upon awakening? Would he be unable to earn new points? Did this mean his cap was Level 7, or did it mean he would have the stats of a Level 7 as soon as he awakened?

More importantly than all of that, though, was his mana.

Mana: F(Mid)

He had mana! Though it was extremely low, he was only a baby. By the time of awakening, most kids would have stat levels of F(Mid), though especially gifted kids could develop up to E(Low). For physical stats, F was around what one would expect of a child. A young adult in his prime would have stats of around E(Mid), with a soldier or adventurer reaching E(High). Anything beyond that was difficult to achieve without leveling up and using the system.

For aura and mana however, things were different. The level of mana before awakening depended solely on one's natural affinity to it. Upon awakening, mana would either stay as mana, or be converted to aura. What caused this was a topic of serious debate among scholars. It was commonly accepted that it had something to do with one's natural talent for either being a warrior or mage, but concrete explanations were in contention. It didn't help that this rule was not iron-clad. There were those talented enough, or lucky enough to be born in families where they could force an early awakening of aura. If this was done, then they would be able to have access to and use both upon awakening.

If Damon already had mana as a baby, he would undoubtedly grow to be a talented mage. This was the biggest problem. It meant that something would happen down the line to cripple his mana veins. Being in the royal family, he had been exposed to mana tutors from a young age to gauge his talent and improve his mana before his awakening. As far as he could recall, his mana veins had always been damaged, and he had been given up on in that avenue when he was very young. That meant one thing – between now and his first mana testing at his third birthday, something would happen to damage his mana veins!

As he pondered the problem, he heard a door being opened, and a soft humming filled the room.