Rose trudged her way home through the pouring rain, her umbrella struggling to keep the rain at bay, but she couldn't care less about the water droplets.
Rose was an accountant at the company Blackwood Ltd and for most of the part her job was demanding and taxing so much so that she barely had time to go out on a decent date.
But whenever Rose had free time she would open her mobile phone and get into reading webtoons or more specifically her favourite webtoon 'The Duke's Liebling.'
'No, no, no, a hiatus now of all times? They didn't even show us what happened to either Finn or the Duke after the battle.'
'Well should I check out the novel?
'Nah'
'Novels aren't really my cup of tea, hmm, maybe I should read another webtoon?'
'But I don't think any webtoon can be as good as this one'
Whoosh! The wind blew hard and a few drops of water tickled the phone screen.
"Fuck!" cursed Rose as she wiped the droplets of her phone screen. After wiping the water droplets off the screen the display went blank and turned red.
"Uhhh, what now? I thought this was water proof but look at this. I hope the warranty hasn't expired yet" Rose grumbled.
'I spent a good fortune on this thing and look, this bastard is dead after a few water droplets fell on it.'
'Rose noticed the streets were awfully quiet. A chill went down her spine as if something bad was about to happen.'
At that moment Rose's legs gave out, falling to the ground. Her umbrella flew off in a gust of wind that blew from her opposite direction and her phone bounced a few feet away before falling down the screen facing upwards with broken glass, the red screen flickering with blue sparks.
Rose could smell the wet pavement on which she had fallen.
'What the fuck? Why did I just stop feeling my legs? '
Before Rose could process what had happened to her, she lost consciousness, her mind encroached in darkness.
----
Rose's head thrummed as she tried to open her eyes.'Uhh, Why does it hurt so much?'
'Am I okay?, I fainted in the middle of the street and what's with this splitting head ache?'
To make the headache worse a scent of lavender and rose pierced open her nose.
"Uhh, what's with this stupid fragrance?, it's sickening."
Rose attempts to open her eyes but her attempts are halted by the headache.
'Why does my head hurt so much?', 'Did I hit my head or something?'
After a few more tries Rose finally succeeds in opening her eyes.
"Huh?" The headache is gone.
All that pain disappearing in a second made Rose even more uneasy. Rose decided to look around the room.
She slowly moves her hand and places them on the bed and tries to sit up, but her hands sink into the soft mattress "Woah, what's with this thing?"
She successfully sits up and looks around the room but the sight leaves her speechless. The room was breathtakingly beautiful and mesmerizing, so much so that it left Rose's mouth agape.
There were two large windows through which the moonlight had illuminated. The moonlight had lit up the dark room and shone on the aureate tones on the walls.
Rose was surprised by the sheer size of the room. She remembers her apartment was smaller than the whole bedroom in both height and width.
'It's not like I was broke or anything but, I really did not have much time.'
Roses face trimmed at the thought of the poor state of her life. She then gets back to inspecting the room. The room was a gilded cage with intricately woven tapestry featuring deep glistening golden accents depicting history.
One such illustration demonstrated a large creature with wings and multiple majestic horns with a lizard-like appearance.
"Wait, is that a dragon?"
'Did I get kidnapped or something? But this feels somewhat familiar almost as if I've seen this before'
Rose decides to look around a bit more and finds another tapestry indicating a man wearing a golden robe and flowing blonde hair receives some kind of blessing from the same dragon she had seen earlier.
The heavy fragrance once more disrupts Rose's thoughts. She looks beside her bed and finds the source of the lavender fragrance, It was from a candle lit beside the bed on top of a drawer. She looks at it once more only to see two more behind it.
'Oh! That's where the fragrance was coming from. Uhh, who would even put candles beside them while sleeping.'
'What's with this room, this looks almost as if it's like a room from 'The Duke's Liebling'? 'Wait the princess's room? Wait, wait what the hell?' Rose internally screamed as she could already guess what happened but didn't want to believe it either.
