3 CHAPTER 3 : MANA

It's been a few weeks since my...umm... reincarnation. The extremely minuscule amount of control over my own infantile body had left me unable to any movement. Hence most of the time was spent in the crib.

After carefully analyzing the visions I experienced, which now seem more like memories, I have come to the realization that my reincarnation may have been an accidental occurrence rather than a predetermined scheme.

I concluded that my encounter with Aether on Earth had led me to that strange place. To my amazement, I stumbled upon the souls of Arthur and Niko while Agrona was summoning them, which seemed like an unbelievable coincidence.

'Good thing, I failed to advance with the first soul.' I thought while praising my luck.

Putting aside these thoughts in the back of my mind, I started to seriously consider my plans for the future.

Although I felt a little sad that I didn't even get to see my mother and brother for the last time, Having been an adult in my previous life, I was pretty quick to accept my situation.

My first advantage in this world is that, unlike the other reincarnates, nobody is aware of my existence because I'm not connected to anyone through fate.

Yes, I believe the purple thread was connecting my fate to Arthur's fate because I came into this world through him, and now that it has broken, my destiny isn't bound by anyone.

Implying that I would not have to be afraid of getting involved in any asuran conspiracy, well...at least not in the near future, And I plan to do just that.

Regarding those visions or Arthur's fate visions, I have an interesting interpretation. I believe that Aether bestowed upon me the ability to perceive them, much similar to Rinia, However, just for those mere moments, but the question of how this came to be remains a mystery to me.

Anyway, from fate visions, I know this world contains mana and aether. Although they are still far from being able to tell what mana or aether actually are, people have learned to harness this power to achieve magical effects. Only djinns were on the brink of uncovering their authentic essence, coming closer to their true nature than any other civilization including Asura's.

I was filled with immense excitement as I thought about the two enigmatic elements, Curiosity in my scientist heart piqued as a rush of adrenaline surged in my infant body.

Despite having a lot of information through fate visions about Mana and Aether, there are still many unanswered questions in my mind.

I'm curious about their origin, how people can manipulate them, and why affinities exist. I have many other questions as well, and being a workaholic scientist, I am obliqued to find answers to all of them eventually.

The origin of mana and aether is a mystery that has been puzzling the world for thousands of years, and even the Asuras, who are on the top of this evolutionary ladder, do not have answers. It appears as though their technique for remaining at the apex of power is to try and limit if not entirely halt, other civilizations' progress. That does not seem like confidence bred from true superiority; rather it looks like what one might do out of sheer insecurity or fear.

Well, I am not implying that the asuras are wrong. It mainly relies upon alternate points of view. If lessers were given a chance to develop and, after a few centuries, become powerful enough to even compete with them?

Wouldn't it demonstrate that asuras were correct from the start?

To obtain Djinn's knowledge, the Indrath clan massacred their whole civilization. While djinns perished simply to guard it.

Different views determine who is correct and who is incorrect.

Now that I am here, I will plunder all the knowledge of this world, asura's and djinn's alike, as a humble scientist like myself should be doing. If Asuras come in my way, I'll just slaughter them like they did djinns. That is correct from my perspective.

I thought as an evil grin formed on my infant face.

Though all of this is for the far future. First, I must gain the ability to protect myself and my family from the impending war that is coming in around 13 years.

What? yes, I've grown fond of my family and will protect them as I should as their son. They gave birth to me so that's the least I can do, right?

As for how I know I'm in the same timeframe as Arthur...well our fate link broke the instant Arthur entered his new body, and I reincarnated shortly after. Even if I wasn't born at the same time as him, the age difference shouldn't be too great.

Let's see what this mana is first, however, I am not planning to awaken early like Arthur did or at least not advertise it to my whole family...why?

Because Arthur was fortunate he did not come across anyone who would check to see if a four-year-old was awakened or not. Otherwise, he'd have either become a slave or a test subject for some inquisitive mage.

For the time being, I'll just try to figure out 

what mana is until I'm old enough to go outside and explore this world for myself. As for Aether, that's.....out of my league...for now.

I closed my eyes and attempted to feel the mana in the air around me. I was able to detect some white-coloured particles lingering in the air after about 10 minutes of constant attention. Feeling pretty captivated by my new toy, I began to draw them towards me, and they did, albeit at a rate that would put even a turtle to shame.

Mana moved from the air to my arms and then into my body via routes that felt like veins and arteries. I assumed these were my mana channels and veins. Then mana settled around the navel area where my core was meant to be after my awakening.

I continued doing this for almost half an hour until I felt exhausted. Eventually, I shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep, entering the realm of dreams.