by Colin Daumen
Copyright © 2020 Colin Daumen
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1 - Arrival
Chapter 2 – Kindness
Chapter 3 – Proposition
Chapter 4 - Attention
Chapter 5 - Wit and Fire
Chapter 6 - Learning Magic
Chapter 7 – Improvement
Chapter 8 – Confrontation
Chapter 9 – A new quest
Chapter 10 – An eternity later
Chapter 11 – Rumors
Chapter 12 – Dunkel
Chapter 13 – Enrolment
Chapter 14 – First Lecture
Chapter 15 – Another confrontation
Chapter 16 – Another confrontation 2
Chapter 17 – Colosseum
Chapter 18 – Colosseum 2
Chapter 19 – Shockwave
Chapter 20 - Bloom and Loss
Chapter 21 - Announcement
Chapter 22 – Unexpected ally
Chapter 23 – Licht
Chapter 24 - Beast Range
Chapter 25- Beast Range 2
Chapter 26 - First Hunt
Chapter 27 - The Shadow
Chapter 28 - System?
Chapter 29 - Upgrades Galore
Chapter 30 - Tomb
Chapter 31 - Tomb 2
Chapter 32 - Island
Chapter 33 - Island 2
Chapter 34 - Attack 1
Chapter 35 - Attack 2
Chapter 36 - Attack 3
Chapter 1 - Arrival
Pain. All that Favian could feel after waking up was excruciating pain. His head spun at what felt like a thousand miles an hour; the explosion of his brain was imminent.
After several minutes the nauseating feeling subsided, and his bearings came back to him. It was only now that he realised he was laying down flat on his face in a stack of hay. The floorboards creaked and it seemed that he was in some sort of moving vehicle.
'Wasn't I just at the medical school in California treating some patients?' Favian inwardly thought.
Nothing made any sense. He had just been doing some routine blood taking in the Caltech-USC maternity ward, when a sudden wave of lethargy consumed him, and everything faded to black.
Favian turned onto his back and opened his eyes. He examined his surroundings, noting that he indeed was lying in a hay pile, which thankfully made the irregular and abrupt movements of this vehicle less painful on his throbbing head. He was in what seemed to be a wooden carriage, lit only by some candles hung on both of its sides, with some moonlight shining into it through the little cracks in the wood.
Realizing how cold it was inside, Favian struggled to stand up in a hurry. The cold was sapping away at his strength by the second and he wanted to find something to warm him up. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced through his head and he fell back down into the hay.
A cascade of memories went along with the pain and they left as quickly as they came. The memories seemed too real to be a dream, and Favian swallowed hard as he realised that he was what he could call a 'trans migrator'; an individual who had been reborn in the body of another person. He had read many stories about trans migrators, but never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that he’d end up in their exact same situation.
The memories of the body he inhabited showed him that he was currently living on the continent of Ortu Solis. This world was similar to that of medieval Earth, however, other sentient races such as elves and dwarves all lived together on this continent. There was no knowledge in this person's memories that implied he knew anything about planets or stars, which startled Favian slightly. He wondered whether this lack of knowledge was shared throughout the world here.
The knowledge about the other races wasn't too hard to believe for Favian, as he was a highly educated individual in his second year of medical school. He had always believed that somewhere in the universe there were aliens similar to humans. In his mind, it was highly naive to think there was only one sentient race living on one planet when there were billions of habitable planets spread throughout the universe. Yet, what was still hard to believe despite the first-hand recollection of this body, was the existence of magic.
Magic was real. It lived within everything, and could be found in the air, water, fire, and even in objects. The former owner of his body, who to his surprise was also named Favian, was a 16-year-old orphan who'd been found to possess the talent to become a mage. It seemed that only one in every thousand individuals were found to have a body capable of practising magic.
Having come from nothing, he obviously chose to accept the scholarship to study magic at an academy he was currently travelling towards. The choice of which academy was based on the potential he displayed.
His orphanage had been a rundown institution in the slums of his hometown, and the most frequent professions that children who grew up there would take on were that of a thief or a mercenary. Many also turned into drunkards and wastes of society.
'If I can learn magic and become proficient in it, I'll at least be able to fulfil the desires of the now-dead person whose body I've hijacked,' Favian thought to himself. He was a nice and sentimental person deep down, which had been one of the reasons why he decided to become a doctor. Saving lives had been one of his main motivations. Without such motivation, it would be difficult to survive at medical school due to the demanding hours required. Thirst for knowledge was another of his greatest motivators, and in this new setting he found himself in, there was a great opportunity to quench his thirst.
It left a bad taste in his mouth that for him to be reincarnated, he had to take away the life of another person. However, this was just the luck of the draw. Having studied and worked in a medical setting, Favian was very quick to adapt to any situation presented to him, thus he was able to push down the overwhelming emotions within him for now, to be able to survive this harsh cold. This was notably one of his best and worst traits, the ability to neuter his emotions when needed. It was good when high levels of stress required him to stay calm, but also bad when it came to developing as a person.
