The rhythmic swaying of the carriage was a sensation I had never known before.
In the Void, movement did not exist. There was only awareness—an endless state of existence without direction or distance.
Here, however, every creak of the wooden wheels and every jolt against the desert sand reminded me that I was anchored to a world governed by physical laws.
Weight.
Motion.
Time.
They were strange, unfamiliar concepts.
The sun was slowly descending toward the horizon, painting the desert in shades of crimson and fading gold. The warmth of the air and the steady rhythm of the carriage began to dull my senses.
My eyelids grew heavy.
The scouts had called this state "sleep."
To surrender consciousness voluntarily was a concept that still unsettled me.
Yet despite the unease, my mind—still recovering from its violent transition into this world—finally gave in.
Darkness claimed me.
But it was not the peaceful darkness of rest.
The desert vanished.
The carriage vanished.
And once again, I found myself standing in the familiar, endless void.
Except this time… it was not empty.
A blinding white light appeared far away in the darkness.
At its center rested something impossible.
A massive point of pure black.
It looked like a singularity—an abyss so dense that even the surrounding light seemed to bend toward it.
A cosmic eye.
Watching.
The moment stretched for what felt like an eternity.
Then the vision collapsed.
Everything imploded into silence.
I jolted awake with a sharp gasp.
My hands clawed at the air as strange syllables escaped my throat—words from a language that did not belong to this world.
"Nico?"
Joey Vargas turned slightly from the front of the carriage, concern written across his weathered face.
"Easy there, friend. You were muttering something strange. Was it a nightmare?"
I took a slow breath, forcing my body to calm.
The faint crimson veins on my arms gradually dimmed beneath my skin.
"A nightmare, perhaps," I said quietly. "My memories are… fractured. Like shards of a broken mirror."
Nelson Kael leaned against the side of the carriage, watching the desert pass by.
"Nightmares are the tax we pay for surviving," he said calmly. "We've all seen things that stay with us."
Bahti Zane laughed loudly, clearly uninterested in the gloomy mood.
"Ignore him, Nico! Nelson's been a poet of misery since he lost his first tooth."
He stretched his arms.
"We're alive. That's what matters. The desert didn't kill us, and we still have our heads attached. Sounds like a victory to me."
Shozo Ren gave a slow nod.
"Survival is the only objective," he said quietly. "Death rarely asks permission."
Nelson sighed before glancing back toward me.
"Sorry if that sounded heavy. Sometimes when you're that close to death… the world afterward feels strange."
Unexpectedly, I laughed.
The sound surprised even me.
"Do not apologize," I said.
"Everything you said was honest. That is why I appreciated it."
They looked at me with confusion.
"You speak as if you understand death very well," Nelson said.
Perhaps I did.
"Wait," I said suddenly.
The horizon had changed.
Stone structures were rising from the desert like pale mountains.
"Is that Arcadia?"
Joey smiled.
"The jewel of the continent."
The city grew larger as the carriage approached.
Arcadia was not merely large—it was magnificent.
Massive white stone walls surrounded the city like a fortress of light. Mana crystals illuminated the streets, casting a soft glow across the marble roads.
Humans, elves, and hybrids moved through the gates in a constant flow of life and commerce.
It was the complete opposite of the Void.
Where the Void had been silent and empty…
Arcadia was alive.
Nelson spoke quietly beside me.
"If you're searching for answers, Nico, this is the place to start. Arcadia holds the greatest libraries and universities in the known world."
"Knowledge," I repeated.
Yes.
That was exactly what I needed.
Shozo leaned closer, lowering his voice.
"There is one problem."
He glanced at my arms.
"Your appearance."
I understood immediately.
My charcoal-black skin and glowing veins were not exactly subtle.
"I am aware," I replied.
I turned to Nelson.
"Give me your hand."
He hesitated, but extended it.
The moment our hands touched, my skin began to change.
The dark surface rippled like liquid.
The crimson veins sank deeper beneath the skin.
