Chapter 3: Unfamiliar Territory

The smirk on Raze’s face was irrepressible. The prospect of beginning a new life with the dark attribute meant he could grow stronger as a Dark mage, reaching heights previously unimaginable.

A mystic energy, a blend of dark purples, blues, and blacks, began to swirl around his finger. It was thick, almost like paint, yet fluid as parts of it moved and disappeared.

Raze extended his finger and pointed it at one of the plates on the table. “Dark pulse!” he exclaimed. The energy dispersed and shot out like a small beam, hitting the plate and shattering it into pieces.

Using just one spell made his head throb slightly. Dark magic was powerful and destructive but consumed large amounts of mana compared to other attributes.

Now that his body physically possessed a dark core, he would need to strengthen other attributes through magical items, crystals, herbs, and so on. It was possible for mages to learn every attribute, but depending on their core, some would be more difficult to master than others.

For instance, Raze would find it challenging to increase his strength in the light attribute since it opposed his dark core, but it wasn’t impossible. Raze tended to perceive things more like a game to simplify his understanding.

If it was like a game, having a dark core granted a person 10 points in the Darkness attribute to start with. This could be increased through certain techniques or items that enhanced that particular attribute. Due to his dark core, Raze’s body could easily absorb items, adding to his points.

Items related to the light attribute could still be absorbed, but he would need to absorb ten times the amount of energy to see a single point increase. Other attributes would be easier to enhance, just not as easy as the Dark attribute.

Moreover, no other attribute could now surpass his Dark core, as it was the foundation of his body.

Eventually, the headache subsided, but it posed a serious problem.

‘I’m only a one-star mage right now,’ Raze thought. ‘My mana is limited. Since I only have the dark attribute, I can only use one-star dark spells, which consume a lot of mana. It would be wise to learn another attribute quickly that doesn’t consume much mana, perhaps wind?’

Mages were ranked based on the amount of mana in their cores, ranging from one-star to nine-star mages. Raze had been a nine-star mage in his past body.

However, being a higher-star mage didn’t merely mean having more mana. It also enabled the performance of higher-level skills, but that wasn’t everything in a battle, especially if one had a large arsenal of spells and different attributes.

Many of Raze’s early battles with mages were won because many underestimated the strength of dark magic.

Rubbing his hands together, he couldn’t contain his smile any longer and burst into laughter.

‘Haha, but I won’t be a one-star mage for long! I wasn’t entirely sure the spell would work, but just in case, I stored all my items, herbs, and crystals in a secret vault! All I need to do is access it, and I’ll be back to being a nine-star mage in no time.’

Raze was already envisioning his new life—a life where he wasn’t a criminal, wasn’t pursued by the Grand mages, and could grow stronger even more rapidly than before. With all the experiments he had conducted and the experience he had gained over the years, he would excel faster than any other mage, be hailed as a genius in this new life, and, when the time was right, exact his revenge.

Suddenly, heavy knocks echoed at the front door, almost pounding it down.

“Open up!” a deep voice bellowed from the other side. The voice sounded slightly strange to Raze, as if it had a strong accent and a twang, but he could still understand the words clearly. “This is the Red Brigade! We received reports of screams coming from this house. If you don’t open up, we will force this door down!”

‘Red Brigade?’ Raze pondered, struggling to recall any group by that name. It sounded like a guild. He was in a new body and didn’t know all the Mage guilds’ names, so he had to be cautious.

‘If they discover I’ve been practising Dark magic, I’ll be reported immediately!’ Raze realised. Another reason he was hunted down was that Dark magic was a prohibited attribute to learn.

The banging on the door continued, and they could no longer wait. The door exploded open, crashing into the side of the house and breaking off its hinge. Five men in red armour burst through the door.

Raze raised his hands, eyeing the men warily.

‘Hopefully, they don’t think I’m the killer. Although being the only one alive isn’t a good sign. I wonder what level these mages are at.’

However, as the men came in, Raze realised something was extremely strange. For one, they were wearing armour, not light clothing by any means. Their bodies were all well built as well.

Strangely, some of them had swords by their side as well as a host of other melee weapons.

‘Could the Red Brigade be a magic weapon’s guild? If that’s the case, this could become extremely difficult.’

The men who had come in forcefully soon spread around as they looked at the scene, and a lot of the emotion had left their bodies as they looked at the dead bodies around.

“What happened here…” one of the men said. “Was it an assassination? Who would go after a family with no name?”

Raze could hear the others speaking but he couldn’t understand it. What did they mean by no name? He had a name; the person he had taken over had a name, it was Raze.

‘Wait a moment, wait, why can I only remember his first name… does this mean I have no family name, but everyone has a family name? And these people, they are definitely my family.’

One of the younger members had entered through the front door, and he immediately covered his mouth as he looked at the bloody sight, but his eyes soon laid on Raze.

“Raze!” the young member called out. “What happened to you… your hair?”

‘My hair… What’s wrong with my hair? Why would someone comment about my hair? Well, at least it looks like this person knows who I am. I don’t think acting calm is good in this situation either.’ 𝑂𝒱𝓵xt.𝗇𝓔t

Seeing as someone knew him, it looked like this situation would be cleared up with a bit of acting, so Raze fell to his knees and placed his hands on the top of his head while looking at the floor.

“My family, they’re all… they’re all… dead!” Raze said.

“Raze,” the man said in a soft voice.

“Sonny,” the oldest member of the Red Brigade with a thick moustache on his mouth, the leader of the group shouted. The young man who had just entered looked up upon hearing his name.

“Take the boy out of here, make sure he gets looked after. We will see what we can find here. For now, he should get some rest.”

“Yes, sir!” Sonny said, rushing over and went to pick up Raze, but before he could, Raze stood up on his own two feet and shook his hand in the air gesturing to the other there was no need.

“It’s okay, I can walk myself,” Raze said, as he followed Sonny out of the building. When he went outside, the bright light of the sun hit him, blinding him for a few moments, and soon he could see where he was.

‘Wait a second, what is all this? Nothing on the ground but just the dirt. Houses that are crudely built right next to each other… and there are no skyscrapers, heck, I can’t see any lights, and why are there so many mountains off in the distance?’

The people were all dressed strangely with many carrying around weapons. They looked ordinary, no special crystals embedded into them, and there was one more thing that was noticeable just looking everywhere; there wasn’t a single person using magic anywhere.

‘Wait a second… is this… is this… another world!’