I woke up gasping, as if something inside me was suffocating. Not my lungs. Not my stomach. Something deeper—something buried in the core of my being. It felt like my soul was drowning, wrapped in a thick fog of malice and despair. The sensation was overwhelming, like a silent scream echoing through every corner of my existence.
Disoriented, I sat up, heart pounding, and instinctively pressed my hand to my stomach. No wound. No scar. Just smooth skin where pain should've been. I blinked, trying to steady myself, and looked around.
This wasn't the lab I remembered.
Gone were the sterile white walls, the hum of machines, the scattered notes and blinking monitors. Instead, I was in a bedroom—lavish, elegant, and unfamiliar. Velvet curtains hung from tall windows, embroidered with golden thread that shimmered in the morning light. A chandelier sparkled overhead, casting soft reflections across the room. The bed beneath me was impossibly soft, wrapped in silk sheets that smelled faintly of roses.
Panic surged through me. Questions flooded my mind, each one louder than the last.
Where am I?
What happened?
Was I saved? Or… taken?
I stumbled toward a mirror, desperate for answers. But what I saw made my breath catch.
The reflection staring back wasn't mine.
The face was younger—fourteen, maybe fifteen. Messy black hair. Pale skin. Eyes that held a quiet sadness, like someone who had been forgotten by the world. I reached out, touched my cheek, then my jaw, tracing the unfamiliar features.
And then, like a dam breaking, memories poured into me.
I wasn't just in someone else's room.
I was in someone else's body.
The realization hit me like a thunderclap. I had transmigrated—reborn into the body of a boy named Axil Reed. The name felt eerily close to my own, a detail that didn't surprise me given the reincarnation tropes I'd read about in countless novels and manga.
But this wasn't fiction.
This was real.
The world I now inhabited resembled Earth, but it was twisted—like a parallel version of the past, plagued by dungeons and monsters. Creatures straight out of the games and anime I used to enjoy roamed the land. Here, people cultivated power through a mysterious system, leveling up by slaying beasts and absorbing their essence.
Axil Reed, the boy whose body I now occupied, had been born into nobility. He was the third son of the prestigious Reed family. His father held the title of Grand Duke, ruling over one of the largest cities in the region. Axil had two older brothers, a younger sister, and a younger brother. A family of five children, each groomed for greatness.
Except for Axil.
Years ago, he suffered a tragic accident that left him unable to cultivate. In a society where strength defined worth, his inability to level up made him a target. His siblings, once affectionate and kind, turned cruel. Even his younger brother and sister, who had once adored him, joined in the bullying.
The memories were vivid—mocking laughter, bruises hidden beneath clothes, meals eaten alone in silence. Axil had become the family's shame, a blemish on their perfect legacy.
And today… today was the day they decided to erase that blemish.
His parents, driven by pride and fear of scandal, had chosen to exile him. To cast him out like trash. The decision had been made. The decree was final.
But Axil hadn't accepted it.
Last night, overwhelmed by despair, he had taken his own life.
And somehow, in that moment of death, I had awakened in his body.
I didn't know how it happened. Was it fate? A cosmic accident? Divine intervention? The questions were endless, but the answers remained elusive.
What I did know was this: I had been given a second chance.
Axil's memories were now mine. His pain, his isolation, his longing—they pulsed through me like a second heartbeat. And with them came something else.
A fire.
A desire to live.
To reclaim the life that had been stolen from him.
To rise.
This world was dangerous. Ruthless. But it was also filled with opportunity.
If I could find a way to cultivate… if I could unlock the power that Axil never had… then maybe I could change everything.
Not just for myself.
But for every outcast, every forgotten soul who had been cast aside.
I clenched my fists, feeling the weight of the moment settle into my bones. The fog inside me began to lift, replaced by something stronger.
Resolve.
Then, a thought struck me—something from my past life. The Sole Record.
I focused inward, searching for it.
then he Wisper status
Status:
[Axil Blake
Level: 0
Race: Human
Job: None
Title: None
Strength: 12 (10)
Agility: 11 (10)
Health: 10 (10)
Stamina: 10 (10)
Mana: 15 (0)
Magic: 16 (10)]
I stared at the screen in disbelief. Even though I was in a new body, it showed my old name.
Axil Blake.
A slow, confident smile crept across my face.
I wasn't Axil Reed anymore.
I was someone new.
Someone who wouldn't be broken.
Someone who would rise from the ashes.
I will be Axil Blake.