A Second Chance at Life

Dawn

[Revised on 11/18]

Dawn was slowly approaching the Kingdom of Fiore, bestowing an angelic touch to its already majestic scenery. To the north of the Kingdom, a large forest complex known as Worth Woodsea exists. When venturing through the forest, one can hear sounds of birds chirping, insects singing and water flowing, combining together to create an almost harmonic melody. However, that was disrupted when a large pillar of white light descended from the sky, instantly quietening down the forest.

As the pillar of light began to dissipate, a small figure appeared in its place. The boy had golden blonde hair, which was slightly shifted to the right. His attire consists of a blue long sleeve shirt, black pants with white boots, and a pair of sapphire feather earrings attached to the upper ends of his ears. The animals of the forest didn't dare to get close to the boy as they could still feel the residual magic from the pillar surrounding the area around him.

xX Xx

After a few minutes, Sol's body began to show signs of movement causing the animals to flinch in surprise. His eyes fluttered open trying to adjust to the lighting, before using his hands to slowly sit up. Looking around, he noticed that he was in a forest but what shook him slightly was the sight of a few animals looking at him with interest. Sensing no ill intentions, Sol smiled towards them and started to observe his surroundings.

Looking around, he noticed that he was in an area that had a natural clearing. Looking down to inspect his body, he realized that he was wearing a fantasy like attire and one with a good fashion sense at that. As he continued to observe his clothing, the necklace that Claire had given him came out of his shirt and dangled within his line of sight.

'I'll be sure to enjoy this life to its fullest Claire.' Sol thought as he clenched the necklace slightly.

Turning to look behind himself, Sol noticed a small lake behind him. Opting to get a drink, he tried to stand up and walk towards it but staggered slightly. After regaining his balance, Sol walked to the lake and drank a few sips of water. After releasing a satisfying sigh, he looked at the reflection shown in the water. The first thing he noticed was his deep sapphire-blue eyes, he felt himself being unable to look away.

"It seems Claire went all out with the looks." He muttered with a wide smile.

Looking up towards the sky, he realized that it was currently morning. 'I should use this time to get used to my new body, specially my sense of balance.' He thought as he began to walk around the lake for a few minutes. It didn't take him too long to get used to walking due to his body naturally balancing itself, so he decided to jog from one point to another. Sol faltered slightly at first but eventually got the hang of it but as he did, he noticed a couple of interesting things about his body.

The first thing he noticed was how large his stamina had become. He has been jogging, at a decent pace, for what seemed to be an hour now and had yet to start feeling out of breath, though a few beads of sweat where starting to show.

The second thing he noticed was how much power his legs had. It happened twenty minutes into the jog, he was about to turn back from his imaginary checkpoint and do another lap when he had accidentally put too much strength into his right leg causing him to leap a couple of meters into the air.

Naturally, these findings surprised him. He wanted to test the full potential of his body strength next but decided to put it on hold. 'I should use this time to unlock my magic. If I remember correctly, the most effective method of doing so would be meditation.' Sol thought as he sat down with his legs crossed on the patch of grass.

xX Xx

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Sol emptied his thoughts and began to comprehend his surroundings. After a few minutes, he started to sense a form of energy in the atmosphere around him. 'This energy must be Ethernano, the basis of all magic.' Sol thought as he focused his concentration towards the energy.

'Imagine the body as a container and absorb the Ethernano in the atmosphere to nourish and fill it up.' Sol instinctively thought, it was then that he felt something cool flowing through his entire body. His container was like a sponge to the foreign energy, excessively absorbing every ounce that it can get. 'This was easier than I expected, is this because of the blessings I had received?' He pondered as he noticed his container quickly approaching its limit.

After his container had become full, Sol slowly opened his eyes and smiled at the white energy covering his whole body. The energy radiating from his body felt violent and untamed yet pure and calming. 'Before learning any spells, I need to learn how to control my magic at will.' Sol thought as he contemplated on how to do this. He looked back on how he had filled his container earlier and then it hit him.

