Neron’s POV

I couldn’t tell if I was in my physical body, I was floating inside of an endless dark space. I lost any remaining feeling in my limbs, it was as if my supposed body had withered away into oblivion. My consciousness was distorted, it was like putting together the pieces of a puzzle, but I didn't know how to start or where to end. I could feel pain, but it was almost distant.

Correct the set of three to reap the Ater Sea.

A voice. It wasn’t the snake’s voice, though. Correct the set of three...what could that mean? Is this some sort of trial?

Where can darkness be found when there is only light? The robotic voice rang.

I couldn’t tell how I was hearing the voice, there wasn’t a single life form near me, I didn’t have a body nor a mind, yet I could think with perfect clarity. I was mesmerized by the question that the autonomous being had just posed. This was an easy question, almost too easy, but I dismissed my suspicion. “Light can only exist when there is darkness and darkness can only exist when there is light,” I answered proudly, my voice causing ripples in the space.

There was no reply.

When greed is found, love is lost. In obscurity, what does power cost? The mysterious voice questioned.

If I had a physical body, my jaw would have been slack. What did I just hear? None of that made sense, how am I supposed to know what power costs? I lost track of time while I was deep in thought...if time was even a thing in this place, that is. Everything was motionless, it felt like I was an omniscient being, I could see everything yet feel nothing, it almost made me dizzy.

A thought lit a bulb in my head. Wait a minute, if love is lost when greed is found, then wouldn’t that mean power is attained when all else is lost? I figured my theory was correct, however, I feared for what may happen if I got the question wrong. “Power c-c-costs you everything else,” I responded hesitantly, bracing myself.

Once again, there was no reply.

I sighed from relief, I took that silence as a sign of my answer being correct.

From the start to the end, birth is given to luminescence and the young. Where is the soul located?

This was getting out of hand. That statement had absolutely nothing to do with the soul or where it was located. Do souls even exist? How am I supposed to know where it is?! Nobody ever taught me that. I was frustrated, these questions were getting worse every time, meaning that my chance of failure was higher. Who came up with these? Damn that snake...there’s no way I was the only candidate for that Omnis Enchantment thing. But I needed its power, this was the moment where I needed to use all the knowledge I had. I repeated the question that the voice had asked over and over in my head. What could luminescence and the young mean? Could there be some hidden answer within them? I recalled the bits of information I had learned with my mother about magic. There are said to be four basic elements: fire, water, earth, and air. Within this world, there are elements that are even more powerful known as the Empyrean Class of elements which are evolved forms of the basic four elements. These Empyrean Class elements are magma, ice, metal, and sound. There were rare occasions where many had managed to produce elements that were external magical elements like light and dark and blood magic. The downside was that everyone’s elements are decided from birth, so far, there hasn’t been any records of someone having all four basic elements or more. However, certain elements have been common in specific races such as the element of light in the race of elves or the earth element being traced back to dwarves. All beings are said to be capable of wielding any element of magic, and each can be used differently. That was the limit of my knowledge, however, there was one thing that had nagged at me ever since I had learned about the fundamentals of magic. There was one more force, it could not be observed or even considered as magic. Sometimes I could hear the adults in Darcester talking about Kathos, said to be the rawest form of magic that is the initial principle of life. Mana is known to be what keeps all beings alive, but Kathos is a power that only Celestials are allegedly able to use, there hasn’t been a single account of a regular mortal entity even having a trace of Kathos. But that snake...it essentially claimed that it was directly affiliated with the Celestials, meaning that the kingdom has been hiding this secret. Just how did they manage to hide something that huge from the eyes of the population? The pieces of the puzzle in my mind began to fit together as they changed form, the ancient snake had said that it had searched for candidates worthy of using the Omnis Enchantment for centuries, meaning that it probably never intentionally waltzed into a village or town. If this was the case, then that beast is even smarter than I had expected it to be. If mana truly is the basis of life, then that supports my theory. If it has to do with the consumption of energy and releasing it, then the confirmed conjecture by the ancient magicians of Azuria has to be true. Mom had once mentioned that mana is absorbed through the lungs, if the so-called fundamentals of life are circulated through there, then…

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The lungs.

“Lungs! The soul is in the lungs!” I practically shouted. My thoughts were scattered. If I had a stomach, I would be feeling even more nauseous.

Suddenly, it felt like I had been dropped, the world around me had returned to a light-blue with a giant glowing ball of fire in the distance. I was practically flying through the clouds, the wind that barraged my face made me unable to scream. What’s going on?! Why am I being dropped through the sky?! How did I even get here?! There was no point of asking questions now, I needed to break my fall, and quickly. There was nothing I could think about, besides the fact that I was going to die. As I flailed through the sky, my world turned upside down.

