It was 3:15 AM in the morning and the moon shone a gentle light on the face of an ordinary-looking youth.

By now the streets were very quiet and most of the people had gone to sleep. The youth dragged his weary body along the street, his steps were weak and his body lean.

The youth was Maximus, although his name meant 'greatness' he knew from a young age that he was anything but that. He graduated from a 3rd rate college and found it difficult to even find a job. In order to put food on the table, he was forced to do small-time jobs that earned him little money, barely allowing him to survive.

He just wanted to get a good night's sleep now, but trouble soon came to him

Maximus looked in front of him and narrowed his eyes, there were two thugs standing in front of him, one of them was carrying a baseball bat and the other a pocket knife.

Maximus wanted to avoid them but the two of them quickly blocked his path.

"Hey, kid, take out all the money and scram from here!"

Maximus frowned, the money he had was his only way of not starving,

"What? Don't want to?"

The knife-wielding thug played with his knife and grinned,

He suddenly felt a hand around his shoulder, Maximus looked to the side and saw the other thug with the baseball bat also grinning at him.

"I suggest you get this done quick kid, you don't want to get hurt now do you?"

Maximus sighed, this wasn't the first time something like this happened, he would normally hand over the money and starve for the day. He could do the same today as he was used to going to bed with an empty stomach.

But, he did not know why, something was different this time. He did not want to take it lying down, he wanted to know what it felt like to fight back.

''No"

"Huh?"

Maximus acted quickly he swatted the hand on his shoulder and punched the thug in front of him straight in the nose,

"Ack!"

The thug dropped his knife and held his nose screaming in pain, Maximus quickly bent down to pick up the knife...

"Bang!"

Something hit him in the back of his head and he crashed on the floor,

'Shit! I forgot about the other one'

This was his last thought before he blacked out.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

...

When Maximus came to he was sitting in a white room, it looked like an interrogation room with only 2 chairs, one being occupied by him and the other which was across the table...

"Who are you?"

Maximus could not help but ask the thing in front of him. What was in front of him was just grey fog in the shape of a human. It did not have any facial features, so Maximus wasn't sure if it was male or female.

The grey fog shook a bit and a deep voice sounded out of it.

"Hmm... a human, huh? It sure is a rare sight"

Maximus frowned, from what he just heard, this fog seems to not have seen a human for a long time.

'Judging from the voice it's male. Anyway I'll have to get as much information as possible'

Maximus put on his best smile and asked politely,

"My name is Maximus, can you tell me where we are?"

The grey fog shook again and replied,

"Who I am or where we are is not of concern, we don't have much time so I'll keep it brief"

Maximus was surprised but quickly nodded his head and listened with a serious expression

The grey fog shook and spoke in an emotionless tone

"You died"

"What!?"

Maximus asked out loud, he could not believe he had died, he thought he would wake up in the hospital with a few broken bones almost, he never thought he would die facing those thugs.

The grey fog paused for a bit and then continued, ignoring Maximus's emotional state.

"You now have two choices, either reincarnate while losing your memories or complete the mission I give while keeping your memories"

Maximus calmed down when the grey fog started speaking again, he was surprised that he could keep his memories, he thought for a bit and answered,

"I want to keep my memories"

The grey fog nodded its head and then waved its hand

Ding!

Mission Location 1. Kill the Demon King Rayes World 2. Kill the Beast Emperor Beast World 3. Kill the Insect Queen Insectoid World ... ...

A blue screen appeared in front of Maximus much to his surprise, but he quickly calmed down and checked the missions.

Surprisingly he did not mind that most of the missions were about killing. Maybe it was because he died something in him changed and he saw life and death as insignificant. Also, judging from their names they were probably bad guys and deserved to die.

Maximus spent a lot of time browsing through the missions, there were a total of 10 missions and he did not want to miss anything, the grey fog suddenly shook and spoke,

"Two minutes left, if you don't choose a mission by then, you will reincarnate while losing your memories"

Maximus heard that and took a deep breath, after making sure he did not miss anything he looked at grey fog and said,

"I choose this."

Mission Location 10. ? Multiverse

The Grey fog was silent for a bit and replied to Maximus,

"...are you sure? This is the hardest mission and nobody has been able to complete it before."

Maximus nodded his head with his eyes firm,

"Now that I have a second chance at life I want to try my best and live up to my name."

The grey shook and started to shrink,

"Time is almost up, since you have steeled your resolve then, I will not interfere"

"Before I send you off, take this as a parting gift from me it will help you in your journey"

A blue orb condensed in front of Maximus and before he could react it entered his glabella causing him to blackout.

...