I spent the next two days enjoying the life I used to lead.

It was so easy to fall back to habits that I thought were lost after many life-or-death battles.

I owned a small trading store in the little village of Dellings. My shop was not the biggest but I had a secret weapon which was my parents. They were both farmers and although they were disappointed by my lack of enthusiasm of following their footsteps and picking up the hoe, they respected my choice and after I showed them that it was more lucrative by selling to me instead of those greedy middlemen, they soon quickly changed their minds.

I interacted with my regulars, cleaned my shop and tidied and stocked things like normal. Away from the shop, I spent all my time with Lylia.

Like I said, it was easy to fall back to my previous way of life.

Yet I also knew that it would be 2 seasons before the first dungeon came about and after a few more months, Lylia would die. The memories came unbidden to my mind, a stark reminder that I had much to do to change the coming future.

As more and more dungeons came about, our peaceful village would be thrown into turmoil as monsters started to encroach upon us.

I vaguely remembered tending to some late business across the village. When I arrived back at my shop, I remembered how ominous the open door and broken windows were. I rushed in and found Lylia on the floor, a pool of blood surrounding her. Her eyes started to glaze over and after a few shudders, she died. No matter how many times I screamed for help or shouted no one came. The guardsmen and healers were defending the walls against the attacks.

When they found me the next morning, stiff and catatonic. I had been holding on to Lylia’s body the whole night. At least that's what they tell me.

I couldn't remember the burial nor what happened after my parents took me in to look after me. I was in such a state of grief and despair that I found it hard to do anything. All I remembered was blood…blood on the floor, her hair and on me. Her blood. The blood of my daughter.

It was only when I awakened with my innate ability [Enhance] that I started to wake up from my stupor. The monsters at that point hard started to slip in and attack the fringes of our community. I remember enhancing my father’s scythe. After that…well we all know how it ended.

I brushed off the cobwebs of memory from me and returned to the present.

I tucked Lylia into her bed and put the covers over her. I had just told her a story, a story about a brave knight and a beautiful princess. It was her favorite. Looking at the peaceful countenance of my daughter, an outpouring of emotion ran through me - was it anger? No, it was fierce protective love. I was not going to lose her again.

I was not going to be just a tool for others, to be used and thrown away.

I was going to change my destiny.

After putting her to bed, I went to my room. It was a quiet night. So quiet I could hear the soft rattle as the night breeze blew into my room.

I sat down cross legged and attempted to feel the ambient mana. I knew my talent was very low, even amongst the normal folk, so I persevered. After a few hours, I felt a small wisp of mana enter into my body. It was so faint that if I did not have the experience of my former self, I would not have noticed it. Instead, thanks to my years of experience, I managed to consciously detect it and move it to my soulcore.

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I gasped in shock. Inside me, next to the small blueberry-sized core was a gigantic core that looked like it was made from gold filigree. Right now that golden core was dormant and dull. As I brought that tiny strand of mana close by, a strong suction force tore the mana out of my mental grasp and it was sucked into the golden core.

Immediately strong golden rays started to flash and golden flames started to emit from it.

[Destiny core awakened…calibration successful…integrate with hosts core?]

I gulped. I wasn't sure what exactly was happening and I had never heard of having another core transplanted into your original core even in my last timeline. Talent, core size, mana affinity and many other personal factors were given at birth. I suppose it would not be a stretch to think that the dark unholy or demonic forces would have tried to experiment on switching cores but I was merely speculating.

I tentatively agreed with the decision.

The golden core easily absorbed my tiny original core. A tearing feeling was felt deep inside me but it went away just as quickly like it came on.

Cold sweat dotted my forehead.

[...integration successful…opening status screen…]

Name: Thorwin Delcia

Mana core: Destiny

Level: 0

Exp: -/-

Stats:

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 3

Vitality: 3

Perception: 4

Cognition: 4

Inflection: 4

Innate Ability: Enhance (Level 1)

Abilities: None

Spells: None

I looked at the humble status screen displayed once more in all its glory. When the awakening started, many simple villagers became convinced they were mad because they could see words that made no sense to them. Some even went to priests because they thought they were possessed. It was only when the Empire started to send out forerunners to educate the people that they started to understand what was happening.

My understanding of this magical screen with all its numbers was modest. After all, the world was in turmoil when everyone started to awaken. It was hard to delve into the mysteries of the system. Everyone was focused on defeating the demonic forces or busy running away, trying to survive another day.

Nonetheless my current body was weak. If I could reach Level 120 in my past life, this time, I will put in more effort and I would start that right now.

My greatest joy and assurance was the fact my Innate ability was the same. I guess I just returned in time so that wouldnt change, but actually seeing it on screen is still reassuring.

However this time it had a Level 1 next to it. In my last timeline, my innate ability was simply - Enhance. Hmm strange.

Then I noticed my level.

It was zero.

By Balfur’s ballsack why am I level 0?! It was common knowledge that everyone started out as level one. The very act of being alive showed that you were good enough to be level one. So why am I level zero? Even more disconcerting was that there was no number in the experience bar for a level up. What was going on?!

Sigh

Nevermind.

I consoled myself. I figured that perhaps the awakening was not upon us yet so maybe this will be fixed by then.

Now that my status window was here, the next thing I needed to do was to use my ability! I rubbed my hands together. This was my key ability, my defining skill that allowed me to step close to the apex. This time, I was going to go beyond it…[ACTIVATE ENHANCE]!!

[Insufficient mana]

HUH???