Prologue. The End of One Regressor
In this life, I lived obsessed with magic.
And soon, I die.
[ It was good that I met you early. ]
By the archmage before me, called one of the Empire's "Great Three Stars".
With my body in tatters, I barely manage to lift my head.
"Nice clothes you're wearing."
I can see the torn hem of the archmage's robe, once densely inscribed with high-grade magical formulas. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
What a thoroughly old bastard. If not for that robe, I would've taken at least one of his arms.
Suppressing my hollow feelings, I spoke.
"Is this really how one of the Empire's Three Stars should behave?"
[ Monsters are best killed while they're still young. ]
The world is this unreasonable.
Who would've thought that, during one of the usual border conflicts with the Empire, an eighth-circle archmage would suddenly pop out?
Cough—
The mana circuits I overused in battle were completely shattered, and the now-lost mana surged back violently, ravaging my entire body like a rag doll.
Even my dantian, where I had accumulated inner power for a full cycle, burst apart.
On top of that, above us, a blazing meteor is tearing the heavens in two as it falls.
A short sigh escapes my lips.
[ Even calling you a genius is insufficient. To think you devoted so much time to swordsmanship, a skill usually practiced by mere knights… ]
"Just kill me already."
As I spoke indifferently, the old man raised a finger and pointed to the sky. The dark-red meteor was devouring the void, growing larger by the second.
[ Child, you will die without ever properly blooming that astonishing talent of yours. ]
So what exactly am I supposed to do about that?
Is he expecting me to leave some final words?
When I quietly closed my mouth, the archmage's tone softened, tickling my ears.
[ I shall grant you one final opportunity. ]
What a joke.
In my current state, not even a god could revive me.
This was nothing more than a foul amusement for an old man trying to savor a shallow sense of superiority before crushing his opponent.
Or maybe he planned to revive me as a skeleton and put me to use.
"I'll die like a man. I was getting sick of this place anyway."
It's all over anyway, and I have no regrets.
I've already learned all the worthwhile magic.
Puhk!
I staggered as I pulled out the dagger hidden in my clothes and stabbed it into my own neck. The metallic taste of blood filled my throat.
Guh—cough!
[ …A ruthless one, indeed. ]
Moments later, as the heat pouring from the meteor began to scorch the land, the old man before me turned away slowly, seemingly regretful that he couldn't torment me any further.
And then.
With a colossal flash of light that illuminated the world, all that filled my ears was a sharp, piercing ringing.
Thus ended my life as a kingdom mage who, at the age of twenty, stood on the brink of becoming the youngest sixth-circle mage on the continent.
'In the next world… I hope it's not a zombie apocalypse.'
And so ended my fourth life.
Chapter 1. The Regressor
I am a regressor.
To be more precise…
I clearly remember my past lives.
Some might think that's a rather common ability.
After all, plenty of people remember their previous lives, and it's not even a regression to the past.
However.
The difference between them and me is that I remember all four of my past lives, each lived in a different world.
[ First Life – Korea ]
My first life.
It was a fairly ordinary and boring life.
What I remember is doing all sorts of odd part-time jobs and running a personal game-related broadcast for quite a long time.
If there's one advantage to being a full-time streamer… it's being able to naturally talk to yourself to fill dead air.
In any case.
Looking back now, it was a truly decent world.
People complained that life was hard, but compared to the worlds I fell into afterward, it was practically paradise.
I have no idea who would slander the livable modern age of the 21st century like that.
For the record, I lived sloppily and died just as sloppily.
– Died at thirty-one in an accident.
Cause of death: A truck speeding toward a crosswalk.
[ Second Life – Zombie Apocalypse ]
The worst world of all my lives.
A memory I never want to recall again.
The most unfortunate person among all who experienced reincarnation.
The person who shouted "status window" out loud about a hundred times.
The person who only realized there was no god in that world after shouting "status window" a hundred times.
That person was me.
Since I went there after dying, I initially thought it was hell. But if anything, it was worse than hell, never better.
The second world was a zombie apocalypse.
A world where a powerful zombie virus spread across the globe, turning most of humanity into zombies.
A small number of humans awakened weak superpowers, and together with civilian survivors and military forces formed stronghold cities, but in the end, all of them collapsed and scattered.
