1 Prologue: Does this still count as Reincarnation?

Prologue: Does this still count as Reincarnation?

It was late at night on Wednesday, I was already drowsy from so much scrolling through my news feed, but as usual I could not just stop. It was something I unfortunately frequently did. When I was procrastinating or just bored, I got on my phone or computer and wasted my time away. Even if something did come up that I was supposed to do, if I was scrolling, I kept at it.

This bad habit of mine was also part of the reason why I was pretty unsuccessful at life. I had, like most people nowadays, gotten my A-levels and then, after a gap year, gone to university. You might think that is great, but unfortunately, without the strict attendance required, with the unregular schedule and no one to remind me of just going or doing something, I could not handle it.

And so, I dropped out of my first University when I forgot to pay for the semester after a year of not attending lectures, let alone passing the exams. Convinced that it was the fault of the setting and that I could actually do it, I applied to a different University for the same course of studies.

Spoiler: No, it was not just the setting. It was also me. Naturally, a part of that was that despite my failure, my parents had been very off-hands with me, as they had always been. While they cared for me, perhaps because of their own childhoods where they actually had to be self-responsible, they expected me to be the same when I had never been self-responsible. Anyway, because of that and my bad habit of taking procrastination too far, the setting did not really change, I did not change, and the result was the same as before.

Two and a half years wasted in total. I was useless. Sure, I could go work at a minimum wage job. Perhaps it would even do me good if it were one with social interactions, but I had worked for a few months in a factory in shifts, and I had hated it. It quite literally sucked the life out of me.

If I had the choice, I would never ever work in such a factory in shifts again. Besides all my bad aspects and habits, there was perhaps one thing responsible for my current person.

Fantasy. I started reading it with five years, starting with Harry Potter, and since then never stopped. I was bound in the world of endless possibilities and imagination. While I was not a loner in school, I was certainly that one guy in a group that just was not wanted around, who nobody would care about if he did not come. Well, even if I did come nobody would care. But I had my books.

Later, in puberty, when I actually became a loner, I also got into anime, manga and finally web novels. A new world of self-improvement until omnipotence opened its doors to me.

When before I had dreamed of being like Harry Potter, only with the philosopher's stone and as respected as Dumbledore, or like Eragon, with his constant companion Saphira and world-bending powers, now I dreamed of cultivation, of systems, of creating entire fucking worlds.

I now desired to be just like one of those countless protagonists from countless web novels, who suddenly got run over by a truck, or got summoned or received a system.

Anyway, I never really lived my life, being too absorbed by my books, fantasies and procrastination.

That is why, when a black box suddenly popped up on my screen without any warning, aside from thinking of a scummy ad, a virus or malfunction, I also had a fervent hope it could be a god sending me wherever for a new start.

[Which character deserved his power and immortality the most?] the box showed in white characters, with a small, already selected, answer space below.

I took a moment to think of any, because while many definitely deserved what they got, I had to think about it clearer. In my mind, someone deserved something because they did things right, because they worked for and towards it. Now, of the stories of powerful immortals, most were novels with them as protagonists. I could directly exclude most xianxia (seeking immortality) novels' protagonists. While they did try their best, power and immortality often was not the centre of their quest, nor did most of them act close to perfectly for it. Of course, some were fully committed and all, perhaps even doing everything perfectly, but there was only one that stood out to me from my recent reading.

[Which character deserved his power and immortality the most?]

[ Leylin Farlier ]

I had recently reread the entire novel and I loved it. He was smart, scheming, calculative, purely benefit oriented and acted, at least in my eyes, exactly as someone zealously pursuing eternity.

Without fully committing to his goal, it might have been impossible to reach it. After all, eternity was only reachable by reaching the very peak! No one was known to have done so yet!

After a few moments, as if to confirm that the choice was made, the box on my screen flashed white before returning to its pitch-black colour.

Instead of further questions, it just said:

[Congratulations!]

and showed a lottery wheel with many sections that quickly began to spin. A minute later, it was finally slowing down to a crawl. Now I could finally make out the details on the sections of the wheel.

