“Holy Shit!”

Shaken awake, Phong scream from the top of his lungs for a good few seconds before calming down with a body full of sweat causing his tight cloth to be even tighter as it squeezed into his body. However, before he can even make out what has happened. A piercing pain came from his already stress out mind causing him to fall onto the ground curling up in a fetal position and grabbing his head.

“AHHHH!!”

Through that pain, Phong was able to see many images of a young man entire life as he is working tirelessly in the fields, taking care of his four younger siblings, and help his parents around the house. The young man name is also Phong who is a son of a farmer in a village called Da Nang and his family is part of the Nguyen clan whom entire population number around 1,000.

After ten long minutes, the pain is gone and Phong was able to catch a breath “I did die after all, can’t believe my luck is that bad by getting kill in the middle of the day from a lightning strike. Sigh…. but for some reason I was send here inside someone else body.”

Now that everything is done and no more unwanted event like the piercing headache and the images slideshow. Phong was able to think better as he look at the body that is now belong to him. This body is oddly muscular for a such a young man who look like around 17 years old but base on what he saw in the images. Phong can tell that it is due to the hard labor that the previous owner must endure as a farmer.

There are also bandages all around his body with dry up blood stains and under the bandages are gruesome wounds. Now that his adrenaline has run out, the pain returns but it nothing Phong can’t handle compare to the mental pain he suffers earlier. Searching through his memories once again, Phong remember that the village was attacked by bandits not to long ago and this young man along with his father took up arms to defend the village.

The bandit proves to powerful for the young man as he was overpowered after being surrounded by three bandits as they took turn toying with him and leaving severe wounds on his body. But before they can finish him off, a huge man appears from behind them in complete silence which greatly shocked the three bandits into retreating but what send a shiver down there spine was how the man is covered in blood and gripping a huge sword that has a mixture of flesh and blood still stuck on the blade and in his hand was their leader head.

His face was devoid of emotion as he looks at the three bandits and his son who is bleeding profusely in between them. Without wasting words, the man immediately dash toward the bandits and swing his huge sword at the nearest one causing the very air itself to part ways as the man huge sword slice the bandit in half along with his saber that he has lifted above his head in a defensive stance.

Soon the rest of the bandit was taken care off and the man immediately rush his son to the village doctor to get treated but due to his wound and the amount of blood loss, the chances of surviving was slim.

“So that’s what happened…and it seem like I was sent to a different world that is at the same time like the old one but more ancient. I should get mo-“

Before Phong can even finish mumbling to himself, the man in his memories walked into the room with a tray in his hands. On top of the tray are a mix of small containers and new bandages but as soon as he found his son sitting on the floor staring at him. The man face went from emotionless to shock and lastly happiness as he walks quickly toward his son and place the tray on top of a small wooden table.

“Ha, Ha, ha” the man immediately tries to make words come out of his mouth, but nothing can be heard beside a few hoarse sounds as he look Phong up and down to make sure that he is alright before helping him back up onto the bed.

The whole time Phong was completely silent as he observes the man and can feel the love in his eyes for the previous host of this body. Unfortunately, he will never be able to see the young man whom he knew and although the man cannot speak. Phong was able to make out his intentions based on the hand gesture, body language, and his eyes.

Once the man became more relax Phong said “Father, I’m ok”

With a simple nod of acknowledgement, the man begins changing the bandages and leave soon after but not until he made sure that Phong understands him when he points between the bed and his son that he needs more rest.

Finally, alone Phong continue looking through the many memories that he inherited and found shocking information. This world was vastly different from what Phong knew with memories of seeing people shoot fire out of their fist, people riding huge creatures, and even people who knew how to fly! All of this seem normal for the inhabitant of this world called Pandura.

Massaging the side of his head from a new headache that is threatening to erupt anytime now, Phong quietly lay in bed thinking about his next step in this foreign world. Even though he has a family and an oddly powerful father who is a famer. Phong can’t help but feel that if he doesn’t get use to this world and get stronger sooner then his death is nothing but a guaranteed thing.

