Elias Ashcroft died a man who built machines that changed the world—and understood nothing about the people he built them for. Reborn in a rural village with his memories and genius intact, he has one goal and one alone: this time, he'll use his gifts to make his family's life easier. Bamboo water pipes. A heated bathhouse. A purification-stone toilet. For his tired mother, his aching father, his adoring little siblings, these small miracles are enough.
But small miracles don't stay small. The
An Old Soul's New Heart - To the Forest Where the Shooting Star Fell
The light disappeared into the depths of the forest.
Elias Ashcroft remained pressed against the window frame, unable to move for some time. The sound of insects filled the night with their usual rhythm. And yet—only his chest moved at a different pace than it should.
(Biological response, she said.)
He repeated the words in his mind once more. Aleria had never before referred to "non-living things" in such a way.
'Reconfirming. The falling object is maintaining life activity. Predicted impact location: eastern edge of Grünhorn Forest. Time remaining until collision: two hours fifty-eight minutes.'
The flat voice echoed in his head. Elias Ashcroft exhaled softly.
(If Aleria says it, there's no mistake.)
That voice had taken residence in his mind on the night of his aptitude ceremony at age five. He remembered that day with perfect clarity even now.
The aptitude crystal placed in the center of Hornberry Assembly Hall—a transparent sphere that glowed red for fire, blue for water, brown for earth, green for wind, gold for light, and purple for darkness when touched. Most children had only one or two colors glowing faintly. That was normal.
The moment Elias Ashcroft touched it, the crystal released all six colors simultaneously. The priest held his breath. The village chief half-rose from his chair. No one had ever seen such light.
"...Judgment impossible,"
He still remembered the high priest's voice from that moment. It had been tinged with confusion and a faint trace of fear.
Those with three or more attributes made up less than one percent of the entire kingdom. Six attributes at once was unprecedented. If word of this reached the lord's office, Elias Ashcroft would not be treated as a village child, but as experimental material for the state. That very night, his father Toma and mother Lianne had agreed in unison: "We will say he only had wind and water." Since then, he had been known in the village as "the two-attribute child."
(Two years since that day.)
In his previous life, he had built machines that changed the world. He had been called humanity's greatest inventor. But that praise had come at the cost of solitude. This time would be different. Keeping this secret, protecting his family—it was all part of the same thing.
Behind him, the floorboards creaked. He turned to find Owen Ashcroft standing in his nightclothes, eyes half-closed. His four-year-old brother always said strange things when he was drowsy.
"Big brother...can you eat the sky?"
Elias Ashcroft felt the corner of his mouth lift despite himself.
"Can't eat it. But the forest might get eaten instead,"
"Scary..."
Owen didn't understand the meaning of those words. He drifted back to his room, sleep winning out. Elias Ashcroft watched his small back disappear, a quiet laugh escaping him.
(Troublesome, but unavoidable. In any case—)
He could only wait for morning. Entering the forest alone at night was too dangerous, no matter how well-trained his body was. Even at the outer edges, visibility failed in darkness, and the presence of Marna beasts became difficult to sense. Elias Ashcroft closed the window and returned to bed. But sleep did not come easily.
(What's falling from the sky?)
Holding that unanswerable question, he eventually drifted into slumber.
Morning came with the smell of baking bread drifting from the kitchen. When Elias Ashcroft emerged from his room, his mother Lianne was using the bamboo water tap to pour water into a pot.
"Good morning,"
Lily Ashcroft sat at the table with her elbow propped up, yawning. Her honey-colored hair stuck up in sleep-tousled spikes.
"Going to the forest again? That desperate for medicinal herbs?"
"More or less,"
He didn't mention his true purpose. If he spoke of the light that fell from the night sky, his family would surely worry. With nothing yet understood, he didn't want to burden them with unnecessary anxiety.
"More like materials for weird inventions, right?"
Lily Ashcroft was perceptive. Elias Ashcroft shrugged.
"It's all the same. Things from the forest, used for the family,"
"Sure, sure,"
She laughed with exasperation and bit into her bread. Father Toma seemed to have recovered from yesterday's bath fatigue; he was eating breakfast with better spirits than usual.
"Don't worry about Martha from yesterday,"
His father murmured it absently. Elias Ashcroft nodded, but his mind was elsewhere.
(Village rumors spread faster than I thought.)
Hornberry Village had a population of roughly two hundred forty. Fifty-two houses. In a settlement this size, what happened in one house reached everyone's ears immediately. A single household without the trouble of drawing water from the well created both envy and irritation. That was the logic of this small world. How much longer before word reached Lord Victor Kestrel?
After finishing his meal, Elias Ashcroft inserted a small slingshot and several Marna cores into the tool belt at his waist. He had crafted this himself at age three, after discovering that eating Marna beast meat temporarily enhanced physical abilities—a tool for hunting.
"Be careful,"
His mother's voice held its usual gentleness. Elias Ashcroft carried that voice with him as he left the house.
