Prologue & Chapter 1

 Ascendance of the Outcasted Archer

 Prologue & Chapter 1

My name is Ryu Seonu, or it was. In my previous life, I chased my one and only passion and dream burning hotter than the summer sun, and that is to participate and win in the Olympics in Archery, when I was eight years old, I started Archery because I liked watching anime and other comics which showed archers and I was hooked. It didn't stop at fun, I wanted to be the best at Archery in the whole world, I won tons of Nationals and international Championships or Tournaments, the bow felt like an extension of my very being since childhood. But dreams, oh, they can be cruelly shattered, I was going through my selection trails and was, and surprisingly I was not selected and a person who got 12th place was selected, and when I appealed to the South Korea Olympic Archery Association, they said that I should try for next time. 

I couldn't bear the betrayal, when I got to know that the person who was selected was the nephew of the Sports Minister of South Korea, who bribed the officials and got his nephew into the team, instead of me, these Corrupt elites pulled the strings, snuffing out my Olympic flame before it could truly ignite. My family tried going to court for me which ended in favor towards the Minister, even though we had undeniable evidence of why I was robbed of my opportunity, my scores and Achievements compared to the selected person, it was evident that I was in the loss, but unfortunately in South Korea the law protects the rich and the people in power rather than the ones who deserve justice.

This broke me, as I wasn't able to get a second chance in Olympics as I was banned from participating in any other Olympic trials from South Korea, my family was not wealthy enough to have me go to another country and have me play through that country, as they also had to fund my sister's college and future. Life in Seoul turned into a dark alley, my dreams shattered like shards of glass, I would've tried to scrape by in my life, if it was just this, but I couldn't even participate in any other Nationals or World championships because the same person who robbed me of my chances was being chosen instead of me, every single time.

After giving up on my dream and falling into depression I was roaming the streets of the busy and bustling Seoul, I wanted to escape the reality of my pitiful life where my dream was stomped on by people in higher authority and higher stature, even in a time where skills and excellence should be at top. I wanted to retaliate, I wanted to fight more for my life, I…..I wante-…I WANTED TO ACHIEVE MY DREAM, but in the end I had to bottle up all my anger, my resentment, my sorrow and my depression, like bottling up an entire ocean in a tiny bottle which I don't think is strong enough to contain the overflow of the emotions and feelings.

I shut myself in, I cut contact with everyone, I took a normal salary man job, and worked just enough to survive without having to die of hunger. At this point in time the only thing I had to ensure my sanity was Dramas, Anime, and mainly Web-Novels, people might find it funny that a person who had so much conviction, motivation, skill, and even a big dream, ultimately gave up, and started wasting his life on a meaningless job and fictions, well the fictions are the saving grace that protected me from ending myself of the misery and my worthless life. It may be considered stupid, it also could be thought of as narrow-minded, but imagine the feeling of someone whose whole existence is about one single "thing" and they are denied exceling in that "thing" due to their status and injustice, how do you think you would react? Some people might say that they can relate or understand to what I am going through, but no, you don't, not everyone in the world has the chance of being the best at something in the country and if possible, the world and being denied the chance to show it off to the world and fulfilling the meaning behind their life, and MY CHANCE, MY HARDWORK was robbed, it's not common, and it's most definitely not frequent.

The fictional world was the only getaway for me from the reality, it helped me keep my life in my hands and not lose my life on the path I had left, I just wanted to survive, and be happy with what I had left, watching and reading these fictional stories, made me crave for meaning in my life. I wished for a second chance in my life, I wished for a life where I could happily enjoy my life with the "meaning" I yearned for. I saw many dramas, many fictional movies, I read many web-novels, and in all of them the protagonist gets what they want by working hard, and being lenient towards their meaning of life, their existence itself made their hard work fruitful, I wanted to be the protagonist of my life just like them, I wanted my hard work to be seen and acknowledged by everyone, but more than that I wanted myself to know that I am the best at Archery, I wanted my own acknowledgment, my own conscience, to know that we made it, before anyone else sees it.

You might ask why web novels or comics or anime, and not movies or video games, well for starters movies have a certain end and a limit to the imagination and so do video games, because after one point it will become much more complicated to explain, but comics and web novels are stories like fairy tales they don't have a limit to how you see or envision reality. They don't have an end to possibilities, and this was the reason it made me submerge myself in these fictional and infinitely large possible worlds.

