Chapter 3

  When I awoke, all that I could see was a black void that stretched all around me in a smothering embrace. The only thought I had was that I was dead and this was what happened to my consciousness after my body returned to the earth and became mana. But something did not feel quite right, my senses still felt as if I was alive which left me in a state of confusion.

  Looking around I then noticed that someone else was occupying this void. It looked like a male figure, but I could not tell as they were hunched over and seemingly unconscious.

  While trying to get my body to move forward, I quickly learned that I could direct myself to move in any direction of my choosing. With this revelation, I focused my body to move towards the unconscious person and then began to drift across the void.

  As I got closer, I realized that it was indeed a man who was hunched over, but they were dressed in strange garments.

  He had on a black and white shirt patterned with squares of each color with straight lines of those same colors crisscrossing. He was also wearing pants that where blue in color and made of a seemingly sturdy material that I could not recognize.

  His head was covered in shaggy brown hair with square glasses in front of his eyes that amazed me with how they were able to stay on his face despite the way he was hunched over.

  Extending my hand to the unconscious man’s shoulder, I then began to gently shake him attempting to rouse him from unconsciousness. It took a bit, but eventually the man started to moan and his eyelids began to flutter open. His posture slowly improved, as he righted himself, to the point where he now faced me with open eyes.

  “What is… going on?” the man mumbled with a slightly groggy voice.

  “I don’t know… I am just as confused as you are.”

  “The last thing I remember is falling out of a tree to my death and then waking up in this empty void.” I said with confusion evident in my tone. “That’s weird,” the man replied with a voice of equal confusion. “The last thing I remember is an out-of-control car coming at me. Does that mean we are both dead?” Confused by the unfamiliar description of his last memory, I pushed that detail aside and answered, “I hope not.”

  Then, as if in response to the man’s and my questions, a blaring tone, like that of a large bell being rung, echoed across the void catching both of our attention and causing us to turn our heads around looking for the source of the noise. As the tone began to fade another voice, that was neither male nor female, could be heard speaking.

  Notice,

  An irregularity has been detected. The individual classified as Callum Luxeria has encountered the foreign soul classified as Adam.

  Attempting to resolve the irregularity.

  Failure!

  Attempting to resolve the irregularity.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

  Failure!

  Attempting to resolve the irregularity.

  Failure!

  Attempting new course of correction.

  Successful!

  Awakening of two souls in one body deemed satisfactory. Individual classified as Callum Luxeria will now be awakened as a [Soul Knight]. Individual classified as Adam will now be awakened as a [Grand Sage]. Additionally, stat representation shall be split between each individual soul in accordance with their designated Skill. Furthermore, as the individual designated as Callum Luxeria is the only soul with a body deemed compatible with world logic, they shall be the designated as the main host. The individual designated as Callum Luxeria is now immune to all damage that would cause one’s soul to be harmed.

  Irregularity resolved,

  Ending correction intervention #393465.

  We both just stared at each other in confusion hoping the other would speak and provide some sort of explanation for what we both clearly heard. Suddenly, we both doubled over groaning. I could feel a heat forming in my core that spread out through my body and gradually evolved into a flame that felt like a burn on the inside of my body.

  Looking over at the man, I guessed was Adam, I observed that he was feeling the same thing I was. However, I knew this feeling. This was the feeling I experienced when I was ten and I first awakened my Skill. This heat was what was expected when one first placed their hands onto the Skill Stone.

  But why was it happening now. I already have a Skill.

  And just like that the heat began to fade from my body and a normal feeling began to replace it. As Adam and I both looked at each other, a question could clearly be seen upon on our faces.

  That question of, ‘What just happened?’

  As I looked at Adam the only thing that I could say was, “Do you have any idea what is going on with the two of us?”

  Adam just looked at me with an exasperated expression as he sighed and rubbed the back of his head before replying, “I have a pretty good idea of what is happening… though… I am not sure if either one of us will be happy with the answer.”

  I just gave Adam a puzzled expression before he decided to speak up, “Okay,” he began as he spoke in a calm and even tone. “Can you tell me the name of the world you come from?” Puzzled by his question, but not seeing the harm in answering I answered, “Kaneon, why?”

  Adam just bobbed his head up and down before saying, “Then it is just like I thought. Based on what that voice said and the fact that your world has a different name from mine can only mean that I died and was reincarnated into your world as you… Callum.”

  My face morphed into an expression of shock as Adam continued talking. “However, we,” he gestured by pointing to himself and then to me. “Should never have been able to meet like this. My personality and memories should have been erased when our soul was reborn as you, yet, somehow, here we are able to converse and interact with each other.”

  I just continued to look at Adam with a shocked expression until my mind finally caught up to what he had just said about the two of us. “Hold! On! Are you implying that you are me, because I find that hard to believe.” I said in a surprised and raised tone of voice.

  Adam just looked at me with a serene expression and calmly asked, “Do you know about the concept of reincarnation?” I thought over Adam’s question for a moment and then answered, “No. On the world of Kaneon when an individual dies, they are returned to the earth where their spirit is then used to replenish the mana of the world. There is no continuation of an intelligent race’s spirit after death.”

  Adam just looked at me with a neutral expression and began to explain. “Alright, in the world I come from there are multiple forms of reincarnation. One interpretation is utilized in popular fantasy media, where a person dies, but is reborn with all their memories intact. It is usually used to portray an unsuspecting MC who rises up within their new world with their, usually OP, unique powers.”

  “While another interpretation is more aligned with certain religious beliefs. Wherein a person dies and their soul is reborn as new person completely forgetting their previous life. That is what you and I seem to find ourselves in; except, here I am, the past us, talking to the current us.”

  I just looked at Adam with a calm expression as I tried to piece together what he said as some of the terms that he was alluding to where foreign to me.

  Taking a deep breath and then exhaling I asked the most important question for what Adam and I were facing, “So…what do we do now?”