MMORPG: Rebirth of the Shadow Mage - Chapter 4 Salamander Ring

Of all the characters in this story, it had to be the son of a bitch!?Thanks to the courtesy of Truck-kun, I was transmigrated into the famous yet garbage novel, [Hero's Apocalypse].The character I possessed was a third-rate extra who had the [Talent] to 'plunder' other talents. Yet, as overpowered as it might sound, the conditions to fulfill a successful plundering were extreme, making this character truly befitting a third-rate trash.But that's not what's important right now—it's the fact that this man's role in the original story was his very death, and I opened my eyes after the original body just finished killing himself.“Fuck! Why did you attempt to sexually assault the Imperial Princess?!”Feeling livid, I strongly punched the mirror in front of me, knowing that as soon as I gained a new life through mysterious means, others would inevitably come to take it because of this bastard's unforgivable sin.But I wanted to survive...Motherfucker, can I do it?!

Jiang Feng, a handsome young martial artist, was injured during a misadventure and ended up being saved by the sisters Yaoyue and Lianxing of the Palace of Shifting Flowers, who were considered the most powerful female martial artists in the pugilistic world. The two sisters fell in love with Jiang Feng, but he spurned them because of their arrogance. Instead, he fell in love with their servant girl, Hua Yuenu.

Jiang Feng and Hua Yuenu were forced to flee from the Palace after Hua became pregnant with Jiang’s child. However, they ended up being betrayed by Jiang Feng’s servant, Jiang Biehe, and attacked by bandits. During their harrowing flight, Hua Yuenu gave birth to a pair of twin boys abut ended up dying together with Jiang Feng during a bandit attack. Yaoyue and Lianxing soon caught up with the couple only to find them dead. Refusing to forgive Jiang Feng for rejecting her love, Yaoyue vowed to take her revenge by making his two sons destroy each other. To do that, they adopted one of the boys as their own child and abandoned the other.

The other boy was soon saved by Yan Nantian, Jiang Feng’s sworn brother and one of the most powerful martial artists in the pugilistic world. Unaware of the first boy’s fate, Yan Nantian pursued Jiang Biehe into the Villains’ Valley, a place populated entirely by criminals. There, he encountered five of the notorious Ten Great Villains whom he defeated easily before falling into a trap set by them. The villains ended up torturing Yan Nantian till he fell unconscious, but chose not to harm the second boy, instead deciding to raise him as their apprentice in order to groom him into the greatest villain in history.

A broken prince, a shadowy scheme, all that amidst a bloody fight for a throne wrongly succeeded. Join a group of youngsters as they take their first steps into the martial world, towards the grandest adventure of their lives. It all begins in a certain inn, set against verdant mountains and facing a scenic lake.

“Bring us your finest wine and best meat!” Yelled a hulking man who seemed to be the leader of the dozen strong group.

“How much?” The waiter anxiously nodded his head.

“As much as you have!” The hulking man yelled back.

“That’s…”

“HUH?” The hulking man shot the waiter a furious glare.

“Dear guests, our inn operates on the principle of ‘pay first, dishes later’. As such, it will be better if you tell us exactly how much meat and wine you need.” Xiao Se returned their furious stares with a thin smile.

“Who are you supposed to be?” The hulking man eyed him with bulging eyes.

“This humble one is known as Xiao Se, the owner of this inn, the Fallen Snow Villa.” Xiao Se replied with the same smile and with a level of courtesy worth a solid 12/10.

“Well, we have no money.” The hulking man stabbed his blade into one of the nearby tables.

“Oh?”

“But I’m sure you have some!” The man pointed his finger at Xiao Se.

At that, Xiao Se furiously shook his head. “I’m sorry to break it to you but our little inn hasn’t made a single sale in almost a month. I’m about to owe them salaries myself…”

“Like hell if I care!” The hulking man smashed his palm down on the table. “Even if you have no money, that fur coat of yours should at least be worth a hundred odd silvers.”

“NONSENSE!” Yelled Xiao Se, eyes wide open and gaze as sharp as daggers.

The hulking man was stunned, his body even shivering involuntarily for that split second.

“I, Xiao Se, ride only the finest horse and wear only the richest threads! This fur coat of mine was specially sewn by some of the finest seamstresses in the imperial capital in the August Threads. Just sewing it took three whole months, shipping it, another one. Hmph, a hundred silvers? That’s not even enough to buy the sleeves of my coat!”

Elementals, Enhancers, Beast Tamers, Artifact Nurturers – These four pathways define the magical world of Arcanists. But Finn, a former university student from earth, wakes up in a body treading a whole different path…A forbidden path: The path of a Soul Mage.Soul Mages are the ultimate parasites. They lack the ability to use magic themselves, but instead, wield the power to assimilate the mana-saturated souls of the dead.From every Great Arcanist that once lived, to every Calamity Beast, to every Mythic Grade Spirit Artifact… So long as they were dead, they were simply chaotic souls waiting to be claimed.​But this kind of power does not come without cost. Madness, frenzy, mania, innate wills and primal desires of assimilated souls threaten to drive Soul Mages to total corrosion.In this new world, ​Finn finds himself thrown into the deep end, waking up as a Vessel already housing a full Parade of Chaotic Souls. Now, his body is a battlefield. The souls demand immediate payment, stacking Soul Debts that steal his senses, his consciousness, and his very humanity.​But yet… it is this same overwhelming corrosion that causes the ultimate truth and uniqueness of his soul to surface…