The red sunlight filtered through the canopy of a nearby emerald-like evergreen tree outside the broken window. A faint breeze rustled the leaves.
I woke up with a dizzy feeling, due to the chirping of birds. The world was silent. But as I registered my surroundings, all hell broke loose.
' Where am I?'
Or so I thought, anyway. That aside, why am I in an apartment with yellow walls. Mine was grey, as far as I could remember. Wait a second....
'Who am I?'
As this question came into my mind, I felt a slight shiver rush from brain to body. And then I fainted again. Due to the intense deluge of memories.
A few moments later....
After I once again regained my consciousness, I looked around. Suddenly, the unfamiliar surroundings didn't look so unfamiliar after all.
As the memories settled down like stilt in water, I gradually started re-accessing my surroundings.
Reason: I was in mortal danger, and I knew it.
This was the world of the new novel from the old author I used to follow since his debut. This novel had a few weird points about it, which I would like to share with you :
1. The author started publishing it in the 12th month of 2025 on the 25th. This was normal practice, many authors do the same by picking up festive and auspicious days for new novel releases. Nothing really weird here. Just telling.
2. It was worse than the last novel at the start. Which many fellow readers will agree with, like Goodguy85, Weeboo, TruckDriver. Btw, my reader name was Boywonder.
And mind you, I only wrote this : ~ Thanks for the new chapter!
And that also after reading and reading some more. Basically, being the only ethical reader of the bunch. I was quite happy about this fact.
As there were people worse than me and the above mentioned guys, like TwilightStar who straight up dropped the book, BoobMonster who kept asking for ecchi scenes, and Roosterboy85 who roasted the author.
Though personally, I liked the new novel. Even though it was a typical weak to strong story, but unlike the previous stories by the same author, this one was set in a modern futuristic setting. But I wasn't able to say so due to FOMO.
3. This point is the most important one of all. After that day the updates suddenly halted, as if the author was dead. Unfortunately.
And according to the reading platform, he really did die due to a heart attack induced by hypertension on the same day as the release of the latest chapter. What an ominous coincidence.
Still have to give it to the dead guy, before dying he was still disciplined enough to update one chapter. Truly hardworking yet unlucky fellow.
I still remember that I prayed for his eternal happiness in a nearby shrine as soon as I got the word. As I could only do that, sadly.
4. The next important point . After the author died, some scoundrel deleted his story from the platform. And left only the story title.
After that, even more bizarre things happened. The story started uploading in real time. And I mean REAL time.
Because chapter after chapter, sentence after sentence was uploaded in the story as if the author had reincarnated in the story itself.
Not only that the upload was weird and gradual. It was uploaded word by word. A new sentence or word after each refresh. As if an invisible ghost hand was writing it. But later the story was removed from the platform, as it was bugged according to the platform.
5. And to make matters even worse I have been reincarnated in the same novel that I read the second part of.
I just don't know exactly where I am. But do know other things. According to the story's background, it starts in some random year in which the first stage of the '' Great Disaster '' is stuck. Yep, I forgot which one. I admit that much.
Moving on... The Great Disaster had three stages, just like any other generic novel, that are bound to hit the Earth causing the world to change drastically.
The first phase of the 'Great Disaster' - Shift started happening in tectonic plates all over the Earth, moving countries from their original locations , resulting in tsunamis and earthquakes, killing hundreds of millions in the process.
This sudden shift in tectonic plates caused the world map to permanently change, leaving there only being one super giant landmass surrounded by water.
Then came the second phase of the 'Great Disaster' - Huge portals started appearing from which unknown species came out.
They were later identified as demons and other races like orcs, started emerging. At first, they were docile, but as soon as they deemed humanity weak they started to create chaos all over the place.
And as with every other novel of this genre. With great disasters came great opportunities. The usual routine.
As portals appeared, humanity managed to gain access to mana. A special force that lingered throughout the atmosphere and originated from other worlds. How fascinating.
It allowed humans to do things they could've only dreamt of doing in the past like summoning elementals on a whim or cutting through metal like it was nothing. All thanks to mana.
Lastly, the third phase of the 'Great Disaster' - This happened near the ending of the novel when the Demon World forces started a full-scale invasion of the Earth.
Some years after the second stage of " The Great Disaster ", three factions ruled the world. The demon faction, the Human faction, and the Fantasy faction which was composed of Orcs, Elves, Dwarves and other non human beings from other planets.
The Fantasy faction was kind of an alliance between the elves, dwarves, orcs and other non-human races. And that was because they were practically forced into one.
Demons and monsters were the manifestation of 'sin'. They were created with the sole goal of devouring planets.
They would first start by entering a planet, then as time progressed they would reproduce like crazy, and slowly once they gained enough strength they would devour the planet. As usual.
The non humans were all refugees and survivors who had their home planets already conquered by the demons.
At first, when the non humans arrived on earth, they chose to observe. They wanted to see if the humans were worthy enough to join their alliance to fight against the demons.
At first, they were very excited with the prospect of gaining a potential ally, but as time passed their excitement turned into disappointment, which later turned into disgust.
For the prideful yet nature loving elves, the selfish acts, schemes and destructive desperation which they witnessed during humanity's dark moments during the Great Change made all thoughts of alliance vanish, only to be replaced with utter disdain and disgust.
For the orcs, humanity's weak and frail body left them utterly disappointed and thus deemed them unnecessary. As they only worshiped strength, as a warrior race. What to say other than as expected.
