Eryon was not special.
He was never the best in class, nor the worst. He never stood out in sports, yet he wasn't invisible enough to be forgotten. He lived an ordinary life of ordinary days, following a routine he had long ago accepted without question.
Wake up. Commute. Study. Return home tired.
Sometimes, in the silence of his room, he caught himself wondering: Is this all there is?
It wasn't sadness. It was a vague, persistent feeling that something was… missing. As if the world were always one step ahead of him, leaving him in the dust of the mundane.
That night, Eryon left later than usual.
The street was slick from recent rain, reflecting the neon hum of the city in blurred, watery tones. He walked absentmindedly, his thoughts drifting, until a sound shattered the silence.
A horn. Sharp. Piercing. Right on top of him.
He turned. White light blinded him.
Impact.
For an instant, there was white-hot pain. Then, nothing. No sound. No sensation. Only a deep, crushing darkness.
And then—a gentle warmth.
There was no body. No time. Only the sensation of being observed.
[Reincarnation process confirmed.] [High compatibility detected.]
Eryon tried to speak, but he had no mouth. He tried to think, and the thought was heard. I want to understand...
[Desire detected: "To understand this world."] [Conditions accepted. Reincarnation initiated.]
Somewhere between worlds, a common young man ceased to exist.
ENTITY STATUS: ERYON ARCLIGHT
Name: Eryon Arclight
Race: Human
State: Awakened
Location: Jura Forest (Periphery)
Basic Attributes
Physical Strength: C
Agility: C
Endurance: C
Magic Capacity
Total Magical Power: EX
Mana Control: EX
Magical Perception: B
Observation: Despite a standard human vessel, the volume and fluidity of mana surrounding the subject are abnormal.
Skills
Unique Gift: 「Arcana Customize」 – The ability to reorganize and redefine existing mana according to intent and understanding.
Intrinsic Skills: Magic Sense, Universal Language, Natural Affinity with Mana, Mental Resistance.
The first thing Eryon felt was the scent of damp earth.
Next came the rhythmic pulse of the forest—the swaying of leaves and the low chirping of alien insects. He opened his eyes. Above him, colossal trunks rose into the heavens, their canopies filtering sunlight into deep, emerald shades.
The air was dense. It felt charged.
"—A forest?"
His voice was steady. No pain, no weakness. He sat up, his body responding with a grace he'd never possessed before. He looked at his hands: fair, unscarred, and steady.
"So I really died..."
The memories were intact. The impact. The void. And then, the voice. A subtle prickling ran across his skin. It wasn't a sense of danger, but a sense of presence.
Eryon stood. The moment his feet touched the roots, the environment seemed to hum.
"Is this... mana?"
It was intuitive. The forest was saturated with it. Instinctively, he extended his hand. He didn't try to cast a spell; he simply thought of a form. A structure.
The air stirred. Mist condensed into a short blade of translucent, light-blue glass.
"I didn't even chant," he whispered.
[Unique Gift confirmed: 「Arcana Customize」 acquired.]
"Customization..." Eryon watched the blade tremble. He wasn't pulling power from a well inside him; he was rewriting the code of the world around him. "It's not creation. It's editing."
"Rrrsh..."
A goblin watched him from the brush. It was small and gaunt, clutching a primitive spear with trembling hands.
"Easy," Eryon said, raising his hands slowly. "I won't attack."
"H-Human...?" The goblin croaked. It looked terrified.
"So monsters talk. Great." Eryon noticed the mana around him was thickening, reacting to his focus. It was intimidating the creature.
"You... are strong?" the goblin asked.
Eryon hesitated. He didn't feel like a powerhouse. He felt like an architect holding a blueprint. "I don't know yet. I just got here."
The goblin nodded warily and retreated into the shadows. Eryon was alone again. He closed his eyes, feeling the silent ocean of mana waiting for his command.
The Jura Forest never truly slept.
Eryon moved carefully, realizing his human body still had human needs. After drinking from a mana-rich stream, he tracked a Horned Rabbit.
He didn't use a flashy spell. He simply "edited" a small pocket of mana into a blade and struck.
"Sorry," he muttered as the animal fell. It was survival, nothing more.
As he ate, he realized the limitation of his gift. "「Arcana Customize」 isn't for brawling. My body is still 'C' rank. If I get hit, I'm done."
The lesson came sooner than expected.
Two Black-Fanged Wolves cornered him at sunset. They were fast—blurred shadows of teeth and fur. Eryon didn't panic. Instead of a sword, he focused on the ground.
Change property: Hardness.
The soft soil beneath a lunging wolf turned to stone. The creature hit the sudden ledge with a sickening crack.
Change property: Air Resistance.
Eryon felt his body move lighter, dodging the second wolf's claws by a hair's breadth. He finished the fight with a conjured blade, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
"I survived... but barely."
He realized then that he was a glass cannon. He had the "source code" to the world, but his "hardware" was still just a man.
As night fell, he sensed a massive presence deeper in the woods. Something ancient. Something that made the very mana in the air shiver.
"That... is not for today," he whispered, retreating into the darkness.
Somewhere else in the forest, a small blue slime paused.
"Hm? Great Sage, did you feel that?"
[Answer: Anomaly detected. Unusual mana pattern. Origin: Unknown.]
"Heh," the slime wobbled. "Jura is getting interesting."
Eryon took his first step toward his new life. He was a neutral variable in a world of monsters and kings. He had been heard by the world, and soon, the world would have to answer to him.