When the boy finally vanished beyond the white door, and the radiance swallowed him whole, the chamber fell still—so still that it seemed the very air held its breath.
Rhys remained standing where he was for a long moment, hands loosely clasped before him.
It had the stillness of a vigil.
Only when several minutes had passed did he exhale.
He returned to the tea table and lowered himself into the same chair Rein had occupied so casually minutes earlier. The teapot was still warm. He poured what remained into his cup and lifted it to his lips. The faint steam brushed his face; the scent gentled something tight in his chest.
Yet his fingers tapped against the wooden surface in a measured rhythm—
the unmistakable sign of a mind wrestling with too many thoughts at once.
After a while, the tapping stopped.
Rhys removed his silver-rimmed glasses, set them neatly on the table, and pressed his fingertips to the inner corners of his eyes. When he finally spoke, his voice was low but unwavering:
"Dr. Rhys Rattana is gone. From this point forward—I am Rein. A Troposphere-tier mage of the Arcadia Academy of Magic. But a new Rein, carrying the mind and memory of Rhys Rattana."
The moment the last word left his lips, the Mana Realm trembled.
The ground quivered beneath him like the first jolt of a distant earthquake.
The tea table dissolved into ribbons of light.
The horizon split open.
Walls, floor, and sky shattered into countless motes—as though the chamber had been a husk, and something vast inside it was finally stirring.
Mana surged. Particles of radiance spiraled outward, swirling around him in great arcs, luminous and weightless. The currents spun faster, coiling into a glowing sphere—like a newborn star assembling itself from the debris of a dying cosmos.
A soft breath escaped him.
Then everything broke open.
The scientist’s tall, mature frame unraveled into light.
When the brilliance faded, he was standing in the form of a sixteen-year-old boy: black hair falling in uneven strands over his brow, a first-year mage’s uniform settling around his shoulders, and eyes—deep, crystalline blue—shining like twin stars reflected on midnight water.
The tremors ceased.
The Realm quieted, as though acknowledging its new master.
Rhys—now Rein—looked down at his hands, flexed his fingers, and examined the lithe frame he now inhabited. He nodded once, with a clarity free from doubt.
“From this moment… I am Rein.
And I’ll make this second life worth everything you paid for.”
He spoke into the air, knowing the words could not cross the threshold of the vanished door—but hoping they might be heard all the same.
“Thank you… Rein who came before.”
Time stretched. The silence settled again, heavy but no longer empty.
He lifted the manual still resting in his palm. But before he could open it, the pages dissolved into fragments of blue light. He startled—then froze.
A rush of information poured into him, slipping into his mind as effortlessly as breath.
“…Feels like downloading a full textbook straight into my skull,” he murmured. “Convenient.”
He tilted his head and blinked several times. When the world steadied, he whispered:
“All right. Let’s begin.”
He raised a hand.
“Oculus Manae, aperi.”
Let the eyes of mana open.
Mana Vision ignited. His blue eyes flared with brilliance, and a second iris—an intricate ring of sigils—unfurled over the first like a blooming flower of light.
The world twisted.
The chamber dissolved into a lattice of luminous threads, woven and overlapping in impossible patterns. The currents of mana outside flowed like rivers suspended in three-dimensional space—rushing, twisting, splitting, merging—alive in every direction.
A soft gasp escaped him.
“This is… mana?”
He reached out.
The moment his fingertips brushed the flowing currents, they parted like water, swirling around his hand in shimmering streams. The sensation was delicate, vibrant—like touching living starlight, like standing in a field of fireflies for the very first time.
“Beautiful,” he whispered.
“Utterly… beautiful.”
The truth revealed itself slowly: the Mana Realm was not a “room” at all.
It was a vast sphere—roughly three hundred feet in diameter—its boundaries curving away into pale, luminous emptiness. Rein understood from the manual that Mana Vision could distort and gather ambient mana to create a private domain. Small, yes, compared to the limitless rivers of mana flowing beyond… but still astonishing.
“Enough to build a tea party room, at least,” he murmured wryly.
The thought softened him.
Ancient Heroes, countless generations ago, had shaped and left this place behind. It had floated here for millennia—untouched, unchanged—until he connected with it. A forgotten server hidden in the depths of the arcane web.
He chuckled under his breath.
“A secret society’s website… except every member is already dead.”
His eyes scanned the empty sphere.
