"Master¹Master in this case is the person who you learn from, not the master/servant relationship., if you want to blame someone... you can only blame yourself."

 

That was the last thing that Aldwynn recalled before he was rudely awakened with a splash of cold water. Following that, he could hear someone hurling strings of abuses. He has yet to recover his bearings when series of kicks rained on him. Out of instinct, Aldwynn curled his body and raised his arms to protect his head.

 

'Weird... I was supposed to have died by my own disciple. They say when you die, you won't feel any pain so why can I feel each kicks vividly?'

 

"Tsk! To think I share blood relation with this waste," a voice, seemingly to belong to a young teen, travelled into Aldwynn's ear before another kick hits him square on his back.

 

The pain made him be more awake and he continued to keep calm as he try to assess his current situation. Before he closed his eyes few moments ago, he remembered being impaled to the chest with a dagger by his most trusted disciple. Then, just before his supposed death, he felt a strong pulling on his soul to which he had assumed that it was his soul being collected by Death. He closed his eyes, knowing that he can't do anything other than accepting his fate. Just as he thought he was going on the journey to the afterlife, he awaken at this unfamiliar place.

 

"He can't even make a sound anymore. Well, hurry up and throw him into the pit. Since he is now reduced to this, I doubt he can cry out for help."

 

The kicking stops and Aldwynn felt himself being roughly lifted before being thrown over. The journey to the bottom of the pit is a long way down. He could feel his body falling against the winds and he closed his eyes to prepare his mind for the painful impact.

 

When his body reached the bottom, Aldwynn found that it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would be but the next second, he had to fight back against the feeling of vomiting.

 

'Fuck! This place smells disgusting!'

 

That was his first thought before he opened his eyes to look at his surrounding. What he saw disgusts him even more and if it were not for his weak body, he would've already scrambled away. Unfortunately, he barely have enough energy to keep breathing let alone to move.

 

Aldwynn continued to stare at the rotten corpse beside him. The corpse were surrounded by flies and there's already hints of decomposing. What's worse, he could see worms wriggling around.

 

"Brother. You shouldn't blame us for being ruthless to you. If you want to blame someone, you can only blame yourself! Who told you to be born with the worst aptitude in the whole empire? Do you want our family to be a laughing stock?!"

 

Once again, Aldwynn heard the voice from before. Looking up, he could see a young teen, around the age of ten to thirteen, looking down from the entrance of the pit.

 

"You should thank me for letting you die with your body intact or else, father would've beheaded you the moment your result came out. Don't worry. With me around, our family won't be reduced to a laughingstock. To the outsiders, you got a good result and went out to the forest to gain experience. Unfortunately, you overestimated your abilities and thus, died by the beasts with no corpse intact," the boy said again. "From now on, Duke Valshier's first born son no longer exist. As the next in line, I shall take care of our family. So, enjoy your last moments in peace, Brother."

 

After his speech, the young boy left with his servants. If it was under a normal situation, that last sentence would've sounded good. Unfortunately, it was filled with mockery and gloating. Now that his offenders has left, Aldwynn finally have a time to himself. He began to sort out memories that he had gained during those time he was subjected to those kicks before.

 

To put it in the simplest form, he had died but his soul escaped death by occupying this body. As for the fate of the original owner of this body, Aldwynn could only sigh in regret.

 

The original owner was also called Aldwynn. He is the firstborn son of Duke Valshier, also known as the Demon General of the Third Army under Marshall Rehberg. Valshier's family has always produced outstanding offsprings.

 

In this world, the people were categorized into three types: The Magnus, The Arcanist and the Regular.

 

The Magnus are people who are born with higher physical strength than normal human. They also have access to mutant energies which allows them to use elemental attacks. The Magnus are basically the pinnacle of this world and considered to be the leader.

 

The Arcanist on the other hand, do not possess super strength like the Magnus but they are still stronger than normal humans. Their advantage over others is their high mental strength. The higher it is, the more things that they can do. From energy cards to potions, and even magic tools, these are all the things only the Arcanist can create. Having even one of them could even turn over the battle which was deemed unfavorable.

 

Unfortunately, the original owner was neither a Magnus, nor was he an Arcanist. Instead, he was born as a Regular. A person who have no special abilities. This was why the Valshier family abandoned him.

