'This place... Where am I?'
This was the first question that popped into his mind as he woke up to the strange straw ceiling. He quickly sat on the bed and looked around cautiously.
As he surveyed the surrounding area, it seemed that he had woken up in a dilapidated straw house that looked moldy and scattered with holes in the walls and doors. This house looked like it was ready to collapse at any moment. And for some reason, this straw house felt strangely familiar to him, as if he had lived in it before.
'This is... my old house.' As he recalled his memories, he remembered that this was his home in Jubar Village where he had lived before he set off on his adventures to... 'Dawn City' to complete the growth promotion requirements of his Tree Of Entis.
Dawn City was the city that had been completely destroyed in his previous life, and it was the city where he had spent nearly half his life before he was killed in his previous life as well.
'By the way, what does my mental world look like now?' Recalling that he had brought the 'Tree Of Entis from his previous life' into this life with the expectation that his choice would produce results, he closed his eyes and calmed his mind to 'enter' his mental world.
Then, it felt like he had 'jumped' into the water. The feeling of being unable to control his body that he had not experienced in a long time rushed into his body once again.
'Such a nostalgic feeling.' he smiled to himself, thinking about how long it had been since he hadn't 'felt' as if he had 'fallen into water' every time he entered his mental world. 'How many years did it take for my Tree Of Entis to grow from Seedling to Youngling stage before I died? Probably 10 or 20 years.'
Suddenly, the feeling of him diving into the water stopped as his 'feet' stepped on solid ground.
He looked around at the 'Mental World'. No, to be precise, it was not yet a 'World' but was still a 'Mental Room' as his current 'Tree Of Entis' was still in the 'Seedling' stage. Unsprouted seeds that have not yet to grow from its shell.
He walked around and stretched out his hand to touch the surrounding wall of nothingness. In his mental room, although it seemed limitless, there were actually some walls that limited the space.
Each time the Tree Of Entis grows, it destroys each layer of the mind's walls. Gradually expanding the space of the mind chamber, it eventually evolved into a world.
'So, where is my previous life's Tree Of Entis?' After surveying the surroundings of his mental room for a while, he still saw no sign of the Tree Of Entis that he had chosen to bring to this second life. In the center of this mental chamber, there was only a round green 'seed' the size of a handful.
'In the end, I couldn't find it.'
*Sigh*
He let out a sigh of helplessness. He had no choice but to let it go and think that maybe something had gone wrong because he vaguely remembered that something potentially important had happened after he had chosen to bring the Tree Of Entis to this life right before he felt pain as if his soul was being torn to shreds before he lost consciousness.
'I guess I'll just have to make do with it first.'
And since he had no other choice, he walked over and stood next to the green seed and looked at the 'Current Tree Of Entis' that was still in the 'Seedling' stage. A silver screen without the green frame showing his stats appeared in front of him.
[Name: Kass]
[Bloodline: Human]
[Growth Sequence: Tree Of Entis Stage 1 (Seedling)(Growth Requirements Fulfilled)]
[Level: 10 (1000/1000)(Locked)]
[Classes: Novice]
[Attributes]
Strength: 13(+)
Agility: 12(+)
Endurance: 14(+)
Dexterity: 11(+)
Intelligence: 10(+)
Wisdom: 10(+)
[Attribute Points: 0]
[Origin unit: 210]
[Innate Skill: Nine Lives Cat (0/8), &@#*@*&#]
[Class Skills: First-Aid]
[Learned Skills]
Intermediate Proficiency Skills: Sword Mastery
Low Proficiency Skills: Cooking, Appraisal, Fishing, Butchering, Swimming.
'Huh?' His gaze, which was looking at the silver screen, suddenly stopped. He raised his hand and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing a thing and misreading it. Because if he remembers correctly, previously, didn't the Nine Lives Cat skill have 7 more uses remaining?
'Wait... What... Isn't this only my second life? Where did the other seven lives go?' His body trembled because of the remaining usage of the Nine Lives Cat Skill. There should have been 7 lives left, but on his status screen it was showing that he had no more lives left. It means that this is his last life.
*breathes in*
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his mind. Before opening his eyes, he looked again and checked to make sure that his Nine Lives Cat Skill really had no usage left.
[Skill Name: Nine Lives Cat (0/8)]
[Skill Proficiency: Innate]
[Skill Effects]
– This skill is automatically activated when you are about to die. The skill will transport you to the 'Death Space' dimension. After you arrive in this dimension, you will have 10 minutes to choose to bring 'Something' to your next life. Such things include but are not only limited to levels, classes, origin units, attribute points, and skills.
'The skill really has no usage left.' After he focused his thoughts to examine the details of the Nine Lives Cat skill, he found that the other 7 remaining usages that had to be left were really gone.
