"So how did you do on the math test?"Jenna asked him.

He turns to her, hating her.All his so-called friend keeps harping how lucky he is in having a childhood friend like Jenna but all he could think of is how miserable it is making him.

Jenna is always been athletic and a natural beauty. Add to it her genuine kindness, and everyone loves her. She is probably the most popular kid in school. Why can't others see that in me? Why can't I be as popular as her?

Take that stupid exam for example. He studied for that exam for 3 straight days. Never mind that he only did so because Jenna pushes him hard and nags him every day to study for it.

And what did he get for all that effort? Freaking eight out of ten, that's what.

Yeah, other people would have smiled at that score and be content with it. But a lot of his classmates received scores like nine or even ten. Including that bitch Jenna who got a perfect score as always.

And just like that, again I am mediocre.

Only in the MMO games that he plays did he consider himself truly alive. In there, he is not bound by the rules of society, and his true potential can be used to its fullest.

He calls it game smarts. He figured out earlier in the game that the best way to get to his goals with the safest and with minimal effort needed is, of course, the best way to approach the game.

Why should he grind like the rest of the losers in the game when he can just go and kill low-level players in an ambush? He never really gets it when people rage and be butthurt when he starts betraying them just at the right moment during dungeon raids so that he can get the final loot. It is not as if he is doing it just because he hates them, although that guy named XCovfefe2018X is actually an ass. I mean he is doing it because he wanted to level up and prevent others from doing so. After all, the premise of the game is to become the strongest, right? Two birds with one stone and all that shit.

As Jenna babbles on beside him, he could not help but sigh. He wanted to live a life of adventure and this generic life of peace is boring him to death. He wished he could live in a different world or a different era. Or something yet unknown or unexplored. Someplace wherein the morality of humanity does not curtail once growth and happiness.

"Hey! are you listening to me?!"Jenna asked suddenly, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk of the road. For the first time, he can see the frustration on her face as he gawked at her outburst. She would have said something more if not for the overpowering screeching sound behind her.

He turned as well and his heart skips a bit. The shock in Jenna's face was blotted by the unadulterated delight of what he is seeing: A rampaging small truck coming right at them.

He could never have explained it to anyone else, but he was sure, deep in his soul, that this is the legendary truck san. And his one hope of leaving behind his dreary life. With one decisive move, he took a step forward and shoved Jenna to the side with all his might, just before the truck hit him.

It took months for the inconsolable Jenna to start recovering mentally in seeing her best friend died while saving her. It took a few more years and therapy to forgive herself. Somehow, she could not stop thinking that her friend's last memory of her is her shouting at him. She was just frustrated at the time that despite being so obvious to everyone else, he is oblivious to her feelings for him. But as the years pass by, she ever so slowly gained back her usual positive outlook on life. She met a wonderful young man after college and they married and she lived a happy and a beautiful life. Unbeknownst to her husband, She named her firstborn son with her late friend's name.

Her friend's destiny was completely different from her, however.

He coughed and blink from the foggy white room he ended up in after getting hit by a truck.

His last memory was shoving Jenna out of the way. Despite being happy living in an isekai world, the thought of spending it with Jenna who will nag him for the rest of his life in the new world is just too horrifying. So he panics and shoves the girl away.

As selfish as it sounds, he needs to be honest with himself at least once in his life: He wants his new destiny all to himself and no one else. It is his one and only chance to become something great, and he doesn’t need Jenna as a competition.

Out of the fog, the most beautiful woman came out smiling towards him. She wore a fine white toga that both covers and enhances the appeal of her body. She has clear blue eyes and long blond silky hair... and long, pointy ears. An elf.

He stared in awe of her, while mentally doing a pump fist motion in his mind. Oh my god, I'm so becoming a hero!

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Welcome, lost soul, to the world of Peasant Road. I am the goddess Aurora," She said in the most regal manner that he had ever heard. Then the goddess proceeded to explain that he was deliberately targeted in his world because he has an exemplary vast reserve of mana inside of him.

"My world is dying, and I needed the help of people like you to save it from itself. Please lend me-"

"I'm in! Fuck yeah!"He said, interrupting her.

The goddess was mildly surprised, but she was determined to tell him the rules at least. “As a soul that came from earth, you are bound to the god and goddess of that world. My agent, truck san, temporary gave us a way to connect to you and give me a chance to offer you a new life in my world instead. Essentially speaking, I am poaching talents from the other team. In order to live in my world, unfortunately, you need to bind your soul to my world in order for the transfer to be completed.”

Without hesitation, the young man declared that his soul was now bound to the world of Peasant Road and fuck earth. A tingling light washes over him and it was all done.

The goddess stared at him for a long time and then bowed to him deeply. "I am genuinely grateful for your help, young one," she said. "Your sacrifice will not be forgotten."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now for a cheat skill I want-"

The white room around him dissolves, and he was transported somewhere else. He was in a dark room, and nothing can be seen. He wondered if he is in a loading screen or something but he patiently waited.

and waited...

and waited...

and waited.

