Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel Crownless Reincarnation: New World? Nah I'd win Chapter 81: Date a Live [1]CROWNLESS REINCARNATION: NEW WORLD? NAH I'D WINC81: Date a Live [1]
Chapter 81: Date a Live [1]
[The next day.]
'What a weird place for a date.'
Akamir thought, fixing his clothes as he walked on a mildly crowded street.
'..I was expecting something fancy from her.'
The small town near the capital had a quiet charm to it, just busy enough not to feel abandoned, just quiet enough to be comforting.
Cobblestone paths curved between houses, and the distant sound of the river hummed in the place.
Akamir walked to the spot where they were supposed to meet.
Nayomi floated close by as she looked at him.
Akamir noticed her gaze. "Something wrong?"
"I am still wondering...," she whispered softly. "Are you going to help Inara or not?"
Akamir didn't respond for a while.
"I don't know," he finally said. "I don't see a reason to do so."
"People do a lot of stupid things when they are in love."
Akamir gave her a look. "I am not in love."
"Yet."
He chuckled softly. "It's not that easy to make me fall in love."
Akamir was only in his early twenties when he died in his old world.
Even though young, he was far more mature for his age.
Living the life of a king wasn't easy, and the constant war he was waging never helped.
Akamir kept his guard up, and because of it, he never fell in love.
No one could make him fall in love.
Akamir had heard being in love is a wonderful feeling.
'And I want to experience it once before dying.'
Finally, his steps slowed as he reached the centre of the town.
A lady stood there already, wearing a graceful sky-blue frock with a pink ribbon around her waist.
'For a princess, she really dresses like an innocent little girl.'
Inara, who wore a disguise as well, quickly noticed him and walked closer.
She smiled. "You look great."
They both wore simple clothes that blended into the crowd.
Akamir was in a loose shirt and coat and baggy pants.
Still, there was something about the way he carried himself that caught attention.
Even in disguise, he stood out.
He smiled. "You look beautiful as well."
Inara moved to his side and began to walk. "How do you like this place?"
"This place isn't bad," Akamir said as they passed a bakery. "Doesn't look like the type of town a princess would sneak off to."
Inara glanced at him with a faint smile. "That's why I liked it. No one here looks twice. My maid used to bring me here when I was younger."
"Maid, huh?" he said, slipping his hands into his coat pockets. "Must've trusted her a lot."
"I did," she replied. "Until she tried to kill me."
Akamir blinked. "What?"
"She drugged my tea," Inara said, her voice steady. "Said it was for my nerves. I passed out, and she tried to smother me with a pillow."
"...That's one hell of a maid."
Inara gave a quiet laugh, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Turns out she'd been bribed. My older brother didn't want me around anymore."
'Would she be glad if I told her that I technically killed him?'
Akamir thought against it.
'Still, now I know why she doesn't mourn his brother's death.'
Akamir didn't press for more.
He just kept walking beside her, waiting until she changed the subject.
"Come on," she said, veering off the path. "There's a forest trail here. I want to show you something."
Akamir nodded, but not before a jab. "Are you going to drug me?"
"Why should I?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "Maybe to have your way with me?"
Inara's lips twitched. "You sure have weird fetishes."
"What?"
"What?"
"Hey, I was joking," Akamir clarified, glaring at her. "I don't have fetishes for a beautiful woman to have her way with me."
"...You are being oddly specific now."
"Am I?" He tilted his head. "Anyway, I don't have such fetishes."
"....Sure," she replied, though with a long pause. "Come on, follow me."
'What is wrong with her?'
He followed her without question.
The trees were tall and old, the branches filtered the light into soft green shadows.
The ground was scattered with leaves and small wildflowers, and for a while, they walked in silence.
After a few minutes, Inara stopped near a riverbank where the trees opened up to a view of the river along with a beach.
There was a small wooden bench, worn but still sturdy.
"This was my favorite spot," she said, walking over and sitting down. "When the maid brought me here, I used to sneak away and sit here alone."
Akamir sat beside her, letting the silence stretch for a bit. "Nice view."
"It's more than that," she said. "It's quiet. Peaceful. And I didn't have to pretend when I was here."
"Pretend to be a perfect princess?"
"Pretend that everyone loves me," she whispered softly. "But in reality, they all want me to fall from grace."
Akamir nodded softly. "I get that."
"You do?"
He shrugged. "I'm not royalty or anything. But sometimes, pretending to be fine around everyone else gets old."
She looked at him. "So you're not always fine?"
"Not even close."
Inara smiled again, this time more genuine. "Good. I was worried I'd be on a date with someone who had his whole life figured out."
He gave her a side glance. "Wait, are you into failure men or what?"
"You didn't know?" she said, feigning surprise. "Wow. You're slow."
Akamir leaned back against the bench. "I will pretend I didn't hear that."
"It's a joke."
"Sure, princess."
"No," she said. "I actually like spending time with you. You're quiet when I need you to be, and honest when it matters."
"...I guess that's better than being called charming."
"You're not charming," she said flatly.
"Thanks."
"..."
"....."
She leaned slightly against his arm. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," he said, resting his gaze on the river.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
The breeze rustled the leaves above them, and the water flowed quietly below.
"Will you laugh if I show you something really weird?" she whispered softly. "Like really weird."
"...Well, that's an odd thing to ask," Akamir mumbled. "But, I can promise that I won't laugh."
Inara didn't say anything right away.
Her fingers fidgeted with the edge of her sleeve, her gaze locked on the river like it might give her the courage to speak.
She stood up instead.
Inara turned her back on the river as she stood in front of him.
"Please, don't do anything rash," she said once again, looking at him. "Just stay still."
She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes.
A whisper escaped her lips that Akamir didn't quite understand.
It was like she wasn't talking with a human.
A sudden rush echoed from throughout the forest.
Akamir instinctively took a defensive stance but still didn't move.
Finally, they revealed themselves.
'What?'
Akamir frowned in confusion as he slowly looked at Inara.
...She stood at the centre, and hundreds of small animals flocked around her.
The animals didn't charge or panic.
They just... gathered.
Rabbits with twitching ears.
Foxes with soft amber eyes.
Squirrels climbing the nearby trees.
Birds fluttering in to perch on low branches and even on Inara's shoulders.
A few deer stood at the edge of the tree line, watching her quietly.
Akamir blinked slowly.
"Alright," he muttered. "That's... definitely weird."
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel Crownless Reincarnation: New World? Nah I'd win Chapter 82: Date a Live [2]CROWNLESS REINCARNATION: NEW WORLD? NAH I'D WINC82: Date a Live [2]
Chapter 82: Date a Live [2]
Akamir blinked slowly.
"All right," he muttered. "That's... definitely weird."
Inara slowly opened her eyes as a faint smile formed on her lips. "I told you it would be."
"But," he said, tilting his head, "not laughable. Just strange. Is this magic?"
Inara knelt and stretched out her hand.
A little hedgehog toddled over and nudged against her fingers.
"I don't know what it is exactly," she said.
"It started when I was a child. Animals... just come to me. They're not scared. I don't call them, not really. They just know."
"That's not normal," Akamir said, his eyes narrowing slightly with curiosity. "Do you control them?"
"No. That's the thing. I can't. They come if they want to. Leave if they want to." She looked at him.
"But they never hurt me. Even wolves. Even the wildest ones."
One of the rabbits hopped near Akamir and sniffed at his boot before darting back toward Inara's feet.
"So," he said slowly, "you're like some kind of forest princess."
"I am a princess."
"You know what I mean."
Inara smiled. "It's why I brought you here. I've never shown anyone else. Not since the maid incident."
Akamir looked around at the sea of tiny creatures. "Not even your family?"
"Especially not my family."
He nodded once. "So why me?"
"I don't know." She looked at him quietly. "Maybe because you don't look at me like I'm fragile. Or broken. You don't flatter me. Or try to use me."
Akamir didn't answer right away.
He just stared at her as the breeze picked up, ruffling the folds of her dress and the fur of the animals around her.
She looked like a part of the forest herself, like someone born from the wild.
"I don't flatter people because I hate being flattered myself," he said finally. "And I've never liked being used. So maybe I'm just selfish."
"Selfish people don't sit on benches and listen when someone tells sad stories about poisoned tea."
Akamir gave a half-smile. "Maybe I was just bored."
"You're terrible at taking compliments."
"I am charming then?"
"No."
"...Thought I'd try."
She gave him a smile... something that hinted she was lying.
Akamir rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "But... what really is your ability?"
Nayomi, who floated beside him, moved closer to Inara as she inspected her.
"It's Akira's skill," she finally concluded, looking at him. "It's her bloodline ability."
Akamir frowned. 'What, how?'
Wasn't the last member of his family dead?
Just to be sure, he proposed the idea to Inara.
