As a Prince of the Kingdom, I had access to all sections of the Royal Palace.

As such, the Royal Library was also accessible to me.

The Royal Library held books comprising wisdom on a compendium of topics. From demographic and historic records to concise and encyclopedic rationale on magic.

There was a multifarious amount of knowledge stacked in each of those huge shelves which I would have had a tough time reaching up to if I wasn't already able to fly.

After all, the Royal Library was stupidly enormous.

If I had to give a primary estimate then it wasn't unimaginable for the Royal Library to hold tens of millions of books.

26,814.

That was the total number of books that I had absorbed over the course of a year since my birth.

Compared to the total amount of books in the Royal Library, I had managed to go through just a minor portion of it.

B u t even that was sufficient enough to be an eye-opener for me.

So, what conclusion did I reach?

That was, this world or rather this planet- withheld plenty of similarities with Earth.

Be it the cultures, the languages, the people or the customs and practices- each had parallels to those of Earth's.

It made me consider a possibility.

What if this world isn't just similar to Earth but is, in actuality, Earth?

It was just an irrational hypothesis on my part but it didn't seem impossible anymore when I had contemplated over it a bit more.

Following some further research, I surprisingly found data on this planet's shape, size, circumference, surface gravity, surface pressure and even it's atmospheric composition.

Oddly enough, not only was this world fairly well-developed in the field of magic but it was just as developed in terms of science too- even though it's civilisation resembled the 15th century.

Moreover, it was even more advanced than the 21st century Earth- whence I came from.

In spite of the fact that collective research on scientific phenomena was not openly undertaken by the people of this world, it turned out that individual researchers and scientists existed.

By their grace, I obtained all the data that I had been looking for without having to bother myself to conduct experiments.

Through the data, I confirmed that this planet was significantly larger than Earth- about twice as large as Earth. It had a diameter of 16,785 miles and gravity twice as strong as Earth's.

Therefore, it definitely wasn't Earth.

It wasn't a flat world either as most people would imagine fantasy worlds to be but was a genuine spherical planet in a proper star system.

What was even more so perplexing to me was how a terrestrial world which was twice the size of Earth inhabited life which looked similar to those of Earth's. That too was added to my long list of uncertainties.

Besides that, unfortunate as it was, no research was conducted outside the planet.

Despite there being powerful individuals who could have had escaped the planet anytime, leaving the world had been forbidden by the inherent laws of the Gods and even if they were to somehow bypass them, the God of the Stars prevented anyone from leaving.

I did not understand why such an unreasonable restriction had been imposed upon the inhabitants of this world and as such, it made me all the more intrigued.

Luckily, although no scientist was capable of leaving the planet, they still had the ability to infer many things from the surface itself.

From the positions of the stars and the constellations in the sky, I deduced that this planet was a very short distance from Earth. At the very least, it was undoubtedly situated in the same Milky Way Galaxy as Earth.

But how was that possible? Why were there so many Earth-like elements on this planet? That question brought my mind to an absolute standstill.

In the various fantasy novels that I had read in my previous life, it wasn't out of the ordinary for the authors to include tons of Earth-like elements in their world but now that I had been reincarnated in such a world myself, I couldn't help but look upon it as something strange.

After I had come to this world, I had attempted to ignore the reality of this world. The element of the supernatural had made me thoughtlessly enthusiastic. It led me to avoid various such peculiarities.

I simply hadn't wished to stress my brain out with an outrageous idea which would have had left me foreboding over it forever.

However, I couldn't have had just pushed it aside anymore.

Let me state this, this world had the potential to be a utopia. What defined a utopia?

Of course, availability of abundant energy reserves- where mana fulfilled this criterion to a considerable extent.

Nevertheless, even if it could have become a utopia, nothing of a kind of a 'perfect utopia' could have ever existed.

After all, perfection was nothing more than an illusion habituated by the deluded.

To make it clear- although this world had appeared fantastic to me at one point, as of now, it seemed just as unusual.

In conclusion, if I truly desire to unravel why this world is the way it is then I will have to peer deeper into areas where no one has ever been to before.

Until now, the so-called scientists have steadily conducted thorough research on all natural phenomena which has ever transpired in this world. However, they limited themselves to its bounds and never furthered their research in the fear of Gods.

As I mentioned earlier, science in this world is a subject of taboo of sorts- which is akin to the study of magic on Earth.

It's like a cult.

Though that is not surprising, after all, science and the usual 21th-century technology is hundreds of times less effective than magic and it's components. Magic overshadows science at almost everything.

That old man in my dream had exerted a force which was much like a small nuclear explosion. Isn't that unbelievable?

If a single person could nonchalantly wield such force then what could a bunch do?

This renders science and its applications absolutely irrelevant to the inhabitants of this world.

No wonder the scientists are ostracised by the people and are deemed to be no more than eccentrics wasting their lives away on something pointless.

It's quite ridiculous how those scientists are yet capable of and have already made discoveries which would certainly be viewed as unimaginable and revolutionary on Earth but are once again worthless to the inhabitants of Emmariel.

I can see why this world still retains a societal structure much like the middle ages on Earth.

Magic has enabled civilisation to cling to the old medieval concepts.

The existence of Gods in this world is an established fact. Therefore, the authority of religion is formidable. Furthermore, the game-like system in this world has attributed to a huge disparity of power between the common people and the ruling class which has allowed monarchies to flourish.

Hence, any and all advances in science are incapable of breaking the rigid intricacies of this world's society.

As was evident in Europe during the lower middle ages- if a large number of people mindlessly believed in something, per se, religion then whatsoever could have broken their fervent beliefs was to be shunned into oblivion.

Such is the case with this world.

Although scientists are tolerated, their ideas are derided. Ultimately, they turn into nothing more than the butt of jokes.

It's really pitiable.

However, it's the most ideal way for me to figure things out about this world.

After all, even though there's not much of what magic couldn't achieve, it's not omnipotent and relatively lacks in its analytical capabilities in comparison with science.

In fact, with the help of magic, the interests of science could be furthered and perhaps, I will be able to clear my suspicions much sooner.

It's possible that I too might become the subject of derision not unlike the other scientists but it couldn't be helped.

If I hadn't the power to ascertain my doubts about this world on my own then I wouldn't have bothered. Anyhow, unfairly as it may, I was bestowed with the power, capability as well as the status to carry out my desires.

Why wouldn't I go along with it then?

I absolutely hate being kept in the dark.

Why should anything else even matter?

I want to be absolutely sure... and... so I will be!

Yes!

I will find out!

I will find out how this world came to be!

How the people came to be!

How the Gods came to be!

How this world holds similarities with Earth and whatever there is to-

[Your blasphemous ambitions have angered the Gods!]

[The title 'The One Hated by the Gods' is updated.]

Huh?!