Glimpse of Eternity [A Reincarnation Isekai Fantasy]

'That stupid bitch!'

After being flung into a questionable portal that led to a questionable place, Reivan groaned as he pushed up against what he hoped was grass. He didn't know the exact cause, but he felt unbearably dizzy and his vision was too blurry to make sense of anything around him.

Struggling into a sitting position, Reivan took deep breaths as he blinked repeatedly, trying to get his eyes to work again. His efforts failed to bear fruit fast enough before he suddenly fell on his back, too light-headed to even stay in an upright position.

"Ugh..." Reivan groaned, preemptively covering his mouth in case he regurgitated vomit right into his face with gravity's ever-present aid.

'This is worse than being drunk...'

Fortunately, his agony didn't seem like it would last for eternity. After what seemed like five eternities — which was, realistically, probably somewhere around two minutes — his eyes slowly regained focus and the world around him gradually stilled.

That was when he discovered that there was actually a large earth-colored cougar staring right at him, getting ready to pounce.

"Woah!" Reivan instinctively tried to summon a sword but just managed to draw his wand instead, simultaneously checking the creature's stats to see that it only had 30 Might.

‘Ah. It’s weaker than I expected…’

His sudden movements must have scared the cougar into action because it lunged, claws primed and fangs bared.

Reivan casually flicked his wand, conjuring a transparent barrier of energy between him and his feline attacker just in time for it to crash into the barrier.

The rebound force launched the cougar back with surprising intensity, slamming its back into a nearby tree. It recovered quickly though, landing on its feet and circling around him.

"Hah." Reivan quickly fired three stunning spells. Though it tried to evade, one still hit while another nicked its back leg, making it release the first cry of pain since the encounter. "Not today, big guy."

Suddenly remembering how humans were supposed to be invincible in this world, Reivan intentionally showed off an opening to coax an attack. Of course, he was still ready to move his head and other vitals out of the way to avoid dying instantly if the invulnerability somehow didn't work.

Not one to let the opportunity escape, the cougar pounced once again. Its claws connected and its fangs clamped down on Reivan's arm, but they failed to do any damage. Undettered, the cougar's jaws opened and closed repeatedly, gnawing anywhere its mouth could reach.

'Interesting.'

Reivan curiously observed the cougar desperately trying to maim him. Unbeknownst to the big cat, he couldn't feel anything at all. Not even the spirit beast's weight.

'This is amazing... How crazy would it be if the Tower could take this effect outside and become invulnerable to knights or something?'

After a few more attempts, the cougar finally gave up. It released him and created distance between them, regarding him with an increasing amount of caution. A few seconds of hesitation later, it turned around and decided he wasn't worth the risk, fleeing into the forest's embrace.

Reivan smoothed down his clothes while walking over to a nearby rock. Looking around, he immediately realized that he was, in fact, not sent to the same spot as all the other recruits based on the fact that there was not a single human in sight. That, in addition to the fact that nobody was probably watching him in secret, meant he could do as he pleased without compromising his mission.

In any case, the time-limited nature of their stay in this world meant that he should get moving to make the most of it, but he still chose to take a few moments to decide on a course of action. There were times when a quick decision was better than a well-thought-out order, but this probably wasn't one of those times.

And coincidentally, he was just given a book with potentially important information. He was quite curious about the thin tome and wanted to take a look before anything else.

‘Hm… There are a few reminders here. I know most of them already, though.’

Reivan flipped through the first few pages, skipping the repetitive reminders not to spend too much time reading the book, including a note that mentioned how all humans were invulnerable to all damage. He then scanned down for anything he didn’t know yet.

“Ah. Here it is…” he muttered to himself. “Spirit beasts to avoid.”

Apparently, the strange world also kicked out any creature who Ascended into immortality, so every living thing inside was mortal. This didn’t mean nothing could grow strong enough to reach heights just below that, however.

Because of this, the tower entrants were advised to avoid these incredibly strong spirit beasts since trying to force a contract on them would be a complete waste of time. Many had attempted the challenge, but nobody had ever succeeded. Very detailed illustrations were provided for each entry and there wasn't a whole lot of them, so it was quite easy to remember, even for the dimmest of minds.

‘Half-ascendants, huh? Or close to that, at least. I can't really tell from so little information.’

Some of the intel wasn't even confirmed as fact since only weak battlemages in their first year at the Spirit Tower were ever let inside the sanctuary. But from eyewitness reports and because these particular spirit beasts had witness reports throughout multiple decades, it could be assumed that these particular ones were too strong to force into a contract.

‘Interesting. I hope I meet a few.’

Ascendants were a definite no-go for him, but Reivan feared no one in the mortal realm.

