Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

Adam continued to fall through the endless expanse of darkness.

After the conversation with his fractured self, he had a lot on his mind. There was lot he wanted to think about, specifically regarding the white lotus and its effects on his fate.

There were so many questions, yet no answers.

If the Eternal Soul Lotus truly altered the flow of fate around Adam, that could explain many things he had endured—and gained—in his life. It would account for both the relentless misfortunes he had encountered, as well as the rare lucky blessings that had followed.

Just in this past year, during the Battle of Ravenfell, he had fallen through the spirit world and landed on a floating snowy island. There, he was unfortunate enough to face not only a Mana Core-level cultist, but also a spirit world creature of similar strength.

Soon after, he confronted the formless fog, an entity at the Mana Seed Rank. After overcoming those life-endangering trials, he was finally blessed with fortune when he acquired the divine relic left behind by the Laughing God.

And even after Ravenfell, when Balthazar's black flames and the fatal fall should have claimed his life, fate smiled on him again when Tebu found him, and against all odds, he managed to survive.

Although Tebu's intervention could be attributed to the Will of the World, that too might have only come about because the white lotus altered Adam's fate.

There were many such instances that Adam could think of where he stood on the brink of death. Yet, against all odds, he always found a way to survive, seizing whatever chances or means that lay at hand.

And time and again, when the dust settled, fortune would smile upon him, leaving him not only alive but triumphant.

Perhaps every misfortune Adam had endured was a test set by the white lotus, and each time he survived, the lotus rewarded him in return.

"Of course," he muttered under his breath as he continued to fall through the darkness. "Why didn't I think of this before?"

From his very first trial, where he was attacked by the wolf pack on his way to Clover Academy, to his most recent ordeal against the indestructible steel golem, his life had been nothing but a relentless series of gruesome tests.

And each time he survived, he emerged stronger.

"Except this time, I'm crazier than ever," he scoffed.

In the darkness, faint silhouettes emerged all around him. They appeared long and serpentine, swaying gently.

Adam finally noticed them, and he couldn't help but frown. "What the hell are those? Snakes?"

They appeared to be snake-like, but he wasn't sure if they were really snakes. Although he wouldn't be surprised if serpents appeared in his dreams, considering the relationship he shared with those mysterious creatures.

"…But what kind of dream is this?" He murmured as he looked around. "I've never been so lucid in a dream before."

In fact, after becoming a Magus, he rarely had dreams.

Dreams were a rare phenomenon for Magi, but when they came, they were seldom meaningless. Often, they showed glimpses of the unseen currents of fate, fragments of truth carried from beyond time.

Some dreams showed glimpses of what was to come, concealed in symbols and riddles. While other dreams warned of calamities waiting just beyond the horizon.

Magi who were most susceptible to such dreams were those who majored in the School of Divination. For them, dreams often blurred with foresight, showing fragments of events yet to unfold.

All Diviners agreed that when a Magus had vivid dreams, it was never meant to be taken lightly.

Adam had majored in the School of Summoning, and had only dabbled lightly in the magic from the School of Divination. Still, considering the white lotus's deep ties to the spiritual aspect of magic, he had no doubt that this dream was serious.

When Adam realized this, his expression turned utterly grim, and he started to pay more attention to his surroundings.

"This better be some good news, I've suffered way too—"

But in that moment, the darkness around him stirred.

And in the next instance, several things happened. And they all happened all at once!

The faint serpentine silhouettes in the dark backdrop suddenly came to life. They weren't snakes or anything related to them. In reality, they were thick tendrils that seemed to stretch on till infinity.

Then, one by one, countless eyes opened along the surface of the dark tendrils. White sclera, black iris, and bottomless pupils. Countless eyelids blinked in eerie unison before fixing on Adam, their cold, detached stares following him as he fell.

Adam's blood turned cold, and a fear unlike anything he'd ever felt before gripped him. Those eyes, those tendrils, those things… whatever they were, they did not belong to this world. They were not meant to exist in this world.

The countless eyes blinked in unison once more. Then, slowly, these lids began to twist and distort. It was as though reality itself was squirming. Symbols and meanings beyond comprehension pressed into Adam's mind, too vast for him to comprehend.

Before long, the eyes warped further, reshaping into glowing, arched gateways. There were countless gateways stretched across the dark tendrils that sprawled into infinity.

By chance, Adam's gaze locked on one gateway, and within it, he saw layers upon layers of gateways, spiraling endlessly into themselves. His mind buckled under the sheer intensity, plunging into sensory overload.

In the next moment, the infinite arched gateways began to vanish, as though reality itself was concealing them. The countless dark tendrils fused together, forming a single colossal tendril of unfathomable size. In front of it, Adam was tinier than the tiniest speck of dust.

Then, the massive tendril transformed, its color turning from dark to gray. Then came the sound of waves crashing, and before Adam realized it, the tendril had become a river.

But this was no ordinary river. It was strange and shrouded in mysteries. Its source was where Adam stood, and its current flowed backward… into the past!

Before his gaze could follow the currents of the river, the world around him changed, and his eyes snapped open.

Adam woke up, gasping for air. His body was drenched in sweat, and his heart was pounding wildly.

"Wh-what was that?!" He blurted out.

The next moment, the whispers of the Faceless Mask flooded his mind. The Laughing God whispered, and Adam listened.

"Ugh!" He covered his ears, grimacing in agony.

It was eerily quiet in the dream where the maddening whispers didn't affect him. But all of a sudden, they flooded his mind, overwhelming him.

Before he even had a chance to extend his Sphere of Resonance to scan his surroundings, someone called out to him, and it wasn't the strangely familiar voice of his fractured self.

An unfamiliar voice echoed in his ears, causing him to tremble in horror:

"You're awake…"