Under the shade of the ancient oak tree in the Eastern Forest, Alphonse sat cross-legged. His golden eyes were shut tight. He focused his entire consciousness inward, drawing energy from the surrounding air to replenish his depleted mana.
Knowing that death was a real and permanent threat in this world, Alphonse cursed his own recklessness. Forcing the use of the Akashic Terminal until he nearly hit critical limits was sheer stupidity. He had allowed his ego and curiosity to override his rationality.
Fortunately, during the hour he spent meditating, not a single wild monster caught his scent while he was at his weakest.
Alphonse slowly opened his eyes. He let out a long breath, producing a thin wisp of vapor.
"The mana density in this area is far too thin," he muttered, sounding dissatisfied.
In Orion Online, if he sat meditating without the aid of any recovery items, his mana capacity would fully replenish in just one hour. But here in the Eastern Forest, after a full hour of absorbing natural mana from the air, his reserves hadn't even reached the twenty-five percent mark.
His mind drifted to memories of the past, to the bustling player forums that constantly glorified the figure of Enki—the holder of the Aquarius job.
The player base of Orion Online recognized Enki as the mage with the highest mana capacity and regeneration rate in the entire server. Alphonse still remembered an epic moment during a massive guild war, when Enki stood alone at the vanguard and cast a spell that conjured a giant tsunami, endlessly swallowing an entire division of enemy troops.
Alphonse smiled faintly, a cold arrogance lacing his expression. "They have never seen what truly deserves to be called an ocean of mana."
His job, Akashic, wasn't a combat class armed with a barrage of highly destructive spells. However, the system designed this job for one singular purpose: to bear the absolute weight of the universe's knowledge.
The maximum capacity and mana regeneration rate of an Akashic existed on an entirely different dimensional scale, even when compared to Aquarius.
Although Alphonse's basic magical attack power might be slightly below average for a Level 100 Mage, even Enki would have to bow down if they ever compared the depths of their mana oceans.
"If I had a combat job like Aquarius along with its entire collection of offensive magic, combined with this Akashic mana capacity... I could wipe out a mid-tier guild single-handedly," Alphonse thought.
In fact, his energy capacity was so massive that back in the game, he routinely wasted mana using the Akashic Terminal just to ask completely trivial questions.
He did it purely out of annoyance whenever Arcus started comparing him to Enki as fellow max-level mages.
In the eyes of the public and millions of casual players, Alphonse was known by a completely different image. They knew nothing about his Akashic job.
The public viewed him as a cunning politician, an economic dictator, the holder of logistical monopolies, and bestowed him the title "The Nexus Sovereign" as one of the Ten Kings.
Only the twenty-two core members of the Pioneer Guild knew the truth about his class and abilities.
In front of his core members, Alphonse often referred to himself as "The Akashic Sovereign." He intentionally used that arrogant-sounding title purely to provoke a reaction from Arcus, annoying the blonde prince so much that he would start rambling off a string of bizarre, self-invented chunibyo titles in retaliation.
Thinking of his childhood friend, Alphonse stood up. He brushed the dry leaves off his cloak.
"It's about time I pick up that idiot."
Armed with the spatial coordinates he obtained from the Akashic Terminal, Alphonse prepared a spatial displacement spell. He decided to find Arcus first.
Even though the last visual showed the man laughing maniacally and in complete control of his battle, as a guild master, Alphonse chose not to take any risks.
Alphonse extended his hand downward.
[Tier A - Teleportation]
Instead of casting it instantly, Alphonse let mana flow from the tips of his boots, drawing a complex magic circle on the ground. Even though this spell was already at Level 10, a new mechanic restrained it.
As a spatial manipulation spell, he had to input the specific destination coordinates. In the game, he only needed to visualize a location on the map. In this world, since he had never set foot where Arcus was, he was forced to manually input the spatial coordinate numbers one by one into the rune structure of the magic circle.
The final rune locked into place. Silver light exploded, swallowing Alphonse's figure, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished without a trace from the silent Eastern Forest.
The night wind blew, carrying the foul stench of damp earth and sulfur. In a vast swamp shrouded in a thin mist, the dark sky suddenly tore open.
A reddish-gold projectile of light plummeted violently toward the earth. There was no deafening explosion, no dirt scattering into the air.
As the light touched the muddy surface of the swamp, its glow faded gracefully, revealing a tall man dressed in a maroon suit.
His eyelids fluttered open, revealing a pair of sharp, gleaming blue eyes. The Sirius Piercer bow rested firmly on his back.
