Raven woke up sweating heavily as if he had been drowned in a hot spring. His breathing was fast, and he looked around, confused.
The last thing he could remember was feeling an unbearable pain that was so strong that he thought it was better to die. But now, here he was, alive and still breathing somehow.
"Where am I?" he whispered, his voice sounding different, deeper than what he remembered.
He touched his chest and felt smooth skin and a strange warmth inside. Slowly, he sat up. The bed he was on was huge and soft, way too fancy for someone like him who had lived a frugal life as his parents were not that rich.
Then, like a wave, fragments of memories flashed in his mind forcing him to clutch his head, memories of a person which felt like his yet were distant.
"No way… this can't be real," he said, shaking his head. He threw off the silky covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed. That's when he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror across the room.
A boy who looked about fourteen came into the view, with shiny crimson hair that seemed to shine faintly and eyes that gleamed gold. His body looked strong, like someone who trained every day, but he didn't recognize it as his own.
A realization gradually settled in his mind as he digested the new memories. The name of this body was the same as his past life except his last name had changed. Raven Draconian.
The seventh son of the patriarch of the Draconian family.
He remembered reading about the Draconian family in a light novel he had read in his past life.
But his character had never existed in the novel. Originally according to the story line, the draconian patriarch had only three children.
But now here he was somehow standing speechless in front of the mirror in an unfamiliar yet familiar body.
Realizing the situation he was in, Raven took a seat and started calming himself down. It was clear now that he had most definitely reincarnated into the novel.
The novel was called "Saga of the God Slayer"
Looking at the clock it was early morning, and he had some time to get ready for the world he was thrown into.
Raven sat on the large bed in his new room. The quiet of the Draconis mansion settled around him. It was a big change from the constant danger of his last life. He took a deep breath, the smell of polish and old books filling his nose.
He closed his eyes. Memories of the previous Raven, the young man whose body he now used, started to clear. They showed him his new life.
The Draconis family was important in this world.
The old Raven was the youngest of four Draconis children. He was fourteen now, almost fifteen. This age mattered a lot. He remembered that in this world, children awakened their mana and got a class when they turned fifteen.
Classes ranged from common ones to rare, hidden types. Each gave a unique path for growth. But the real journey began at sixteen. That's when all the young nobles went to the academy.
It was a place for competition and learning. This meant Raven had a full year to get ready before the novel's main story, "Saga of the Godslayer," truly began. A year was more time than he needed.
He thought about the family. There were two older sisters whose names he couldn't quite remember yet. Then there was Anastasia Draconis, who was his age.
The previous Raven had been very introverted, a "neet" as he would have called him in his past life. He avoided all social events and banquets. His world was his room and the huge, magically expanded library in the mansion.
His father, the patriarch, had even used space magic to make the library bigger. This showed he understood, or maybe just gave in to his youngest son's one obsession.
"Such a fool," Raven mumbled. The words felt strange in his new, deeper voice. "He had a family, and he chose to be alone." As someone who lost everything to war, Raven knew that even a lifetime with the family was short.
The old Raven's mother was the only one he truly connected with. After she died, he became even more isolated. He barely knew his sisters or his father. This was a big problem.
In his past life family was a crucial part of his life something he missed every day after he lost them to a war.
He moved, and the silk sheets rustled. The previous Raven's obsession wasn't just reading. It was research, especially into runes. He had recently managed to inscribe a basic rune.
This was amazing given his situation. But a small, critical mistake during this practice had killed him. That mistake was why Raven was now in this body.
"What was this idiot even thinking, trying to inscribe a rune like that?" Raven scoffed, rubbing his head. There were clear reasons for the old Raven's death.
First, the rune inscription was very dangerous. It should only be tried with someone watching.
Second, and most deadly, the previous Raven tried to draw mana from an artifact without his mana core. His body, completely new to mana, had just overloaded.
Third, he had discovered a new inscription technique. It was not ready and was unfinished. Yet, even with these obvious flaws, Raven had to admit, the previous owner of this body was a genius. To create even a basic inscription technique from nothing was incredible.
Raven knew that no one was going to disturb him for breakfast or anything thanks to his predecessor's previous behavior.
He had to act now before the details of the "Saga of the Godslayer" faded from his mind after getting diluted in these mixed memories. He needed to write down every important event, every chance the main character would get.
The main character of the novel was, in Raven's opinion a shit bag. He was kind, yes, but also very foolish. He constantly ignored the consequences of his actions.
This eventually led to humanity being enslaved by the alien race. The MC was betrayed many times, and his own bad choices often stopped his growth. Even with a powerful system that gave him many resources and guidance, he never truly used his full power.
It was frustrating to read, knowing the power he had but seeing him waste it after that.
Raven found a thick, leather-bound journal and a quill on a nearby desk. He opened the inkwell and started to write. His hand moved fast, spilling information onto the page.
He wrote down every event he could remember, putting them in order. He had read the novel carefully in his past life, hoping for a good ending at the end.
Instead, the novel had just stopped publishing with humanity enslaved and an underpowered MC wandering the multiverse with his harem. The author had given up, saying he had created a mess and couldn't think of how to fix it.
Raven knew that this was his chance to fix that mess. His knowledge of the future, of the protagonist's mistakes and lost chances, was his strongest weapon.
He would make sure humanity survived. More importantly, he would make sure he survived. He would not be just a background character in someone else's story.
He was Raven, and this time, things would be different. He would forge his path. He would not allow the same fate to befall this world.
"But why, why care about saving humanity??" Raven asked himself
"because it's exciting to be in an adventure novel and that too with full knowledge of the future and because it's exciting to cause chaos in the very story I used to read," he said to himself
this was his cheat and his destiny