"Hey! Mortis! Wake up! Why in the hell are you lying here on the floor like a dead person? Do you want to catch a cold or something?"
Mortis heard this sound, and couldn't help but open his eyes.
"Where am I and who the hell are you?" Mortis asked.
"What are you talking about? Are you brain dead? I'm Benjamin, literally your only friend here and we're on the way to the center of the northern continent to test our magic aptitude and hopefully someday become full-fledged magi and join one of the famous magi organizations or academies."
'What is he talking about? Where am I? This doesn't look like my old world. And what does he mean by 'Mortis'? I'm Edward Vesalius… is this transmigration?'
Mortis remembered very clearly that the last thing he had seen was a hospital room filled with pharmaceutical machines and his modern iron lungs, from his bed.
It was impossible to walk out of the hospital like nothing and even get on some wooden carriage when he was already dying of old age and was dependent on his pharmaceutical machines.
Furthermore, in the world he existed, such a style of vehicle—probably carriage as he looked around —was considered an ancient antique. After all, nowadays everyone just used flying cars or cheaper regular cars. But there was no one who used old, ancient carriage like this one.
And before he woke up, there was also the strange incident of world entirely formed by pure darkness, where he silently floated for a long time. He didn't know how long time it was, but he at least knew that it was long.
After organizing his thoughts, he finally thought 'Wait, what exactly did he say? Did I hear correctly? He something about magus and magic aptitude, right? Did I actually transmigrate into the world full of magic?'
'If that's true… then that means I got another chance, and I can try once again to chase and reach the one and only dream I've ever had. Maybe I'll reach it this time. After all, this is a world full of magic—in other words, a world of myriad possibilities and miracles.'
Once more he looked in front of himself and was that the one who woke him up was an average-sized, male youth.
He had deep, dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept for some time. His hair was blue, with a slightly receding hairline, and his pupils were blue, like the ocean. His jawline and face were sharp and defined, exuding an indescribable sense of manliness. Yet, his body was completely different—he had no muscles, which made his body appear somewhat unproportioned to his face. Judging by his appearance, he looked like a 15-year-old, except for his hairline, which was slightly confusing.
Seeing that Mortis had finally woken up, the boy laughed. "Haha… Mortis, you're finally awake. If you had taken even one more minute, I really wouldn't know what to do. By the way, what happened to you? Why were you suddenly lying here on the floor like a dead person?"
Mortis lowered his eyes and thought, 'Why did I suddenly collapse earlier?' Almost immediately after thinking this, he noticed something strange and thought, 'Huh… what is this? Why do I have these strange memories that aren't mine?'
'Is it possible that I occupied someone else's body, obtained their memories, and even my memories from Earth were left with me? Is something like this really possible, or am I just in the afterlife, and this is my dream or something?'
'This is not scientific!'
'Well, this is the world of magic. Of course, it's not scientific.' he chuckled slightly in his mind.
After a while, when he reorganized his thoughts, he made a decision. 'Whatever, even if it's really just a dream or something else, I don't care! Let's be positive for the first time in a long time and hope that this world is real, because if it's really real, then I just got another chance to chase my dream.'
After making a decision, he began to look through his new memories.
This world is similar to the European Middle Ages. But unlike the real European Middle Ages from his world, here in this world exists a mysterious force known as spiritual energy. This spiritual energy is something like mana or qi in stories from Earth. Magi use special methods, known only to them, to absorb this spiritual energy, and through some unknown techniques, they can slowly rise to higher levels of power.
In this world, there are magi, monsters, artifacts, potions, and many more.
Thanks to the system where only Magi, their close ones, and those selected with good aptitude know how to rise in power, there is a strong division in human society. Basically, mundane people without the aptitude to become magi are seen as ants in the eyes of most magi. Most of the time, if a Magi kills these ants, no one would care unless the number of deaths becomes too high. After all, even though they are weak, dumb and insignificant in the eyes of magi, they are still one of their sources of income, and anyone who is at least a little smart wouldn't want to lose a source of income.
Also, besides the division between mundane people and Magi, there is also a high division between magi organizations, which are split into two groups—Dark and Light Magi.
Thanks to this, there are constantly wars between the two groups over resources, territory, or because both sides want to eradicate their competitors. Basically, these wars are just dirty business, a way to make more money for both sides.
And aside from these large-scale wars, there are even conflicts between organizations within the same group. These can be public, but most of the time, they are discreet small-scale battles for more resources, hybrid wars, or conspiracies.
His current body was originally called Mortis Nacht, the son of a king from a minor kingdom. As he had been tested to have the potential aptitude to become a Magus, his father, Orcus Nacht, made him board this carriage heading for the annual aptitude tests on the Northern Continent.
If he succeeded, he would be able to become a Magus Apprentice and, in the future, maybe even rise to become a true full-fledged Magus.
After Mortis reorganized his thoughts and checked his new memories, he once again heard the boy who wake him up. "Hey, are you even listening to me? I asked you, what happened to you? And why were you suddenly lying on the floor like a dead person?"
Mortis laughed and finally said to his friend "Haha… I don't know, maybe I just fell asleep on the floor because I was too much tired. By the way, thank for waking me up. You are truly great friend."
When Mortis looked at him once again during their conversation, he realized this person's identity from his new memories. This was his only friend here, whom he met nearly two months ago when they both boarded this carriage to depart from this barren part of the North Continent. They were heading to try their luck at becoming magi, joining famous organization and chasing after their dreams.
His name was Lethis Stygian.
He is a legitimate son of a King from another minor kingdom, just like him. But that was all he knew, as the first time he met him was already here in the carriage.
Just as he was in deep thought, a hand tapped on his shoulder.
"What are you thinking about?" Lethis asked.
"Nothing serious. I was just thinking what food we might get today." Mortis slightly chuckled.
"Haha… looks like you got hungry in your sleep." Lethis chuckled slightly.
After thinking it over for a moment, he added, "But you'll still have to wait a few more hours. After all, it's only late afternoon, and the carriage won't stop until evening to set up a small temporary camp. And that's the only time they'll make a food."
"Sigh… looks like I'll have to wait for some time. Well, whatever." Mortis said.
'Not that I'm even hungry… I just said some random stuff to change the conversation,' he sighed inwardly.
"By the way, why didn't you wake me up earlier when I was literally lying on the cold floor? I could have caught a cold, you know?" Mortis chuckled slightly and asked.
"Haha… I saw you enjoying such a deep sleep and figured you must like it there. After all, what kind of person in his right mind would deliberately disturb someone's rest?" Lethis shrugged, shaking his head with a provocative smirk plastered across his face.
Under Mortis's serious, questioning gaze, he finally gave up on his act and sighed. "Fine… just stop looking at me like that. I just thought it'd be good for you to finally experience some setback. After all, you're always trying to scare everyone into doing your bidding just because you're the firstborn son of some king from random minor kingdom. Thankfully, everyone here is from similar situations, so no one actually listens to you—but you can be really annoying sometimes."
"Scare? Scare them with my family's power?" Mortis frowned slightly, glancing around as thoughts raced through his mind.
'What does he mean by that?'
Then, as he looked through his new memories, realization dawned on him.
'Ah… I see. The original owner of this body was just a weak crybaby who relied entirely on his family's status to threaten others. He had nothing of his own—no real strength, no courage. And when things actually got serious, he would always run away, crying for his father's help…'
Mortis sighed inwardly. 'Why, out of all people, did I have to end up in the body of this idiot…'