Slowly, my appearance shifted until my skin matched the natural tone of the surrounding humans.
Nelson stared.
"Impossible."
"It appears my body can adapt," I said calmly.
Joey whistled softly.
"Well, that certainly solves the problem."
The carriage slowed as we approached the gates.
A guard stepped forward.
"Halt. Identification."
Joey handed over several documents.
"Scout Expedition 44 returning from the southern dunes."
The guard scanned the papers.
"And the fifth man?"
Joey gestured toward me.
"We found him in the desert. A lost scout. He saved us from a Sand Lizard."
The guard studied me carefully.
For a moment, silence hung in the air.
Then he stepped aside.
"Proceed."
The gates opened.
Arcadia welcomed us.
---
The city was overwhelming.
The smell of food.
The sound of merchants shouting.
The endless movement of people.
After the emptiness of the Void, the noise alone felt surreal.
The scouts eventually stopped the carriage in a crowded plaza.
"We part ways here," Joey said.
"You'll be fine. Arcadia has a place for everyone."
I nodded.
"Thank you."
They had been the first humans I met in this world.
The first anchors of reality.
Now I needed answers.
Specifically, knowledge.
And knowledge meant one destination.
The library.
Unfortunately, I had forgotten to ask where it was.
I approached someone standing near a fountain.
"Excuse me. Could you tell me where the library is?"
The person turned sharply.
"Idiot! I'm a girl!"
Her ears were slightly pointed.
An elf.
Or perhaps a hybrid.
"My apologies," I said calmly.
"My name is Nico. I am new to this city."
Her irritation faded slightly.
"I'm Melina," she said. "Follow me. I'm heading toward the academy anyway."
We walked together through the crowded streets.
She glanced at me curiously.
"You talk strangely."
"Strangely?"
"Yes. Like someone reading from an ancient book."
"I see."
She laughed softly.
"It's not bad. Just unusual."
Eventually she stopped before a massive building.
"The Royal Library of Arcadia."
Inside were endless rows of books.
Knowledge.
Exactly what I needed.
---
Days passed.
The library became my second home.
My mind devoured everything I could find.
Biology.
History.
Magic theory.
Cosmology.
I learned the name of the librarian—Whitlock Charles.
"You again?" he said one evening.
"You read faster than most scholars."
"The world is vast," I replied.
"And I know nothing."
Weeks passed.
By the end of my time there, I had read over a thousand volumes.
I learned that this world was called Earth.
That it revolved around a star called the Sun.
That mana flowed through everything.
And that power was measured through ranks.
Eventually, I enrolled at the most prestigious university in Arcadia.
Books were useful.
But knowledge needed practice.
---
"NICO!"
Melina waved as I approached the university gates.
"You actually enrolled?"
"Yes."
Her eyes widened.
"How many books did you read in that library?"
"One thousand and fifty-one."
She stopped walking.
"...You're terrifying."
Perhaps she was correct.
---
The lecture hall slowly filled with students.
A woman stood at the front.
"Suzuna Hikari," she introduced herself.
"Today we discuss the foundation of our civilization: magic and the rank system."
A holographic display appeared above the classroom.
"Mana is the energy that flows through all living things."
Another display appeared.
Ranks.
Numbers.
Power levels.
And at the very top—
One final rank.
Great Void.
"Purely theoretical," Suzuna said.
"No being in history has ever approached such power."
I raised my hand.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Nico Sigmund."
"Why does the rank have that specific name?"
She smiled slightly.
"It comes from a region in our galaxy called the Great Void. A place where nothing exists."
Her eyes swept across the room.
"A being of that rank would possess power comparable to such a phenomenon."
A walking void.
I looked down at my hand.
A faint black energy pulsed beneath my skin.
Invisible to everyone else.
The irony was almost amusing.
They were discussing a myth.
And that myth was sitting quietly in the third row of their classroom.
Listening.
Waiting.
And slowly remembering what it truly was.
[End of Chapter 2]