Jade was dead. He was sure of it. He was on his way to get food late at night after playing a game when he was hit by a truck. He was dead.
He should be dead. He had felt his bones break and shatter, his flesh rend. So how could he be alive?
"What's... happening?" His voice was croaked and dry. He opened his eyes and shut them again. He rubbed his face, opened his eyes again, and looked around. "I'm not in the hospital?"
As far as he knew, he should be dead, and if not, shouldn't he be in the hospital? But where he found himself was on a bed with a cover so dirty it was making his nose itch.
He groaned as he pushed his body upright. His body ached, but not the type of pain caused by a truck at high speed crushing someone.
It felt more like the pain one would feel after a long day at work, the one that came straight from the bones. In the dimly lit room that he found himself, he began to put together the place he was in.
Rows of bunk beds, dirty floor, and walls lined with cracks.
And the smell. He curled his lips. "Was I kidnapped after I was hit by that car? Then I should look for a way to get out of here. No, I should look around and know the situation I am in before doing anything."
He swung his legs over the bed. He was in the lower bunk, but then he froze as he stood. There were other people sleeping on the bunks. They were snoring softly.
But that wasn't what really made him freeze. It was the thought that struck his mind that something was wrong. "Am I... taller? And thinner?"
He lifted his shirt, and his eyes widened. "What in the actual fuck."
He wasn't in any way fat, but he had a little bit of a pot belly that came from the fact that he spent most of his days just lazing around.
"Near-death experience can cause such changes? No, it's impossible. That is not logical at all. I was kidnapped and experimented on? Yes, that's still a possibility. Some kind of underground research that's kidnapping people for their twisted experiment?"
He was nervous and anxious. The fact that he was analyzing his thoughts aloud betrayed that. As a man who liked to deal with cold emotions, he began to explain the possibilities that might have happened to him, eliminating things that couldn't be possible.
As his mind was doing that, his hands began to explore his body, and what he realized made him gasp. "Impossible!"
It was a small shout, but someone from the nearest bunk raised his head and shouted even more than him. "Shut up, you little shit! Is the beating not enough? I will shove you under the bunk right now!" Then the person immediately began to snore again.
"...Beating? Yes, I was right. I'm in a dangerous place..." He narrowed his eyes. But the realization that he came to made him forget about anything else. He said with absolute certainty, "This is not my body."
He was taller, his palm rough, and although the body was a bit on the thin side, it was still muscular. He knew his own body didn't have any of those features. The only thing he had going for him was his brain.
His eyes scanned the room, and there, glinting in the far corner, was a mirror with a cracked face. "That will do."
He walked over and stared at his face in the mirror. It wasn't his face. It was an unknown face. Black hair and piercing blue eyes like the core of ice.
"This is not me. I am not this handsome." His voice was expressionless, and he made the joke to keep himself calm, but his lips did not even twitch.
His brain was working in overload to explain the situation he was in, but still, the only thing he could accept was that some kind of high research technology had been created that was able to transfer the consciousness of the dead over.
He didn't panic. Instead, he turned around and began to do the next thing: gather as much information as he could. He crossed over the different bunks and began to study the people sleeping in them, what they wore, and everything his eyes saw.
What he saw made his heart skip a beat, and despite himself, his eyes widened.
"They are teenagers like me, all male. But on the clothes thrown around, there's a symbol that's very familiar." He swallowed. "Five bloody fists holding five swords. I've seen that symbol before. I've read about it. I've played the game before!"
"That is the symbol of the Zenith Hero Academy! It's in the webnovel of Legacy of Heroes! Is this some kind of fan joke prank?"
This time, he couldn't keep his cool expression as his heart began to beat very fast. Without hesitating, he walked towards the door and ran from the room into a hallway of different doors.
It was dawn, and the sun was gently casting its soft glow over everything, but he didn't notice all that. He ran out of the dormitory, out the gate, and... he didn't have to go far to see what he was looking for.
Right there in the sky, he saw the answers. A woman was flying on a sword, her form shimmering as she blazed across. Over there, a man conjured flames from his hand and used it to light his smoke.
He stood shocked, and his brain began to come to a conclusion that he never thought he would make in his nineteen years of living. "I have been transported into another world. And this world... the world of Legacy of Heroes!"
He took several calm breaths. "Alright. I've accepted that there are forces beyond our comprehension, and now I'm here. What I know about this world is that it is totally brutal. Where the strong absolutely trample on the weak.
Fortunately for me, as one of the main characters..."
Suddenly, he froze and frowned. "Wait, I checked this face earlier... I don't remember it. I've not seen it before. My name is..."
Suddenly, the name of the body, his new name, came to his mind. "My name is Severin Reignhart...?"
His eyes widened. "Who the hell is Severin Reignhart?"