Glimpse of Eternity [A Reincarnation Isekai Fantasy]

Reivan still couldn't believe it, but what could he do other than accept the fact and move on?

That’s why he stopped thinking about it and moved on.

Especially since he could now feel a connection between himself and the blob — that certainly helped cement the fact in his head. Said connection was similar to the one he shared with Zouros, though not the same.

He couldn’t tell what exactly the difference was, but if he was forced to put it into words, his bond with Zouros was more... intimate. More binding and a lot stronger too. Like a wide steel bridge designed by history’s greatest engineers and built with an unlimited budget.

On the other hand, the connection with his new companion was a sturdy stone bridge. It was dependable and probably wouldn’t give out under ordinary strain, but it didn’t provide the same sense of security as the monumental structure that linked him and the giant serpent inside him.

Both connections felt pretty strong though, so in the grand scheme of things, perhaps it didn't really matter.

“Wee! Wee! Wee!” The blob was pelting him with feelings of happiness while it hopped back to the pile of chicken it had ignored. It then hungrily lassoed one into its mouth using a long red tongue.

The ensuing sounds produced by meat and bone being ground certainly didn’t seem like something to come out of such a cute little creature.

"Bon' apetit, I guess..." Reivan chuckled as he sat back down, struggling with the problem of deciding a name.

'Goddamnit. I fucking hate naming things... especially when they happen to be alive too.'

Naming his dogs was relatively easy since there were hundreds of dog names available on the internet. It was impossible to pick a bad name as long as you weren’t too creative.

But a book of names for mysterious furry blobs with beady little red eyes did not exist in this world, as far as he was aware.

'If I get pissed off, I'll name you Rimuru or something. Fuck it. Maybe I’ll just name you Wee since that’s the sound you make.'

After a bit of contemplation, he decided against it, instead opting for a similar naming scheme as Valter.

'Since our meeting was kind of like fate, then...'

"Serendipity," Reivan announced. "Your true name's Serendipity from now on... I'd nickname you Seren, but that's the name of Valter's wife, so we'll go with Dippy instead."

“Wee!” Dippy didn't seem to care much about its new name, still occupied with the most delicious meal it's ever had in its short life.

Even though the creature itself didn’t care, that could not be said about their bond. Because barely a heartbeat later, a stream of notifications flooded his vision.

 

 

 

 

 

Reivan curiously glanced at the newly named blob, activating [Supreme Insight] to reveal its information.

 

'Well, look at you. Feeling protective of me.'

Reivan whistled as he stroked the little thing's fur. He noted how its physical capabilities increased tremendously, and how there was no information of the same thing happening to anyone else. But then again, he was trying to infiltrate the tower precisely because they had little information about its inner workings.

'I guess that's part of how battlemages can raise their own physical capabilities... But that doesn't change the fact that some veteran battlemages with decently strong spirit beasts are still fragile enough to die from a bullet... Perhaps even the Tower isn't so clear on the requirements?'

It was worth bringing the information back home. Though he didn't know how Aizen could take advantage of it, surely, people smarter than him would think of something. Other people may also figure out the answer to the questions he couldn't answer.

'As for what the Tower has to say about my bond with Dippy... Since this is a natural contract, not one formed through the orb, I can just say that it liked me and asked for a contract on its own.'

That was the truth, so he wouldn't even be lying. Ironically though, he was more believable when he was lying, so he would have to fabricate parts of the story to make it a lie.

‘A spirit beast with more than 200 Might, huh…’

It would attract unwanted attention and scrutiny, but he hoped it wouldn't be too much. Dippy wasn't that strong, after all. Though, it was now much too strong for a first-year battlemage with zero training in military-grade spells to handle. And — though he meant no malice in thinking so — Dippy didn’t give off the impression that it was smart or prideful. Most people would probably believe him if he just said it wanted to tag along with him for free food.

Hopefully, that combination would be enough to avoid being placed under constant watch.

Reivan took a peek at his own status page and confirmed that his contract with Dippy showed up as a new addition to his extra skills. He then picked the little blob up and carried it under his arm.

“Anyway, we can’t stick around here for too long, boy. I’ve got stuff to do. And I think I've wasted enough time failing already.”

“Wee?”

With a disappointed look in its eyes, Dippy tucked its tongue back into its mouth as the slit closed once again. Anyone seeing the blob for the first time wouldn't think it had a mouth at all.

