章 1: Raymond Dawson.

It was a dark and gloomy autumn evening. In a small and quiet town situated along the border between Sweden and Norway, a small incident took place. This small incident had no real impact on anyone who lived there, however, this small incident would come to affect a great deal of people in the future. This seemingly normal occurrence would one day affect the fate of worlds, but no one had any way of currently knowing that. For now, it was but an ordinary incident.

On a small dirt road, gentle rays of moonlight shone on the face of a young man in his twenties. The young man's skin was abnormally pale, and he was currently lying down on the ground. Around him was a small pool of blood, presumably his own. Although the young man was obviously dying, he had a strange smile on his face. If anyone was around to see it, they would probably be creeped out; what kind of weirdo would smile in the face of death?

This young man's name was Raymond Dawson, and he was a rather normal guy. From the day he had been born until the day of his apparent death, he had accomplished practically nothing. He was a man without any family; a man without any friends. He had once been ambitious, but reality was certainly harsh, and in the end, he had no accomplishments to his name.

All he did was bounce around from town to town, taking any menial labour he could to sustain his living. He was always searching for something. He didn't even know what he was searching for himself, he was just certain that there was something he had to find. Like this, years passed as he kept looking. He had heard others talking about purpose; maybe that was what he was looking for? His purpose.

On this particular night, he had been on the way to the local corner shop. He was engrossed in reading a particular light novel, and he wanted some snacks to last him through the night. That was when it happened. Some guy who had been drinking a tad bit too much ran him over, and that was it. That was the end of his life. Lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, Raymond realised how disappointing life really was. Trying to struggle would be futile, and it was this small realisation that made him smile. He knew he was going to die, but at least he would leave this world with a smile. That was how Raymond consoled himself.

Although he wanted to feel sad, like any normal human being, he truly couldn't find it within himself. A pitiful death for a pitiful guy; that was the last thought of Raymond Dawson. His mind grew blurrier as time passed, and the pain throughout his body turned into numbness. Eventually, he reached his limit, and his consciousness slipped into eternal darkness.

...

In the far southern reaches of the Herus Kingdom of the north continent, a large forest stands tall. The forest is seemingly endless, clear, and diverse. Its canopy is ruled by various different trees, none of which you would be able to find on earth, and occasional openings in their crowns allowed plenty of light through for various herbs to sprout in the rich grounds below. Thick vines clung to most trees, and a range of flowers, which grew in abundance, added colourful variety to the otherwise dark green terrain. A hodgepodge of wild noises, most of which came from birds or insects, reverberated through the air, and almost completely muffled the sound of the wind blowing gently through the forest.

It was in this particular forest Raymond currently found himself in. He had been sitting here for the past hour, yet he was still not completely able to grasp the situation he was in. From what he had gathered so far, he seemed to have transmigrated into this world out of the blue. This would probably scare most people half to death, but Raymond was rather calm about the whole situation. He didn't really have anyone or anything back on earth that would miss him, so he was able to accept what had happened to him without too much distress.

He had already died once, so no matter what followed, he wasn't really scared. In this past hour, he had also managed to come to terms with his apparent death, accepting the new life he had been given with gratitude. Maybe this was an arrangement made by god? But which god would that be? Raymond wasn't religious, so he couldn't really explain what had happened to him. As far as he knew, no god from earth would transmigrate people into other worlds.

Luckily he had read his fair share of novels online, and being transmigrated into another world was a rather common trope these days. If not, he would've probably panicked on arriving here. The only thing he was really unsure about was where the hell he was. In most stories where the main character transmigrates, they get memories of the world they are in, and they usually even take over someone else's body. But for Raymond, it was different.

He was sure that the body he was in wasn't his original one, but he had no memories to speak of inside of his head. The body he occupied had nothing except some rags to wear either. Whilst he was in the midst of pondering, he could suddenly hear a strange voice inside of his head. And no, I'm not talking about his own thoughts.

[Ding! Conditions have been met!]

[Confirming user...]

[16%...]

[47%...]

[100%]

[User confirmed! Initialising Supreme Wealth System.]

Before he could really wrap his head around the voice he was hearing, a transparent screen suddenly popped up in front of his eyes.

[Host]: [Raymond Dawson]

[Race]: [Human]

[Age]: [16]

[Cultivation]: [Mortal]

[Skills]: [None]

[Talents]: [Meagre Wealth Mortal Body]

[Wealth]: [0]

Seeing the text on the screen in front of him, Raymond blanked out for a moment. He had read novels about cultivation before, and the concept fascinated him, but to think that he would one day arrive in a world where such an abstract concept was actually reality. Life was truly baffling sometimes. Although he still couldn't be sure how cultivation worked in this world, since it was different from novel to novel, he was sure that he at least understood the general concept.

Tempering oneself and attaining immense strength, that was usually how cultivation worked in novels, and he was sure that this world probably wouldn't be too different. Whilst he was lost in myriads of different thoughts, he could hear the monotonous voice of the system start speaking again.

[Redeem welcome package?]

[Yes/No]

He was suddenly presented with two options. He could either press yes or no. Maybe it was because of the system, but Raymond had an instinctual feeling of how he was supposed to use it. Without delay, Raymond used his thoughts to "think" yes, and in response, the system made a noise.

[Ding! Welcome package opened.]

[Received]: [Beginner cultivation knowledge x1], [500 gold coins].