It was never ending, every time I read a new novel, I see myself in the protagonist, I look at their struggles, I see myself, I look at their journey, I see myself, I look at their hard work, I see myself, I look at them smiling when they face challenges that they know they can't beat but they still take them head on and win through with grit and sheer will, however this time I don't see myself in them, their hard work pays off and they accomplish what they wanted, I couldn't see myself in them, they were able to look behind their past filled with struggles, hard work, challenges, misery, tears and blood and smile knowing that it was worth it, I couldn't see myself in them, at one point I thought if the world had authors, my author wanted me to probably give me the happiness step by step leading me closer to the peak just to crumble all the steps before the door, just for me to fall in a never-ending pit of failure.

All that aside, even when I was just trying to live by without making any noise, or any inconvenience to others, it just kept getting worse, my elder sister got into an accident with her best friend when they were crossing the road and a drunk driver ran them over, my sister's best friend died instantly trying to protect my sister however, my sister was still in the range of the truck, and succumbed to her grave wound to her head. The only light and hope of my family, the one who had me sit in her lap when I was 8 years old and watch the Olympics with me, telling me if I became the best archer in the world she would become my number 1 fan and cheer me on, where is she now, the one who said she would be my by side and watch me grow, where is she, she left me all alone, the one who made me porridge whenever I went for archery practice, and her best friend who made me kimbap and thought of me as her younger sibling, both of them where like my eyes, they cheered me on in each one of my tournament, they watched me grow into the archer I was, they were like my second set of parents, they would freak out if I had a single injury, they made the sourest Kimchi, they always drank soju however, they always wanted me to be healthy unlike them, both of them were devastated when they received the news of my ban, they were heartbroken and they consoled me to not do anything drastic, they were the ONLY THING I HAD CLOSE TO anything that I could live for. Now that I lost them, who is going to tell me to have hope, who is going to tell me not to cry, who is going to tell me that I have to be strong, I…. I…. I DON'T KNOW, I don't want to acknowledge, that they're gone. 

My parents who were already devastated of my life crumbling didn't want me to know that my sister and her friend lost their lives, they didn't want me to suffer more than what I already have, my parents wanted me to just live and survive, even if it's not an accomplished or successful life, they were not in a position psychologically to lose me too. I was on the verge of losing my sanity, I couldn't shed a tear, ONE SINGLE TEAR, after they both died, unlike my parents I couldn't even express my sorrow and grief, I was broken then but now my soul itself was crushed, my eyes looked dead and emotionless, I pushed away all my friends who consoled me, my best friend who tried to cheer me up. Nothing worked.

I started to live a silent life, as even having a happy family was a mistake according to the authors of my life, I was like an existence that is factually alive, but in all honesty just a walking corpse, no meaning, no life, no emotions, and devoid of contact.

One day I was buying some food in a local market as it has been 4 months since I went outside my apartment, I had no food in my house, so I went outside. I was getting my regular kimbap and ramyun packs, and some orange juice, while walking back to my apartment I was feeling thirsty and I took a sip of the orange juice I just bought, and I started walking in the crossing with some people and saw 2 girls walking beside me around the age of my sisters I suddenly remembered a glance of my sister and her friend, and when they were walking, I heard a loud horn and the sound of a truck coming close, and saw that it was going to hit all three of us, and for some reason my body just moved on its own, was it instinct? Or was it because I thought that they were similar to my sisters? I just ran and jumped on them pulling them to the sidewalk and while doing so we dodged the truck which almost ran over us, while covering the heads of the girls so they don't get hit on the ground.

 However I suddenly felt dizzy and was laying on the road, the girls crying and panicking were on their phones and shouting for help, they were trying to keep my conscious and I was confused, like I saved you guys why are you yelling at me I didn't attack you, but when I saw them crying and were covered in blood, I saw one of their shirt sleeve torn, and felt a tight cloth around my head, I was trying to talk and ask if they are ok, and the girls were not letting me talk, they were having me drink water, they kept slapping my cheeks, and then I realized that the one injured wasn't them but me. Apparently when I saved the girls from the truck, I didn't see the electric pole in front and hit my head against it with full force causing my head to crack open largely and bleed also falling unconscious for few seconds, these girls kept trying to do first aid, and wanted to save me, but weirdly enough I was relieved that the girls weren't injured. The girls kept screaming "Ajusshi, Ajusshi, please don't close your eyes, the ambulance is coming." The girls were crying so much that it reminded me of sisters, but for some reason I reached to one of the girls and placed my hand on her cheek "Don't cry Noona, I will be with you shortly, I guess I was meant to be a failure, but at least I was useful and meaningful enough that I saved two lives."

