The sound of rain constantly hitting the pavement echoed throughout the night.
An average looking young man, with pitch black hair, black eyes, and an average body type was out late at night. Jin was running home in the pouring rain, the forecast hadn't called for rain tonight so he was caught off guard without an umbrella or even a raincoat. "Even though I might catch a cold because of the rain, it'll all be worth it once I finally accomplish my dream. Then, I can finally take care of my mom and have the last laugh to all those who've wronged me" Jin thought to himself while gripping tighter onto the bag containing the new fully immersive VRMMORPG, Realm of Myths and Legends or RML for short.
Beep Beep Vroooooom!
A motorcycle shot past Jin as he was running across the street, though it barely manages to shoot past without crashing into him and kept on going.
Jin was startled for a moment and zoned out after almost becoming a late night news story. He shakes his head a few times snapping himself back into it. "I have to calm down and pay more attention to my surroundings" he said trying to calm himself even though his heart was still racing quite fast. He finally came to the final main road before he would be back within the distance of his home.
Jin stopped at the crosswalk patiently waiting for the crosswalk signal to turn green for him to walk across. He had learned his lesson from the previous incident and would not make the same mistake twice. "I wonder what mom is making for dinner tonight.." Jin thought to himself as the crosswalk signal finally turned green.
"You like my new ride babe? My dad bought it for me imported from out of the country." Wendell said while glancing over at his girlfriend.
"Your dad sure loves you to get you something like this." Genesis giggles before snuggling up to Wendell's arm. She playfully pouts, "Wenny, I saw this really cute purse at the mall yesterday and I just have to have it~" Genesis pushes up closer to Wendell, her peaks rubbing up against his arm in temptation.
"Heh, you're my girl and I take care of my girl. Besides, you know I can't resist you when you make a face like that." Wendell said before leaning into giving her a kiss on the lips.
Just as Genesis was leaning forward to return the kiss, out of the corner of her eye she saw a slight silhouette that looked like a person in the middle of the road. "WENDELL LOOK OUT!" she screamed suddenly which shook Wendell to quickly hit the brake in a panic causing the car to slide and swerve on the wet slippery road.
SKKKKKKKKKKKKKKRT... BAM! Bump bump..!
....
"What's going on..? Why can't I move..?" Jin thought to himself as he body laid on the cold hard pavement of the road. Suddenly he heard voices that sounded in panic as they stood over him for a bit saying something before rushing back to their car and driving off.
"Eh...? Wait, don't leave me... Please, I feel cold..." Jin felt something warm throughout all that coldness, and that was the blood slowly leaving his body from a wound on his head. His vision started to get more blurry and his consciousness started fading. His eyes began to unhurriedly close.
"Even though I'm still alive they left me... Even though I waited for the crosswalk signal... Am I going to die here...?" Jin wanted to speak but no words left his mouth and his body would not move. The rain downpour seemed to increase and everything turned quiet as though the entire world stopped emitting noise. Jin eyes finally shut, he had died.
Just as Jin died, what seemed like a bolt of lightning struck out from the sky and hit his body. A strange light hovered around his body before finally settling down and losing its brilliant glow.
...
Izroth, a legendary cultivator from another world who reached the pinnacle of the seven realms suddenly felt a great surge of pain rush throughout his body.
"I... I've succeeded, the Heavenly Immortal Print technique I created has reincarnated me into another body"
Suddenly Izroth felt an incredibly sharp pain in his mind as new memories flowed into it. These memories didn't belong to him, but the body of someone called Jin! "It seems as though it was only partly successful. Originally, I should've reincarnated into a brand new life, but according to the memories of this body it has already been alive for a bit more than two decades."
"What are all these strange memories flowing into my mind..? I've been to all seven realms and have never seen one like this. Earth is it?"
Izroth could endure the pain from the memories overflowing into his mind, after all, he has lived for thousands of years so a couple of decades is but a drop of water in the ocean to him. But he discovered something interesting from these memories, apparently, he was not in any of the seven realms! This was shocking, one had to know that with his cultivation level there was no place he could not go and did not know of in the seven realms!