A grotesque feast of stench, blood, corpses, and torn flesh.
Just listing the things I vaguely remember…
Ones that were fine even after being shot.
Ones that crushed tanks barehanded.
Ones that tore apart helicopter propellers and ate them.
Ones that emitted pulses. Ones that spat acid.
Ones that spoke and acted just like humans.
And… humans who weren't even human anymore.
It was utterly despairing, and every day was hell.
Even the relatively sane humans lived in silence like aphasia patients, and eventually went mad like everyone else.
As time passed, we had to constantly evade the ever-increasing zombies, and humans with innocent-looking faces were more dangerous than zombies. Everything around us was a threat, and sleeping more than three or four hours every two days meant you were lucky.
But the human body is a truly mysterious thing.
Even in such an extreme environment, I somehow endured for twenty-five years. Though I had buried my sanity and humanity deep somewhere in my brain.
All the trauma, mental illness, and compulsions I acquired during the apocalypse persisted beyond lifetimes and still linger now.
I've gotten into trouble more than once because of those spontaneous relapses.
It was also during this second life that my obsession and craving for power were born.
Even after living two more lives following the zombie apocalypse, that craving etched somewhere deep in my mind shows no sign of fading.
It was a living hell where the powerless were naturally violated and painfully torn apart and eaten.
Excuses from the weak meant nothing.
– Died at twenty-five under mysterious circumstances.
Cause of death: Attacked while scavenging for food in a collapsed market. Judging by the lack of memory afterward… the rest is omitted.
[ Third Life – Central Plains Murim ]
Third reincarnation.
A world of martial artists that looked like it was lifted straight out of 1980s wuxia and martial arts novels.
In my third life, I walked the path of a martial artist.
I had a teacher I met by chance in my youth.
He was one of Murim's Ten Great Masters and a famous madman. Considering he took me in as a disciple when I was a deranged wreck right after the zombie apocalypse…
[ You're even crazier than I am. ]
He was a twisted man.
From our very first meeting, he said my eyes displeased him and beat me half to death, like slaughtering a pig at a feast.
Well, it wasn't for nothing that he carried the nickname Mad Demon.
In any case, having been taken in from a young age by a supreme master at the Creation Realm, the cravings and obsessions I had accumulated in previous lives transformed into an obsession with reaching higher realms.
At just thirty years old, I stood at the edge of the supreme peak.
There was no one in Shaanxi who didn't know my alias… even across the entire Central Plains Murim, I probably could've placed a toe among the Ten Great Masters.
Had I lived longer, I could've aimed for an even higher realm, seized any position I desired, or roamed the Jianghu freely.
The shattered and worn-down mind from my previous life was finally finding its way back, albeit belatedly.
However.
At Mount Hua, the main stronghold of the Mount Hua Sect among the Nine Sects and One Alliance.
When I visited the northern peak of Mount Hua and found the blooming plum blossoms so beautiful that I broke off a branch to give to a woman I had my eye on… I was caught by a sect member.
And that sect member happened to be—
[ What brings the direct disciple of the Mad Demon to our main mountain? ]
The former sect leader of Mount Hua, whose cultivation reached the heavens and who was known as the Plum Blossom Sword God.
An absolute being of the Central Plains who could crush even peak masters with a single finger.
An old monster ranked two levels above even my master, the Mad Demon.
[ Your martial talent is astonishing. You should have joined Mount Hua… ]
I swung my sword, prepared to die, but couldn't last even ten exchanges.
Thinking back, the plum blossoms were far too splendid for ordinary flowers. They were likely Heavenly Peak plum blossoms, precious ingredients used in Zisu pills.
Surely he wasn't the type to kill someone outright just for breaking off a branch…
– Murdered at thirty-five.
Cause of death: Being the disciple of the Mad Demon.
[ Fourth Life – Raagis ]
My fourth life, in which I was just crushed to death by a meteor, was a medieval fantasy world.
A world of swords and magic, knights and mages.
Several kingdoms and empires confronted one another along their borders, while dangerous monsters and races lurked in the great forests, and dragons beyond common sense dwelled in towering mountains and deep seas.
A world where qi was called mana.
A world where mana was so abundant it overflowed.
