Amadeus stood face-to-face with the Knight Memory.
The Knight's calm voice echoed in the quiet domain.
"Given your current stats, all I can teach you is the basics of swordsmanship."
Amadeus.
"It's fine. Anything is better than nothing."
The Knight Memory.
"Then let us begin."
Amadeus raised his sword, shifting into a fighting stance.
In the next instant, the Knight rushed forward.
His blade flashed once—clean, precise, merciless.
Amadeus's sword clattered to the ground as cold steel pressed against his neck.
the Knight Memory.
"Your stance is terrible, we'll fix that first."
From there, the night stretched endlessly.
Amadeus's weak body was pushed to its limits, sweat soaking through his clothes as he stumbled, swung, and fell over and over.
By the time dawn arrived.
Amadeus collapsed on one knee, clutching the training sword planted in the ground. His chest heaved, his entire body trembling.
the Knight Memory.
" Not bad, i thought you will take longer, but you finished just in time ".
Amadeus returned to thee real world still sitting as he was before the trines and pain all gone, as if it was a dream.
Not far away, Crown stirred awake on the rock he had been sleeping on.
" Did you sleep sitting like that ?"
Amadeus stood up.
"Don't worry about it."
A glowing panel appeared in front of him.
[ You unlocked a skill ]
[ Sword Mastery Lv.1 ]
/ You have learned the basics of Swordsmanship—the foundation of every great swordsman.
Amadeus.
i was a little worried that my training in the Memory Domain wont be counted.
But know that i know that its possible.
i can use to train as much as i want with out tiring myself.
Another panel flickered unnaturally, glitching across his vision.
[ You have reached the starting point of Chapter 1 ]
[ Chapter 1 : The Quarry ]
And then it vanished.
Crown tilted his head.
"Why'd you stop? Let's go."
Amadeus.
"Nothing. Let's move."
But his mind lingered on the strange panel.
That panel… it doesn't belong to the system.
It must be from the entity that gave O and me the 'gift: Cycle of life and Death.'
And this whole 'Chapter' thing… what is he, a writer?
Amadeus chuckled under his breath.
Fine. If he thinks he's a poet, then I'll call him… the Writer.
Their journey took the entire day, reaching the designated meeting point only after night had fallen.
Torches lit the area where several guards were already waiting. Some held bows, and the rest gripped swords at their waists. Their presence alone radiated danger.
Above their heads their Difficulty was written.
[ Hard ]
Amadeus approached carefully.
One guard, sword strapped to his side, stepped forward.
"Give me the letter."
Amadeus's answered calmly.
"This letter is for the Leader of the Guards. Pretty sure that's not you."
The guard snarled.
"You little—"
Before he could finish, the gathered soldiers parted as a man stepped forward.
He wore a black armor unlike the rest, his presence alone enough to suffocate the air.
Above him was something shocking.
[ Extreme ]
The man smirked.
"Welcome, messenger. My name is Xera, leader of the guards. You can hand the letter to me."
Amadeus raised a brow.
"Really? Somehow, I doubt the Leader of the Guards would personally come meet me".
" And wasn't his name Atlan, not Xera? Or was the letter mistaken?"
Xera chuckled.
" So, you read the letter ".
" Now, that made things a little complicated "
" You know the messenger shouldn't open the letter "
Amadeus smirked.
" And you shouldn't steal your leader letters "
Xera smiled.
" His not my leader, we just work together "
Amadeus.
" But you still follow his orders "
Suddenly, Xera eyes darkened.
"You're truly annoying, fake messenger."
Amadeus.
"And what makes you think I'm fake?"
Xera said, smiling.
"Because,"
"I killed the real messenger two days ago".
"And i know a bandit took his things "
" I was going to deal with him in few days, but you came and killed him "
" which makes you nothing more than a thief who stole from another thief "
Crown said nervously.
"I don't like this…"
Xera.
" But truth be told, i made a mistake when i though throwing the messenger body will be enough "
" but this time i will make sure to destroy everything that belong to him "
Amadeus's mind raced.
Wait. These guards weren't here to escort the messenger… they were here to kill him.
Amadeus bite his lip.
With my current power, i cant win.
He was about to turn and run when his vision warped.
What—
Xera stood before him, blood-soaked sword in hand.
At his feet lay Amadeus's lifeless body, headless, crumpled on the dirt.
I didn't even see him move.
He killed me instantly.
The world stopped. Time itself shattered.
A glitched panel appeared before Amadeus's disembodied head.
[ You Failed ]
[ Rewriting Chapter 1 ]
Reality shattered like broken glass, then pieced itself back together.
Amadeus fell to his knees at the camp where the sun had just risen, screaming in agony as the reset burned through his soul.
He felt every sensation of his death and rebirth.
Crown woke up and rushed over, panicked.
"What's wrong?!"
But Amadeus couldn't hear him.
It hurts… it hurts so much.
The world shifted.
He found himself within the Memory Domain.
A hand gently touched his shoulder.
Amadeus looked up—it was the Slave Memory.
"It's fine. Don't be afraid. You're not alone."
Around him, one by one, his other memories appeared—the Noble, the Assassin, the Beggar, the Mage, the Knight—standing at his side.
The crushing fear eased.
Amadeus steadied his breath. Together, they began to think.
The Noble spoke first.
"Omega once said that in his final battle against O, he saw fear in O's eyes for the first time."
" That must mean… before then, O never feared death."
" Because each time he died, the Writer reset the world to the beginning of the chapter."
" Another chance. Another attempt."
The Assassin Memory grinned.
"Which means we have infinite tries."
The Beggar Memory shook his head.
"Not exactly. Don't forget—O still died in the end."
" The Writer only kept him alive until he no longer had any use for him."
The Knight Memory stepped forward.
"That's why we can't rely on this gift completely."
" We must fight, survive, and endure as much as possible."
Amadeus exhaled slowly, his expression sharpening.
"Then let's move to the next topic—what do we do now?"
To be continued.