Chương 1: Prologue-Soul of the Old Universe

[Author Note: The first chapter might seem a little bit less intriguing, but I can vouch for its quality and necessity!]

I'm dead.

Yet, I'm still alive.

Well...at least my soul didn't crumble to pieces the moment I died!

Being a Yadras, a subsidiary race belonging to the human race, and unable to sense one of the three existing cultivation energies, I was but a mere mortal, insignificant and worthless in the eyes of the strong.

I tried to fight against my inevitable fate as someone who was incapable of cultivating, but what use did it have?

Everything was for naught, and even after spending decades procuring abundant knowledge, nothing had changed.

The only certain thing was that my fate had been sealed, that I was who I was, a nobody, insignificant!

Laughed at by the small number of those who were able to cultivate, with one, or even multiple cultivation energies circulating through their body, I felt humiliated.

But, I had no time to feel sorry for myself, because the bitter truth that I died soon after, without being able to fulfill my dream, was staring at me right in the eye.

I would never be able to cultivate and adventure through the wide universe that was filled with miraculous places I had only heard about...or so I thought.

I had almost accepted my fate, to die of old age with nothing but regret about the time I had missed spending with others, to live an ordinary life as someone without the necessary cultivation veins.

However, fate works in mysterious ways.

All my life I struggled to rewrite my destiny, and one day that felt just like any other, everything ended!

I didn't know what happened. I found myself unable to move, see, or feel anything.

Even now, I still don't know what happened, but we...the Souls of the universe that had simply ceased to exist had received a few pieces of information.

Apparently, an omnipotent being had grown tired of being alive since Primordial times.

Having lived a rather long life, now it sought eternal rest.

As such, the being had tried to end everything peacefully, but that was easier said than done.

Since it was unable to achieve this without external help, it sacrificed the entire universe which helped generate the necessary energy.

This in turn helped achieve what was supposed to be impossible- ending the life of the Universe's omnipotent being!

When I first heard this, I accepted my fate and felt that I had at least served my purpose in life. I would have died of old age soon, either way, so I could at least do my bit.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that an infinitely large planet would emerge from the explosion the omnipotent being had created to kill itself, but that is exactly what happened, believe it or don't!

However, what was more shocking was the fact that the infinitely large planet broke through the void, connecting multiple universes!

The dying omnipotent being hadn't expected this either, but driven by guilt about its selfish desire to end its life by all means possible, it wanted to seek redemption.

On a whim, it decided to give the souls of the old, destroyed Universe that had been left behind, a second chance- to reincarnate on Shima, the infinitely large planet!

This led to the emergence of the reincarnation trials, giving everyone the chance of a second, possibly even more meaningful life!

Through this, everything changed for me, and my life, or afterlife to be precise, became meaningful once again!

Having the talent to cultivate had always been a necessity in the vast universe that was filled with dangers and stronger beings that pursued power.

Some unique prodigies of the Yadras race, the rarest of the rare, were even born with the talent to cultivate in the three main paths of cultivation while others remained mere mortals who were unable to cultivate.

However, I did not plan to awaken one or multiple cultivation talents at once.

Declining the choice to reincarnate as an individual of a different, mightier race that had heaven-defying talent, I knew that there was something only my former race was capable of!

The Yadras race could give me limitless potential to grow stronger!

Driven by the possibility of receiving a second chance, I told myself that I would pass all trials flawlessly, even if it would take thousands of years!

At the same time, I wondered what happened with my friends, my dead family, old rivals, the disciples I had taught until the very end, and everyone else.

Had all of the deceased received an equal chance to reincarnate or were the reincarnation trials something only I and a few others had received?

Despite all of my wild thoughts, I was unable to find an answer.

At the same time, I believed that it would take me even longer to get the best possible completion score in the reincarnation trials as a being that had never received the blessing of being able to cultivate!

In the end, I passed the trials and was even able to get a score high enough to receive a few extra merit points.

Thus, I was able to use the obtained merit points to decide what race I wanted to reincarnate as, what age my newly constructed body was supposed to be at, where I was supposed to reincarnate, and the special traits I wanted!

All of this cost merit points, and without those, I would have reincarnated as the old version of myself, as a newborn, possibly even without my past memories.

Knowing myself, I'm certain that I would have tried to change my inevitable fate once again.

I would have fallen into my old habit of wasting my time despite knowing that it was useless but never giving up.

Thankfully, everything seemed to work out even better than I could have hoped for because the reincarnation trials were fair and impartial.

Unfortunately, this did little to help me overcome the situation that occurred after I finished all trials.

While I had received the permission to reincarnate with my memories fully intact and had enough merit points, I was presented with a difficult choice- to reincarnate as an individual of a stronger race, or stay loyal to my old race and choose two unique traits!

Among these traits, I could choose to awaken my cultivation veins, but I could achieve that by reincarnating as an individual of a different race as well!

In the end, I just wanted to take my time, pick the destination of my reincarnation and all other necessary configurations, only to realize that I was the last soul to complete the trials and that everything had already ended!

The trials were over, and they had returned to the place they originated from, taking me with them.

Who would believe that I got dragged into the planetary core of the biggest existing planet, only to see it from the inside? I had a hard time believing it myself.

If that wasn't surprising enough, I had still retrieved the opportunity to do everything just like the other reincarnated souls even though the reincarnation trials had already ended.

When I finished the trials, I emerged inside the planetary core as a semi-translucent soul.

Little did I know that my arrival was indirectly responsible for accidentally awakening the infinitely large planet's sentience from its hibernation.

This encounter was imprinted into my mind, but it ended before it had truly begun. I was only told that I can stay as long as I want until I reached a final decision.

With the necessary energy provided to reincarnate, I was thus left alone, only to spend thousands of years studying the given pieces of information.

I could choose everything necessary from the available options to create the best possible reincarnation for myself.

Through this I, Kyle Lrae, the last soul of the old universe that had yet to be reincarnated, would be able to pave a way to the top of the world, to catch up to those reincarnated souls that had already begun their adventures through Shima's pristine lands, conquering parts of it.

As such, the moment I made up my mind to walk an arduous path that was filled with pain, betrayal, love, joy, and countless adventurers, my journey began.

However, how could I know that my path would force me to fight, and even kill the worst possible foes I could ever face- the people I had loved the most, the people I had wanted to protect by all means, those I had relied on the most in my past life?

Shock, confusion, and pain...mind-numbing pain.

And maybe, a little bit of hope too!

How many emotions could one simultaneously feel? Nobody knew for certain.

Yet all of these jumbled feelings coursed through a young man who found himself leaning against a thick tree trunk, enveloped by dense energy currents.

The landscape was lush green, while the screeches and growls of the beasts that called the forest their home echoed through the cloudless sky.

His emerald-colored eyes opened slowly as Kyle, one of the countless reincarnations of the old universe regained the vigor that had been snatched away from him.

While it felt to him like he was dying all over again, he recalled what had happened to him.

'Finally…' He thought with a vibrant smile on his face, as he felt that his body had been fully constructed, completing the last and final step of his reincarnation.