The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.
...
The ruler that can be ruled is not the eternal Sovereign.
...
The life that can die is not the etern...
The death that can live i...
The ...
Th ...
T ...
...
..
.
SYSTEM FAILURE #321
SYSTEM REGRESSION STARTED
BUGS SCANNED: 120014
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'Ugh!'
He experienced extreme dizziness in his head, overwhelmed by a sense of confusion.
"Are you done already, trash? We still have many pointers to teach," a boy said, smirking. He cannot see anything, but the boy was somehow been able to convey his smirk in his word. Or maybe it was his mind playing games.
The sound came from a voice dancing on the very edge of his hearing. It was barely audible yet somehow awfully loud at the same time. The voice stirred him right out of unconsciousness. Or at least it tired to, but such a loud noise made him even more dizzy and especially the content made him even angry.
'Shut up, bastard!' he shouted in his mind before he can even understand what is happening. For some reason he felt that he was supposed to feel angry towards the voice. He didn't know why though, as he didn't know the boy. It was a weird feeling.
"Peh, that was pathetic. Barely managed to take five blows. Let us teach more, brother. Haha. He should despair us from deep in his bones" another boy said, but it come from right beside him.
Gradually, his thoughts calmed and his dizzy mind started to gain composure, allowing him a blurry view of the world around him. It was not clear, but he can make out his immediate surrounding.
He felt confused since he was lifted by two strangers, but at the same time, he felt he knew them previously.
‘Fuck, what’s going on?’ When he regained full consciousness, he felt weird. That was the best way that he could term it as. 'Where the heck is this?'
Frankly, it should be his first time seeing these guys, but he could tell who they were. Or more like it was on the tip of his lips but he can't remember. But they feel like they were his enemy. Hate for them swept as an overwhelming feeling in his mind, but he forced to ignore it.
He was carried by the two strangers, following another boy. It was night and the area seems like a deep forest, with trees surrounding all around him. It reminded him of cliche situation in a murder mystery.
'Wait... am I being killed? No, the boy spoke like it is a lesson. Do these guys have some strange taste?' That was his first thought in his current situation.
Memory Capsule #1
Initiating
Before he can observe more he saw a blue flash across his eyes. As soon as he read those words, there was a sudden prickling sensation that made him feel like something popped in his mind. Slowly, new memories and information appeared in his mind, forgetting all about the screen as it vanished.
He learned of his current situation from those memories. His mind only focused on the information relevant to him. First, his name.
'Asher. Right? Maybe. It felt wrong. But also right. Doesn't matter, I have to take stock of my situation.'
Slowly he started checking what his senses were feeling, the biting cold of night seemed to seep through every layer of clothing, chilling him to the bone. The air around him carried a sharpness, each breath felt like frosty mist that stung his lungs.
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He noticed that his body was bruised. And with it come the sensation of pain. Is this the famous Ignorance is Bliss effect. F**k! I'm going to pay this bastard twice. Many parts in his body also was throbbing in pain. It seems like he have been fighting. And losing.
"... did you ... to hit ... head ... he can't focus ... " he heard the last boy speaking, but he can't make out the words due to the pain.
Slowly with each passing moment, his mental focus returned, and the sharp pain diminished and returning to a dull background ache.
He tried to remember the last memories but he keep stopping at his name like a mental block which forced him to close his eyes. Did the hit caused him some temporary concussion?
Soon, he felt himself being stopped. He was made to stand on his own legs, and it took all his concentration to not stumble all over the place. After a moment he felt the boys leaving him. It took some time to stabilise him with the pain in his body.
As he tried to open his eyes again, the first thing he saw was a fist in front of him but before he can do anything, he felt being struck in the face. The world tilted as he spun. He struck the ground with a harsh thud, "Arghhh," crying out instinctively as he smacked his elbow against the hard surface. The ground felt hard as he fell.
Bastard. Just wait. As he fell, he decided to play dizzy for a little long to sort out his mind. He was focused on what should be his name and couldn't concentrate on rest of the memories.
The name felt wrong. That was the only thing on his mind. He can't remember his real name. But he knew that he was not Asher. 'Did I reincarcerated in a dying protagonist body?' was what he thought as his mind become clear. He remembered the hospital where he was being taken after an accident.