"Never heard of it before..." Izroth was absorbing the fragmented memories from Jin and organizing them. Due to the strength of his soul, he could remember all the things Jin had ever seen or done. Even the things Jin couldn't recall himself like the day of his own birth, Izroth could clearly remember as though he was actually there.
"I can sort through the rest of this later, but for now... I should probably do something about my current state" Izroth was laying on the cold hard pavement as Jin had been when he died. If he didn't do something to salvage the situation soon, he might die as soon as he reincarnated into another body! How tragic would that be!
"M-My cultivation..! It's back to nothing! This body is so weak and spiritual essence here is scarce. But my soul strength is untainted."
Izroth completely calmed his mind and concentrated on the state of his body and surroundings. "The spiritual essence of this world is incredibly weak, I can't circulate enough to cultivate the Boundless Emperor Void Perfection technique..." Izroth was in a bit of a pinch. He could not cultivate the heavenly law in this world because of the lack of spiritual essence, but that was the only thing that could save him right now!
"Hold on a second... There is something else I could use, and since it requires the strength of my soul, I should be able to cultivate using it. The Heavenly Golden Body physique!"
Since a physique didn't require a massive amount of spiritual essence like a heavenly law did and mostly required a firm heart and soul, one could cultivate it even with a miniscule amount of spiritual essence.
Izroth began to do the basic breathing technique, even though it was difficult with his body in its current state, he had to do it in order to survive. Spiritual essence began to slowly flow into Izroth's body, stopping the bleeding from his head and returning some warmth to his body.
"I can currently cultivate to the first stage of the Heavenly Golden Body physique, but with it, I should be able to survive a minor wound like this" Izroth had plenty of times lost an arm or two fighting legendary beasts so a small wound like this was within his tolerance range.
After a few minutes, Izroth finally had enough strength to stand to his feet. Though he still felt a bit disoriented, at least now he could walk and no longer be at death's door.
As he was organizing his memories he observed Jin's last moments in this world and a cold look formed in his eyes. The people who ran over Jin was his ex-best friend and ex-girlfriend of all people! They had clearly seen it was him yet still abandoned him and left him for dead. They had actually succeeded in killing Jin and did not bother to check if he was alive or call for help!
"Even though I've inherited your body, I've also inherited your memories from your soul. So you could say that we're the same person now. I always repay kindness tenfold and contempt a thousandfold."
"I'll make right all the wrongs that have been done to you, your revenge shall come." Izroth was getting ready to walk away but something felt missing. He looked around and on the ground not too far from him was a plastic bag, the same one Jin was holding on to even at the moment of his death and didn't let go. Izroth didn't notice it before because he was focusing on cultivating his physique and released it, but for some reason, in the very depths of his soul a voice was crying out for him to not leave it behind.
Izroth walks over to the plastic bag and picks it up looking inside. In the bag was a box with a headpiece inside and a metallic-like card with some symbols inscribed on it as well as RML written in the top left-hand corner.
"Player ID card...?" a lot of things in this world was new and strange to Izroth but he had seen many strange things in the seven realms during his travels so he could adapt to new things. Even so, he was still shocked by some of the memories he absorbed and how this world had many things that did not exist here and was only seen as fantasies and legends.
Izroth held onto the plastic bag with the gaming equipment inside and began to walk towards home according to the memories of Jin. As he was walking he felt as though an overwhelming excitement and worry was taking over. This excitement came from the depths of his soul, as though a small lingering piece of Jin was still remaining and had regrets so couldn't depart.
"It's called a video game? I'll play it! Since you've given me this body even though it wasn't planned, I'll accomplish your goal of becoming #1."
Though the remnant of Jin's soul dissipated a bit, just a small piece still remained as though it was waiting for something, after all, Jin's soul had fused with Izroth so he knew what kind of person he was. If he made a promise, he kept it without failure.
"Don't worry about your mother either, as long I remain in this world no harm shall come to her."
Izroth never had parents in the world he was from as he started out just a poor orphan and had a lucky encounter that started him on the path of cultivation. But he could tell by how strongly Jin's soul was holding on because of his mother, that he loved her with all his heart.
Finally, the last piece of Jin's soul dissipated and fully integrated itself into Izroth's soul. Now Izroth was completely Jin.