As soon as I said that my conscious started fading away, I was losing the grip on my breath, I was not feeling the pain like before, my eyes forcefully closed, and all I saw was darkness, which felt like it had no end. I thought to myself, that my life wasn't that bad after all, I made my nation proud by winning many world championships, I made my parents proud, I made my sisters proud, even though I wasn't able to accomplish my dream, I felt happy enough to leave this world in peace, however I didn't want my parents to lose hope, I didn't want my parents to lose their only remaining child, I still had regrets. 

But I guess just like how we don't choose our birth we don't choose our ending either.

I expected a final curtain, but instead, I blinked for a long time and into a world beyond imagination. I was lying in a bed with bandages wrapped around my head, and stricken with pain I clenched my head tight, it felt like my head was going to burst open in any moment, and I finally opened my eyes and started to look around the room, which didn't seem to resemble any type of hospital I knew. I started to ponder and was scratching my mummified head in confusion.

"Hmm, Did I get saved? Did the girls get me to the hospital on time, seems like they did, however, why do I feel like this isn't a hospital? I mean it looks so expensive and vintage even for a VIP room it's like a Chaebols room, were the girls actually daughters of Hansung? LOL, no way. But the more I look at it, the more it feels off, I mean I can understand that there are places like this in the world, but isn't this similar to a royal palace? The place is literally shining, and when I say literally, I mean it's actually glowing, it had expensive looking curtains, the bed was softer than the fur of a Polar bear not that I know of it, and all the items beside me from the nightstand to the cupboards, everything looked so expensive I would rather not touch them, as I would be dirtying the furniture."

I started getting thirsty and picked up the expensive golden jug on the nightstand to drink some water, and my hand was weak maybe because of the accident I might've not recovered fully yet, and the jug slipped out of my hands and fell to the floor making a loud noise, which I was afraid of breaking and having to pay money for which I don't think I would be able to afford. "AAISSHHH! I screwed up, shit shit shit, it legit looks like a golden vase, I wonder how much won would it be, coz at best I have 10 million won left in my account. WAAA!!(idiotically panicking noises made by the character)." 

The sounds of loud and fast footsteps approaching my room made me anxious, was it my parents? Is it the girls? Is it the doctors or is it the nurse? Before I could birth another thought the door opened, and 2 people appeared barging into my room as if the last rice cake was going to be stolen, it was a 35-40 looking man who looked a little European and was well built at least 6'5, had dirty brown hair and a girl with luscious jade green hair who looked at best 14 years old in a butler and maid attire respectively, I immediately had to control the urge to burst out laughing because I've never seen people actually wear clothing like this outside a cosplay café or event. However, I did wonder why they wore these types of clothes in the hospital, or did it not really matter because it was in a royal theme anyway? Well, not that I can complain about it but it's rather embarrassing for me to watch and once again before I could speak out for help, the maid attired girl clung to me and was crying all of a sudden, and she started talking while crying, and I couldn't understand a thing she said, and I asked in Korean sheepishly and worried ,"Excuse me, Do I know you? Where am I? "Do you speak Korean?", and they saw my mouth moving but didn't hear any sound, and I felt a loud siren noise which felt like it was glitched and remixed 100 times.

"Young Master, what are you trying to say? Are you alright? Do you still feel pain? Do you remember anything? How are you feeling?" the girl was panicking and making me panic at the same time, I was feeling restless, and the butler picked up the girl like a kitty from the collar of the maid uniform and said something I couldn't understand again, "Merida, stop scaring Young master he just regained his consciousness, and one question at a time." (This was what the butler said in the incomprehensive language Seonu heard.), they left the room letting me rest.