Despite that, Reivan still felt as if he could see a pout. Chuckling, he stroked the top of its head and tried to placate it. “Don’t worry, I can keep the food for later. And you can eat even more, too.”

“Wee!” it cried happily, easily agreeing with his plan.

Reivan smiled and bolted for the nearest Area Border, instantly being transported to a new area together with his newest buddy.

 

---

 

“Man, my luck is dog shit, today.” Reivan sent a punch of frustration to his right, shattering a nearby boulder to pieces despite not making contact.

He and Dippy had spent the past few hours running around, yet they didn’t meet a single strong spirit beast to give to Elsa — which was his top priority now since Dippy ensured he wouldn’t get expelled from the tower for not having a spirit beast.

Meetings with other tower entrants were nonexistent too. It was to the point that Reivan started to think that he may be the only human in the sanctuary. Or if there was some hidden rule that prevented two humans from being in the same hexagon at the same time.

'No... the Tower wouldn't warn against trying to take each other's orbs if that was true. So that means I've really just been unlucky. SHIT.'

The latter problem wasn’t much of a big deal for him since not obtaining another orb wasn't fine, but was, at least, serviceable. But what stressed him out the most was his inability to find a suitable spirit beast to give to Elsa.

Her longevity was on the line here, after all. His strength, on the other hand, was something he knew would increase over time through his own efforts — that was why finding ways to increase it here was low on his list of priorities.

‘Fuck… FUCK! Where the hell are all the strong ones! Come out, you pussies!’

It pissed him off when the one time he actually wished for the dangerous stuff to come out, he couldn’t find them at all. But just a few days ago, he was trekking through a forest hoping to avoid any trouble, only to meet someone on the verge of becoming the Sentorale Continent’s seventh Transcendent.

‘It’s like… It’s like I have a greed sensor on my random encounters or something. Damn, did I piss in the wrong place and anger the malevolent god of probabilities? I only pee in bathrooms though!’

“Wee...?” Dippy sensed his frustration and sent out feelings of consolation even though it didn’t really understand what he was so mad about.

“...I’m okay, boy. Thanks.” Reivan gave the blob on his shoulder a gentle pat before taking a few deep breaths. It was disgraceful to let his emotions get the better of him even for a moment. Getting worked up wasn’t helping him at all, and it never would, so he needed to refocus and actually start trying to come up with a solution.

Luck wasn’t a factor he could control. But the decision to give up belonged to him and nobody else.

‘Right. Guess I’ll just speed through and hope for the best!’

His new plan was to make a mad dash for the other side of an area the moment he entered it, keeping his senses peeled. If he didn’t sense anything along the way, he would keep going straight and head to the next area.

There was a very real possibility he might miss exactly what he was looking for, but he could scan at least sixty percent of an area just by going through the middle. It would have to be enough since spending so much time in one place when he was unsure of the reward wasn’t a good gamble to take. Especially when his luck was already so bad to begin with.

‘Yep. Seems like an okay plan. Let’s roll with it.’

“We’re going faster, Dippy. Hold on tight… Scratch that, I’ll hold you. Just chill.“ Reivan tightened his hold on his soft spherical friend and ran through the area as fast as he could.

Desperately — as if his own life depended on it.

 

---

 

Suddenly, the White King raised its mighty head and inhaled the chilling air.

A new presence barged into the area he was in, and strangely enough, it seemed quite adept at hiding its existence. Despite his powerful senses, he couldn't quite tell what the intruder was or how strong it was.

This, in turn, told him that the intruder was a creature of the night. Only they could hide so well after all.

Unfortunately for the intruder, despite his white fur, the White King was of similar origins.

Lowering his gaze, the White King closed his eyes and focused, trying to see if there were other intruders in other directions. The first one seemed far too courageous, so it was normal for him to suspect it to have come with a large group.

Yet, there was nothing, just as he'd expected.

The weaklings that were in this area before he arrived had already fled the moment he appeared, giving him ample time to toy with another human he found within its confines. Winter followed wherever he went, turning the once luscious forest into a frozen wasteland much like the place he was born in. Using the frigid temperature, he tried to see how long a human could survive without any fur in their body.

The answer was not very long at all.

After giving the frozen form of what was once a living human a glance, the White King languidly knocked it over and crushed it with its right paw. The tiny glacier crumbled into countless pieces, and one could not even tell what it once.

