At first, it was barely more than a flicker.
But it grew.
Brighter. Stronger. Closer.
He reached out… not with his hands though. His body had already vanished.
He reached out with his soul. His essence.
And when he touched it—
Suddenly—
The pain vanished.
The darkness shattered.
And then—
A cry.
Loud. Sharp. Real.
"Wahhh… wahhhh…"
"My voice. Why am I crying?"
He didn't mean to. But his body trembled without permission. He tried to stop—tried to breathe steadily, control his limbs—but nothing listened.
He wasn't in control.
Not anymore.
—
He slowly opened his eyes. Shapes loomed around him—blurred and formless. His sight was still hazy.
First, a ceiling. Then, unknown figures that moved like shadows.
Then came the voices.
A low, steady tone:
"He cries like a baby… but stares like a lion," someone muttered watching his gaze.
Then a softer one, trembling with warmth:
"He's beautiful… Look at him, Rudeous. Our son."
"Son?"
A hand brushed against his forehead.
Gentle lips pressed against his skin.
"My sweet boy… Logan."
The name echoed—unfamiliar, yet filled with warmth.
"Logan? No… I'm—"
He froze.
He didn't remember his last breath.
Only the sword.
The betrayal.
Nolan's face.
His own blood on the dirt.
Then the voice in the void—
"A soul unyielding shall not perish."
This wasn't a dream.
But it didn't feel real either.
His mind was buzzing with these internal thoughts. And then there were these two unknown persons.
They called themselves Rudeous and Alice. Their voices were kind—even the deeper one. He saw their faces—just barely. The woman had silver hair. The man, sharp green eyes.
"Parents?"
It made no sense.
"I died. And now I'm here? I was… born again? Or am I still dying… hallucinating?"
His body was too small to move much. He couldn't even roll over. All he could do was lie still and think.
He couldn't accept this world. Not yet. Not until he knew if it was real.
He had to be sure.
Time passed slowly. Many others came to visit the newborn. All praised and congratulated both Rudeous and Alice. Soon the night fell and then came the moment he had been waiting for.
That night, in the silence of the nursery, he focused inward.
There were no voices. Just the quiet hum of the wind outside the window.
He closed his eyes.
His breathing slowed.
Inhale. Hold. Release.
A rhythm carved into him through decades of training.
The minutes dragged on.
And then suddenly—
There.
A flicker.
Small. Unstable. But familiar.
Qi.
It was faint. Not in a form.
But it was there.
Not gathered in a core. Not running through proper channels. His body had no dantian. No meridians. Nothing like the world he came from.
Still—
He could feel its existence.
Just barely—but enough.
Relief hit him like a breath of air after drowning.
Tears rolled down from his eyes.
Gratitude? Regret? He didn't know.
But one thing was clear.
His memories weren't illusions. His past life wasn't a lie. He didn't go mad before death.
He really had a life.
And now… he had been reborn.
He opened his eyes and stared at the wooden ceiling above.
His body was weak. Useless for now.
But his mind was sharp.
"This isn't an illusion."
"This is real."
Once he was sure, he knew what to do.
He couldn't cultivate. Not yet. His body wasn't ready.
But he could observe.
Learn.
Adapt.
And that's exactly what he did.
He began to watch everything. Like he was collecting information to survive in this new place.
The way Alice leaned over him, whispering lullabies in soft, breathy tones.
The way Rudeous stood near the door, arms crossed, saying little—but seeing everything.
He heard the servants too—quiet voices, hushed gossip.
They respected Alice. But not like nobility.
She was kind. Polite. Intelligent.
But she wasn't from a noble background.
Rudeous… he held power. He wasn't cruel. But he was distant.
Often his gaze lingered on Logan. But it felt more like he was calculating instead of being affectionate.
Then came the other woman.
Lady Mirena.
He only saw her once.
She entered the room with a servant trailing behind. Her posture was perfect. But her expression was too cold.
She looked at him.
Not like a child, but more like a problem. Like a threat.
She said nothing—and left.
Alice's shoulders had stiffened the moment she walked in.
"The first wife."
