Somewhere near a cliff, a figure was falling into the river below.
Did he know why?
Who knows.
All he remembered was that today was his 21st birthday. He was on his way to meet his parents to celebrate it…
So why was he here now, falling from a cliff into a raging river?
Splash…
"Seriously… is this how I truly die… while drowning?"
"Maybe I should have told her how I felt… told my parents…"
"…Maybe it's true. When you die, you see your entire life in front of you."
"Is this real…?"
"…Yeah. It is."
"You remember everything… every moment of your life."
"And right now… I'm remembering every regret I have…"
{Ding!}
"What now?!"
{Ding! Reincarnation in progress.}
"Reincarnation…?"
{10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…}
{Ding! Host will remember his past life at the age of 15.}
"What are you talking about…?"
"…Hello?!"
Water filled his lungs as panic set in.
"Maybe… I should have learned how to swim…"
"I was always afraid of water… its depth… is that why…?"
"…Why didn't I try…?"
"I don't know…"
"And what is this reincarnation…?"
"…Am I seeing light…?"
"Huh…?! Ah—my head… why does it hurt so much…?!"
Memories—strange, unfamiliar memories—began flooding his mind.
"…What is this…?"
"…Kael…?"
"…Is that… my name?"
"…So I truly… reincarnated…"
"Huh… so this world is not Earth… Aurorious…? Hmm, so that's the name of this world?"
"Wait… wait… wait… this world has monsters, dungeons, awakeners… seriously?!"
"Is this some kind of novel… or are those novels actually based on this world?"
"And… what about my parents in this life…?"
"…So I was discarded from the house two days ago… seriously?"
"…That's too much information at once. Calm down… sit… breathe in… breathe out… in… out…"
"Now… take the memories slowly…"
"First… my name is Kael Valtros."
"I was the next heir of the Valtros family… yeah, was."
"Because I've been abandoned."
"Well… not officially. But when you control everything, you can do whatever you want—even bend the law."
"In the eyes of outsiders, Kael Valtros was the heir…"
"But everyone inside the Valtros estate knew the truth."
"I was just a cover heir."
"A placeholder… until the real heir took his place."
"And who is that?"
"…My half-brother."
"Arthur Valtros."
"And yeah… you probably guessed the reason."
"I wasn't a child they actually wanted."
"My so-called father—the patriarch of the Valtros family—couldn't keep his desires in check… and I was born."
"And two years later… the 'real' son he wanted was born."
"But here's the funny part…"
"You'd think the Valtros family would at least take care of me."
"But no."
"They only gave me the Valtros name… nothing else."
"I never saw my father."
"I never even saw the so-called Valtros estate in real life."
"For a family that's the second richest in the world…"
"Their 'heir' was pathetically broke."
"They told my mother some story about a 'trial' for the heir…"
"But she knew it was all lies."
"And no one objected."
"My mother did everything to raise me…"
"But she died when I was 8… in a so-called accident."
"…I never believed that."
"And neither did the original Kael… even before I regained my memories."
"Why would I?"
"The vehicle she died in… belonged to the Valtros estate."
"We were never allowed there."
"So how did she end up dying in one of their cars…?"
"…After that, I survived on the money she left behind."
"At the age of 10, I started working part-time."
"Not because I had no money—I did."
"My mother made sure of that."
"Even now… money still gets deposited into her account."
"It was never closed."
"It's like she made sure I'd live securely…"
"But I don't know where that money comes from."
"So… I stopped using it."
"I chose to survive on my own."
"And then, at the age of 12…"
"I received an invitation to Valtona Academy."
"One of the top academies in the country—ranked 18th."
"…And of course, it's under the Valtros family."
"They have many academies… and they sent me there."
"You'd think I'd get special treatment since it belongs to my 'family'…"
"But no."
"Not at all."
"Even though I ranked first in every test for three years…"
"I never received proper treatment."
"Not even what a normal 12–15-year-old student should get."
"You know what's funny?"
"Classes are assigned based on ranks…"
"But not for me."
"Every time I ranked first…"
"My exam papers would mysteriously disappear."
"And they'd say…"
"'We can't assign you a rank without your paper.'"
"…One day, I left my paper blank."
"And guess what?"
"It didn't disappear."
"They couldn't have made it more obvious."
"So you might ask…"
"How was I so sure I ranked first…?"
"Well… I found that out when I accidentally saw the paper of the so-called rank 1…"
"My cousin."
"Apparently, they never discarded my paper."
"They just rewrote the name on it… and gave my marks—and my rank—to him."
"He was from a vassal family under the Valtros family… not even a direct Valtros."
"I recognized my handwriting immediately."
"They forgot to erase my name from the artwork section I had drawn."
"…And yet, I still gave him the credit."
"I didn't say a single word."
"…Two days ago was the day of awakening."
"I awakened."
"Yes… I did awaken."
"But the talent I awakened was…"
"…unranked."
"Every talent has a rank—SSS being the highest, and F being the lowest."
"But mine…?"
"Not even F."
"The crystal only showed one word…"
"Luck."
"My talent was… Unranked: Luck."
"…After that, I left."
"I didn't stay to hear what others had to say."
"My head had already started hurting…"
"So I just walked away."
"After arriving at my apartment…"
"I received a message from the Valtros family."
"Just one line."
"You are no longer the heir."
"…Nothing else."
"And then…"
"I fainted."
…
{Ding! Synchronization successful.}
{Ding! Binding process initializing…}
{Ding! Binding successful!}
{Ding! Daily Sign-In System activated.}
Thanks for reading !!!!
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See you in the next chapter