MTL - Survivorship Bias - Chapter 9 Mantis catching cicadas

Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria, or The Empty Box and The Zeroth Maria, tells the sinister story of Kazuki Hoshino, who is almost madly attached to his everyday life, and his antagonist Aya Otonashi, who suddenly transfers into his class—for the 13,118th time. She majestically announces to “break” him, without paying heed to anyone else around them.

This story is set during the end of the Sui Dynasty, a time where multiple powers struggled for supremacy and power.

Into the fray enters two orphans Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling; these two youths by many chances and luck obtain ‘The Secret to Long Life’ allowing the two to obtain profound martial abilities and a chance to rise to the top in this age of turmoil.

A man who was once called the world strongest agent ended up becoming a teacher after his retirement to train the new generation of agents. After many years of training his disciples, he is killed at the age of 60 by the ploy of a secret organization and was reincarnated in another world with all his past memories.Though he was surprised by the magic and the strange species of that world, he adapted very fast to his condition as a newborn and took advantage of it. He acquired special magic and gained a massive amount of strength thanks to his tight discipline in order to reach his goal: resume his career as a teacher which he left halfway through in his previous life.This is the story of a man who based on the memories and the experiences of his previous life, became a teacher who travels through the world with his new students.

‘Less than a month old… I became the the great empire’s treasured princess…!’