'If I imagine my container to be an ocean and my limbs to be the rivers that are connected to the ocean, then I should be able to control the volume of water that goes through each river…' Sol thought as he began to implement his theory.

Sol focused on the Ethernano inside of his container, he goal was to guide the Ethernano around his whole body. He tried to manipulate a small part of energy away from his container and guide it towards his right arm but this resulted in a failure. As soon as the energy left the container, it dispersed as soon as he stopped focusing slightly. 'I need maintain my concentration, that way I can guide the energy around my body without it dispersing.' Sol thought as he continued to repeat the process.

On the seventh attempt, Sol had managed to guide the energy through his right arm. Without letting the energy disperse, he continued to guide it towards the rest of his body. Maintaining his concentration, Sol repeated this process for over an hour. By the end of it, he was drenched in sweat.

'God this process is exhausting but worth the effort. I can already feel the Ethernano coursing through my body a lot more freely than before.' Sol thought as he looked upwards towards the sky. 'Hmm, this seems like a nice place to stop and take a break.' He thought as he stopped manipulating the Ethernano in his body. He hasn't eaten a single thing since coming to this world but before he could look around for food, he noticed something different about the container in his body.

"The size of my container has increased slightly." Sol said with a look of surprise. 'If I repeat this exercise on a daily basis, I should be able to unlock my second Origin sooner than I had expected.' He thought with determination, he really wanted to know more about the necklace that Claire had given him.

Taking a deep breath to calm down, he once again entered a meditative state to replenish the energy he had spent. After his container had become full, he stood up and stretched his body.

Looking back at the lake, he was reminded of the fish that Happy used to eat in the manga causing his stomach to grumble. Deciding on fish for lunch, Sol collected some dry branches and stones to create a fire and placed them next to a nearby tree. He then left the camp and walked towards the lake holding a slightly pointed branch.

xX Xx

A while later, a figure can be seen walking towards the camp. He had water dripping from his hair and was holding a pair of gutted fish against his chest, not effecting his already soaked clothes. "Who knew catching fish would be so damn hard. I can't believe I had to dive into the lake to catch them." Sol muttered in frustration as he placed the fish on the ground. He began to arranged the stones to create a barricade for the fire and stacked a few branches together within it.

'Hmm, how do I create the fire?' Sol thought as he looked around for the answer. He never had to worry about this problem back in his previous world, everything was already made for him. 'Can I use magic? I remember using a magnifying glass to concentrate the light from the sun to burn things when I was younger…' He thought as he started to move a small amount of Ethernano towards the tip of his index finger.

A ball of white light started to form on his index finger, Sol pointed it towards the branches on the floor and released it. The beam of light flew towards the branches at high speeds but dissipated before reaching the branches. 'The amount of Ethernano I've put in seems to be the right amount, I just need to focus on maintaining its shape.' Sol thought as he repeated the process, but this time condensing the ball of light to half its previous size. Releasing the beam of light, he watched as it pierced through the branches with little to no effort and scorch the grass.

"Wow, so condensing the ball increased its output and gave it properties similar to that of fire." Sol observed as he added a few more branches to maintain the flame. Impaling the fish with a few twigs, Sol placed them near the flame and waited for them to roast.

'Releasing my Ethernano through one finger took more effort than I wanted, I should use this time to work on my control over small releases.' He thought as he tried to simultaneously create a ball of light on each one of his fingers. This exercise should stretch his concentration to its limits and effectively increase his overall control.

After a few seconds, the balls of light started to tremble violently and collide with one another causing a few burn marks to appear on his right hand only to be healed within a few seconds. 'Is this because of the increase in vitality that I got from the ritual? I should really set aside some time to understand my body's limits in the near future.' Sol thought before returning his focus back to his magic control.