Close to stopping, it passed over a great tree, a glowing purple crystal, a fearsome looking black katana, a drop of blood, until it stopped on a weirdly constantly growing black orb with silver flashes.

That was the last I realized before I passed out.

--- {Scene Change} ---

A pained groan rang out. "My head really hurts…"

This was Alexander, waking up. He did not know what happened after he got that message, but apparently, he passed out. Right now, it felt as if there was a cut on his head, hurting so badly that his head felt like it was about to split open.

The scene in front of him seemed like he was riding on a horse carriage. His body continued to bounce up and down along with the carriage's movement, impacting his wound. It was so painful that he had to suck in several sharp breaths.

Surveying his surroundings, he saw walls formed from hollowed planks and quite a few blonde and blue-eyed youths resting on benches against the walls, though none of them paid him any attention.

He seemed to be lying on the floor, explaining the giant headache and how cold he felt. He struggled to stand up, but at that moment, he felt a sharp pain lancing through his head.

The pain arrived suddenly and brought many strange memories along with it. Alexander's's eyes rolled back as he fainted.

"Hey! Leylin! Wake up…"

Alex heard someone calling and dazedly opened his eyes. Absent-mindedly, he went through the new memories in his head. There were suddenly three sets of them! One, the life he lived as Alexander, which was him, two, the life of Leylin Farlier, son of a minor noble, and three, the life of a world leading scientist of a futuristic world, Fang Ming!

It took a few moments to properly rearrange the jumbled mess his memories were at that moment, so much that he had to completely go through his own life's memories twice to reassert himself against any influence the other two sets of memories might have on him. With that, he also gained some knowledge of where and who he currently was.

He had apparently somehow crossed into a realm similar to the European Middle Ages. A mysterious force also existed.

His current body, Leylin Farlier, had been tested to have the talent to become a magus. His father, Viscount John Farlier, had pulled strings to allow him to become a Magus Apprentice. At the moment, he was in a group with others similar to him, travelling towards a magus academy.

He had a strange feeling, that he knew exactly what kind of world this was, as he, Alex, had read about it not long ago in a novel, but he decided not to further ruminate this, as the one who had woken him up, a large, male youth, was waiting for him right before him.

He had thick eyebrows and large eyes, a tall and straight nose, and sparkling gold hair. Although his face was somewhat young and tender, his body was sturdy and well-muscled, looking extremely manly.

Seeing that Alexander had awoken, the boy laughed happily, "Haha…. Leylin, you are finally awake. If you had awoken even a few more minutes later, you probably would not have been able to make it to dinner. I assume that you don't want to starve!"

Alex lowered his eyes. After some thought, he figured out this person's identity.

"Thanks George!"

The youths who were together with him and heading towards the magus academy had all been tested to be gifted to be Magi. This George was a legitimate son of a Count and was also one of the favoured sons for that Count. In order to allow George to enter a magus academy, the Count had spent many resources and pulled strings.

"A count?" Alexander inwardly thought.

He flashed back to his current body's father, Viscount John Farlier, whose holdings were equal in size to a city in his previous life, with thousands of soldiers under his command. In this world, noble ranking was inevitably tied to personal strength. Since George's father was a Count, his holdings were likely at least the size of several cities, and his annual income was probably a few thousand gold coins. With such finances and power at his disposal, he still had to take so much effort in order to send George to a magus academy. Alex could not help but wonder how his father managed to do the same for him.

He quickly got the answer with another sharp burst of pain in his head bringing a flash-back.

It was a dark room, with old musty shelves lining the sides, filled with an ancient air. The surroundings were chock full of dust.

Under a dim light, John Farlier solemnly passed a ring to Leylin, saying: "Dear Leylin, this is our Farlier Family's Heirloom Treasure, a promise from a Magus. At that time, my grandfather had helped an injured Magus, who had in return gifted grandfather with this ring, promising him that if one of his descendants had the gift to be a Magus, he could use this ring and enter any magus academy for free! Now, I am giving this to you, in hopes that you can be the Pride of the Farlier Family, and uphold our legacy…"

The ring!

Alex's eyes narrowed, and his right hand involuntarily went to his chest.

Under his clothing, he could feel the solid touch, like a metal ring was under there.

