Chapter 73: Regrets

Alden lay on the bed, his face buried deep under a soft pillow. He cursed to himself, looking frustrated as a massive flood of regret washed over his mind. Beside him lay his smartphone. The messaging application was open, displaying a text from an unknown person—or maybe someone very familiar. Several messages lined up on the screen. He remembered deleting this number in frustration, which was exactly why the sender showed up as unknown.

---

> You: Hello, I am Azrael from the same Class as Yours...

> You: Hello?

> You: How’s your study going on?

> You: Good morning...

> You: I like You

-----Contact deleted-----

> Lia: Okay, Let’s Date.

---

Alden stared at his phone again, feeling a strong wave of embarrassment. These were the hasty proposal he had sent to his college crush. Just a few days before transmigrating, he tried to converse with her daily but got no reply. In the end, on the exact day he transmigrated, he mustered up all his courage and proposed to her. Yep, he did it through a text message because he was an introverted person with very little contact with girls. He was too shy to propose face-to-face, even though he never showed it on the outside.

After waiting for hours and getting no reply, he decided to give up. He naturally assumed she wasn’t interested in him. But who would have ever known that she would actually accept someone like him?

"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it! I should have been there instead of here. Shit! It seems I am really unlucky to the core, even while possessing SSS+ luck!"

He stayed like this for what felt like hours. After finally calming down and knowing he couldn’t return to his old world, he swallowed the heavy reality. With a heavy heart, he turned around and lay flat on his back.

’Why did she accept it? If she liked me too, or maybe wanted to try a relationship with me, why did she ignore all my previous messages? Was her phone battery dead? Did she run out of data? Well, I don’t know.’

’She was the most beautiful girl on our college campus. Well, maybe not compared to the girls in this world, since the beauty standards here are on a whole other level. But still, she was my first love.’

After sighing and shaking his head, Alden decided to let go of these non-essential thoughts. Thinking about the same things over and over again would bring him no benefits. That past life of his had already finished. He was reincarnated now and living a brand new life. He had to let go of his past and accept this new reality to live his life freely.

As Alden stared at the ceiling, his eyes turned to the window beside his bed. The night had already deepened. He closed his eyes, ready to catch some sleep.

"HELP ME!"

His eyes snapped open. He looked around the quiet room and then peeked outside the window, finding nothing but the dark yard.

’Was it my illusion? No, I clearly heard a voice.’

He closed his eyes again and breathed out, trying to force himself to sleep.

"HELP ME!"

This time, Alden stood up immediately. He walked out of the room, moved swiftly through the hallway, and exited the house. He was sure he heard that chilling voice.

He looked around, increasing his senses to the maximum. The area was pitch dark, and no one was present. The streets were empty, with no light illuminating the path. The surrounding houses were also dark, as everyone slept peacefully. The whole village remained quiet, wrapped in an eerie silence.

Alden couldn’t find anything weird around the area. There was no person seeking help and no monster lurking in the shadows. He stepped forward, deciding to take a quick round through the village to make sure everything was alright.

As he walked, a cool breeze blew past, slightly ruffling his dark hair in the cold night air. He remained on high alert, scanning his surroundings.

He continued walking around the village borders but found none of the unusual things he expected.

’Was it just a fake rumor? Were the stories told by the villagers just made up?’

He didn’t know the exact truth yet, but whatever it was, he had to find out.

Suddenly, he saw a shadowy figure move in front of him.

He looked at the empty street and immediately rushed toward the crossroad, but he found no person standing there.

"Help me!"

Finally, he heard the voice again. Without waiting, he moved directly toward the source of the sound.

[Astral-Step!]

He appeared further down the street and saw a person walking alone, screaming into the night. The man looked completely normal. He walked stiffly, and there was no monster around him causing any harm. In the dark, his face was obscured, but Alden could easily interpret that this was a real human.

Alden didn’t rush forward to stop him. It was no use doing that; the man probably wouldn’t understand him even if he tried. With light, silent steps, he followed the figure from the shadows.

"Help me!"

As he followed the man for quite a distance, making sure his own presence remained hidden, he found nothing else weird except the screaming villager. As the man neared the path leading toward the dense forest, several other villagers suddenly appeared from different paths. They were all letting out the exact same scream.

"HELP ME!" "HELP ME!" "HELP ME!" "HELP ME!"

Alden looked around, feeling genuinely surprised as several dozen people gathered in the area. They all crossed paths together and started walking in the exact same direction.

Alden noticed that everyone looked lost, moving stiffly as if they were mindless puppets. He immediately decided to step out and check what was going wrong.

"Hey!"

He stepped closer to the people walking toward the forest, but he got no reaction from them. It was as if they couldn’t hear him at all, as they just repeated the same chilling words again and again.

"Hey! Can you hear me?"

"Help me!" "Help me!"

’Sigh... What a pain. What should I do now? Follow them inside the forest? Well, it is the only option I can see. Let’s do that then.’

The villagers, who seemed to be trapped in some kind of powerful illusion, marched straight into the dark woods. Alden followed them quietly, keeping his guard up.

Under the thick shade of the forest canopies, with no moonlight illuminating the path, the entire area was covered in utter darkness. Nothing was visible around the place.

Alden followed the crowd cautiously, actively detecting if any monsters were hiding nearby, but he found none. Only the steady sound of their footsteps and their haunting screams echoed in the silent forest.

Walking deeper through the trees, the air became suffocating with every step he took. An unknown, heavy pressure fell over the area. For some reason, this strange pressure felt both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

As he kept his steps constant, a large clearing finally became visible. At the edge of the trees, the reflection of a bright violet light shone through the dark. He felt like something powerful was sitting in that clearing, illuminating the entire space.

The last of the people walked into the clearing, and their footsteps seemed to halt. Alden took a step forward with more caution, not knowing what he might find waiting for him.

The air grew even more suffocating, and the pressure intensified. He took his final step into the clearing, and the sudden violet light blurred his vision for a brief moment. It took him several seconds to adjust his eyes to the intense, glowing light.

All around the clearing, people lay on the ground. Many were in a deep, unconscious state. Some people were clutching their heads and screaming in terror, while others were desperately scratching the rough tree branches or digging holes in the ground with their bare hands. Everyone was doing bizarre things, acting as if they were terrified of something unseen. They didn’t notice his presence at all, completely lost in their own waking nightmares.

Alden’s gaze swept toward the center of the brilliant illumination. Floating right there in the air was a pitch-black orb emitting a massive wave of violet energy, which lit up the entire clearing.

Alden immediately figured out what that orb was and why it felt so incredibly familiar. The circle around his heart reacted to the violet light. A matching violet glow started to emit from his own chest. Alden felt a strong, attraction toward the orb. He remembered the last time he touched a similar kind of orb under the sea; it gave him the unnerving ’Space’ element and a massive boost in power, even though he had no clue what the object exactly was.

As the orb’s light dimmed, seeming to notice his presence, Alden stepped forward and walked closer to it. He couldn’t help but feel a deep attraction pulling him in.

Before he could do or say anything, he unconsciously raised his hand. Before he could even think to stop himself, the violet light sparkled brightly and started to absorb into his body at a rapid pace. The violet glow around the clearing intensified for a split second before the orb’s light exhausted completely, and the black stone fell harmlessly to the ground.

Alden stood there staring blankly. He didn’t know why he just did that. Suddenly, a heavy, blinding pain shot through his head. It felt like millions of sharp spikes were thrust directly into his skull. The pain became unbearable, and he collapsed onto the forest ground, falling completely unconscious.