The Genius Mage Was Reincarnated Into A Swordsman Family
Chapter 291 - 291: The Missing Centuries

Klaus directed his transcendent perception deeper into the chronological sequence of his incarnations, expecting to find the gradual accumulation of mortal experiences that should have followed his supposed death as Arkadius. Instead, he discovered another surgical void where his first ten incarnations should have resided.

The absence was absolute—not the fragmentary remains of damaged memories, but complete elimination that left no trace of what had been systematically removed. Klaus could sense the precise boundaries where memories had been excised with skill that exceeded even the sophisticated manipulations applied to his Arkadius fragments. The extraction had been performed with such precision that the surrounding consciousness had healed seamlessly around the gaps, leaving only subtle irregularities that his enhanced perception could detect.

His earliest accessible memories began with what appeared to be his eleventh incarnation, emerging from void like isolated island surrounded by dark ocean. Yet even as Klaus examined these fragments, he recognized the familiar architecture of deception that had characterized his Arkadius memories.

The eleventh incarnation had been portrayed as reign of some forgotten king who ruled vast kingdom that existed in historical period deliberately obscured by temporal manipulation. The fragments depicted Klaus commanding armies across continental campaigns, making decisions that shaped the fate of civilizations, wielding authority that commanded respect from beings whose names had been lost to contemporary historical records.

But beneath the grandiose narrative, Klaus detected the same artificial construction that had characterized his celestial memories. The fragments contained surface impressions of royal authority without the authentic emotional resonance of having actually exercised such power. He could observe himself issuing commands that affected thousands of lives, yet felt no connection to the internal processes that should have guided such momentous decisions.

Using the analytical precision his enhanced state provided, Klaus began extracting authentic knowledge from the fabricated narrative. Hidden within the constructed memories of royal administration, he discovered practical understanding of large-scale governance, military strategy principles that operated according to psychology rather than mere tactical advantage, diplomatic techniques that treated negotiation as form of consciousness manipulation rather than simple exchange of concessions.

The knowledge proved valuable despite its contaminated source, yet Klaus could sense vast amounts of authentic experience had been systematically excluded. The fragments provided just enough information to create functional identity while concealing deeper truths about whoever he had actually been during that incarnation.

Moving chronologically forward, Klaus discovered that his twelfth incarnation existed in fragmentary form, yet when he reached what should have been his thirteenth incarnation, he found another perfect void. The pattern continued with disturbing consistency—some incarnations preserved in altered form, others completely eliminated with surgical precision that left no evidence of their original existence.

Klaus continued his methodical examination with patience that his enhanced consciousness provided, cataloging each incarnation while extracting whatever authentic knowledge could be salvaged from the systematically manipulated fragments. Each preserved incarnation followed similar patterns of distortion—surface narratives that provided functional identity while concealing substantive truth, carefully curated knowledge that served specific purposes while withholding understanding that might have revealed deeper patterns.

The thirty-third incarnation was completely absent. The thirty-ninth existed only as void. The sixty-sixth had been eliminated so thoroughly that Klaus could barely detect where it should have resided within the chronological sequence. The pattern of systematic elimination created gaps that suggested someone had been selectively removing incarnations according to criteria that remained carefully hidden.

As Klaus progressed through the archaeological examination of his own consciousness, he began recognizing that each preserved incarnation had been crafted to emphasize specific aspects of capability while systematically obscuring others. Some incarnations highlighted martial prowess, others magical understanding, still others focused on intellectual achievement or artistic expression. Yet none provided complete picture of whoever he had actually been during those lifetimes.

The cumulative effect created portrait of being who had repeatedly achieved extraordinary capability across multiple lifetimes while somehow never developing coherent understanding of his own fundamental nature. Each incarnation appeared to operate in isolation, unable to access the accumulated wisdom of previous existences, condemned to rediscover basic truths about reality with each successive rebirth.

Klaus continued his examination with growing recognition that the manipulation had been performed with sophistication that exceeded normal comprehension. Whoever had crafted these altered memories possessed understanding of consciousness that allowed them to edit experience at its most fundamental level while concealing evidence of their intervention from even transcendent perception.

