The window faded away slowly, leaving Solomon to deal with the silence alone.
He breathed in and out steadily as he studied the world around him.
The information he had just received overwhelmed him.
He was murdered.
By who?
He couldn’t seem to comprehend it.
He had simply been Ethan Locke, a young man obsessed with books.
Yet someone had hated him without his knowing, enough to want to end his life.
He lightly slapped his cheeks to chase away the negativity before getting up from where he had been sitting.
Standing once more, he overlooked the city he had seen in the distance before being interrupted by the system.
Thinking about it made him want to cry.
Protagonists from the books he had read had always received cool systems, but he got Lust.
Was this universe teasing him for dying a virgin at twenty-one?
He couldn’t tell, but he didn’t like it one bit.
He sighed, adjusted his stance upon the grassy plains, and simply gazed into the distance.
Several airships drifted overhead, their shadows sweeping slowly across the fields below.
The wind rolled across the endless sea of grass before him, carrying the scent of fresh flowers and rich earth along with it.
Insects hummed as they drifted from one flower stalk to another.
Birds soared high overhead, seemingly making a mockery of the human saying, “The sky is your limit.” He chuckled softly at the thought.
Finally, his attention settled upon the city.
It rose from the valley like something lifted straight out of a painter’s imagination.
White stone walls stretched for miles.
Houses with blue-painted rooftops were arranged in creative patterns.
Towers climbed high into the heavens, looking as though they brushed against the sun itself.
Suspended bridges connected the upper districts to the lower levels.
Mana-powered airships cruised gracefully through the sky.
His eyes gleamed the moment they landed upon them.
Magic.
Something that had never existed on Earth.
He forced himself to tear his gaze away and looked far beyond the city toward the ancient mountains he had once read about.
“So this is…” He gulped.
“…the world he spent years creating.”
Surprisingly, despite being surrounded by things he recognized yet couldn’t fully understand, Solomon’s eyes sparkled with interest instead of fear.
Instead of rushing toward the city, he settled into a walk.
His steps remained even and steady.
There was no urgency behind them.
Observation.
That was the key to learning.
It was something he had learned long ago.
Though this time, he simply wanted to confirm one thing and one thing only.
Whether he was inside his friend’s novel…
or truly in the afterlife.
From all the transmigration novels he had read, protagonists usually ended up inside the last book they had finished.
Still, he wouldn’t be surprised if fate decided to treat him differently.
Why else would he have a Lust System?
He sighed once more.
Somewhere along the way, he knelt to the ground and ran his fingers through the grass and damp earth.
The moisture beneath the soil sent a chill crawling from his fingertips down his spine.
He shook his hand lightly, as though sieving dirt from his fingers, which he clearly was.
The scent of wet soil clung to his fingertips.
A butterfly drifted gently past his eyes before landing gracefully upon the sleeve of his robe.
He reached out to touch it, but it fluttered away.
Moments later, a breeze swept in from the west, proving that the world truly moved.
Carried upon the wind were tiny glowing particles.
“Mana,” he whispered.
It was just as the novel had described.
“Mana particles floated in the air.
Some places had a rich density, while others had none.
It’s not something people cast.
It’s something the world breathes.
So be careful where you pick a fight.”
He chuckled.
His friend had always possessed a strange way of describing things in his books.
The smile faded.
He was dead.
He would never see his friend’s face again or read another one of his novels.
He sighed before rising to his feet once more.
Dusting off his hands, he continued onward.
“System,” he called.
There was no response.
He kept walking.
Then a soft ding echoed inside his head.
Daily reboot completed.
“System?”
Host?
It replied in its mechanical voice.
“Very funny.”
Only the sound of his boots crunching across the dirt answered him.
Solomon scratched his head and decided to try a different approach.
It seemed the system wasn’t the friendly type he had grown accustomed to reading about.
“Can you please explain this world’s system and mechanics?”
Affirmative.
“Okay.”
Mana exists everywhere.
“That’s all?”
Yes.
“Umm…
anything else?”
He could have sworn the system made a sound resembling the exhaustion of talking to a clueless person before continuing.
Magic is borne from three pillars: Mana Capacity, Mana Control, and Spellcraft.
Having lots of mana without knowing how to control it makes you useless.
Control, as well, is meaningless without knowledge.
“So talent matters, huh?”
Correction.
Effort determines one’s limit.
Talent determines their starting point.
Solomon smiled.
It seemed this world was even more interesting than the book had been able to explain.
An explosion resounded from below the hill he stood upon.
Looking down to see what had happened, he spotted two children laughing while an elderly woman sighed in exhaustion near the roadside leading toward the capital.
Shifting his gaze farther to the right, he noticed another child hurriedly hiding their hands.