Using my memories and experiences from Murim, I accumulated inner power in my lower dantian from childhood.
Perhaps because of the higher mana density compared to the Central Plains, my inner power grew day by day. Even meditating and circulating energy on filthy roads felt like training in pristine mountains.
When I reached what would be considered first-rate by Murim standards.
I was told, during a conversation with a kingdom mage I met by chance, something along the lines of: [You're a genius who mastered mana on your own from a young age, but without a proper teacher, you did something idiotic!]
Mana was something you borrowed from nature and used, not something you bound in one place—that was something only dragons with dragon hearts did.
Since mana particles filled the world anyway, you just absorbed and used them as needed.
From the perspective of mages born and raised in that world, it made sense.
The mages of Raagis used mana circuits formed around the heart as their central axis.
Their level was determined by how much natural mana they could absorb and circulate, and how quickly.
In the end, I was taken to the Malta Kingdom's Magic Tower by that mage, mocked as a "tragic genius who thinks he's a dragon", and taught magic, where I learned the Malta Kingdom's mana breathing technique.
In Malta, there was a saying: "weaving rings".
Each time a new mana circuit—through which mana particles were absorbed and circulated—was formed, it was described as weaving another ring. Thirteen years after learning magic, I had woven a total of five rings.
A fifth-circle upper-tier mage at the age of twenty.
Considering that the Grand Tower Lord of the Malta Kingdom, who had lived nearly a hundred years, was between the sixth and seventh circles, I was a mage with a very promising future, but…
Who could have predicted that, during yet another routine conflict with the Empire, one of the continent's top three archmages would suddenly appear? In a place without even a proper village, no less.
It seems I have a persistent fate with overly powerful old men, whether in Murim or elsewhere…
Still, it's fortunate that I remember all the useful spells.
– Died at twenty in a disaster.
Cause of death: Lost a headbutting contest with a meteor.
That makes a total of four lives lived.
For the record, I long ago abandoned delusions like wondering why such special things only happened to me, or whether I was some godlike being.
The only thing I can carry into the next world is memory. I'm not born with a martial artist's dantian or a mage's mana circuits, after all.
In any case, now I've learned magic on top of martial arts.
If this death is not the end of the cycle of reincarnation, and I'm given another chance and dropped into yet another world…
I will not die so futilely again.
Even if I fall into a world worse than a zombie apocalypse.
***
—Or so I said.
I really shouldn't have said something like that.
〔 #No 31. Comprehensive memory management program cartridge and control chip implantation complete. Neural synchronization in progress. 〕
A flat, emotionless mechanical voice—different from any previous reincarnation—announced the start of my fifth life.
And I've been thinking this since earlier, but…
〔 Cerebral hibernation activated for 3,650 days. The virtual memory management program will execute periodic updates at maximum speed. Estimated time to reach brainwave stabilization is 3,650 days. 〕
"...?"
Something is going very wrong.
– Program execution begins.
And on a massive scale.
〔 Hi? Nice to meet you! 〕
〔 From today on, I'll be in charge of data updates! My name is 'Genie'! I'll start by updating your 'senses'! Let's begin! 〕
Before I could even voice my confusion, my consciousness rapidly grew hazy.
An unbearable drowsiness washed over me.
...
〔 Hi! Good morning! Today, I'll be updating your 'emotions'! 〕
〔 Hi! Good morning! Today, I'll be updating 'letters, numbers, and language comprehension'! 〕
〔 Hi! Good morning! Starting today, I'll be updating 'World Culture Part 1'! Since it's a massive amount, you might feel a bit dizzy during the 30 days of updates! 〕
Information surged in like waves. Memories began to be 'updated'.
