Solo Leveling: Reborn as Thomas Andre's Son

Sand and dust were blinding Perseus' eyes as he was falling from the cliff. Although he was falling to his death, his face was engulfed in calmness. If there was a presence of other emotions, it would be regret.

He was 18 years old this year and lived in a small apartment in New York. Although he wasn't handsome, he was smart and loved sports. Like every young teenager, he was also interested in love. For him, there was one particular young girl in his class that he had a crush on.

Her name was Anna. She was the class president, and everyone liked her. She was the prettiest girl in the class, as well as in school. If she didn't understand something in her homework, he would often help her. This way, after the first year of high school, they became close friends.

Perseus was smart, funny and kind to others. There was no reason not to befriend him. Many female friends of Anna often joked that they should date, but she only lowered her head, shyly.

The problem she had was not that easy to solve. Not many people around her knew that, but she was the daughter of one of the richest men in America. Her parents didn't want her to live her childhood in the spotlight, so they bought a small villa in a small city and started raising her there.

Even if people in the city thought they were slightly rich, they wouldn't connect them with the billionaire that is her father. This way, Anna could live her childhood quite peacefully.

When Perseus finally got the courage to ask her out, she didn't want to lie to him anymore.

She told him about her situation, but he didn't give up.

He was from a normal family and there was no way her father would allow him to date her. His only option was to study more and get into Harvard University with her. With her father's connections, she had a place guaranteed, but he would have to enter using his own abilities.

Who would have thought that before he even sat for the entrance exam, everything was ruined during their school's year end trip.

They were supposed to hike in the local mountains with the whole class. Everything went well from morning till afternoon and they finally had to descend from the mountains. Anna wanted to have one last photo with him, so she dragged him towards the cliff where the scenery was the prettiest.

When they were done and wanted to go back, the cliff suddenly started to crack. Feeling that he was losing the ground under his feet, he did the only logical thing for him and rushed to safety. However, before he could get very far, he heard a loud shriek.

"Perseus!"

He caught a glimpse of Anna out of the corner of his eye and realised that she had fallen.

Running back to help her up at the risk of his own life, they soon started running again.

As they continued running, they soon realised that the ground below them was trembling and was threatening to collapse. The combined weight of the both of them was too heavy and they would both fall as the foundation was too weak to support the both of them.

Both Anna and Perseus knew that. Yet neither wanted to sacrifice one for the other.

To Perseus, his life was more important than a girl that had yet to accept him. Besides, it wasn't even guaranteed that he would be accepted since there was a high possibility that he wouldn't make it into Harvard.

However, as he was thinking of a solution, he felt a body ram into him. Since Perseus was nearer to the edge of the cliff, Anna took her chances and pushed Perseus off the cliff when Persues wasn't paying attention.

This way at least one person would survive. And that would be her.\

Losing his balance, he fell off the side of the cliff and hurtled towards the rocky ground below.

'I'm not surprised' he thought.

With this last thought, he closed his eyes and braced for impact. The ground at the valley under the cliff was filled with sharp rocks, and he barely felt pain before he died.

'I probably died instantly heh,' Perseus deduced.

He tried to open his eyes but couldn't. He actually didn't feel anything.

'Hmm, so what now...' he thought but then exclaimed in his mind.

'Wait... I can think! If I can think, I shouldn't be dead right?' He was pretty confused.

He was left with his own thoughts alone for a moment before something finally changed. Earlier he was in complete darkness, but now he could see a bright light in the distance.

In a moment, his whole surroundings were enveloped by that light. Grey shadows started appearing all around him. They soon transformed into floating shadows.

'Souls...so I really am dead.'

He looked around, but he didn't see anyone behaving in any different way. He was the only person who was looking around.

Perseus tried to stop for a moment, but a strange energy was pulling him together with everyone.

After a moment, he could finally see his destination.

He could see the split in the road and two gates. One was white, and the other was black.

Almost all souls were flying towards the black gate, only some of them flew towards the white one.

It was almost his turn to step on one of the paths when suddenly a golden light shone in front of him.

All the time he was being pulled by strange force but thanks to the golden light he stopped in one place.

It hovered in front of his face as if it was looking at his expression.

Perseus tried to touch it and the light didn't run away from his hand. He could feel the warmth emanating from it.

"Come here, boy."

Suddenly he heard a deep, emotionless voice in his mind. The force pulling him appeared again and he passed through the white gate.

He could see a small queue of souls in front of two white robbed men. One was old and the other middle-aged.

Those souls were much brighter than those grey ones flying towards the black gate.

But he didn't see that any of them had a golden light hovering next to them.

"Interesting, it's been a while since I have seen a god choosing someone." The old man said to himself.

"He must have accumulated a lot of karma in his past life." The middle-aged man nodded.

"Boy, prepare yourself. Your god will be the one deciding on your next life.." The old man called out.

Before he could respond, a crack opened right in front of him and sucked him in.