He heaved a sigh of relief in his heart and thought: Lucky! If those simps that beat me to death had taken that away I would not be able to become a magus!

He had by now more or less recollected himself and knew what happened. The original Leylin had been known as the Scourge of his father's holdings. He had been extremely lecherous, losing his virginity at the age of twelve, and after that he had either seduced or forced his way with many others and had by now slept with more than a hundred women!

Being used to his ways, Leylin had set his eyes on Bessita, a fifteen-year-old princess of a small kingdom. Like an idiot, he did not care when she rejected his advances, even trying slightly forceful methods until he got viciously schemed against by her.

As a phenomenal beauty, she naturally had admirers other than Leylin too. Although he had not been going as far as to **** her, as he at least remembered that she had a higher status than him and that the people escorting them might interfere then, she had managed to make it seem like he was trying to **** her in front of her other admirers.

Naturally, he had been beaten up by them and actually died from it! Now, although this had benefited Alexander in taking over this body, he still held bad feelings for those 'Flower Knights'. As he was ostracized by the other youths due to his demeanour, nobody had extended a helping hand or stopped the others from beating him. It seemed that only now, when the others had already gone outside to eat dinner, George had dared to help him.

"Thank you! George, do you have any medicine?" Alex stood up and stretched his bruised body. Although it still hurt in a few places, it did not impede his movement and the wound at the back of his head had already become a scab.

"Heh heh … I knew that you'd need this!", George laughed as he tossed a small bottle over, "This is my family's secret product. I heard that it's usually used during Knight's training and is extremely effective against any bodily injuries!"

As George spoke, he looked around furtively: "Alright! Dinner is about to start. I am going to head there first, you should apply the medicine quickly and hurry over too. Remember, do not tell anyone else about our friendship!"

After he finished speaking, he had run off like a gust of wind!

Looking at George's figure disappear into the distance, Leylin could not help but massage his forehead. He was really in trouble. Still, at this point, he could not do anything to remedy the situation. Swiftly taking off his clothes, Leylin quickly rubbed the medicine all over the injuries on his body.

"Hiss… This damned George. Couldn't he help me apply the medicine before leaving?" Leylin drew several sharp cold breaths as he applied the medicine.

The medicine was extremely effective. As soon as he applied it, there was a cooling sensation and the pain vanished.

After he had dealt with the wounds on his body, Leylin put on his clothes and opened the carriage door. While his stomach was not quite hurting from hunger yet, he was definitely ravenous.

Whoosh!

A gentle breeze blew across, and the sun was setting in the horizon, painting everything around with a golden hue.

Looking at the surroundings, he noticed several of the large carriages forming a circle to make a crude temporary campsite, with a large fire in the middle.

There were many youths around the fire, sitting and resting on cloth mats laid on the ground, laughing and playing with each other, while eating the bread in their hands.

Leylin walked towards a table where there were quite a few breads and juices placed. According to his memories, this was where food was distributed.

When he approached the area, he saw that there were a few people queuing up. As they spotted Leylin, they looked over at him with a look of despise.

Although Leylin thought of himself as thick-skinned, he still found it somewhat difficult to endure.

Still, he did not leave. No matter what, he still had to eat.

"Hurry up!" A hoarse voice rang out.

"So…Sorry! Lady Angelia!" A freckled boy quickly apologised and took his share of food before running away.

[Beep! Danger Alert! Danger Alert!] [You are extremely close to the source of danger. Recommendation: The Host should move at least 1000 meters away!]

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Please beware the copy pasta around the start, as I would like to quickly do the setting. I am going to mostly follow the novel for some time with minor changes, at least until the bloodbath. I am not 100% sure yet whether I should go the Warlock Route, as it may be a bit hard to diverge much then, else I would have to rewrite a major part of the background. As much as I am able to I will write my own story, but, as I said, in a lot of cases Leylin did perfectly from his POV, and even knowledge of the future as well as the little extra can only change so much from the start. So it might take a couple dozen chapters until a greater divergence appears instead of only small changes. Regardless, enjoy it if you will, don't if you won't. Spoilers in this paragraph's comment section!