Finally, there was a very strongly worded warning about stealing the contract orbs from other tower entrants. An entrant was only allowed one orb, and anyway, killing another battlemage to steal their resources was an act that amounted to high treason.

The warning was for the battlemages’ own good though, since even considering such a thing was probably enough for the hidden eldritch being inside them to take lethal action.

Reivan smirked to himself as he started stripping.

A moment later, his face and the rest of his body slowly returned to their original state. Strength filled his muscles and the dizziness immediately vanished as if it was far too trivial for his present form. His hearing, his sense of smell, and even the sensation of the wind caressing his skin became more vivid — more detailed — than any normal human could ever fathom.

His facade as Clover Salwyn completely fell away, revealing the young wolf underneath.

“I can’t say it enough.” Reivan chuckled as he stretched his muscular limbs. “But being in my own body is the best.”

Running a hand through his silver hair, Reivan instantly summoned an appropriate set of clothes to cover his naked body. Afterward, he directed his gaze to the book, rapidly flipping through the rest of the pages he hadn't read yet. For his current state, reading such a thin book took no time at all, so he finished it in just a couple of minutes before throwing it into Zouros’ stomach.

With new information in hand, he sunk into his own thoughts.

‘Forming a contract with the stronger ones would benefit me the most, but it would also cause undue attention to fall on me.’

Since he planned to stay at the tower for a prolonged period of time, he would be unable to avoid revealing what spirit beast he made a forced contract with. And obviously, if the powerful spirit beast in question was recorded in the book, people would wonder how such a powerful spirit beast was contracted in the first place.

The unwanted attention was highly… unwelcome to his plans to quietly gather information before disappearing forever.

Additionally, he could probably hide the contract orb indefinitely by storing it in Zouros’ stomach. Even if they searched up Reivan's anus just like some border guards apparently did, nobody would ever find it — though he did hope they wouldn't go that far. He really wanted to bring home a few of them so Aizen's think tanks could study the mysterious spheres.

'But then again, I can't not have an orb when I get out.'

“I suppose…” Reivan pondered, not feeling particularly rushed. “I’ll have to steal someone else’s orb.”

One for his identity as Clover Salwyn. And another to take back to Elsa — preferably containing a spirit beast close to ascendence. There was the problem of making the spirit beast form a permanent contract with Elsamina, but he could worry about that later down the line. Then if he could, he wanted one or two to take back home.

As for the unfortunate youths he would steal it from, they would just have to chalk it up to their bad luck for entering the tower in the same year as him.

In a perfect world though, Reivan could steal three orbs, for a total of four. He could then take one back home, use one for himself, give one to to Elsamina, and use the last one to capture a relatively weak spirit beast.

The first three would be hidden away in Zouros’ stomach when he exited this strange world, while the last one would be Clover Salwyn’s spirit bond publicly.

‘I don’t know how large this world is, but hopefully, I find a few other first years before they use their orbs on something stupid. Like a ferret or something.’

“Hm?” Reivan was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts when he noticed the prickling sensation at the back of his neck. He looked up to find numerous spirit beasts staring at him curiously. “The fuck…?”

He reflexively got ready for a fight, aware of the possibility he’d lost his invincibility. After all, he wasn’t completely human now, being half-warbeast. But when he scanned the surrounding creatures with [Supreme Insight], he confirmed that none of them had hostile intentions. Rather, they were all interested in him.

‘Not in a romantic way, I hope. I'm not up for getting squirrel cock shoved up my ass. Or the other way around.’

Reivan stood up, causing most of the beasts to flinch.

There were a lot of them, made up of various animal species like birds and various types of rodents. After seemingly having had their fill of him though, most of the little critters made a run for it. The handful that remained, however, kept on hovering around him, curiously eyeing his every move.

“What’re you all doing…?” Reivan asked aloud, not really expecting an answer. He once again checked each of their Favor stats and saw that they were still interested.

A common quality about the few that remained, he noticed, was that they were all attributeless — which immediately disqualified them as a potential spirit bond in his eyes.

‘I'd prefer something that'll grant me a new element.’

He knew from Valter’s experience that forming a bond with a spirit beast allowed the human to obtain the beast’s elemental affinities. There was also the possibility that the human’s affinities were copied over to the spirit beast too, but he couldn’t confirm that yet. And in any case, that wasn't important to him on a personal level.

‘Fire, Earth, and Water would be nice… But what I really want is [Light].’

Reivan was strong enough on his own and he even had the sleepy Zouros to call for back-up, so from his perspective, it wasn’t imperative for him to have a strong spirit beast.

What he wanted was the elemental affinity they granted him.

If an attributeless, [Lightning], [Ice], or [Darkness] beast with 1000 Might was weighed against a 100 Might spirit beast with an affinity he didn't have, he would pick the latter without hesitation. They could be a literal plankton or a tiny earthworm for all he cared.

