Chapter 1 — A New Beginning
Darkness. Endless, suffocating darkness.
He drifted alone in the abyss, memories of battles, betrayal, and loneliness flashing through his fading consciousness. His name had once shaken continents as a mercenary feared and despised alike. A man whose hands were stained red with the blood of enemies and comrades alike. In the end, even his iron body could not fight the cruel decay of time. Cancer had gnawed at his flesh and soul, dragging him to an inevitable, lonely death.
Was that it?
He had always thought he would die on a battlefield, not on a hospital bed, surrounded by the stench of medicine and emptiness.
But fate had other plans.
From the depths of oblivion, a crack of light split the darkness. A violent pull — and he was no longer falling into death.
He was being reborn.
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The first thing he felt was... weakness.
He could not move, could not speak. Only a fragile warmth wrapped around him like a soft cocoon. Blurry lights flickered before his newly formed eyes. A gentle voice — unfamiliar yet comforting — whispered something he could not understand.
Instinctively, he knew: he had been reborn.
In a child's body.
No...
He realized with a jolt — a girl's body.
Inside, his mind — still that of a 40-year-old hardened mercenary — screamed in confusion. Him? A girl?
Unacceptable.
But what could he do? Struggle as he might, his tiny body could barely wiggle.
He would have to endure.
Time passed, and he slowly adapted to the fragility of this small, foreign vessel. The villagers around him spoke in a strange but gradually familiar language. Their faces were kind, but distant. He was adopted by an elderly woman who treated him with rough affection but little understanding.
Even as an infant, a cold, detached awareness filled her — yes, her — soul.
There was no real connection, no real belonging.
She was alone again.
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Days turned into months. Months into years.
By the time she could walk steadily, speak simple words, and understand her surroundings, her personality had already started to harden.
Cold eyes observed everything.
Words were chosen sparingly, only when necessary.
Unlike the other children, she did not chase butterflies or play games in the mud. She spent hours sitting alone under the ancient trees outside the village, staring silently at the sky as if waiting for something — anything — to break the monotony.
Villagers whispered behind her back.
"Strange child."
"Doesn't talk much, does she?"
"She's not right in the head."
She didn't care.
The memories of her past life remained vivid, etched into the very core of her being. No matter how much her body changed, her soul remained that of a lonely warrior who had long abandoned trust in others.
But even in that cold solitude, something small began to stir within her.
A spark.
A feeling that perhaps, in this world, she could carve a different path.
One free of betrayal.
One where she could stand tall, invincible — alone if necessary.
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By the age of six, Lin Zuner — for that was the name given to her — had fully accepted that she was now in a different world, trapped in a different form.
Acceptance did not mean peace.
There was a constant simmering rebellion in her heart, a refusal to forget who she had been.
She was Lin Zuner now, yes.
But she would never erase the man she once was.
She would forge herself anew — using both the memories of her old life and the opportunities of this new one.
Stronger than ever.
Her small hands clenched into tiny fists as she sat alone atop a rocky hill outside the village, the wind tugging at her short silver hair.
A silent vow formed in her heart:
"I will become strong. Stronger than anyone. Never again will I be helpless."
The ancient, boundless mountains stretched before her — wild, untouched, beckoning her forward.
Her journey had only just begun.
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End of Chapter 1.