Rose was way too familiar with how the situation was developing since she had encountered this scene way too many times in webtoons where a normal woman would always die and reincarnate as the female lead in a novel.
Rose moves her legs, places them on the floor and stands up. She panicked and looked around trying to find a mirror or a wardrobe or anything of sorts.
She finally spots a wardrobe with a mirror attached to it on the far side of the room.
Rose walks towards it with a speed that surprised herself. She then prepared herself mentally as she slowed down, closed her eyes and gently stood in front of the mirror.
Fear had taken root in her but she calmed herself down thinking 'you're just overreacting'.
She slowly opens her eyes and the last of the hope that what she had feared was just imagination fades.
Upon careful inspection she sees that she is no longer Rose. She notices her current appearance matches perfectly with the physical description of the female lead; jet black hair that seemed almost as if it was flowing, with the moonlight making the hair even more beautiful.
"Wait! Black hair?? She had blonde hair!"
'Something's wrong here', rose panicked as she bit her nail.
Rose decides to check out her other features to make sure nothing else changed, but the thought of her black hair scared her.
Rose sees that she still has her deep red ruby eyes and small ears, her well balanced, sharp and smooth nose. Her pale complexion lighting up under the moonlight.
If not for the fact that she had deep bright ruby eyes that left a piercing impression, her hair would have been the most hypnotising feature now that it was black.
Rose was familiar with this appearance as she had always seen the woman that reflected back in the mirror through her mobile phone display in her favourite webtoon 'The Duke's Liebling', except she did not have the blonde hair now.
'Sigh' Damn so does this happen to all the women who read webtoons or is it just the universe playing pranks on me.
'Wait I must be dreaming, that explains why my hair is black. Should I pinch myself to wake up?'
Here we go " 3, 2, 1 "...
Nothing happened as Rose pinched her beautiful skin, which glistened under the moon light that illuminated through the window.
"Aarggh! I'm gonna lose my mind, what the hell is going on and why couldn't I just reincarnate normally and how did I even die?"
"Huff, Huff, sigh"
Rose then takes a few deep breaths and calms herself down and starts collecting her thoughts.
'So did I lose the dragon's blessing or something? So this body won't be able to use Aurelios Burst anymore? Well if this isn't a dream and I don't wake up after some time, let's see.'
As Rose was recollecting her thoughts, a single knock fell upon the door.
'Knock"
"Princess, is everything alright in there? I heard some sounds. Do you perhaps require assistance?"
'Oh, no it's the maid, she won't be going back anytime soon without checking if I'm alright but what do I do? How do I react to this strange speech pattern and wouldn't it be weird if I stayed silent?'
'Speech pattern, yeah fuck that I have bigger shit going on, what do I do about my hair'.
A million questions poured into Rose's mind but she didn't have much time to waste thinking of useless thoughts and had to accept reality.
"Princess, are you alright?"
"Yes" spoke rose, " please enter". I hope my English isn't too weird, wait this world also uses English? Ha, maybe it's because it's the 'Universal language.'
'Woah, that was so good, classic Rose. I hope I'm not making a fool of myself.'
'Hey, gotta stay focused. Put aside all those thoughts. But, can I do this? I'm a bit scared.'
'No I will do this, after all I always solved my problems alone, well... sorta.'
So I guess it really happened and now I'm really Daniela Von Marcellonius.
----
The ground shook as the battle raged, transforming the once beautiful Morgen forest into a field of carnage, Blades and corpses littered the ground, blood staining the landscape red.
At the center of the massacre stood a massive dragon with scales that rivaled darkness. Five horns protruded from its jaw all the way back to its head, when its wings spread open, the surrounding was almost instantly covered in darkness.
The dragon's body was adorned with multiple bones that stood out in stark contrast to its black scales, their white hue glowing in the evening twilight.
