Ch. 1 The Apocalypse

Chapter 1 - The Apocalypse










As he finished inscribing the last rune of Figaro's formula, Lin Yun closed the grimoire carefully, then he left the decaying library.






The sky was gray and full of cracks caused by the void storms. The sun was red like the blood and looks like it’s taking its last breath, while covering the city with an ominous light. The city was engulfed in a mist that looked like the last breath of a dying man.






The tall defense tower in the middle of the city that has protected Heather city for the last 3000 years was shining a faint light that was about to be extinguished forever.






The world of Northrend that once gave birth to a glorious magic civilization was about to die as its mana dried up.






At its peak, Northrend inhabitants developed magic to perfection. The mages of that time had the power to destroy worlds. They conquered thousands of planes across the universe and countless races shivered at the sight of their wands.






They claimed to be living gods. In fact, if it wasn’t for the depletion of mana, some magi could ascend and obtain eternal life by uncovering the secrets of magic.






Unfortunately, with the depletion of mana, all this has come to an end.






Humans grew weaker with each passing day. Their fleet of magic ships always docked at the ports. The frightening magic crystal canons no longer roar. The numerous planes calmed down as they no longer needed to worry about the sudden arrival of uninvited guests.






The magi that were once powerful to challenge the gods, couldn’t withstand the passage of time and fell one after another. The once legendary magi now rest in the ruins of Northrend with their names engraved on the tombstones. Finally, they were forgotten in the sands of time.






The only thing they left behind was the decaying library that Lin Yun just left. The library contained thousands of books that accumulate the magi lifelong knowledge and experience. If it was placed in a previous era before the decline of mana it would be enough to drive any mage crazy.






But now these books lay quietly in the library, covered by a thick layer of dust, with no value other than being witness to the once glorious Northrend.






In Lin Yun’s opinion, these books aren’t as valuable as a trivial Figaro's formula. At least, Figaro formula can aid meditation by absorbing mana from the void. The powerful spells in the books can longer be cast with the absence of mana. The books only value is a casual reading when one is bored.






“ I really have a bad luck…. ” 

Lin Yun lived in Northrend for 20 years, and all he cared about is his luck. 

'Why had everyone else left, couldn’t they save the world or something, now I  have to hunt for food in the hot desert and wait to be buried with the world when it’s destroyed.'






This era is similar to the Northrend thousands of years ago. Civilization was still primitive, magicians were struggling, human race was still young.


But at least, Northrend’s sky wasn’t torn by the void storms, the earth wasn’t covered by the boundless desert and mana was abundant everywhere.


The most important thing was that living in that era, one didn’t have to suffer nightmares of the world destruction every night.









Lin Yun sighed as he dragged his tired body across the empty street.


Silence surrounded the area, as if Lin Yun was left alone in this world.


Northrend was slowly approaching death, as the resources continued to deplete.


The population of Heather city continued to decrease with each passing day. Maybe before the end, Heather city will become a real ghost city.






This bleak future made Lin Yun feel a chill. 

“ It seems like I'm not imaging things, it’s really a bit cold…”


Lin Yun has been living in heather city for 20 years, that he became accustomed to the ominous sunlight and the hot desert outside the city but he hasn’t felt this kind of cold before. It seeped into his bones like a poisonous snake and scared him.






Lin Yun took a look of the sky and his face paled all of a sudden. The sky above the city was shrouded in a boundless darkness that swallowed the last sliver of light. The defense tower that protected the city for thousands of years finally exhausted its mana.






With that dim light extinguished, Northrend was about to face its final moments. The void storms were tearing the sky. A massive flaming meteor was descending. Violent energy was surging and tearing the fragile space. The wind was whistling outside the city. The yellow sands rolled up like a wave to swallow Heather city.






The earth was sinking. The world was shaking. Buildings were collapsing.


People were dying. Some of them were calling for help. Some were praying. Some were screaming.

Heather city that had been quiet for thousands of years, suddenly became very noisy. Blood and fire filled every corner of the city. 

The last city of humanity had finally fallen.

“ It’s finally coming...”


Lin Yun stood looking outside his residence. Then everything thing was swallowed by darkness.






………………


When Lin Yun finally woke up, the sky was blue and no longer full of cracks. The sun was no longer red, and the city was no longer surrounded by an endless desert.


The dense forests, the rolling hills, the rushing rivers, everything, made the world full of vitality.


Of course, there was mana. Mana was everywhere. Compared to the final era when it was difficult to absorb mana, Northrend of this era was like a nouveau riche. Mana was abundant everywhere, even in the air. It looked inexhaustible and any mage could squander as he liked.






For Lin Yun who survived for 20 years in his last life while trying to extract mana all the time, this was a paradise. But he had no time to enjoy it because he found himself in a strange body.






The memories of the original owner of the body appeared in his mind.


From these memories he knew the original owner of the body was called Mafa Merlin, a hard working level 9 apprentice, he was a student of archmage Seth. His father was Rogge Merlin, who used to run an alchemy business [ The goldshire ] chamber of commerce, one of the seven major chambers of commerce in the thousand sail city.


'That looks good, superior family and great future.'


Unfortunately that was a thing from the past. It seemed that Mafa Merlin was really unlucky. As he reached the threshold of the level 9 apprentice, just one step and he could become a mage and wear
black robes. But his father who ran an alchemy business had an accident.


A storm swallowed up the fleet of [ the Goldshire ] Chamber of Commerce, and hundreds of people including Rogge Merlin perished and the priceless goods sank in the sea. It was a real tragedy that alarmed the entire thousand sails city.






The goldshire chamber of commerce was swarmed by creditors demanding their money, and the families of victims demanding compensation for their relatives. As they took everything, Mafa lost the resources to support him in the expensive magic study, so he went home to deal with the accumulating debts.






The big mansion that day was empty, not even a rat was there. The last servant sneaked away 3 days ago with a dozen of gold coins. No one  remained except for the old butler who was loyal to the old master.






Oh yes, there was a contract.


The owner of the contract was the cousin of Rogge Merlin and the uncle of  Mafa, Farion. When Rogge was alive he took care of his cousin. He spent a lot of money and used lot of connections to help him get the position of the sheriff of thousand sails city.






Before Rogge went out to the sea, he gave Farion a share and he didn’t even take any money from him. He would just get a huge bonus when Rogge comes back with profit.





No one thought this time the fleet would become a shipwreck. And after Rogge bit the dust, his cousin came with the contract to take the money.






Now the contract was in front of Lin Yun. Actually the amount of money it contains wasn’t actually that big, just 8000 gold coins. When Rogge was there, the magic experiments conducted by Mafa costed more than that.






The problem now was that the current Mafa couldn’t afford this amount even if he sold his body. Now, his uncle Farion wasn’t good as he used to be.






Seeing the due date was getting closer, Mafa Merlin couldn’t handle the pressure and collapsed after eating the breakfast, when he woke up, he was the current Lin Yun.






“ this guy’s really unlucky….” 

Lin Yun sighed as he digested the memories in his mind. Mafa Merlin was unlucky to a certain extent. A young man with a promising future who got stuck in the present.