Ohara

The waves were relatively restless, possibly due to the man lying barefoot on the shore in a black suit and pants. The waves reached out with every turn to touch the man on the ocean shore.

Eyes closed, milky white face, both hands above the stomach, and a small wreath made of white and pink flowers above his chest, he was lying peacefully by the shore. One might mistake him for a dead person if he made a guess.

Waves tried their best to reach the person before he wake up. A cold breeze passed, assisting to increase the momentum of the waves. The breeze fluttered the black hair mixed with the whites of the lying man.

As a result of the cold breeze, the man's hair stood straight on the back of his neck. Blood began flowing in his white face, at a rapid pace, visible to the naked eye...

The man's nose twitched and opened his eyes… *Aaa chee uuuu*

"Bless me." He pushed his hands on the sand to sit straight.

The man examined his situation and his surroundings. Another cold breeze passed by him, causing him to glance at the ocean.

"Am I in heaven?" he recalled his last memory of being surrounded by his family, friends, and relatives. "Or maybe this is hell. I cannot look past that possibility as well."

Standing up he patted his back and pants to dust off the sand and stretched his hands as if he had slept for a long time.

"This…" He felt fresh and energetic. His pains in his shoulders and knees have vanished. Then, he examined his clothes.

His clothes made him conclude, "I am dead." He pulled out a pin to remove the small wreath attached to his coat.

Devlin embraced the truth easily. He was able to live a life exceeding his expectations and died at the age of 82. There were barely any regrets he had left behind.

While pulling himself from his past thoughts, "Now, the question is where the hell I am?" He started observing, Devlin first noticed a soaring tree whose crown covered the entire sky.

The majestic sight of the tree attracted his heart. It was the first time he had seen such a sight. "Well, looks like I find the direction to go."

Moving away from the shore, Devlin paced towards the tree.

Devlin's foot landed on a green area covered with vegetation as he reached the end of the sand trail. In front of him were several trees: the number of trees was too low to call it a forest. He still focused on the big tree and its crown.

...

While walking through the trees, Devlin came across a girl sitting on a stump and reading a book. She seems to be around five or six years old.

When Devlin was still deciding whether to move past her or to talk with the little girl, she noticed Devlin as well. Both of them stared at each other without making a sound.

"Hello!" In an attempt to end the awkward stare-down, Devlin tried to initiate a conversation. The little girl immediately dropped the book and ran in the opposite direction.

"Wait… Wait… I mean no harm. I am just stranded here." Devlin stood in his place. He thought following after the girl might scare her even more.

The girl looked over her shoulder to find Devlin not coming after. Slowing down, she stood at a distance. "Who are you?"

"I am a sailor. My ship got wrecked and I washed up to the shore." Devlin made some words up and said. "You don't have to be afraid of me. I just need some help."

After listening to Devlin, the little girl turned to look at the book she had dropped. There was still some hesitation in her eyes. She keeps switching her gaze between Devlin and the book.

"Do you want me to get your book?" Devlin said. He discarded the thought that he could be in heaven or hell at this moment. The little girl was human-like himself. Her appearance was not too good to be in heaven, and not so bad to be in hell.

The little girl shook her head, but still took one step at a time towards her book.

To assure the little girl, Devlin sat down on the ground, "You don't have to be so scared. I just want to ask a few questions."

Finally, the little girl grabbed the book, retreated to a distance, and said, "What do you want to know?"

Taking a long breath of relief, Devlin asked, "What is this place?"

"This is Ohara." The little girl answered.

Devlin repeated the word in his mind time and time, and then it dawned upon him. Deep furrows formed in his brow and his body shivered. 'Am I in a comical world?'

"Then, that must be the Tree of Knowledge," Devlin pointed at the huge tree.

She nodded in agreement to confirm Devlin's suspicion. Devlin pinched the bridge of his nose and released a long breath of sigh, 'Transported to a comical world after death. Good leads to heaven, and evil leads to hell. Then what did I do to get here?' Devlin questioned himself. But there was no one to answer.

"Old man, are you done?" the little girl asked. Her eyes were continually turning in the opposite direction, and she was clutching the book harder and harder.

"Old man... I guess she's right..." Devlin said, "Can you take me to some adults on the island? I need to talk to them."

"You don't have to come with me. I will call someone to come here. You just wait here." The little girl ran without glancing a second look at him.

"Am I that scary?" Devlin ran his hands against his face. It was the same old wrinkled face; there was nothing different in feeling.

"I have recovered my strength to that of an adult. The body remains the same. It would have been much better just to remove a few wrinkles." Devlin thought.

'Should I just move or wait?' when Devlin was contemplating an urgent mechanical voice resounded in his mind.

[Warning… Warning… Warning…]

Devlin jolted to his feet, looking around. "Who is talking?"

[System error… Detected Energy Depletion…]

Then, Devlin understood, the voice was in his head. 'A golden finger I guess. I would have appreciated a younger body more than this cheat.'

[Scanning complete… World Data Validation failed… Incorrect world detected.]

The red light started dancing in front of Devlin's eyes. 'What is the situation?'

[Hibernation protocols activated.]

[Dear host, due to sudden depletion of energy, the destination couldn't be reached.]

[The system will be put into hibernation for an unknown period.]

[Basic status panel will be available for the current moment. The system was only able to help in manifesting latent talent of the host.]

[Host, try to survive until the energy collection is completed.]

[Hibernation in 3… 2… 1…]

Devlin called for the system a few times but received no response after the dancing red light disappeared from in front of him.

Then he called for his status panel.

[User: Devlin Deadman

Latent Talent: Ki Manifestation (Regular Ki)

Ki amount: 1.2 (Limit 100)

Ki purity: Level 0 (12% pure) Regular Ki can be purified till level 5

Ki control: Level 0 (Have heard about Ki, haven't tried to draw it out it yet.)

Ki sense: Level 0 (Limited to five senses)

Ki defense: Level 0 (Just flesh and blood for defense)

Ki attack: Level 0 (Not available)

Tasks: System Hibernated

Rewards: System Hibernated

Gifts: System Hibernated]

A transparent red panel listed a bunch of texts in front of him. "What the hell is Deadman? I accept I am dead, but is it really necessary to put it in place of my last name?" Devlin sighed.

He could easily tell the destination based on the design and power system displayed.

Devlin closed the panel and gave some thought to his current predicament. It was either stay in Ohara or set foot on to the sea.

With his current strength, his survival at sea was not guaranteed. But staying in Ohara wasn't idle for him either. "Tragedy of Ohara", he mumbled. He needed to first confirm how much time was left till the fateful day.