The morning Leo left home arrived earlier than expected.
Before the sun had fully risen, the lower district of the human domain was already awake. Thin gray smoke curled upward from rusted chimneys. Old generators rumbled loudly as they struggled to provide electricity to the crowded buildings. The streets were narrow and uneven, patched together with metal sheets and broken concrete from ruins that were centuries old.
This place had never truly recovered from the catastrophe that reshaped Earth two hundred years ago.
For the people living here, survival came first.
Dreams came later—if they came at all.
Inside a small, worn house near the end of the street, Leo slowly opened his eyes.
The ceiling above him was familiar.
Cracked in several places, patched with different pieces of wood and metal over the years. He had stared at that ceiling almost every morning since his rebirth.
Today would be the last time.
For a moment, Leo lay still on his bed.
A quiet breeze slipped through the slightly open window, carrying the distant sounds of the city beginning its day.
Metal doors opening.
People shouting greetings to neighbors.
Footsteps rushing toward workplaces.
Everything felt normal.
But for Leo, today marked the beginning of something different.
He sat up slowly and looked around the small room.
It contained very little.
A simple bed.
A wooden table.
A chair with one repaired leg.
And a small shelf where a few books and notebooks rested.
Compared to the grand palaces and cosmic battlefields he had once ruled in his previous life, this place was unbelievably small.
Yet strangely…
He had grown attached to it.
Because for the first time in his long existence, he had experienced something ordinary.
Something peaceful.
Something human.
Leo stood up and picked up the small bag resting beside the table.
Inside were only a few belongings:
Two sets of clothes.
A small notebook where he had secretly recorded his observations about this world.
And a thin pendant his mother had given him when he was very young.
It had no magical power.
No special meaning to anyone else.
But to Leo, it symbolized the life he had lived during these ten quiet years.
He placed the pendant carefully back into the bag and stepped toward the door.
Before he could open it, a soft voice came from behind him.
"You're already awake."
Leo turned.
His mother stood in the doorway.
She had probably been awake long before him.
Her hair was tied loosely behind her head, and she wore the same worn work clothes she used almost every day. Years of hard labor had left faint lines on her hands and face.
But her eyes were warm.
They always had been.
"You didn't have to wake up so early,"
Leo said quietly.
His mother smiled gently.
"How could I sleep when my son is leaving home today?"
Leo didn't respond immediately.
Instead, he stepped closer and placed the bag over his shoulder.
Outside, the morning light was slowly spreading across the district.
The sky above the city barrier looked strange—as it always did.
Thin cracks of glowing energy stretched across the upper atmosphere, remnants of the dimensional rifts that had once torn the world apart.
Even after two hundred years, the sky had never fully healed.
His mother walked toward him and adjusted his collar slightly.
"You'll be staying at the academy dormitory from now on," she said softly. "It's a big place… very different from here."
Leo nodded.
"I know."
The Astra Dominion Academy was the most important training institution in the entire domain. Students from powerful families, hunter clans, and awakened bloodlines all studied there.
Compared to them, Leo was nothing more than a poor boy from the lower district.
At least…
That was what everyone believed.
His mother studied his face for a moment.
"You're not nervous?" she asked.
Leo thought about the question.
Was he nervous?
Not really.
After experiencing wars that lasted centuries and controlling power that could reshape universes, entering an academy felt almost… simple.
Still, he answered honestly.
"A little."
His mother chuckled softly.
"That's normal."
Then she placed something into his hand.
It was a folded piece of paper.
"Your father left this before he went to work."
Leo unfolded it slowly.
The handwriting was rough and uneven.
His father had never been good with words.
But the message was clear.
'Strength is important.
But learning when not to use it is even more important.'
Leo stared at the sentence quietly.
For a long time.
In his previous life, he had possessed limitless power.
But he had rarely considered restraint.
Perhaps that had been one of the reasons everything ended the way it did.
He folded the paper again and placed it inside his bag.
"I'll remember it," he said.
His mother suddenly stepped forward and hugged him tightly.
Leo froze for a moment.
Physical affection was something he had never experienced before this life.
In his previous existence, people feared him more than they loved him.
Slowly, he returned the hug.
"Take care of yourself," she whispered.
Leo nodded.
"I will."
After a moment, she stepped back and wiped her eyes quickly.
"You should go now," she said with a small smile. "The academy transport won't wait forever."
Leo stepped outside the house.
The street looked the same as always.
But today it felt different.
Because he knew he wouldn't be returning here every evening anymore.
He walked slowly down the road leading toward the central district.
Other children were already heading in the same direction.
Some were excited.
Some were nervous.
Some talked loudly about becoming famous hunters one day.
Leo simply walked silently among them.
Above the city, a large armored transport aircraft slowly descended toward the departure platform.
The academy transport.
It would carry all new students safely to the academy campus located near the center of the domain.
As Leo approached the platform, he felt something faint stir inside his chest.
The sleeping god within him shifted slightly.
Not awakening.
Just observing.
It understood something Leo himself was only beginning to realize.
This moment—leaving his home—was not simply the start of school life.
It was the beginning of a new path.
A path that would eventually lead him back to unimaginable power.
But this time…
Things would be different.
The transport engines roared to life.
Students began boarding one by one.
Leo stepped onto the platform and took one last look at the lower district far behind him.
The small house where he had lived.
The narrow streets.
The ordinary life he had experienced for ten peaceful years.
Then he turned and entered the transport.
The doors closed.
The massive aircraft lifted into the sky.
Below, the city grew smaller.
Beyond the protective barrier stretched the ruined world—lands filled with monsters, demons, and unknown beings.
A dangerous world.
A broken world.
A world that still needed someone strong enough to protect it.
Leo watched the horizon silently.
Deep inside his soul, something ancient and immeasurable waited patiently.
And far away, in places where humans could never survive, powerful beings suddenly felt a faint disturbance in the balance of the world.
They did not know what it was.
Not yet.
But something had begun to move.
And its name…
Was Leo.