Ash slowly opened his eyes, now fully aware of what had happened. Yarlow's memories had merged with his own, confirming that he had indeed experienced a common occurrence in the world of transmigration—soul possession.

Ash sighed, he had never expected to end up in such an unlucky situation.

From Yarlow's memories, Ash understood what had happened. However, when Yarlow had initially lost consciousness, he hadn't left the capital city yet, so Ash had no idea where he was now. He did know one thing, though: he was no longer in Yarlow's familiar family estate. When he had first woken up, he had taken a quick look around and realized this wasn't Yarlow's home.

As Ash opened his eyes, he sensed someone beside him. Turning his head, he saw the same old man he had seen during his first awakening. The old man wore a stern expression but had a caring look in his eyes.

Unlike the first time he woke up, Ash now recognized this elderly figure. He was the head butler of the Whitewood family, James Whitewood. James wasn't originally a Whiteboard but was given the family name by Yarlow's grandfather. He had been faithfully serving the Whitewood family for years and was the most trusted person in the household.

In the past, the relationship between the old Yarlow and James hadn't been good. Yarlow had been a spoiled playboy, while James was a stern figure who constantly supervised him, telling him what he couldn't do. However, due to James's seniority, even Yarlow's father hadn't dared to disrespect him. Yarlow had to endure it.

After his rebirth, Ash was far from being the same as the previous Yarlow. He understood the importance of James, a butler with exceptional power in this world where strength equaled survival.

Ash had to adapt this situation and work on things to avoid death.

However, the thing that made him sad most was that he had actually consumed the Water of Void. This shattered Ash's dreams of becoming a supreme master.

But Ash had thought it all through. Although he wasn't thrilled about his current situation, he had already come here, and there was nothing he could do about it. Since he was here, he might as well accept it. From now on, he would be Yarlow Whitewood.

Thinking this, Ash, now Yarlow let out a sigh of relief, feeling a sense of relaxation in his heart. He realized that his body didn't seem to have any major issues. He quickly sat up and addressed James in casual tone, "I'm fine, Old Man. Where are we now?"

Current Yarlow decided to call what previous Yarlow called James. Although his tone wasn't respectful, it's also wasn't a disrespectful like previous Yarlow.

James nodded, not finding anything strange and said, "Master, we've arrived at the our territory."

Yarlow paused for a moment, then nodded in understanding and asked, "Is it the Black Soil Wasteland?"

James was surprised by Yarlow's's composure, he thought he would be angry. He replied, "Yes, this is the Black Soil Wasteland."

Yarlow nodded again and inquired further, "Where are we exactly? What's the situation here? How many people are there, and how much land do we have?"

From previous Yarlow's memories, all he knew about the Black Soil Wasteland were legends and its proximity to the Rotting Corpse Marsh, one of the five forbidden place. He didn't have details about the land's fertility or any other information.

James continued to look at Yarlow with surprise. If it weren't for the fact that Yarlow had always been under his watchful eye, he might have thought someone had replaced Yarlow. What he was seeing now was definitely not the Yarlow he knew. Previous Yarlow could had not maintained such calm face under such difficulty times, or he cared about asking such questions.

Previous Yarlow might had asked about food, women and money.

"Is it true that adversity makes people grow?" James couldn't quite comprehend, but he didn't doubt Yarlow's identity. He simply saw this change in Yarlow as a sign of maturity.

Yarlow's behavior pleased James. He quickly explained, "Master, we're in the lord's mansion of the fief. The mansion is located on Iron Mountain in the Black Soil Wasteland. This Iron Mountain was abandoned by the Dwarves, and there's some land on it suitable for cultivation. I took the liberty to sell all our assets back home and used the funds to purchase supplies and a hundred slaves. Now, we have just over a hundred gold coins left in cash. The only people who came here with us are me, Elsie, my granddaughter, as well as Jack and Erth. Everyone else has left."

Yarlow nodded, analyzed the current situation in his mind, and understood that they were in a dire situation. However, they did have a lord's mansion to reside in, some cultivable land, a hundred slaves, and five trusted individuals, possibly enough food for some months.

Yarlow acknowledged James actions, saying, "Old Man, you've done well. Now go and arrange the land on Iron Mountain for cultivation. Let's see what crops are suitable, we need a source of income."

James nodded and replied, "Very well, Master. Please rest for now. I'll have Aya attend to you later."

As soon as James mentioned Aya, a vivid image of a delicate girl with soft features, long green hair, and a petite figure appeared in Yarlow's mind. She was, in fact, James and Elsie's granddaughter, but James and Elsie divorced for sixty years.

He recalled that previous Yarlow wanted to molest Aya, but she was a Level 6 magician, fragile in appearance but internally strong. Although she didn't dare harm Yarlow, if Yarlow really do something to her, she wouldn't hesitate to commit suicide. Which made Yarlow back off.

Thinking of this, current Yarlow could decided to deal with this later. Anyway, he had time to repair relationship and he wouldn't let such beautiful girl away from him, but for now he had to deal with income problem.

"No need, Old Man, I'd like to rest for a while. Don't let anyone disturb me. Just call me when it's time for dinner."

James bowed and said, "Yes, Master. I will take my leave." With that, he exited room.

Yarlow sighed and slowly got up from the bed. Although he remembered lying on the bed for a long time, he felt no discomfort, but rather an abundance of strength. He stretched lazily and walked to the window, gently pushing it open to look outside.

He saw a small castle-like structure, and his location was on the top floor, providing a clear view of everything outside. It was a Western-style small castle with a small square in front and a surrounding wall. Beyond the castle, there was endless black soil, as dark as if it had been soaked in oil, giving off a sense of lifelessness.

On the castle's square, there was a large pile of things, and Yarlow carefully observed. It seemed to be various daily necessities. A large group of people were busy there.

These people included men and women, all dressed in coarse cloth clothing. The difference was that the men had a mark on their foreheads, while woman had on their wrist. 

Although it's too far away to see clearly, Yarlow knew, that mark represented the Whitewood family's mark, indicating that these people were the Whitewood family's slaves.

Looking to the sides, he saw barren hills with twisted trees, which didn't seem to be growing well, looking sickly. Besides the trees, there was only barren grass, short and malnourished.

Withdrawing his gaze, he looked at the castle that now belonged to him. It wasn't small; it could easily accommodate a few thousand people. However, it seemed to have been unoccupied for a long time, with moss growing on the walls and grass sprouting from the crevices. It had a dilapidated appearance. Looking at the paper on the windows, it was obviously newly pasted, but the other rooms didn't even have that.

Yarlow crossed his arms and thought, "Will I get any cheat? Like I read in webnovels?"

Just he thought, a voice suddenly echoed in his mind...