Chapter 1 – Death in the Military Service
The sun blazed mercilessly above the training grounds.
Heat shimmered over the barren earth, turning the vast military camp into a furnace that burned the skin and lungs of every young recruit. Boots struck the ground in heavy rhythm, and the harsh barks of instructors cracked through the air like thunder.
"Straighten the line! Tighten your grip! You are soldiers, not wandering cattle!"
Among the rows of sweaty men in faded green uniforms stood a young man with dark, unruly hair and weary eyes that seemed older than his age. His name was Adrian Cross.
To most of the recruits, conscription was an honor. To Adrian, it was nothing more than a cage. For nearly two years, he had endured the endless drills, the grueling marches, the stench of sweat and oil. He had never dreamed of war or glory. He was, before all this, just a university student—an ordinary young man whose greatest joy came from reading fantasy novels, watching anime, and building worlds of magic and adventure inside his imagination.
And now, after all this hardship, freedom was so close.
Just one more month, Adrian told himself as he adjusted the rifle in his hands. One more month, and this nightmare will be over. I'll go back to campus, back to my books... maybe I'll finally write that fantasy novel I've been carrying in my head all this time.
"Cross! Stop daydreaming!"
The sharp bark of his sergeant snapped him back to the present.
"Yes, sir!" Adrian shouted, standing straighter, though his heart ached for a life he had never lived.
---
That day, their unit was scheduled for a live-fire exercise. Real bullets. Real danger. They were loaded into open trucks, bouncing along dusty country roads lined with forests and fields. The wind stung Adrian's face, carrying with it the earthy scent of soil and grass.
Something gnawed at him, a whisper in the pit of his stomach.
"You okay, Cross?" asked a fellow recruit sitting beside him, a friend who had shared the same barracks since day one.
Adrian gave a tight smile. "I don't know. I just... have a bad feeling about today."
His friend chuckled, shaking his head. "You read too many fantasy novels. This is reality. No magic. No fate. Just drills and bullets."
But Adrian couldn't shake the dread coiling inside him.
When the trucks halted, they spilled out onto the shooting range—a wide, dusty plain dotted with steel targets at varying distances. Orders rang out. Rifles were loaded.
"Target, twelve o'clock! Open fire!"
The air exploded with the roar of gunfire.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Adrian raised his rifle, sighted down the barrel. But his thoughts slipped, drifting again to the worlds he loved—lands of elves and dragons, of magic and eternal battles.
If only I could live there instead of here...
CRACK!
The deafening crack of a rifle erupted beside him. In that instant, a hot punch slammed into his chest. His world jolted violently.
Adrian staggered, breath crushed from his lungs. Blood bloomed across his uniform. He fell hard into the dirt, choking.
---
"ADRIAN!!!"
The world around him blurred. Shouts and running footsteps faded into static.
The sky above swam and twisted. His chest burned. His lungs clawed for air, but every breath was like swallowing molten iron.
So... this is it? Adrian thought bitterly. One month before freedom, and I die here... by a stray bullet? Not even in battle, not even for anything meaningful...
Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes—not from fear, but from sorrow.
I wasted everything. I never wrote my story. I never lived my dream.
The edges of his vision darkened. His pulse slowed. Yet from the depths of despair, a final wish surged forth, blazing in his heart.
If there's a life after this... if I can be reborn...
Let it not be here. Let me awaken in a world of fantasy. A world of swords and sorcery, of kingdoms and monsters. Let me live where I can fight for something greater, where I can create a legend with my own hands.
If I can be reborn... let me be a hero there.
---
Darkness swallowed everything.
No sound. No pain. Only emptiness.
But in that void, something stirred.
[DING!!]
The metallic chime rang out, strange and alien. Not the voice of man, nor god.
> [System Acknowledged.]
Request Detected: Reincarnation into a Fantasy World.
Processing...
A light bloomed ahead of him. Not the sterile glow of hospital lamps, but pure, radiant brilliance—warm, gentle, inviting.
Adrian's body felt weightless, unbound by gravity or flesh. He drifted, drawn inexorably toward that light.
"Is this death... or a new beginning?" he whispered as the last of his consciousness slipped away.
---
He did not know how long he floated in that void. Time no longer mattered.
Then, slowly, sound returned. A voice—soft, melodic, like the whisper of a song carried by the wind.
Adrian's eyes fluttered open.
And what he saw stole his breath.
A woman leaned over him, her features ethereal. Long golden hair cascaded down like threads of sunlight. Her emerald eyes shimmered with warmth. Pointed ears peeked through her hair, marking her as something no human could ever be.
She cradled him tenderly, smiling with tears in her eyes.
"My son... my little prince..."
Adrian tried to move, but his limbs were tiny, frail. His hand was no larger than a baby's. His voice was a weak cry.
He was no longer a soldier. No longer a man. He was a newborn child.
Before panic could consume him, the metallic voice rang out once more inside his mind.
[DING!!]
> Reincarnation Complete.
Welcome, Valdyn Thalorian.
Race: Elf (Royal Bloodline).
Quest Activated: Rebuild the Elven Race from the ashes of extinction.
---
The wail of a newborn echoed through the grand chamber of a hidden elven sanctuary, where crystal lights glowed and carvings of leaves adorned the walls.
Adrian Cross had died in one world, meaningless and forgotten.
But here, in this new world, he was no longer Adrian.
He was Valdyn Thalorian, last prince of a fallen race.
And so, a new destiny began.
---
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