Izroth arrived home opening the door and walking inside, then lightly kicking off his shoes and setting them to the side. His footsteps were silent as though his feet weren't even touching the floor as he walked. He eventually arrived in his room before heading off to take a bath.
After rinsing all the filth off his body, Izroth finally got into the bath. A relaxing feeling passed throughout his entire body as he closed his eyes and began to cultivate the Heavenly Golden Body physique. Although it was slow due to the lack of spiritual essence in this world, it would still be enough to greatly strengthen this currently weak body.
"Although this bath is quite small, the convenience of it is nice." Izroth finally had the time to completely relax and organize all of his thoughts.
"Realm of Myths and Legends... RML... I have never played one of these video games before, but according to the original owner of this body, it should be an interesting experience."
After finishing his shower, he was heading to his room when he heard the door down the hall open up and a woman exited from the room. That woman looked middle-aged, and even though she looked worn out and aged before her time, her natural beauty couldn't be fully hidden. She had long silky black hair that reached down to her lower back, fair skin, big beautiful emerald eyes and a thin figure that still hid some curves. You could tell that when she was younger, it would not be an exaggeration to compare her to a fairy.
That woman was Jin's mother, Reilei. Izroth heart ached to look at this woman who was supposed to be full of life and happiness but was reduced to such a state from the built-up stress and work. Even though she did not give birth to Izroth, now that Jin soul was absorbed into his own, he felt the emotional attachment of a real mother from this woman.
A gentle smile appeared on Reilei's face as she saw "Jin", but suddenly she frowned and hurried over towards him with a look of worry in her eyes. The mark on Jin's forehead may have closed but it still didn't heal all the way and he looked a little pale from the earlier loss of blood.
"Does it hurt? Did those gangsters do this to you?" her voice sounded as gentle and refreshing as an autumn breeze.
Izroth felt his heart stabbing with pain as he shook his head, "I just fell down because of the wet rain is all, there's no reason to worry mother." He smiled at her as to wash away that feeling of worry she had.
That gentle smile returned to Reilei's face as she lightly touched Jin on the cheek, "You will never stop worrying me will you?" she lightly shook her head letting out a small sigh of relief.
"I have to head to work now, I left dinner in the fridge so all you have to do is warm it up in the microwave. Try not to stay up too late okay? I want you to focus on your dreams, but I also want you to focus on your health." Reilei said as she walked towards the front door.
Izroth nodded in response, "...Thank you..." those words managed to escape Izroth's mouth just as his mother's hand touched the doorknob.
Reilei turned around and smiled at Izroth full of joy, "I believe in you and your dream. So don't worry about anything else and just focus on your dream, I will always believe in you, Jin." a sweet smile formed on her face before she finally left off to work.
Izroth was a bit speechless for a moment. In his world, he had met many women, but most were always scheming behind the scenes or were after certain benefits. To meet such a selfless woman who would give everything for a person she loved, was incredibly rare even in all the seven realms!
This made Izroth even more determined than before to accomplish the goals that Jin left behind, he was beginning to not just see them as just doing Jin a favor, but as something, he himself wanted to accomplish. After all, he was the number one cultivator in his world, so he would strive to become number one in something within this world, and that was video games! Specifically, RML!
"The game servers go live in another 12 hours... I should cultivate until then and try to solidify my Heavenly Golden Body physique and improve upon it."
Izroth went into his room and sat cross-legged on his bed cultivating, waiting until RML finally goes live. He had this feeling in the pit of his stomach, it was a feeling of excitement for the unknown. No matter what world he is in, he has always enjoyed the unknown the most.
"From now on I am Jin, my goals are simple. I must succeed in RML, take care of my mother and get my revenge against those who have wronged me! I must become number one!"
An oppressive aura surrounded Izroth as an unshakable determination filled his eyes.
So begins, the journey of Izroth from another world of cultivation, to become the greatest gamer in the Realm of Myths and Legends; the greatest gamer in the world.
12 hours later...
Beep... Beep... Beep... System booted! Fully Immersing... Running scan... Player ID recognized as an authorized player. Please insert your character name.
"Izroth"
Welcome Izroth, to Realm of Myths and Legends!