Capítulo 1: I was blasted to another world when I asked an omniscient being a philosophical question.
What's the point in life?
They say that at the end of the day, we all have to die, so why bother living when the ultimate purpose of life is death?
Some say life's purpose may be to improve the world. Others may believe that the point of life is to find and achieve personal fulfilment. And some may feel that the point of life is simply to enjoy it as much as possible.
Once, a boy went to great lengths to uncover the mystery called life.
Julius Ainsworth, a.k.a. myself,
I was born into a pretty well-established Ainsworth magi family; I was born above average in all aspects of my life, whether it was looks, potential, magic circuit quality, or quantity. Even though I wasn't the best nut in the world, I was at least passable.
I wished to learn the truth of the universe, just like every other magi. Still, instead of taking the traditional route of researching the artificial way of creating mystery, also known as magecraft, I reasoned that the ultimate way to reach root is through death.
According to the big bang theory, everything that originates ends at the same point.
If the root is the creation of everything, doesn't that mean it will be the end of everything?
In order to test this hypothesis, I took the extreme measure of committing suicide. Well, it's common knowledge that Magi are completely insane in their pursuit of truth, so...
But fate was cruel, and it shot me down mercilessly. A mere mortal wasn't allowed to see through mysteries, much less the concept of life.
But I didn't give up; my persistence led me to a plane that mortals or even the gods couldn't reach.
The origin.
The creation of all
The Swirl of Root.
However, instead of his questions getting answered, he was turned down and blasted so hard that he was sent to another world.
Not without a twist, nonetheless, reaching the root has consequences. more than he could ever afford as his humanity was stripped away the moment he arrived at the root.
******
"It's a bit chilly today," a boy with an above-average appearance commented while looking down the streets of a mundane city known as Kuoh.
He was fair and was around 5'11 taller than your average shounen protagonist, and he had a relatively sturdy build. For the most part, he was an average guy one could find anywhere, but he had one redeeming feature, which was his crimson-red eyes.
"Here is your pizza, Manami-San," the boy said curtly as he handed a packaged box to the woman, looking at him with a smile.
"Thanks, Rei-Kun, you seem a bit off today; is something wrong?" The woman inquired with interest; she looked to be in her early 30s and was the stereotypically attractive and voluptuous Japanese housewife.
"Nothing serious Minami-san, just a bit tired; school is a bit hectic nowadays; the final exam is also nearing, and I still have a lot to study."
The boy's name was Rei Nakamura, or rather, it was his new name ever since he came to this world. First of all, he didn't like this name; it was too generic, but there is nothing he can do about it since changing the name is too troublesome.
But at the end of the day, it wasn't something serious, so he learned to live with it.
"Ara, I wonder what would happen to that muscle-brain daughter of mine in the final exams if someone like Rei-Kun himself is getting worried over it," the woman said in a sardonic tone as she giggled sweetly.
Rei looked at the woman with a sigh; he knew what she was trying to imply, but he remained silent nonetheless.
On the other hand, the woman was dissatisfied with Rei's lack of response and pouted a bit.
"Will Rei-Kun help my daughter to study? You know about her, right? She is overly focused on her kendo and hasn't studied in a long time. Don't worry, Rei-Kun, I am not asking for it for free; in fact, I am more than willing to pay you; how does 4000 yen for a session sound?"
As the woman said, she inclined a bit towards Rei with a smirk; she intentionally flashed a good portion of her cleavage to him.
Rei, on the other hand, sighed, 'When will she give up?'
"Manami-San, you don't need to seduce me; And you know my situation right, I barely have time for myself, and it is inconvenient for me to help your daughter in my time schedule," Rei said casually that Mina Manami was the name of this woman; she is the mother of his classmate Murayama and one of the regular customers of his shop.
"Gentleman as always, Rei-Kun though I suggest you become a bit more daring, girls these days don't like those polite-mushy boys, and Mura-chan herself like bad boys, if you continue this I am afraid no girl will take a liking to you, and as for the offer. It still stands, you can take your time to think about it," Mina said with a grin, as she left the shop, but not without paying for the pizza she brought.
Rei sighed in amusement; this woman was interesting as always.
It has been a month since he was transported into this world.
Situations like this reminded him that no matter how similar the worlds are in their culture and technology, there are still significant differences between the current world he was in and the original world he was from.
He has been attempting to remain anonymous for the past month.
A new world is never easy to adjust to, but Rei did well considering he is a magus who has read many theories regarding the existence of parallel worlds, especially when there is true magic available that grants access to an infinite amount of worlds. Rei believes Root sent him to this world because it was related to the question he asked.
And it is on him to figure out the purpose of his existence in this world.
That aside, there is something funny about this world; the magic in the air is off the charts and noticeably denser than it is supposed to be.
In comparison, the mana density is approximately ten times greater than in his previous world, and magecraft would thrive in a world like this where the mystery is constantly generated due to the astronomical amount of mana present in mere air.
If that is the case, Rei is truly curious about all the holy lands, such as Mount Olympus, Takamagahara, etc. He is pretty sure they must be generating enough mana to empower the entire earth, considering the spiritual land of the gods is built on divine ley lines and faith threads. Rei would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in going there; after all, the gods are too juicy to be left alone in the eyes of a magus(?) like him.
"Well that was hectic, I better go now, it's already quite late," Rei muttered while looking at the clock, it was already 7 P.M. Though usually, he closes his shop around 10 he decided to call it off a day since he was a bit tired and he had some other things to do.
Rei closed his shop and left the street, ever since he came into this world he decided to run a shop to stay financially stable considering unlike his previous life he didn't have near unlimited wealth, well first-class magus families were stupidly rich, and he was no exception.
