Chapter 1090: The One Who Touched Magic

Who Am I...?

Throughout my life, I've been what you could call a hopeless dreamer.

A man hopelessly enchanted by the mysteries and wonders of the world, bewitched by the enchanting dance of magic.

Born in a realm where the laws of physics bowed to the whims of Mages, I was an anomaly.

A man who could not touch, could not feel, could not weave the wondrous concept of energy that surrounded him.

I was a child who watched with hungry eyes as his friends levitated toys and changed their hues.

A teenager who spent his nights under the stars, reciting chants and spells that fell on deaf ears.

A scholar who poured over countless tomes, desperately seeking the secret that would unlock my latent magic.

But time and time again, I was met with disappointment.

The frustration of failure after failure, the gnawing hunger for knowledge, it consumed me. It became an obsession.

A passion that burned with a fierce intensity.

In my relentless pursuit of understanding, I discarded what little life I had.

Friends, family, love. I had no time for such trivial matters.

The insatiable quest for magical knowledge was all that mattered.

I yearned to unlock the secrets of the world, to understand the language of the stars and to bend reality to my will.

Then, one day, in the midst of my despair, a spark of inspiration ignited within me.

A thought so simple, yet so profound, that it left me breathless.

I didn't simply need to understand magic. I needed to possess it.

If I could not naturally access the ocean of mana that permeated our world, I would force it upon myself.

I would become the master of my own fate.

With a renewed vigor, I threw myself into a dangerous project. The creation of an Arcana, a magical core that would be implanted within me.

It was a daring, reckless idea, but I was beyond caring.

What use was a life if I could not reach my heart's greatest desire?

Years of toiling, countless failures, near-death experiences, but my determination never wavered.

I gathered all of them; all 21 Arcanas. I used them as a base to create the final one... the one I needed to open the doorway to my future.

And at long last, the day of reckoning arrived.

My life's work lay before me.

A radiant, pulsating core, humming with raw magical energy.

My heart pounded in my chest as I prepared to fuse the Arcana with my being.

As the core neared my body, I felt the universe hold its breath. I saw my life flashing before my eyes.

Every failure, every heartbreak, every sacrifice.

Yet I did not falter.

My resolve was unshaken.

With one final surge of courage, I let the Arcana touch my body.

Then, in a blinding flash of light, my world exploded.

~VWUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!~

The agonizing pain that ripped through me was beyond comprehension.

It felt as though my very soul was being torn apart. I screamed, my voice echoed in the emptiness, my body convulsed in a dance of death.

The last thing I saw was the mocking glow of the Arcana.

The last thing I felt was the searing pain of my existence being torn asunder.

The last thing I heard was my own screams echoing into the void.

And then, I was no more.

An epitaph to the man who dared to challenge destiny. A tragic tale of a man who flew too close to the sun, only to have his wings melt away.

In my desperate quest for magic, I had lost the greatest miracle of all.

Life itself.

My existence was erased, vaporized by the very force that I had strived to harness.

Thus ended my pursuit, not in glory and enlightenment, but in oblivion.

But in the depths of the void, in the silence of nonexistence, one thought echoed through the emptiness.

At least, I had touched Magic.

'And that is all that matters... for now.'

**********

Blinking my eyes open, I found myself staring up at the low ceiling of the tent.

My mind felt like it had just returned from a long, harrowing journey, tingling with newfound knowledge and a strange sense of deja vu.

I realized that I was back in my own body, my own consciousness.

"H-huh...?" Looking to my side, I saw the goblin girl - Gobtia - and the Goblin Chief.

They were studying me with curious eyes, their expressions mingling surprise with a touch of concern.

"Did the [Connection]... work?" Gobtia asked hesitantly, her young eyes sparkling with curiosity.

For a moment, I simply lay there, letting the waves of fatigue and disorientation pass. Then, summoning the strength to sit up, I nodded slowly.

"Yes," I said, my voice sounding foreign to my own ears. "Yes, it did."

Seeing their confused looks, I forced myself to explain.

"I... I think I know what happened," I finally admitted. "I saw myself... or rather, I saw what happened when I attempted to cross the Dark Waters. I saw how I lost my satchel, my map, my glasses... everything."

Seeing their curious, expectant looks, I continued, "I saw a storm. A massive, overwhelming storm. I was pulled into it, tossed around like a leaf in the wind. And then... there was a creature. A massive, horrifying entity from the depths. It... it stole my belongings. Absorbed them, somehow."

I took a deep breath, preparing for the next part. "And yet, I think... I think I know how to get them back."

With these words, the air in the tent seemed to shift. Gobtia and the Goblin Chief exchanged a glance, their expressions morphing from curiosity to surprise, and then to cautious anticipation.

From that moment on, I knew that things were about to change.

I was stranded in this strange new place, but now, at least, I had a direction.

I had a purpose.

Just one thing remained within me. What I couldn't quite explain.

'Who was that man I saw? Why did I connect with him?'

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[A/N]

The meaning of this is beginning to converge. Hopefully you're all following the story.