Just as he was in a deep train of thought trying to organise all of his memories, his carriage abruptly halted to a stop and a loud voice could be heard.
"Gerald, go check inside! I bet that a filthy beggar is shitting in there right now, try not to breathe in that stench," an immature male voice shouted.
The sound of heavy footsteps trudging in snow became clearer as it moved towards the back of the carriage. After a few seconds of silence, the doors in front of Favian were flung open. Cold air rushed in and Favian could not help but instinctively shudder due to the freezing temperature outside. Despite him wearing a light fur coat, the cold still affected his hands, and blood rushed towards his face, giving his brown skin a reddish hue.
Standing at the doorway was a burly boy, with dark black hair that curled around tightly on his head. His arms were very muscular, and he watched Favian with a sly look in his eyes.
"Didn't you hear what the boss said? Get out now!" shouted Gerald, who seemed no older than 16, yet still hadn't gotten rid of the baby fat on his face.
Favian looked at the situation in disgust, realising that these people were unnecessarily trying to make life difficult for him. The fact that they would try to bully an orphan who possessed nothing left him f
urious. Yet, for now, he had to comply with them, as he didn't know what sort of power these people had, or how many of them there were. He also had nowhere to run, as the carriage only had one entrance and that was blocked by who he assumed to be Gerald.
He decided to do as asked, for now. He still thought to himself, 'If push comes to shove, and they want to harm me, I'll try to run and find some help. It would be too much of a shame if I die again after being reincarnated for not even 5 minutes.'
This was how this world worked, Favian knew that here power meant everything. Many rich people would step on those lower in the social standing just to display their power or vent their anger, and there was nothing you could do in defiance unless you had equal or more power than them.
As he stepped outside, he could feel the cold snow the moment his feet touched the ground, and a crunching sound could be heard underneath him. It was dark outside, and the moon shone down onto the trail which the carriage was taking. Multiple carriages surrounded him, and it seemed there were about 30 of them currently moving towards their destination. Some were like his own, run down and completely wooden whilst others, covered in gold and bejeweled, glistened in the moonlight . He guessed that wealthy people would be situated in those luxurious vehicles.
The first thing his eyes met after stepping outside was a rather short boy, who looked to be no more than 14 or 15 years old. His blonde hair fell onto his shoulders, and his blue eyes pierced through Favian with a rather insidious glare. However, the youth's head only reached up to Favian's fragile chest.
As he looked Favian up and down, the rather scrawny boy stated, "My friends and I, Gerald and John are going around collecting payment for travel protection. You have yet to pay the 1 gold fee for our protection services, so cough up that money right now. We wouldn't want anything to happen to you, am I right?"
"What? A 1 gold fee? I didn't hear anything about this cost when I was asked to join one of the academies," muttered Favian in surprise. He knew that these individuals saw that his carriage was rather run-down. They knew he was poor and just wanted to beat the crap out of somebody with the excuse of protection payment.
Anger flared up in the eyes of the young boy, and he proceeded to motion towards Gerald and John, "Hold him back, let me teach this disrespectful beggar a lesson here. How dare a lowly servant tarnish the profession of a mage."
Before Favian could realise what was going on, he was flanked by Gerald, who held his arms up in the air whilst constraining his neck. It was then that the leader of the group threw a punch at his stomach.
The instinct to cover up his stomach was completely stopped by Gerald, who kept picking him back up off the ground and placing him in a position to get hit again and again. No matter what he tried, he wasn't allowed to protect himself.
After the sixth punch to his stomach, Favian couldn't help it anymore and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Help me, somebody, I'm being murdered!"
Right after this cry for help, a mysterious pressure exploded in the area. It was almost as if the amount of gravitational pressure on his body was increasing. His body felt a lot heavier and he couldn't help but get down on one knee, whilst trying his hardest to resist against the crushing pressure from above.
Favian could feel a new presence from above, a terrifying power emanating from a figure as it swooped down to the path between Favian and his three assailants, who were now lying on the floor with their faces pressed against the snow. Absolute fear was painted against the canvas of their faces.
"Now what do we have here? Attempting to fight against another candidate before trials have even begun?" a powerful voice reached his ears, whilst a sweet fragrance of perfume lifted his nose towards this individual.
Standing 6 feet tall was a dark-haired woman, with brown eyes and a complexion so snowy, that her skin almost seemed to blend in with the snow surrounding them. Her eyes twinkled with a playful light as she looked onto Favian, who was trying his best not to fall onto his face as the three others had.
[Accomplishment achieved - Damsel in distress: Get saved by a beautiful heroine in a time of need. 50 experience received.]
