In the dimly lit alley, Isaac stood, his weary frame sagging with exhaustion. "What a day," he muttered to himself, his mind replaying the series of betrayals that had led him to this desolate place. His girlfriend's infidelity, his best friend's deceit, and the unjust accusation of theft that cost him his job—each blow seemed to have brought him closer to this precipice of despair.
Lost in his thoughts, Isaac found himself atop a bridge, a cold wind biting at his skin. "My life is worthless anyway," he thought, his resolve crumbling as he gazed down at the train tracks below. With a heavy heart, he made the fateful decision to end it all.
As he plummeted towards the oncoming train, a sense of peace washed over him, a fleeting moment of relief amidst the turmoil of his mind. But instead of darkness, Isaac found himself enveloped in a blinding light, his senses overwhelmed as he awoke in a strange, white room.
"I'm happy you like it," a voice spoke from behind him.
When he turned to the source of the sound, he saw a radiant figure—a woman with ethereal beauty and majestic wings.
"Who are you?" he asked. The figure in front of him was not something you'd see on Earth.
The woman smiled serenely.
"I am Acena, a goddess," she replied. Isaac's mind reeled with disbelief. "Is this... heaven?" he ventured.
Acena shook her head gently. "No, this is neither heaven nor hell. This is a realm beyond mortal comprehension." She explained that the gods had deemed Isaac's suffering unjust, offering him a second chance in a new world.
Isaac hesitated before accepting. "But there are conditions," Acena cautioned. She explained the nature of the new world—a realm of swords and sorcery—and granted him the choice of two skills to aid him on his journey.
With newfound determination, Isaac chose shadow magic and mana absorption. With a nod of approval, Acena bid him farewell, sending him off to his new life.
When Isaac opened his eyes again, he found himself in the fragile form of a newborn, cradled in a humble cabin. Next to him was
Another baby he heard footsteps coming in their direction. Suddenly, the door opened, and a man and a woman entered. While the man went to pour
himself a glass of beer, the woman came close to Isaac. "My dear, are you awake?" she said, looking at him. "Harley, don't bother the kids; let them
sleep so that they can grow in good shape," said the man, sitting on a chair. "Don't be so mean. I was just checking on them," she said, with an
annoyed expression on his face in the middle of their conversation, Isaac fell asleep. When he woke up,
The next morning, he was being carried on his mother's back while she was shopping in the village.
Isaac took the opportunity to look at his surroundings. While looking, he realized that the civilization wasn't as advanced as in his old world; everything was either made of rocks or wood, chariots were used, and the buildings were frail. The reason for
This underdevelopment was obvious: it was "magic." Instead of focusing on developing the world, the researchers were developing magic and mana.
When Isaac and his mother returned home, Isaac saw his father practicing swordsmanship. The father wanted
to show his son something entertaining, he gathered his aura and sang at a tree, which he cut with ease.
Isaac, who couldn't resist the wind pressure, rolled to the ground. Suddenly, a fierce killing intent was felt by Isaac and
his father. "Eric, what do you think you're doing? Not only did you break my favorite tree, but you also injured our son. Let's have a nice talk inside,"
said Isaac's mom with a scary smile. "It was just a joke, honey," said Eric, trying to get out of this bad situation. Later that night, Eric entered Isaac's
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room, and when he got close to him,
"Isaac, when you turn five, I will teach you the way of the sword, even though you can't understand
What I am saying right now. I hope that you will be able to learn it," he said. He then got up and left as soon as he left.
The room, Isaac got up from the mat and, with little understanding of magic, applied his mana absorption
Abilities. Using it, he was able to gather mana from the air and put it inside his body, and when the mana capacity of his body reached its maximum,
he condensed it to make more space. Isaac used this technique until
His body gave out. It was a technique he thought of and called condensation, although he was unable to
Fully understand its workings due to his lack of understanding. He was able to gather a high quantity of mana inside his body.