"Say, what if it's your bloodline ability?" he asked, looking at her. "The same one that the founding ancestor of Krivos Kingdom had?"
Inara gave him a weird look.
"Didn't I tell you, his bloodline is already dead?" she replied, tilting her head. "How could I have inherited it?"
"He had a lot of children, didn't he?" Akamir replied, trying to find a reason.
"What if one of his children moved to Lythanis Kingdom? Maybe it was your mother's side that gave you the bloodline ability?"
Inara looked at him, puzzled. "My mother's side...?"
Akamir nodded in response. "I do think that it's highly possible."
Nayomi leaned away from Inara as she moved towards him.
"I am sure it's Akira's skill," she replied confidently. "Somehow she inherited it."
Akamir nodded silently as he stood up, slowly walking towards Inara, careful not to startle the animals.
He looked into her eyes. "If you have Akira's blood... that's not a small thing, Inara."
She smiled softly. "I know, but I was expecting something else."
Akamir tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
"I was hoping it was a skill like my idol," she replied with a bright smile. "I wanted to be like her."
Akamir's interest spiked up in an instant. "And who is your idol?"
"Empress Seraphina Lilith Sylvan," she replied, looking at him. "She is the current ruler of the elves."
Akamir blinked. "The Seraphina Lilith Sylvan?"
Inara nodded, her eyes lighting up. "You've heard of her?"
"I have no idea," Akamir replied, slowly sitting down close to the flock of animals. "Tell me about her."
I hope no snake bites my ass, he thought, keeping an eye out for small snakes.
"She can control an entire battlefield with a single word," Inara said with a dreamy look.
"And she doesn't just fight. She makes even her enemies respect her. She's everything I wanted to be growing up."
Akamir raised an eyebrow. "That's a pretty high standard."
"I know." Inara chuckled. "But she's the only one I ever looked up to. When things were hard at the palace... when I felt invisible or unwanted, I'd imagine what she'd do."
"And what would she do?"
"Smile like she wasn't afraid. Walk like she belonged. Speak like her words were law." Inara sighed softly. "She's powerful in every way that matters."
"She sounds like she is too good to be true."
"She is," Inara smiled softly. "That's why she is cursed."
Akamir tilted his head. "What?"
"People say if anyone, no matter the race or gender, sees her face, they will immediately be bewitched by her,"
Inara explained, looking at him. "Once you see her, you will be her slave for eternity."
Akamir blinked slowly, processing her words. "That... sounds like a fairy tale."
Inara gave a small shrug. "It's true. My old tutor used to say even kings lowered their eyes when she walked past."
He whistled low. "Damn."
"I used to practice in front of a mirror," Inara said, almost shyly.
"Trying to copy her posture. Her voice. I'd even pretend to command armies."
She laughed at herself. "I was probably the least terrifying little general you've ever seen."
"I don't know," Akamir said, smirking. "The hedgehog army looks pretty loyal."
As if on cue, the hedgehog by Inara's foot sneezed and waddled in a small circle.
Inara grinned. "Make your own army and we fight a war, the winner will be the dominant one in our relationship."
Akamir's first thought was the army of mimickers that he had, ready to kill anyone or anything at his command.
"...Yeah." He mumbled with an awkward smile. "Let's not do that."
"Scared, pretty boy?"
"No," he replied, standing up. "I just don't want to lose my fiancée for such petty reasons."
Inara laughed softly as she whispered something once again.
The small animals quickly ran away, and within seconds the place was once again empty.
Akamir turned around. "We should head back—"
"Wait," Inara said, grabbing his arm. "I want to show you one last thing."
Akamir tilted his head in confusion as she took a step back.
"Inara—?"
His words died down as she grabbed her frock from her waist and raised her hand, taking them off.
...What is she doing?
Akamir wondered, looking at her bare pale white skin.
The only thing that covered her private parts was a sky-blue bikini.
Akamir froze.
He wasn't sure where to look—his eyes darted to the trees, then the grass, then the sky.
Anywhere but directly at her.
Inara stood there without shame, her expression calm, almost serene.
"I'm not doing this to seduce you," she said softly, almost reading his thoughts. "It's a part of the story."
'Fuck it.'
He looked directly at her. "I highly doubt you aren't."
She just smiled and grabbed his fingers with both her hands.
"Come with me."
Akamir let her drag him closer to the water.
He looked past her at the river; it wasn't too deep but definitely deep.
Akamir looked back at her. "Are you trying to drown me or something?"
Inara stepped into the water, the surface rippling gently around her ankles.
Akamir followed slowly, the coolness of the stream biting at his skin.
He was still trying to figure out what exactly she was doing—if this was some kind of test, or just another layer of the strange day she had given him.
Then he saw it.
Her legs changing their shape.
Akamir blinked.
Her pale legs, delicate and slim, were slowly fusing together.
The skin turned glossy and iridescent, like silver-blue glass catching the sun.
Scales shimmered where her knees used to be.
Fins unfurled from the sides of her hips, soft and elegant like silk drifting through water.
The water around him stirred again, brushing up against his calf.
Inara touched him with what used to be her legs.
For the first time in a long while, Akamir was in true shock.
"...No way in hell."
He mumbled, looking at her smiling face.
"You're a mermaid?"
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel Crownless Reincarnation: New World? Nah I'd win Chapter 83: Date a Live [3]CROWNLESS REINCARNATION: NEW WORLD? NAH I'D WINC83: Date a Live [3]
Chapter 83: Date a Live [3]
For the first time in a long while, Akamir was in true shock.
"...No way in hell."
He mumbled, looking at her smiling face.
"You're a mermaid?"
She tilted her head. "Half."
Akamir took a shaky breath. "That would've been nice to mention before dragging me into the water."
Inara laughed softly, the sound light and warm like a bell.
"Did her voice become even more soothing to listen to?"
Akamir wondered, staring at her.
"People don't believe impossible things unless they see it. I thought you'd handle it better."
"I think I'm handling it fine," he muttered, trying to keep his voice even. "I'm just... reevaluating my life choices."
She swam closer, her movements graceful, effortless. The water barely moved around her.
"And?" she asked, resting her arms on a mossy rock by the river's edge.
Akamir looked at her again—really looked.
The way her hair floated around her like a halo, the glint of sunlight on her tail, the peace in her expression.
It wasn't just beautiful.
It was something... otherworldly.
"I think," he said slowly, "I've officially seen everything now."
"You haven't." She smiled mysteriously. "Not even close."
Akamir raised a brow. "Is this where you tell me you also have wings?"
"No," she laughed. "But I can breathe underwater."
"That's... okay, that's actually cool."
"Want to see?"
Akamir hesitated. "You want me to go under? With you?"
She nodded, eyes bright. "Just for a moment."
He took a breath, glanced once behind him.
Like he was making sure no one would see him doing something this stupid.
He took in a deep breath and stepped forward.
"I swear," he muttered, "if I drown, I'm haunting you."
"Noted," she grinned, then reached up and took his hand.
Her fingers were cold and soft and strong, and before he could second-guess himself, she pulled him under.
The river closed around them.
And Akamir saw everything.
The world below the surface wasn't dark—it was glowing.
Small lights drifted between the weeds like fireflies.
Fish darted between their feet, glowing faintly blue.
Inara's hair floated around her like ink in water, and her tail shimmered with every movement.
She moved easily, spinning once in a lazy circle before tugging him deeper.
And even though he should have panicked, he didn't.
He could breathe.
He wasn't sure how.
But as long as she was holding his hand, the panic didn't come.
Only wonder at what actually was happening.
When they surfaced again, Inara leaned back, laughing softly as she floated beside him.
"You didn't drown," she said.
"Yeah," Akamir panted, blinking water from his eyes. "But I definitely wasn't expecting a mermaid reveal on a casual walk."
"You said you wanted to know me."
"Yeah, but I didn't realize you meant all at once."
She swam closer again, just enough for their shoulders to touch. "You're still here."
"I am," he said. "And I'm starting to think you're the dangerous one in this relationship."
Inara smiled. "You'll live."
Akamir looked at her, soaked and speechless, and gave a short laugh.
"I better," he said. "I still haven't shown you my weird side yet."
"Oh?" she teased. "Are you secretly part dragon?"
"...No."
"Then it's not going to top this."
Akamir rubbed his chin. "Maybe or maybe not."
She smiled and swam closer to him. "Do you like what you saw?"
Akamir tilted his head. "Be more specific. I might misunderstand."
She leaned closer with her face inches away from him.
"How can you misunderstand?" She purred. "Be more specific."
Akamir gave her a weird look.
'Is it just me or is she getting more flirty after turning into a mermaid?'
Nayomi, who had been silent for so long, whispered softly.
"It's in their blood." She replied. "They seduce sailors or any other land creature and get them to the bottom of the ocean to eat them."