“One step at a time…” said Phong before falling asleep.

Five days pass by in a flash and due to his miraculous recovery, Phong was finally allowed to move around but are still not allowed to do any hard labor work out in the field that his family tend to everyday. In these few days, Phong got to know the rest of his new family after they came to visit knowing that he has woke up.

The previous host mother was the second person after his father that came to check up on him. She looks young and beautiful. She has long black hair that shines in the light, light brown eyes that resemble precious marbles, pale white skin, which is odd for a farmer wife to have, and she also giving off a majestic aura. 

When the subject was brought up, the only answer Phong got was “I don’t know why either, your father said that he found me unconscious by a river. I don’t remember anything about my past but that don’t matter anymore since I have all of you now.”

As for his four siblings which is two girls and two boys who are two years apart from each other respectively while he is four years older than the second oldest. They are a playful bunch with unique individual personality and good looks which they took after their mom.

Phong on the other hand…..look rough and menacing like his father which made him feel a little depress on the inside.

“I was single and a ****** all the way to my death, guess it will repeat again in this life….”

Just like that, another week past by and Phong is now healthy enough to help in the field. Thanks to the fit body that he inherited, Phong was able to plow the entire field by himself while his father fills up the field with water.

Wiping the sweat off his forehead while watching his mother together with the four siblings planting the wheat neatly into rows out in the field. 

Phong couldn’t help but smiled while he thought to himself ‘even though this is not my real family, but it still gives a really good feeling. Better then being a loner who have to rely on himself with no one to trust.’

After another three hours of farming, Phong father who name is Len which he came to learn after looking through the previous host memories. Clap his hands loudly which catching the family attention, without a single word spoken the family begin to clean up and walk home together.

Along the way, Phong chatted some more with his family when suddenly he heard a ‘peep’ sound in his head. And what he saw next shock the living daylight out of him because the thing in front of him now is a loading screen. What’s worse is that the screen shows two words “King Maker”.

‘This is the god damn game that ask me for a survey! What is it doing here!?’

Rooted to the ground, Phong stare wide eye at the screen before looking back up to see if the rest of the family is seeing the loading screen in front of him. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like they notice it and just look at him with a puzzle look as to why he stops walking all the sudden.

His mother who name is Phuong walks up to him with a worried look asked “are you ok Phong?”

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down before saying “I’m fine mom, I just thought of something and got distracted.”

As if Phuong figured something and said, “Are you thinking about the present we got you for your birthday?”

“My birthday?”

‘I got many memories from the previous host, but I don’t recall anything about birthday.’

Giggling, the oldest of the two girls said “silly brother, how can you forget your own birthday? We got you a really cool e-“

Before she could even finish her sentence, the second oldest of the boys already appear next to her and covered her mouth while saying “Vi, it won’t be a surprise for big brother anymore if you are going to spoil it now so be quiet.”

“Its ok, let just go home” Phong said with a smile while gesturing to them to continue home.

Continuing home, Phong kept staring at the loading screen which have reach the ninety-nine percent completion and the moment he reaches the front door of his home. The screen change into one like an app game login menu which requires identification to enter. But what different is that, there are only one option and it’s to use his soul to enter.

‘So, we meet again huh. You got me killed by a lighting strike right after picking that choice during the survey. There is no other explanation that I can think off since it is to much of a coincidence…..’

With a neutral face Phong enters his room before saying “Enter”

“Registering player soul, please wait….”

“Player soul registration completed, welcome to the game!”

After the registration, Phong see his world change as he found himself in an open square with many towering buildings around him and a harbor in the distance. Looking up, Phong was able to see a beautiful blue sky with white cloud moving steady along. Looking at the nearest building to him, Phong was able to make out what seem like a name plank with the word “Darkhorse Tavern”.

When he about to take his first step to explore the tavern, a screen pops up in front of him “Beep! Top off any amount now for an exclusive package!”

“So, it is like this huh, haha. Let see what the package has.” Clicking on the screen Phong was able to see many items that usually help the player become a little overpowered at the beginning stages of any game but this is a little bit different.