I roared, voice rippling through the broken forest like a storm. My body shifted again, transforming into my hybrid state as the black wind gathered in my hand. The scythe manifested, humming with ominous energy. With a cry, I swung—clean through the raindeer's neck.
Its head dropped. Its body slumped.
Just as I thought I'd killed it—
It blinked.
Still alive.
I hesitated. This time, I didn't attack. Just stared.
Its yellow eyes stared back—glowing faintly. Not from life, not from pain. Something else.
This ability… it wasn't time reversal. It was something worse. Something more personal.
My breathing slowed. It felt like I was caught in a loop—but everything around me had changed. The blood, the dirt, the broken ground—it was all real. The cuts on my arm. The residue of vacuum energy still clinging to my skin. My injuries hadn't reset.
So it wasn't the world. It was me.
Or rather… just my perception.
No, that wasn't right either.
I was still changed. Still transformed. Still tired. My form had shifted between each death of the deer. My power state remained stable.
This wasn't looping time.
This was death resetting itself. For the deer. And for me, the target.
Its ability affected both of us—but not the world.
I grit my teeth. "That's it… you're not rewinding time. You're cheating death."
And maybe... so was I.
I rushed toward the wolf's body. The raindeer didn't stop me.
That was already a sign.
I tore the core from the wolf's broken chest—then devoured it.
The surge hit me immediately. Hot, dense, filled with sharp power. My muscles trembled, and I could feel the remnants of the wolf's lightning coursing through me. But I didn't stop. I ran, closing the distance, black wind swirling around me. My scythe cleaved again.
The raindeer retaliated with a burst of gravitational force—but I was ready.
I used vacuum again, forcing the energy into its form.
It screamed.
It worked—but only once.
Then it adapted. Again.
I gritted my teeth and lunged again. I slashed. I struck. Again and again.
I killed it. Over and over.
And every time, I watched.
Its body grew weaker. Its recovery slower.
This wasn't infinite.
Its body was fading.
I looked back at the wolf's shredded corpse. It remained unchanged. Unlike me, it hadn't reset. Unlike the deer, it hadn't adapted.
That proved it.
The raindeer's ability didn't reset the world—only itself, and me, because I was its target.
That explained the loop.
I smiled.
So… if I didn't kill it—
I turned. The raindeer was panting. Exhausted. Its legs trembled. Its golden eyes had dimmed to a pale, faded hue. It hesitated as I stepped closer.
It knew.
It knew I'd figured it out.
"You're not immortal," I said softly. "You're just stubborn."
I didn't fight it this time. I didn't need to. I'd already won.
Instead, I took the wolf's corpse—what was left of it—and ran.
Day 2350
I devoured it all.
Every ounce of muscle. Every tendon. Every drop of core essence.
And then I consumed the core itself—large and glowing like a football. Alongside it, I found something else: a small, perfectly round pearl—familiar in color and size.
The Lumen Pearl.
I hesitated for only a moment, then swallowed them both.
A transformation began.
No, not a leap. Not a breakthrough.
Just… a shift.
A limit.
My stats increased—maybe 2%? 3% at most. Nothing overwhelming. But something had changed. Deep inside. A current. A storm.
Lightning.
It surged through me, and my body burned.
I screamed.
My bear fur turned white at the tips. I couldn't control the lightning—not yet. My flesh felt scorched from the inside. But I endured.
The Lumen Pearl was no longer foreign. It was no longer a tool or artifact. It was mine. I could feel it now, not in my abdomen but deep within my mind—almost like an organ. No longer separate from me.
An extension of my will.
I focused. Moonlight entered my body. Slowly. Reluctantly.
Absorbed directly into the core.
It was working.
Even if nothing obvious changed… I could feel the potential.
Something else had changed, too.
A muscle of spirit, maybe?
No. More accurate to call it intent.
Just like Black Wind.
It wasn't something I saw—but I felt it. A pressure. A direction.
I removed the golden ring and the black ring, examining them carefully.
The golden one had more than just energy. Inside was:
A map.
A strange token.
Several glass bottles of blood.
It was a little too cliché.
A secret storage ring with a map? Who wrote this? A cultivation author?
I snorted.
"What's next? The secret legacy of an ancient sect?"
I checked the black ring.
Much smaller. Barely more than a suitcase of space. That reminded me of the one I brought when I first transmigrated. A survival kit.
It only had a bit of energy and some supplies.
Useless.
I turned my attention back to the golden ring.
The blood inside the bottles—it smelled familiar.
Too familiar.
It reminded me of the raindeer's blood.
Wait…
Was it possible?
I remembered how the raindeer fought. It didn't behave like a beast.
It strategized. It used gravity with precision. It hesitated.
That wasn't instinct.
That was intellect.
"Could it be…?"
Was the raindeer Aldric?
Or somehow connected to him?
The monocle man had chased someone through a cave, shooting wildly, drinking blood potions. Suspicious as hell.
Maybe he wasn't chasing me.
Maybe he was chasing Aldric.
And maybe Aldric wasn't fully human.
Maybe he could transform, like me.
What if he was the raindeer?
Or worse—what if he'd made it?
Or… what if the raindeer was a failed version of what I am?
I stared at the bottle again.
It had to be the same blood.
That meant something deeper.
That meant this wasn't random.
That meant my transmigration, the wolf, and everything else—they weren't just chance.
Because I only encountered the wolf after Aldric vanished.
And I only got the core after devouring that beast.
Maybe Aldric was the wolf?
Or part of it?
Or maybe he was guiding me from the shadows?
Ugh. My head hurt.
This plot was starting to feel like one of those overstuffed cultivation novels.
A transmigrator gets a cheat, gains absurd power with zero struggle, gets a harem, slaps everyone who disrespects him…
I scowled.
Where's my absurdly convenient legacy?
Where's my arrogant young master to humiliate?
Why do I have to eat a damn radioactive wolf corpse and fight an immortal space-deer just to unlock 3% stats?
I sighed.
"…This world is broken."
And I was going to figure out why.
But first—I had to check that map.
Even if it was cliché.
Because at this point? I was done playing along.
Let's see what this world's absurd plot has in store for me next.