Akamir's eyes widened. "You are a cannibal?"
Inara frowned. "What? No!" She glared at him. "Do I look like one?"
Akamir shook his head with a sigh. "How are you even a fucking mermaid?"
"My great-grandmother was a mermaid who fell in love with a human." She replied, looking at him. "My grandmother a half, so was my mother and then me."
"And nobody got to know about it?" Akamir asked, tilting his head.
"You can only know a person is a mermaid if they tell you. There is no exception." She explained. "We are practically like every other race but with the ability to change our legs."
"...I see."
Akamir mumbled, giving her a long look.
"What?"
"I have a really important question to ask." He replied, scratching his cheek. "But I don't know if I should ask."
"Just ask away."
Inara blinked at him, her expression curious now instead of teasing.
Akamir rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly nervous. "Alright, how do you guys even reproduce?"
There was a beat of silence.
Then Inara stared at him like he'd grown a second head.
"...Seriously?"
"I said it was an important question!" he defended quickly, raising his hands. "I mean, you have a tail! And I see no puss—?"
Inara smiled and suddenly closed the distance between them.
She leaned closer to his ear. "Why don't you touch it and find it yourself?"
Akamir leaned slightly back, his eyes catching a glimpse of her sky-blue panty floating on the side.
"...I am fine." He replied, shaking his head. "I am better off not knowing it."
She smiled as she gently grabbed his hands once again.
"Let me take you somewhere special."
Akamir frowned. "Are you going to eat me now?"
She grinned, slightly biting her lips. "Shouldn't I be the one asking it?"
'Is she doing this on purpose?'
If she is, then it's definitely working.
She intertwined his fingers with her own as she dived along with him.
Akamir once again found himself under the water surrounded by a school of fish.
'What a weird fiancée I have.'
He thought, glancing at Inara.
She looked back at him and smiled brightly.
Akamir barely had time to adjust before everything around him shifted again.
It was like the water itself bent and cracked, the way light shatters through broken glass.
He blinked.
One second they were in the river, the next, the world changed.
A city stretched out below them, encased in a glowing dome.
The buildings shimmered with coral colors and strange architecture, twisted and elegant like it was shaped by the sea itself.
"What the hell..." he muttered, glancing around.
Inara smiled, her fingers still locked with his. "It's Atlantis."
He looked at her. "You're joking."
She shook her head.
"This is what's left of it. Hidden, protected... and still alive even after years of struggle."
"And you just... brought me near this place?"
"Don't worry. They won't be able to sense you here, and I haven't brought anyone here." Her smile turned softer. "I trust you."
"Damn," he exhaled, trying to take it all in. "I don't even trust myself half the time."
She chuckled. "Then it's a good thing I trust you."
They floated closer to the dome, the lights reflecting off their skin.
Akamir glanced at her again, trying to keep his mind focused, he moved closer only to feel a sudden underwave.
'The fuck!?'
He quickly grabbed onto Inara, not to get swept with the current.
'Hm?'
He squeezed the soft thing that he was holding on.
Then he realized something.
His hand had slipped... straight onto her chest.
He froze. "That wasn't on purpose, I swear—"
Her eyes narrowed, even underwater. "Really?"
"Yes! I didn't even—."
She didn't let him finish.
Instead, she grabbed him by the collar and yanked him close, eyes still narrowed.
Then, without a word, she pressed her lips to his.
Akamir felt her cold lips on him.
The kiss was deep, firm, and unrelenting.
There was nothing gentle about it.
Her grip on him tightened as if daring him to pull away, and he didn't.
He wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her closer.
When she finally pulled back, they both hovered there, barely moving.
The only sound was the muffled beat of her heart in his ears.
"What was that for?" he asked, looking at her.
Inara tilted her head. "For grabbing my breast."
"I told you it was an accident."
"I know." She smirked. "But I still wanted to do it."
Akamir blinked, unsure whether he was supposed to be offended or thrilled.
"You're dangerous," he muttered.
"And you're slow," she said, intertwining their hands again. "Now stop being weird and come with me. There's more to see."
"...More than Atlantis?"
She smiled. "Way more."
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel Crownless Reincarnation: New World? Nah I'd win Chapter 84: Side story: Velyrian [1]CROWNLESS REINCARNATION: NEW WORLD? NAH I'D WINC84: Side story: Velyrian [1]
Chapter 84: Side story: Velyrian [1]
[Velyrian's office.]
The beer bottle clinked softly against the wooden desk as Velyrian leaned back in his wheelchair.
The office was dim, the only light coming from the soft pulse of the Ven core mounted on the wall across from him.
Its glow flickered gently, like a heartbeat that refused to die.
He stared at it for a long while, unmoving, his eyes distant.
"Still ticking, huh?" he muttered.
His gaze drifted down to the letter lying unopened beside the bottle.
It had been sitting there for hours, maybe longer.
The seal was familiar—his master's.
He reached for it slowly, hesitating for just a moment before opening the letter once again.
The paper was old, the handwriting rough but steady.
''Velyrian,
If this letter finds you, I hope you are well.
I've heard whispers of what happened.
Your legs.
The war.
The core.''
Velyrian's grip tightened, but he kept reading.
''You were always the stubborn one.
Always chasing ghosts, pushing boundaries even when I warned you not to.
The Ven core cost you too much already. Let it go.''
His eyes welled up as he read the next line.
''I don't have much time left. The healers say a few years, at best.
I want you to come home. Not for closure. Just... for the sake of being my son again, not my soldier.''
A tear slid down his cheek.
''I taught you to fight, but I never taught you to stop.
That's on me. But you still have a chance to live—not survive, live. I hope you'll take it.
I am not angry with you, my son... I just want you back.
—Master Ryndel''
Velyrian placed the letter down carefully, like it might break if he moved too fast.
He reached into the drawer and pulled out a small photo frame.
The glass was cracked in one corner.
Inside was a picture of a girl with a wide smile, holding a paper star she must've folded herself.
"My little star," he whispered, wiping at his face.
He stared at it for what felt like hours. He didn't speak.
Didn't move.
Just sat there, the letter still open beside him, the Ven core pulsing like a scar that refused to fade.
"If you hadn't broken ties with us, then you would have liked her," he said eventually, glancing at the core.
"She's smarter than me. Kinder too. Didn't get that from me, obviously."
He let out a shaky breath and leaned forward, elbows resting on the desk.
"She asked me once why I never smile in pictures. I told her I didn't know how." He chuckled bitterly. "She said she'd teach me."
His hand drifted toward the Ven core again, like he would touch it by sitting on his chair.
"I kept you running. Even after what you took from me."
His eyes narrowed. "I gave you my legs. My years. My sanity. And for what?"
There was no answer, only the steady glow.
"She must have forgotten how I even looked."
That hit harder than he expected. His voice caught, and he looked away.
"I can't keep carrying this thing, Ryndel," he said to the empty room.
"I want to. God knows I want to. But I think... I think you're right."
He stared down at the letter again, then at the photo.
"I think I've been dying slower than you."
He picked up the photo frame and held it close.
"I'll come home," he said quietly. "But not for you."
His eyes went back to the picture.
"For her."
...She was the one who made him do all this.
To research all the things that he did was for her.
...A way to find the cure of her curse.
Yet—.
Velyrian became so obsessed with Ven core that he forgot the real reason he started it.
He drew in a deep breath as he looked at the broken Dyson sphere around it.
'Asher was right,'
he thought to himself. 'There are thousands of ways it could go wrong.'
He let out a sigh as he thought about the young man.
Velyrian sees the boy equal to his own.
He was smart and actually could solve things that he took years to understand.
'Master would have liked him too.'
He thought with a light chuckle.
'I bet he would have been his favourite pupil.'
Velyrian looked at the core once again.
"I will get rid of you tomorrow," he said with a heavy heart. "It's time for me to let go."
He smiled at the nonsense thought as he began to drag his wheelchair towards the exit.
Fwoooom!!
A soft humming voice echoed within the room, making Velyrian stop in his tracks.
He slowly looked back at the Ven core that glowed ominously within the room.
The Dyson sphere began to flicker to life.
'...No way.'
At that time, something clicked in his mind.
A warning that Asher gave him long ago.
'That damn thing has its own mind!'
The Dyson sphere began to spin at an abnormal speed.
Fwoooom!!
"No, no, no!"
Panic began to settle under his skin as he quickly moved towards the plug of the sphere.
"No! Fuck!" Velyrian shouted, pushing the wheelchair forward as fast as it would go.
The metal wheels groaned against the floor, but he didn't stop.
Not even when he saw the cables sparking in the corner of his eye.
He reached the wall panel and yanked open the emergency switch.
His heart sank.
The plugs were cleanly cut, not ripped or frayed; they were sliced.
The Ven core kept spinning, faster than before.
The sound was no longer a hum.
