There was once a man who couldn’t win. No matter what he did, he always lost.

People called him stupid, cursed, untalented.

But no matter what people told him no matter what happened. He always believed in himself. He always gave it 120%. He always tried to fix whatever mistakes he made. He never blamed others for his misfortunes. He persevered and worked hard to improve little by little.

They called him the man who lost 10,000 times. But this man viewed these losses as a learning opportunity. Perhaps he would never reach the top. But he would always try to surpass his own limitations.

But life was truly not kind to him and seemed to be relentless in its attempt to break him, his losses were many and went beyond the battlefield, from shame and humiliation to ridicule, poverty, powerlessness, to coming off as what seemed like ineptitude, to even death constantly showing up around those he loved, life had handed him a bad hand and almost nothing with which to deal with those adversities.

It is said repetition and practice are the keys to success, but for him, this was not the case. Whether by curse or misfortune he had to always learn the hard way, what took others a week would take him 10 times as long, he had to ingrain the lesson deep into his body and soul for him to retain it.

Those he grew up with called him the man who lost 10,000 times, but in his journey to gain respect and dignity as an Expert he soon bécame “The Man Who Lost a Million Times’, a title he proudly bore.

1 million chances at redemption few get to have such great fortune.

1 million chances of growth.

1 million nightmares to overcome.

1 million to 1 billion who could even experience such things, is this fortune or misfortune.

Wake up and grasp this knowledge…

My consciousness had returned to me. I was alive, but I wasn’t sure where I was.

I couldn’t see a single thing. It was dark wherever I looked.

That's right! I'm in a hole! Literally.

Were these my last moments of life, I don’t think my injuries can heal that fast.

Wait.

What was that light, and the voices and images that seemed so real? It felt as if I was experiencing another person's life.

I definitely thought I had croaked, I didn’t think I would wake up again. Hold on, I'm definitely still in pain, but I feel energized and rested. I can move!

I couldn’t see my wounds but it didn’t look like they had worsened. They even felt healed. I had been given a second chance.

Was that a near-death experience, did I seriously almost die!

How weird I had never felt as sad or frustrated as that fake life I went through while unconscious, nor had I ever felt that strong. It must've been a dream. Is that what death feels like, I don't think I like it.

I decided to forget about the weird dream and everything I went through and decided to focus on getting out of the hole. I managed to turn around and see the light at the entrance of the tunnel.

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How long had it been since I fell unconscious? There's light outside, was it the next day already?

It turned out to be more annoyingly difficult to get out of that hole than I thought, since although I felt better I realized I was still injured, still I finally managed to do it. Once I got out, I got a good look at my surroundings.

It seemed like I had gone deeper into the forest. This wasn't a good thing, with the state I was in I don't know if I could take on any wild animal or beast.

Speaking of injuries, now I could get a better look at my wounds. I checked my wounds to find that although they still looked bad they had mostly healed up and stopped bleeding. Both of my wounds were in my chest area though, so I still had difficulty breathing.

I wonder why they healed so fast. Do I secretly have some special abilities?

No don’t be dumb Guso, it's not good to be too full of yourself. I'm sure the Guider would’ve told me if I did. I'm not about to start letting myself get wounded thinking I'm special, it must’ve been a higher power looking out for me, or I just finally lucked out.

I'll take it.

Damn, I have to figure out how to get back to the road.

I looked around and I noticed fresh footsteps, as well as dried up blood. Small critters were already starting to get attracted by it, so it must not be too old. Those must be my footsteps, it's not surprising my clothes were drenched in blood too.

I decided to follow my footsteps, they would probably take me back to where I had my battle. Probably not the best idea, it could still be unsafe, but what choice did I have. I walked for only 20 minutes until I finally got back to the battlefield.

There I saw the two thugs laying on the floor with cauterized cavities on their chest, and their big-handed friend not too far away with a head injury and all.

The scene didn't look like it had changed much since I left. I had expected to find either animals feasting on their remains, or signs of some type of disturbance. Everything was dead quiet.

Not far away from this area, I could make out my campsite I had planned on abandoning. Once I saw the still smoldering fire I finally managed to confirm my suspicion. It was still the same day and I don't even think more than 2 hours had passed.

The sun was beginning to set but there was still plenty of sunlight. I had no idea what the hell happened but I decided to not worry about it. Dwelling on this day would only bring me anxiety, I was just fortunate to have survived.

Speaking of fortune, how about I look at what these guys carry, maybe I can find out who they are, and even better, reap my hard-earned rewards. They try to jack from me, now I'm the one doing it to their corpses. Seems fair, that's what they get for underestimating me. Honestly, I definitely deserve this, I'm not even sure how I made it out in one piece from this ordeal, but I’m taking advantage of whatever opportunities I get.