I could only guess what happened back in my old world after I removed myself, the greatest obstacle for the raiders, from reaching that damned whore and her fucktoy.
And honestly, it couldn't be an easier guess.
Those two escaped to my study as a last resort for a reason, after all.
A sigh escaped my lips.
Then, I looked down at my hands, a look of exhausted resignation dancing in my eyes.
'Gotta start over, huh?'
I was no stranger to this feeling. Last time, however, I felt much more enthusiastic about what laid ahead.
I've already went through all the trouble of gaining power and reached the level where I pretty much could chill for the rest of my life anyway.
Now, all of that was torn away.
All my powers, strength that I fought with my life on the line for.
The immense comfort I worked my entire, millennium-long life for, never to be seen again.
I had to start over.
A long sigh escaped from my mouth.
"Well…"
My hands shoot up as I squinted my eyes and stretched.
"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."
It was that simple.
I've now had a thousand years of life experience.
The question was, how would my reincarnator's powers manifest?
I shook my head.
I've gave up on everything that was even most remotely familiar. Methodology of invoking magic native to this reality included.
Thankfully, though, I could instinctively feel it.
This big, gaping hole within my existence.
When I first reincarnated after dying on earth, I've appeared in a world of cultivation, rich in silver spoons and protagonists cheats.
How else could a recluse like me reach the absolute peak of that universe's power?
Sure, there were immortals and divines even above the immortals, but…
As long as I just kept my head low and just pay my way out of trouble, none of those who could threathen me could be bothered to do so.
Thanks to this, within my punching weight, I had no equal.
And now, I could feel my main character powers slowly manifesting. Just like a little over a thousand years ago, when I opened my eyes to see a murim world.
===== [SYSTEM] =====
- - -
===== [SYSTEM] =====
'Huh?'
The marching song filled the air, reaching my dark chamber through the window-hole in the stone walls of what looked like… a tower?
'Right, I need to figure out the setting of this place.'
Whether I liked it or not, there were some steps that I had to make to gain my bearings. An information too crucial to delay it for any viable reason.
I took a deep breath before pushing my legs off the bed, standing up with enough momentum to carry a few steps forward in one feel swoop.
The window of my room really was just a hole in the stone bricks of the place. It housed a barred hole just big enough to give me a proper view of the outside.
There, a bunch of torches lit up the training ground just enough for a group of soldiers to continue with their morning practice.
It was just one look.
Somehow, however, it allowed me to to learn all that I needed, serving merely as a hook for the new memories of my reality to register in my brain.
"I see…"
Now, it all made sense.
And as hard to believe as it could be after what I just did, I've realized just how much worse I had it now.
Without even a moment to rest, this world threw me right in the middle of a warring states era, a vicious battle royale of a shattered the clans clawing at the ruins of the shattered empire.
A moment where the old was changing seats with the new.
It just so happened, that out of all my memories of my original life, after over a thousand years of living in a world of cultivation, fantasy books were the one element I could recall the best.
And I could remember an innumerable examples for stories where the protagonist would only descover old ruins of the powerful, mysterious ancient civilizations.
But in this world, right after I woke up?
I ended up happening in the middle of a continent-spanning all-vs-all wave of destruction, an even easily comparable to the bronze age collapse both in its scale, potential effects and the degree to which it would affect the distant future.
And all my family had to its name, was a single castle on a lone hill, two small villages and a moderately-sized contingent of pretty average warriors and mercenaries.
Before the collapse, my new clan used to live off trade and services offered by the heads in the capital's council. But after everything went tits up?
Left with no other options, we could only fend for ourselves by raiding our neighbours, depriving them of all the things we ourselves needed to survive.
A 'harsh' word barely reflected the brutality forced upon everyone around.
Thankfully, even with all my powers gone…
I understood how my systems worked.
And while certain things had to change when I reseted all my information, certain basic principles had to remain.
Only to a degree, obviously, but I could already feel how to make my system act.
I stood away from the window and turned back, instinctively finding the barrel of the cold water and closing my eyes while leaning over it.
After letting my eyes to rest in the total darkness for a bit, I've opened up them again, staring into the dark reflection on the water, barely visible due to the extremely few sparse rays of sun's light reaching the stone chamber at the top of one of my family castle four, corner towers.
And just like that,
POOF
===== [SYSTEM] =====
Name: Theo Castor
Age: 21
- - -
===== [SYSTEM] =====
My lips curved into a smile.
In order for parts of my system to unlock, I had to witness, determine the reality of various parts of myself in this world first.
Just like when seeing the reflection of my new face for the first time established who I really was in this unfamiliar world.
A satisfied smile crept to my lips.
By confirming my instinctive guess, I now established a method to discover the full potential of what I could do in this world.
Thankfully, if my reincarnator cheats were as stupidly powerful as they were last time, there would be nothing that could stand in my way after just a moderate amount of effort!
'Just give me a few years,' my smile relaxed, as I finally accepted the requirement of putting in effort first.
And now that I've learned how to manipulate the moment of creation of my system, I couldn't help but think of one brutally effective method.
A solution truly fit for this unreasonable world.
So, I took a deep breath.
"Servant!"
A sharp call near instantly brought a young teen to rush inside the room.
"Yes, master Theo?"
"Arrange a seeing with my father," I ordered, as a slightly wicked smile once again crept to my lips.
After a thousand years of deprivation, I couldn't care less if me enjoying all that I've now regained would lead me down the path of depravation.
It was time for me to establish the easily scalable and enjoyable way to abuse unorthodox means to gain power.
I've already learned that much in my last life.
Why compete for what everyone covets, when you can outdo them in a thousand other ways?
And if that's what I was going for, then I might as well make it as amusing as I possibly could!
A slightly perverted smile now pernamently established itself upon my lips under the influence of my thoughts and new intentions.
"Tell him there's something regarding that female knight we captured two raids back that I want to discuss."