In the quiet, hidden corner behind the botanical garden, dense mosaic leaves intertwined, shielding the harsh sunlight.
The rumored madman was currently leaning against a cold marble slab, his posture relaxed but not lacking vigilance. Jeremy closed his eyes, maintaining a steady breathing rhythm to suppress the dizziness as a massive amount of data from an unfamiliar world rushed straight into his brain.
Jeremy had transmigrated into a Western Fantasy novel with a typical overpowered leveling male lead trope, but its structure was a disaster that started off grand but ended terribly.
The entire plot could be summarized in a few cliché lines: The male lead Amber continuously plundered resources, slaughtered magic beasts, broke through magic limits, and ascended to the supreme throne. It was called a disaster because, toward the end, the author seemingly ran out of ideas or lazily threw out an irresponsible open ending: A mysterious dark force suddenly descended, crushing the entire core cast system on the continent. Ten years after that crushing defeat, the world sank into endless massacres until it was completely destroyed.
That was the grand finale.
As for the body Jeremy was inhabiting—the cannon fodder villain of the exact same name, Jeremy—after the broken engagement drama today, he would be completely erased from the main plotline, dying in some obscure corner unbeknownst to anyone. Therefore, to survive in a world on the verge of collapse, the lifeless text in the book could not be used as a guiding compass.
However, setting aside future prospects, the two most practical questions occupying Jeremy’s mind right now were: Where had the Duke’s young master’s true soul gone? And how would Jeremy’s physical body on Earth be handled after the stroke that led to clinical death?
Just as these thoughts were swirling, a deep, gender-neutral voice, echoing like a voice from an icy abyss, suddenly resounded directly within his sea of consciousness:
"In your original world, your body has been confirmed dead due to vitality depletion."
Facing a supernatural phenomenon right after traversing through space, Jeremy did not flinch, nor did his heart rate fluctuate. Jeremy maintained the posture of leaning against the cold stone, eyes slightly narrowed, the tone within his consciousness completely nonchalant: "Who are you?"
The voice responded instantly, carrying the quiet majesty of time: "The God of Covenant, according to the terminology in your human cognition."
The tail of Jeremy’s eyebrow twitched upward slightly.
This concept sounded somewhat abstract, but on the Sylvanor continent, the existence of gods were absolute entities. All humans, upon reaching the age of sixteen, had to undergo a matrix connection ritual to receive protection and establish a Covenant Mark, thereby officially becoming mages and awakening their corresponding natal Holy Artifact.
The Mark system delineated an extremely harsh hierarchy: From number 0 to 108 were the Holy Covenants—High-tier Covenants. From number 109 to 305 were the Spirit Covenants—Low-tier Covenants. The closer the numerical order approached zero, the nobler the status of the governing deity, and the more terrifying the granted magical intensity and innate potential.
And the body Jeremy currently possessed had just awakened Spirit Covenant number 305—the absolute bottom number in all of history, meaning this potential was classified as defective trash.
The Valmont family had endured for a thousand years, their direct bloodline alternately holding Holy Covenants within the top 10 without ever declining. The fact that a legitimate heir plummeted straight to the very bottom, Spirit Covenant number 305, was a historical disgrace that made the entire continent laugh.
A deity governing the entire Covenant matrix proactively sought Jeremy out?
Jeremy calmly questioned: "Where is the original owner’s soul?"
The voice in the sea of consciousness answered without a single ripple:
"There is no longer a defining boundary between you and him. At this moment, you are him, and this body belongs entirely to you. The reason an otherworldly soul on the verge of dissipation like you could cross the dimensional boundary, anchor, and perfectly merge into this vessel of flesh and blood is because the original soul voluntarily entered an eternal slumber, fully sacrificing control to you."
Jeremy acutely grasped the core point: "What about the novel I read? Why did he choose me for the sacrifice?"
The God of Covenant narrated: "During the moment the awakening ritual took place, through a crack in the Covenant matrix, he accidentally peeked into a destructive branch of the future. The web novel you read in that world was actually a message he cast using a bloodline forbidden art, traversing parallel space to send it directly into your consciousness."
"The timeline of events is identical, but the perspective in the book is merely a distorted reflection of one layer of reality. According to the original plan, he needed to accumulate magic power for two years before conducting the summoning ritual. But because you suddenly died on the other side, he was forced to tear the boundary earlier than expected..."
"You can understand it as this entire transmigration being orchestrated single-handedly by him. As for why the chosen one had to be you, you should ask the owner of that soul, not me."
Jeremy slowly opened his eyes. His vision swept across the dark green leaves gently swaying under the brilliant patches of sunlight.
The concept that the world within the book was actually a parallel reality dimension was not enough to stump Jeremy’s logical thinking. He accepted reality very quickly. However, as the dignified only son of the Valmont Duke family, the most powerful on the continent, what horrifying tragedy did he witness in that dark future to the point of being willing to throw away both his life and soul just to exchange for the presence of a stranger from another world?
Although Jeremy had inherited the original owner’s memories, the entire memory block surrounding the moment of awakening was completely blank. All traces related to the reason the original owner made that extreme decision, along with information about the threads of fate, seemed to have been deliberately erased by an invisible force. Jeremy lightly tapped his fingertips on the cold stone, racking his brain but unable to find a single clue.
In the novel Jeremy had read, the existence of Jeremy Valmont was pitifully faint. Aside from the designation as the only son of the Duke from one of the four great families, having an aloof temperament since childhood, growing up to awaken a bottom-tier Spirit Covenant, and then having his engagement broken in a cheap dramatic scene, there were absolutely no other descriptive strokes.
If thinking did not yield an answer, Jeremy decisively set it aside. In this world, not every knot required a perfect immediate answer in order to move forward.
However, there was one detail Jeremy could not overlook. Jeremy coldly asked: "If you are well aware of everything and are his natal God of Covenant, for what reason did you not intervene to stop him from the very beginning?"
The God of Covenant fell silent for a beat, then slowly spoke: "That was a decision originating from his own free will, what reason compelled me to interfere?"
A rebuttal so nonchalant that it left one speechless.
The emotionless voice in the sea of consciousness continued to echo: "He cast a forbidden art upon himself to lock his own soul, coupled with the extreme backlash from violating the laws of order, he will probably sink into a deep slumber forever in this lifetime. If you accept reality, from now on, use this identity and this name to continue existing."
The corner of Jeremy’s lips curled up into a cold arc, and he asked in return: "What if I refuse?"
Based on this deity’s implication, in the old world Jeremy had fallen into clinical death. Right at the moment his soul was about to dissipate, the original owner’s summoning anchored Jeremy’s consciousness. If he refused... there was obviously only one outcome.
The God of Covenant immediately confirmed Jeremy’s sharp deduction: "Naturally, your soul will scatter and shatter, completely erased from all timelines. You can experience it for yourself."
Jeremy: "..."