Chapter 3: An Ordinary Person Among Geniuses

—The Post-Gods Era…

We do not know if it was the will of the gods or the will of nature, but we all know that the first protagonists on the Amelia Continent were the Giant Race. Their era was called the “Post-Gods Era”!

Long ago in that primitive era, which could no longer be researched, the Giants established a glorious civilization. They were tall, strong, and powerful. Their skin glowed with a metallic luster, like bronze and black iron. Their height of two or even three meters allowed them to easily do things that seemed unbelievable to us, such as destroying giant boulders or pulling up huge trees.

Some said that Giants were descendants of the gods, but the Giants never admitted this. Having absolute confidence in their own strength, the Giants did not trust magic. In fact, many experts believed that their innate low-level magic-immune constitution isolated them from magic. Therefore, during the ten thousand years when Giants played the lead role, “Martial Arts” developed greatly as the primary skill. Countless brilliant geniuses created countless brilliant Martial Arts. Even today, many of the top-tier techniques we talk about with passion almost all originated from the Giant era…

“The Protagonist After One Hundred Thousand Years—Walking Under the Wheels of History”

…

As night fell, the moonlight faintly filtered through the window, casting a snowy white light on the floor, which felt somewhat cold.

Luo Yan lay quietly in bed. In another room, his mother and sister had already fallen asleep, but he still had his eyes wide open, not feeling sleepy at all…

The events of the day had come one after another, making him feel overwhelmed. First, an experiment suddenly failed and caused an explosion early in the morning; then, after opening his eyes, he had actually returned from the age of one hundred and forty back to five years old. One event after another flashed through his mind. Only now did Luo Yan have time to organize his thoughts and think seriously.

He was currently five years old; there was no doubt about that. If his previous memories weren’t so vivid, he would have suspected that he had simply taken a nap and dreamed of the experiences of the next one hundred and thirty-five years. Unfortunately, every detail told him that this could not be a dream. Therefore, Luo Yan had to face everything he was about to encounter!

“Hmm… no matter what, this is a good thing…”

After making a judgment on his current situation, Luo Yan began to consider what he should do now.

—Luckily, he was reborn at the age of five. If it were a few years later… well, not even a few years, perhaps just a few months or even a few days later, it might have been too late, because that event which brought him lifelong pain would have already happened!

He lightly clenched his fist. After thanking the gods once more, Luo Yan focused his thoughts back on himself. Although “that matter” was important, life was not just about that one thing. Being reborn was an incredible miracle, and he naturally could not waste such an opportunity!

Thinking this, Luo Yan finally became slightly excited. The next hundred-plus years were exactly when the Amelia Continent underwent great changes: the turmoil in human politics, the strong rise of the Orcs, and the return of many marginalized races… Whether it was becoming an official, getting rich, practicing magic, or researching alchemy, there were simply too many opportunities in Luo Yan’s memories!

But considering this, Luo Yan felt a bit depressed again. From this perspective, the age of “five” was truly too awkward. Whatever he did, he would be restricted. This gave Luo Yan a feeling of having power but no way to use it, as if he were tightly bound. Unfortunately, he had no choice. Before his rebirth, Luo Yan had been a Wizard, specifically a Level 7 Magister. Naturally, he understood the fanatic pursuit of “truth” within the wizard community. He did not want to leak the secret of his rebirth and end up on a dissection table; he even had to be extremely careful not to arouse suspicion.

…So, it was truly depressing!

Tossing and turning in distress, Luo Yan pushed these chaotic thoughts aside and focused on himself. While checking his condition carefully, he secretly planned: “Before my rebirth, I only touched magic at twelve. In this life, I am only five… With seven years of accumulation, I should be able to play the role of a little genius, right?”

Before his rebirth, the thing Luo Yan was best at and the only thing he had done was be a Wizard—and, as a side job, an Alchemist. In this life, Luo Yan naturally could not ignore his old profession.

In that previous life in his memory, due to a lack of sufficient conditions, Luo Yan only first encountered the concept of “magic” and began magic cultivation when he entered the primary skill school at twelve. As a result, because he started too late, his cultivation speed was very slow. He only broke through to Level 7 to become a Magister at the age of one hundred and twenty. In the twenty years after that, he made no further progress. He estimated that there was no hope of advancing to a Level 8 Archmage in that life.

“Heh… with my strength as a Level 7 Magister and over a hundred years of cultivation experience, could I really not earn the name of a genius?” He curled his lip slightly. Thinking of the pride and glory shown by the parents of the genius youths he had seen before, Luo Yan’s heart suddenly grew hot. His current awkward age made him feel restricted in everything, but being a “genius” should be fine, right?!

Clenching his fist lightly, Luo Yan decided—he would first become a “magic genius” to let his parents feel proud of him. This seemed to be the first goal he set after his rebirth.

As for the other goal… it seemed that helping his father get promoted all the way up was also a good idea. Only then could he be a “privileged son of an official”!

—On the giant Amelia Continent, which had thousands of races and tens of billions of people, a few “geniuses” appeared every year. There were many Level 3 Magicists at twelve, Level 2 Apprentice Mages at six, and even Level 1 Magic Apprentices at four. Some of these geniuses later became famous and successful, while others faded into the crowd. Therefore, the title of “youth genius” could bring enough pride and happiness to the family without attracting too much unwanted attention. It could also serve as a good cover for various future actions, which suited Luo Yan’s current needs and could win him some say in matters… As for being a “privileged son,” that had been Luo Yan’s life dream before his rebirth!

