Running felt different for some reason.
Even though I was just putting one foot in front of the other over and over again, why did I feel so, royal?
It was like I was the king of this world, like nothing could stand in my way.
'Is this a side effect of the soul strengthening?'
Honestly, this was kind of a bad side effect, as if I looked like I thought I was above everyone else at all times, then that meant that I would definitely piss some people off.
And with the murim world the way it was, and how I wasn't even a cultivator yet... yeah, I would be screwed.
Well, right now, I didn't really need to think much about it yet, as I was running through pure, untouched wilderness, and speed was my current priority.
After all, I was planning on stealing something from the villain of the story, and if she reached it first, then I'd be screwed.
Because, these two dao beasts that I was aiming for, they were also the two dao beasts, that would screw the villain over in the future.
And my goal was to make her happy after all.
So, I picked up my pace, as I went through what I needed to do over and over again in my mind.
The moves I needed to make, the words I needed to use, the manipulation of all those pieces, yes, there was nothing left unturned.
With speed and efficiency, I would make these factors the traits that would allow me to win against the biggest monster of this generation, someone that even the protagonist couldn't go up against in a battle of pure technique.
And today, I would remove the biggest reason for her loss.
Under the gaze of the two moons, I would come out as the single winner.
...
I watched as the morning sun rose up over the horizon, shining it's pale orange light onto the gently lapping waves caressing the soft sand of the beach.
As for me, I was standing on a cliff overlooking this whole scenic view, my hands behind my back, my chin up, as my cultivator robes blew in the wind, fluttering behind me, waiting for the villain to show up.
If I remembered correctly, which I no doubt did, she would be arriving soon, after having escaped the demonic sect's grasp for a short time.
You see, at this point in time, she had just been sold by the old man to the demonic cult, but on their way back to the "Rice Pot", she had somehow escaped and was now heading here.
Well, the "somehow" was actually her destroying the future of many men, but, she never got into trouble for this, as again, her heavenly constitution was just too powerful and too precious in the eyes of others.
Anyways, the place that I was right now was the general area of where she would awaken her dao beast, and it was also the place that she would gain two more dao beasts.
Afterwards, as she was such a valuable asset, the demonic cult had captured her again, and soon, she would arrive at the Rice Pot without any more struggles on the way.
At least, that had been what was written in the original story.
But, having already experienced this world once, I knew that all of this wasn't true.
After all, when I had seen her during my previous run through, I had instinctively known.
She was the same as me.
And she had hidden it so well too, having done something much better than any normal 5 year old could have done at that time.
You see, she actually hadn't been born with a dao beast, and it was here that she had made her first two contracts.
With this, one could immediately figure out that she was a limitless bastard, not just a person born with a powerful dao beast, and that she had been smart enough as a 5 year old to claim that one of the two dao beasts that she had bonded with was actually one that she had been born with.
But, to me, all of this didn't matter though.
The one thing that mattered was that she wouldn't die again.
So, it was only my job to take away those two beasts, as they were the reason she had lost in the first place.
Honestly, in the last run through, I had hated my inability to do nothing.
I didn't steal any of the valuable opportunities that the protagonist had been given, I didn't try my best as I didn't spend that much time cultivating, and I didn't take the initiative to help the villain by staying by her side.
I had taken the easy way out last time, resulting in a shitty completion rating as told to me by the system.
Honestly, I couldn't even fathom what I was thinking at that time.
Wait.
"..."
Unless... that had all been a setup for me to do a hundred times better in this run through.
Dominoes started falling in my mind, as everything suddenly clicked into place.
You see, I had just realized something.
If I had done everything that I had just said above during the previous run through, then I never would have been this prepared for the second run through.
After all, I wouldn't have been able to learn that much about the world Second Life Murim Ranker, as it was not a novel anymore, whilst being stuck in the demonic cult for the entirety of the previous regression.
But then, how did I know that I would be going through all of this again?
Thinking about it, I realized, a glitch in the system had occurred.
That must have been why I had known that I would be coming back here again.
Yet, if this was true, then it begged the question, 'Was this really only the second time that I had been through this world? Was this really only the second regression?'
I thought about these questions for a few moments, before shaking my head and throwing the questions in the trash.
After all, it wasn't my place to think about them right now.
My goal right now was to save the villain, anything else that I needed to do or figure out could come afterwards.
She was the most important thing in this world for me, I could somehow feel it in my gut.
Surprised at my own conviction, I brought my gaze directly towards the sun.
Blinding myself, I murmured,
"She lived a tragic life, but mine will be one solely dedicated to the fall of this world."
Shaking myself out of my stupor, I suddenly became confused of all at the actions I had just taken and of all the thoughts that I had suddenly let take control of me.
[System $RR@R...]
[zzzzZZZZZz...ZLICH...zzz!]
[...]
[...]
[)*(#&$)(*&#)*(&)#*(^&%)*&#^*)($&()#*&$)*!]
"ARGHHHH!"
Crying out in pain, I clutched my head, as the system injected what I thought were sharp sounds directly into my brain.
But then, something shattered what little remembrance I had of any of the events that had just transpired, as I quickly forgot everything.
Standing up from the ground majestically, as if nothing had happened, my eyes unfocused, then focused again, as I regained my bearings.
'I was just standing here... right?'
But then, I was entranced by the soft sounds of a small child running on the sand.
It was time.