Amidst the chaos stood a few knights, led by a man who stood out of the crowd with his bright white hair and his tall musculature.
One of the knights asked the man with the white hair,"Duke, the situation seems bleak, I think we should retreat."
The Duke spoke in a booming voice,"No Sir Mordred, I'll take care of this, so please you and your men should retreat."
As the Duke spoke those words, the dragon moved to strike, opening its mouth, a large amount of energy started gathering. The knight panics and the Duke unsheathes his broad sword,"Sword Au-" before the Duke could form his Sword Aura, chains manifested from the dragon's shadow.
"Standards of Shadows: Semblance Manacles." Chains formed from the dragons shadow, raced to bind the dragon. They wrapped around and coiled the dragon keeping its arms and wings locked, successfully immobilizing the dragon, albeit not for long.
A man wearing a dark cloak and black armor materialised from a nearby uprooted tree's shadow.
"Finn" called out the knight. "Are you alright Sir Finn, you seem to be nearing your limit."
"It's alright, the Death Knight wasn't that powerful but the outer escaped, the rest of the cultists had exhausted most of their strength summoning the Death Dragon", Finn spoke gesturing towards the dragon bound by the black chains.
"You should retreat Sir Mordred, the Duke and I'll take care of this, please listen to me" Finn's face pleaded for the knights to leave.
Sir Mordred senses that he will no longer be able to help them and is holding them back at this point, agrees and shouts,"Fallback men and Sir Finn, Duke Archibald I'm sorry for not being much help."
"I'll bring backup, I swear on my honor as a proud knight of the Aurumae Kingdom" roared Sir Mordred as he rushed out of the battlefield.
The chains that bound that dragons shattered and broke off. The dragon opened its maw and rushed to attack the duo.
---
After hours of rumbling, the victors of the battle were decided. The black dragon lay on the ground, on a puddle of black blood, with a crevice in its cranium still oozing.
The landscape, a victim of the battle lay there filled with craters. A few meters away from the dragon, the duo that took out the dragon could be seen. The Duke kneeled down his shoulders slumped in exhaustion, his once shiny armor now dyed in the dragon's black blood.
The Duke was holding a right hand in his hands, it was Finn's who was laying on the ground, looking much worse.
Finn had lost his left hand and much of his blood. Normally this shouldn't have been a problem but his dantian was poisoned by one of the dragons assaults.
"Duke don't worr- 'cough','cough',", as he tried to speak, a metallic tang filled his mouth, making him cough violently.
Every time Finn coughed his blood got blacker, there was no going back, Finn was in his deathbed.
"Finn, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you after all we've been through", a single tear went down the Duke's cheek as he spoke, his voice cracking with emotion.
"Ha, don't expect me to say something cool when I'm biti-" Finn couldn't finish choking on his own blood.
The Duke with a bitter smile replies,"I know, don't worry I'll take care of your sist....er.."
As the Duke mumbled those words, Finn's eyelids closed on its own almost as if it was meant to be with the Duke's tormented visage the last thing he saw.
'Well I guess this is it, just plain emptiness, huh?'
----
"CALCULATING OUTCOME"
"UNDESIRED RESULTS OBTAINED"
"RESETTING THE AKASHIC RECORDS"
"REINCARNATION TICKET WAS CONSUMED FOR SUMMONING AN OUTSIDER"
"OUTSIDER HAS BEEN SUMMONED"
"NEW VARIABLE INTRODUCED"
"REGRESSION TICKET CONSUMED"
"CANDIDATE FINN ZEN TENEBRION WILL BE REGRESSED FOUR YEARS PRIOR TO THE EVENTS OF ?###!??"
"GOAL: SATISFACTORY ENDING"
"AKASHIC RECORDS RESET COMPLETE"
"ONLY CANDIDATE FINN ZEN TENEBRION REMEMBERS ONE OF THE UNFORTUNATE ENDING"
"VARIABLES INTRODUCED, CURRENTLY TWO"
"ERROR OCCURED"
"SYSTEM DAMAGED"
"NEW VARIA-BL-"
"AKASHIC RECORDS RESET COMPLETE"
"..."