Arcus turned his head, staring at the endless expanse of the dark swamp. His brow furrowed deeply.
"Is today April Fools'?" Arcus said with his signature theatrical tone, his voice breaking the silence of the swamp.
He immediately noticed the anomalies. His field of vision was far too clean. The system interface, the mini-map, the rows of HP bars, and the party list—everything was gone.
Arcus raised his hand and performed a swift swiping gesture. "Menu! Guild Log! Quest List!"
No blue panels responded to his call.
"Oh, Game Masters hiding behind the false sky, reveal yourselves!" he shouted at the heavens.
Only his own echoing voice bounced between the swamp trees.
Arcus lowered his hand. He took a deep breath of the night air. The foul stench of rotting carcasses, acidic mud, and dampness pierced through his nasal cavity.
The night wind swept through his blonde hair, bringing a chilling sensation that tickled his skin.
Fueled by curiosity, Arcus raised his right hand and pinched his left cheek hard.
"Ouch!"
The stinging sensation and the throbbing jolt of pain instantly flared up. This wasn't the dulled, artificial pain whose parameters were lowered by a gaming pod capsule. This was genuine, real pain.
Suddenly, Arcus's shoulders began to tremble. He lowered his head, and a second later, uproarious laughter erupted from his throat.
"Hahahaha! This isn't a dream! The myth is actually real!"
Arcus spread his arms wide, challenging the night. His secret dream—one that Alphonse constantly mocked—had finally come true.
He had been reincarnated into a new world, possessing the majestic form of his game character along with the full power of a Level 100 player.
However, his booming laughter acted as an invitation to the starving denizens of the swamp.
From behind the dense fog and muddy puddles, glowing yellowish-green dots began to ignite one by one. Hundreds of pairs of reptilian monster eyes locked onto him as their target.
To a normal human, this pitch-black night was a blinding graveyard. But Arcus's blue eyes were the manifestation of his job's passive ability: Sagittarius Eye.
The darkness of the swamp was unveiled to him as clearly as a landscape bathed in the midday sun. Every single scale, every drop of venomous saliva dripping from the monsters' jaws was crystal clear.
He immediately recognized them. Swamp Lizards.
Giant lizard-like monsters that were Level 20 in the game. And now, he was completely surrounded by hundreds of them.
Instead of feeling intimidated, the smile on Arcus's face only grew wider, bearing his teeth. He felt as if the universe was rolling out a red carpet to welcome him, just like the main character of an epic novel.
"Oh, gods who sit upon your thrones above," Arcus declared loudly, brushing his blonde hair back. "Witness the opening act of a legend... Arcus the Sagittarius!"
The monsters seemed insulted by his blatant disregard. With a raspy, mud-shaking roar, hundreds of Swamp Lizards charged all at once.
Their webbed feet tore through the wet ground, rushing forward ferociously like a tidal wave ready to shred the arrogant man to pieces.
Arcus smirked cynically. His right hand moved at lightning speed toward his back, drawing the Sirius Piercer bow.
[Tier D - Light Arrow]
One pull of the string. An arrow of pure light materialized. The string snapped forward.
A streak of light sliced through the night air and struck dead center between the eyes of the leading Swamp Lizard. The monster's head exploded in a geyser of blood.
Arcus felt an incredible sensation. There was no interface guiding his hand. Everything felt like pure muscle reflex.
He pulled his bowstring again. This time, he didn't stop.
[Tier D - Light Arrow]
[Tier D - Light Arrow]
[Tier D - Light Arrow]
[Tier D - Light Arrow]
Golden light flickered like a machine gun. Four giant lizards collapsed in sequence with gaping holes in their skulls.
Arcus's eyes widened with pure joy. He realized one crucial fact. His rate of fire was vastly faster than it was in the game.
He twisted his body, dodging a splash of toxic mud. His fingers wove mana together.
[Tier C - Piercing Ray]
A straight beam of light shot out, penetrating the thick carapaces of five Swamp Lizards lined up in front of him simultaneously.
[Tier C - Piercing Ray]
[Tier C - Piercing Ray]
[Tier C - Piercing Ray]
The rays of death swept across his surroundings repeatedly. Lizard carcasses piled up with scorched holes burning through their bodies.
Arcus laughed freely amidst the bloodshed. "Of course it's faster! Ridiculous limits like Skill Cooldowns are dead! My own body is the only limit!"