It was a low roar, vibrating through the walls, through the floor, through his bones.
"This wasn't supposed to happen," he muttered, trying to reach for another wire. "You weren't supposed to wake up."
He tried the manual override next, slamming his palm against the touchscreen, but the screen blinked red and then went dark.
The Dyson sphere began rotating so fast it blurred, the shell shimmering like it was phasing through itself.
A sharp gust of wind pulled at his collar.
Velyrian froze.
A faint tear in the air was forming in front of the core—small at first, like a crack in glass.
Then it widened, stretching out in a long, vertical split.
The edges rippled unnaturally, like heat waves over sand.
"Oh no... oh no no no..."
He backed away, panic burning in his chest.
"You're tearing space," he whispered. "This isn't energy compression anymore—this is breach-level distortion!"
The rift pulsed again, and a strange force pulled the air toward it.
Loose papers and tools on the desk lifted into the air and flew into the widening slit.
The frame with his daughter's photo was among the first.
"Wait—!" he reached for it, but it was gone.
"Goddammit!"
His chair began sliding now... slowly at first, then faster.
"No!" he shouted, digging his fingers into the edge of the doorframe.
The force pulling at him grew stronger.
His muscles strained, arms trembling, but the grip wasn't enough.
"Someone... anyone!" he yelled, his voice drowned by the vortex behind him.
"Milo! Asher!!"
The room groaned as the rift widened into a swirling black void, its edges flickering like static.
Velyrian's hands slipped.
The force yanked him back hard, wheels spinning uselessly beneath him.
"NO!"
His body twisted, the chair flipping as it slammed into the desk, then lifted.
He grabbed onto the leg of the table, but the pull was relentless.
"Damn you, Asher," he growled through clenched teeth. "You were right—this thing thinks!!!"
He tried to grab a loose cable nearby, but it snapped as soon as he touched it.
His wheelchair broke apart behind him, fragments vanishing into the void.
The rift was no longer a crack.
It had collapsed into a full black hole now, silent and pulsing, drawing in everything like breath being held before a scream.
His arms gave out.
He screamed as he was lifted from the ground, arms hanging limp on him.
He reached, clawed at the air, but there was nothing to hold onto.
The last thing he saw was the Ven core...still glowing faintly, almost gently as if watching him.
Then everything turned black.
The room went still.
Papers, tools, even dust had vanished.
Only the faint hum of the Ven core remained, pulsing in the empty room with soft, steady light.
...Waiting for him.
The boy with wheat-blonde hair and blood-red eyes.
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel Crownless Reincarnation: New World? Nah I'd win Chapter 85: Side story: Velyrian [2]CROWNLESS REINCARNATION: NEW WORLD? NAH I'D WINC85: Side story: Velyrian [2]
Chapter 85: Side story: Velyrian [2]
'Huh?'
Velyrian opened his eyes—or at least, he thought he did.
There was no sense of blinking, no lids, no lashes.
Just sudden awareness that clawed his mind.
The space around him was something that he never thought he would see.
Stars hung like scattered lanterns in a sea of shifting galaxies. Some pulsed gently.
Others spiraled in frozen elegance.
He was floating, but he didn't feel weightless.
He didn't feel anything. Only silence and light.
'Where is this place?'
He looked down, half expecting to see the battered remains of his body.
But instead, what he saw stopped him cold.
His arms were translucent, webbed with veins of soft glowing wires.
They pulsed with an inner light, as if his blood had been replaced by stardust.
And below... his legs.
'...How?'
They were now mechanical.
Sleek and angular, they glowed with the same light as the galaxies around him.
They weren't clunky prosthetics but refined, almost graceful in design.
Instead of nerves, slender glowing lines ran up into his waist, connecting to whatever form he had now become.
"You have crossed a threshold."
Velyrian tried to flinch at the sudden voice but he couldn't.
The voice wasn't loud.
It wasn't even really a sound.
It was more like a thought pressed gently into his mind... broken in places, like a record skipping a few beats but unmistakably clear.
It was speaking only to him.
Velyrian looked around, trying to find the source but all he saw was a cluster of stars.
Space that rippled with slow waves of color the same way a mana core progresses.
"Where am I?" he asked, or thought, unsure if his voice carried at all.
"A place between. Beyond the core. Beyond the reach of your stars."
The voice replied, cold and unbothered with anything.
He frowned. "This... isn't the core's energy field. This is something else."
"It is outside your frame of time and space. It is not life. It is not death. You were not meant to be here, Velyrian."
He tried to move.
There was no sensation of muscle or bone, but his body responded.
Slow at first, like he was learning to walk again.
He floated forward, arms spreading out for balance.
The stars didn't move, but space bent around him as he did.
His steps began to solidify into something more rhythmic—natural.
The new legs didn't clunk or grind.
They moved silently, smooth as silk.
The wires connecting them to his torso pulsed gently, like heartbeats.
"The body you wear is not a gift," the voice said. "It is a key. And a tether."
"A tether to what?"
"To the memory you tried to bury. To the place you must now return to."
Before he could respond, the space around him convulsed—like a giant breath had been taken and then held.
The galaxies distorted.
Stars bent in on themselves.
Something cold gripped him—not physically, but within.
'What is happening!?'
He staggered, reaching out for balance, but there was nothing to grab onto.
His light-form flickered and then the space cracked.
Not with a sound, but a sensation.
Like the splitting of an old scar that was on his body for longer than he remembered.
'AHHHHH!!'
His body jerked, spine twisting from a force outside his will.
A gust of invisible pressure slammed into him, and then—
He fell.
There was no ground below him, Velyrian just felt a motion.
He fell through layers of reality.
Colors he didn't have names for.
Shapes that weren't shapes.
Whispers brushed past his ears.
His heart or whatever he had in its place began to race.
"The Spirit Realm," the voice said, calmer now. "This place is untethered by linear time. Souls drift here, unaware of what they are and some never leave."
The descent slowed.
The stars faded into mist.
The world reshaped into something dense and heavy, like a dream pressed too deep into sleep.
Shadows twisted in the fog and a ground formed beneath him.
Velyrian landed softly though there was no sensation on his feet.
He exhaled, though he hadn't known he was holding his breath.
"What... do you want from me?" he asked aloud this time, his voice steady but wary.
The voice didn't answer right away. Just the sound of the mist curling and the stars above dimming.
Then—
"I am not what wants. I am what waits."
Velyrian narrowed his eyes. "You're part of the core?"
"I was born from it. But I am older than what you built. You only opened the door."
His gaze drifted up toward the sky that no longer looked like sky. "So what now?"
"Now, you remember why you started."
The mist shifted and far in the distance, a small figure stood—a girl, holding a paper star.
Velyrian stepped forward, breath catching in his throat.
"...My little star," he whispered.
And then, he moved toward her.
But it only took him two steps before everything turned into mist.
Velyrian blinked, trying to understand what happened.
His legs began to move even though he didn't wish for it.
And before long he was running towards a hill.
"What the hell is happening!?"
Velyrian yelled but he got no answers from the voice.
He looked around only to find he was going towards the broken sun hanging in the sky.
'Is this east?'
He wondered as he climbed to the top of the hill with ease.
Velyrian stood there, with no problem with his breathing even though he was running for miles.
"Hmm?"
Finally.
After so long he finally saw a human figure but the relief soon turned into confusion.
Velyrian looked at the boy with a serious expression.
The boy had wheat blonde hair with purple lightning crackling over his body.
He was fighting against multiple gruesome beings.
He frowned. "What are those?"
"Specters."
The voice replied.
Velyrian looked at those things more intently.
Suddenly, as if noticing his gaze they all stopped and looked at him.
Then as if fearing him, they all began to run away.
Velyrian opened his mouth to speak only to stop midway.
Because...
The boy looked his way as well and he could clearly see him.
Velyrian tried to tremble but couldn't.
A single word escaped his lips. "Asher?"
Before he could make sense out of it the world around him twisted once again.
He was thrown away and his spine twisted with the force.
Velyrian wanted to scream yet he couldn't do that.
The world stabilized, leaving him gasping for breath.
Now, he stood in an entirely different place.
A ruined world that felt eerily familiar to him.
...Because it was his hometown.
Velyrian's eyes widened in horror as he saw littered corpses that were thrown around the place.
"No... way." He whispered in disbelief. "...W-what happened here!?"
Velyrian staggered forward, heart pounding in his chest—or whatever now passed for one.
Buildings were torn in half, their edges melted and blackened.
Every step he took was slower than the last.
There were bodies everywhere.
Friends. Neighbors. People he used to greet every morning. All gone.
He knelt beside one of them, an old man who used to sell peaches by the square.
Velyrian remembered him smiling, always giving extra fruit to kids who didn't have coins.
Tears began falling down his eyes.
