In a modest rental house at the edge of a bustling city, a middle-aged man lay exhausted on his bed, wrestling with the decision ahead of him: return to his home country or continue chasing the dream project he had devoted so much effort to.As he drifted in and out of thought, a memory surfaced.He recalled walking into the grand lobby of the company’s towering headquarters, every detail a testament to ambition and authority. Clutching a neatly organized folder, he approached the receptionist.“Excuse me, ma'am… has the director arrived yet?” he asked politely.The receptionist glanced up. “Oh, he left about an hour ago. He had a meeting.”He frowned, checking his watch. “But... isn't the meeting scheduled for now? How could he have left already?”“He said the schedule was changed yesterday. Didn’t you receive the update?” she replied.His expression darkened. “No, I didn’t.”He retrieved an envelope from his coat pocket and quietly placed it on the desk. In a low voice, he said,“Pl

Inside one of the grand castles at the very heart of the empire’s capital—the central city of the strongest nation on the continent—a middle-aged man sat in his study, buried beneath a mountain of documents.Though his desk was cluttered beyond reason, his pen moved tirelessly across the sheets of parchment.A knock echoed on the door.“Enter,” the man commanded without looking up.The heavy door creaked open. A guard stepped inside and bowed slightly.“Your Majesty…” he spoke with reverence.At last, the emperor turned, his face stern and commanding.“What is it?”“There’s a message from Shadow No. 55,” the guard replied, offering a sealed letter.The emperor accepted it, broke the seal, and began to read. His lips curved into a thin smile.“Hoh…” he murmured, before suddenly erupting into booming laughter.“Ha ha ha… HAHAHAHA!”The guard stood frozen, expressionless, though his confusion was clear. Whatever the letter contained, it greatly amused the emperor—but it wasn’t his place

“So, my Prince… how are you?” she asked, with a warm smile that somehow felt just as dangerous.Victor fell silent, his mind racing.“Have I ever seen her before? Her face doesn’t match any memory… and someone like her, I would never forget,” Victor thought.Still confused, Victor furrowed his brows and asked,“So… who are you, really?”She chuckled softly, amused by my reaction, then bowed her head gracefully.“My Prince… let me introduce myself again,” she said, placing her soft hand on her chest.“My name is Veyra, and most people… well, they call me Witch.”Even after hearing her name, Victor remained puzzled. His eyebrows rose automatically,“So… beautiful witch, what brings you here?”Hearing such words from a six-year-old boy made her chuckle again, her eyes glittering with amusement. She stepped closer, close enough that the moonlight touched her shimmering black cloak.“Nothing too important,” she said with a mischievous smile, as if she knew something.“I only came to fulfil

Day after day passed…During that time, Victor kept training himself while searching for flaws in the exo-armor he had built.‘How should I put it… For agility on the battlefield, it moves like a light tank walking. But in terms of preparation? Well, a bit troublesome… So I need to revise the design,’ he thought, still haunted by the memory of that night.“Good thing she wasn’t a hired assassin… just a female witch,” he muttered as he continued fixing his exo-armor.‘To make it more practical, I need to develop separate hardware parts that can be attached to the arm guards and greaves. By wearing those outer parts, I could activate the full exo-armor quickly. When I want to wear it, I just need to enter the attachment points I’ve built, like a cockpit, and the rest will attach automatically. Far more efficient. Far easier to remove.’Victor nodded, satisfied with his analysis as he reviewed the flaws of his exo-armor design.‘As for rune magic efficiency… It would probably be far more

As silence returned, Victor steadied his breathing. Slowly, he tried to calm his chaotic mind.But that calm lasted only a moment.Awareness suddenly struck him.“I… have killed people…” he muttered softly, his eyes fixed on his own palm.Silent. Cold. Bloody.‘Soldiers… and not just any soldiers… they were elite troops,’ he thought, remembering the neat formation and coordinated movements of the intruders when they appeared.‘In my previous life… I never killed.’His thoughts drifted.‘And now, those I killed were trained soldiers… the kind that should have been difficult to defeat in battle.’He stared at one of the still-bound, unconscious bodies.The fragments of memory that had once flooded his mind resurfaced.Tactics, Reflexes, Survival Instincts.‘Yes… it seems those fragments gave me experience, even though they weren’t mine,’ he thought, gazing at the fallen assassins.‘The experience of someone… who had gone through countless wars. And now… somehow, it belongs to me as well