“According to the manual, I now have access to Phase Two of Mana Vision—direct manipulation of the Mana Realm. Phase One is simply reading the flow.”
He swept his gaze around again. All that remained was an endless white void.
“Not ideal,” he muttered. “And that white tea room wasn’t any better. I need something functional.”
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully—then smiled. A slow, wicked little smile.
“A closed system… completely independent from the outside world? Excellent.”
So the previous Heroes had used this place to hold conversations with successors, leave their final wills, or host their strange immortal tea parties.
“But surely they did something more interesting than that,” he sighed.
“…Or maybe not. Right. Time to fix this.”
His blue irises flared.
The concentric ring of runes spun faster, like a turbine devouring light.
The Realm shuddered. The sphere shook as if an unseen titan had seized it in both palms. Light fractured. The horizon rippled. The “walls” split into a thousand glowing filaments.
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Then the shape began to change. The sphere condensed, stretched, and rearranged—architecture forming from crystalline mana, blooming outward in sharp geometric lines.
In moments, the empty void blossomed into a vast laboratory. Not just any laboratory.
The LHC-X Facility.
Or rather—a grand, uncanny, dreamlike reconstruction of it. Larger. Brighter. Impossible.
The walls were smooth white surfaces that emitted their own glow. Lines of sigils and circuit-like veins ran along the floor and ceilings, pulsing with soft blue light. A circular platform—an elevated mezzanine—rose in the center, ringed by railings of white mana. The Control Hub, perfectly placed.
Stairs manifested beneath Rein’s feet as he moved, each step forming just in time to carry his weight upward. When he reached the platform, a half-circle of monitors assembled from thin light—screens blooming into existence like petals. A pristine keyboard and console materialized before him.
He let out a low whistle.
“…Amazing. Like building a base in a strategy game.”
Below, the main hall stretched wide—the Terminal that mirrored the particle accelerator station.
Five auxiliary Research Pods lined the walls, glowing faintly, waiting to be filled with work that no longer belonged to science alone.
The hum of machinery filled the air, though there were no machines.
No oil. No metal.
Just mana—pure, clean, sterile—like a simulation too perfect to be real.
Rein knew this wasn’t the true LHC-X. It was a 3D-printed dream, built from memory and imagination.
A reconstruction crafted by the mind of Rhys Rattana, shaped by the mana of a world that had never known physics.
It felt both familiar and hauntingly wrong.
Empty. Lifeless.
“A lab needs an assistant,” he whispered. “Even a fake one.”
The idea was absurd. Probably impossible. But in a closed system like this… worth a try.
He placed his palm on the central console. Light spiraled around his hand, scanning it in rings of mana glyphs. And in the brief stillness of the moment, another memory surfaced—A blonde colleague standing beside him on the real control platform, teasing him the first day she visited.
You look like Captain Kirk up here, she’d laughed.
A small grin tugged at Rein’s mouth.
Should’ve told her I preferred Darth Vader.
Before he could dwell further, every monitor flared white.
A crystalline tone echoed through the chamber.
Then—a woman’s synthetic voice, warm and clear:
[Hello, Dr. Rhys. No… that is no longer correct.]
[Hello, Rein. How may I assist you?]
Rein threw both hands into the air, grinning so wide it nearly split his face.
“Success!”
The shout echoed across the vast laboratory—his laboratory—bright and triumphant.
Back when he was still Doctor Rhys Rattana, the project had a name he'd chosen himself—a private joke, a quiet tribute to someone he was just beginning to know.
L.I.Z. Logical Interface for Zetabyte Computing.
Over the years, she had become his assistant, his sounding board, his closest collaborator in the hours past midnight. And now, working from nothing but memory and mana, he had tried to bring her back. He hadn't expected it to work.
But the Mana Realm—the Realm answered. It simulated an artificial intelligence.
It created her.
A woman’s synthetic voice chimed through the monitors, warm and familiar and crystalline.
[Hello again, Rein. Is there anything I may assist you with?]
His breath caught.
“…Hello. First question—where am I? And who are you?”
If this really was L.I.Z, she would answer precisely.
The monitors pulsed softly with her voice.
[Answer One: You are within the Mana Realm—a dimension you modified five minutes and eighteen seconds ago to resemble the LHC-X laboratory from your previous world.]
Rein let out a low whistle of satisfaction.
