1 Chapter 1: A New Beginning

Hegen, the Immortal Demon, Supreme cultivator of the Nine Realms, lay on a mountain face, blood staining his silver hair. He turned to look behind him to see his aid and brother, Altruist, gripping the sword that pierced his heart. Full of shock and regret, Hegen took his last breath. On this day, Hegen, the cultivator feared by all nine realms, passed away.

Just before his consciousness faded to black, he thought to himself.

"Is this truly all I amount to?"

"No. NO! I can do so much more, pay back those who betrayed me and reclaim my throne!"

With this thought kindling his rage and passion, he decided to take a risk he never thought he'd take, forcibly ripping his soul from death's grasp to reincarnate himself.

.....

Seong Hyun-woo was walking home in the rain early in the morning. Today was the day that the beta release for the new Virtual Reality game 'Whispers of Elysia' came out. So he made sure to be one of the first to purchase the Virtual Game Headset, using up most of his funds in the process.

While waiting at a stoplight, suddenly, a car came swerving towards him. Without any time to react, Hyun-woo was struck directly, being sent back several meters before rolling to a stop on the ground.

The driver of the car, for fear of having injured someone, sped off down the street without a second thought of helping who they had just hit.

"Just my luck," Hyun-woo said aloud to himself. "All I wanted was to start a new in VR, maybe just maybe I could've been something. If anyone is listening, please, help me!"

At this moment, Hegen's soul came upon him and entered his body.

Hyun-woo's soul, which was already slipping away from his body, noticed the ethereal-looking Hegen and laughed raspingly, "I truly am dying, I'm even imagining ghosts!"

Hegen, shocked by this boy's attitude, shook his head and said, "I may not be able to save you, but leave this life to me."

Hyun-woo, who wanted to say something more, had already joined death's embrace shortly after Hegen finished speaking.

After Hegen's soul assimilated into the new body, he was flooded with information as Hyun-woo's memories came pouring into his mind in full force.

'Seong Hyun-woo, was it? Let me take control now, and I shall make you the best in this new world!' Hegen thought to himself. 'Before that, however, I need to fix this destroyed body.'

Hegen, now in Hyun-woo's body, struggled to look up, only to notice numerous broken bones sticking out from his body.

'I guess the only good news is that I can truly use the best cultivation method now that I'm starting anew.'

Following this thought, Hegen thought of the best cultivation method he knew, one he created after merging numerous top-tier manuals, the Immortal Demon's cultivation method.

He slowly and methodically circulated his Qi throughout his body, allowing it to renourish his tattered bones. Finally, after about an hour and a half, Hegen stood again.

'This world truly lacks spiritual energy; it should've only taken an incense's worth of time. I'll have to rethink how I regain my strength if this is this world's limit.'

After standing up again, Hegen searched through Hyun-woo's memories and realized he was holding an item before the fated incident.

'You wanted to be the best in this game? Then I shall make sure that that dream becomes a reality, it's the least I can do.'

Hegen found the VR Headset after a small amount of searching and headed toward Hyun-woo's home.

Arriving at Hyun-woo's residence, a small two-room apartment with only a bathroom and a living room that doubled as the kitchen, Hegen entered and opened the headset. Having already searched through Hyun-woo's memories, he knew that the game servers for Whispers of Elysia didn't open for another three hours or so, so he decided to put it aside and practice circulating his Qi.

Currently, he was only slightly stronger than an average human, and he understood that the game based the starting character on the individual's athletic standard. Unable to correct his body's physique, he decided to practice strengthening it through cultivation, hoping it would transfer through to the game.

After a little over 2 hours, Hegen made a breakthrough in the first stage of his cultivation, gaining one orb. After this breakthrough, Hegen stopped to familiarize himself with the game he would soon be dominating. He read through the manual and skimmed through Hyun-woo's memories to get himself up to speed. He realized that while each character in-game has its own strengths on paper, the game allowed players to create their own skills that would be recognized and ranked by the system.

After ensuring he familiarized himself well enough with the game manual, he finally set it down and picked up the headset.

'Hyun-woo, I shall make you the best of the best in this world!'

With that thought, he put on the headset and switched it on.