"...M-my people." He whispered griefly. "My k-kingdom."
He bowed his head, taking in deep breaths along with the smell of ash and burning wood.
Even though he wasn't sure if he could smell anything at all in this form.
"W-wait... burning wood?"
With an awkward body that didn't listen to his emotions... Velyrian looked back.
"..."
There...
He saw it.
The World Tree of elves...
...Was burning.
Velyrian stood frozen, unable to look away.
The World Tree... once towering with life, its branches home to the royal elves... was now ablaze.
Flames licked its roots, climbing the sacred trunk like hungry beasts.
"...No," he breathed. "That's not possible."
His legs moved on their own again, carrying him toward the tree.
"How did this happen...?"
Velyrian whispered, clutching his chest as if trying to keep it from splitting open.
Finally...
At the base of the tree he saw a man.
Same wheat blonde hair and blood red eyes that stared at the burning tree.
Behind him was an army of deformed beings that were in tens of thousands.
...The army of mimickers.
The boy, as if sensing him, looked toward his direction.
Velyrian felt like his voice was leaving him yet he still forced his name.
"...Asher?"
The world twisted once again.
"So much senseless pain this world will suffer."
The voice echoed once again as he was plummeted back to reality.
"In all timelines... in all possibilities, only you h—elp h—im, save this world."
Velyrian was once again knocked back to his office room.
---
"Cough! Cough!"
A sudden series of violent coughing grabbed Velyrian.
His disoriented eyes looked to his legs only to find the mechanical ones slowly retracting back in his body.
"No... no."
He whispered but couldn't do anything.
"Wait, Ven core!?"
Velyrian looked around the room in search of it but couldn't find it.
He panickingly tried to stand up only to fall down face first.
"Huh?"
It was only then did he notice...
...An abnormal pulse where his heart should be.
"No! No!"
Velyrian crawled on the floor towards an X-ray machine.
"Please be a lie! Please be a lie... Please."
He barely reached for the scanner and used it on his chest.
When he saw the live scan on the screen...
Velyrian felt his heart stop.
Yet, it was nothing but an illusion.
Because...
He doesn't have a heart now.
The Ven core had replaced it.
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel Crownless Reincarnation: New World? Nah I'd win Chapter 86: Date a Live [4]CROWNLESS REINCARNATION: NEW WORLD? NAH I'D WINC86: Date a Live [4]
Chapter 86: Date a Live [4]
"And you're slow," she said, intertwining their hands again. "Now stop being weird and come with me. There's more to see."
"...More than Atlantis?"
She smiled. "Way more."
Akamir followed as Inara led him through the water with an ease he still couldn't wrap his head around.
She didn't rush, letting him adjust to each shift in pressure the place had.
They moved away from Atlantis, gliding downward until the world around them dimmed.
"Where are we going now?" he asked, holding onto her hand tightly.
She looked back at him with a calm smile. "Somewhere even fewer people have seen."
"How reassuring," he muttered, but didn't slow down.
Though there were a few things that he couldn't wrap his mind around.
'Why is she showing me this?' Akamir wondered, staring at her beautiful back. 'Is she not afraid that I can use it against her?'
Akamir was sure she isn't stupid but on the contrary she is quite smart.
'Does she wants anything form me? Is this a way for her to win my attention?'
Akamir was having a hard time figuring her out.
Eventually, the water grew darker, thicker, until he could barely see more than a few feet ahead.
Then, out of the darkness, something massive took shape.
A shape that made Akamir stop swimming entirely.
"...What the hell is that?"
Inara didn't answer immediately.
She guided him forward until they were close enough for him to make out the giant creature resting at the bottom.
Its body was covered in stone-like scales, each one larger than a house.
The creature's breaths were slow, its eyes closed, but Akamir could feel the weight of its presence like gravity.
"It's sleeping," Inara said softly, her voice more careful now. "We shouldn't wake him."
"You brought me next to a sea monster?"
"He's not a monster. He's the guardian."
Akamir raised an eyebrow. "Of what, exactly?"
Inara gave him a look. "Of the deep sea and of everything we don't understand anymore."
"Comforting," he muttered, still staring at the thing. "How old is it?"
"No one knows. He's older than Atlantis. Older than my people. Some say he was created by the 'Seraphic Tablet'."
Akamir gave her a curious look.
'Isn't it the same thing that help Solomon empire summon the otherworlders?'
That thing really fascinated Akamir and how much it can do.
His gaze moved towards the monster once again.
"Does he... attack?"
She shook her head. "Only when he must. He's a protector, not a predator."
Akamir frowned. "And he just sleeps at the bottom of the ocean?"
Inara smiled faintly. "Most of the time."
Before he could ask more, she tugged at his hand again. "Come on. There's one more place I want to show you."
"Let me guess. A sunken volcano with sea ghosts?"
"Close," she said, grinning.
They swam through a narrow passage between jagged rocks, the space glowing faintly.
Then everything shifted again.
The water felt lighter and much more warmer.
Ahead of them was a hidden clearing beneath the sea, shielded by coral arches.
Flowers bloomed inside bubbles that looked like roses.
Crystals floated as it was suspended mid-water, casting soft pulses of colored light.
Akamir looked around the place. "Okay. This one's beautiful. No giant creatures. No risk of drowning. I approve."
Inara laughed quietly. "It's my favorite place. I used to come here when I wanted to disappear."
"I get why," he said. "I can live here without any problem."
They floated near a large shell-like structure in the center.
Inara leaned against it, her fingers brushing one of the floating crystals.
"So," Akamir said after a pause, "Atlantis has cities, guardians, magical places like this... what about a king? Who's running the show down here?"
Inara's smile didn't fade. "His name is Eden."
Akamir blinked. "That's... a normal name. I was expecting something dramatic like 'Thalrion the Third' or 'Poseidon's Wrath.'"
"He's not dramatic," she replied. "He's quiet. Old. Kind, in a way that scares you."
"How can kindness be scary?"
"Because it means he's seen too much. Chose peace over revenge. That kind of person is the one you never want to fight."
Akamir nodded slowly. "Have you met him?"
"Once. When I was very young. He blessed me."
"...Blessed you with what? Mermaid powers?"
She chuckled. "Not exactly. Just... protection and my recognition."
Akamir tilted his head. "So, he knows about you being half-human?"
She looked at him. "He knows everything."
"Creepy."
"Wise," she corrected.
Akamir nodded and looked to his side.
'Goddamnit!'
He almost screamed as he saw Nayomi peeking her face over his shoulder.
She didn't look at him instead she was staring at Inara. "....Eden?"
Akamir titled his head in confusion and so did Inara looking at him.
Nayomi finally looked at him. "Ask her if Eden is an otherworlder."
Akamir forwned. "What?"
"....What are you doing?"
He looked back at Inara with a sigh. "This Eden guy....Is he one of the summon students from 600 years ago?"
Inara blinked in suprise. "...I don't think so." She whispered. "I haven't heard of him being for otherworlder."
Akamir glanced at Nayomi who was floating in the water along with him.
"There was one classmate of mine." She whispered, notching his gaze. "Even though his real name was different...We used to call him Eden."
"....."
Akamir stared at her without any words.
'No way.'
The realisation came quickly.
'Are the otherworlders still alive in this world?'
"...No, no." Nayomi whispered again. "...This can't be."
"...."
Akamir silently looked her way as her expression kept on changing.
"Inara," he said, slowly turning back to the girl leaning against the glowing shell, "how old do people live down here?"
She blinked at the question. "It depends. Some live for a hundred years. Some... much longer, if they're blessed."
Akamir's voice lowered. "Could someone survive for six hundred years?"
Inara paused on her tracks.
Her fingers stopped moving along the floating crystal.
"...Maybe," she said softly. "If someone was special enough or powerful enough. Or if the sea chose them."
Akamir looked back at Nayomi...only to feel a chil down his spine.
The Stoic and grumpy woman....
.....Was smiling like a crazy woman.
Akamir had seen that smile before.
It always have on those who are always dying to get their revenge.
'She hasn't forgotten her classmate for betraying her....'
Slowly she floated back away from Akamir's line of sight.
His gaze moved towards Inara who was looking at him with a serious expression.
He titled his head. "What?"
"Now that I think about it." She whispered softly. "Haven't I told you too much."
Akamir smiled. "Are you regretting it now?"
She exhaled a soft laugh, but the tension didn't fade from her shoulders.
"I'm not regretting it," she said at last. "I'm just... wondering what happens next."
"What do you mean?"
She began moving back up towards the surface along with him.
"It means, I am stuck with you." She replied smiling. "Now, either marry me or die by my hands."
Akamir coughed. "Wait, what?"
Inara just smiled sweetly and swam ahead, her long hair flowing behind her like a ribbon of light.
"I'm kidding," she said.
