Chapter 1: Fleeting Moment

 

*krashhh* 

 

 I looked at my phone at 11:34 AM, a flashing light engulfed my vision, all I heard was the sound of wheels grinding against the asphalt road. It was a crossroad, the lights had turned green and countless people walked the open path. When suddenly. 

*Honk!* 

It was the sound of a horn, deep and loud, accompanied by bright lights. I looked to my left, all I saw were two sources of light on a flat surface a meter apart, in between was the sound of a roaring engine and malfunctioning machinery. 

This was all that came to my mind coming back to my senses before finally realizing that my life was about to end, just like that.

*Bam!* 

I was a mechanical engineer and a physicist studying astrology and the concept of dark energy. I have already won countless Nobel prizes to commemorate my achievements, and to top it all off, I finally finished designing a prototype that can harness the dark energy which holds up the universe. 

But fate didn’t allow it. On the night I finished conjuring the design, I, unfortunately, got hit by a truck and died. 

Age? I was 34, no child, no family. And my wife… As an orphan, I rose through the academic boundaries that were limited to me and made world contributions that could finally deal with the energy crisis. 

 

just to help fund the cure for her.

 

‘Was it too much to ask for?’

 

*sigh*

*pause*

 

‘Just… what is happening?’ 

In fact, I was very much alive. 

Looking through a water basin, I saw a reflection of myself. 

Same black hair and grey eyes as before but a skin full of vitality, young, and wrinkleless. Small arms, big eyes. For whatever reason, I was witnessing a younger version of me within this reflection.

Observing the room, it was not a rejuvenating facility or anything medically inclined, in fact it could not have been well-rated for health standards just based on the mold growing within the walls. 

It looked old, out of bricks, coated in a rotting sheet of wood. Blackish stains are everywhere on the floor, and the bed is looking squeaky too. Unsuitable for human health & safety regulation. 

My apparel looked old too, not the usual T-Shirt I used to wear but something akin to a wool shirt. After observation, it was worn out and torn in some places, the same could be said for my pants, it had no garters nor buttons. 

It looked like a cutout of an old potato sack stitched together. 

 

The water container in front of me was out of wood. And adding to my confusion, books are scattered all over the room containing weird hieroglyphs or symbols. 

It was in an unknown language I have never seen before. Though strangely enough, I could understand it. 

 

*gulp* 

 

All of my curiosity went to the books rather than my overall situation. Slowly, I walked off the squeaky bed, grabbed one of the scattered works off the floor and read through it. 

 

“Magic Introduction part 5” 

 

Was written on the cover of the book. I do not know what is happening to me and where this place is, but I did not expect the content of this book. I read through, the language used to write it was very comprehensible for some reason, I continued to absorb all the information it contained. 

 

“Mana is present in all living beings. Magic can be manifested by creating magic spells and conjuring said magic can only be done if the user has enough ‘Circles’ engraved in their hearts” 

 

Soon enough, slowly page to page, I realized that this place. This world is not the world I knew, but in fact, a vastly different world where magic exists.

While I read through the book, my heart became excited, and blood started to circulate faster throughout my body as I sucked the knowledge from the book without rest. Something hot welled up inside of me, the size of a small bead in my heart, an unknown ‘object’ orbited it. 

 

“For each user, the engraved Circle correlates to their capabilities. If you are birthed in a rich family with all the resources to aid your growth, the overall talent of said capabilities is exponentially higher than that of normal folks. 

 

A mana breathing style is also factored in this talent, each noble families pass on their unique breathing styles to accumulate mana in their hearts in their own attributes. An example of this would be the family of Eisenfuer, Ice attribute magicians known for unending frost magic.” 

As I delved deeper and deeper into the book, I found something interesting. Mana breathing is only available to those who can and kept out from those who cannot. If mana breathing is not present in the initial stages of the creation of the circle, the overall output of their circle is significantly reduced. No matter their efforts and resources. 

In the book, a systematic design is engraved on the pages teaching about the basics of magic breathing, but not the creation of the ‘Circle’. It was a farfetched jump, so I looked through the other books scattered around hoping to find the different parts of the series. 