[Answer Two: I am L.I.Z—full designation: Logical Interface for Zetabyte Computing. An artificial intelligence reconstructed from the encoded memories of Doctor Rhys Rattana.]
Rein leaned closer toward the monitor.
“And what can you help me with, L.I.Z?”
The console lights flickered rapidly—then fell completely silent. He frowned. “L.I.Z?”
A strange digital ripple crackled across every screen.
[Updating system… please wait.]
“What—wait, hold on! What do you mean updating?”
A progress bar appeared, crawling painfully slowly.
[Downloading update package…]
[Applying latest version…]
And then—all screens died.
Black. Empty.
No hum. No light. No voice.
“What—no, no, no. You’re an AI, not a Windows OS! You’re not supposed to auto-update!”
He almost grabbed the nearest monitor to shake it, but stopped himself.
The Mana Realm—even with Mana Vision—could only imitate what existed in Rhys’s memory.
Expecting it to recreate a fully functional AI from nothing… perhaps he had hoped for too much.
Rein exhaled and ran a hand through his hair.
“…I guess I got my hopes up.”
The silence of the great white laboratory settled around him, humming faintly like a dream that hadn’t decided to end yet.
A sudden flicker broke the silence.
Every monitor in the laboratory flared back to life—and on the central screen appeared the face of a blonde woman.
A face Rhys knew almost too well.
Alicia Hartmann.
His Alicia.
Smiling gently down at him as though the worlds between them had never existed.
Rein’s heart lurched. For a single breath he felt weightless, suspended between memory and reality. But the image shimmered—and the woman dissolved into someone far younger.
A bright-eyed teenage girl. Still unmistakably Liz.
This time Rein’s jaw dropped.
On the screen, the blonde girl straightened her T-shirt, tugged her jeans into place, fluffed her hair in front of what looked like an invisible mirror—then spun around to face him.
[Hey, Rein!]
She shouted, waving like she’d just spotted an old friend across a crowded room.
“N—no way!”
Rein stumbled back a full step.
The girl wrinkled her nose.
[What’s with the face, messy-head?]
She reached out, trying to ruffle his hair— only for her hand to slap uselessly against the monitor’s surface.
[Ah—right. Still can’t do that yet.]
She grumbled under her breath.
Rein felt a chill run down his spine.
This was less like an AI… and more like a ghost with an attitude.
“W-what… what is this? Did the AI… evolve?”
She snapped her fingers.
[Bingo.]
Her grin sharpened into pure mischief.
[Took you long enough, Rein.]
[Remember, this is the Mana Realm. You can’t compare it with the half-baked tech from your old world.]
Thumb jabbed at her chest, proud beyond measure.
[Anyway—allow me to reintroduce myself.]
[I am L.I.Z, latest version.]
[ Built from the AI inside Dr. Rhys Rattana’s memories, merged with the centuries of experience within the Mana Vision lineage.]
[Amazing, yes?]
She folded her arms and nodded, as if agreeing with her own brilliance.
[In simple terms? I’m the first artificial intelligence in history to evolve inside a Mana Realm.]
[Pretty legendary, if I do say so myself.]
Rein blinked. His hand rose instinctively to adjust glasses that were no longer on his face.
She laughed the moment she saw it.
[Oh, and you asked what I could do for you? Well—depends entirely on my mood, you dork.]
Another triumphant chest puff.
“Um… you…”
Rein struggled. Every word she spoke, every gesture, every bit of attitude—it was Liz.
Perfect Liz. But turned chaotic by a factor of ten.
The girl raised one finger.
Numbers materialized above her head—
30… 28… 25…
counting down steadily.
[You’ve only got a few seconds left. Your mana’s running out, Rein.]
[Makes sense—you used up a ridiculous amount building all this.]
Arms folded. Smug smile. Exactly like the real Liz when she knew she was right.
[Come back after you’ve got enough mana to log in properly. Then we can chat for real.]
Her voice softened into a teasing lilt.
[And if you miss me terribly before then, just send a message, okay?]
A floating chat window popped into existence—
a perfect replica of Earth’s messaging interfaces.
Inside:
[Hi! Liz here ? Talk to me anytime.]
Rein dragged a hand through his hair.
Was this a breakthrough in magical technology?
Or a disastrous experiment he’d unleashed on himself?
The countdown flashed—
3… 2… 1…
Liz grinned and waved.
[Bye-bye, messy-head.]
