Surrounded by that peaceful darkness, he heard a low voice, soft and comforting—so gentle that it almost felt sweet.
"You haven't caused any trouble. None at all. For now, just stop thinking and rest. I'll be here. I'll stay right beside you. So sleep. Let your body heal first, and then we'll talk. I promise. I'll protect you."
The words that was spoken like a vow, echoed softly around him as his consciousness was pulled back into the darkness once again.
It wasn't until three days later that Li Shen finally learned the truth.
He was someone who had wandered into this strange world from another.
He had lived here, unaging, for over 500 years—at least, that's what the records said.
He was known by ridiculous and embarrassing titles like "Santaros, the Prince of Darkness" and "Del Delatia, the Dominator of Arcane Magic."
He was said to be the highest-ranked mage in the world… someone with power equal to a god.
…Was this seriously not a dream?
Seriously?
...
The other world of Ulstaria.
A world where three continents are separated by seas, lit by one sun and two moons.
In this world, civilization is built around magical technology.
Humans and demi-humans live side by side, sometimes as enemies and sometimes in harmony, constantly locked in a struggle for survival against a common, powerful threat—monsters.
—Or so it's said.
That's the world Li Shen had somehow stumbled into.
Nobody knew exactly when or how he'd arrived, but at some point, he awakened to magical talent.
And not just basic magic—he became able to wield high-level magic, the kind called sorcery, a power said to border on the domain of the gods.
And apparently… he caused quite a bit of chaos.
For example, when he asked, "What exactly did I do?", people would casually mention things like: when the allied forces formed a massive monster-hunting unit and finally arrived at their destination, the monster had already been defeated—by him.
Though honestly, that just sounded like he was helping, right?
Or how, when a certain nation tried to unleash a monster horde on its enemies, he reversed the plan and lured the horde into their land instead.
Okay, that still didn't sound too bad… right?
But then came the scarier stuff.
Like how, when several nations tried to enslave him and he allegedly assassinated all of their leaders in a single night.
…Okay. Yeah. That was bad. Really bad. And—was that really him? What was he, some kind of terrorist?
And that wasn't all. There were plenty of other disturbing stories. Some might be true, some probably weren't. Most had unclear motives behind them. But either way, the tales never stopped coming.
Still… Li Shen couldn't help but think: Well, I guess if someone's been alive for 500 years, of course they're going to have a lot of stories attached to them.
He thought that like it had nothing to do with him. He really felt like it had nothing to do with him.
Because, honestly, he had no memory at all of living in this world.