For the Dwarves, humanity's primitive technology made them seem like brainless monkeys who roamed around flaunting their power and intelligence with no substantial backing to be found.
And for other non humans, the primary reason for non cooperation was the seemingly wicked nature of humans which was worse than demons.
In the end, the Demon faction claimed 3/9 of the Earth, the Fantasy faction claimed 5/9 of the Earth, while humans only claimed 1/9 of the earth, making them a minority.
Initially, the story starts with the protagonist enrolling in the 'EDEN', a specialized school that was established by the effort of all humanity, to raise warriors to defend the borders against the attacks from both factions.
The original protagonist was your typical MC with a tragic past, his parents died due demons in a war, had vengeance against demons in his heart and so on. The usual routine stuff. As in every other generic novel.
It was what you would expect from an MC written by the hands of an author whose works are progressively worsening. And yes, progressively means gradually here.
Still even after all the flaws, it was a masterpiece in its own regard. At least that's what I thought, but looking through the comment section I couldn't help but rage, quietly.
I mean how would you feel if what you feel is a masterpiece gets insulted? Exactly, that annoyed.
After reading the second part of the original novel, even if incomplete, I could have been dead peacefully. But no, I reincarnated in the same novel. Exactly same one.
As for how I died? Well, that was not your usual routine of isekai. I was coming from from the hometown shrine nearby when I saw a toddler making his way towards his death. By almost getting stuck by a speeding truck. Or Truck kun, to be precise.
Yep, I saved him. Even though I was a shortie in terms of height, I somehow managed to yank him to safety.
Then, I crossed the road while following the road safety rules. Quite law abiding, right. No, everything and anything for my own life. And was successful enough to not Isekai by any kind of accident. How fortunate.
While I was doing that, I was able hear the pleasant sound of the kid being scolded by his mother. It was not pleasant to me because I was mean or anything, nothing like that. I just thought that kid would be safe from now on.
And as I was heading home, I heard a scream. An old lady that was crossing the street was struck in middle of the road due to losing her spectacles. She was sobbing. My brain melted... I mean I was kind but I could be annoyed too.
I wasn't able to stop myself. I moved to get the spectacles. Handed them to the old lady, and was about to cross the road when a Kidnapper's van-kun smashed me. You may ask why only I died? Because I pushed the old granny to safety on the other side.
Wasn't so lucky myself due being a shortie. You see, I was straight up hurled to the lamp post near by alongside the van.
And it was not because I am kind-hearted or anything. ' My body just moved on its own.' I thought to myself. ' Finally, I have paid the price of the free sweets I took from her in my childhood.' Yep, I had that sort of thoughts.
And the last and most absurd thought of my now ending previous life.
' Atleast the boy will be more serious about his safety after watching a live demonstration. Also, I finally helped in catching criminals in passing. That's a good bonus'
Yeah, that last one was the personal heroic dream I had in my childhood. Sadly, I was born a human in my previous life, and not a super-human. But whatever, as saying goes : Let the past be in the past.
Moving on, I now possess a new identity. A soon to be EDEN student, Sash Mothing. Yes, as weird as it is. This was the real name of this body. Given by Ausable Pawn, his only surviving relative and uncle in relation.
Let's just ignore the fact that the uncle's name itself was a huge red flag waving at my face in full force. Because if not then I will die once again. This time due to anxiety and stress.
This naming is all thanks to the merger of all the continents and regions in one. And there are plenty of weirder names out their, but not one is the weirdest.
And the place I am in, can very well, be fake. Because, as far as this body's memories are concerned, Sash was in the middle of a runaway, doing secret dungeon hunting.
'Aren't I supposed to be... dead? ' You must be thinking why didn't think this. Because I have a new body, and my previous one can't be saved after turning into mush internally. So I moved on, because if not then I would once again die in another horrible way.
As for why this body was running away from home and going on a secret dungeon hunting. This can be seen from his age which is 13, the youngest in his to be class. And the weakest, by virtue of being average and young.
So, the old Sash thought that he would adopt a Solo Hunting approach to get stronger, faster. And yes, it's quite a bit similar to the one depicted in the novel of my previous life which had Solo and something in its name.
Not to mention, he was a rare middle-class economy-wise in the whole EDEN. You can think about the probability of finding more poor ones yourselves.
It would not be wrong to say that they were as rare as unadulterated products in my previous life. And yes, I mean the REAL unadulterated ones. Equivalent of dragon bones and phoenix feathers in any other Chinese secret novel.
And on the off topic, I thought Mana helped in better functioning of the brain. But with each passing second, I realized that this was not the case.
Why?
Simple... it was because a large screen appeared right in front of me startling the living daylights out of me.
___Status___
Name : Sash Mothing
Rank : G
Strength : G-
Agility : G-
Stamina : G-
Intelligence : E-
Mana capacity : F
Luck : E
Charm : G
--> Profession : [Magic lvl. 1]
_____________
And I had not much problem with that Status Window, but this was supposed to be a Borderline E dungeon. Meaning it was eligible for G + to E rank individuals.
So why was a mere G rank brat here. Makes the second highest stat being intelligence look like an insult to the injury.
Ting.. Ttinng... Ting.. Rustle...
All my internal monologues got swept away by the faint sound coming from my seemingly peaceful surroundings.
The enemy or enemies hiding in the shadow we're approaching.....