"Damn! That was good." Severin rubbed his stomach as he walked towards his dorm.
Soon, he reached his dorm.
"Should I go to sleep?" It was already 9 o’clock. Since classes started at 8 in the morning, it was still early to sleep.
"Should do the homework."
His bald teacher was really narrow-minded.
’Let’s try the new skill then.’
Soon, he started writing a summary of the history lesson taught today, and his Concentrated Thought skill was activated on its own.
In half an hour, not only did he write the summary, but he also revised all the subjects covered today.
"Not bad."
Since it was still early, he pushed his sleepy and tired body a bit more to study.
And it has to be said, studying something new on your own is really more difficult. Especially when the first semester alone covers three years of high school knowledge combined with old history and basic magic knowledge.
It was hell for any student.
After all, this was only theory subjects.
At 11 PM, Severin hit the bed.
"Status."
[Name: Severin D’Auremont]
[Race: Human, Curse Spirit (Sealed)]
[Class: Swordsman]
[Level: 1]
[Stats]
[Strength: D-]
[Agility: C-]
[Constitution: C-]
[Mana: E+]
[Skill: Iron Will (Passive), Concentrated Thought (Passive), Blade Mastery (Passive), Quick Draw (Active)]
[Technique: D’Auremont Basic Sword Art, Golden Saint Sword Art {1st Form}]
[Talent: Infinite Adaptation & Evolution]
[Blessing: Fortune’s Last Favor]
Just looking at the stats, there didn’t seem to be any improvement, but it wasn’t true, since he could feel that he was definitely stronger than before.
"Mnn, leaving Constitution, no other info has changed."
Well, it wasn’t shocking. After all, though adaptation doesn’t mean instant power.
And he could tell that this talent worked better when there was a life-threatening situation.
With these thoughts, he soon drifted to sleep.
At first, there was nothing.
Severin couldn’t tell whether his eyes were open or closed. There was no light, no sound, not even the faintest sensation of air against his skin. He felt as though he were standing in the middle of an endless void, with nothing around him and no memory of how he had gotten there.
He glanced around, though there was little point in doing so.
"Where am I?"
His voice sounded strangely distant. He waited for an echo, but none came. The words simply vanished into the darkness.
Severin frowned.
This was strange. He couldn’t remember falling asleep, let alone ending up in a place like this. Yet he couldn’t find anything unusual about himself, either. He could move, think, and speak perfectly well.
So, where exactly was he?
Before he could come up with an answer, he sensed something nearby.
He couldn’t see anything, but he had the uncomfortable feeling that he wasn’t alone.
Then came a sound.
Clack.
Severin turned toward it.
A few seconds later, it came again.
Clack... clack...
Something was approaching.
He couldn’t tell what was making the noise, but it sounded hard and metallic, almost like the footsteps of someone wearing heavy armor.
Strangely enough, Severin didn’t feel particularly afraid. He was cautious, of course, but curiosity got the better of him. Rather than backing away, he stood still and listened.
Then a faint red light appeared in the distance.
At first, it was barely noticeable. Severin thought his eyes might be playing tricks on him, but the glow gradually grew brighter, spreading through the darkness until the world around him began to take shape.
And what a world it was.
Enormous black clouds twisted across the sky, overlapping one another like a storm that had raged for centuries. There was no sun, and not a single star could be seen.
Instead, hanging high above the ruined landscape was a gigantic crimson moon.
At least, Severin assumed it was a moon.
Its surface was almost entirely black, with thin cracks of crimson light running across it. A deep red glow surrounded the celestial body, staining the clouds around it and casting an eerie light over everything below.
For a moment, Severin simply stared.
"...Huh."
He tilted his head.
Normally, waking up beneath a sky like this would have been enough to make anyone question their sanity. Yet, despite how unnatural everything looked, he wasn’t particularly frightened.
He probably should have been.
But Severin had always been more curious about strange things than afraid of them. And whatever this place was, it certainly wasn’t ordinary.
He finally tore his eyes away from the moon and looked around.
That was when he noticed the ruins.
Buildings stretched across the horizon, their towers broken and their walls reduced to piles of rubble. Some structures had collapsed entirely, while others remained standing at crooked angles, as though they were somehow resisting the inevitable.
The remains of what might once have been a magnificent city lay scattered across the landscape.
Broken swords and spears littered the ground. Pieces of armor lay half buried in the dirt, and the remains of old banners hung from shattered towers.
Then Severin noticed something else.
Skulls.
They were everywhere.
Some were partially buried beneath the dark earth, while others lay scattered among the rubble. In certain places, they had accumulated into piles, as though the ground itself had been covered with the remains of countless people.
Severin slowly turned, taking in the desolate landscape.
"...This isn’t just a battlefield."
He wasn’t sure how he knew, but the place felt far older than a battlefield should have. Whatever had happened here, it hadn’t been a simple clash between two armies.
Something had destroyed an entire civilization.
And judging by the state of the ruins, it had happened a very long time ago.
Severin crouched beside a broken sword lying near his feet. Surprisingly, one of the weapons nearby appeared to be in relatively good condition.
He reached toward its hilt.
Then stopped.
A strange sensation passed through him.
It wasn’t exactly fear, but something deep inside him was warning him not to touch the weapon.
Severin stared at it for another moment before slowly withdrawing his hand.
"...Interesting."
He stood up and continued walking.
The farther he went, the more extensive the destruction became. Enormous statues had been broken apart and scattered across the ground, while stone roads had been torn open as though something had struck them with unimaginable force.
