—Clap

The extravagant chandelier hanging from the ceiling lit up, brightening the moonlight room. 

'That dress she's wearing, if I'm right...'

Rose's eyes scanned the beautiful young woman who had entered the room, her long hazel hair cascading over her shoulders. 

The lights switched on, brightening the dark room 

'I hope I'm wrong.'

Rose's glance met the woman's, however she was met with a strange reaction, one of puzzlement. 

"Princess, why have you... dyed your hair black?!"

The young woman grasped her mouth in shock, pointing at Rose. 

'I see, no wonder her clothes felt familiar, I know where I am.'

"It's not what you think it is, Wyge." 

Wyge... 

Some might wonder how she was familiar with the name, but the reason was quite simple. 

"What do you mean, milady? What else could it means?" 

The woman's lips trembled while speaking, showcasing her turmoil. 

'Ha... I was right, this is Duke's Liebling.'

The familiar setting she had always seen through the colourful display of her mobile phone. 

'But why is my hair black... if Wyge is calling me Princess, then this body must belong to Daniela, however her hair was deep blonde.'

"Milady, is there a reason?" 

Wyge pressed forward once again, restless to know her answer. 

'I don't have an answer for her, what should I do?'

Rose turned away from Wyge, facing the large glass window. 

'What do I tell he—'

—Thump 

The loud sound of something hitting the floor echoed behind Rose. 

Holding steady, she turned to see Wyge laying flat on the floor. 

"Ah! Well that's to be expected."

_________________________

"What the fuck is going on with my body?"

Finn continued staring down at the reflection of himself in the clear ripple free water. 

The situation was the strangest for Finn. 

Moments ago, he had experienced death only for him to wake up later and find out he looked like his young self. 

"... is this some illusory art that's making me see this?"

He flicked the water, sending ripples across the peaceful surface. 

Leaning back onto the grassy field, Finn rested his head on the ground. 

The slight scent of the green prickly grass remained around him. 

"This isn't an illusory art, is it?" 

When the situation finally dawned, the inescapable feeling of unease and the sensation of nausea gripped his mind, while the memories of death thrummed his head. 

"I... wanted to die, why am I back here again."

His finger tightened around the grass, plucking out a few of it. 

"I've returned to past, haven't I?" 

The only possible explanation he could come up with, but Finn was not fully convinced as the doubt lingered around. 

"Tch... I can't remember anything clearly, it's all fragmented." 

He brought up his hand, running a finger over his forehead slightly. 

"Ha... this is the scar i had recieved when I was coming back from the academy."

His finger stopped over a small cut mark at the left side of his forehead. 

"I'm back to being sixteen, makes sense... that's why I can't feel my cultivation."

The slight smell of the green grass and the wet dirt infiltrated his nose

"Maybe it's a second chance presented before me by the heavens."

The sudden joy quickly died out, another thought coming over to his head. 

"No... no, that's can't be. I haven't done anything great to receive such good karma, what if this is being done by something much more evil than..."

The next words he had wanted to speak never came forward, instead he had forgotten what he was about to speak off. 

"... what?"

But instead of lingering around the strangeness he couldn't understand, Finn decided to look ahead for himself. 

"Eah!" 

He got up stretching his body, the sound of cracking reverberating all over his stuff body. 

"Ouch!" 

Finn jerked at the sudden pain, his eyes falling over to his skinny hands. 

"I really am inadequate compared to other kids my age." 

A small wilted expression appeared over his visage while he looked through his future memories that he had just recieved. 

Looking through the various events in his life, Finn noticed how much of his life had been wasted away just because of his weakness. 

"Hm..."

For a second he fell into deep thought. 

The wave of memories had shook him, opening his mind to the various atrocities he had seen as an adult. 

Even if he had recieved the memories of his adult self, the boy was still... 

"I..."

...a child at heart. 

But Finn did not fret in the face of such challenges. 

"... in my past my life was complete hell, however I will not let that happen again."

_________________________

"This isn't right!" 

Rose looked down at Wyge who had fallen unconscious on the floor. 

"Tch! What do I even do in this situation?" 

She walked up to the unconscious Wyge and kneeled down to her. 

Throwing a hand over her shoulder while using the other hand to lift her body, she managed to lift her off the ground. 

"How can the genius mage of the centu... Ahh, she's heavy!"

Rose huffed slightly making herself over to the extravagantly large bed. 

"The genius of the century fainted from a little shock..."

She strained under her weight, but still got her over to the bed and softly dropped her onto the soft mattress. 

—Thump

"Phew." 

She wiped her forehead, walking off towards the window. 

"For how I could feel everything, this is not a dream." 