 It was funny to see them, but I felt a bit dizzy again maybe because the head injury was bigger than I thought, I went back to sleep and woke up 30 minutes later, I saw the girl sit on a chair and laying her head on my bed close to me, I would be lying if I said I didn't like it. While I was thinking about how the people look different from South Korea, or if I was transferred to a different country for treatment as it was a plausible conclusion, but there was this weary unsettling feeling I had in the back of my head, even hiding the pain, I couldn't quite point on what it was, looking aside here and there I found a letter which appeared to be made of gold and had a weird symbol on the seal of the letter, this time I had clear consciousness and my vision was not blurry.

 I was sweating, the second I reached for the letter I saw a change I didn't feel or realize till now, I was scared, I was losing my mind, my arms were tiny all of a sudden, my body shrunk to that of a child, my head is injured in the same place, but this is not my body, I picked up a mirror from the nightstand, my face was not mine, it was a young child's face, and I am damn sure It was not me from my childhood, because I didn't have sky blue hair and golden eyes, and my skin looked pristine and also extremely lifeless at the same time, and for some reason, my heard started hurting again similar to when I was trying to understand what the butler and maid were saying. The "LETTER", was what my instinct screamed, I couldn't understand why, but I once again reached for the letter and this time opened it properly, and this is what it read:

"Dear Ryu Seonu,

Hi nice to meet you, I know you might have a number of questions, and for starters let me just clarify, yes, you died protecting the girls, the girls tried their best to save you, and the ambulance reached on time, but the excessive bleeding got to you unfortunately. Now let's get into the details shall we, I am the person you hated the most in the world, oh let me correct myself your world*, people call me different names, "Almighty, All father, All-knowing, Universe, and also last but not the least, GOD.", however I like what you called me the most, the Author of your life, that was new one I won't lie, it was refreshing and it piqued my interest in you, as you gave me one of the greatest Ideas, I couldn't think of myself, having authors write and design each and every person's life, and hence why I've thought about giving you a chance to try and write your own new life.

I sincerely do apologize as your previous life did not go well, and so I knew that you liked novels, so enjoy living in your favorite novel as this is no more a fiction or a fantasy but your new reality, I hope you could achieve what you could not before.

Ahh and before I say goodbye, here are somethings you should know, , , , , , ,"

Yours truly,

AUTHOR-NIM."

Seonu talking to himself:

Reading the letter, I realized that the letter was written in a language I've never known or read but I completely understood and read each and every word of it, and the second thing was the letter vanished the second I finished reading the letter. I started hyperventilating, I couldn't accept it, but at the same time I had no choice but to believe and accept my current reality, I died and let's see I reincarnated? No would it be right to say I transmigrated? As I wasn't born again, rather my soul was transferred into this child's body.

All that complicated stuff aside the "GOD" or the "Author" informed me in the end, that my parents are safe but in grief, he said they would overcome it, I was a big talk in the news apparently, as it was known that the girls who I saved were actually Chaebols, and also my past of being an Archer was revealed, and my family was awarded a whopping 10 billion won from both families of the girls. The God finally said this before saying goodbye "I have given you some things that could make living in this world easy and carefree. However, what I do or how I improve in this world is now solely based on me and not his will anymore, so if things go south, he doesn't want me to blame it all on him." UGHH, I still feel pissed that a letter was all he could think of to explain all this complicated stuff, even though he's supposed to be a God. Ahh yes, finally the novel I was "reincarnated" into happened to be my favorite novel "The path of the lonely swordsman."

"The path of the lonely swordsman" which was to be honest my favorite for 2 reasons and 2 alone, because the protagonist "Kaiser Miller" was polar opposite of me, unlike me he was unparalleled with the sword and as the title says he walked the sword path alone as there was no human or species that could surpass him or challenge him in that path or any type of challenge in that aspect. He was strong from birth and became the strongest as he didn't even hit 30, and the second reason was because this novel gave me a different perspective, when I thought I couldn't compare to the protagonist in any aspect, I was wrong, the protagonist no matter how strong he was or how many challenges he faced, he tried to face it all alone, he kept bottling up his emotions as he didn't want others beside him to get hurt due to his own emotions, just like me he kept bottling up more and more grief and sorrow without letting it out till the end.

Present time:

So...I am not only reborn again, but as one of the main characters who is going to die soon. As the Author said, he gave me some "things" that would make my life easier, I knew what he meant and I was shocked at first, as I found out that I have skills and gifts? What are skills and gifts, you ask? I didn't know that I had them at first, either, until I realized that those are the only things "GOD" can help me withs. I already knew that everyone in this world could use magic and aura, people who use Aura become Aura knights or Aura use and people who use magic become Mages.