'Man, this is even harder than I had expected.' He thought with a frown, controlling and maintaining four separate paths of magic was really pushing the limit of his concentration but he knew that repeating this exercise would be beneficial.

Sol continued to repeat the exercise over and over again. By the time the fishes had finished roasting, he could maintain the balls of light for roughly nine seconds. 'At the rate I'm going, it shouldn't take me more than a couple of weeks to have full control over my magic.' Sol thought as he turned his attention towards the roasted fish.

Grabbing the first roasted fish, Sol took his first bite of food in this world. As the fish entered his mouth, a slight shiver of delight ran down his spine. "How can a plain fish taste this good?" He exclaimed in pleasure before wolfing down on the rest of the fish. As he stretched forward his hand to take the second roasted fish, he heard a nearby cackling howl that echoed throughout the whole forest.

"KUOO!"

xX Xx

Looking towards the direction of the sound, Sol's entire being trembled in fear. Within his line of sight was a large, grey dog-headed creature fiercely charging towards him. Before he could register more of its features, his instincts screamed for him to drop down.

Not doubting his instincts, Sol instantly dropped to the ground and rolled to the side. After hearing a thundering crash, Sol turned his head around and watched in horror as the tree behind him was cleaved in half.

'Shit! I'll die if I get hit by this thing.' He thought as he slowly backed away from the creature whilst taking in its features.

The creature had the head of a hyena, wore discolored leather armor, held an old meter-long sword in its left hand and stood three meters in height despite its arched back. Sol had immediately recognized this monster, at least what he remembered it to be.

'I-It's a fucking gnoll! What the hell is one doing here?' Sol thought in panic, fear and confusion. Gnoll's shouldn't have existed in this world, but then his mind reeled back to the conversation he had with Claire. 'Wait, Claire said the fiction from my previous world was loosely based on actual worlds… Is this what she meant?' He thought as his eyes made eye contact with the creature.

Its gaze seemed to pierce right through him and the teeth that can be seen from its opened mouth looked terrifying. He felt numb. Sol clenched his hands tightly and psyched himself up. 'Don't cower. Face it. You're not weak anymore.' Taking a few deep shaky breaths, his body stopped trembling and strength to gradually return to it.

'I need a weapon of some kind.' Sol thought as he glanced around the area finding nothing but branches and stones. 'I guess I'll have to use my body, I'll infuse Ethernano into my attacks to make them more effective.' He thought as he prepared himself for the upcoming assault.

As the gnoll rushed towards him, it dipped and weaved right as he was about to reach him and slashed downwards with its sword. 'I can see its movements clearly.' Sol thought before sidestepping to the left, narrowly avoiding the strike. Before the gnoll could respond with a follow up, Sol swiftly sent a magic imbued elbow towards its chest, knocking the wind out of the gnoll and stunning it for a brief moment.

The quick blow had left the gnoll open for another attack. 'Its muscles are too tough, I need to infuse more Ethernano into my attacks.' Sol thought as he sent a sidekick into its stomach, causing it to double over. He tried to follow up with a rising uppercut only to be met with a back-fist, viciously launching him towards the nearby tree.

Sol skidded and tumbled along the ground uncontrollably before violently slamming into the tree. "Fuck! That hurt!" A groan escaped his lips as the pain from the attack started to settle in, he looked up and his eyes went wide in surprise. The previously normal looking gnoll now had a whirlwind of violent-red energy surrounding its whole body.

After a few seconds, the energy dissipated revealing its new form. The wretched beast now had sage green fur, its previous armor had been torn apart due to its increase in size and the color of its eyes were now a startling blood-red. The gnoll abandoned its sword and turned its gaze towards Sol with a never before seen ferocity, causing him to subconsciously shift back.

'Stay calm. Concentrate.' Sol forced himself to focus as he shakenly stood back up. 'Damn, it threw away its sword. I'll need to continuously channel Ethernano throughout my legs to make sure I have enough speed do dodge its claws.' He thought as he rolled to the right in a desperate dodge. Just in time as the gnoll's fist smashed into the ground, crushing it as a torrent of dirt that rose up into the air.