 

But 

 

“Only Part 5 and 8 for magic, part 3 for Aura… “ 

 

I had only memorized the contents of part 5, I gritted my teeth while flipping part 8 of the magic books. Similarly to part 5, it spoke about spells this time, but the difficulty of the subject drastically increased. 

It was.

 

‘Spell creation’ 

 

I was already missing the introduction on Circles, never mind spell creation. It is too much of a jump when reading only volume 5 and 8 of a series that goes from 1 to 10. A huge chunk of information is missing, as a piece for my curiosity, but I wasn't giving up like that. 

Utilizing these pieces of information, I delved deeper into the 8th book and read the contents without delay. 

“By adding commands into the magic spells, a circle is formed with the endowed effects. Fire, wind, water and earth. Subsequent attributes are a fusion of two of the four elements but they are significantly harder to conjure due to its difficulty and the required affinity for two elements.”

 

Listing all the problems, first, I need a ‘circle’, second, I need a suitable breathing technique and third, I need an affinity for the attribute. None of that was specified in the book but something I surmised from it which must be taken on in steps. 

 

“And while I got into it…” 

Up next, was the Aura book. 

 

“Aura is the source of life energy within all beings.”

 

Unlike the other two books, this one was damaged to some degree. Stains and cuts around the cover, while it looked mildly complete, it is still missing some of the parts essential for creating an Aura point.

 

“Aura points are special areas in the body that can contain life energy. One common area is above the abdomen, where most martial artists and swordmasters gather this energy. In special occasions, some may gather their aura in their eyes to bring forth effects worth noting.” 

 

Just like the Magic books… This book or guide didn't specifically mention how to gather aura. 

Judging by the state of the room and the books, it would seem to me that the owner of this body came from a poor family. Upon closer inspection of this body, it is slightly malnourished and weak. 

Even the books take quite a lot of strength to carry. 

 

“...should I try it?” 

 

Even if it was insignificant, I felt something around my heart. This child, even without the proper training and knowledge, managed to create a single circle around his heart. Although my feelings told me, it lacked the capability to ‘grow’ and ‘expel’, managing itself only by storing the ambient mana in my body. 

I felt a sense of familiarity once from a weird object within my heart I had found, mana. And judging by the state of the Circle, it seems it will continually ‘store’ more mana as time passes. It sounds like a good attribute for a circle, but, if this goes on in this current state, my body will eventually explode. 

Even now, the hot tingling sensation in my heart is slowly getting stronger and more painful as if needles are poking me every passing second, limiting the blood flow in my body. 

It was… 

‘Incredibly inefficient! ‘ 

I mostly saw this circle as nothing more than a parasite eating away at my body. This child succeeded, but at the cost of the circle failing his own life in the future if unmanaged. 

Or maybe the child has already passed on and I took his place… 

It is not far-fetched, but the present is more important. 

I etched countless ‘lines’ in my mind, following the same concept as the ‘Circle’ and distributing it through ‘channels’ around my body to evenly attribute the load. Connecting the line and the circle, the pain subsided, but it wasn't enough. 

Slowly but surely, sweat began to pile up on my body while I took a seating position that would let me concentrate as much as possible to manipulate the ‘mana’ in my body. 

What made up a circle? 

It is a device capable of storing, growing, and expelling mana out of the body. Essentially a battery slowly charged by ambient mana. But more importantly, what is mana? 

Mana is… 

Suddenly, the dots seemed to connect inside my head. I was brought a revelation, a reminder from my past self. The blueprint for the prototype. 

Using that as an inspiration, I took up the knowledge I had just absorbed and modified the Circle already present in my heart. Breaking it down to its core components and analyzing each part’ 

Should you be limited to a circle in the first place? 

What would happen if I didn't have a circle? 

Countless ideas rushed into my mind, I considered, but putting them into practice was more challenging than I imagined. 

Minutes turned to hours. Later on. 

“Finished” 

I have already disassembled the Mana Circle in my heart, and instead, ‘Circuits’ cover my whole body. With only a slight activation, the Circuits would glow blue, and when turned off, the Circuits naturally disappear. 

“This is… fun.”