'What the hell happened? Or is it because of some strange error message?' When he tried to think of a reason that would cause the 7 remaining usages to disappear, he thought back to the time when there was a 'non-silver' screen panel that showed error messages before a panel suddenly turned back to silver.
[It has been detected that the item you want to carry on to your next life is □ □ □ from the Realm of Sylvan.]
[Investigating the possibility of this action...]
[...]
[An error has been detected in this dimension... Fixing in progress...]
[ERROR! ERROR! ER-]
'The missing words, the Realm of Sylvan, the error detected in the dimension.' He furrowed his brows as he thought about these strange words, which were understandable in separate words but when put together they made him feel incomprehensible and confused.
'And there's still this skill.' He shifted his gaze to a strange skill that appeared on his system panel. It had a strange name and unknown effect.
[Skill Name: ?!&@&@*]
[Skill Proficiency: Innate]
[Skill Effect]
– ?!&@^!?@&^@
'Could it be because of this skill that the remaining uses of the Nine Lives Cat skill disappeared?' He examined this strange skill that he remembered from the time in his previous life. He definitely doesn't have this damn skill.
'And also the fact that no other details of it have yet been revealed.'
*Sigh*
He could only sigh again, feeling helpless. And he could only grit his teeth and accept this, as the Tree Of Entis he had chosen was nowhere to be found. And the last guarantee, the Nine Lives Cat skill that allowed him to return to the beginning again, was no longer there.
No, he would no longer accept that he could only feel hopeless in the face of that situation. After all, there was at least one thing he received back from his previous life, that can make him change the past.
'Knowledge and memory'
Knowledge and memories of future events carried back to this life as well.
'In this life, I must stop the destruction of Dawn City. As well as finding out where my other 7 lives are.' He vowed to himself fervently before 'exiting' his mental room and prepare to meet his other travel companions.
...
In an area very far from the Jubar Village.
The ground is dry and cracked. Remnants of destroyed houses and buildings, along with blood and fresh enough to turn the land around this ruined city a crimson red. The air was filled with the smell of smoke and ash. The atmosphere was gloomy with clouds, as if the sky were pressing down on this area.
On a grand throne made from the many bones and skulls of the people of this city. There was a huge figure shrouded in a dark mist with red light periodically flowing from it. Sitting on a bone throne, he was currently playing with a skull that was glowing with light, feeling the light particles decaying from the skull of a once-honorable Paladin.
"Heh heh, what a Guardian of Light and Courage? In the end, you became just another ornament to my throne. Your prayers for faith are meaningless if you believe you can fight against the Chaos." The figure shrouded in the dark mist said with a sneer and also laughed at the naivety of the owner of the skull in his hand.
"Hmm?" Suddenly it was as if something very interesting had drawn him to look in a certain direction, which direction is full of tall mountains. But looking into the eyes of the figure in the dark mist, it was as if his eyes could directly look in the thing that had caught his attention. And whatever a coincidence or not that the direction he was looking at happened to be the direction of Dawn City.
"Huh? How interesting. How can your mere existence be the Catalyst of Chaos? Heh heh, really interesting." As the figure in the mist finished speaking. A figure in armor walked beside the throne.
"Legion Leader, we have already eliminated all the people who survived in this city. So, where is our next target?"
"Good job. As for the next target? Hmm?" The figure in the dark mist heard that the city was devoid of any survivors and praised his subordinate. He then contemplated his next target while playing with the skull in his hand.
But it was as if the figure in the mist had remembered something. He raised his head and pointed in the direction where he could feel the presence of 'The Catalyst of Chaos'.
"What's interesting about that direction?"
The armored figure heard his master's question and then answered the figure in the mist:
"Legion Leader, that direction was a distant land with only a few cities. But if it's something you might be interested in, there are two places: The Dawn City that was the city where the hero's adventures first started, as well as the place where 'that rat' fled to hide. Another interesting place is Kismet City, which is the territory ruled by the False Star God."
As soon as the figure in the mist heard the word 'god', the dark mist that shrouded him seemed to erupt into an uncontrollable ray of light, destroying the surroundings.
"Kismet City under the rule of the Star God? Hahaha, I have already made up my mind. The next target is Kismet City. It is time to bring the Star God's wishing star under our Legion."
"
When the voice of the figure in the mist finished, space around the city was distorted. The dimensions converged on the bone throne where the figure sat. And then, in a split second, everything was gone.
The remains of the city, the flesh, the blood of its inhabitants. Everything has completely disappeared. All that's left is a broken patch of land where the city once stood.
Various dimensional rifts that could not be seen with the naked eye and were ready to swallow people into another dimension opened up in the surrounding area, and the laws of the world in this area that are distorted and chaotic are one of the evidences that makes people who pass by this area know that this place had been visited by a Chaos Legion before.