After his victory in the dungeon, Ein walked back toward the city, bathed in the blue hue of a silent, lightless evening. Yet he was no longer just a victorious hero. Though stronger, more refined, there was a strange melancholy buried deep in his heart. More than the level-up or the rewards, it was the feeling of encountering himself that lingered. But there was no time to rest—for fate was already calling him elsewhere.
Hidden in a mountainous valley, days away from civilization, lay a mysterious settlement—The City of the Reborn.
No one had ever spoken to Ein about such a place. Yet, led by an instinct beyond reason, he found himself there. As he passed through its gates, the people's faces appeared ordinary, but their eyes told another story—eyes that hid impossible knowledge and timeless memories, as though they didn't belong to this world.
An elderly woman greeted him at the entrance.
— "Child… are you one of us? One of the Reborn?"
Ein looked at her, surprised, and nodded slowly.
— "Yes. I have memories… of a life before this one."
The woman smiled softly, her gaze distant.
— "Then you were meant to arrive. Come, enter our world."
---
Inside, the city resembled a humble village. But at every corner, the extraordinary unfolded—
A young man played a magical piano that conjured visions.
A woman breathed life into wooden sculptures.
Children stirred the air itself with invisible psychic waves.
They were all reborn from different worlds. Some manifested their abilities through sound, emotion, rhythm, intellect, gaze, and sensation. Each of them bore power shaped not just by magic, but by the essence of who they once were.
For the first time, Ein felt a warmth he had never known—a true sense of home. He formed deep bonds with others who had walked a similar path of reincarnation. They welcomed him, not as a stranger, but as a soul long awaited.
But peace did not last long.
One night, a powerful energy stirred at the edge of the city. A storm twisted in the sky like a black eye. A traitor had come.
This traitor, too, was once reborn—but consumed by the desire for greater power. They had begun to steal the essence of others, blending dark sorcery with stolen abilities. Like a shadow, the traitor crept through the city, devouring the souls of its residents.
Ein was forced to face him—not in the physical realm, but in the depths of the mind and spirit.
He utilized every ability he had copied—merging them with tactical precision—until he found himself inside the traitor's psychic world. The battle was not one of swords or spells, but of will, strategy, and resistance.
With Mental Resistance and Combat Strategy, Ein dismantled the traitor's twisted mental construct, cutting off the source of his stolen power. In the end, he absorbed the traitor's dark energy, purging it and converting it to his own.
[New Abilities Acquired: Psychic Network, Dark Perception, Energy Recovery]
[Level Up: 74]
---
The people watched him in silence.
Not with fear. But with trust.
For the first time, Ein truly felt what it meant to be believed in.
He realized he was not alone in this world.
But the trials to come would demand more than strength—they would test his heart, his mind, and the depth of his spirit.
And so, Ein took one more step forward, continuing down the path destiny had written for him.