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Just like that, 15 years had passed, and just as his father promised to teach him swordsmanship, Isaac, unlike his brother Elen, was talented in it, which gained him the favor of his father. Because of that, his brother, who was weaker than him, began to accumulate envy and hatred in his heart for Isaac. Every night in those last 15 years, Isaac had increased his mana capability. He learned a lot of information about this world and his parents. Isaac's father, Eric, used to be an adventurer, but after falling in love with Harley and marrying her, he quit adventuring and started working as a lumberjack. Harley, on the other hand, was the daughter of a noble. Since her parents couldn't accept her relationship with Eric and forbade her from seeing him, she ran away from home and started a new life with Eric. Elen, although Isaac's identical twin, wasn't talented at anything, and despite his parents' efforts to comfort him and help him find something he liked, he kept hating Isaac for being better than him. When it comes to the world, it's divided between three major countries: Ashyn, the country he resides in; Sakura, which is the smallest of the three but holds the most power; and Tunkai, not much is known about it since it prevents people from coming in and out of their territory.
Isaac's life in the village was very peaceful; he had friends, and although he was 30 years old, in the past it felt good to become a child again.
One day, as he was practicing swordsmanship in the garden, a group of kids walked up to him.
"Practicing again? Is there ever a day you don't train?" said one of them.
Isaac put down his sword and looked at the kid.
"Well, if I want to become an adventurer like my father, it's a given to train every day," replied Isaac with a bright smile.
The group of kids that came were Isaac's friends; he had known them for a very long time. They were two boys, Loki and Kay, and two girls, Lucy and Clair.
"Tell you what, we were planning to go to the mountain to collect some berries. Why don't you join us?" said Loki.
"Well, sure, why not," replied Isaac.
"Fantastic, let's go."
The band walked for about half an hour before reaching their destination. After spotting the berries, they took out their baskets and started filling them.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" said a voice from behind them.
As the kids turned around, they saw a group of what seemed to be bandits surrounding them.
"Looks like we got a lucky drop today. Everyone, selling these kids will bring us a fortune, so capture them without hurting them. We wouldn't want to accidentally damage the goods, now would we?" said a man who seemed to be the bandit leader.
As they began to approach them, Isaac turned to his friends.
"Guys, I know that you are scared right now, but hear me out. This will be a gamble, but I will try to win you guys some time while I am holding them off. Run to the village and alert the guards," said Isaac as he drew his sword.
"Go now!" he shouted.
"Catch them!" yelled the bandit leader.
As they tried to run after them, Isaac rushed to them with the intent to waste time. Although he didn't have any battle experience, his daily training was paying off. Even though it was five versus one, he was able to stand his ground.
"Aren't you ashamed of calling yourselves men when you can't even defeat a brat? Let me show you how it's done," said the bandit leader while approaching Isaac. And there they were, standing in front of one another.
"You know you are standing in the way of my plan, so don't expect me to hold back just because you're merchandise," said the leader.
The fight began, and at first, Isaac was holding quite well. But as the exchange in blows continued, he was being pushed back. It was obvious that he was no match for him; he surpassed him in all aspects: strength, agility, battle experience. After Isaac's stamina ran out, he collapsed. As he did, the bandit leader held him by the collar.
"I just wasted a good chance to make money because of you. Not even killing you would satisfy my anger right now," said the bandit leader in a surprisingly calm voice.
"But don't worry, I know what will help. After cutting off your limbs, I will take you to your house and make you watch as I torture your parents. But I won't kill them; I'll make them suffer so much they would wish for me to kill them. How does that sound?"
"Don't you dare touch them," murmured Isaac.
"What did you say?" asked the bandit.
"I said, don't you dare touch them, you piece of filth," he then took his sword and cut the man's arm so quickly that he couldn't react.
As the man started to scream in agony, Isaac approached him.
"What was that about torturing my parents?" he said with a cold look on his face.
"I'll kill-" said the bandit leader.
But before he could stand, Isaac cut open his face. He then turned to the other bandits and did the same thing to them. By the time he regained his composure, he was covered with blood. A sound then came from the bushes; the guards then appeared accompanied by his parents. Everyone was shocked at the sight of several bodies and a 15-year-old standing over them Eric and Harley rushed to catch Isaac, who was about to collapse from exhaustion. The guards were uneasy.