"...Are you?" he asked, unsure if she was joking at all.
She didn't answer.
Instead, she kept swimming toward the surface until their upper body were out of the water.
Akamir took in a deep breath as he found himself back at the river bank.
Inara was infront of him, looking at him with a bright smile.
"How was it?" She asked. "The trip to the undersea?"
Akamir gave her a look. "I got one more question to ask."
She titled her head. "What is it?"
He drew in a deep breath before asking. "Can you talk to a fish?"
".... Seriously?"
"It's an important question—."
She didn't let him finish as she moved closer, letting her ample breast squeeze on his chest.
Inara pressed even closer, her wet skin cool against his.
"I can't talk to all fish," she whispered, her voice a breath against his ear. "But the important ones? They understand me."
Akamir tried not to focus on the sensation of her body against his.
"Right. Makes sense. Definitely not a weird thing to say at all."
She just smiled and leaned closer.
Her lips brushed his teasing him before deepening the kiss.
Her mouth moved against his with a wet feeling, tongue slipping past the seam of his lips like she was claiming him.
His hands found her waist on instinct, fingers gripping tighter when she pushed up against him.
She gasped lightly into his mouth, like she'd been waiting for that.
Her body arched against his, every part of her pressing close.
Finally she leaned back, breaking the kiss.
"I hope I ruined your dating experience." She whispered. "I really don't want to share you with anyone else."
Akamir smiled. "Possesive much?"
She smiled back. "Let me show you something interesting."
Saying so she let go of him and began to move towards the bank.
Akamir turned as her legs began to change back.
'...Damn.'
Inara wasn't wearing anything downside so he could clearly see her plum milky ass.
As soon as she touched the surface, she sniffled.
Finally, the flirty personality of her mermaid self was supressed and her stoic princess one resurfaced.
Inara quickly sat down on the ground, hiding whatever she could.
She glared back at Akamir, her face red as tomoto. "TURN AROUND!?"
"Alright, jezz." Akamir said, slowly turning around.
"You know," he said casually, "for someone who just kissed me like she owned me, you're awfully shy now."
"Shut up!" Inara snapped. "That was underwater. It doesn't count the same way!"
"....Sure."
A moment passed before he heard her clear her throat. "You can turn around now."
She was back to her casual dress, sitting on the sand as he walked towards her.
He sat down beside her. "...You okay?"
"I'm fine," she replied quickly.
"Liar."
She sighed, hugging her knees. "....Do you like her?"
"Hm?"
"My other side."
"Well..." he began. "She is a better kisser for sure."
She elbowed him lightly in the ribs, a blush creeping on her face.
"But," Akamir continued. "I like the princess more."
Inara remained still for a while, before she smiled.
"....I see."
She whispered.
"Glad to hear that."
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel Crownless Reincarnation: New World? Nah I'd win Chapter 87: Practice [1]CROWNLESS REINCARNATION: NEW WORLD? NAH I'D WINC87: Practice [1]
Chapter 87: Practice [1]
[The next morning]
'Urgh'
Akamir groaned as he stretched his body.
After the date yesterday he was seriously in need of some sleep.
'Hard to believe I saw Atlantis.'
He thought, rubbing his chin as he walked into the teacher's building.
Inara told him a lot of things on his date like how Atlantis is completely isolated.
It was the place that cannot be visited by the other races.
'Would have been nice if they actually accepted trade.'
Akamir thought walking upstairs.
'I could have used it to grow my company.'
Inara could have helped him on this because she isn't just a normal member of Atlantis.
'A distant relative of Atlantis's royal family, huh?'
She was really a special one.
Thinking about her, Akamir looked at Nayomi on his side.
"You never mentioned she was a mermaid." He said, staring at her.
Nayomi didn't look at him. "It was never mentioned and she admitted she didn't tell anyone."
"...Yeah." He let out a sigh. "I don't know why she told me."
"Pretty sure she is into you."
Akamir shrugged. "I can see that."
"So." Nayomi moved and floated in front of him. "Are you going to help her?"
"..."
Akamir didn't reply as he walked past her.
Nayomi floated beside him once again. "Having a queen as your wife doesn't sound bad."
"I don't care about that." Akamir replied shaking his head. "I just don't want to be bound with a kingdom."
The one thing that he doesn't want is the responsibilities of a king.
Even though he was aware that Inara won't push everything on him, he can't be too sure.
"Though." He mumbled, reaching Velyrian's office. "....I am leaning more towards helping her."
Akamir knocked on the door and was followed by the opening of it.
He stepped into the room, blinking against the pale light that filtered in through half-closed blinds.
The first thing he noticed was the empty pedestal.
The Ven core was gone.
Then his eyes landed on Velyrian.
He sat hunched in a chair, arms draped loosely over his knees, face far paler than usual.
'...What happened here?'
Velyrian slowly raised his head.
His eyes met Akamir's and for a moment, Akamir swore he saw something close to terror flicker through them.
"What happened?" Akamir asked, his tone quiet.
"I destroyed it," Velyrian replied after a pause, voice low and steady. "I don't want to continue with it anymore."
Akamir blinked.
He waited a beat to be sure he heard correctly. "You... destroyed it?"
Velyrian nodded with a tired sigh.
"Last night. I couldn't sleep, I just kept staring at it. The thing... it wasn't right. I thought I was helping, but it was turning into something else."
Akamir let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
He crossed his arms and leaned against the nearby desk. "That's... honestly a relief. I didn't like where that project was heading."
'I was planning to destroy the core with my own hand anyway.'
"Neither did I." Velyrian rubbed his face. "I don't know why it took me so long to see it."
Akamir nodded as he looked at the left side of the room.
'Hmm?'
A marking on the ground took his attention.
'What are those?'
"Why are you here?" Velyrian asked before he could inspect it. "Didn't you walk out of the project yesterday?"
"...I came to check on you." Akamir replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "I had a weird feeling since yesterday."
"..."
Velyrian just stared at him with a trembling face.
He wanted to speak but he couldn't bring himself to do so.
"So, what now?" Akamir asked, glancing once more at the empty pedestal. "What are you going to do?"
Velyrian didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he reached under his desk and pulled out a rolled-up sheet of parchment.
He carefully unrolled it on the table between them.
The chart was filled with scribbled notes and intricate diagrams.
A long staff took up most of the page, its shape segmented and complex.
There were runes, channels, and something that looked like a magnetic array embedded into its length.
"I always wanted to make this," Velyrian said, tapping the paper.
"It was something I dreamt up when I was still an apprentice. About combining magic and old runes in a way that didn't corrupt either. This staff... was supposed to be that."
Akamir leaned over the drawing, eyes scanning the design. "Looks complicated."
"It is," Velyrian replied. "That's why I never attempted it. But now... I think it's what I should've done from the start."
There was a beat of silence between them.
The sound of a clock ticking faintly filled the background as Velyrian looked up.
"I want your help."
Akamir looked at him, then at the chart again. "You sure about this?"
"Yes."
"Alright," Akamir said, giving a small nod. "I'll help but I got a question."
"Ask away."
"Who are you making this weapon for?" Akamir asked looking at him. "I mean no offense but can you use it—?"
"It's not for me." Velyrian interrupted shaking his head. "It's for my master....a way to help him fight his disease."
Akamir tilted his head. "Disease?"
Velyrian sighed rubbing his face once again.
"My master has a problem of mana leakage." He replied, his voice low.
"His body absorbs the extra mana but his race isn't made for a strong body."
Akamir tapped on the staff's diagram. "And this thing will suck his mana and store it without hurting him?"
Velyrian nodded his head in agreement.
"With this maybe he can live a little bit longer." He whispered. "Maybe teach my daughter a thing or two."
Akamir raised his brow. "You have a daughter?"
"....Yeah."
He leaned closer. "How old is she?"
Velyrian was about to reply but he stopped, his eyes narrowed at Akamir. "Why are you asking that?"
Akamir shrugged. "I am just wondering."
He remained quiet for a while before he replied softly. "She is old."
"How old?"
"I don't remember." He rubbed his temples. "Maybe in her forties?"
"Oh, is she married?"
He glared at Akamir. "Again, why are you asking that?"
"Just curious."
Velyrian sighed and leaned back in his chair, clearly exhausted.
"I don't think she is," he muttered. "Why does it matter?"
Akamir raised both hands. "Just curious. You mentioned her, so I figured I'd ask."
Velyrian gave him a tired look. "She's not your type."
"You don't know my type."
"I know enough to say you'd drive her insane."
Akamir chuckled. "That's fair."
Velyrian remained quiet for a while, tapping on the diagram.
"Say." He whispered. "You don't have an army..of deformed mutants with you right?"
Akamir kept his smile the same. "What are you talking about?"
Velyrian shook his head hastily. "Nothing special." He replied. "We should start working on it...I want to gift this to my master soon."
