A tattered and bleeding man with chipped armor fell on his back on top of a giant serpent beast that stretched across the continent.
In the clutch of his hand, there was a sword that sizzled as it evaporated into nothing till only the hilt was left intact.
He raised the hilt across him, admiring the fine craftsmanship. "Farewell, my last and only friend." The man threw the hilt away, making it topple down the colossal serpent's corpse.
I'm losing my essence...
Without essence to support his dying body, in addition with the high altitude of his location, breathing became incredibly difficult.
Perhaps it was due to the lack of oxygen in his brain and the tremendous loss of blood, he got a momentary relief of being high as hell.
The prophecy of his world, the same prophecy that forged him to become the strongest knight in this now dead and barren world...
It stated that Jörmungandr would eventually awaken and grow infinitely, consuming his planet, then consuming the stars, then consuming the whole universe. Though, thanks to his accomplishment, only the first part of the prophecy was fulfilled, as the same serpent was now a dead corpse.
The dying man chuckled, I did it... everyone, where's the celebration... I'm really starving, so hungry...
. . .
His silent pleas weren't answered. He wished that he would've been born stronger, smarter, or had a cheat skill that could easily grant him anything he desired without needing to put in the work and effort.
Maybe then, a few surviving people would still be living, giving humanity another chance.
But there was no one left alive.
And yet, he still pleaded, wishing that someone would come to him and say, 'thank you for your hard work!'
. . .
The man shook the idea off and recited the knight's creed.
A knight must always be honorable.
A knight must never strive for personal wealth.
A knight must always protect the weak.
A knight must—
. . .
Fuck the creed. Give me something to live for! I want to be acknowledged! I want to be praised! I want to be a hero! Give me something! Give me a reason to live! he called out in his mind—his very last plea towards anyone that bothered listening.
Fuck the prophecy. I should've never become a knight. It would've been better to follow my father as a farmer and... live peacefully.
Eventually, the high dissipated. There was only discontent left in his heart as he decided to succumb to his wounds.
Then everything went dark.
***
Ouch!
It hurts so much!
My head is killing me!
The bizarre sense of darkness and emptiness disappeared instantly. He felt a throbbing pain in his head, his stomach, then followed by the feeling of wanting to vomit.
There was also a pain in his nose as if his nostrils were burning and bleeding at the same time, making it difficult to breathe once again.
What happened? I'm alive...
Laying on the floor, he found himself in a strange but small compartment. He tried gathering his thoughts, but they seemed to be just far out of reach.
But he did feel that this body wasn't his.
Am I in some form of inn? Could this be what they call a reincarnation? No... I still have my old memories.
He sat himself up and looked around. It looked even stranger than anticipated—a single bed on the floor, a drawer, a table and chair, and some strange devices.
Looking down, he noticed crumpled tissues littered around the floor that seemed to be made out of shiny wood.
Picking one of them up, he felt the dryness and strange yellowish stain.
Bringing it close to his nose, he smelled the unknown tissue.
It smells sweet... What is this?
Right next to the tissues, he turned his attention towards a glowing image connected with a flat slab filled with archaic symbols.
Looking closer at the symbols, something snapped in his mind. He could understand them!
There are letters... and numbers?
He looked at the top left and began reading towards the right.
[Q] [W] [E] [R] [T] [Y]
Satisfied with the inspection, he looked at the glowing picture. There seemed to be a blurry background and in the center was a sideways triangle.
His instincts took over. For some reason, if he wanted to reveal the mysterious blur, he needed to click on the long strip located at the center bottom of the slab of text.
Moving his index finger towards the space bar, he lightly pressed down.
Click.
Hngh~ MmMm~ Haah!
Strange noises engulfed the compartment and his eardrums.
What is this sorcery!? The picture is moving! He jumped back a few steps.
A magic relic? Why is it displaying such degenerate acts...
Calming himself down, he finally realized something about himself. His legs were unnaturally cold.
He looked down. His eyes were met by a little companion that was incredibly familiar to him.
I don't seem to be wearing trousers...
He walked towards the device. As if his instincts kicked in again, he pressed the spacebar to pause the degenerate noises that plagued his ears.
What kind of villain would create such strange depictions of intercourse, he quietly lampooned.
Then he noticed a mirror nearby. Moving in close, he noticed his ash-blond hair, yellow eyes and a new face.
The throbbing in his head exploded, leading him to almost collapse.
These memories... so many. Are these mine? No, they aren't. He grabbed his head and squeezed it.
"Ferris", he muttered, that's my name.
He looked in the mirror once again. His facial structure was unremarkable, but that was due to his malnourishment.
He tried remembering his new memories.
Ferris was born into a low-income family. His father remarried into another family. His mother was placed into a sudden coma but unfortunately, she was pulled off life support due to the discovery of a tumor in her brain.
There were no siblings to look after him, no friends either, and no dreams.
Dream? He felt the urge to raise his head up.
And so he did, in the wall was what seemed to be a poster depicting a gorgeous lady in an elegant dress.
Lady Victoria
S-Class Hero – Rank 1
Blessing:
Starlight
A hero... I wanted to be a hero...
Ferris turned around, investigating his sudden transfer of bodies. First, he looked at where he had first woken up.
Kneeling close, he saw what seemed to be white powder, arranged in neat lines. Placed beside them was a long but tiny tube and a credit card.
He dragged his finger on the powder and smelled it.
Almost immediately, he blew his nose out in disgust.
Poison! Has this body died from an overdose?
Ferris grew a concerned look and dropped into a lotus sitting position.
He closed his eyes.
He started focusing on the essence around him. But he didn't know if it existed in this strange world.
. . .
To his delight, essence did exist!
To his surprise, a small surge of memories flowed through him. This world used the same name for the energy widely used in his old world.
For now, he ignored the stud of thought.
He inspected his body for impurities.
So foul... This body's core is pathetic.
He focused on the impure essence moving around his body, then slowly removed them.
His eyes, ears, nose—every orifice was bleeding out, yet he remained perfectly still.
There's so much... this body was on the brink of death. I can't remove all of them.
Ferris focused his attention on his heart.
For all knights, the heart was the foundation of all their physical and magical might.
It was split into nine layers of essence. The outer layer, the 9th layer, was the beginning for every aspirant knight. And the last layers, the closest to the heart, were the inner layers—with the 1st layer being the apex of strength, his original layer.
However...
As I suspected, my first layer is gone. But this body doesn't even have a 9th layer?
Even babies are usually born with a complete 9th layer.
. . .
With my experience... I can do it.
Ferris focused on the surrounding essence and began pulling it closer to his heart, forming a thin veil around it.
The process was incredibly painful due to the excess impure essence, but if he wanted to completely purify his body, he had no other choice.
His body screamed in pain as his heart began to beat faster and faster—to the point of near heart failure.
He was too far into the process. Backing off now might result in a painful death.
But that didn't fear him at all.
Eventually, a veil of essence surrounded his heart.
"Mmph." Ferris released himself from his sitting position and immediately vomited a black, liquid-like substance.
"Haah... Hah..." He coughed up a few more drops of the putrid liquid.
As expected of a 1st layer knight like myself... Perhaps those trainings were... worth it...
Ferris collapsed on the floor, his vision slowly blurring into darkness due to the layering process.