The villagers look at us with the same fear and reverence as always.

“Oh Fair Lady, we welcome you on our village!”

“I have come to say: My grandson has destroyed the humanoids. You can hunt in peace again.”

“Honored the Fair Lady!”

“Há!”

As always.

We went back to Alvin’s temple.

He’s making a fine work here.

To think someone would try and create a [Forest Spirit] to be its friend.

Well, I can understand this much. He’s just a kid in the end.

“Grandma, why hasn’t the reincarnation magic ended?”

Uhm?

Where did this question come from?

“Reincarnation magic? You mean the one that makes humans and demi-humans capable of changing on one another?”

“Demi-humans can change to humans as well?!”

“Of course. Both the magic and the curse of the emperor affected the whole world darling. When a human is reborn as a demi-human, once it breaks the curse it may become a human again.”

“So they aren’t more powerful than humans from birth?”

“No, they are just different on their bodies.”

“But then, why hasn’t it ended yet?”

“The old shamans where many and powerful. Even if they couldn’t muster as much power as the Emperor, the number of people affected was much smaller as well. So it has degraded less with the centuries.”

“Then, in a few centuries humans and demi-humans will be unable to turn into one another as well?”

Alvin is smart, but a kid is still a kid after all. Ignorance cannot be overcome by intelligence alone. Knowing things is needed first.

“The process is triggered by the curse darling. Once the curse is broken, the only ones who will be able to turn will be the ones who overcome the first [Bottleneck] like you did. In just a few decades there won’t be almost no one.”

“So they won’t be able to turn into us and we won’t be able to turn into them…”

“That’s how it should be. Humans have reincarnated as demi-humans, and demi-humans have reincarnated as humans since many, many millennia ago. Except for the ones with the [Metamorph] talent, this is how people should live their lives. One different from the other. So their souls and minds can grow more diverse.”

Two of the Great Magic.

The one called Overrank.

Not advanced, saint or even divine.

Overrank magic can change the whole world.

And the two magic of this kind ever casted in recorded history brought forth so much unbalance.

It’s the course. Curse it.

“Grandma, shouldn’t I have the [metamorph] talent? Why can’t I use it?”

“I don’t know darling. It doesn’t appear on your aura at all. Maybe you need to be older?”

“Older?”

“Yes. Some talents don’t manifest until later in life. Didn’t you said you had the [reminder] talent since young, but not the [spiritual] one? Maybe it’s the same thing.”

“Or maybe I’m not a [Dreamer]…”

“That’s impossible darling. You know many things you couldn’t know otherwise. You are a [Dreamer], that’s for sure.”

“But I don’t want to be a titan’s pawn!”

“It’s the course darling.”

“Curse it.”

Yes.

Curse it.

Always curse the course.