“%*@@^&%(#$@%$@$&((&#%^#@!&@!~.”

Aria sat through the memory silently, while the woman nectar-like voice continued to mesmerise her and her ‘body.’ Being an Archmagus, Aria was naturally highly observant, particularly when in foreign locations. From the short time that she awoke, Aria could infer that she was living a memory that the Aurum had experienced.

Initially, the Archmagus was beyond irate. First, the ancient man had read through all of her memories without her permission, and now, he was forcing his memories upon her. There was a limit to how shameless a man could be. However, after a while, the young maiden cooled her temper. Was it because of Aurum’s feelings in the memory? Or was it because of the woman’s honeyed voice that could charm a million men? Perhaps it was a combination of both. Whatever the case, Aria felt her flaming anger being soothed and was willing to sit the memory through.

The brown-skinned woman continued to talk as she nestled her petite butt just inches away from Aria's body. No, she encroaching closer into the ancient man’s private space, far more than any friend or family member. At times, the woman’s face would flush red like a teenage girl meeting her idol. Other times, she would flash her gaze to her right hand as her fingers were less than three centimetres away from the ancient man’s. However, no matter what the situation, the woman always wore the warmest, most disgustingly sweet smile that Aria had ever laid eyes on.

Foreign words continued to spew out from the ancient woman’s mouth, words that were hardly comprehensible by anyone from the modern age. English, Chinese, Sanskrit, Greek… The language resembled none of them from what Aria could tell.

‘This memory must be millions of years old… Or at the very least, a language during the Age of Dragons and beyond...’

Another reason why Aria wasn’t as miffed as she was in the beginning was due to her scientific curiosity. An age that no records could remember. An era that was far different than that of the modern-day. An intelligent civilisation that wasn’t even in the record books. What magic did they use? What knowledge did they have about the start of the world? How similar were they to the Greater Humanoid Species of the current age? Aria wanted to find out everything.

And so… Time continued to flow by. Since Aria was dreaming, she didn’t have a good grasp on how long she’d been asleep. The only way she could tell the time was through looking at the interactions between the breathtaking beauty and the ‘body’ she inhabited.

At times, the tanned woman would giggle like a fair maiden in the heat of her love. Her starlike eyes would twinkle brighter than the stars in the heavens above. Aria couldn’t understand a word that the woman was saying, but she was somehow able to sense her feelings.

Why?

Each time the ethereal beauty spoke a warmth, unlike any other feeling she’d felt before crept up Aria’s heart. Or to be more specific… It crept up Aurum’s heart. There was an unspoken connection between Aurum and the creamy, brown-skinned woman before her. Aria didn’t know for sure what relationship they had, what were the circumstances were for their closeness, but… There was one thing for certain. Aurum and this woman… They shared an extraordinary relationship.

After what seemed to be half an hour, the beauty finally ceased her speech. Looking right at Aurum, her beautiful golden eyes started to sparkle more brightly than the luminescent lake. Leaning in on Aria’s ‘body,’ the woman whispered:

“Aria...”

“W-what?!” Aria, who had been busy collecting notes and examining the situation, jumped at the suddenness of the situation. The ancient woman, she… Knew how to speak Aria’s tongue?! So was everything before that just a farce to keep her off guard?

“Aria… You should wake up soon...” Now that Aria could understand the ethereal beauty’s words, she could better appreciate how pleasing her voice was. It was as if the Angel of Music had dropped her harp into the vocal cords of the woman, giving her a tone that could charm any, regardless of gender, race or religion.

“Aria… Wake up...” The woman coquettishly whispered. “Wake up...”

“W-what?” At that moment, the world that Aria was in distorted like a ripple turning against itself. Falling into the pit of the whirlpool, Aria found the warm fuzzy feeling in her chest melt away as the emotions of her original body flowed back to its original place. The picturesque lake dazzled with the celestial stars had faded into oblivion as the familiar white ceiling took its place.

“Aria! Wake up!” The same words, a different voice.

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Aria’s eyes jolted open, her head and body feeling as if a thousand rocks were weighing her down. The bright light of the morning sun rudely awoken the young woman, who was still in a daze. This was… her room. Aria was most certain of that. It had all of her knick-knacks and pillows. The familiar warmth of the heater and the soothing scent of lavender. Everything was just as Aria had remembered. She slid her head up and slowly rested her back on the bed frame. And then, the familiar blonde hair flashed by the corner of Aria’s eyes.

“Aria! You’re finally awake!” Seeing that her roommate was finally out of Lalaland, Yvette heaved a sigh of relief. “I’ve been trying to wake you up for hours now!”

“...” Aria was silent. She had just gotten out of the memory, or was it a dream? Her body was sluggish, and her thoughts were in disarray. Looking blankly at Yvette, Aria waited for her roommate to explain the situation.

“I know that I’d told you to sleep for a full day if you must, but you really went and outdid yourself… You slept for more than thirty hours now! If you didn’t wake up, I would have rushed you to the emergency ward!”

“Thirty… hours?” Aria repeated the number wide-eyed. In the memory… She only lasted for less than an hour! Yet, thirty hours had passed in the real world?