Although Arcus had easily slaughtered dozens of monsters, the swamp housed far too many of them. A second wave of Swamp Lizards swarmed in, trampling over the corpses of their kin, closing the distance until the foul stench of their breath was undeniably clear.
"Time to take a more artistic vantage point."
[Tier B - Fly]
Gravity released its grip. Arcus's body shot into the air, hovering high above the reach of the filthy jaws snapping desperately below him.
From the night sky, he looked down. His Sagittarius Eye stretched his line of sight all the way to the horizon. He could see every ripple in the water, every tiny insect resting on the tip of a leaf miles away.
Arcus laughed in absolute glee. "Hahaha! The seal on my eyes has been broken! The render distance limit from that damn graphics engine is gone! That four-eyed Alphonse will never be able to mock my vision again!"
He drew his bow back fully. It was time for a colossal performance.
[Tier A - Clone]
[Tier B - Decoy Shoot]
[Tier C - Multi Shoot]
To his left, light projection solidified, forming an illusory figure identical to himself. The clone raised its bow, mirroring its master's movements with deadly precision.
Arcus looked up, staring at the dimly glowing twin moons.
"Oh gods, witness the weeping sky that welcomes my arrival... Rain of the Fallen Star!"
Alongside his clone, Arcus unleashed his shot into the heavens. Hundreds of light arrows streaked upward, leaving behind faint after-images that suddenly solidified into a barrage of real, magical arrows.
A rain of deadly light plummeted from the night sky.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack! Thwack!
The sound of tearing flesh and desperate shrieks echoed out. The swamp turned into an absolute slaughterhouse.
Hundreds of arrows bombarded the muddy terrain, pinning the bodies of the Swamp Lizards to the ground. Arcus laughed uproariously from above, intoxicated by the power and freedom surging through his veins.
After a few brutal seconds, the rain of light ceased. The clone projection beside Arcus dissolved into dust particles.
As Arcus looked down, a highly satisfying sight was laid bare. Hundreds of giant lizard corpses lay lifeless.
However, his sharp eyes caught a twitch of movement. At the far edge of the swamp, a few monsters had managed to survive outside the arrow rain's radius. Among them was a monster with a fiery red crest, twice the size of the rest.
The Swamp Lizard King.
The vicious beast that was supposed to be the tyrant of this territory was now scrambling away, dragging its tail in a blind panic to escape the blonde demon in the sky.
"A grand prologue requires a perfect concluding sentence," Arcus said with an arrogant smirk.
He flew even higher, past the thin cloud formations. He pulled the string of the Sirius Piercer until it arched tightly. Incredibly dense mana energy gathered at his fingertips.
[Tier S - Nova Blast]
An orb of light formed in the center of his bowstring. The light was so brilliantly blinding that it washed away all the darkness of the night.
For a few seconds, the swamp below was bathed in light as bright as midday.
Arcus let his fingers slip.
The orb of light shot forward, slicing through the air. Its speed far exceeded the capability of biological eyes to track. The shot struck dead center on the back of the Swamp Lizard King, who was looking back in sheer terror.
ZRAAAASSH!
BOOOOOOOOOM!
A catastrophic thermal light explosion erupted. A violent shockwave swept away everything in its path. The scorching air slapped Arcus's face in the sky, forcing him to cross his arms to shield his eyes from the dust and boiling steam.
The explosion evaporated the swamp water instantly. The carcasses of the Swamp Lizards were incinerated to ash.
As the light faded, Arcus slowly descended back to the ground. His expensive dress shoes now stepped onto swamp terrain that was no longer muddy.
The incredibly massive temperature of the explosion had melted the mud, turning a radius of hundreds of meters of the swamp into a smoking sheet of glass mirror.
Arcus puffed out his chest, beginning to spout his nonsensical monologue.
"With this, the darkness has been purified. This land of glass shall bear silent witness to the first steps of the—"
His sentence was cut off.
A cold chill swept across the back of his neck. His sixth sense, honed on the battlefield, detected something. A distortive spatial fluctuation.
The energy was stable, yet it felt incredibly threatening, manifesting not far behind him.
The arrogant laughter and theatrical smile on Arcus's face vanished instantly.
His features hardened, his gaze shifting into the hyper-alert glare of a predator. His chunibyo prince mode died, instantly replaced by the aura of an elite combat protagonist.
In one smooth, silent motion, Arcus spun his body one hundred and eighty degrees. He lowered his stance, pulled the string of the Sirius Piercer taut, and aimed the tip of a lethal light arrow straight at the flash of light materializing right in front of him.