He suspected they had been the one to cast the spell.
A different child gave it a try, and a small fireball formed effortlessly above their palm.
It floated into the sky before dispersing into harmless sparks.
Frankly, Solomon preferred the one that had caused the chaos rather than the quiet child.
It had more personality.
What surprised him even more was that no one looked shocked.
No one screamed.
Everyone simply accepted magic as part of everyday life.
Well…
at least his first encounter with it hadn’t gone badly.
Since remaining atop the hill wouldn’t answer any further questions about magic, he quickened his pace toward the capital—the place where every story began.
On the road, people passed him by—travelers, merchants, people who looked like adventurers based on what he had read, and mages.
He paused.
He noticed something.
He looked behind him.
Women were carrying weapons.
Women.
On Earth, they’d basically start asking if men didn’t have spines.
He could see some wearing enchanted robes.
Some possessed powerful mana, or at least that was what he could feel.
Then he turned to the men.
They simply trailed behind the women like dogs following their owners obediently.
He couldn’t believe it.
Yes, women were often secretly the heads of their households, even though many men believed otherwise.
Yet here, they had taken that concept to another level.
He felt disgusted.
The men merely held maps for the women to read.
The women walked casually while the men carried every piece of travel luggage besides their weapons.
Then it finally dawned on him.
He truly was inside the novel.
And if he wanted to enjoy his life here, he would have to adapt to the lifestyle of the men.
He bit his lip before pushing the thought aside and continuing onward.
Eventually, he stepped onto the main road, but before he could go any farther, a caravan suddenly came to a halt in front of him.
A magical beast had appeared.
Men quickly pulled children away while shouting for those behind them to stay back.
Nearby travelers instinctively stepped backward, creating an open circle around the beast.
“A Goblin Warrior!”
As Solomon looked closer, he realized it was indeed a goblin—just slightly bigger than he had imagined and far more disgusting.
Suddenly, the air grew heavier.
The wind shifted toward a single direction.
Looking to his left, he saw magical formations spreading beneath a woman clutching her staff.
Her robes and golden hair swayed gently in the breeze.
She hovered above the glowing formation.
The hem of her robes fluttered without ever touching the ground.
She calmly raised her staff and pointed towards the Goblin Warrior.
The creature lifted its club, ready to crush a man shielding three children.
Just before the weapon could strike…
It vanished.
Reduced to dust.
Burned to a crisp without leaving even a trace of ash.
The smell of scorched flesh lingered briefly before the breeze carried it away.
The men and children immediately cheered.
The woman wore a smug smile before casually flipping her hair, and life resumed as though nothing had happened.
Solomon silently watched the spot where the beast had disappeared before shifting his gaze toward the woman.
Then he continued walking.
It had been an interesting sight.
But also a disappointing one.
He didn’t hate the woman.
She had done the right thing.
He hated the bias.
By the afternoon, he finally reached the gates of the capital.
The closer he had gotten, the grander the city had become.
The more he looked at it, the more it captivated him.
Massive walls towered before him.
Countless enchantments had been etched into the stone.
Runes pulsed across the gates, giving him the strange feeling that the city itself was alive.
Guards stood nearby, inspecting newcomers with detection magic rather than paperwork like in other novels.
Merchants shuffled forward with loaded wagons while children peeked curiously between the crowd.
He smiled.
His friend had always possessed grand ideas.
Magic seemed woven into everything.
Transportation, Architecture, Medicine and Combat.
The civilization itself had been built upon mana.
After that realization, he took a step forward.
Then the system chimed once again, announcing its presence.
Main Story Detected.
A map appeared before him.
A single location upon it glowed faintly.
Solomon simply stared without making a comment.
A merchant frowned as Solomon stood motionless in the middle of the road, while a passing child waved a hand in front of his face before being pulled away by their mother.
He felt out of place, but in a world where he possessed no knowledge, he could only rely on the system, so he ignored their curious gazes.
The location glowing on the map was labeled: Ashbourne Estate.
Another notification appeared.
Primary Mission: Return Home
“…Home.”
The word felt out of place.
After all, he didn’t technically belong there.
Rewards:
– Beginner Spell Book
– 100 EXP (Experience)
– System Shop Unlock Progress +5%
At the sight of the word Reward, he beamed.
Once again, strange looks came from every direction.
Solomon blinked.
He read everything again.
Then memories from the novel surfaced within his mind.
He was no longer Ethan Locke, the lonely reader.
He was now Solomon Ashbourne.
A character destined to live a quiet, mediocre life.
He chuckled.
“This is fun.” He smiled to himself.
“Let’s see where this new life takes me.”
With that single thought, he stepped through the gates of the capital.
His journey toward world peace had finally begun.
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