Snow County sat at the extreme north of Uyzher Kingdom, locked in winter all year round. A legend held that it was the birthplace of the Snow Phoenix — one of the four legendary deities. Some speculated this was the reason for its brutal climate. Others argued it was simply the geography. But everyone agreed on one thing: it was an ideal place for Ice Mages to train.
Within Snow County stood a manor belonging to a wealthy noble family — one headed by a Count, named Count Volheim III.
In one of the manor's rooms, a young man in thick clothing leaned against the wall, staring at the window in front of him. Outside, children were building snowmen in the snow, laughing with easy smiles. The young man watched in silence. Then, after a long moment, he pushed off the wall and settled into the chair behind him.
"Isn't this the Mystic Ice Manor from five years ago?" he muttered. "It seems the rumor about the Book of Chaos being able to reincarnate people and send them through time was actually true."
That's right. He was Alzer Volheim — the young heir of the Volheim Family, and the man who would become Royal Mage in the future. What he had executed in that final battle was a forbidden spell of staggering complexity: Reincarnation to Destruction, a spell that allowed a person to travel into the past. He had sacrificed his own flesh and blood to shield his soul from the resistance of the River of Time — and it had worked. He had made it back.
It was a staggeringly powerful spell, but it came with dangers. Any interruption during the casting would have sent a backlash tearing through his soul. And he could not use it again without sufficient mana. In his current state, that was out of the question — he hadn't even condensed a Mana Core yet.
Speaking of Mana Cores — he would turn eighteen tomorrow. In other words, he would undergo the coming-of-age ceremony. He still remembered that day when his dark magic had first awakened. His mother's twisted expression. His father's rage. His sister's fear. All of it, burned into memory. They hadn't exposed him, at least — too afraid of the damage it would do to the family's reputation. Instead they had banished him, using the excuse that he had impregnated a commoner. Humiliating, yes, but far preferable to being known as the family that produced a Dark Mage. As for why they hadn't simply killed him — they feared what might happen if they tried. Some belief that touching a Dark Mage invited a curse upon them.
It was an understandable reaction. Alzer knew that killing a Dark Mage accomplished nothing without a specialized spell like the Blood Curse — but the Volheims were a Count's family. They were ignorant. That ignorance, ironically, was what had allowed him to eventually become Royal Mage.
Thinking on this, Alzer walked to the window, opened it, and peered out. Mages wrapped in magical barriers against the cold were patrolling the grounds. He smiled bitterly. Of course they were here. With his eighteenth birthday the following day, it was only natural they'd post a watch.
The coming-of-age ceremony was one of the most important events in a person's life. At their eighteenth birthday, they would perform a ritual — praying to the deity they followed and condensing their Mana Core to advance to the first level of the Awakening Realm. For the young lord of a noble family, the ceremony would also determine his place in the succession. It would decide whether he became a pig or a dragon.
Which presented a problem. Escaping now was off the table — he couldn't hide his movements from Mages of that caliber without raising immediate suspicion. But if he simply sat and waited until tomorrow, history would repeat itself. He was certain of that.
After sitting with the problem for a while, Alzer resigned himself to the chair and made his decision: he would go through with the ceremony. Even if the household discovered his dark element again, he didn't care this time. Noble families had vast resources, and the sacrificial materials they used in their rituals were of high quality. The Awakening ritual carried risk — without proper sacrificial materials, advancement could fail. If he fled the manor and tried to gather those materials on his own, it would cost him enormous time and effort. Even with the memories of his past life, those memories were useless without first advancing to the Awakening Realm. And every day he delayed diminished his chances of successfully becoming a Mage.
Alzer worked through all of it and settled. He wasn't afraid of tomorrow — of seeing their expressions again. He was no longer the Alzer of before. He was the Alzer who had once held the legendary Book of Chaos.
He pulled himself onto the bed and lay down. The exhaustion wasn't physical. It was bone-deep, soul-level fatigue — likely the cost of passing through the River of Time, which must have drained an enormous amount of his soul energy. His eyes drifted shut, and sleep took him.
"It's… cold…"
Alzer's voice came out as a murmur. He forced his eyelids open and went still at what he saw.
Stretched before him was a vast, beautiful expanse of stars — the Universe itself, laid open in every direction. Countless galaxies and stars glittered from distances beyond reckoning.
He tried to move his hand. Nothing. It was as though his body simply didn't exist. Alzer frowned and, having no other option, waited and watched. This was not a dream — he knew what dreams felt like. This was something else. A different dimension entirely.
Then his eye caught something. A dark shape floating at the edge of his vision. He fixed his gaze on it.
The Book of Chaos.