"What the hell, man!" He blurted out angrily."How long is this transition going to take?! Hellooow! Anyone there?!"

No one responded. Actually, there was no sound at all.Now that he thinks about it, there was only complete and utter silence.

"What the fuck," he tried to move and he thought of his limbs moving but nothing happens. He knew he was supposed to be moving already but there is nothing in the environment that tells him that he is moving. Everything is completely dark, There is no sound and to his growing panic, he cannot feel anything in his ground.

He started jumping, kicking, yelling, diving to the ground, he then slaps himself, but still, he cannot feel anything. He knew he swung his arm towards his face but it just went right through as if nothing is in there.

He doesn't have any senses at all. That is not possible!

He tried to bite himself, to feel something, to taste anything, but there is nothing out there. He runs and jump and rolled around for hours as he alternatively shouted and cried as he let the panic engulf him.

He tried to wet himself with pee but he cannot even feel the warm substance or smell the odor or anything else.

"What the hell is happening? What the hell is this!"

And then he remembered the goddess, so he thought of her and prayed with all his might.

A small bright light appeared to his left and he sighed.

"Finally," he said and his relief changes abruptly to anger. He has a lot to say to this stupid bitch of a goddess. "You! What the hell did you do to me?"

The bright light evolves into the goddess he had talked to very briefly in the other room. There was a genuine confuse expression in her face. "Well, I change you to a mana source, of course."

That startled the young man. "Ah what?"

"You are now a pure mana essence. My people call you a ley line and your very presence help my world revitalize its very self. Your mana nourishes the plant and animals in the land and increases the magical power of all around you."

"But that is not what I want!" He screamed at her. "I want to be a hero! To fight the forces of darkness and beat the crap out of the fodders who arrogantly stands in my way!"

"The goddess blink helplessly."Hero? Why would I need that? If a hero is needed, then, I will ask my own people to do so. I don't need to get an outsider to be a hero in my world. Besides, with the help of the dragons, my world is enjoying a prolonged golden age of peace and prosperity throughout the land!"

It was the young man's turn to look confused. "There are no wars? No evil demon lord to slay?"

The goddess shrugs. "There are a few border skirmishes, and that gets a headline every now and then, but no major wars. I mean none of the existing kingdoms has the power to invade another country. Even if they banded together which I don't see happening even if they have some sort of alliance, and besides, the dragons will stop them."

The young man just stared at her.

"My people are more interested in exploring new things and pursuing magic and science,” The goddess continued. “They are always pushing the boundaries. The demons are striving and are always hot-headed, but I don't want to call them evil. They are all as greedy as fuck and their movies have too many sex scenes and always makes me cringe, but that is always how they are."

"What my people are in danger of is the overuse of magic and therefore the supply of mana. There are a few blue environmentalists out there, preaching conserving mana since they are our natural resources but corporate people never really listen to them, as always. That is why I needed people like you, to replenish and renew our power sources because my people are mana hungry."

“People on earth have mana but because of some stupid religion called Christianity, it wipes out all the practitioner of magic in your world and the concept of magic died. Mana is still available, but none of you are able to use it anymore. The longer mana stays inside a person's body it becomes more potent since it interacts with your life force. So a kid like you stores at least a decade worth of pure unrefined mana inside you and when I transform you into a leyline your mana then transform to a million fold. Your very energy will power up a portion of my people for another 800 years at least."

Despite not actually having eyes, the former human stared at the goddess. "But then... What happens now?" Was all he can ask.

Th goddess gave her a saddened face. The pity in her face was something real and that after everything else scared the living shit out of the brand-new leyline."

"If we are going to follow what happened to all the other people like you that turn into a Leyline… then in the next few days, you will be in denial and will try to find a way out of your predicament. Someone before you even tried to spin his mana around. He called it cultivating or something. That only makes your mana looser and easier to be absorbed by my people. So it is up to you if you want to do that. I hope you do so."

"After a week’s time, you will be reduce to screaming or laughing or crying. Some try to imagine that they can kill themselves but that is not possible. You are now semi-immortal, but that same sentient awareness will make you feel every second, every minute of every day for the next several hundred years."

"No, no, no, this is not happening," he muttered to himself.

"After the first year, your mind will start to unravel, and you will descend into insanity. Ten years or so after that and your mind really start to devolve. Without new synapses connecting in your mind, your memories will start to fade. It will take another hundred years but eventually, all your memories will leave you... no matter how much your mind tries to keep a portion of them."

"I am sorry, but looking at you is too sorrowful and I mean it when I say that you will never be forgotten. But this is the last time I will speak to you. It will be easier, and the transition will go smoother if you never interact with another sentient being ever again, so goodbye, and I am really sorry."

"No, no, no! STOP! Please! Stop! Don't leave me here! No no! Please! "

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