He wasn't sure how he had become this person, but he knew that he had become this person. He was oddly certain that this was real. He wasn't dreaming, and everything was real, especially the pain he felt in his body.
Before he can think anymore, he was shoved back a little with a kick to his legs.
"Oi brat, What are you looking at? Didn't you hear anything?"
With a groan, he opened his blurry eyes again. His actions caused the men to jeer at him.
"Ha ha ha! Look at this wimp! Can't even take a hit!"
"Can you believe this pathetic shrimp challenged you for the Vice Councillor position?"
"There’s no way we can let a baby like can lead us."
"Asher, Vice Councillor of Rosewood Orphanage. What a Joke. Ha ha ha.."
Three people stood over him. All of them looked familiar. As well as the hatred that come with the familiarity. 'Did I share the feelings of the last occupant of this body?' He shake his head, clearing his mind.
He didn’t have to wait long as he was not fixated on the name. After establishing that he was not Asher, the answers started to come on their own. Asher Silverstar, the lost heir. The name of the body he was occupying. Yeah, thats felt right!! Like every other heir without his father protection, he was schemed against by his uncle.
The rest went as typical Hero stories go. But Asher was no main character.
He was thrown to the wider world at seven years. 5 years early than the normal start of the family ritual. He struggled to keep up with the changes as he lost his whole world in that year.
His father was dead. His mother was in grief and can't control the family as an disgraced Princess. If not for his childhood friend who followed him in this test he would have already been crushed. Years went by. He was now seventeen and still stuck without knowledge how to return.
And he got the short end of the stick when he challenged the current Vice Councillor.
Looking through the memories, it was obvious he has transmigrated. Yet he felt something was strange. Like there should be more. A sequence that was cut short. About Asher. But it was blocked. He remembered the blue prompt that he saw earlier. Memory Capsule #1. Number 1, So is there more of them?, he questioned about the system. Yet there was no new prompt.
Trying to push against the blockage brought pains to his mind, so he decided to ignore it for now. Maybe something new, he thought with a snicker trying to ignore the pain as well as Asher depressed life.
As he looked at the men in front of him, they look as he remembered from the memories. He trembled as emotions not completely his own filled him.
The grief of loss, the frustration of being insufficient. Anger at his own self. He closed his eyes, focusing on suppressing as the emotions passed by.
Jolan, Mojo, and Fincer were all orphans of the Rosewood Orphanage just like him. Jolan Wolfeng was the current Vice Councillor of the orphanage. A position for which he was already old to hold according to rules.
He had dark hair and possess square-shaped face, with defined angles at the jawline, giving a strong, structured appearance. At twenty-two years of age, he was five years older than Asher, which meant he was bigger and stronger, too.
Shaking the depressing thoughts away, he concentrated on the present conflict.
Ah, yes. Because Jolan was a sweet talking bastard, who bully the weak and fears the stronger, he have been able to hold on the position of Vice Councillor for 4 years, when normally the rule is that everyone above 20 should have left the orphanage and he was to mentor a new boy for the position.
The bastard have bullied all his junior so that no one challenged his position and sweet-talked with the staff to stay. Or maybe there was more, as he felt that something was wrong with his memories.
He was brought to the present when he heard Jolan kicked him again and started speaking.
"What’s the matter? Get up. Stop acting so pathetic!"
"Wimp!"
"Stop bringing shame to our orphanage, you pathetic excuse for a man!"
"You act like a girl. The least you can do is let real man control the position."
He have stop himself from rolling his eyes hearing their words. As his three bullies continued to taunt and tease him, hurling insults that didn't even faze him a little, Asher's gaze meet the girl hiding in the shadows, waiting. As expected from the memories, this girl is never too far from him. I guess it's Asher naivety to not be able to feel her presence.
Her eyes widened, but he was lost in the memories with a nostalgic feeling of helplessness, love and hatred which overwhelmed him a little.
Alissa Pendragon. She was a nineteen year right now. His childhood friend. With a black robe, made from roughly spun cotton or linen or wool. Right. It was a cold night. Her pure white skin, blonde hair shined under the lunar light with her face obscured due to the distance.
But he remembered her beautiful face, on the cusp of maturity with large eyes the same colour as the bright blue sky.
Still, he had to sigh at Asher situation.