Past Life?

Past life?

Ugh… my head…

I was sure I’d collapsed the instant I touched the fragment of Ultimate Magic…

The moment my feet found the ground, every last drop of strength drained from my body. My head spun as if I’d burned through every scrap of mana I had.

The world swam before my eyes, and the body I wore no longer felt like mine.

“So this is as far as I go…”

The words left my lips, and everything went black.

Then a woman’s voice—flat, emptied of every feeling—rang in my ears.

Whether it was the incomprehensible noise or something else, pain began to claw through my skull.

My body was overloaded…? Was I simply not a vessel fit to become a Sage?

A spell I didn’t know…?

Me—who had read every grimoire that existed in the world…?

The unknown woman’s voice fell silent, and the blackness before my eyes brightened.

The sudden glare needed a moment to settle; then, not long after, I could take in my surroundings.

I raised a hand against the stinging sunlight and pushed myself up on both legs.

The strength had returned to them. The spinning in my head, the fog over my vision—gone as if they’d never been. Even the hollow ache of mana exhaustion seemed to have lifted.

The sun shining into my eyes—there were two of them—and all around me stood a forest, a ring of trees closing me in.

Transferred… into a forest?

The twin suns alone were enough to tell me this was not the world I had lived in before.

“There are two suns…?”

I murmured it without thinking, stunned by the impossible sight. My voice seemed a little different, but I had no room to dwell on it.

That same unpleasant noise rolled through my mind again—but this time, it didn’t hurt.

I felt mana gather in my hand—and from the palm I’d raised against the sun, sky-blue lightning erupted, unfurling until it blanketed the heavens.

That colossal bolt shattered the quiet of the forest, rolling thunder through the trees. Birds exploded from the canopy in a startled cloud.

I stared, thoroughly rattled by the spell that had just fired from my own hand. I couldn’t believe the lightning had come from me at all. I looked down at both hands.

“What…?”

Mana pooled in my palm again, and sparks kindled into flame. The fire gathered, swelled, and launched.

If I hadn’t whipped my hand aside in time, I would have put a fireball straight into my own face.

It streaked toward a tree in front of me and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠set the trunk roaring alight.

I hadn’t meant to commit arson.

“Create Water.”

I cast the spell intending to put the fire out.

Water from my hands.

It had never come out like this before.

FWOOOOSH.

A staggering torrent burst from my palms. It drowned the burning tree—then the sheer force of the flood scoured the forest itself, sweeping everything before it.

Why did magic keep casting itself?

No—even when it cast, something was wrong with it.

I looked at the hands the water had poured from.

Huh? They seemed… smaller than before…?

I dropped my gaze to take stock of my body.

A woman’s naked form.

I had spent my entire life chasing the far edge of magic. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Women had never been part of that path; I had no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠immunity whatsoever.

“Eep!”

A cute little cry slipped out of me before I could stop it—

—and once more that emotionless woman’s voice tore through my head.

The entire sequence flashed through my mind in an instant—and a scrap of cloth with three holes punched in it materialized before my eyes.

If I threw it on, it would pass for clothing. Barely.

All right. Let’s think through what’s happening.

Every time I spoke aloud, that strange woman’s voice raked through my mind—and then a spell went off.

What if…

What if magic cast itself every single time I opened my mouth?

“Hello.”

A massive spear of ice formed in my hand and shot free, embedding itself in a boulder. The icicle didn’t shatter.

“This is weird…”

The air around me spun up into a storm, then settled into a barrier of wind that wrapped my body. When I moved, the curtain moved with me.

The gale was strong enough to rip nearby trees up by the roots.

I couldn’t make sense of it. Magic truly was casting every time I spoke. Spells I knew were firing—but something about them was off.

What would happen if I deliberately cast a spell I already knew?

“Fireball.”

A fireball formed properly from my palm. But how long did it plan on growing?

I had never seen one this enormous. At last it left my hand.

In a blink it unleashed heat so ferocious the forest ahead of me turned to black ash.

I had never cast anything near this power. It was like watching a Sage’s magic…

I’d learned enough about this changed body for now. First I needed to understand this world.

To do that, I needed people—and information.

I cast a search spell to get a read on my surroundings.

“Search.”

I felt my mana expand outward in a circle with me at its center. Everywhere it touched, I could feel, see, and hear.

It was nothing like the search magic I knew.

Ordinary search magic only sent mana out to register the presence or absence of living things and hazards. That was all.