She pinched her forearm, trying to confirm if it was just a simple dream or the reality. 

"If that's the case I have really possessed the body of the female lead from Duke's Liebling." 

"At first I was unsure, but after seeing Wyge, and the problems surrounding hair colour, I'm sure this is the body of Daniela Von Marcellonius."

Daniela Von Marcellonius, the second Princess of the Aurumae continent and one of holders of the hereditary blessing, The Aureate Kiss.

"But seeing as how I don't have her blonde hair, the reason is either because the original Daniela dyed it black," she took a strand of her hair, looking at it, "or because I crossed over to her body, the blessing itself could have left."

Her eyes darted over to Wyge for a moment before returning to the sight beyond the windows. 

—Thwap!

The two large windows slammed into the walls slowly as Rose pushed it open. 

The harsh cold wind that crashed into her face felt oddly reassuring from her inner turmoil. 

"This isn't even funny."

Leaning on the window frame, she rested her head at the bottom on top her hand. 

...

—Howl

After a long moment of pause, a simple idea popped up as her face brightened. 

"Haven't tried something I usually see in these scenarios, I'm not sure if it works... but let's see."

She took in a deep breath, getting up from her resting position. 

"Status window!" 

—Howl 

The silence taken over by the continuous whistling of the wind continued to linger for the moment. 

"Status info?" 

...

"Character window...?"

...

"Ahhhh! I'm going to lose my mind!"

The small smile had faded, replaced by an awry expression. 

"Character Info." 

She muttered under her breath once more, but this time her voice lacked any real conviction. 

—Whir!

Sparks flared before her, forming a rectangular shape emited blue light. 

Her eyes lit up from the unexpected result. 

"Finally! A sys..."

As the words formed on the rectangular hologram before her, the lights on her eyes went off once more.  

"What have I done to receive such bad luck?" 

Her voice had grown coarse from disappointment as mock tears flowed down her cheeks. 

_________________________

'Three breaths and a single deep intake, repay the process for five turns...'

—Huff Huff Huff

Finn took three deep breaths, with his open mouth. 

—Puff 

He let out one single large breath. 

Sitting down cross-legged on the grassy ground, Finn continued the formatted breathing. 

Each breath he took was formulated and calculated, while the air around him turned chilly. 

'From the memories, I noticed the specific method I had used to form a core. While the technique itself was an advance one, I simple did not possess the skills required to manipulate the flow accordingly.'

He continued with the breathing even while he was thinking, almost as if he had made the breathing natural. 

'The end result was a broken core marred by cracks and unstable energy leaks, but now that I have knowledge of mana flow, such a task shouldn't be difficult anymore.'

—Huff Huff Huff 

—Huff!

Breaking the earlier rhythm, Finn took a single large gasp of breath. 

'By using a normal breathing method, I stabilized the mana intake from the surroundings. But since there isn't much mana around me, I had to repeat the process multiple times.'

—Puff!

'And with that I have gathered enough mana, now...'

The breathing once again stabilized, but this time he made four normal breaths, and let out two large breaths. 

Repeating the process, Finn focused on the activities that were going in within him. 

'All that's left for me is guide the conflux and form a proper core.'

Conflux was a coin termed to refer to the mana coalescence which occured inside the body during the stages of core formation. 

'The core formation technique in my former life involved a unique flow method consisting of multiple small and acute trajectory control...'

A small faint glow emanated around the boy, coating him in it. 

'... however, what I am about to try is something else.'

The faint glow grew in size, brightening up the surrounding by a bit in the dark night. 

The air around Finn grew thick from the faint glow, a small chilly sensation expanding around him. 

'Instead of controlling the flow, I'll let the mana determine it's path.'

This was the conclusion Finn had reached upon thinking. 

The memories showed Finn of how he had tried to fix his broken core, but he never found a solution. 

While he despaired from being unable to maintain a proper core, he learned letting it form naturally was the best course of action in order to form the most perfect core. 

'Even though I found out about this, i couldn't try it because a core can only be formed once...'

He felt the energy wriggle around inside him as multiple veins bulged around his hands, and his neck, extending all the way over to his face. 

'... ha... this hurts, but I have to!'

His teeth ground from the intense pain he had felt, but the glow grew stronger around him. 

—Whoosh! 

The glow disappeared, sending a small wave across a metre around him, making tiny pieces of grass float in the air. 

"Ha..."

He fell back onto the ground, raising his hand upto the moonlight sky. 

"... the sky is as beautiful as ever."

"Wonder why I did that wierd method of core formation in my previous lif—"

He got up in an haze as his eyes widened apart.

"Fuck! I remember it now..."

_________________________