“You must’ve been really tired...” Misunderstanding Aria’s thoughts, Yvette’s eyes turned soft and sympathetic. “Hibernating is good and all, but you have to keep it in moderation. You really gave me a shock there! Sleep regular hours from now on! I don’t want to keep playing the role of the Prince that wakes Sleeping Beauty!”

“T-that...” Aria gulped. The dream that she had… That memory… Was that really something that the ancient man had experienced?

Being the perceptive friend, the blonde elf sensed that something was amiss with Aria. Leaning in, she asked: “Is something the matter?”

“Yvette… I just had this weird dream...”

❖❖❖

The world was changing. Primordial mana which was seemingly sealed under the tectonic plates gushed out to the surface, bringing forth a new and exciting age. Animals that hadn’t the slightest ounce of magical power were now as mana-rich as the next Magic Beast. Untalented humans that were considered trash now had a new lease of life with abilities popping up by the millions. Blessings became a common theme, and almost every intelligent being’s status plates would show their innate talents.

Plants that weren’t beautiful suddenly flowered and rivers that hadn’t the slightest speck of life were now bursting forth with mana. Each and every second, something new would appear as the montgen levels reached historic heights. On an isolated, dormant volcano. In a deep chasm in the middle of nowhere. Deep in the rainforests that hadn’t been penetrated by civilisation itself. And yes… Far down, at the bottom of the ocean.

“...” The tall knight sat silently on its throne, one arm firmly placed on the rest while the other held up its heavy helmet. Its other hand was loosely grasping onto the obsidian necromancy sword, making it seem like an aloof king that was waiting for his court’s jester to perform an amusing act.

The knight was in a dungeon that was at the bottom of the ocean. Sunlight wasn’t to be seen for at least ten kilometres, and there wasn’t even a hint of intelligent relics other than the items that it had been buried with. However, the knight didn’t care. Using the pale blue flame that was immune to water, it lit up the oceanic dungeon, giving it a full view of all its minions.

By its side, there were at least twice the monsters than it had before. Squid-types, fish-types, dragon-types… There were an array of monsters that would make any Demon King’s army cry in shame. Each one of them was boasting an aura, one akin to that of an S-Ranker. No… Some of them surpassed that of the powerful S-Class. With the advent of the new age, the past metrics to evaluate strength had to be thrown out of the window. S-Classes were strong, there was no doubt about that, but… The new wave of awakened individuals would eventually grow to surpass them. Not to mention, the current S-Rankers were able to grow even more now, given their new status and blessings.

It indeed was a new dawn for both the Greater Humanoid Species and the monsters that were filled with mana. Every one of them were capable of growing to astronomical heights, levels that were unseen or unheard off in the modern age.

However… None of that mattered to the Dark Knight. It was preparing… Preparing its ascent to the surface. There was a mission that it had to do, a mission that was bestowed upon it a long, long time ago. The entity that gave the Dark Knight its mission was probably dead now. After all, it had been sleeping under the ocean for over a million years. Nevertheless, it was programmed to complete the task, even if it meant its utter annihilation.

The Dark Knight didn’t have any thoughts, neither did it have any memories. However, it did have an image. An image of a brown-skinned man with vibrant golden eyes and beautiful, black hair. He was seated next to a woman, a beautiful woman to add. They were seated down in the moonlight, observing the clandestine lake while giddily chatting away like lovers.

It was an inspiring scene, yet… Whenever the Dark Knight saw that image, its innate wiring would run amok. It was as if… There was a boiling pot of hot molten lava just waiting to burst forth. However, it was still powerless to do anything about it. The Dark Knight knew that it wasn’t ready to rise to the surface… At least not yet.

Twisting its finger, the Dark Knight created a whirlpool of mana and the A-Class shark monster was summoned. Like a faithful servant, the shark bowed its head in servitude, careful not to cross the Dark Knight.

“...” The Dark Knight didn’t say a word, but the shark was able to hear its thoughts. Opening its mouth, a pile of green slime was regurgitated out, spilling goo all over the beautiful ocean. Not that anyone of the beings here cared about hygiene though. The decomposed shark looked triumphant and waited for the Dark Knight to throw it a compliment.

However, the Dark Knight didn’t care for such trivialities. All it cared about was the result, and that result was…

A pile of human bones.

“...” After a brief moment of silence, the Dark Knight moved its fingers and reorganised the floating bones together. Its human skull, its joints, its fingers and toes… Everything fell back in place.

Mana flowed into the restructured humanoid, and the entire seabed started to quake. Yes, the mana flowing out of the Dark Knight was that terrifying. Not a single soul in the world could take the full wrath of the Dark Knight, not even the planet itself.

Blue light started to glow from the skeleton’s bones as new mana flowed through its temporary form, holding it up like glue. Its sockets, which were hollow and dull, was now brimming with azure light, breathing new life to the reanimated body. What’s more surprising was, the first deed that the skeleton did.

Pushing its finger to the ground, the skeleton summoned out even more bones from seemingly out of nowhere. Like its creator, the skeleton turned into a soulless soldier, fated to do the nefarious bidding of the Lich. Once again, such ancient magic was unheard of, let alone recorded down in history. An undead creating another undead? What ludicrous nonsense was that?

The Dark Knight looked down at its creation with satisfaction. Once again, it was one step closer to its eventual goal…