This multi-sensory flood was brand new—but my body took it without strain.

Just how far was this going to reach?

My mana showed no sign of stopping. It kept stretching farther and farther.

At this rate someone could reverse-trace a grand-scale search…!

But whether I wanted it or not, the mana kept pouring outward.

I had no idea what I was setting in motion.

“Lord Redrago! Emergency! Search magic has been detected!”

A soldier peering into a crystal at his desk burst out the words.

“What? In a situation like this, casting search magic is as good as a declaration of war.”

“The shape of the mana doesn’t match any of our neighboring states. I don’t recognize it. I’ve never seen a form like this…”

A mana flow large enough to scour an entire nation was the kind of large-scale magic only a kingdom could perform—with specialized instruments.

“Trace it. Now! Scanning a country means they’re about to invade!”

“Yes, sir!”

“A grand search spell at a moment like this… deliberate, then?”

Redrago dragged his rough fingers through his beard and brooded.

The search magic went on for a long time. The sun that had hung above my head had sunk until it sat level with my eyes.

Mana kept bleeding out of me until I started ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to wonder if I was going to empty myself dry.

“That’s enough…”

The voice raced through my head the instant the words left my mouth.

I’d meant stop searching—and it dual-cast instead…!

I really was about to hit mana exhaustion…

When the voice cut off, I felt the free-floating mana in the air begin to flow into my body.

Every living thing around me—

No. The non-living, too.

Animals, plants, all of it—it was sucking mana out of them and pouring it into me.

Filling my mana with magic…?

And as a dual cast, no less…?

Was this insane?

The plants stripped of their mana began to wither. The grass nearest me was first to turn a brittle brown.

Fortunately, draining everything in my immediate vicinity filled me so fast the absorption cut off almost at once. Only the search spell kept running.

Not long after, that ended too.

What the search had given me was this: not far from here sat a fairly large city.

There were smaller villages as well, but I saw no reason to bother with them. For information, a city full of people was by far the better bet.

A little thrill ran through me before I set out—because when the search had brushed the city, the languages I’d overheard were ones I had never heard in my life.

The road toward the city was anything but smooth.

I walked until night began to settle in.

I decided to rest at a pond I’d marked during the search.

While I was at it, I might as well get a look at my face.

I stepped up to the clear water and bent over its surface.

A beautiful girl gazed back from the still pond.

Luminous white hair set against black eyes gave her an almost otherworldly air. When I tried a small smile, a pair of faintly protruding fangs peeked out—surprisingly charming.

Before I slept by the water, I ought to throw up a protective barrier. Given the absurd magic this body kept producing, its performance would be reliable enough.

I dropped into sleep as if I’d been knocked out cold.

When I opened my eyes again, rain was falling from the sky, soaking me through.

The scrap of cloth I’d made clung wet and unpleasant against my skin.

Cold.

Somewhere out of the rain…

Still half-blind, I got to my feet and started toward the city.

“Rjrlsnrnsi! Ajacnj!”

In that same instant, someone who looked like a soldier leveled a spear at me and shouted in a language I couldn’t understand.

“You’re telling me the search magic originated in that empty forest?”

Redrago rubbed his clean-shaven jaw as he spoke.

“Yes, my lord. We don’t have the precise location yet, but we found traces of the casting in those woods.”

“Then send soldiers to search it. I want to know who cast it, and why.”

“Yes, sir. Understood!”

“Ah, for crying out loud—perimeter search on a rainy day of all days.”

A soldier trudging through the forest muttered to himself.

“Why order a patrol we never normally run? Hardly anyone even comes through these woods.”

He moved forward, marking trees as he went, looking thoroughly put out.

“Wait… that doesn’t sound like an animal.”

Deep in the forest now, the soldier sensed something wrong.

“Who’s there?! Hold it!”

Don’t panic…

Two soldiers stood in front of me.

I couldn’t understand a word they said, but they had spears leveled at my chest. They were clearly on guard.

“Wjduwk shdPrkxdmsep? Dhttkdxork.”

The one not pointing a spear jabbed a finger at me as he spoke.

I couldn’t answer.

If I opened my mouth in a situation like this, some attack spell would almost certainly fire.

Would killing them help my magic? I’d killed people for the sake of magic often enough—but I had no desire to cut down soldiers who were simply doing their jobs, for no reason at all.

So I let them bind my hands and lead me away.

If the soldiers took me in, I’d reach the city either way.

I would only cast magic when I was truly in danger.