The rain fell harshly against the dirt. The constant drumming of the earth seemed to be sending a message beyond life and death. A weak transmitting signal throughout worlds.
Kieran's eyes fluttered open in a daze.
He found himself leaning slumped against a big tree. He had injuries all over his body, and he could feel a sharp sting in his abdomen.
Not far from him, there was a corpse lying on the ground with a spear pierced through the heart.
Next to the corpse there was a large trail of blood that was constantly getting washed away by the heavy rain. Everywhere in the surrounding vicinity was a scene of destruction: potholes in the ground, trees splintered at their trunks, small weapons dug into the dirt.
There was complete stillness in the tall woods. Kieran felt a deep chill in his heart but before he could keep observing, he felt a splitting pain as if his head was being hammered. He closed his eyes tightly.
Memories keep emerging one after another.
"I thought I died? Earth…what is that place?"
It took a long time for the dizzy feeling to stop. After a while, Kieran opened his eyes again. The confusion was gone, instead there was a clarity.
Even in his injured state, Kieran couldn't help but have a wry smile on his face. He didn't expect something like this to happen to him.
Somehow, he had been reborn and received strange memories of a different world. At this moment the young man didn't know if he was a soul from Earth who transmigrated to this world or a teenager in this world who had memories of Earth.
Still, he knew that from now on he had no choice but to accept his identity.
Kieran Vale, 17 years old.
The fourth son of the Vale family in Emerald City, a runaway at the age of 12. The cause? His three older brothers. Theron Vale, the eldest, already in line to be the head of the Vale family, talented as both a warrior and a businessman.
Then his second eldest brother, Lucien. Although he was not as gifted as his older brother, Lucien was an extremely bright scholar, even when Kieran was a child his brother was getting invitations from people all around the kingdom.
Finally, his third eldest brother, Riven Vale. He was born with a special bloodline that made him a natural warrior. As soon as he was of age he was sent to the Stellar Martial Academy and directly became the disciple of the principle, a powerful warrior.
Kieran was the most mediocre son of the Vale family. Even though his father and brothers never treated him poorly, the young boy always wanted to prove himself to the world. So one night on his 12th birthday, Kieran ran away from home hiding in the back of a caravan.
This was a wandering that lasted 5 years. One can imagine what kind of life he had led up until this point. Hiding away in the corners of the world, never practising his family's special martial arts in fear of being found and brought back.
It was only 2 years ago that the young man chanced upon 'The Pale Oath.'
They had taken him in, gave him food, shown him how to fight, taught him how to live. Even though they were called a killer organisation by the outside world, the motto he was always taught in the organisation was 'enforcing justice on behalf of heaven and earth!'.
And he had believed it too. Under the codename No.111 he had carried out many assassinations and killed many evildoers.
But unfortunately he soon realised it was all just a sham.
They say they are acting on behalf of heaven and earth but in fact they are just lining their own pockets.
This time, the mission he received was to assassinate Arthur Penbrook, the mayor of a small town outside of the capital. According to what was told to him, Arthur was a bully who used his power to hoard wealth, destroy competitors and imprison his family's enemies. By assassinating him, The Pale Oath were saving the people.
But after Kieran secretly investigated him day and night, he found that this was all completely false.
Therefore, not only did he not assassinate Arthur, but he secretly reminded him to be careful.
He wanted to retreat quietly, but he didn't expect to be ambushed on the way.
The people who ambushed him were killers from The Pale Oath. He was even familiar with the leader. It was the man who had first trained him when he joined the organisation, No.60, 'Broken Spear'.
Led by No.60, this group of four people seemed to have known Kieran's route for a long time, and they set an ambush in secret and launched a surprise attack.
Fortunately, Kieran was on guard.
He fought and retreated along the way, and narrowly escaped death several times before he managed to escape. However, he did not expect that when he was about to escape, he would be stopped by Broken Spear.
In The Pale Oath, your number determined your power as a warrior, considering that there was more than a 50 number difference between them, it is evident that Kieran was no match for his enemy.
However, in the brutal fight, Kieran finally released his family's secret martial arts and sacrificed his own life and eventually died together with his opponent.
At this time, the corpse pierced by a spear was exactly the assassin codenamed No.60.
After sorting out the whole story, Kieran couldn't help but curse his past self for his foolishness.
"What an idiot! You had everything you could need but you still ran away from home!"
He shook his head and struggled to stand up.
His current situation is extremely dangerous. Three of those killers are still alive. In his current condition, if he is caught up by those people, he will surely die.
But before that, he had one more thing to do.