He understood instantly.
Then came the boy.
A few years older. Proud. Clean. Dressed in tailored robes.
"Darius," someone called him.
He walked past Logan's cradle once. He slowed down a bit while passing and looked at him.
Their eyes met.
Logan didn't blink.
Neither did he.
Then Darius sneered.
"He looks boring."
And walked away.
"So. I'm not alone. I have a brother."
He was already mapping the family structure in his mind.
Rudeous was a noble. Two wives. Two sons. One heir. One spare.
He'd seen it all before—in kingdoms, in courts, in bloodied war camps.
This world had power. And where there's power… there's hierarchy.
Days passed like that.
Observation. Breathing. Quiet reflection.
He cried only when necessary—to stay unnoticed.
He mimicked the blank stares of infants. The clumsy movements.
But inside, he watched everything.
Alice's kindness. Darius's arrogance. The quiet pressure in the halls.
Days passed, and slowly, his body began to respond. Small movements. Then crawling.
Then came the moment he hadn't expected.
He had crawled too fast and slipped on polished marble.
A sharp jolt of pain ran through his elbow.
It wasn't serious.
But the frustration—it hit hard.
He clenched his teeth—but they didn't even exist yet.
He cried out.
Not from injury.
But from weakness. From helplessness.
Alice rushed in.
"Oh, my poor baby…"
She lifted him gently onto the bed, humming softly to calm him.
Then she placed her hand over the bruised spot on his arm.
A soft green glow lit beneath her palm.
Warm. Comforting.
And then… the pain started fading.
Logan's eyes widened.
She wasn't using any medical kit. She wasn't even holding anything.
Just… touching.
And then, what came next shocked him even more.
With a wave of her hand, water drifted from the air.
She used it to wipe his tear-streaked cheeks.
"What the hell was that?" Logan totally lost his cool inside his mind.
Water. From nothing.
Light. From her hands.
No way it was any internal energy manipulation. He was sure of it.
No Qi. No internal energy. No technique.
This was entirely different.
He couldn't shake what he had just seen.
Alice's hand glowing softly. The warmth. The water floating gently in the air. Then the pain slowly vanishing.
His mind buzzed with these internal thoughts.
He totally forgot to cry.
Just stared at her with wide frozen eyes like the time had stopped.
Not from fear.
But from awe.
"This world… it's different."
"None of what I knew explained what I just saw. It broke every rule I lived by."
Something like glowing dust swirled around Alice. Logan couldn't see it. But he felt it somehow.
He lay back on the bed after Alice left the room. The ceiling above looked the same—but his thoughts didn't.
"First, I was reborn.
I wasn't even sure if it was real.
But somehow I could still make sense when I felt the Qi.
But now… this?"
His heart was pounding so fast.
This unknown phenomenon..this existence that he felt… it stirred something inside Logan that he thought had died long ago.
"Curiosity."
In the days that followed, he showed nothing unusual.
He acted like any other infant—fumbling, giggling, crying when needed. But inside, his thoughts were wide awake, constantly chasing every detail he saw.
He watched servants clean the halls with a flick of their fingers—brooms sweeping the floor without touch.
He saw bandages wrap themselves around small wounds.
It wasn't just Alice.
Everyone used it.
Those glowing, dust-like particles? They were everywhere.
He studied the rhythm of it.
This wasn't his regular internal energy and Qi flowing through the veins and meridians.
He listened quietly, piecing things together. The glowing dust drifting through the air—it was mana. And when people controlled it, bent it to their will… they called it…
MAGIC!!!!
Logan continued watching silently.
Sometimes, he tried to draw in those dust-like particles and manipulate them. But he failed. Still, he wasn't disappointed. He was curious—yes—but not in a hurry
He knew exactly what chasing power blindly could lead to. His past life taught him that the hard way. Betrayed by his own disciple.
"I lost everyone—not because I was weak, but because we were all running after power with no purpose.
Not this time.
This time, if I seek strength again, it won't be for glory. It won't be for status.
It'll be for one reason only—
To protect the people I couldn't protect before.
The ones I love."