This must have been a bad joke... why had his jump not ended his life?

  He remembered this room and the horrible memories that came with it. What the hell was he doing back here?

  The chief's basement in his old village. He was back to his spirit bonding ceremony, he was 20 years old again...

  The spirit bonding ceremony was the start of the bad luck. Why was he being forced to endure this again?

  "Alright, Michael, this is your chance to become a mage and join our ranks, to change your fate. Good luck to you."

  The same narcissistic words. In his memories, the chief did nothing to save him from his old friend's attacks. They were always his favorite. He was just the filler with no family.

  Wait a minute... 'change his fate.' Did the mayor know about this? Did they plan to ruin his life? No, he was just panicking now.

  It didn't matter, it would end the same. He would die again and again... unless something changed or he went insane.

  He watched as the chief walked upstairs and out of the basement. You had to be alone to summon a new spirit, to not mix the energies around you.

  Hold on... had he been sabotaged? Was there something else in the basement with him?

  He looked around. The spirit summoning could take anywhere from minutes to hours, so his being down here for a while wasn't a problem. His patience proved beneficial; out of the corner of the room and barely audible, he heard a tiny squeak.

  There was a blanket overtop a cage, and inside was a small mouse.

  ...

  He had been tricked. This was all on purpose.

  He took the mouse out and crushed its small body... his spirit summoning ceremony was foiled by a mouse?!

  It was humiliating, no, he felt anger. Anger and fury beyond belief.

  He could have had a chance to become a mage...

  No, now he does have a chance. He couldn't waste this opportunity just because he got upset.

  As soon as he gets the chance, he would leave the village and become stronger. This wasn't just about revenge, they ruined his life. He would make sure they felt much worse.

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  The first step in his plan, become a mage.

  He sat down inside the rune circle. He focused inside his mind, the same runes covering the floor of his mind.

  In his memories, the rune circle barely lit up. A multicolored flash, and then everything went silent. This time was different.

  He felt something inside of him pulse as he focused on reaching something... anything. The rune circle lit up with a cool blue light.

  Suddenly, he could feel something rushing towards him in the distance. It sounded like... water?

  He looked off into the distance and saw a gigantic tidal wave surging towards him. Everything inside him told him to run, but he couldn't. The ceremony would fail if he did.

  Fifty feet away, thirty feet, now just seconds away from hitting him.

  He relaxed and let the water flow over him.

  It felt overwhelming. He felt like he was going to get pulled away, but he held his ground. He refused to give up this chance.

  His lungs burned from the lack of air, and his skin became softer and wrinklier from the constant underwater environment.

  'No, this is all just in my head. I am in control.' He breathed in the water around him like air, he bent the spirit's power to obey him. His lungs took in the oxygen, and his body adapted to the water.

  He was in his natural element now, and he could see it. A wide grin found itself on his face.

  He could see the spirit now. An ocean spirit in the shape of a sea pearl, perfectly round, dark blue in color, with hints of white and green.

  The spirit was fighting against him, but he was determined. He pushed through the raging wave, making his way over to it, and grabbed the sea pearl.

  Then everything faded to black.

  After a normal spirit ceremony, you were supposed to be able to see the spirit that you had bonded with. That marks what your future would be like. Different nature spirits would have healing or wood magic, while fire spirits would manipulate fire and heat. Every spirit was unique and different.

  Inside his mind was the dark blue sea pearl. It glistened inside the space in his mind. 'It looks beautiful.'

  This is what his life could have been like if he hadn't been sabotaged.

  'Those damn bastards, they would pay for ruining my life.' Michael thought while trying to calm down.

  But his calm demeanor quickly vanished. He was officially a mage. A smile wiggled onto his face. He had done it, he had changed his fate.

  "No, I can't show that I'm happy. If they find out that their little trick didn't work, then they will kill me by midnight. I'll have to hide my success and leave tomorrow morning."

  It wasn't obvious that someone had become a mage. Unless they were actively using magic, it was pretty hard to tell.

  He prepared himself. It would be harder to learn magic away from the village, but it wasn't like he had any allies here. He put on a sad face and walked upstairs.

  It was time to fool the village with his failure...

  "Hey, Mikey, how was it? Did you manage to contract any spirits?"

  Mikey... he hated that nickname.

  "I... No, I didn't. There weren't any spirits willing to bond with me." The same words he had said in his memories.

  "Aw, well, that's a shame, Mikey. Don't worry, there is plenty to do around the village."

  The village chief walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

  "Alright, alright. Let him go get some rest. He is probably exhausted after three hours of focusing." The village chief... he had excused him? That didn't happen in his past life.

  In his memories, the village chief and his old 'friends' had immediately started ostracizing him. Making him do the least desirable jobs in the village. Why were things different now?

  He would have to be careful, he didn't want to get caught.