“Why don’t you come with us? I’m sure that, with your help, we could rise to the top of New Pandora! Fuck these Oligarchs, we will be richer than all of them together!” A young adult, around the age of 20, said to me. His face was, just like everything else in the vicinity, shrouded in a layer of grey mist.

I shook my head “I won’t, *****. It is far too risky. What if we fail? What would our families do then? Who is going to feed them? I can’t. Understand that.”

“You coward! Fine then, I will do it myself! Don’t complain when you see me in the news as a hero.” He turned around and vanished into grey smoke.

The surroundings abruptly changed and I found myself in a small but comfortable apartment.

“It’s your fault!” a young woman screamed at me, her beautiful face full of anger. “Why didn’t you go with him? We could be FAMOUS and RICH!” after saying that she stormed out of the door.

I sat down on a chair, feeling empty inside. How could I have known that he would really succeed? What were the odds of that happening? One in a billion maybe, but he managed get it regardless of that.

First I missed the chance of my life due to my cowardice and now I lost my girlfriend. It seems that fate really doesn’t mean well with me.

This is all my fault, if I had only come with him at that time…

--------------

I woke up with tears still wet in my eyes. This was a dream I didn’t have for a long time; why did it return now? I thought I already got over it, but it seems that my regrets follow me even into another life.

Ignoring my dream, I tried to move my body and I noticed that the pain in my neck was gone and I felt better than ever before. My limbs were easier to mover and my body felt far lighter.

Opening my eyes, I realized that I was in what could be called a temporary infirmary. I laid on a mat in an expansive hall with the other students who were taught by asshole. White crystals on the ceiling illuminated the hall but fortunately they didn’t blind whoever looked at them directly.

Aside from the sound of people going around and looking whether any children were awake it was silent. It was a comfortable silence, something which I needed right now.

In order to distract myself from reliving old memories I closed my eyes and thought about the event which caused me to pass out.

How was asshole able to knock all of us out with only a single shout? Maybe he let a shockwave composed of mana loose when he lost his temper. As I have strong suspicions to the existence of healers I can’t be sure that I wasn’t injured physically so whether the effects of it were purely mental remains unknown.

So let’s assume that he lost control of himself and caused a shockwave of mana to spread. How would he be able to that? Maybe an enhanced form of mana injection? What would be more likely though is that he used some skill I am not aware of.

I mentally sighed. I just don’t have enough information to make any conclusions.

Now that I think about it, I don’t really know anything about this world I have been reincarnated in. I never made any real effort to get more information, being content with knowing that warriors existed and the world was ruled by beasts.

What did I do all these years? I helped my father in the fields, harvesting a plant that was very similar to wheat, but since I am not an agricultural expert I don’t really know if there are any significant differences.

One thing that I found interesting though was that it could be planted all year round without looking any different and, which is quite strange, considering that the optimal conditions for wheat only exist in summer. And how is the soil able to support it?

If they were to cultivate the same plant every year on the same fields, then shouldn’t the harvest become smaller and smaller every year? So many questions and not a single answer.

Mana is just a too unpredictable variable that may or may not change everything.

One thing I am sure is caused by mana are the beasts. They are far too dangerous to have existed naturally in my old universe.

They are big and powerful, travelling at speeds which could not possibly be achieved without mana and delivering strikes with tremendous power. Take the aberration of a wolf I once saw for example: At a height of at least 2 meters it was a monstrously. It moved at a speed so quick that I could barely see a blur and every single of its steps left an indent on the ground. Thankfully it was quickly killed by some nearby warriors before it could kill any of the farmers.

I think that they have a core similar to that of us humans and somehow absorb and cultivate mana just like us, which would mean that naturally long lived beasts who have nearly no natural enemies would be terrifying.

Just thinking about it made me shudder.

Why do they become so big though? If mana can enhance their bodies, then they have no reason to grow to such unnatural heights. Evolution would select the most powerful amongst them, which, due to mana, has no relation to size but to mana cultivation talent.

Maybe mana has differing effects depending on species?

“Hey kid, are you awake?” a voice interrupted my thoughts and I opened my eyes to look at the owner of it.

It was an old man whose age I would estimate to be about 60. Though he had graying brown shoulder length hair his eyes shone with a youthful glint. A long black robe without any ornaments covered his entire body and he stared at me with a curious expression.

“Y-Yes.” I managed to stutter. His interruption was quite unexpected and scared me a bit.

“Well, since you are healthy enough to speak to me without problems we can go back to your room.” He spoke to me in a soothing tone, obviously aware of who knocked me out.

“Wait, how much time passed since I passed out?” I asked him. It was something that I was quite curious about.

“About half a day. Don’t worry, your teacher was already punished.” His facial expression didn’t change when he said that.

He helped me stand up and escorted me back to my room. I didn’t notice any other children on my way and the halls were illuminated by the sinking sun. The walk was silent as neither I nor the old man who escorted me had any desire to say anything. I was lost in thought and he enjoyed the view.

Finally, I opened the wooden door and I noticed that it was the same as I had in memory with the exception of Owen and Frank not being present. As I couldn’t sleep and I didn’t have anything else to do I meditated for a while.

When my mana ran out the sun had already vanished behind a mountain range in the distance. Frank and Owen had returned and were already in their beds. Even though I was not sleepy I decided to join them, but as expected it took me a long time until I sank into deep slumber.