----
"Uhh, my head hurts, wait, I'm alive?"
Finn tried to open his eyes but the pain halted him from doing so.
'Must be the poison's effect, how did I even survive? Death qi poisoning is almost incurable, let me try circulating aura.'
"Huh",' what's this, I don't have a core!'
'Did they remove my dantian to save me...'
'No, this feels different almost as if I've never cultivated, my mana pathways are small and most of my meridians are still closed."
'This headache, calm down, first let's try opening my eyes.'
'Here we go'
Finn bites down the pain and opens his eyes, the headache disappears but Finn has bigger worries.
The initial thought that came into Finn's mind was 'This is my room from almost twenty years ago.'
'Why am I back here, wait my left arm is still intact! Why are my arms pale and small, was I in a coma? That doesn't explain the situation with my cultivation and... and this room.'
Finn removes the blanket that covered him. He then gathered some energy and stood up from the floor mat he was laying on, putting the blanket aside. The wood creaked as finn stood up.
It was a blank and empty room without much, even a bed or a table. The room had a dusty and wooden smell to it. The room was a small cabin with the only furniture a single stand holding an unlit candle.
'The Duke wouldn't put me in here... right?'
'No something's strange, even If I were to survive the fight I would be hospitalized without even being able to move, maybe that's why the heada-, Oh! It's gone?'
He then places his fingers on his forehead and swipes through from the left to right, almost as if searching for something. 'Oh, where is the other scar and why does this one feel like a new scar. I remember getting this back a week before joining the academy, something's strange.'
Finn then walks towards the wooden plane window and pushes it open only to be greeted by a cool breeze.
"Hmm that feels good."
Finn then notices it was a full moon night and sees the moon reflecting on the lake a few meters away. Finn decides to take a stroll towards the lake.
The cool breeze met his soft olive skin sending a shiver down his spine,"Damn that's cold, wasn't I pretty resistant to the cold."
Upon reaching the lake he glances down into the clear water but the sight leaves Finn stunned.
It was still his face but younger, almost as if he was back to being sixteen years old.
His unruly tousled black hair nulled the moonlight but his hazel eyes glistened in fear and confusion at what was happening.
"This is... Did I recover the memories from my past life?"
The regression phenomenon, while mostly seen in children's novels, was nothing but a theory, but Finn here was living proof it was real.
"Ho, that explains why I couldn't feel my cultivation and the wound on my head. Am I supposed to be this calm? For some reason everything feels way too familiar?"
Finn sits on the grass beside the lake and ponders what to do next. It was confusing but he didn't feel either the urge or the panic.
'Let's just sit here for a while.'
'Why can't I just die in peace? Is this what that shaman meant by telling me I have nine lives or something.'
'That shady ass-shaman, I'm gonna find him again and ask him what he meant by that, I'm sure he knows something. I remember the Death Knight also spouting some nonsense about regression or something before, it seems there is more to things than they seem, huh.'
"Alright", 'first things first. Let's see, what's there for me to do?'
'Judging by this wound on my forehead and how it still hasn't healed completely, I am only a week away from having to attend the academy. This was one nasty gnash.'
'I remember falling off the cart on my way back from the academy after the entrance exam a week ago.'
'The Nexarion academy, I thought it was a place where I could accomplish my dreams but it was just a playground for the nobles and we were the toys.'
"The moon looks gorgeous tonight, maybe I should cultivate a bit and awaken my talent before entering the academy, since I'll meet those bastards on the first day."
----
The city square bustled with people, it was the market rush hour. The streets were lined with cobblestone pavements. The lamps on the sideways had started lighting up as the sun went down, bathing the city in a brilliant glow.