I tripped backwards onto a hard surface, I rubbed my back from the pain and grunted. What just happened? Where am I? I was tired of asking so many questions, but seriously, what is this place? I stood up, it felt unusual to be in my body again, I was on top of a tree. I guess I was returned to the forest, but I found my teleportation to be even more concerning. That aside, where did the snake go? I was back in the part of the forest where I had met it, the wreckage that it left behind had no trail to follow as it abruptly ended, the rest of the forest was untouched. Nothing felt different about my body, either, I didn’t feel any stronger or weaker, instead, I could feel a burning sensation on my left arm. I pulled the left sleeve of my black cloak back, steam was being emitted from my forearm, I panicked and blew air to try and cool it down. As the steam cleared, my eyes were fixed on my left arm, what I saw was not what I had expected. I hopped off of the tree I was on and ran to the nearest puddle and stared into it. What I saw was a black mark that started from my wrist and ended at my left eye, the mark had an odd design to it, it was like a black flame traveling across my arm in a spiral. The colour of my left eye had changed from its regular light-brown to lilac. It felt perfectly normal now, as if the mark was a part of me. What did it do? It looked cool and all, but I was yet to have felt a difference. Did the snake lie? Was this just some useless imprint? This was getting me nowhere, I needed to find the snake and get back to training, who knows how long I was gone for…

I regularly pulled up my sleeve to check for any changes on the Omnis Enchantment’s mark on my left arm, but still, it was just a random mark on my skin that would probably get me weird looks. My left eye didn’t seem to offer anything, either, I was hoping for some sort of enhanced vision, but I guess that wasn’t the case. I had resumed my almost normal routine once again, it almost felt relieving for things to return back to normal. Even the rabbat meat almost tasted delicious again. I had changed a few things and ramped up the amount of strain put on me, I figured that if I wasn’t put into sticky situations, I wouldn’t gain any growth. Sometimes I wished that I could see the snake again, but for the past two months, there hasn’t been a single sign of him. I was now barely capable of defeating tier three beasts, their strength was almost overwhelming but what intimidated most people was their hostility, fortunately, most tended to only be found in dungeons. I thought of the prestigious capital, Loustron, and their place of education, the Loustron Academy of Magic, renowned for being the grandest institute in all of Azuria. Loustron is also regarded as the best place for adventurers to work because of the amount of dungeons that are found around there. I was never quite enlightened on the topic of dungeons, however, as far as I knew, they are catacombs that are unpredictable to find. Most tended to be small ones found in the outskirts, however, there was a famous one in Loustron known as the Labyrinth. The categorization of dungeons was identical to the classification of magical beasts, ranging from tier ones to tier sixes. Most dungeons are usually done in parties with four classes: gladiators, archers, mages, and menders. The Labyrinth, however, is a dungeon that has six floors instead of one, each level has monsters whose tiers correspond to the level, meaning that more and more adventurers are required. It is the biggest dungeon recorded in Azuria, people don’t even know if it should be referred to as a dungeon, it’s basically just six sets of catacombs combined, starting with the first tier floor until the tier sixth tier floor. In history, only four people had managed to defeat the sixth floor: the Generals of Azuria. The Generals are the strongest magicians in all of Azuria, they serve directly under the king and queen and are commonly seen in the capital. Their achievement was spoken about in all of Azuria, but unfortunately enough, dungeons regenerate in a short amount of time. At least each floor gives rewards to adventurers who have completed them, what’s interesting is that everyone gets something different. On the bright side, the Generals are celebrated for their achievements, which is why everyone looks up to them. The current rulers of Azuria are the Warwickes, royal descendants of the previous kings and queens. Whenever I had walked around Darcester, there were mixed opinions of the king, Ranulf Warwicke, and his wife, Kestria, being disclosed. I myself was conflicted as well, I needed answers before I could decide on anything. The worst case scenario would be making the kingdom my enemies.

I hunted monsters with animosity. I was hungry to get to the capital to enter the Labyrinth, but I still didn’t have enough experience. The past five months were grueling, I sat against a tree sharpening my daggers, this was my first time trying it out, it was surprisingly easy but time-consuming. My daggers were too worn down from the constant killing, my clothes were splattered from dried blood from months ago. My body’s stamina had grown, but the downside is that my schedule became more challenging at the same rate. Tier three magical beasts were easy to take down, my movements had become more concise, but without anyone to help, I wasn’t going to get anywhere. This stupid Omnis Enchantment didn’t help with anything at all, however, I did manage to summon a bit of magic. I wouldn’t even call it magic, I was only able to conjure an orange flame on the tip of my finger, which I had used to cook my rabbat meat. I was too afraid of consuming the plants in this forest because of their unpredictability. Without a guidebook, I was going to get myself poisoned and maybe even killed. Mana manipulation wasn’t my strong suit...actually, I’m not even sure how I was able to summon that small flame. I simply imagined mana entering through my lungs and a flame forming, which had managed to work. What truly surprised me was the fact that I couldn’t feel any burning sensations or pain from the fire magic. At the least, this was some progress, I wondered what other elemental affinities I might have, if I even have any more... Being able to use magic was just a perk I stumbled upon when I was kicking debris around from frustration, I could only imagine the possibilities if I were to somehow master this magic. At the same time, in order for that to happen, I would probably have to go to the Loustron Academy of Magic. I sighed and stared up at the moonlit sky, albeit the skies were starry, it felt just as empty. The forest felt soothing, it was dead silent yet peaceful. I pondered about what my future may look like, reaching the capital was probably going to take another year and a half, but prioritizing my training was more important. The sooner I can become an adventurer, the sooner I can make money and enter the Labyrinth.

It was only a matter of time and effort.