The Beginning After the End Volumes 6 and 7 Review
Noemi10 •
In the previous volume, we left 8-year-old Arthur on his journey to become an adventurer after having spent years away from his family to learn how to manage his magic in the elves’ kingdom. Now he needs to grasp as many magic and sword skills as he can before he joins the best magical school in his country—Xyrus Academy!
Thanks to Art being able to manage all four elements, and two of them deviant powers (e.g. electricity which comes from the fire elements), which is unheard of, Art knows people will come for him… and not all of them will have good intentions. So, the best way to go about it is to level up and become strong enough to protect himself and the people he cares about. The adventurer’s exam is easy for him, but two kids around the same age turn up at the same exam, and things become interesting.
However, Art’s personality doesn’t show interest in anything that won’t affect him, so these two kids are soon forgotten while he journeys with seasoned adventurer Jasmine—from the Twin Horns adventurers group—and under her guidance, he improves his sword skills, which are lacking compared with what he was able to do in his previous life. Art and Jasmine pursue their two-year journey of training, until it culminates in the clearance of a dungeon, which turns out to be more dangerous than everybody in the adventurers’ party he joined for this mission thought.
This dungeon also brings another surprise. The two young kids who became adventurers at the same time as Art make an appearance: Lucas Wykes, a half-elf from an important family who thinks everyone else is below him, and Elijah Knight, a human with magic powers stronger than someone his age should have (except Art of course!). They will need to work together when dangers and betrayal hit them in the dungeon.
Like previous volumes, the story picks up speed as time passes to show Art’s growth and stops only to showcase events that impact him and affect his skills development. The volumes cover a two-year-timespan and summarise some of the things Art goes through to keep the readers in the loop as well. The narrator is not omniscient, so readers find out information at the same time that Art does.
The two new characters being introduced are Lucas and Elijah, and after everything that happens in the last dungeon of their adventurers’ journey, we can expect that more complication will arise when they see each other again. Elijah and Art click pretty quickly, and in a sense the two are similar. They are both way more powerful than children their ages are supposed to be, and they find themselves a little bit out of place. Lucas, instead, is set up as the upcoming villain, who is likely to make Art and Elijah’s lives troublesome (probably even at school!). We’ll just have to wait and see how Art will react once he joins Xyrus Academy, and especially what type of revenge he’s planning to act on because Art can’t let a misdeed go unpunished!
The volumes are full of action and fighting scenes from start to finish. As the story started when Art was a newborn and showed him growing through the years, everything that happens to him seems pretty unlikely for a boy so young, even if I know it’s all based in a fantasy world. However, his memories of his past life as a king act as a beacon to make him fight to grow stronger and stronger. I’m wondering if there’ll ever be a point at which he’ll find himself with friends his own age and enjoying his childhood.
The Beginning After the End is written by TurtleMe and illustrated by Fuyiki23. It started as a web novel before being adapted into a web comic on Tapas and into an anime released on Crunchyroll. Yen Press publishes the series in print edition in the English language. Volumes 8-10 are already out.
Our review copies were supplied by Yen Press.
