"Damn it!"
A low, frustrated shout echoed in the silent forest.
"Why am I so unlucky?! Why did I have to take over such a loser's body?!"
Lying under a tree, a deathly pale and skinny man slowly opened his eyes, his chapped lips constantly moving in complaint.
"Can I change bodies?" He murmured, squinting his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness.
A moment later, he sighed in defeat, realizing he was permanently stuck in this body and with his new identity.
Just a short while ago, he died in a car accident when returning from his job.
When he felt his life slipping away, he wasn't afraid; instead, he was relieved. Although not like he wanted, he was free from his boring and almost prisoner-like life.
He didn't have a family, as his parents had passed away when he was just ten years old. He worked for an insurance company that paid him little but worked him to exhaustion daily.
Due to his poor financial condition and also him not having enough time to interact with women, he didn't have a girlfriend either.
Though he had a few friends, they were all busy with their lives, and he rarely met them in the past year.
His life was limited to waking up early in the morning, grabbing a burger or pizza at a restaurant for breakfast, going to his job, working until late at night, returning home, sleeping, and then repeating this monotonous and excruciating cycle.
He was fed up with it. Several times a day, he would think about quitting his job but would shelve the idea upon realizing he wouldn't be able to find another job with his skillset. Heck, even this sorry excuse of a job was something one of his friends helped him get.
So, when he was about to die, he felt relieved. His relief turned into excitement when he realized he was being reborn in a world of magic. As for how he realized this, he didn't know.
However…
Something seemed to have gone wrong. Instead of being reborn as a child, he was thrown into this world in his soul form.
His bad luck streak didn't end there, as he realized an overwhelming pressure was slowly forcing his soul form to disperse.
Though he didn't know what this pressure was, he instinctively knew it only applied to the souls. If he got a body, it would be rendered ineffective.
Panicked, he wanted to find someone to possess, but navigating in his soul form was way too difficult, and he wasn't able to see anything either.
Just when he was losing all his hope, he sensed something. Not bothering to understand what it was, he willed his soul form to rush into the direction his senses told him.
Suddenly, there was a violent jolt before some vague memories started appearing in his mind. With each passing moment, the memories grew clearer along with his senses that told him he now had a body.
…
A while later, he slowly picked himself up and whispered his new name, an ugly expression on his face, "Vesper Ironhart."
Maybe because the original Vesper had died a while before he possessed his body, with only a tiny part of his soul remaining, he only received his last few days' memories.
Still, they were enough for him to know the original Vesper was a complete loser.
This world was indeed a magical world.
Using the energy called Mana, people could cultivate, become stronger, perform magic, and cast magic spells.
The people who could use magic were called mage or magus.
Based on their strength, they were divided into five major realms, from 1-star mage to 5-star mage.
There were rumored to be more major realms above 5-star, but Vesper, or rather the general populace, had no knowledge about them.
The kingdom he lived in was called Eldoria. It wasn't a weak kingdom in terms of power, but it wasn't strong either.
Vesper belonged to the noble Ironhart family and was the fifth child of Baron Ironhart, who had seven children in total—four males and three females.
The reason why he considered the original Vesper a loser was because, unlike the rest of his siblings, he didn't have a shred of mana affinity, which meant he couldn't cultivate mana and become stronger.
In a world dominated by the strong, being weak, much less a manaless person, was a sin.
Until his affinity was tested at the age of twelve, his family treated him well, but when they realized he was doomed to be a commoner, their attitudes changed.
His siblings, especially the male ones, started bullying him; his father gave him a cold shoulder; and his step mothers became disdainful. Even the servants stopped respecting him as their young lord, and sometimes when no one was around, they would also bully him.
Only his mother and younger sister treated him with the same love and care.
"This is bad... very bad. I definitely won't live a good life in such a cold and hostile environment." He murmured, his brows creasing into a worried frown.
Then suddenly, he recalled something that made his eyes light up, and he called out.
"Hello, system."
"..."
No response came.
"You there?"
"..."
Frowning, he started checking his body to see if he had any special artifact. He even tried calling out to the soul of an expert that was supposed to reside within him according to the novels he read.
However, everything was useless. He didn't have a cheat ability.
"How am I going to survive now?" He once again became worried.
But right then,
Rustle! Rustle! Rustle!
The bushes behind him rustled, sending chills down his spine.
Only now he remembered he was in a forest where wild magic beasts roamed.
'Don't tell me I'm going to die yet again.' He thought, gulping down his saliva in fear.
He wanted to turn around and run away, but he was too weak to even move properly, let alone run. Moreover, his fear had frozen him.