One

In the middle of a deserted street, blood—so much blood—splattered on the road and metal fences along the way.

At the center of the road, three street dogs were biting or rather feasting on someone.

Rave had lost so much blood that he was going to die at any moment.

The dogs had torn his intestines out, bitten off a huge chunk of his cheek, taken out one of his eyeballs, and torn flesh from his arms and thighs. Many of his fingers were missing.

Right now, one dog was working on his stomach, another on his shoulder, and the last dog was currently chewing and tearing at his manhood.

He had lost his ability to feel pain, or any feelings for that matter.

At some point, the dogs had dragged him towards the middle of the long road where the mansion was located.

The dog that had been eating his shoulder changed its target and started chewing on his chest, aiming for his ribs.

'I didn't give up until the last moment,' Rave thought as a single tear flowed from his remaining eye.

*Crunch* Finally, the dog broke his rib and dove straight in to devour his heart.

then, the dog froze, and the green color of its eyes faded away.

All the dogs ran away from the place as if they were scared of something.

As Rave was about to take his final breath, time seemed to stop.

The mansion's doors slowly opened, revealing pure darkness inside.

A thick black fog flowed out from the door, spreading in Rave's direction slowly but eerily.

Within the darkness, many thick, long hand-shaped shadows wiggled and slithered, closing the distance to Rave.

The black fog now covered Rave's almost corpse-like body, and within the darkness, the hands took hold of him and picked him off the ground.

They slowly but steadily brought him to the mansion's door.

Rave's body, surrounded by the mysterious black fog and ominous black hands/tentacles, slowly drifted into the mansion.

Then the mansion door shut once again, possibly forever.

The remaining dark fog scattered through the street, and wherever the fog touched, the blood evaporated into the air, making the whole street look clean but creepy and desolate again.

After an unknown amount of time...

"Hmm," Rave hummed in space.

Well, technically it wasn't outer space, but since he was floating and his entire surroundings were nothing but darkness, outer space was the closest place this resembled.

He didn't know how he got here. The last thing he remembered was one of those damn dogs crushing his ribs and going for his heart.

Then he woke up in this empty space, naked.

He didn't know how long he had stayed here since there was nothing to calculate time. Other than that, he didn't feel hungry, tired, or sleepy. He didn't even feel bored.

It felt like it had been many years inside this empty space, yet it also felt like only a few minutes had passed.

"Hello, is anyone here?" he asked softly, not expecting any response.

Suddenly, the whole space spoke to him from all sides, "What is your deepest desire?" A low voice, which felt like it was both male and female, replied to him.

"Huh!!!" He got scared for a bit since the voice had jump-scared him suddenly.

"Who are you? And obviously, my deepest desire is having the power to do anything I want," he replied hesitantly.

"My identity doesn't concern you. Just think of me as something that once belonged to a greater thing and separated since the greater thing died and left me alone," the voice said.

"Alright…" He didn't fully understand, but he replied positively.

"Hmm, now let's get to the main point. If I can help you reach the power you desire, will you do what I ask of you?" the voice asked without any emotions.

"Can I refuse?" he asked, just for clarification.

"No," the voice replied, slightly annoyed.

"Alright, what do you want me to do?" he asked again.

"You can't do anything right now. When the time comes, you'll find out about my task naturally," the mysterious voice replied.

"Wait!!" he suddenly interrupted.

"What?" the voice replied impatiently.

"Are you the one who killed me using the cow and dogs, and are you the dark thing with green eyes inside that mansion?" he asked.

"Yes, what? Are you mad?" the voice asked back.

"No," he replied.

"Hmm…" The voice hummed for a few seconds, considering something.

"Well, since I'm the one who killed you, I'll grant you any three wishes later. For now, you need to decide how you're going to achieve power," the voice said.

"How?" he asked.

"You have three options: Reincarnation, Regression, Transmigration. Now choose, human," the voice replied.

"Can you please explain?" he requested.

"Fine. Reincarnation means you'll be born as someone's child in another world and have to improve yourself there and become the strongest, until you meet some other part of me in that world."

"Regression means you'll go back in time on Earth to your childhood. You need to learn about ancient martial arts that have been hidden from common people, become the strongest person in the world, and ascend to a higher world from Earth. Even if you die at some point, you can go back in time and do it over again. Only this method can help you see your family, friends, and maybe your past lover again, help them get stronger, and maybe help everyone gain immortality and live with them again.

"Transmigration means your current body will be transferred to another world, and you'll need to adapt to that world and become the strongest without dying.

"Now, it's up to you to decide which way you're going to become stronger," the voice finished.

Rave contemplated for a few seconds and said, "I'll reincarnate."

His reason was really simple: one life was enough on Earth. He didn't want to go through everything again. Even though he could see everyone again and do many things right the next time, it wouldn't be the same. They wouldn't be the same people. The world he knew—he had died there. Even if he went back in time, it would be a different timeline and different people.

Plus, he had read ORV, so he knew that Regression might look cool, but it's worse than one can imagine. So, he removed Regression first.

Next, Transmigration. There was nothing wrong with transmigration, but he didn't want to simply jump into some dangerous world without any knowledge or support.

Plus, he had seen a certain anime where the hero goes to buy something and suddenly gets pulled into another world and dies many times without good knowledge, training, or support.

So, the most reliable option was Reincarnation.