The beginning

Yone tried to turn his head left and right, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a single speck of light around him.

All he saw was pitch-black darkness in every direction. After struggling for what felt like an eternity to find that last shred of hope, a thought crept into his mind—had he suddenly gone blind?

"Did those wannabe heroes use some Ancient Armend to keep my consciousness afloat after killing me?" he muttered with a hint of amusement, a faint smile curling on his lips.

Even though he wasn't sure if his lips—or his body—still existed, his old habits remained, slipping out uncontrollably.

" I wonder if that's the case," He said as memories of the past surfaced," Speaking of which, those old bastards hate seemed to be running so deep, it even reached a point where all the Dragon Empire joined forces together to trap and kill me."

" It wouldn't be surprising if they used such a precious treasure just to have revenge while also having fun torturing me till my consciousness crumbles."

With a heavy sight, Yone pondered his next move.

About the torture process?

Yone didn't care in the slightest.

These childish games couldn't faze Yone, let alone cause him any significant distress.

To Yone, the elders were simply wasting their time and resources with these theatrics, though he understood their reasons.

"Or maybe I really did die, and this is some form of afterlife. Its not entirely out of the question," Yone mused, rubbing his chin and yawning as he attempted to settle into a more comfortable position, deciding he might as well take a nap.

He remained still, composed, resting in his napping pose for what felt like an eternity.

While others might have grown paranoid, anxious, or even fearful in such a situation, Yone had been through enough in his life that this felt like nothing more than child's play.

Time appeared to stretch on endlessly, but Yone showed no interest in opening his eyes or attempting to escape his predicament. From a third-party perspective, one might be shocked and terrified by the sheer mental strength Yone displayed.

After what felt like an eternity in pitch-black darkness, a faint, warm light pierced through Yone's closed eyes, waking him with mild irritation.

"Oh, I wonder which of my two scenarios this will be," he muttered, slowly forcing his heavy eyes open.

When he finally did, Yone noticed that everything around him was bathed in a deep, bloody red hue. Strangely enough, given his past life, he felt oddly at home in this unsettling atmosphere.

"The smell of blood... What is this place?" he murmured, turning his head toward the narrow tunnel where the blinding light seeped through, eager to see what awaited him.

But something was off.

"Something's wrong... it feels like a strange force is slowly draining my power. I'm getting wea..."

His body grew impossibly heavy, as if weighed down by a force no child could lift, his eyelids fluttering and closing against his will.

As Yone fought to stay awake, struggling to control his weakening body, a cheerful voice echoed above him.

"Master, it's a boy!" the nanny joyfully announced, checking to ensure the newborn's health was in perfect condition.

'A quiet one, huh,' she thought, noticing the baby's strange silence, but quickly dismissed the thought.

Without wasting time, she glanced at the madam, who had fainted from the intense pain of childbirth.

The nanny shook her head slightly before returning her attention to the baby, whose face was twisted in an oddly ugly expression, made worse by the blood that covered him.

Not wanting to alarm the master, who stood eagerly behind her waiting to hold his child, she gently patted the baby's back, hoping to coax a cry out of him.

But no matter how many times she patted, the baby remained silent.

"If you want to die that badly, keep doing that," Yone thought, staring strangely at the old woman in front of him.

For a moment, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The idea that someone would dare treat him this way... it felt like a dream.

Unfortunately for Yone, only helpless wails escaped his lips. The nanny sighed in relief upon hearing them, and the white-haired man's face brightened, a brief smile crossing his lips.

"Death it is, then," Yone muttered, aiming a punch at the woman's face, intending to separate her head from her shoulders with a single blow.

Yet, no matter how many times he repeated the motion, nothing happened.

"Wait a minute…" A sudden realization hit him as he glanced down at his tiny hand—the size of a baby's.

Recalling everything that had just transpired, along with the reactions of the people around him, the full picture slowly came into focus. "It seems I've truly reincarnated. My second guess hit the mark."

For a moment, even Yone found it hard to believe. In all the hundreds of years he had lived, he'd never faced something this difficult to comprehend. His mind raced, struggling to process the revelation as quickly as possible.

Although he had joked about the possibility of reincarnation, never in his wildest thoughts had he truly considered it a reality. And yet, here it was—reincarnation, real and undeniable.

Looking around the unfamiliar room, at the strange faces and the unfamiliar objects on the ceiling, a bold thought suddenly took hold of him.

"If reincarnation is real, then immortality must also be achievable," he thought, a devilish smirk curling on his lips as the idea took root.

In his previous life, Yone had sought immortality but found no clues, eventually concluding—before being encircled by the justice guilds—that it didn't exist.

But now, with reincarnation proven real, perhaps immortality was within reach after all.

However, his current situation re-ignited that dim fire that used to burn inside him.

Yone stretched out his tiny hand, his gaze fixed on his soft, pale palms. Slowly, he clenched his fist, accepting the truth of this new reality with all the resolve he could muster.

The soft patter of rain drizzling against the window sill filled the room, a gentle rhythm that seemed to calm his thoughts.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them after a long pause. A sigh escaped his lips. "Hundreds of years of experience... it almost feels like a dream."

But he knew one thing for certain: this was no dream.

And this time, he would strive even harder to achieve his true dream—his ultimate goal.

Immortality!