Though opening a shop was a bit of a hassle considering he needed a ton of legal documents to get things started but memory manipulation magecraft did the trick for the most part and considering it isn't the digital age where all records were kept in computers it is quite easy to manipulate something like a business permit.
Rei started his brief walk towards his home at a medium pace. Kuoh was a relatively small town situated in the east-west direction of Kyoto. Small but peaceful—that's how Kuoh can be summed up.
"I'm home, dad, and please do not leave your old socks in the corridor; the entire place stinks now," Rei spoke snarkily, as he pinched his nose. It was annoying.
"It's what happens when your only son isn't here to help his single father," a grumpy voice from the kitchen said, and Rei mentally sighed as he walked to the kitchen.
A black-haired man in his late thirties could be seen cooking; even though he was old, he could still be considered handsome and had a lean body, though, unlike his son, he had sharp golden eyes.
This was Amon Nakamura, Rei's father and one of his only remaining family members, along with his elder sister, in this world. Rei's mother died when he was young due to chronic illness, so Amon was a single father and raised Rei's sister and Rei since they were young.
"Whatever, old man, just don't do it again; it's very annoying, especially something so childish coming from you," Ren spoke as he took a can of cola from the fridge and walked away towards his room.
"You're speaking a lot for a brat," his father said while Rei simply closed and locked his room.
"Well, time to continue the research," Rei said to no one in particular, but a small hole appeared beneath his feet, made of translucent blue cubes, from which he fell to god knows where.
******
Kalawener's eyes blinked open, only to shut tightly against the harsh light blinding her. Eyes closed, the woman lifted her arms to further block out the glaring light.
Rather, she tried to, only to find her arms unable to move. They were stuck at her sides, her wrists restrained to the surface of whatever she was currently laying on. The woman managed to crack an eye open against the light and look around.
The room was stark white, the walls covered in clear plastic. The scent of rubbing alcohol made her nose wrinkle in distaste. Kalawener could see that she was strapped to a steel table with enchanted steel restraints holding her arms and legs still.
She scowled as she considered them; her supernatural strength should have made quick work of such mundane bindings if not for them being enchanted.
A thrill of unease went through her as she considered the reason for her weakness: this place was slowly syphoning out her magical energy. It wasn't at an excessive rate to kill her, but enough to weaken her significantly to the point she could barely keep her eyes open.
She has been trapped in this location for three hours.
It was supposed to be a simple assignment for scout Rei Nakamura, a completely ordinary human with no special background, who is suspected to have awakened sacred gear. However, her superiors changed her orders halfway through, so instead of scouting, she now has to eliminate him.
Again, it's nothing tough, right?
But only God knew how wrong she was.
It was supposed to be a trap, a well-designed trap by her; she transforms herself into a high school girl and asks him out on a date, and they go on a date, yada yada, and at the end, she leads him to her bound fields, where she kills him and extracts his sacred gear. She has been doing this for decades, and it has worked every time, considering a mere human teenager cannot resist her beauty and falls right into her trap.
However, this trip went differently.
The moment she reached out for him, a jab was sent straight to her face, breaking her nose. It was so powerful that she lost consciousness, and the only thing she managed to see at that time was a grinning boy with crimson eyes, staring at her while saying some incomprehensible words.
"Finally you have woken up. I have been waiting for quite a long time to get my hands on a fallen angel, you know?" A dry baritone rang out from behind her.
Rei Nakamura stood near her. His expression was blank and professional; his crimson eyes, however, were looking at her with a predatory grin.
Saying Rei was excited would be an understatement; he almost freaked out and went nuts when he finally caught a fallen angel, because, as he said earlier, this world still pertains to the Age of God, the ultimate era of mystery.
Thus phantasmal creatures still walked on this planet, such as angels, devils, dragons, and whatnot.
As a magus, it is simply a dream come true to study these creatures since their hierarchy is higher than humans, which means they are capable of generating mysteries on their own.
And now in front of him is a fallen angel, a phantasmal species made by the biblical god himself. Even if she has fallen, that still doesn't change her origin or elemental value; as a creation of a divine being, her body itself must be a treasure trove.
"Now, what should I do with you? Should I analyse your constitution, your inherent abilities, or maybe your soul? That would mess up your spiritual core, dammit! I should have learned spiritual arts, it's a shame; maybe I should turn you into a magic crest; at least I'll get your abilities and my mana source will increase," Rei muttered to himself.
He was more interested in dissecting her and studying her bodily constitution because he had previously studied necromancy and dark arts.
However, that would be too wasteful, though he was also interested in studying her soul since she was artificially created similar to the homunculus of the highest level and must have some sort of divine blessing that allows her to call forth the power of light.
But he wasn't a spiritual doctor; he knew the basics but wasn't confident enough to rip her soul without collateral damage. She is an important subject to him until he manages to catch another fallen angel, so he can't risk her dying without getting anything.
So the best thing to do is make a completely new magic crest out of her. The first generation of a family's magic crest is developed by implanting a fragment of some lost phantasmal species or mystic code, called a "core." So what if he uses her entire self as a magic crest's core? That would be awesome, no?
Or wait—maybe turn her into a mystic code? That seems like a nice idea too.
"Well... There are a lot of options, but we will start with the basics. Brace up, fallen angel; this is going to hurt like hell."
The boy cleared the table, setting down a vial of strange liquid. He then lifted a briefcase from the floor and set it next to her body, fiddling with the lock as he did so. The lock clicked, and the briefcase opened...
Rei smiled at her now, softly and gently, with a dark glint entering his crimson orbs, and Kalawener suddenly understood that she was afraid.
"I have high hopes for you. So please don't break until I've finished with you."
No scratch that, she was terrified.
*****END*****