[Magic and Alchemy were just hobbies; being a stable “privileged son” was actually Luo Yan’s greatest dream in life!!]

Additionally, after rebirth, although he seemed calm, Luo Yan actually felt a faint sense of urgency deep in his subconscious. His experiences in the previous life gave him an almost obsessive pursuit of “strength”—including both his own power and the power of his family. Especially the existence of that mastermind, which made Luo Yan feel as if a thorn were pressing against his back. Although he knew it was unlikely to have any contact with that person in this life, he still couldn’t help but treat them as an imaginary enemy and make some arrangements and plans in advance, “merely” to be prepared for the future.

…It was like a vague feeling, although even Luo Yan himself might not have realized it.

…

…

…

Closing his eyes, he slowly concentrated his Mental Strength and entered a state of internal inspection…

After a moment, Luo Yan opened his eyes with a bitter smile. He found to his frustration that the mana he had worked hard to cultivate for over one hundred and twenty years had not been brought back. In other words, he was now a five-year-old child who had never cultivated at all. Everything had to start over from the beginning. In this way, his dream of relying on accumulated mana to instantly become a “super genius” naturally shattered—though this situation was expected by Luo Yan—but what was more frustrating was that he found his magic aptitude… was actually not good!

He had hoped a miracle might happen this time.

Sighing helplessly, Luo Yan felt speechless. In fact, his magic aptitude before his rebirth had been very average. Although it wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t advance, he really lagged far behind compared to the geniuses. This was another reason why his cultivation progress was slow. He started formal cultivation at twelve, became a Magic Apprentice at sixteen, an Apprentice Mage at twenty-two, and only became a Magicist at thirty… Such a record could not be called dazzling by any means; at most, it was barely mediocre.

—A genius among ordinary people, an ordinary person among geniuses… this was the best description of Luo Yan’s situation back then.

However, Luo Yan soon cheered up again: Forget it! Being able to live again is already a miracle of happiness. Is it not just returning to the starting point? This time, I have five more years than I did before my rebirth! At worst, I will just use the time I originally intended to use to shock everyone as time for a “clumsy bird to fly first”!

Thinking of this, Luo Yan relaxed a bit. But in the next moment, his eyes suddenly lit up as if he remembered something, and he sat up abruptly!!

Wait, that’s not right… just now…

He immediately closed his eyes again and returned to the state of internal inspection. After a moment, Luo Yan suddenly opened his eyes in ecstasy, almost wanting to laugh out loud!!

Mana could not be brought back, but Mental Strength… his Mental Strength was exactly the same as before his rebirth!!

He had actually brought back the Mental Strength he had cultivated for over one hundred and twenty years!!

At this moment, Luo Yan even had an impulse to laugh loudly. He opened his mouth silently, looking almost crazy!!

It was no wonder Luo Yan acted so crazily. Any Wizard who encountered such a thing would react this way, and might even be crazier than Luo Yan!!

[—If one wants to speed up the cultivation of mana, there are always this or that method to consider. But Mental Strength… that can be completely accelerated in cultivation; it can only be slowly increased through long periods of Meditation!]

…

Magic cultivation consisted of two parts—”Mana” and “Mental Strength.” “Mana” was the energy used to cast magic, while “Mental Strength” was used to control the magic. In other words, mana was like gasoline, and Mental Strength was the driving system. Generally speaking, at the same level, the stronger the mana, the more magic could be used consecutively and the longer the duration; the stronger the Mental Strength, the faster the magic could be cast and the more powerful the magic would be. The two complemented each other, and neither could be missing.

However, in actual cultivation, people discovered that Mental Strength could not be directly trained to accelerate its increase; it could only grow slowly with the passage of time. Even Wizards were helpless about this. At most, through Meditation, a Wizard’s Mental Strength grew slightly faster than an ordinary person’s—really just a little… not even one-fourth faster!!

For nearly ten thousand years, people had been searching for a way to cultivate Mental Strength, but at least until before Luo Yan’s rebirth—that is, one hundred and thirty-five years later—no one had been able to research a method to cultivate Mental Strength. Even the most outstanding magic geniuses or the most powerful Archmages could only rely on Meditation and time to slowly increase their Mental Strength. No one was an exception.

…

Therefore, among Wizards, while it was not true that the older one was always the most powerful, an older Wizard’s control of magic would definitely be more exquisite and skillful.

Luo Yan now suddenly possessed the trained Mental Strength of a one hundred and forty-year-old at the age of five…

Clenching his fist tightly, a light of extreme excitement flashed across Luo Yan’s face. With this Mental Strength, what did it matter if his magic aptitude was slightly poor? The innate gap could be completely made up for by later efforts. Improving mana was not like Mental Strength; Luo Yan himself knew several ways to speed up mana cultivation. This could at least guarantee that his cultivation speed would not be inferior to that of an average genius Wizard. Adding the fine control brought by high Mental Strength, which was not inferior to that of a Magister…

[A “genius” among ordinary people, an “ordinary person” among geniuses—it seems this phrase might become the best description of Luo Yan’s future once again!]