The same book he had obtained in his previous life, drifting here in the void. Why was it here? Had it traveled back through time alongside him? The more he turned the idea over, the more it fit. And if that was true — did it mean he wouldn't have to risk his life to obtain it a second time?
The thought sparked something in his chest. He tried again to move his hands. Still nothing. The only thing he could control was the movement of his eyes. After a few attempts, he gave up and could only stare helplessly at the book floating just out of reach — like a man who could see a fortune chest but lacked the hands to open it.
Then cold bit into him, and he woke.
The familiar ceiling of his room greeted him. He sat up and rubbed his forehead. His conclusion was clear: without a condensed Mana Core, his soul energy — or mana — was insufficient to move freely inside that dimension. Without Awakening, the advantage his past-life memories offered him was locked away.
He turned to the window. It was already afternoon.
Just as he considered sleeping again, a knock came at the door. Alzer frowned but pulled the blanket aside anyway. He opened the door to find a tall servant standing in the hall.
"Young Lord, Father Kuro from the Holy Church has arrived. The Count is summoning you to his study."
A pawn from the Holy Church… Alzer thought.
Beyond the Royal Family and the Royal Court existed a third power capable of standing alongside them: the Holy Church. It was composed of fanatical believers devoted to the four legendary deities and to the Divine Emperor, who had created the Universe.
Alzer had dealt with them in his past life. They gave him a headache every time. They recruited relentlessly, converting anyone and everyone they could reach. Their convictions were delusional, their methods suffocating.
"Alright," he said. "You may go. I'll be there after I change."
"As you wish, Young Lord." The servant bowed and departed.
Alzer watched the servant's silhouette disappear around the corner. His expression shifted.
He had just remembered something important from his past life — something he had overlooked until now. Dark Mages were the Holy Church's foremost enemy. Any member who identified someone with a dark element would not hesitate to kill on the spot. The Dark Era had been centuries ago, but the Church's wounds from it had never fully healed. Many of their members had died at the hands of Dark Mages, and that memory ran deep.
So why had Father Kuro said nothing about his dark element?
Alzer didn't believe the Volheim family had any power over a fanatic like Kuro — not enough to buy his silence. Based on every member of the Church he'd encountered in his past life, Kuro should have reported it immediately. Or simply killed him on the spot.
He turned it over in his mind alongside the other loose thread: Sword Saint moving so late. Alzer acknowledged that his own mistakes had exposed the Book of Chaos, but something about the timing didn't add up. What force was at work here — one powerful enough to make both Sword Saint and Father Kuro look the other way?
"How interesting," Alzer murmured. "How did I miss this until now?"
His eyes sharpened. The world, it seemed, operated on more moving pieces than even he had realized.
He opened the door to the study and found a middle-aged man and an elderly man in priest's robes mid-conversation. At the creak of the door, both turned and smiled.
"You're finally here. Come and greet Father Kuro," said the man on the left.
Alzer's gaze settled on him. Count Alex Volheim III — his father. Just the sound of the man's voice turned his stomach. He remembered well how that same man had threatened to expose his dark element if Alzer didn't publicly acknowledge himself as a member of the Volheim Family.
He kept his expression smooth and turned to the priest. "I greet Father Kuro."
"Good." Father Kuro smiled warmly. "May the Queen bless you."
The Queen he referred to was the Snow Phoenix. Though Kuro belonged to the Holy Church, the Church was divided internally into five factions, and Kuro was a member of the Hall of Snow.
"Come — sit here."
After the brief exchange of pleasantries, Count Volheim gestured to the chair beside him. Alzer, with no real interest in the proceedings, obeyed and sat.
The Count looked at him with a smile. "You've arrived at the right time. We were just talking about you. Father Kuro says that once you awaken your element, he intends to recruit you into the Hall of Snow. What do you think? Are you interested?"
Alzer exhaled inwardly. Here it was again. He remembered how eager the old version of him had been to accept — understandable, really, given that Snow County was the Snow Phoenix's birthplace and the majority of its people were devoted believers.
He took a moment before answering. "I'm honored by the invitation, Father Kuro, but I was planning to study at Uyzher Academy after Awakening."
"Is that so?" A flash of disappointment crossed the priest's face, quickly replaced by a smile. "That presents no difficulty. You could still join as a member while attending the academy."
Alzer kept his face composed, though internally he noted the move. Every member of the Church he'd known was a cunning operator beneath the piety. He was well aware — though the old Alzer hadn't been — that the Church forbade its members from attending a royal-established academy. They had their own methods of instruction. Only someone with noble connections and real intelligence would know that.
"I'll think about it," Alzer said.
"Of course." The priest didn't press further and turned his attention back to the Count.
Alzer stood, inclined his head respectfully, and slipped out of the study without a sound. Staying any longer would only have made the atmosphere more strained than it already was.