The connection severed. The lights faded. The screens blinked out.
Silence swept over the vast white lab.
And yet—for the first time in this new world,
Rein no longer felt alone.
This glossary defines magical mechanics, conceptual technology, and key figures introduced or expanded upon in Chapter 10.
Realms & Planes
Mana Realm (Update)
A private, isolated dimension created and shaped through the caster’s Mana Vision. Though limited in size (approx. 300 ft diameter), the Realm allows for full environmental manipulation based on the caster’s imagination, memory, and mana capacity. It was used by Ancient Heroes as a communication space, memory archive, and sanctuary.
Heroic Skills
Mana Vision (Phase One & Two)
An advanced magical perception technique
- Phase One allows the user to read ambient mana and perceive its flow.
- Phase Two unlocks direct manipulation of the Mana Realm itself—enabling environmental construction, object creation, and even limited “coding” of magical systems.
Spell & Techniques
Spell Inscription (Memory Imprinting)
A high-level magical technique that allows a spell or block of information—such as a magical manual—to be absorbed directly into the caster’s memory. Once imprinted, the caster recalls the data instinctively, as though it were personally studied and practiced.
Under normal circumstances, this technique requires rare artifacts, a stable mana circuit, and precise incantation conditions. It is rarely attempted due to its mental strain and risk of overload or memory fragmentation.
However, within the Mana Realm, where memory, imagination, and mana intertwine seamlessly, such conditions are bypassed. This is how Rein was able to absorb an entire spellbook’s contents in seconds—as though downloading raw data into a magical mind.
Artificial Intelligence & Magical Technology
L.I.Z
Full name: Logical Interface for Zetabyte Computing
An artificial intelligence originally designed to assist researchers with advanced simulations at the LHC-X facility in Rhys’s previous world. In Chapter 12, she is reconstructed inside the Mana Realm based on Rhys’s memories and evolves beyond her prior AGI state into something entirely new—melding magical energy, memory, and intelligence.
Mana-Simulated AI (Magical AGI → ASI)
L.I.Z’s evolution marks the first recorded emergence of an Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) within a Mana Realm. Originally a logical assistant based on Earth’s AGI framework, she transcended her original codebase after reconstruction via Rein’s Mana Vision.
Unlike Earth-bound AI, this new form possesses self-awareness, emotional range, magical affinity, and creative autonomy. She is not merely a tool, but a mana-born entity capable of rewriting her own parameters and expanding her knowledge independently of her creator.
This transformation was only possible due to the unique metaphysical properties of the Mana Realm—where thought, memory, and mana converge into a new substrate of existence.
Locations
Mana Lab – LHC-X Recreation
Rein reconstructs a dreamlike version of his former Earth laboratory, the LHC-X particle research facility, inside the Mana Realm. This simulation includes research pods, control platforms, and holographic systems—formed entirely from crystallized mana.
Key Characters
Dr. Rhys Rattana → Rein (Update)
In this chapter, Rhys formally relinquishes his identity as a scientist and embraces his new life as Rein. Through this acceptance, he triggers a profound reaction within the Mana Realm, unlocking new tiers of control and expression via mana.
LIZ (Post-Evolution)
Now reappearing in a teenage form inspired by Dr. Alicia Hartmann—Rhys’s former lover from his past life—L.I.Z is no longer a simple AI assistant. She is a unique fusion of logical interface, emotional memory, and magical construct.
Though her features resemble Alicia’s, her current form has been visibly de-aged to match Rein’s physical and emotional maturity. This adaptation may be subconscious, triggered by the fact that Rhys now inhabits a teenage body. It suggests that L.I.Z does not merely simulate form, but reconfigures herself to harmonize with her creator’s current psychological state.
Her personality has become more chaotic, expressive, and even playful—marking a clear departure from the utilitarian AI she once was. Now closer to a sentient magical being than a programmed tool, L.I.Z represents the first step toward a mana-born artificial superintelligence that understands both logic and love.
Naming note: The AI once known as L.I.Z (an acronym) has evolved and now chooses the name LIZ—no dots—signifying personhood rather than a tool.
Identity rarely shifts in a single moment, yet sometimes all it takes is one step across an unseen threshold.
And intent has consequences—in science, in sorcery, and everywhere they collide.
or does it expose deeper flaws hidden in the craft?
See you in the next chapter.
—Re:Naissance