'Hmm, its strength has increased exponentially but its speed is relatively the same.' Sol thought as he continued to dodge the gnoll's attacks whilst countering with a few of his own strikes.

After a few minutes, Sol began to falter whilst dodging. 'I need to finish this as soon as possible, manipulating Ethernano for this long has finally started to take its toll.' He thought as he used his shoulder to block the gnoll's claw swipe, leaving a deep gash on it whilst sending him back a few meters. The gnoll stopped and gazed at him with confusion, it wasn't expecting its strike to have connected so easily.

'Its now or never.' Sol thought, ignoring the pain on his shoulder, as he placed his right hand behind his back and began to create a ball of light on his palm. He continued to inject Ethernano into the ball whilst simultaneously compressing it, causing a small gust of wind to appear behind him. The gnoll took notice of the change and immediately rushed towards Sol in the hopes of finishing him off.

As the gnoll got close, Sol quickly brought his right hand in front of him and muttered "I hope this works." Covering his eyes with his left arm, he released all control over the condensed ball of light. The ball shook violently and erupted in a large flash of light, illuminating the entire area.

"Kuooooo!" The gnoll released an agonizing howl causing Sol to lower his left arm and examine the situation. As his eyes adjusted, he saw the gnoll kneeling on the floor, holding its eyes whilst continuously releasing an agonizing howl.

'It worked! It actually worked! Okay, time to end this fight.' Sol thought, he already had a spell in mind for finishing the gnoll off, but it required him to learn it on the spot.

'Hopefully I can pull this off…' Sol thought as he took a deep breath to gather the Ethernano particles from his surroundings into his lungs. As he felt himself reaching his limits, Sol turned to face the gnoll and released the attack through his mouth.

'White Phoenix's Screech'

An overbearing screech could be heard as a large tornado of light shot forth from his mouth, annihilating everything within its path.

"Hah, hah…" Sol fell to his knees panting whilst clutching his left shoulder in pain, the spell took more of a toll on his body than he expected. Forcing himself to look up, Sol was shocked at the site before him.

There was nothing but a deeply scorched ground leading towards the direction of the lake. "Now this is just overkill…" Sol muttered quietly, he didn't expect the most basic spell of his magical art to do this much damage. Now he understood why Claire had emphasized the importance of control when using it.

Sol sat back and took a few moments to regain his energy. Looking at the now shallow gash on his left shoulder, he thought. 'It's healing rather quickly but just to be safe, I'll head over to the lake and clean it.'

After regaining enough energy to walk, Sol immediately headed towards the lake. Upon reaching the lake, Sol sat down and began to clean his wound. After he was sure it was clean enough, Sol tore his sleeves and wrapped them around his shoulder to stop the bleeding.

As he walked back to his camp, Sol began to reflect back on the fight. 'Dangerous. It was simply dangerous. I was simply lucky that it didn't take me seriously at the beginning, if it did….' A slight shiver ran down his spine as he thought about the potential consequences. 'Still, I have a grasp at my strengths and what I lack. As soon as I find a place to live, I'll start to train myself properly.'

Upon reaching the camp, Sol sat down and released a long sigh. 'Although the fight was dangerous, I can't say that it wasn't exhilarating. I still remember all of the emotions I had felt during the fight and I've got to say that it made me feel alive.' Sol thought as he clenched his hands in excitement, this is what he wanted out of his new life.

Taking a deep breath to calm his agitation down, Sol began to smell something foul. Turning his head towards the smell, Sol couldn't help but burst out laughing at the still intact charred fish.

"It looks like I can truly enjoy this life." Sol muttered as he entered a meditative state to replenish his container, failing to notice the blue-haired figure observing him from a distance.

xX Xx

Speech in this Fanfic

"Talk"

'Thoughts'

"Magic Spells"