The roads were just as busy as the streets, horse carriages everywhere along with trams navigated the busy road—a symphony of clattering wheels and lively chatter
"The Ascension Tournament is almost here", one of the men spoke his voice laced with excitement,"I heard the academies of Jianghu are also participating this time".
A woman who was listening chimed in,"It's true my husband is the Archduke's advisor. He told me he heard this will be the biggest tournament ever held in the empire."
The Ascension Tournament was an annual event held in the Aurumae Kingdom hosted by the Nexarion academy, a competition where academies from all over murim gathered to test skills and show dominance.
All across Murim participated, all but one—Jianghu always rejected the invitation until this year. Their involvement left everyone on the edge, anticipation hung in the air thicker than before.
Amidst the busy chatter of the tournament, Jack made his way into a familiar refuge; The Iron Heart tavern. It was Jack's usual after a long day of chopping and delivering fire wood
Jack's life as a lumberjack was evident in his physique, he shirt clung to his wide chest and broad shoulders but a hint of loneliness could be seen in a round slouch in his abdominal area indicating his reliance on alcohol.
As Jack reached his destination; the tavern, he pushed open the oak door. A cool breeze blew upon opening the door letting Jack's short brown hair dance to the air's melody revealing his receding hairline for a second before resting. Jack was instantly invited by the sweet scent of alcohol and the soft hums of conversations. He closes the door behind him as he walks in.
The interior was warm and inviting with its low ceiling, polished wood and well arranged furniture.
Jack walked to the counter and sat on one of the stools,"Vlad, I'll take the usual."
The bartender upon hearing Jack's request picks up a mug, fills it with ale and places it in front of jack.
"Here you go and uh... maybe... " Vlad stuttered.
"Well... what is it? You getting married or something?" Jack asked with a timid smile. Jack had a sharp chiseled jawline and a sharp moustache covering his upper lip giving him a dignified look. Yet despite his rugged appearance, his face held a softness, an innocence that seemed out of place on a man of his build.
Seeing Jack's black innocent eyes made Vlad pause even longer.
"You should stop drinking, I feel like you're just hurting yourself. I'm always here if you want to talk but... maybe it's time to stop."
Vlad's eyes blazed with a fierce inner strength as he dared to confront him about his drinking.
Jack then sips the ale, its frothy head mingled with his brown moustache, creating a bubbly border.
"Why does it matter? It's not like anyone is going to ask? Besides you don't want to lose one of your regular's right?" Jack replies, a small chuckle escaping his lips, although it lacked humor.
Vlad knew this was Jack's self destructive personality surfacing. Jack had always been indifferent with his fabricated smile, but Vlad knew Jack's pain was undeniable.
'Sigh, I don't know what kind of life he lived before but this big oaf isn't listening to me.'
"Jack, I don't care if I lose a regular but what if I have to see my friend hurting himself? You think I'm gonna be happy? Besides I'll ask."
"I'm flattered and thanks for worrying, now fill my mug."
Vlad couldn't help but notice how the conversation had left a scar on Jack. His fingers fidgeting more than usual, betraying his inner turmoil. It was one of Jack's reactions to confronting his insecurity.
...
Vlad sensing a crack in his friend's typical 'big guy' facade decides to change the topic. "So how do you like the new changes to the tavern, 'regular'?"
"Now that you say, it's a lot colder in here than before, you upgraded from cold to frost runes, right?"
Vlad raised an eyebrow in surprise, "I didn't know you were interested in runes."
"Well you can call me a 'Jack' of all trades."
'Pffttt', "Are you drunk already?" Vlad noticing Jack's laughs coming back chuckled in relief.
"Oh! Come on after all this time I've been here you don't take me for a light weight do you?" Jack retorted.
"Aww, old man getting all grumpy."
"Oh! OLD! What atrocities? I'm only 32." Jack grumbled.
"I can already see your grays."
----