Just as he was about to leave and challenge the incoming intruder, the White King's eyes were suddenly pulled to a strange object that fell out of the ice. It looked like a berry, only shinier. And harder too, as evidenced by how it wasn't crushed after all the punishment it went through.

It always intrigued him how humans left something behind when they died.

No other creature could do that, as far as the White King knew. Every living creature he had ever known vanished into nothingness once their life ended — only humans were different.

All the other foreign vermin had these shiny berries, and the White King knew that the humans used them to force other lesser creatures into forced servitude. That was why the shiny berries disgusted him. Yet, the White King had no way to destroy it even when he wanted to.

And so, he decided to collect them as trophies.

A way to show those humans how many of their kind he had slain — a way to show them that they weren't invincible, that this wasn't their world, and that they could not just do whatever they pleased in it.

The Winter King placed its paw over his newest trophy and a moment later, it was sucked into the "spatial storage artifact" he had taken from the first human he slew. He had seen the humans use these plenty of times over the years as well, and found that he could use it too. Unfortunately, it could not be worn anywhere on his body, so he merely hid it under its tongue.

Once that was done, the White King once again turned his attention to the intruder. Surprisingly, the creature hadn't fled even after he flared his aura to warn it away. Though he didn't have the habit of hunting weaklings other than humans, he couldn't very well allow the intruder's transgression. Even if it was just temporary, this place was his territory now and nobody was allowed to stay for too long.

It was a matter of pride.

Anger and indignance bled into its aura and spread outwards, more intensely than ever before. And yet, the presence still didn’t go back the way they came. Rather, it drew closer, as if heading straight for him.

It was close enough that the White King could sense it more vividly, realizing that whatever the creature was, there were actually two of them. He hadn’t noticed the other one because its presence was eclipsed by the first one.

That was when the Winter King noticed it — a feeling bubbling up inside him. The feeling of danger he’d forgotten because of how long ago he last felt it.

A worthy opponent had shown up.

Undoubtedly, the strongest opponent he had ever encountered.

'Finally.'

After all these years, prey that would provide a challenge finally appeared. In fact, it seemed eager to come to him itself — to challenge him.

The White King didn't hate its bravery.

Now, he no longer cared about the humans it planned to search for today, nor did it care about how similar to humans the mysterious challenger was.

Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t human.

Which meant he could fight it.

Which meant he could hunt it.

Which meant he could die to it.

As it should be.

The Winter King wasted no time in heading for higher ground, intent on gaining the initiative for the greatest battle of his life. Even if he were to fall, he would not make it easy for his opponent.

 

---

 

There was a saying that fortune was a goddess that favored the brave, because only by venturing forward could you give her an opportunity to aid you.

And it seemed there was some truth to that, because after rushing through dozens of areas, Reivan finally ran into something noticeably powerful.

‘Gotcha bitch! Your ass is mine now!’

Reivan’s internal clock told him that he still had about two hours before he had to start worrying about getting pulled out of the special world. Still, every second mattered.

And if the powerful presence ended up not being powerful enough, he would have to return to his search in tears. He highly doubted it though.

“I think it’s going to be a bit dangerous for you to be here, boy.” Reivan threw a glance at the blob on his shoulder. “Maybe you should wait for me here. I’ll try to be quick.”

“Wee… Wee!” Dippy seemed worried, but seemed unwilling to let him go off on his own. It warned him about what lay ahead.

Apparently, spirit beasts had some sort of innate sense for strong spirit beasts. And Dippy’s senses were ringing countless alarm bells throughout its entire squishy body.

"Don't worry, boy. I'm pretty good myself. Thanks for the warning though." Reivan then left Dippy on the ground before rushing deeper into the area, his attention fully locked in on the presence. He wasn’t about to let it escape, unwilling to let his good fortune slip through his grasp.

Fortunately, whatever the spirit beast was didn’t seem keen on escaping.

‘It’s moving to higher ground…’

Reivan’s surroundings seemed like a forest suddenly thrown into the harshest blizzard known to man, but there was also a tall mountain in the distance. That was surely where the monster waited for him, intent on studying him before the fight began.

‘Joke’s on you, my eyes are better than yours.’

Squinting as he charged forward, Reivan managed to see his adversary, unconsciously left breathless by its majestic beauty.

