Chapter 02
The largest continent in the world, the Northern Grand Continent, is now mostly under the dominion of the Hagrand Empire.
Roughly two hundred years ago, Hagrand was nothing more than a kingdom. There were many factors that allowed it to grow into an empire.
Fertile lands, abundant resources, and clear seasonal cycles.
Hagrand possessed every condition needed to become a prosperous nation.
However, the true reason they rose above all others lay elsewhere. It was magic.
Before it became an empire, the Kingdom of Hagrand had to constantly defend itself from invaders.
Each day, red blood was spilled across their territory, and the stench of death never faded.
Everyone — knights and common citizens alike — took up arms to defend their homeland.
But as time passed, the long war began to tilt toward defeat.
It was then that a man appeared.
He stood tall on the battlefield and wielded a power no one had ever seen.
With that power, he drove out the invaders in an instant and cleansed the air of blood.
That man was none other than the empire’s first mage and the Great Sage — Karrladen.
Thanks to his appearance, the kingdom won the war.
After the war, the kingdom became an empire and honored Karrladen as their hero.
The emperor bestowed upon him the title of Great Sage and established a new institution that no one, not even the emperor himself, could interfere with — the Mage Tower, appointing Karrladen as its first Tower Master.
Now, more than a hundred years later, the Mage Tower still stood.
In the western part of the Hagrand Empire,
Once a verdant land, now desertified by countless magical experiments, there stood the colossal Mage Tower.
The towering cylindrical structure, hundreds of meters tall, emanated an overwhelming aura.
To ordinary people, that aura was terrifying — so much so that they dared not approach the tower.
And it wasn’t due to a specially crafted defensive barrier.
It was the natural concentration of magical power emitted by the hundreds of mages who lived there.
Among that energy, a particularly intense crimson magic radiated strongly.
The source of that crimson power came from the highest floor — invisible from the ground.
It was the Tower Master’s floor.
At dawn, as the sun slowly began to rise,
A murderous crimson aura overflowed from the Tower Master’s chamber.
It was an unusually large amount, and the mages were terrified.
They feared that the strongest mage of the current generation might destroy the tower.
After much discussion, they decided to send up Elder Shurein, who had served the longest in the tower.
—
“Ah!”
Just as Shurein began ascending the tower, the Tower Master opened his eyes.
The bluish light of dawn fell upon Jade.
His dark red hair and eyes shimmered in the morning light.
But the refreshing air of dawn, which others would find pleasant, did nothing to soothe Jade’s heart.
Jade was utterly confused — the first thing he saw after awakening from the abyss was a familiar ceiling.
Furrowing his brow in confusion, he slowly sat up, clenched both fists tightly.
“I’m… alive?”
He had certainly died. He had received judgment by the holy sword and lost his life. His light had been extinguished, and darkness had swallowed everything.
And yet here he was, alive. And not just anywhere — in the Mage Tower.
“Did someone save me? Heal me?”
Jade hurriedly examined his body, touching the area around his abdomen where the holy sword had pierced him.
But instead of bandages or scars, there was only solid, unblemished muscle.
There were no wounds. No bruises.
In fact, his entire body was in perfect condition — far too healthy for someone who had just fought a brutal battle.
No, it wasn’t just good — he was in peak condition, as if ready to go into battle again.
“What on earth is going on? Has the empire’s medical knowledge advanced this far? No… that can’t be it.”
What had been done to him far surpassed the healing capabilities he knew existed.
It was as if he had never been injured in the first place.
“…No way.”
The doubts in his mind didn’t fade. They only multiplied.
While he was struggling to process his thoughts, the door to his room opened, and light poured in.
“Tower Master.”
“Shurein!”
Seeing someone who might provide answers, Jade jumped up.
Forgetting that he was nearly naked, he rushed toward Shurein.
The elderly mage, with his white beard, smiled kindly at Jade’s uncharacteristically emotional welcome.
“Such a warm welcome… I’m honored. Today is perhaps the happiest day in all my years in the tower. I’ll mark this day as the most meaningful of my life and—”
“Did you bring me back from the tower?”
“I’ll designate it as… wait, what?”
Startled by the sudden question, Shurein stopped mid-sentence. Jade grabbed his arm.
“Did you bring me from Shureiden Castle?”
“No, but more importantly… could you please control your magic?”
“Then who did? Who brought me back from the castle?”
Jade cut him off with another question. Shurein looked at him with puzzled eyes.
“It was probably you yourself, Tower Master.”
“What?”
“You’ve been in your lab these past few days. Did you have a terrible dream? Your magic was abnormally intense today, which is why I came to check on you. You seem quite disturbed.”
Shurein chuckled as he gently grasped Jade’s hand.
In that moment, something caught Jade’s eye.
It was Shurein’s right arm — the one Jade had grabbed.
“Shurein… your arm…”
“Hm? Is there something wrong with it?”
“But how…?”
He clearly remembered — Shurein had lost that arm last year during a battle against Baphom.
Yet now, his arm was fully intact.
Modern medicine and magic couldn’t regenerate limbs. Even healing serious injuries to perfection was nearly impossible.
Then could it be…?
“Shurein, what year is it now?”
“Eh? Why do you ask that all of a sudden—”
“Answer me. What year in the Imperial Calendar is it?”
“It’s the year 196.”
Jade let out a hollow laugh.
It was completely absurd. He had died in year 198. But now it was year 196 — two full years before his death.
—
“Tower Master? Are you all right?”
Shurein asked, concerned, looking up at Jade.
The intensity of the magic earlier wasn’t normal. Something was definitely wrong.
But Jade shook his head.
“I’m fine. Must’ve just had a nightmare.”
“Ah, I see.”
“You asked me to control my magic earlier, didn’t you? I’ll take care of it. You may go now.”
At last, Jade’s overflowing aura began to settle. The suffocating crimson power slowly faded from the tower.
Shurein gave a bow and left the room, stroking his beard thoughtfully.
“Tower Master… is he really okay?”
Though he had spent many years at the tower, he had never seen such a strange day.
Asking odd questions, acting unusually agitated — far from his normally composed self.
Then a thought flashed through Shurein’s mind.
“No way… did he attempt forbidden magic and damage his mind?”
Thinking he had stumbled upon a terrible secret, Shurein shut his mouth tightly. For the peace of the Mage Tower, he swore to keep it forever hidden.
—
After Shurein left, Jade sat back on the edge of his bed.
He finally understood the answer to why he was alive.
“Regression…”
There may be many strange things in the world, but this was by far the most unbelievable.
He had been certain he would die.
Jade rubbed his face in disbelief.
Then suddenly, a face came to mind — one he had forgotten for a moment.