‘A strong one would be nice though.’

It could help him out in a pinch when he needed it, so strength wasn't unwelcome. But he decided to temper his expectations so he wouldn’t be too disappointed if he failed.

Obtaining a new elemental affinity was the highest priority in choosing a spirit bond, after all — this, he could not forget. It would all be over if he got blinded by the notion of bonding with a powerful beast that had the exact same affinities as he did.

“Light, light, light…” Reivan muttered as he scanned the area for any light element spirit beasts he may have missed, but couldn’t see anything with the element he was looking for.

Most of the spirit beasts in the area seemed to have either the [Earth] or [Wind] attributes.

‘Must be because I’m in a forest, huh?’

Reivan recalled his vast experience as both a reader and a gamer.

Barring special circumstances, fire types were usually in volcanoes or deserts, water types were in bodies of water, and wind types were usually in the sky. Naturally, wood or plant types would be found in a forest, but no such affinities existed, so he supposed [Wind] and [Earth] made the most sense.

‘Wait a minute… By that logic, where the hell do I find light types then? The church? The kingdom of heaven?? Or do I have to fly up to the sun or something?’

Reivan looked up and noticed that the world didn’t even have a sun. The sky just seemed to emit light of some kind as rainbow-colored clouds floated by.

“There goes that idea.” Reivan scratched his head and shooed away all the tiny critters around him. They scattered immediately even though the casual wave of his hand didn’t have any force on it. “Anyway… I guess I gotta move.”

Forming a contract with the [Wind] and [Earth] type spirit beasts in this area wouldn’t be bad for him, since Helen and Gwen were perfect examples of how devastating those elements could be in battle. But the creatures he saw so far were listed as species with "low potential" in the booklet, which made him a bit reluctant.

And he also really wanted one that had the [Light] attribute.

Reivan got up and bolted in a random direction, zigzagging through the trees and any creatures in his path.

In his short journey, some spirit beasts foolishly tried to attack him, but Reivan got rid of them with just a minor flick of qi. It was then that he discovered killing spirit beasts in this world actually killed them since this wasn’t the material world and said beasts didn’t have anchors.

The thought of massacring the spirit beasts in this world to cripple future generations of battlemages ran through his mind for a moment but he decided against it for now.

‘I might gain some kind of debuff.’

In some of the games he used to play, killing creatures you were supposed to befriend usually had some kind of drawback to discourage the player from doing so.

Like sending some overpowered monster to kill you or slapping you with a passive that increased the damage you received.

‘That wouldn’t be too bad considering how massive the effect on Arkhan would be, but…’

But if the drawback was being hated by the entire spirit beast race, that would be fatal for the continuity of his plans. It might even affect the spirit beast he gave Elsa since he planned to be together with her a lot — and even impregnate her eventually, after they got married.

If the spirit beast dipped because Elsa was cavorting with the demon who massacred countless spirit beasts, Reivan wasn't sure he could handle the guilt and regret that would follow.

‘Absolute vigilance. I'm not about to be caught lacking!’

Reivan was forced to halt his steps when he almost collided with a suspicious film of transparent energy forming a wall of some kind. He tried to examine it with [Supreme Insight], but that ended up being less helpful than a man’s nipple since a screen didn’t even pop up.

“The hell is this…?”

He ran down the wall and made a complete circuit around the area inside the barrier, discovering that said area was in the shape of a hexagon. It seemed that the mysterious barrier completely surrounded a portion of the forest.

‘Is there no way to get to the other side?’

Reivan could see more forest beyond the transparent film but was unsure if it was safe to pass through. After a bit of internal debate, he decided that it should be safe since neither the proctor nor the book mentioned being careful about some kind of barrier.

Plus, entrants were to stay in this world for 24 hours — the hexagonal area he was in was far too small to explore for that long.

‘Best to test the waters first, though.’

Logically, he knew that it was safe. But that didn’t mean Reivan was rash enough to charge through it like a hard-core barbarian roleplayer in an online D&D session.

“Sorry about this.” Reivan caught a nearby squirrel-type spirit beast and chucked it at the barrier, keeping his eyes peeled for what happened next.

The moment the distressed little critter made contact with the wall, the barrier surprisingly opened up a little to let it pass through safely.

Only, the view beyond wasn’t the forest Reivan saw, but rather, a swamp.

“Interesting...” Reivan’s brows raised as he grabbed yet another nearby spirit beast and once again flung it at the barrier. This time, instead of a swamp, Reivan saw a vast snowy landscape.

After sacrificing a few more innocent woodland creatures to his curiosity, Reivan discovered that the destination changed every time someone passed through. Multiple entities could go to the same place as long as they crossed the border at roughly the same time and at the same general spot though.