The chronological review eventually brought Klaus to his most recent incarnation as Klaus Zagerfield—memories that appeared largely intact compared to the systematic alterations that had characterized his earlier existences. Yet even here, his enhanced perception detected subtle inconsistencies that suggested tampering had occurred.

The memories of his final confrontation with Damien Zagerfield carried authentic emotional resonance, the pain of betrayal and the determination that had driven his quest for revenge felt genuine in ways that his earlier incarnation memories did not. Yet Klaus could sense that even these experiences had been subtly influenced, guided toward specific conclusions through manipulation so refined that it resembled natural psychological development rather than external interference.

His current incarnation as Klaus Lionhart had also been subjected to editing, though the alterations were more recent and therefore less sophisticated than the systematic reconstructions applied to his earlier existences. Klaus detected clear evidence of tampering in his memories surrounding the attempt to hatch Dudu's egg—the moment when he had been attacked by runes left by the second fragment of Greed.

Dark energy marked portions of that experience that had been carefully excised, leaving gaps where authentic memory had been replaced with constructed narrative. Klaus could sense that something significant had occurred during that encounter, something that someone with cosmic-level capabilities had deemed necessary to conceal from his conscious recollection.

As Klaus completed his exhaustive examination of accessible memories, the full scope of the systematic manipulation became clear. He had been able to identify at least seventy-seven missing incarnations—entire lifetimes that had been completely eliminated from his consciousness with precision that spoke to planning that had spanned centuries of his existence.

The preserved incarnations, numbering approximately 333 that he could access in various states of alteration, had been carefully curated to provide specific types of knowledge while systematically concealing understanding that might have allowed him to recognize the true scope of the manipulation being performed upon his consciousness.

Klaus recognized that his existence across multiple lifetimes had been guided by external agency operating according to agenda that remained hidden despite his enhanced analytical capabilities. Someone or something with power that exceeded his own had been orchestrating his reincarnations, editing his memories, and shaping his development toward purposes that served their interests rather than his authentic nature.

The recognition sent waves of implications through his consciousness that threatened to reshape everything he thought he understood about free will, identity, and the nature of his journey through multiple existences. Yet even as the truth crystallized with perfect clarity, Klaus realized that his enhanced state of consciousness itself might be part of the manipulation—that even his current analytical capabilities might be serving agenda that remained carefully concealed from his awareness.

With this disturbing recognition maintaining crystalline clarity within his mind, Klaus began the process of returning his consciousness to normal dimensional space. The transition required careful disengagement from transcendent state while preserving the analytical understanding he had gained through examination of his systematically altered memories.

As the Ten Eyes realm gradually dissolved around his awareness, Klaus felt his consciousness settling back into his physical form with sensation like diving deep into warm ocean. The crown of eyes above his head slowly faded until only normal perception remained, yet the knowledge he had extracted from his examination remained perfectly preserved within his enhanced memory.

Klaus opened his crystalline eyes to discover that night had fallen around the Eastern Tower's courtyard with completeness that spoke to hours having passed during his meditation. Above him, stars wheeled in configurations that his enhanced awareness could read like cosmic timepiece, indicating that two full days had elapsed while his consciousness had been engaged in archaeological examination of his own existence.

The recognition should have brought exhaustion that normally followed such intensive mental work, yet Klaus felt no fatigue whatsoever. His body remained perfectly comfortable in lotus position while his mind maintained the crystalline clarity that transcendent meditation had provided. The physical endurance suggested that his transformed state operated according to principles that exceeded normal human limitation.

Behind him, Dudu continued sleeping with steady breathing that had provided constant rhythm throughout his extended meditation. The Night Dragon appeared completely undisturbed by the passage of time, maintaining peaceful rest that spoke to absolute trust in Klaus's ability to maintain their shared safety.

Klaus remained motionless in the starlit courtyard, processing implications of what he had discovered about the systematic manipulation of his existence across multiple lifetimes. The knowledge created framework for understanding that everything he thought he knew about his identity, his purposes, and his journey through reincarnation had been carefully crafted by external agency operating according to agenda that remained hidden despite his enhanced analytical capabilities.

In the darkness surrounding the Eastern Tower, something vast and patient seemed to acknowledge his discoveries with satisfaction that suggested plans spanning centuries were proceeding exactly as intended.