Now, let me break it down, skills and gifts according to the Novel, are only owned by 1 person in this world, as cheats for Kaiser Miller, but now including me that's 2 from what I could recall.

Skills are abilities that are given by God only to certain people, and Kaiser was only one among many who was chosen to have skills, and are Superhuman abilities, which surpass the realm of normally taught techniques and arts.

Gifts are something even rarer than skills, as Gifts are boons that GOD gives to only a select few which helps to develop or aid in the or just special abilities that help in the person's growth, and to have a gift means you are dearly blessed by the god, and you could be counted as 1 in a billion.

"The skills and Gifts I got from the Author was, Yeah, I decided to stick with calling him Author, as I am in a novel which became reality. So, the list is as it follows:

Skill One – Weapon Transcendence. A skill I who has read and completed the whole series of "The path of the lonely swordsman" didn't know about, and it was a skill only I had by the words of the Author, apparently it was a "Godly" evolution of the skill Weapon Master where a person who chooses a weapon of their choice becomes the master of it and becomes unparalleled at it, take a guess who has this skill, Yes, KAISER MILLER, the one and only hero of the novel. I took it as joke when he meant "Godly Evolution" but it seems I become the god of the weapon I choose, and this cunning fox of an author knew that I won't choose anything other than a bow, gave me this skill because Archery is widely looked down upon in this world, and also side note that with this skill even "Author" himself can't beat me in archery, as this skill makes me the literal God of Archery.

The "Author" was nice enough to give me an Unbreakable bow, which is a part of me, and is sealed onto my arm, and it also doesn't need any arrows, Sweet. 

Skill 2-Elemental & Mana Mastery ,

Skill 3- Temporal Sovereignty, 

Gifts – Ether Eyes and Heavenly Body. But let's not dive into those details, yet. It's like when you flip through a menu but only order your favorite dish.

Now that explanation of the Skills and gifts are over, let's talk about our current status, the fact that I'm in this world in itself is insane, but also another insane thing about it is that I'm supposed to be a character that dies in a succession assassination of the Aranzyde House. One of the few Houses stronger than the Royal family but are not royals, Aranzyde grew to strength from a fallen noble to a power stronger than the royal family due to the efforts of the Lord Lecion D Aranzyde he was hailed as the Aura Paragon or Sword Emperor as a monicker for his sword skills, throughout the world and was one of the strongest people in the world, as he achieved the highest power level a Knight can get and that was Aura Paragon, and grew into a free territory outside of the Kingdom's rule. Lecion D Aranzyde was on his deathbed due to the war between demons and another country and the succession was taking place, the one who currently in charge is his brother, Vercion D Aranzyde a force comparable to Lecion and the one who holds the title just below Aura Paragon, who holds the title Imperial Guardian and is also said to be one of the strongest , and he decided that he would leave the House if his brother succumbs to his condition as he needs nothing else but his brother, so he proposed for holding a succession ceremony, and if he found someone strong enough to lead the family even if they are young, he would support them until they grow old enough to handle things on their own.

This is where the trouble starts, Lecion adopts Kaiser who was one of the war survivors, and the only people Kaiser ever respected or cared for was Lecion, his brother Vercion, because they are the ones who taught him the sword path, and me the youngest one, the son of a concubine Felicia, as Valun was the only one who treated Kaiser as a brother even though he was adopted, and Kaiser bonded with me, as he too was bullied and insulted by Michael and Therion all the time who were the Legitimate and the First and second sons of Lecion and Svetlana the Head wife. I am also supposed to die later on in the future before my ceremony takes placewhen i turn 11.

But before I could do anything about my death, I am currently a 6-year-old which means I have more than 5 years before I change my future and live my life, I start to ponder as how to start or where to start as I haven't gone through my coming ceremony yet, and unlike Kaiser who notices his skills and gifts later in the future, I know mine already and I also have to know the reason behind my death before the day of ceremony. I also have to grow stronger, to protect myself and those who are dear to me. This time I will live my life, my way and do it through for-. As I was completing the sentence, A loud voice of an 8-year-old boy with luscious black hair and crimson red eyes, called out for my name, "VALUN!!!!!!"