Akamir nodded silently as he stepped a little back.
His blood red eyes stared at the back of Velyrian's head.
'How did he know?'
He wondered, keeping his emotions in check.
In no circumstances does he want the world to know about the mimickers.
And....
Velyrian talking about them made him alert.
'How does he even—?'
Akamir's gaze slowly turned towards Nayomi who stared at Velyrian's chest.
Her eyes shifted back to him.
"The Ven core."
She whispered softly.
"It's beating in the place of his heart."
Akamir felt goosebumps all over his body.
'...What?'
Velyrian turned to look at him. "Are you going to help or not?" He asked.
Akamir drew in a deep breath. "Sure."
---
After two long hours of planning Akamir walked out of Velyrian's office.
His eyes snapped towards Nayomi.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked. "How is the Ven core his heart?"
Nayomi floated beside him in the hallway, arms crossed, her expression serious.
"I don't know how," she said quietly.
"But it's there. I felt it the moment we walked in. That thing isn't destroyed. He just... absorbed it."
Akamir rubbed his temple, feeling a headache creep in.
"That's not how Ven cores work. They don't just become part of someone. It's supposed to explode or corrupt the user."
"I know," Nayomi said. "Which means this isn't normal, something kept it stable or someone."
They reached the stairs and started descending.
Akamir's mind was racing with different thoughts.
The core was dangerous and he'd seen what it could do.
It twisted people, fed on their mana, warped their intentions.
"Do you think he's being controlled?" Akamir asked.
"No," Nayomi replied. "That's the scary part. He's still himself. Just... different."
Akamir stopped at the bottom of the steps. "You think it's influencing him?"
Nayomi nodded. "Not like a parasite. More like... a subconscious thought, something breathing in the back of his mind."
Akamir looked over his shoulder, back toward the office.
Velyrian had seemed shaken. Tired, maybe but not wrong.
Not yet.
"...We keep an eye on him," Akamir muttered. "If anything feels off, I will end him."
Even though he didn't want to....
.... Akamir knew when to draw the line.
'Still how?'
He wondered feeling a tinge in his mana core.
'Hmm?'
He summoned a little bit of mana and made a skin barrier of it.
'I need to work on this as well.'
Akamir thought as he began to walk away from the teacher's building.
'With the speed I am progressing, I should break through in a day or two.'
Akamir was sure he would break through the white core in less than a year.
Something that humans could only achieve in their dreams.
'....Still, am I really human?'
He began to doubt his race because of his abnormal core.
Akamir let out a sigh as he found two boys moving out of a classroom.
His eyes lit up. "Viros!"
The boy turned to look at him. "Asher?"
Akamir walked closer. "Are you guys free?"
Luca quickly chimed in. "No, we are not—."
"We are." Viros cut in his words. "Why do you ask?"
Akamir smiled. "Wanna be my practice dummy—parther?"
They looked at him weirdly.
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel Crownless Reincarnation: New World? Nah I'd win Chapter 88: Practice [2]CROWNLESS REINCARNATION: NEW WORLD? NAH I'D WINC88: Practice [2]
Chapter 88: Practice [2]
'Huff, this feels manageable.'
Akamir stood in the center of the ring, his sword lowered lazily.
The academy grounds were busy at this hour, but the training area itself was mostly empty.
"You're really going against both of us?" Viros asked from across the ring, raising a brow. "Trying to act tough now?"
Akamir rubbed the back of his neck. "Just come at me, will you?"
Viros grinned, twirling his spear before stabbing it into the dirt beside him.
He cracked his knuckles, stretching them out, then pulled the weapon free again.
Luca stood across from him, rolling his rapier in his palm, calm but not relaxed.
"Don't cry when you lose," Luca said, looking at him.
Akamir shifted slightly, positioning himself to keep both opponents in view. "Just come."
The two exchanged a quick glance.
Viros nodded first, and then they moved.
Luca angled to Akamir's right, fast and light-footed, while Viros lunged from the left.
They weren't holding back.
The moment they entered striking range, magic circles lit up beneath their feet.
Akamir didn't attack.
He slid back half a step, adjusted his stance, and raised his sword just in time to catch Viros's spear sweeping across his side.
CLANG!!
The impact rattled through his wrist, but he turned with it, redirecting the force off his blade.
Luca followed up immediately, his rapier darting low toward Akamir's thigh.
Akamir twisted, letting the tip graze his coat, and slammed the flat of his sword down to deflect the next strike.
'Hmm?'
Akamir looked at them in a new light.
'They both are actually strong.'
Viros activated another circle, enhancing his legs before lunging again, trying to throw Akamir off balance.
The tip of his spear hummed with force, the air rippling faintly around it.
Akamir dug his heels into the ground.
His fingers curled tighter around the hilt.
CLANG!!
He parried again, barely.
His body screamed at him to shift into offense, to lash out and control the rhythm, but he held steady.
This was the point.
He wanted to learn to use the skin barrier on reflex.
'Tch. But they're not strong enough to get past my defense.'
Luca darted in again, feinting high but aiming low.
Akamir dropped his elbow and blocked.
Viros swept at his head in the same moment.
Akamir ducked under the arc and let the wind of it pass over him.
The edge of the spearhead grazed his cheek, not enough to draw blood.
'They really are good.'
They were pressuring him on both sides, never letting the space between attacks stretch too long.
He could feel the barrier flickering at the surface of his skin, thin and fleeting, ready to be used.
Luca's rapier thrust again, but this time with a magic-augmented lunge.
Viros jabbed in the same second.
The synchronization between them was sharp now, trained and instinctive.
Akamir blocked the rapier and caught the spear against the back of his blade, turning his wrist to redirect the force.
It worked, but just barely, giving him time to move.
'I don't think they are going all out.'
He rolled aside, brushing sweat from his eyes, and exhaled once through his teeth.
"Be faster, bro!"
Viros came at him again, this time from above, leaping forward with his whole weight behind the spear.
Akamir tilted his sword back, catching the shaft between both hands as it slammed down.
"Argh, fuck."
The force drove Viros to a knee, dirt crunching under him, but he didn't fall.
Luca tried to stab at his back.
Akamir spun, shoulder-first, and the blow missed his spine by inches.
Luca thrust once again.
This time, the barrier flared to life across Akamir's arm. The rapier bounced off with a sharp spark.
Akamir grunted, the force heavier than expected.
Maintaining the barrier across his body was harder than he thought, but it was working.
He exhaled again, adjusting his stance, foot sliding against the ground.
"Again," he muttered, more to himself than them.
Viros circled to his right, grip tight around his spear.
The boy's left forearm was already bruising from one of Akamir's earlier deflections, but he didn't seem to notice or care.
Luca's breathing was faster now, but his posture never slipped.
Another circle flared to life beneath Viros's boots.
He rushed in this time, going low, attempting to sweep Akamir's legs out.
Luca mirrored him, slicing upward in a sharp diagonal arc.
Akamir jumped back just in time, but Viros extended his spear with a shout.
The weapon curved slightly as magic twisted its shape, catching Akamir across the ribs.
The blow sent him stumbling, and his barrier barely flickered in time to absorb it.
'Alright, this is doing good for now.'
Viros and Luca quickly regrouped in front of him.
Viros grinned, looking at him. "Is that all you can do?"
Akamir's lips twitched as he looked at the boy.
He drew in a deep breath and rushed at them.
Viros blinked in surprise, barely bringing up his spear before Akamir's sword smacked it aside.
The hit jolted through Viros's arms, throwing his guard wide open.
He kicked the spear just as Viros reached for it, sending it sliding across the ground.
Then came the flat of his blade slamming against Viros's side.
"Argh!"
The boy grunted and dropped back down.
Luca jumped in instantly with a thrust aimed straight for Akamir's chest.
But the barrier was already there.
The rapier slammed before bouncing off like it had hit metal.
Akamir twisted with the momentum, grabbed Luca's wrist mid-motion, and yanked.
The boy stumbled forward.
His elbow came up, slamming right into Luca's jaw.
The hit knocked him back a few steps, dazed but not out.
"Alright, this should be enough for today," Akamir said, looking at them. "Let's continue tomorrow."
Viros, who was laying on the ground, looked at him. "….Really? We need to do this daily?"
"Up to you," Akamir shrugged. "Run away if you want."
Luca sat up, rubbing his face. "How are you so fast?"
"Doesn't matter. But tell me something." Akamir narrowed his eyes. "Aren't you both from the church? Why not use Holy Aura?"
"We can't," Luca replied, catching his breath. "You need a decent amount of faith to use holy energy."
"Faith, huh?" Akamir mumbled as he sat down on the ground. "First time I'm hearing that."
"It's common knowledge in the church," Luca said. "The more faith you have, the more Aura you can draw."
"Faith in what?" Akamir frowned. "The gods?"
