The staff were busy attending to the people coming in and out of the inn.
Creek
The door opened and a man wearing a black robe entered and sat at one of the empty seats.
Will, who was sitting at the nearby table, turned and noticed the man. Above the man's head, a little box could be seen.
[ ??? ]
'A strong cultivator!' Will shouted inside. '???' means that the realm of the black robed-man was beyond his comprehension.
'I should not provoke him,' he thought to himself. 'These types of cultivators can't be provoked.'
Sensing his gaze, the black robed-man turned to Will.
"What are you looking at?" the man asked Will in a cold tone.
"N-nothing." he replied.
The man continued to coldly stare at him.
He then swiped his finger in the air.
Huwip!
[ You have died. ]
Will's vision darkened.
He got up from bed in an instant.
"What the hell is that character? Isn't he too OP? That thing should be banned!"
He threw the game helmet he was wearing on his bed.
"This game's shit!"
He was frustrated because he died at the game 'Beyond Immortality', a massive cultivation game with millions of players worldwide. It offered infinite freedom to its players that made it so popular around the world.
However, there was a huge difference that made Beyond Immortality stand out among the hundreds of similar games.
The player has only one life.
In other games, when a character of a player dies, there was a respawn option that was available for the players to continue playing the game.
That was not the case for Beyond Immortality.
When a player dies, that was the end of their days playing the game.
People were still debating about this feature being a con or a pro.
Whichever it was, it was not Will's matter because now, he cannot play the game anymore .
After almost two years of grinding and dedicating his life to this game, he died at the hands of a wandering cultivator that he angered just by staring at him.
And it took only a single swipe of his finger to kill Will.
"Aargh!!" he shouted and entered the website of Beyond Immortality.
He left a 1 star review at the review section and left a comment.
{ You're game's not even real. }
Followed by some hate comments.
After some time, he finally calmed down.
"Alright. Time to find another game."
There were similar games to Beyond Immortality. He decided to play something he was familiar with to quickly adapt to the game.
After all, playing these games was Will's source of income.
He wore his game helmet and laid on the bed.
Will was ready to search for a new game when he saw a notification on his screen.
[ Beyond Immortality Notification - Respawn available. ]
Questions filled Will's mind.
"Did the developers add a respawn feature to the game? Finally? But when? Why didn't I hear any of it?"
Despite his questions and doubt, curiosity prevailed in him.
He clicked on the notification.
[ Beyond Immortality Notification - Respawn? ]
"Yes." he answered before his vision slowly darkened.
…
In one of the rooms of a mansion, a woman was crying as he held the left hand of a young man lying peacefully on his bed.
A physician tended to the young man and continued to examine his body, particularly, the young man's right arm.
"How is he?" the woman asked.
The physician replied. "His right arm is broken but he will be fine. I already wrapped his arms. It will take about six months before he fully heals so he should be careful."
After discussing the condition of the young man for a few more minutes, the physician left.
"They are too much! Why are they doing this to Will?" the woman cried.
The lady beside her wearing maid clothes also teared up.
At this moment, the young man slowly opened his eyes.
"Will!" the woman shouted.
Will, grunted silently and stared at the woman.
"What..Where is this? Who are you?" he asked in a weak voice.
The woman and maid were confused but still answered.
"I'm your mother, Silva and this is your maid, Layla. Is something wrong, son? You don't remember us?" Silva asked with worry.
"Silva…Layla…" the young man muttered.
"Then, I am Will?" he asked.
"Yes, yes. You're Will. Are you alright? Why are you being like this? You're scaring me." Silva said with concern.
They didn't remember Will hitting his head so the two of them were really confused as to how he could have an amnesia of sorts.
Will fell silent for some moments.
'What happened? Where is this place?' he asked himself.
He was just about to enter the game Beyond Immortality when he woke up in the body of another character.
Will knew right away that it was not his game character because he felt the pain in his right arm due to broken bones which would not be possible for a respawn character.
'Then who is this Will character that I respawned to?'
'Character.'
He thought to reveal his character profile but nothing appeared.
'What is this? A bug?'
"Character." He whispered but still, nothing happened.
'Profile! Console! System Prompt! System! Log out! Log out!'
Will tried to call on the game system again and again but it didn't show itself.
'What is happening? Why can't I log out?'
'Damn it. I'll just wait for the Game Time Limit, then.'
To ensure the welfare of the players, the government placed a 12-hour Game Time Limit to games such as Beyond Immortality. After twelve hours of playtime, the player will be automatically logged out from the game.
