Chapter 4 – Body of a Broken Genius
The soft ticking of the wall clock was the only sound in the room now. The warm sunlight pouring in from the window had begun to mellow, casting long, golden shadows across the marble floor.
Chris lay still on the velvet-lined bed, the heavy silence a welcome change from the chaos in his mind.
This body... it's mine now. And the first step to changing fate begins with understanding it.
In his past life, he was a Magic Swordsman—a rare hybrid profession feared and admired across the continent. Where most chose one path—Knight or Mage—he had walked both.
But it wasn't just talent that allowed him to balance the deadly fusion of aura and mana.
It was control.Exceptional, inhuman control.
He had learned early that aura and mana flowed through entirely different channels within the body.
Aura, the lifeforce used by knights, was stored and circulated near the navel, tightly rooted to the body's vitality.
Mana, the essence of the arcane, resided in a core near the heart, and was far more volatile, especially when forced into martial rhythms.
Combining the two required threading a needle inside a storm.One misstep, one uncontrolled surge… and the result was death—or worse.
Now, lying in the body of Chris von Celestrius, he needed to know—was this body capable of housing both?
Chris inhaled slowly, focusing.
He activated his old knight breathing technique, the one he had refined in blood and fire.A slow draw of air—holding, compressing it, then releasing in perfect intervals. Not just breathing... but sensing.
He let the rhythm echo through his limbs.
Almost immediately, he felt it.
A mess.
The aura channels in his lower abdomen were partially blocked. Brittle. Overstrained.And worse... the magic circle near the heart—the very core of a magician's power—was distorted. Jagged. Unstable.
This wasn't just a failed advancement.
This was a catastrophic backlash. One that should have left permanent damage.
It was as though someone had tried to force advancement into the Third Circle before the foundation had solidified—like building a tower on sand. The mana had surged wildly, rupturing internal channels.
No wonder he had collapsed. No wonder the original Chris had gone into a coma.
"This body's a battlefield," Chris muttered aloud, staring at the ceiling.
But he wasn't afraid. No—this situation was familiar.
In fact, it was a blessing.
I've walked through worse... and emerged stronger. I can rebuild this.
He'd have to retrain both paths. Heal and reconstruct his mana core. Reopen the damaged aura channels. And above all—regain his control.
It wouldn't be easy. Not with a ruined body.But now, he had something far more powerful than talent or technique.
He had knowledge of the future.
And a reason to rise again.
Chris closed his eyes, syncing his breath once more with the Knight's Rhythm. Even if only faintly, he could begin healing from today. Every breath a step closer to the power he once had—and beyond.
The world had given him five years.
And he would use every second.