"Anything," Luca answered. "Doesn't matter what or who."
"…I see."
Akamir rubbed his chin.
"So, as long as you believe in something, it works?"
"Pretty much."
"I want to drink something good," Viros mumbled, sitting up again. "Something really good."
Luca snorted. "Go drink your milk."
"I might if it was an elf's milk," Viros replied wishfully. "Man, they taste great."
"…..What?"
Akamir looked at him in astonishment.
"What are you saying?"
Viros blinked innocently.
"You don't know?" he asked. "An elf's milk is the sweetest milk in this world."
"....."
Akamir blinked his eyes, trying to understand his words.
"They're ridiculously expensive though," he continued without any care. "I spent thousands of gold coins just to get a few milliliters."
Akamir had so many questions to ask.
But….
Something else stuck with him.
"Wait… aren't you both supposed to be commoners?" he asked. "How could you afford something expensive like that?"
"..."
"..."
Both Viros and Luca blinked in unison.
They finally noticed what they said just now.
Viros quickly pointed at the sky. "A dragon!?"
Akamir instinctively turned to look that way, only to find nothing.
When he looked back, both of them were running away from him.
"....."
'Did I fall for the oldest trick in the book?'
He wondered, slowly standing back up on his feet.
Still, Akamir began to doubt their orphan story.
'They aren't really commoners.'
He concluded as he began to walk away.
Even back in his old world, people of ancient families used to do this.
Sending their children to an unknown place without any support.
'A way for them to grow.'
Akamir let out a sigh as he threw those thoughts away.
'Hmm?'
But just as he began to move, something caught his eye.
'Zaina?'
And then his gaze landed on the boy with her.
The one who was trying to talk to her even though she was ignoring him.
'…. Arthur?'
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Show menu NOVEL BIN5Novel Crownless Reincarnation: New World? Nah I'd win Chapter 89: Practice [3]CROWNLESS REINCARNATION: NEW WORLD? NAH I'D WINC89: Practice [3]
Chapter 89: Practice [3]
The one who was trying to talk to her even though she was ignoring him.
'... Arthur?'
Akamir narrowed his eyes.
From the distance, he could tell Zaina was clearly uncomfortable.
Her arms were crossed, and she was facing away from the boy.
Arthur, on the other hand, kept stepping into her space, trying to get her attention.
He started walking toward them.
'Let's try to be civil.'
He wasn't in the mood for another fight, but something about the way Arthur kept reaching out did bother him.
Zaina glanced up when she noticed him.
Her eyes lit up for a second—only for a second, though Akamir caught it.
Arthur followed her gaze and turned too, frowning when he saw who was coming.
He straightened, forcing a smile. "Oh. Didn't see you there, Asher."
Akamir looked at him, then at Zaina.
"You alright?" he asked her directly.
Zaina nodded slowly. "Yeah."
Arthur glanced between them. "We were just talking."
"She wasn't talking," Akamir said, voice flat. "You were."
"It's not really your business, is it—?"
"I need to talk," Zaina said, grabbing Akamir's hand. "Come with me."
Akamir looked at her for a second before letting her drag him away.
He could feel Arthur's glare on his back but didn't bother with it.
Instead, he looked at Zaina. "Why is he out already?"
"I don't know," she replied softly. "He was supposed to be on bedrest, maybe someone helped him."
"...Hmm." Akamir stared at her. "And what was he talking about?"
She looked back at him.
"How I should break my engagement with you and whatnot," she grumbled. "He was pointing out all of your negative points."
"...I see."
Akamir raised an eyebrow, but he wasn't surprised.
Arthur had never been subtle about his dislike.
"And what did you say to that?" he asked.
Zaina glanced at him, then looked away. "I ignored him."
Akamir let out a soft chuckle. "Not the best thing to do, but okay."
She glanced at him. "What did you expect me to do?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "Definitely not ignore someone who is badmouthing your fiancé."
Zaina stopped in her place as she looked dead into his eyes.
"He is like my brother, Akamir," she replied, her voice serious. "I can't just fight him for you."
Akamir didn't look away.
He met her stare with one of his own, calm but unreadable.
"...So if I was the one saying things like that about him, would you stay quiet too?" he asked.
Zaina blinked.
"That's different."
"Is it?"
She folded her arms, frowning. "He's been in my life longer than you. I've known him since we were kids."
"That doesn't give him the right to disrespect me," Akamir said. "Especially not in front of you."
She looked at him again, her expression tight. "You want me to choose, don't you?"
He didn't answer.
But the silence was enough.
Zaina stepped back. "That's not fair."
"Neither is being insulted by someone who hides behind 'childhood friendship,'" Akamir said quietly.
"If he really was like a brother, he'd respect your choices. Not try to undo them."
She gave him a hesitant nod.
"...I know that," she whispered. "It's just... his mother is like my own mother."
Akamir sighed. "It's fine, don't worry too much."
She glanced at him, resuming her walk. "Are you mad?"
"Why would I be?"
"For not defending you."
Akamir shrugged. "I don't care about that."
'And it's not like those rumours were about me.'
The thing that Arthur must be talking about has nothing to do with him.
It was all about the previous Asher, and he couldn't care less how people saw him.
Zaina sighed once again and looked at him.
"By the way, are you free this weekend?"
Akamir blinked. "Why do you ask?"
"Father wanted to meet you," she replied softly. "Can you visit our home?"
He stopped moving as he looked at her. "Why is he calling me now?"
Zaina shook her head in response. "I don't know," she whispered. "He never said why."
Akamir nodded silently. "I will be there."
Zaina smiled sweetly. "Great, then I will pick you up from your estate."
"Alright."
She waved at him before she walked away.
Left alone in the entrance of the building, Akamir watched her till she wasn't visible.
Nayomi floated closer to him. "Are you falling in love with the apostle?"
Akamir frowned. "What? No?"
She gave him a weird look. "...I hope you don't."
"Why do you say so?"
"Because it will never end happily," she replied softly. "She is a Jinx, keep that in mind."
Akamir let out a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck.
'Let's not think about it for now.'
He turned around and began to walk to his room.
"Where are you going?"
Nayomi asked, floating close by.
Akamir looked at her. "Shouldn't we check our spirit herbs now?"
---
[Far North, Old Court]
[Spirit World]
Akamir slowly walked out of a portal into the spaceless and timeless place of the spirit world.
'Hmm, everything looks the same.'
He thought as he walked towards the dome close to a broken tree.
He remained cautious as to not grab attention of the specters.
Nayomi hovered behind him, silent for once.
Akamir knelt near the dome and pressed his hand to the earth.
A pulse on the ground answered him.
'Looks good.'
He thought as he walked inside the dome.
Unlike all the other places, the dome doesn't accept any type of corruption, so he was safe inside.
'I just hope I don't see that headless woman.'
Akamir thought grimly as he looked around the dome.
Inside the dome, small herbs bloomed like tiny stars.
Each one was a spirit herb—rare, delicate, and dangerous if harvested incorrectly.
The broken tree nearby crackled softly as if watching him.
Akamir moved closer to inspect one of the blue-tinted sprouts.
"This one is ready," he said.
"Be careful," Nayomi warned. "Let them ripen before trying to harvest them."
"I remember that."
Nayomi floated lower, her glow dimming. "You'll need the spirit thread to pull them up later. Their temper gets worse once they're fully ripe."
Akamir nodded, noting the growth with a careful eye. "Another three days."
'Honestly, one month and I will have enough to talk with the elves on an equal ground.'
Akamir thought as he walked further inside the dome.
With the way things are, one month is enough for his company to gain a good reputation.
'The new branch of Krivos Kingdom will also open soon.'
Akamir thought as he looked at a floating object.
He squinted his eyes as the glowing thing moved around him.
Nayomi quickly began to rotate around the thing.
Akamir frowned. "What are those?"
A small and sweet smile formed on her lips. "Baby spirits."
Akamir blinked.
"Baby spirits?"
Nayomi nodded slowly, her glow softening like candlelight. "They're born in places with strong energy."
He watched the floating specks like tiny orbs of mist, each one no bigger than a grape twirling gently in the air, playfully weaving through the herbs and around his fingers.
"They're harmless," Nayomi added. "But don't touch them too much. They get attached."
"Great," he muttered, stepping back. "The last thing I need is more things following me around."
One of the baby spirits floated up and brushed his shoulder before darting away.
Nayomi giggled.
"Looks like that one likes you," she said. "You can form a contract with one soon."
Akamir shook his head but didn't say anything.
Instead, he focused on checking the rest of the dome.
'I should be able to rank up soon.'
Akamir thought, staring at the herbs blankly.
'Now that I have sufficient strength, I should start working on it.'
He thought, shifting his eyes on the broken sun.
'Time to take over the kingdom's economy.'
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