‘That means any systematic approach to exploring this world is impossible. Mapping it out would be a pointless endeavor too.’

Reivan picked up a pebble and threw it at the barrier, discovering that it passed right through, hitting a tree on the other side instead of being portalled to another part of the world. Afterward, he tied a rock to other woodland creatures and discovered that objects could be taken along by living things.

‘This place is weird as hell.’

After gaining a sufficient understanding of how the barrier worked, Reivan finally felt safe enough to step through, finding himself in a craggy region with numerous spike-like mountains jutting out of the ground to caress the storm clouds in the sky. The crackling of thunder was a constant companion to the relentless downpour of rain.

“Ugh…” Reivan immediately found himself soaked to the bone, wanting to immediately turn around and try his luck in another area. But it seemed like a waste to leave when he was already wet.

‘Eh… I can just dry myself off later. Guess I’ll look around for a bit…’

Reivan easily made his way up a particularly tall mountain, aiming for an unhindered view of the surroundings. But there were so many damned mountains that he couldn’t really see much even when he was in the tallest one.

It wasn’t a complete waste though, since he discovered that the prevalent element in this area was [Lightning]. Getting hit by a bolt of the stuff three times made it easy to find out.

Strangely enough, it seemed the spirit beasts in the area liked him much more than the ones without attributes did.

Reivan curiously eyed a few glowing bees gently zapping him with bolts of electricity from their stings. Since they seemed somewhat friendly, he decided to respond by releasing a few sparks from the edge of his fingers, keeping it weak enough not to go through their innate resistance.

A few more critters of various shapes and sizes showed up to “play” by trying to electrocute him, and they seemed excited every time he returned their greeting with a burst of electricity. All of them, including Reivan, had the [Lightning] attribute, so nobody was really harmed despite all the current being thrown around. Reivan held back too since he didn't want to accidentally kill non-hostile spirit beasts.

“Hey, you guys,” Reivan called out, taking a chance. “Do any of you want to form a permanent contract with me? I’ll give you lots of food and stuff.”

He had his own plans with the contract orb, but if he could get a free spirit bond without using it, then that would be amazing.

‘Wait a minute, wouldn’t it be sick if all these lightning spirit beasts form contracts with me? I could come back out with, like, a hundred contracts.’

The “Extra Skills” portion of his status page would be a complete mess, but it would be somewhat worth it if he had an army of spirit beasts at his beck and call.

Reivan really liked the idea of being some kind of overpowered summoner-slash-warrior. With an expectant gaze, he scanned the surrounding spirit beasts for their reactions.

Unfortunately, none of them seemed to understand what he just said.

‘Yeah… I don’t know what I expected when I tried talking to them.’

A battlemage and their spirit beast could understand each other because of their bond, but humans and spiritual creatures absolutely did not speak the same language. Freed was a bit of an exception given how much time it spent with Valter and his many family members, but exceptions were never the norm, so it was general knowledge that communication with a non-contracted spirit beast was a herculean task that may never bear fruit.

Hence, these critters had no idea what he was on about.

‘Damnit. I'm not giving up yet though! Let's see...’

Reivan used large gestures to try to make the creatures around him understand, but they just happily circled around him, seemingly testing just how much voltage he could resist. He managed to make them understand what "zap" meant though, since they shot lightning at him in unison whenever he said it.

But the contract was another matter.

“This isn’t working.”

According to what Valter said, Freed was the one who initiated the contract. As for why, it was apparently because Freed liked Valter’s aura a lot.

Obviously, Reivan didn’t quite understand what that meant. But from the look of things, it seemed the lightning spirit beasts around him liked him too. So he couldn’t quite understand why he wasn’t getting swarmed with requests. He hoped it wasn't because of some silly reason like not being a virgin, because he was very sure that most battlemages already lost those before they entered the Tower.

‘I guess… they like me, but they don’t like me that much.’

There must have been some kind of threshold he wasn’t aware of. And he just so happened to be below that.

Reivan wasn’t ready to give up though, so he played with the various beasts, betting on the chance that his actions might raise some kind of affection meter. But even after enduring three hours in the pouring rain, he achieved nothing — other than increasing the number of beasts hovering around him.

“I've wasted enough time here. I’m going now…”

The thought of capturing one of the nearby creatures to act as Clover Salwyn’s spirit beast crossed his mind, but he decided to wait until after he actually had multiple orbs. With how random traveling in this world was, finding other people would be difficult. If his luck was bad, he might not even meet anyone at all.

Reivan transformed into a bolt of lightning that shot through the sky, immediately passing through the barrier — which he decided to call a “Hexa Border”.

With any hope, he would find at least one of the things he was looking for there.