The rain fell like judgment, relentless and cold. Axel King barely noticed. His eyes were glued to his phone, scrolling mechanically through the latest chapter of Immortal Emperor's Ascension, each swipe a futile attempt to distract himself from the monotony of life. The warehouse shift had been another soul-crushing grind—heavier than yesterday, and yet somehow lighter than the emptiness gnawing at him from the inside.
Twenty-four years old. No degree. No prospects. No future. A life of gray walls, fluorescent lights, and the bitter taste of unfulfilled potential.
"If only I could transmigrate like this protagonist," he muttered under his breath, his voice lost beneath the patter of rain. "Leave this boring-ass world behind."
The universe, it seemed, was listening.
Headlights exploded across his vision. Tires screeched. A heartbeat later, metal met bone. Pain—sharp, immediate, real. And then… nothing.
No body. No sensation. No warmth. Just a vast, endless void where thought existed, but the self did not.
Am I… dead?
"BLOODLINE DETECTED."
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. Ancient. Mechanical. Divine. It resonated through his very essence, vibrating against the core of his being.
"KING LINEAGE CONFIRMED. SOUL COMPATIBILITY: 100%. INITIATING TRANSFER."
Wait—what?!
But before Axel could process it, the void collapsed in on itself. Colors bled into existence—cosmic purples, celestial blues, and streaks of bloodline crimson. His consciousness, now a glowing sphere of awareness, was yanked through dimensions like a fish caught on a cosmic hook. Worlds flickered past. Mortal. Immortal. Divine. Realms beyond reckoning.
And then—pain.
Glorious, agonizing, all-consuming pain.
Axel gasped as his eyes flew open. Air flooded lungs that had long forgotten how to breathe. Hands—different hands, yet familiar—clawed at dirt and straw beneath him. Fingers tested themselves, marveling at muscle and sensation that felt alien yet true.
"What… where…?"
The hut was small, decrepit, barely fit for animals. Moonlight spilled through cracks in the wooden walls, casting pale stripes on the floor. Shadows danced along broken furniture. The smell of damp straw and earth filled his nose. And then the memories hit—memories that were not his own.
The original Axel. Orphaned. Weak. Bullied. Beaten to death the day before by the Chen Clan's Young Master, for the crime of existing.
He had transmigrated.
Axel laughed bitterly, a dry, rasping sound that echoed against the walls. "Careful what you wish for, right?"
But as he rose on shaking legs, testing the strength and balance of this new body, something else stirred deep inside. Not bone, not blood—but deeper. A flicker of warmth. A pulse. A whisper of power.
It started faintly, like a candle struggling to ignite in the dark. And then it grew. The dantian—the core of his new body—throbbed in resonance with the world itself. Tiny sparks of light traced veins beneath his skin, golden threads vibrating in rhythm with the heartbeat of the hut, the forest, and the night.
Axel froze, breath shallow. He reached inward with his mind, searching for the source, and found it: raw, unformed, alive. Qi.
The word was foreign, yet it felt like the most natural thing in existence. His bloodline, the King Lineage, stirred in recognition. It had been dormant for generations, suppressed by time, hidden beneath layers of mortality. But now, the spark had awakened.
The world outside his hut was silent, yet alive. Moonlight struck the leaves of the nearby forest, revealing faint golden trails as if the trees themselves were pulsing with energy. The air hummed, thick with power that made Axel's hair tingle. Every sensation in this world was magnified—the scent of wet earth, the rustle of leaves, the whisper of unseen creatures.
Axel forced himself to focus. He knelt, hands pressed to the damp floor, closing his eyes. The pulse inside him, faint at first, demanded attention. Slowly, he let his consciousness stretch, feeling the currents of energy in the hut, the soil, the very night air. The Qi responded, swirling, pulsing, forming tentative loops within him.
He drew in a shaky breath. Sparks of golden light traced the paths of his veins. The first meridian awakened. The pulse intensified. He could feel the forest, the soil, the moonlight, all connected to him in a way he could barely comprehend.
A sound—a faint rustle, a low growl—made his eyes snap open. From the darkness of the hut's entrance, two glowing eyes stared at him. A creature, quadrupedal, sleek, and muscular, its fur shimmering in a strange, ethereal light. It bared its fangs.
Instinct surged before thought. Axel's hands glowed faintly with golden energy. He raised them. The Qi, responding to his intent, coiled along his arms like serpents. The beast lunged.
The first clash of power left Axel breathless. The room seemed to shudder as claws met energy, leaving sparks dancing in the air. Pain shot up his arms, but he felt nothing break. His body adapted in microseconds, reacting to the assault with a speed and precision he could not have imagined. Each movement was a mixture of instinct, Qi resonance, and the faint guidance of the bloodline stirring within him.
Minutes passed. Perhaps hours. Time felt distorted. Every strike, every parry, every dodge tightened his connection with the energy flowing through him. He was no longer weak. He was learning. Surviving. Responding.
Finally, with a surge of Qi coiling through his fists and dantian, Axel struck. The creature yelped and fled into the shadows, leaving him panting, bruised, and exhilarated.
He sank to his knees beside the small fire he had managed to light with trembling hands. The pulse in his chest was stronger now, more coherent, more insistent. The bloodline, fully awake, hummed with a quiet, ancient melody. Axel could feel it threading through him, shaping him, preparing him for what was to come.
"This… this is just the beginning," he whispered, voice trembling with awe. "I am… Axel King. And I will survive. I will grow. I will become more than I ever was."
Outside, the forest seemed to acknowledge him, the leaves rustling in faint applause. Somewhere in the depths of the night, a distant howl answered his resolve—a reminder that the world was dangerous, alive, and waiting.
And Axel, for the first time in two lives, felt potential.