Walking west from the village, he soon entered the outer edges of Grünhorn Forest. Morning light filtered through the trees, illuminating the damp undergrowth in white. With each step, the smell of soil mixed with the faint scent of decomposing leaves.
Aleria continued her quiet reports in his mind.
'From current position to target location, direct distance approximately four kilometers. Terrain has elevation changes. Estimated travel time: one hour ten minutes.'
(Close.)
Elias Ashcroft quickened his pace. The outer edges were considered low-danger, but caution was necessary. Sure enough, a white shape bounded from behind a tree. A rabbit-type Marna beast. Its body was nearly twice the size of a normal rabbit, its eyes glowing faintly.
(Perfect timing.)
He readied the slingshot, wrapping wind Marna around the projectile. As he focused his consciousness in his palm, his fingertips grew faintly warm. The released stone accelerated with wind power, striking the beast's forehead with precision.
Thud.
The creature fell with a short sound.
This was something ordinary humans could not do. While many possessed the wind attribute, the precision needed to infuse power during a hunt required experience and calculation that few ever developed. For Elias Ashcroft, fire, water, earth, wind, light, and darkness were all equally manageable tools. But he could never display this in front of others.
(A person with only one attribute couldn't aim like that.)
He collected the fallen beast and placed it in his waist pouch. He'd decide later whether to serve it at tonight's table or use the meat simmered with herbs as material for magical power enhancement.
As he ventured deeper into the forest, the trees grew denser and the air colder, more humid. Aleria's voice sounded again.
'Warning. Marna concentration increasing. Multiple biological responses within two hundred meter radius.'
(Multiple...)
He stopped and surveyed his surroundings. Between the trees, three deer-type Marna beasts stood watching him. Their antlers were unusually large, their eyes glowing a faint purple. It was rare for them to move in groups.
(Surrounded, then.)
Tension spread quietly through his chest. But it wasn't fear. Rather, his mind was organizing itself with cold clarity.
(If I face them one at a time, it's troublesome but manageable.)
The moment the lead beast lunged, Elias Ashcroft placed his hand on the ground and raised the earth beneath his feet with Marna. The creature's charge went wide, crashing into a nearby tree. Simultaneously, he ignited flame in his palm and released it before the second beast's eyes. As it flinched, he drove a wind-wrapped fist into it.
Thud.
A dry impact echoed. The beast flew sideways. The third attempted to flee, but Elias Ashcroft had already transformed the soil at its feet into mud with water Marna. Trapped, the creature received his final blow.
Silence returned.
Catching his breath, Elias Ashcroft stared at his right hand. His fingertips still tingled with warmth.
(That was four attributes.)
It had been a long time since he'd wielded four attributes simultaneously. Aleria reported calmly.
'Marna consumption exceeded estimates. Continuous use risks depletion symptoms. Recommended: rest.'
(I know.)
Overuse would leave his body immobilized for days. Marna depletion was a side effect everyone in this world feared. Elias Ashcroft exhaled deeply and sat on a tree root.
(I'll stop here for today.)
As he collected the fallen beasts, his gaze drifted toward the forest depths still hidden from view. The impact site remained at a distance. Whether he could reach it today was uncertain.
(What's waiting there?)
A sensation had nagged at the back of his mind since last night. An unease without reason. In his previous life, he had never known such a feeling. It didn't fit data or calculation.
(Strange. Thinking this much about someone I haven't even met.)
He couldn't even name the sensation himself. Yet something was undeniably drawing him deeper into the forest.
He set out again. Soon, between the trees, an unmistakably unnatural sight came into view. A thick ancient tree lay snapped at its base, the surrounding undergrowth burned in a perfect circle. As if something had fallen from the sky and gouged the earth.
Elias Ashcroft stopped.
The smell of scorched soil pricked his nostrils.
'Detection. Faint Marna response near the location. Wave pattern cannot be classified as artificial or biological origin. Designation: unknown.'
Aleria's voice sounded harder than usual. Elias Ashcroft walked slowly around the burn mark and crouched down. The ground bore thin traces, as if something had been dragged.
(I made it this far, but the sun's already setting.)
Looking up, the sun was already sinking beyond the western trees. Going deeper would mean nightfall. Elias Ashcroft clenched his fist.
(I stop here. If I push myself and something happens to the family, I won't be able to respond.)
He told himself to follow the calculation. But beneath those words, his chest continued to churn with restlessness. Something lay beyond this burn mark. Of that much, he was certain.
Elias Ashcroft spoke quietly toward the scorched earth.
"I'll come back tomorrow,"
The words were directed at no one. Yet speaking them made the restlessness in his chest settle, just slightly.
Walking the path back to the village, Elias Ashcroft thought repeatedly of that burn mark. What had been inside that light? Who—or what—had fallen into this forest?
No answers emerged. Only one thing remained certain.
Tomorrow, he would return to that place.
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