'Wait… let's think this through for a minute.' he thought, pressing a finger to his jaw as he sat back on his bed.
'I was killed by that bastard Lark, made some kind of deal with an unknown being… and now here I am, back in the body of my fifteen-year-old self.'
The thought alone sent shivers down his spine. He had been given a second chance—an opportunity to rewrite his fate. But How? The more he thought about it, the less sense it made.
"Wait… does that mean I have Mana now?"
His heart pounded as he rushed back over to the window, lifting his shirt up. The moment his eyes fell on his bare chest, his excitement instantly died. His face twisted into a grimace.
That damn Black Cross shaped tattoo was still there.
Meaning… he was still cursed.
"Damn it!" he muttered under his breath.
"Just who in their right mind would place a seal on a baby the moment they were born." Anger surged through him. That's right—Damien never knew who his parents was. He was mysteriously found at a river bank by a priest who took him in and has been taking care of him for fifteen long years.
But… at the same time, the very existence of the seal meant something else.
'If a sealing spell was placed on me… then that means I actually have Mana!'
For the first time, his lips curled into a grin. He had spent his entire past life as a magicless commoner, struggling just to survive. But if someone had gone to the extent of sealing his power, then maybe—just maybe—his magic was something extraordinary.
'Alright. It's simple. All I have to do is break this seal. And to do that, I'll need the strength of a Magic Knight Captain.'
Which meant only one thing—he had to enter a Magic Knight Guild.
But something still felt off. As he looked closer at his reflection in the window, his brows furrowed. His abs…
'Wait… was I always this muscular?'
He ran a hand over his stomach, feeling the defined ridges of muscle beneath his skin. He was never this muscular before. Was this some kind of unexpected bonus from his regression?
Before he could think too much about it, his gaze suddenly landed on something lying on his bed. A Black Book.
'Huh, what is that? Is that a Grimoire?' He asked himself. In this world, a Grimoire was everything to a mage. It was a magical book that granted its owner spells, Mana techniques, and even the ability to create new magic spells entirely. A mage without a grimoire is somewhat worthless.
But he didn't understand it, this black book wasn't here in his past life neither has he seen anything like it before. A grimoire has one to four-leaf clovers, but this book was marked with a sinister red Seven-Star-Shape symbol embedded on its cover that looks way too ominous to him.
'i've never seen a grimoire like this before' He reached for it cautiously and tried to open it, but the mysterious book won't budge. He tried his hardest, even went extra miles as to hit the book with a hammer but it didn't even leave a scratch.
"Tsk... worthless peice of crap!" he growled in frustration as he threw the book away. Before he could process the thought any further, another knock pounded against his door—louder this time.
"Damien if you don't get out now, I'm telling Reverend Father!" The sister's voice echoed, and immediately the door burst open.
"Alright, alright, I'm out now, Sister Luna," he said calmly, an unusually composed expression spreading across his face that made the sister flinch.
"Umm, Damien, are you okay?" she asked, with a worried expression etched on her face.
'Ah' he remembered. He was always a lively and goofy kid who always yells at every sentence he spoke. Thinking about it now, what an idiot he was. But still, acting calm and maturely all of a sudden could question if he was actually himself or if a demon was possessing him.
Before you know it, someone will fire a report to a magic guild, sending magic knights knocking on his door to exorcise or worse, eliminate him. He had seen it happen once in his previous life and trust me, he didn't want to be a victim.
But to convince her, there was this unique signature move he always use.
'Unique Signature move my ass. it's humiliating' he thought, frowning. It was a move that will convince anyone who sees him right now that it's actually him.
'Damn it. Do I really have to do that right now, am a thirty-fucking-year-old man' he grumbled.
'Fine. Here goes nothing'
Silence..
"Sister, chuannnnnn!" he suddenly yelled, dropping to one knee in a dramatic proposal. "Please, will you marry me?"
'Damn, this humiliation is unbearable!. I can't believe I did this every single day' he thought, squeezing his eyes shut in disgrace. Even though he knew Sister Luna was a woman of the cloth, a nun, he had asked for her hand in marriage every single day, despite the fact that he was fifteen and she was twenty-one. And to make it all worse, he was rejected every single time.
"Nope" she replied bluntly. Finally convinced.
"Please marry…" he insisted. He always does.
"Nope"
"Marry…."
"Nope"
"Me"
"Nope"
"Damn it, at least wait till I was finished!" He unknowingly yelled. The sister blinked, surprised. He never yelled at her before, not even once.
'Fuck, I messed up!'
"Enough already, Damien. Come on, let's go," a calm, familiar voice echoed from behind him. He recognized it instantly.
'Giovanni, he's alive too' He muttered. Giovanni was his twin brother—well, not technically. He was found in the same mysterious way as Damien; in the road side just right after Damien was picked up by the priest at the riverbank on the same day.
Giovanni was the exact opposite of Damien. calm, tall, handsome, a genius, and to top it all, he was blessed with an incredible amount of Mana energy. Damien felt a surge of happiness at seeing him alive. Yes, Giovanni had died before him in his past life, just five months after joining the magic knight guild.
Suddenly, a chilling realization struck him.
"Wait, don't tell me he was killed in the same way I was, just because of our commoner status?" The thought twisted his face into a grimace.
"Is something wrong?" Giovanni asked, his tone calm and slightly surprised. Damien relaxed, forcing a smile.
"Nope, it's nothing," he replied, trying to shake off the dark thoughts.
"Probably thinking he's going to fail the magic knight entrance exam," Davis, one of the other children at the orphanage, exclaimed. "I mean, what's the point in him going?"
'This fucking bastard,' Damien thought, clenching his fists as he fought not to react to his words.
"Not only is he ugly" Davis continued. Ouch, that felt like an arrow pierced through him.
"He doesn't have any Mana energy within him" Damn, that felt like daggers now.
"And he's an idiot!" Davis finished, delivering the final blow that hit Damien like a boulder.
"Why you little….!" Damien shouted, rushing to spank him, but he hid behind Giovanni, who was his knight and shining armor.
"Damien, we're running late". Giovanni said, his tone serious this time. "Well, I guess you don't wanna become the sorcerer king anymore, not like it matters though. Because am going to become the sorcerer king" Giovanni said and without another word, he bolted out of the house.
"Oi, Gio wait for me... Am the one who's going to be the sorcerer king not you!" Damien yelled and rushed after him.
In their village, a teleportation cycle awaited, where knights from the kingdom of Avalon would arrive once a year to transport children who had reached the age of fifteen and wished to pursue their dreams of becoming renowned magic knights to take the magic knights entrance exam.
If they didn't make it in time, the knights would leave, assuming there were no more children to teleport. So they needed to hurry.
'Just you wait. After I get my Grimoire and break this stupid Cross seal, I'll show you all what I can do,' Damien thought, determination igniting within him. But then...
In the Magic Tower, filled with children rejoicing after receiving their Grimoires, meanwhile Damien Stood right in the middle of the Grimoire Selection Ceremony, with his arms stretched wide, waiting for his own grimoire.
But nothing came to him.
"Umm, excuse me… is my Grimoire running late or something?" he asked.