"Fu…”, letting out a deep breath I slowly opened my eyes and looked at my reflection in the clear stream of water.

Long black hair that reached halfway down my neck, pitch black abyss-like eyes that seemed to rival even Adam’s eyes at the first glance, and a pale face that seemed like it had been suffering for a long time, these were the features of my new face in this new world.

Fragile.

That’s the first word that came to my mind when I just saw my reflection in the water.

I looked fragile, like I would break if someone even touches me. And I looked exhausted as if I didn't have any reason to go on, as if I was just wandering around in the dark

Looking at my expression that was reflected through the water I was once again reminded of my life back in my own world, the place where I wasn't satisfied with my life. Although I didn't have a bad life back then, it wasn't anything great either.

So because of this I just kind of gave up on everything. Don't take me wrong, it's not like I wanted to die or anything, it's just that I didn't feel much happiness being alive.

Honestly, I don't why this happened to me back then, but whatever, now that I am in this world, I have decided to live a great life, full of happiness and excitement!

So pinching my cheeks with my fingers I stretched them wide and made a smiling face. Honestly, my face looked a bit weird but not minding the oddity I kept on looking at my face that was reflected through the water.

Looking at myself once again, I knew for sure that if I were to gain a bit of muscle then I'll probably look better than most of the people around me.

Although I wasn’t extremely handsome or anything like Adam, the aura I radiated was enough for people to take notice of me, of course in a bad way, but yeah, it was good enough for people to at least turn their heads in my direction whenever I passed by them.

Honestly, I looked like the kind of kid who would get bullied from their very first day of school which can be very harmful to someone like me who literally looked like a deer inside the den of wolves.

Taking another deep breath again, I calmed my head once again and went towards the town that I had been transported to after getting sucked inside the void.

***

Standing outside the gates of what looked to be a city, I fixed my gaze on top of the city gates where the name Irvaan was boldly written on a big signboard.

The moment my eyes fell on the signboard my heart started pumping at an unnaturally fast rate.

I couldn’t believe it, no, I didn’t want to believe that I have been teleported to this city!

Irvaan, one of the capital cities of the Royal Qing Empire!

Looking at the city while standing at the city gates, I felt its sheer magnificence and decided to enter it as soon as possible.

So not wasting any more time I quickly entered the place.

***

There are, in total, 12 pieces of land in this world, they are referred to as the Nine Heavenly Continents, Two Forbidden Lands, and The Realm of Wisdom, also collectively known as the Cradle of Humanity.

These twelve landmasses are arranged in a very strange order.

Out of the Nine Continents, 8 of them are arranged together in the shape of an ‘octagon’, as for the last one, it is located at the ‘centre of symmetry’ of the octagon formed by the other 8 continents.

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The last continent is therefore also referred to as the Central Continent since it is basically at the central position in the arrangement of continents.

Out of the two forbidden lands, one of them is located underwater around 4000 meters directly below the Central Continent, it is also known as the Aqua Forbidden Land.

As for the other forbidden land, it is located around 6000 meters above the Central Continent in the sky, it is also known as the Sky Forbidden Land.

In the case of the last piece of land known as the Realm of Wisdom, it is located around 3000 meters above the Sky Forbidden Land.

The Realm of Wisdom, The Sky Forbidden Land, The Central Continent, and The Aqua Forbidden Land, these four are connected in a straight line by a pillar-like stream of water (around 13,000 meters tall) that has both up and down currents. This stream is called The Stream of Union.

So, anyone who wants to travel to either of these continents, they have to get their boat or ship through the up or down streams of The Stream of Union.

So this was the geographical situation of this world, as for the political situation, this world is currently ruled by 4 superpowers, with them having old European, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean styles of government, culture respectively, and martial arts respectively.

I made this world like this in order to create a place with a mixture of Eastern and Western fantasies.

Well coming back to the topic, each of the four superpowers own 2 Heavenly Continents respectively except the Central continent.

As for the Central Continent, the two forbidden lands, and the Realm of Wisdom, they aren’t owned by any of these powers and everyone has free access to them, given, that they have enough money and resources to get there.

So the European side in power was the Holy Tristan Empire, the Chinese side was the Royal Qing Empire, the Japanese side in power was the Imperial Sakazuki Empire, and the Korean side in power was the Great Kim Empire.

I came up with these names on a whim, honestly, now that I think about it, I was too lazy to even think of a proper name for most of the places or people.

Well, not straying from what I had been talking about, the Holy Tristan Empire owns the First and Second Heavenly Continents, the Royal Qing Empire owns the Third and Fourth Heavenly Continents, The Imperial Sakazuki Dynasty owns the Fifth and Sixth Heavenly Continents, and the Great Kim Empire owns the Seventh and Eighth Heavenly continents respectively.

The unit of currency in this world is the same everywhere, that is, the Gael, a coin made up of an alloy called the Gaeletrium.

As for the 4 different factions, they used to be enemies in the past but now after more than a thousand years of struggle, all of these countries have become allies and thus, almost all forms of skirmishes and the like have ceased in this world.

Almost all, except for the fights between different organizations like sects, schools, and various organizations or institutions, in which none of the governments generally interfere in any way as it might destroy the state of equilibrium that has been achieved by a long history of bloodshed and violence.

Thus, as long as you don’t cause any trouble, you are free to visit any of the twelve landmasses in this world.

When I first arrived in this world I found myself to be in a village by the name of Palaron that was located in the First Heavenly Continent of the Holy Tristan Empire, but after teleporting through that void I somehow arrived at the capital city of the Fourth Heaven of the Royal Qing Empire, Irvaan.

The moment I arrived at Irvaan I was completely enraptured by the beautiful mountain peaks and rivers that surrounded the entire city. Looking at the city once again, it wouldn’t be wrong to call it a picturesque beauty.

The fragrance of flowers in the air, the busy hustling streets, a sense of calm that covered the entire city, the city was so beautiful that I felt like wanting to live my entire life here, but, but I knew that not everything that I see is the truth.

Even the most beautiful of humans could betray their loved ones, and even the calmest of rivers can drown a boat, in all honesty, no matter how experienced you become, you can never judge something by its appearance.

This place wasn’t as good as it seemed, although on the surface this place looked like a paradise, in reality, it was far from it. And how do I know about it?

Well, that’s because I am the author, and this place, it is going to become a center of chaos in the next 8 months.

I have to make use of these 10 months to become stronger, stronger than I ever could be, otherwise, I will be eaten, by the Monster of the Abyss.

***

Sitting alone on the grassy ground, a boy, probably 16-17 years of age looked at the setting sun and heaved a tired sigh as he closed off his eyes and plopped down on the ground, trying to rest on the smooth grass that felt wet for some reason.

The boy was extremely handsome and soon became the center of attention of everyone who was around him, but the boy, not minding any of them, snap open his eyes and muttered in a chilly voice devoid of any emotion, “Astaroth, locate Aziel”