The first thing "It" felt was serenity, surrounded by a surreal feeling of gentleness and warmth. Enjoying a brief moment of peace, "It" experienced a warm, yet slightly prickly sensation that could make one forget oneself entirely. Oh! Forget oneself? Right, as if something were lost in the vastness of space and emptiness. But what was it? Darn it! What was the thing that had been forgotten?

Before even thinking about it, "It" started to tremble all of a sudden. After a short moment of delay, its mind began to comprehend the feeling of coldness within this void space—a coldness that pierced "it" dear soul, just like being pierced by [frozen spears] by the [Frost Deity], her best friend. However, the subject in mind didn’t have the luxury to experience it fully. As though suddenly encountering the assault of a previously known yet forgotten sensation, "It" began to panic under the intense feeling of suffocation by some murky liquid and started to struggle.

Lungs, heart, body—every single cell within the body—screamed for oxygen or some air; the pain was unbearable. Please… Unable to remain calm and to think, the only thing "it" could do was struggle. What is this agony? It was more than getting daggered by countless weapons! Without being able to exercise any control of the body, the only thing "it" could do was struggle painfully under the duress of the unknown. All of the pain and suffering had easily clouded its consciousness, and then, as though finally liberated from human existence…

LUD-DUB. LUB-DUB!

… a consistent rhythm echoed in "It" world. It sure sounded like her mother's heartbeat, and there must have been amniotic fluid covering her naked body. So when she opened her eyes, the darkness was more comforting than the crimson-red on the battlefield.

In other words, she was inside her mother’s womb. Her heartbeat quickly carried away her memories of the despair she felt and died from. Alas, she was forced back to the past. Everything was as she unexpected. Yet, she guessed, she desperately needed this kind of comfort. Because it was her mother, just listening to her heartbeat made her eyes heavier. It had been a long time since she was tired. The feeling of being drowsy made her feel deep visceral pleasure, and the thought of finally being able to sleep excited her. At least, it was until she became foolishly too excited, that her sleepiness left her. She tried to cover her eyes with her hands in an attempt to fall asleep.

However, her tiny arms and legs moved uncontrollably, inadvertently touching her mother's uterine wall. She heard her mother’s muffled voice, and her heartbeat grew louder than her mother's voice. Judging from the lightness of her tone, her mother probably got too excited and woke her father to tell him that she was kicking…

— — — — 

Transmigrations, regressions, and reincarnations were painfully lousy experiences, at least in her opinion. Having gone through them countless times, she hated it and wished for each one to be the last. Yet, she was betrayed and slain for a petty reason in the one she thought was her last: a secret technique. So, her last wish for “Peace” yet, who would have expected two different types of life to merge into her? ‘Regression and reincarnation, huh?’ she briefly thought. She never expected such a phenomenon to happen to her. Regardless, it's all good. At least she defeated all her enemies and hoped to regain her former powers. No, she wanted to achieve some rare, most important achievements in this life.

Strictly speaking, she didn’t ‘actually’ realize these things until later on. One could awaken in her mother's womb. In truth, she could probably cultivate “Shadow” energy right from being a fetus. Indeed, gaining the [system interface] and [Leveling up] just before the required age for Adventurers. This achievement had made some “Hidden Deities” and perhaps the “Monkey King” the most powerful beings in the “Void Era”. Of course, most people have experienced [System Interface] as early as [2 years]. She opted to accomplish this just before she got pushed out of her mother’s womb through the birth canal. However, the question remains: how could she bring that hardship and pain into a reality that decides whether or not a person deserves to be a specific gender, race, nationality, and parent?

After all, no one remembered what truly happened when they were born. Of course, “The Monkey King” claimed to have fetal memories, but they couldn’t recall the difficult adversity they had to overcome to gain such “achievement” and “abilities” earlier than others. But according to the “ancient text” she discovered in a “certain lost ruin,” he said that the method he utilized to gain such leverage was the most painful technique he ever created in his entire life. And he said—.

[... before passing through the birth canal, take in the "fluid" as though narcissistic toward your dear mother and Inwardly move the liquid anti-clockwise and clockwise to form the energy you desire within you using the power of imagination...]

Recalling his inscribed words on the tablets, she clicked her tongue inwardly. 'How the hell am I supposed to do that?'  She felt like beating him black and blue for noting down such a 'technique'. Yet, she had no choice but to at least try it. No wonder that damned monkey was so narcissistic, although he was at least good-looking. But one question persisted in her mind: Just how painful was it to pass through the birth canal that he warned against using this technique? She was very curious.

— — — — 

The fetus. No, the 'Shadow Queen' thought something was wrong. She knew it would be painful, but not to this extent. The pressure stiffened the walls on both sides, suffocating her from all directions, beyond her ability to handle. Having absorbed the amniotic fluid to cultivate her “shadow energy,” which resembled a speck of beach sand, was insufficient for protection. Additionally, due to the "shadow cultivation," her body had grown so large that it filled every single space in her mother’s womb.

As a fragile fetus with such little shadow energy, she was being crushed in this narrow space under immense pressure. It truly felt like her fat was melting, her muscles were being crushed, her lungs were struggling for air, and all the bones in her body were shattering. 'Monkey King hadn’t been lying.' If she had attempted this a few hours before her departure into the canal, she wouldn’t have been able to muster even a speck of “Shadow energy.” In the outside world, her soft flesh would normally be injured by the slightest pressure, but the shadow energy, though not useful in battle, slightly protected her.

However, she was nonetheless compressed into impossible compactness to pass through the birth canal. It was obvious that it would be all over for her if she cried in the middle of this hard labor. Yet, even so, she still wanted to open her mouth to scream. As soon as she did, a fluid-like substance forced itself into her mouth with immense pressure. She wondered where it came from. If she had closed her mouth just a bit later, instant death! Indeed, she would’ve not only killed herself but also her mother. At this point, her mind went blank, confused about what to do.

All she could think of was the unending pain. She was so desperate to be free from this hell that she unconsciously emitted a "shadow energy" she never expected existed within her. It was purely unexpected.

She thought she had it bad at the start, but the pain she experienced when her cute skull was compressed at the end of the canal was beyond human imagination. Even as a shadow Queen in her past life, she couldn’t comprehend such an act. If this continued for any longer, she thought her cute skull would be smashed. She might have died if not for the "shadow energy" coating her brain, preventing it from being squeezed out through her puny nose and eyes. Damn it! She thought the only way to end this pain was to hang herself with the umbilical cord and yank it down her ass. Shit!

The exact moment she wanted to follow her thought was the moment she heard her mother grasping for air and her soft voice piercing her ears. “My baby girl, Elicia Don-Hinchpeter.”

‘Ah!’ She briefly mused, gasping for air, ‘Hello, dear mother.’

As soon as her skull was free from the stress, she let out the scream she had been holding in. She could finally cry. The world instantly became brighter with a beautiful spectrum of colors.

‘Thank you, Mother, with all my heart.’ She briefly thought as her puny mouth voiced out a cry, "Waaa, waa."

[You have awakened the “System Interface”.]

[Unable to open the system Interface.]

[No access to the system. No Requirements of Qualification existed.]

...

["Shadow Energy" Detected. The system has been partially updated.]

[Opening the system interface with ‘Shadow Queen’ status.]

Euphoria-like messages that indicated that the 'Technique' she did was successful filled her blurred retinas. Consequently, sleep soon overcame her mother's face.