Chapter 2 – Kindness
'Huh? Wasn't that the World of Exile game system? But I'm not in a game right now, what does this mean?' Favian opened his eyes wide in surprise, unable to believe this turn of events.
'Not only have I been reincarnated, but my favourite game system has come along on this weird journey with me.' Favian didn't know whether to laugh or cry with this newfound information.
[Ding! System can confirm that the host is not asleep! Host is currently under 4 times the planet's gravitational pressure. Would you like the system to initialize a protective barrier around the host? Mana required: 10.]
'Yes please, quickly!' he replied in his mind. This whole sequence of talking with his game system took less than a second to occur, thus the onlookers would not have been able to notice any difference in Favian's mannerism.
A translucent barrier suddenly formed around Favian, and the pressure which was weighing him down slowly started to subside. With much effort, he was able to get back up on his feet.
'Breathe Favian, breathe. Everything is gonna be fine. Let's see if we can get some help here from this woman.'
Before he could get any words out of his mouth, the dark-haired woman moved closer to him and spoke, "Interesting. Already able to use a novice barrier spell without casting. Why don't you come with me to the front of the carriages?" She paused, looking at the carriage which Favian had just come out of, and then replied, "The conditions will be a lot better with me, I'm sure you're smart enough to assume this."
"Yes ma'am, it would be an honour," Favian replied, and gave a courteous bow, lowering his head to his hips, still breathing heavily due to the punches to his stomach. This was the natural way for an individual to greet somebody from a much higher standing than oneself on the continent, according to the foreign memories he now possessed.
"Oh, and he even has some manners, unlike these pieces of filth. I am starting to like you more and more, young man. Now, why don't we move to somewhere quieter," she said whilst smiling at Favian.
Without waiting for him to reply, she grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him around her shoulders, proceeding to fly off into the air at a supersonic speed. The feeling of being this high in the air without a parachute left him frightened, making him shut his eyes tightly.
He felt completely powerless from the moment he woke up in this strange new world. It had only been a couple of minutes but Favian already resolved in his mind to learn as much as he could so that he wouldn't ever have to feel like he had no control in his life again.
After roughly a minute Favian felt himself slowly descend towards the ground. Having mustered up the courage to open his eyes, he was met by some of the most beautiful scenery he had ever seen. Next to a waterfall filled with some of the most pristine water imaginable, a campfire illuminated the dark campsite where multiple carriages had stopped to rest for the night. Smoke slowly drifted up from the campfire, spreading towards the surroundings that were littered with tall pine trees, standing unnaturally tall at roughly 60 meters. The snow which covered these led to an even more unique feel to the area, and the bustle of various people chatting added to the inviting feeling he received from this place.
After landing on the ground, Favian was brought into a rather large tent by the dark-haired lady. After exchanging pleasantries and asking about the different academies, Favian found out that her name was Aria, a magic instructor from the Dusk Academy.
She explained to him that all individuals would be asked to go through some quick preliminary testing when they reached their destination in a couple of days, and that this testing would simply be to gauge every initiate's magical potential. The higher a person's magical potential, the more offers they would receive from various academies.
Magical potential could be increased through the usage of various potions and herbal concoctions
, thus those individuals from noble backgrounds had an inherent advantage when it came to securing offers. Not only did they have such potions to increase their intelligence, which would, in turn, increase their mana pools and magical capability, however, those of noble standing would usually have instructors who taught them magic from their childhood. Mana was used in a variety of ways, but its main use was for spellcasting. A larger mana pool would mean an individual could keep flinging spell after spell without getting tired.
As academies only accepted individuals from 14 years of age and upwards, this was already a 14-year advantage that they had on Favian.
After their conversation ended, Aria brought Favian to a small tent near the campfire and motioned for him to go in.
"You should go to sleep. It’s already gotten dark, and you look like you need some rest. Come to my tent first thing in the morning, I've got something important that I want to talk to you about," Aria said and smiled at Favian before walking back towards her tent.
'This is so weird, why is she being so nice to me? I mean I won't complain but I bet that whatever she wants to talk about in the morning will have something to do with her overbearing kindness.'
Having been 20 years old in his previous life, Favian believed he was much more mature than all of the other youths that were going to enrol at magic academies. This would give him an edge, he thought to himself, as he already knew how to work hard on command to accomplish his goals; especially since he went to medical school, where he’d rarely get a break from studying.
Looking in the reflection of a mirror placed in his tent, Favian could finally see what he looked like. He had very dark hair, with some hues of purple spread across, which fell onto his shoulders. His eyes were similarly peculiar, as they were a dark brown but would move towards a more purple colour whenever he focused more intently at them.
'Must be an effect of the magic in my body or something,' he thought to himself. 'But I seem more handsome, despite my malnourished appearance.'
