Kazen stood on the top of Mount Oris, glancing into the sky. Across him on the other peak a few kilometers away, there was another similar snow-capped mountain, which was getting ever so slightly brighter by the second due to the sunrise from the east.

Even with this beautiful scene to be admired, he simply stared at a single point in the sky. Although there seemed to be nothing but a golden sky, he still stood there, silently contemplating.

"So this is where the mana seems to be channeling out..."

He had always been exceptional at least in terms of mana sensing and control, so he could tell that in this world, there was an outflow of the total amount of mana existing. It wasn't as if he was the only one to have noticed, but he certainly was the first one to have traced down the source at the mere age of 23. And of this, he undoubtedly felt proud.

"Now...if I can just find a way to get up there..."

He contemplated for a moment, then channeled his mana, causing a deep thorn of mana to pierce through the middle of the mountain.

All of a sudden, the sides of the mountain started crumbling into landslides, as a pillar of earth rose from beneath him, carrying him up into the sky. He rose higher and higher, as he rose above the clouds. He started freezing up due to the rapidly decreasing temperature, as his breath got shallower by the second.

Kazen immediately took out his whip, as he bent it into a coil. Then as he held it, flames started being emitted from his body bit by bit, as it started to counteract the cold. Still, his breathing was affected and it became even shallower. Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes shut and continued rising, even as the mountainside continued to crumble. He wanted to prove that he wasn't someone who lacked potential, and that he was someone who could shine even with his short-lived fate.

For some reason, he started recalling the memories of his short life. The moment he'd been deemed as a Reincarnator during his Awakening Ceremony, he was already deemed to be someone of little potential, someone who would barely achieve anything in his life. And yet, he'd grown and proven himself to at least have potential, by gaining great success in the field of Enchantments.

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And as an Awakened Reincarnator with the pure mana attribute, which although good for enchanting, was deemed useless for combat, he'd recently finally managed to forge a path of combat of his own.

And after that, as he continued to train his mana control to improve his combat prowess, he eventually started to sense a 'current' of mana, which he followed, leading him to this point.

"Heh...even if I die...it's not like I can live past 60 anyway...."

After a few seconds, he felt like he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer, and was about to release his magic. However, what he didn't realize in his hypoxic state due to his lack of oxygen was that...he had already reached the 'Singularity' in the sky.

And he passed out.

* * *

Keuk!

Kazen's eyes suddenly opened, as he started taking gasping, taking in the stale air in desparation.

Wait...stale air?

Then suddenly, an intense pain bore into his mind, as if someone had inserted a needle into his mind and twisted it. Random memories started flooding into his brain, as he started to whimper due to the pain as he clutched his hands to his head. He suddenly rose up from his lying position, only to realize his body felt unbelievably stiff, as if it hadn't been used for a long time.

Julius Kazer...Empire of Kiross...

He couldn't digest most of the memories that appeared in his mind, only that his real name had been Julius Kazer, and that he had been born in the Empire of Kiross, Lafen Town.

As he desperately held on, eventually the pain finally started to fade, as his memories of Alethea finally took dominance and restored his sense of self. And at long last, he finally cracked open his eyes.

And his heart dropped.

For hundreds of meters in front of him, there appeared to be...countless reddish-black coffins with glass covers on the top which were stained with frosted blue, as if they were freezing something. And attached to every single coffin were...blackish red tubes which connected upwards and sideways to the left.

He slowly turned his head...only to see even more coffins stretching into the distance, as each coffin was spaced apart from one another by a meter. He traced the blackish-red tubes, and noticed all of them joining together at a gigantic reddish black orb that seemed to be at least of a few hundred meters in radius, as it occasionally pulsed with red lights.

In the silence of the hall where nothing could be heard but his own disordered breath, he silently whispered to himself.

"What the fuck...am I?"