‘It’s… a wolf.’

A white wolf the size of a bear, to be exact.

Its body was covered in gorgeous fur the color of fresh virgin snow, accentuated by a pair of jewel-like golden eyes that barely concealed the beast’s savage ferocity underneath a layer of noble intelligence. Three horns adorned its head, resembling golden blades, with the central horn slightly longer to form a magnificent crown. Streaks of icy blue lightning flickered in and out of existence across its body, adding to its otherworldly presence as it looked down at Reivan from its high perch.

Everything about it announced that it was an apex predator — something that hunted instead of being hunted.

‘It’s… It’s beautiful.’

The wolf that seemed like it came out of some folk legend was the most beautiful creature Reivan had ever seen. Words like majestic and sublime were practically made to describe it and Reivan's heart started beating rapidly in anticipation of a fight.

Of course, its beauty was different from what his mother, Stella, Helen, or Elsamina had. Rather than the type of beauty that induced admiration or lust, it was a beauty that made him want to conquer it.

To make it his own.

A conflict arose within him. Even if he caught this majestic beast, he would have to give it over to Elsa to extend her life. Which he would surely do without hesitation, but the intense desire to have it for himself was hard to ignore.

‘I’ll… I’ll think about it later. After I’ve caught it. Can't count my chickens before they hatch and all that... Damn, it's fucking beautiful though. Wow... What a beast.’

The majestic creature had surely seen him as well and was studying him as much as it could, but it surely didn’t know that Reivan was the best when it came to studying enemies with one glance.

‘Let’s see what we’re working on here.’

With mild excitement, Reivan used [Supreme Insight].

 

Reivan’s jaw slackened at what he saw. The beast having three special abilities and two thousand Might was one thing, but it had pretty much every affinity Reivan had.

Meaning they were both resistant to each other’s elemental attacks.

‘So it’s going to be a melee fight, then.’

If so, then he had a big advantage.

Reivan’s Might still hadn’t reached quadruple digits yet, but it was close. So activating his [Beast Gate], a racial skill that doubled his base physical capabilities, would bring him very close to the beast’s stats.

Both of them had Qi and perfect mana augmentation, but Reivan had the additional boon of Armament Energy granted by his Soul Armament. It was an advantage that all knights had over the rest of the world, allowing them to dominate battlefields with impunity.

And finally, depending on what [Intent] transformed into, he could get an additional fifty to a hundred percent of his base Might.

This meant that in full regalia, Reivan actually came out on top by a lot — and he had the incredibly sturdy armor his soul armament provided too. It was a good thing that the beast seemed yet to max out its [Malevolence] stacks, having practically no stacks at all. Otherwise, Reivan would have had to deal with a monster that had +1000 Might.

The problem here was he couldn’t kill the beast, but the beast seemed keen on killing him.

‘It’s a bit up in the air since I can’t go too far, but… Well, let’s take a look at the guy’s special abilities first.’

Reivan first brought up the skill that had something to do with spirit kings — a term he’d only ever heard in literature and anime.

 

 

‘Well, this seems promising. All I have to do to have him Ascend is have him beat other spirit beasts with the same ability, huh? Neat. Sign me up.’

For Reivan, the beast was already his, so this growth-based ability was good news for him. It was also great how it was already a third of the way to completion too.

Next, he examined the insight-type ability.

 

 

Reivan immediately realized that he was probably marked with this ability despite not receiving a notification for it. He didn’t know how deep “understanding his intentions” went, but it seemed any long-arching tactics or traps were disqualified in the upcoming fight.

This ability alone forced opponents to play the fight by ear and improvise on the fly if they wanted to avoid getting outmaneuvered.

‘Temporary retreats are also out. It’d give the beast free access to my back.’

The crippling reduction to damage received from sources other than the marked target also meant that asking Zouros for help wouldn’t amount to much, though it was still a card he could play.

‘Man, this isn’t looking good and I’m only halfway through…’

Hopefully, [Frost Domination] wouldn’t be too hard to deal with.

 

 

‘Balls.’

Reivan reread it just to be certain, but sure enough, he couldn’t miss the “unconditional” part of the ability’s effect. Nor could he ignore the part where it meant that his [Ice] affinity — both its usage and the resistance it offered — was completely and utterly worthless against the beast.