 

Aldwynn was deep in his thought as he thought of his future fate when he felt something crawling on the skin of his arm. Lifting them over his head, he could see a worm wriggling on his skin and he could feel his hair rising from disgust.

 

"Fuck!" he cursed out loud as he quickly flung the worm away. 'I forgot I'm in this pit full of corpse! This isn't the time to think about other things. I need to get out of this disgusting place,' he thought to himself as he got up and dragged his battered body away from the mountain of corpse.

 

The more he move, the more disgusting he felt. He tried to hypnotize himself into thinking that the rotten corpses and worms didn't exist but the smell did not help him at all. Aldwynn made his way to where there is the least dead bodies. He then looked up at the entrance of the pit and judged that it was impossible for him to climb up in his current state.

 

"If it was my original body... jumping up is not a problem at all..." Aldwynn sighed in regret. "Am I going to die again like this?"

 

There was a hint of unwillingness within his tone as he said this. Before this, he was a cultivating genius. He barely had any difficulties and if he ever needed anything, all he had to do was announce it and people would clamor over in return to his favor. But now, he has nothing.

 

"No. Don't give up yet. There must be a way out."

 

Just as he said this, he heard a sound beside him. Turning his head slightly, he saw a small rat gnawing on a corpse that has yet to start rotting. Aldwynn crunched his face in disgust and was about to turn his head away when he saw something shimmering against the light.

 

Out of curiosity, Aldwynn crouched down to look at it carefully. "A pendant?" he murmured as he picked up the item. He could see some kind of insignia engraved on its face and it looked familiar. He ran through the original's memory and found out that this was the insignia of the noble house Maudrey.

 

The Maudrey was known as the rival family of The Valshier. Both families have long line of history and if it were not for the fact that it is inconvenient to fight a large scale battle, the two families might've waged war against each other a long time ago.

 

But Aldwynn was feeling suspicious that he would find a corpse belonging to the house of Maudrey. After all, this place is under the jurisdiction of the Valshier family. In addition, based on the body of this corpse, the one who died should not be older than fifteen years old.

 

'Judging on the position of the corpse, I can assume that this boy was still alive while he was thrown here. He must've suffered a lot... He even died with his eyes open,' Aldwynn thought as he continued to stare at the corpse. "Who could be so cruel?" he couldn't help muttering out his thought out loud as he reached out his hand to help close the dead's eyes.

 

But the eyes won't close, so Aldwynn tried it again. When he failed to do it the second time, he furrowed his brow. "I see that you are unwilling. I'm also unwilling to die at this place so that makes the two of us," Aldwynn said to the corpse. "How about this? If I managed to get out, I'll help you find your killer and help you with your resentment?"

 

After saying this, Aldwynn reached out again to close his eyes but it still wouldn't shut close. "Damn it! What else do you want?" Aldwynn asked out loud. If this was back in his own world, he would've created an array to call the spirit of the dead and ask him questions.

 

"Wait... That's it! Maybe I can do it! If I succeed, I can get the ghost to go find help!" he exclaimed excitedly. Based on the knowledge he gained from the original's memories, some of the Arcanists' method of making energy cards require them to form an array on top of the cards to seal it. Although the array looks vastly different from where he came from, it was worth a try. "First, I need a medium to hold his spirit..."

 

Aldwynn didn't waste too much time in choosing. After all, didn't he already have something that is suitable? The pendant he got earlier has two face. One is engraved with the insignia while the other is blank, flat surface. Just perfect for Aldwynn to draw an array on.

 

Next, he needed something to draw with.

 

His eyes landed on the small rat that is still busy gnawing on the dead body thinking of using it's blood as inks. Aldwynn closed his eyes and took a deep breath, something he regretted as he ends up inhaling a large amount of foul scent. "Damn it! Once I got out of here, I swear I will have my fucking revenge!"

 

He didn't know if the rat was too hungry or if it thinks Aldwynn is harmless but it did not run away despite how loud Aldwynn was. This made it easier for Aldwynn to catch the rat.

 

A few quick moves, the rat died and Aldwynn quickly used one of its bone as a pen, and it's blood as inks. Aldwynn then proceeded to draw the array on the pendant. Time seems to pass slowly for Aldwynn and by the time he finished, the sky had almost turned dark.

 

Staring at the finished product, Aldwynn then realized one big flaw in his plan. The body he occupied, is just that of a regular who has no mental nor mutant energy! So how is he supposed to activate the arrays and summon the dead spirit?