Will rested and patiently waited for the Game Time Limit to log him out.
Silva and Layla tended to him as he rested.
The twelve hours came and then passed.
'The Game Time Limit didn't take effect?'
'I can't logout?'
'I'm stuck here?'
He was totally confused by what was happening around him.
Right then, he felt the pain from his broken arm.
He was injured before in the game so he was not alien to this kind of pain.
Still, it was very uncomfortable.
'I'll sleep first.'
The next day, Will came out of his room and wandered around the area with Layla.
He was feeling better so he decided to walk around the mansion.
His home was huge but it was not luxuriously decorated. There's also a wide yard planted with flowers and plants around the area.
After talking to Layla, he learned that his name was Will Sundersky, seventeen years of age.
Son of Baron Wilhelm Sundersky and Silva Rayheart.
His father was rather a newly titled noble that came from an ordinary background.
The Highwind kingdom commended his achievements on the battle against the demonic beasts so he was granted the title of a Baron and was given a small fiefdom near the borders of the Thousand Lone Mountains located at the north of the kingdom. This was to ensure that he will still fight for the kingdom despite earning a title.
"Wilhelm Sundersky. Highwind Kingdom. Thousand Lone Mountains."
Will felt that he had heard these words before.
"Sundersky, Highwind, Thousand Lone mountains."
He repeated again and again to recall his memories.
After some time, he finally remembered.
"Highwind Kingdom? Isn't that the kingdom that was overrun by the invasion of demonic beasts from the Thousand Lone Mountains?"
Will turned to Layla and asked for a map of the kingdom.
Layla left and brought back a map.
After unfolding it, Will scanned the places drawn on the map and confirmed his suspicion.
'The Highwind Kingdom is a part of the Grand Stellar Continent, the place where Beyond Immortality takes place. However, in my time, the Highwind Kingdom was already gone and their current location on the map was occupied by demonic beasts.'
'Sundersky Household. I heard their surname from the list of the families that defended the kingdom until the end alongside a Sword Master.'
'They all died at the end though.'
Will sighed.
If he can't logout and this place was now his new life, his family would soon face their demise in the hands of the demonic beasts.
'If the Highwind kingdom is still standing, that means that the demonic beast invasion has yet to happen.'
'This also means that I was respawned to the past and now, I can prepare for the invasion.'
"What year is it now, Layla?" he asked.
"Year 2020 of the Sacred Stellar Calendar." she replied.
"2020, hmm. The invasion took place around 2030 so I still have a decade to prepare myself." Will muttered and pondered what he should do next.
"There are two things I need to do for sure. Gather information and get stronger."
"For now, I need to check on my body first."
He returned to his room and sat in the lotus position in the center.
'This body has no cultivation so I should immediately start cultivating.'
Will performed the cultivation technique that he used in the past.
The qi in the air gathered around him and entered his body.
But, then, a wave of unfathomable pain struck every inch of his body that stopped him from further cultivating.
He gasped for air and was sweating all over.
"What was that? What is wrong with this body?"
Layla opened the door the moment she heard his scream.
"Young Master!" she hurriedly ran to him and led him carefully to the bed.
"Layla, what is wrong with my body?" he asked her.
She stared at him with teary eyes before answering.
"You have damaged spirit roots, Young Master."
Will's world fell apart.
"Damaged…spirit roots…"
A spirit root dictates whether one could cultivate or not.
And a damaged spirit root was the same as having no spirit root.
Not only one can't cultivate but he will feel indescribable pain the moment he tries to do so.
Will having a damaged spirit root meant that one of his goals was already starting to get blurry.
After all, he needed to cultivate to get stronger and how could he cultivate without having spirit root.
He felt a headache and told Layla to leave him alone for some time.
She embraced him for a second before leaving.
"This really sucks."
Will stood up and stared at the window.
"What should I do now?"
"There are treasures that can repair damaged spirit roots but if my family had it, they would have already given it to me."
"I could find it myself but without enough influence and power, I doubt that I can get my hands on them easily."
While trying to think what he should do, Will saw a young man tending to the garden.
His silver hair stood out among the other servants.
When Will noticed this, he ran out of his room and went to see the young man.
He passed by Layla but ignored her.
"I remembered that he also has silver hair."
A flash of memory came to him.
"And according to the stories, he also was a gardener for a Baron family."
Will arrived at the side of the young man, who looked at him with confusion.
He was about to say his greeting but was interrupted by Will.
"What's your name?"
The young man replied.
"Lucas Greyrain."
'The Silver Sword Master.'