‘Okay. So… I can’t retreat temporarily or run away. I can’t use ice elemental techniques. I can’t resist ice elementalism like I usually do. Offensive lightning techniques probably won’t do much because this guy has [Lightning] affinity and [Elemental Resistance]. The same can be said for [Darkness] too. I can’t stop the weather bullshit from happening or change it back. AND it can use its resources more efficiently than me.’

To add even more to that, Reivan’s weeb knowledge told him that the “α” in the beast’s name meant alpha. And that probably meant the thing had a pack. Hell, the extra skill he hadn’t taken a look at yet probably had something to do with that.

Meaning he was also outnumbered in addition to everything else.

Despite realizing how disadvantaged he was, Reivan remained steadfast, convinced of his ability to defeat anything in the mortal realm. Pointless bravado and pride were beaten out of knight cadets early on since Aizen knew those two aspects got a lot of people killed for very pointless reasons — and Reivan had none of that either.

What he had was faith in himself and trust in the skills he'd built up.

'Now, let's take a look at that other extra skill...'

Suddenly, a loud and cranium-shaking howl echoed throughout the skies, as if announcing that he wasn’t even allowed to think.

Reivan looked up just in time to see thick bolts of lightning gather in the wolf’s horns before shooting up to the sky.

A moment later, a gigantic thunderbolt that would have turned most people into charcoal struck down on his head, too fast for him to evade.

“Urgh...!” Reivan groaned, feeling his muscles tense in shock for a moment before he shook it off and tried to steady himself.

Being resistant to an element didn’t mean he was invulnerable. Though drastically reduced, he still received some damage from such a big attack. The [Lightning] element was also especially good at penetrating physical defenses too.

But since he didn't die, Reivan started healing immediately, restoring what damage was inflicted on him.

‘Good thing it opened up with [Lightning] instead of [Ice]. Must've used a good bit of energy on that preemptive attack.’

The advantage of possessing more information shined in this instant, because Reivan knew what not to use against his opponent. While his opponent couldn’t possibly imagine that he had so many similar affinities.

‘It probably noticed that I took very little damage from that lightning attack, so it’ll switch to other elements.’

There was no use in hiding his affinity with lightning anymore, and his only advantage was physical strength, so Reivan focused his mind and transformed into a bolt of lightning that shot straight for the wolf. In just a second, the vast distance between them disappeared.

Surprised only for a fraction of a second, the majestic wolf, unaware that it was disadvantaged in close combat, bared its fangs and flexed its claws in preparation, three furry tails flaring up behind it.

‘Wait, w-what? Three tails? Why are there three...?’

Reivan hadn’t seen those earlier. Or rather, he was pretty sure there was only one of them. His memory and eyesight were both good so he surely wasn't mistaken.

Still, there were three tails attached to the wolf's ass and there was nothing he could do about it.

Too late to back out or think about why there were suddenly three tails, Reivan rematerialized in full armor just before his lightning form collided with the wolf, strength rapidly filling his body as he forced it out of his soul faster. His mace swept sideways like a reaper's scythe, aiming to disable the majestic beast's front leg.

The ghostwolf's eyes widened, probably surprised at the sheer force it could sense behind his attack. It hastily shut its mouth and evaded Reivan by transforming into a frigid mist for a fraction of a second, before reappearing behind him and lunging for his throat.

'Hey! That's not fair! I mean, I have a move like that too, but still...!'

Reivan cursed before summoning a shield and bracing for impact, only to blanch when the wolf stopped its lunge mid-jump, sweeping sideways with its tail.

Caught unprepared, Reivan had no choice but to use << Lightning Transformation >> once again, creating some distance between them and replacing his shield with a great bow as long as he was tall. His hands worked quickly, shooting three arrows in quick succession.

Two of the arrows shattered into countless tiny motes of ice on its way while the last one was caught between the wolf’s teeth. It crushed the steel arrow without difficulty, beginning to circle Reivan with its golden eyes glaring into his own.

‘Hah. Think you can take me, beast?’

The beast didn't growl, snarl, or look angry in any way. Perhaps he was overthinking it, but the way the wolf looked at him gave him the impression of someone calmly inspecting a scrumptious piece of steak.

He would know, since that was what he and his mother looked like sometimes.

‘I'll show you.’

With a roar, Reivan charged forward with his sword raised.

'You're biting off more than you can chew!'