"I-I think he's d-dead."
Was the first thing Orion heard when he finally regained consciousness, though the voice sounded like it was coming from afar.
"Let's get out of here before the guards show up."
With that, he heard the sound of distant steps, almost as if multiple people were running away.
A pair of blue eyes opened moments after and he was greeted by the sight of grey sky above him.
He was laying on the floor?
"Ugh," Orion let out a groan as he tried sitting up, only to be hit by a wave of pain, forcing him back down.
He turned his head to the side allowing him to look around, taking in his surroundings and that's when he realized, he seemed to be lying in a narrow alleyway, the stone ground beneath him being the reason why he was cold.
The walls on either side were built from rough, aged bricks, stained with dirt and something darker he didn't bother identifying.
Trash was scattered around, along with broken crates and discarded cloth.
A slum.
Or at least something close to it.
"Great."
Orion let out a quiet sigh, dragging a hand down his face.
Had he really been reincarnated?
Highly likely, except this turned out to be some weirdly long and realistic dream.
Was it a random world?
Definitely, and judging by his current situation…
"Not exactly a great start."
He finally managed to sit up and leaned back slightly against the wall, closing his eyes for a brief moment as he tried to organize his thoughts.
That old bastard had definitely just dropped him in a random world, and now he seemed to be a beat up kid from the slums.
"How the hell is this an apology reincarnation?" Orion muttered as he looked at his left arm and cursed weakly, "fucking hell."
His hand was twisted in an unnatural angle, telling everything he needed to know about his current situation.
There was blood here and there where he previously lay, and from the sounds earlier, he was definitely being bullied...
"Fucking cliché," He cursed again as started looking around, "what now? Do I get—"
Before his words could be completed, another wave of pain hit him and this was definitely not from his broken arm.
Images started flashing in his head, showing him memories that didn't belong and sending him in a world of pain again.
Orion didn't know how long the pain lasted, it could be a few seconds or even hours, but when it stopped, a new set of information had been dumped in his brain.
Unlike what he initially thought, his starter pack wasn't exactly a slum rat but given his current situation, it might as well be.
The body he currently possessed was one that shared both his name and looks, the only difference being that this body was a lot younger.
As unbelievable as it sounded, he was the son of a Duke, a pretty powerful one infact
So why was the son of a Duke currently laying in an alleyway with broken parts? well, it was because Orion was a failure.
The original one.
You see, this world was one that revolved around summoning, yes, actual an beast taming world.
At the age of ten, every child in the kingdom would attempt their first summoning, publicly or privately, and officially become a beast tamer.
Starting their journey to greatness.
Here, strength was measured by how powerful the beast you summoned was, and so was status.
And as the son of a Duke, Orion had high expectations placed on him, and for good reason.
His family, the Ashbournes were ones known for producing geniuses in every single generation in this world's history.
Geniuses capable of shocking the world.
And when it came to Orion, of course he shocked the world, but he seemed to have forgotten the genius part.
He managed to summon something that none in Astryra had witnessed since the advent of summoning,
Nothing.
The son of a Duke summoned absolutely nothing during his coming of age ceremony. Hell, even the weakest summoner could at least call on a rat.
But him?
He had stood in the summoning circle for minutes but nothing happened, and thus a dud was born.
His family's response, to this embarrassment, was to demote him to a level that even servants stood higher than him.
"What a great start indeed," Orion muttered, sarcasm dripping in his tone as he continued through the memories.
Now, to the reason why he was laying battered in this alleyway.
Turns out, it was not due to bullying.
Orion, the previous one, hadn't given up on proving himself to the family, especially his father.
His determination was so intense that one would mistake it for obsession and it was. Orion was obsessed with proving everyone wrong, obsessed with gaining praise from his father, and obsessed with becoming a summoner.
And his current state was the end result.
On a walk through the city, Orion had noticed a suspicious individual who claimed to be selling forgotten summoning techniques.
The whole thing screamed scam, but Orion was desperate and not thinking clearly, so he followed the man to his 'shop'.
Only to be led to a secluded spot, ambushed, stripped of everything he had and be beaten to death because of some prejudice they had against rich nobles.
Well, they didn't actually intend to kill him, but they had gone too far and before they realized it, the previous Orion was gone.
Hence the reason they ran away.
"A fucking idiot," Orion said with a sigh.
The lie was so obvious that it was insulting, and yet, this idiot had followed a strange man, with no way of protecting himself, and now he was left to deal with the pain.
Orion then looked up at the sky that seemed as if it was about to rain,
"You're not going to just leave me this powerless right, you old bastard?" He cursed at it, though his voice came out hoarse, "give me my cheat already."
As if tired of being cursed at, a lightning bolt was suddenly seen from the skies, aiming directly at Orion.
"Fuck!"
Was all he could say before,
BOOM!