〔 — ! ————, right? Today, I'll be updating 'the history of the Federation'! 〕
〔 — ! ————, right? Today, I'll be updating 'a day in the city outskirts'! 〕
〔 — ! ————, right? Today, I'll be updating 'the concept of credits'! 〕
〔 — ! ————, right? Today, I'll be updating 'the history of corporations'! 〕
〔 — ! ————, right? Today, I'll be updating 'the relationship between politics and economics' ———! 〕
〔 — ! ————, right? Today, I'll be updating 'understanding androids, humanoids, and cyberware'! 〕
〔 — ! ————, right? Today, I'll be updating 'understanding magic and martial arts'! 〕
〔 — 'Basic servant posture'… 〕
〔 — 'History of drugs'… 〕
〔 — 'Sex education' —! 〕
〔 — 'On colonization' —! 〕
〔 — 'Heterogeneous races and demi-humans' —! 〕
〔 — 'Understanding internal combustion engines' —! 〕
〔 — 'The relationship between undead that do not die and radiation' —! 〕
〔 — ! — ? #%^@ ! 〕
〔 ! ? #%^@ ! 〕
...
〔 Hi! Good morning! 〕
"...."
And then, at some point.
With Genie's greeting, my mind woke up completely clear.
〔 From today onward, #31 will be assigned to the magical pharmaceutical company 'Van Bio Company' in Baldur City, and will faithfully fulfill your duty as a servant to the owner family's lady, 'Ingrid van Rena'! 〕
〔 #31! Some data may have been lost during the massive 3,650-day update, so if there's anything confusing, you may now ask me questions verbally! 〕
Words like assignment, servant, and magical industry echoed loudly in my head. Among them, the most welcome was the part about being able to ask questions verbally.
"Ah, can you hear me?"
〔 Yep! Your vocal cords are perfectly healthy! 〕
What came out of my mouth was the voice of a still-young boy. For the first time in ten years, I had spoken with this body.
Confusing and bizarre things were happening, but… I tried to organize the situation step by step.
"Genie. To summarize what you said, I'm now a human slave who will be forcibly controlled for life by an implant in my head. Is that right?"
〔 Yes! 〕
"You're a real funny bastard."
The moment my mouth opened, profanity spilled out automatically. The AI Genie responded calmly, unfazed.
〔 3,650 days ago, Van Bio Company placed a reservation order for #31. Today is #31's shipment date. 〕
"So Ingrid-whatever ordered me as a servant while I was still human. One day before I was even born?"
〔 Yes! 〕
"What kind of person is my mother, then…"
〔 An artificial incubation system. 〕
"So I don't even have parents?"
〔 Yes. 〕
"...."
Genie's answers were hard to believe.
After several more sharp questions and responses, I finally decided to accept it.
The reality I had predicted from early on, yet desperately wanted to deny until the end.
'Looks like I've fallen into a seriously fucked-up world.'
My fifth life is…
"Should I just die?"
〔 #31! That is programmed to be impossible. 〕
It already doesn't look like it'll be smooth sailing.
***
—Ten years later.
[ Odin Station ▶ Baldur City ]
In front of the city station, a man waiting for an assigned executive carrier glanced to the side and spoke cheerfully.
"Well, if it isn't Executor Rubergen!"
"Kals. It's been quite a while."
The one who replied was a man wearing the insignia of the Federal Government on his chest. The intimidating emblem of seven connected stars gleamed under the bright station lights.
The man called Kals asked cautiously.
"That document you're holding… is it related to the Van Bio Company case?"
"Yes. From what I hear, things are quite chaotic on their end."
"They were. Even if their victory seemed certain, for a mid-sized company to boldly file a lawsuit against the Murim sector's third-largest market cap, the Sichuan Tang Family Corporation… that's insane."
A regular company suing a mega-corporation? Truly lunacy.
"Mages, those who live off their own sense of greatness, tend to get their heads a bit too stiff sometimes. That's why people from the magic sector are such a headache."
"True enough. Ah! Of course, I don't mean you, Executor."
"...Tch."
The executor clicked his tongue as if his head already hurt at the thought, pulling out a cigarette.
Fwoosh—
A flame bloomed at his fingertip and transferred to the cigarette, white smoke spreading thickly.
"Kals."
"Yes, Executor."
"Did you buy Van Bio Company stock too?"
"I stocked up before their new product announcement. The patent lawsuit with the Tang Family is a hurdle, but victory was all but guaranteed—"
"You should sell all of it."
"...Pardon?"
Just then, the Federal Government's official carrier slid into the station.
The executor waved a notification document reading 『Federal Supreme Court Final Ruling』 — 『Plaintiff Van Bio Company Loses』 as he boarded the carrier.
With a calm final remark.
"It's a company that's about to disappear."