Prologue

Death is a dream, neverending. Death is absolute, inevitable. It is what awaits all, the inescapable fate of all, and the blessing of an end to a beginning.

Such were my thoughts on death, and as I died, my views held true and did not change.

It came too soon, for I was a young man, and it was sudden... Unexpected and very surprising. And most of all, cold.

As I drowned in the darkness of an endless void, only my thoughts were my company. Wealth, family, and everything else was meaningless.

Death is lonely. Memories and my consciousness were all that remained. I felt helpless, yet also liberated.

For in its silence and absolution, there was peace and a strange feeling of contentment. It was finally over. There were no more problems.

Death is the ultimate escape...

Or so I thought; My consciousness and beingness became contained and I took a form, and before I knew it, I found myself floating above my body.

I could see and hear everything around me, my form was ethereal and blue-colored, and there were sensations that I could not comprehend.

Before I could fully understand what was going on, I felt a powerful pulling force from above. I looked up and saw what could only be described as a wormhole, for some reason, I felt dread.

I tried to escape but could not, It forcefully pulled me into itself, yet I fought with all I had. My struggle was futile.

Just as I was completely devoured, I saw a glimmer of light and grabbed hold of it with all my might, hoping to use it to escape wherever the wormhole would take me.

The light engulfed me and pulled me away from it, I faintly saw angels and demons and all manner of inexplainable things inside the wormhole, I sighed in relief as the light took me far away from it.

The surroundings blurred as the light merged with me, and before I knew it, everything turned black.

Suddenly I woke up, alive, my heart beating frantically as I breathed like mad.

"Uhh...?" I felt a splitting headache and pains all over my body.

'Didn't I die? How can I be alive? Did the light do something? Where am I?' I wondered and looked around, the room was not something that belonged to the modern world. The walls were cracked and cobwebs covered the corners, the bed was just some wood and simple cloth on top. There was a wooden table in the middle of the room, with some rotten apples and such on it.

Looking at my body, I was half naked and quickly noticed there were many bruises covering everywhere on my body, this body had taken heavy damage.

I quickly put two and two together, 'Unfamiliar room, another body, my death, and that light... I somehow transmigrated to another world or to the past or something like that. I did not expect this... But it is far better than being judged by some almighty being and my future eternity decided based on 20-something years of life...'

I sighed in relief since I preferred this over other possibilities of the afterlife, but then I got annoyed as even breathing was painful.

'I need information and a doctor.' I thought and stood up with difficulty. I took a good look at my body. It belonged to a young adult at least based on the size.

Overall, the body was very thin and malnourished with an unhealthy pale complexion and shoulder-length blonde hair that was covered with dirt so it was not clear how light or dark it was. I couldn't see my face but thankfully it was not damaged like the rest of the body. There were no broken bones either.

The room had no windows to see outside, thankfully there were some rags on the ground which I used to cover my upper body as I opened the wooden door and outside.

The 1st thing that hit me was the bright sunlight, a great contrast compared to the darkness of the room behind me. The 2nd thing was the sound of people, talking, walking, and haggling quite far away. The 3rd was the smell of the air. It smelled fresher than any air I had ever breathed on earth, but there was the scent of smoke, bread, other food, and also urine in it.

The weather was warm, thankfully. Or I would have frozen in the rags I was wearing.

The street was not crowded at all, there were drunk and homeless people on the ground everywhere. 'So this is either the slums or the equivalent of it in a medieval city or something of that age. Not a great start at all.'

I inspected the sky and saw a castle not far away, it was quite big. There were big walls close by stretching to the east and west.

A robotic voice echoed in my mind, without warning.

[Merging completed...]

[Sign in System Activated, Sign in every day to earn rewards based on where you Sign in.]

[Sign in at Slums of Lannisport?]

I was stunned and speechless for a while.

'A system?! And where have I heard that name before...?' I shook my head and put my thoughts in order.

"Yes." I replied without hesitation, there was not much to do. I had read about such novels on Earth, so despite my surprise, I wasn't that shocked. After all, experiencing death had done something to my mind, and I was not easily shocked anymore.

There are not many things worse than death, and after humans experience something extreme, lesser things tend to be less shocking. So all this, while insane, didn't shock me as intensely as it should have. Perhaps I was slightly mad, who wouldn't be after dying once and remembering it?

[Signed in Successfully. You have earned 3 Low-grade Healing Pills (Moderately effective on flesh wounds)]

[System items are stored in the system inventory.]

A holographic screen popped up in front of me, it was a standard menu one saw in games, and there was a round pill in one of the slots, with the number 3 on it.

I swiftly turned around and entered the room and closed the door. This room was actually a ruined house made of clay, half of it was mere rubble and this room remained standing. The screen followed in front of me.

I clicked on it and chose one then the pill moved out of the screen and landed on my palm magically, it was quite confusing and bizarre to see in person. That didn't make it less amazing.

I was awed by it, a smile crept on my face.

"This is... great! I have hit the jackpot..." I whispered and felt shivers in my body from the excitement.

I quickly swallowed the small white pill, it tasted bland and had no real scent either.

The moment the pill entered my stomach, I felt the pain diminish a little as my body grew warm.

I yawned, feeling sleepy. I lay on the bed in the room and closed my eyes.

'No matter what kind of world this is, wether it is a magical one, cultivation one, or just plain old earth in the past, with this system, I will rise to the absolute apex. How many have dreamt of a chance like this?! I will not waste this chance, I wasted my life on earth... If it is magical, I will become a god. If it is cultivation, I will become a great immortal. If it is normal, I will become a legendary king.' These were my last thoughts before darkness took me. I was determined to lead an extraordinary life with this cheat.