They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die.But for Ren Kurobane, it wasn't his life that flashed before his eyes—it was someone else's.
He was twenty-two, a broke university dropout who'd spent more hours grinding in VR-MMORPGs than attending lectures. A loner with no future, no friends, and no family to miss him when he was gone. And tonight, the only thing he wanted was some cheap sake and silence.
Instead, he got hit by a truck.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]
Ren opened his eyes—not to a hospital ceiling, but to the velvet black expanse of a starless sky. He was standing in the middle of an endless field of white sand, the air around him frozen in time and deathly still. A crimson moon loomed overhead, its surface scarred and weeping blood into the heavens.
Then came the voice.
[Welcome, Host. You have died. Cause of Death: Truck collision. Body obliterated. Soul compromised. System acquisition—successful.]
"What the hell…?"
Ren tried to move, but his body felt weightless—like a shadow.
[Congratulations. You have been chosen by the Reaper System. This is a forced transmigration. Your soul will now bind to an alternate body in a high-mortality cultivation world plagued by Soul Beasts, Spirit Cultivators, and the cursed Undying.]
A cold wind tore through the space like a whisper from the void. As Ren looked down, he realized he no longer had a body. Only a pale outline—an echo of himself.
[The Strongest Reaper System activates now.]
Suddenly, pain erupted in his core—not physical, but spiritual. A swirling vortex opened beneath him, and his soul was yanked into it, torn from limbo and hurled across dimensions like a thread through the eye of a cosmic needle.
When Ren awoke, he was in agony.
His lungs were on fire. His skin felt torn. His heart pounded against his ribs like it wanted to escape.
"—He's breathing again! The ghost hasn't taken him yet!"
A woman's voice, distant and sharp. Ren's eyes fluttered open to the sight of a dirt ceiling. The stench of blood and smoke hit him like a wave. He was lying on straw. His hands—now smaller, paler—trembled as he lifted them.
This isn't my body… he thought. This isn't Earth.
A pop-up flickered before his vision.
[Current Vessel: Lin Ren (Age: 15)][Status: Possessed. Soul Dominant: Reaper Candidate][Class: Mortal Soul (Unawakened)][Reaper System: Locked][Beginner Skill Unlocked: Soul Vision Lv. 1][Mission: Survive the First Night][Reward: Reaper Core Fragment ×1]
Another window slid open, showing a map of a small village, flashing red.
[Warning: Spirit Beast Raid Incoming. Estimated Casualties: 96%. Time Remaining: 00:11:29]
Ren didn't even have time to panic.
A second later, the ground trembled.
Outside, villagers screamed.
A horned beast the size of a wagon smashed through the outer wall. Its eyes glowed a putrid green, and its mouth leaked black vapor that melted flesh from bone.
The woman beside him—a thin, rag-wrapped healer—snatched a talisman and shoved it into his chest.
"Run, child! Run to the Reaper's tree!"
But Ren didn't move. Not because he was afraid—but because the system whispered again:
[Activate Skill: Soul Vision?]
"…Do it," Ren murmured.
The world changed.
Suddenly, he could see everything—the trails of lingering spirits, the karmic weights around the beast's soul, the cracks in its aura. It was wounded—deeply. Weak point: upper left rib. Spirit core: unstable.
[Weakness Revealed. Attack now and gain Reaper Points.]
Ren's hand moved on instinct, grabbing a rusted farming sickle from the wall.
[Reaper Weapon Compatible. Binding...]
The sickle shimmered black for a moment—then pulsed with eerie light.
Ren exhaled, calm settling over his mind like a storm breaking.
"If I have to survive… I'll kill. Reap. Devour.""Let's start with this one."
He leapt forward.