In the distance, the remains of a massive city rose beneath the crimson sky.
Even from where he stood, Severin could make out its towering structures. At its center stood a castle, or what remained of one. Its outer walls had collapsed in several places, and entire sections of the building appeared to have been ripped away.
Severin slowed down.
For some reason, he felt strangely drawn to that castle.
It was difficult to explain, but looking at it gave him the unsettling impression that he had seen it before.
He couldn’t remember where, though.
Before he could give the matter any further thought, a metallic clang rang out across the ruins.
Clang.
Severin immediately turned toward the sound.
Nothing.
He waited, his gaze fixed on the distant landscape.
A second clang followed.
Clang.
This time, he was certain that it hadn’t been his imagination.
Someone was here.
Severin narrowed his eyes.
Well, that was interesting.
He had spent the past several minutes wandering through a ruined world that looked as though everyone in it had been dead for centuries. Finding another living person would certainly be a welcome change.
Assuming, of course, that whoever was making those sounds was actually alive.
He started walking toward the source.
The journey seemed to take far longer than it should have. The landscape stretched endlessly before him, and for a while, Severin had the strange impression that he wasn’t getting any closer to his destination at all.
Still, he continued.
Eventually, the ruins opened into a vast valley.
Severin stopped at its edge.
For several seconds, he simply stared at what lay before him.
The entire valley was covered in skulls, broken weapons, and the remains of countless battles. They stretched as far as he could see, illuminated by the crimson moon hanging above the desolate world.
And at the center of it all stood a throne.
It was enormous, carved from what appeared to be solid black stone. Unlike the surrounding ruins, the throne seemed almost untouched by the destruction.
Someone was sitting on it.
Severin narrowed his eyes, trying to make out the figure’s features.
It appeared to be a man with long white hair, pale skin, and dark clothing that looked worn and tattered. He sat comfortably on the throne, one arm resting against its side, as though he were enjoying a quiet afternoon rather than sitting in the middle of a graveyard large enough to bury a kingdom.
There was something almost absurd about the sight.
Who sat on a throne surrounded by millions of skulls and looked that relaxed?
More importantly, who was this guy?
As if sensing Severin’s gaze, the man slowly lifted his head.
Their eyes met.
Silver.
The man’s eyes were a brilliant, unmistakable silver, standing out sharply against his pale face and white hair.
Severin went still.
For a moment, he couldn’t explain why those eyes bothered him so much. There was something familiar about them, something that tugged at the back of his mind without giving him a clear answer.
He took a closer look at the man.
The long white hair. The pale skin. The shape of his face.
Something about him felt familiar, but Severin couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
"...Who are you?"
The man didn’t answer.
Instead, he smiled.
It was a strange expression, almost unnaturally wide, as though he had just heard the funniest joke in the world and was doing his best not to laugh.
Severin stared at him.
What was with that smile?
The man leaned forward slightly, his silver eyes never leaving Severin’s face.
For some reason, that only made the feeling of familiarity stronger.
It wasn’t simply that the man looked familiar. There was something about the way he held his head, the slight tilt of his face, and the carefree expression he wore that made Severin feel as though he had encountered him before.
But where?
"Have we met somewhere?"
The man continued smiling.
Then, without saying a word, he rose from the throne.
He descended the steps and began walking toward Severin.
His movements were unhurried, almost lazy. He didn’t seem concerned about the distance between them, nor did he appear to have any reason to be wary of the stranger standing in front of him.
As he approached, Severin finally got a better look at his face.
And that was when he noticed something that made his thoughts stumble.
The man’s features were remarkably similar to his own.
At first, Severin dismissed the thought. The lighting was strange, and the distance between them had made it difficult to judge the man’s appearance properly.
But as the stranger drew closer, the resemblance became impossible to ignore.
The shape of his nose.
The line of his jaw.
The familiar structure of his face.
Even the way his lips curved when he smiled.
Severin felt a chill run down his spine.
No.
That couldn’t be right.
The man stopped several meters away.
Now that he could see him clearly, Severin realized that the resemblance went far beyond what he had initially noticed.
The stranger had his face.
Not exactly as it was now, though.
The man looked older. His features were more mature, his jaw more defined, and there was a certain sharpness to his expression that Severin hadn’t seen in his own reflection.
He was looking at an adult version of himself.
For several seconds, Severin could do nothing but stare.
"...What the hell?"
The man tilted his head.
Then his smile widened.
Severin’s mind went blank.
He had expected many things since arriving in this bizarre place. A monster, perhaps. A ghost. Some ancient being responsible for the destruction of the world around them.
But himself?
An older version of himself?
That wasn’t something he had considered.
He looked at the man’s face again, searching for even the smallest difference that might prove his eyes were deceiving him.
There wasn’t one.
Except for the age.
And the eyes.
Those silver eyes were the strangest part of all.
Severin knew that color.
He had seen it before, though not under ordinary circumstances.
His expression slowly changed.
"...Wait."
He stared directly into the man’s eyes.
"Those eyes..."
A thought suddenly came to him.
Curse Mode.
Whenever he entered that state, his eyes changed. The power that surfaced within him was accompanied by that same unnatural silver color.
He had never seen anyone else with eyes quite like those.
And now, standing in front of him, was a man who looked exactly like his future self, with the same silver eyes he associated with his own Curse Mode.
Severin swallowed.
"You’re..."
He stopped.
He wasn’t sure how to finish the sentence.
The man looked at him expectantly, his grin never fading.
Severin let out a slow breath.
"...Me?"