"Mmm-ahh"
A groan escaped Ethan's lips as his consciousness returned.
Ethan's eyes fluttered open to see tree branches swaying above him.
"I'm still alive? Where am I?" he muttered, pushing himself up slowly.
Looking around to figure out where he was, Ethan found himself in a forest, abnormally dense with thick, girthy trees.
This wasn't anywhere he recognized at all.
Then the memories hit him all at once, making him double over with another groan.
"Argh."
But these weren't his memories. These were the memories of another Ethan Brandon, one who lived in a world far different from his own.
The assimilation of memories was somewhat painful, each new piece of information sending spikes of pain through his skull.
'It's like my brain is being stabbed by small needles'
After the assimilation of memories, Ethan felt his heart drop.
"I'm...talentless..."
"DAMN IT!" He punched the floor, letting dirt fly up softly.
"..."
In a society where supernatural abilities were the norm, being talentless was a death sentence of a different kind.
Instead of school bullies in this world, Ethan had faced something worse.
"I Transmigrated into a cannon fodder...Even in another world. I'm still weak and pathetic."
His hands clutched tightly as he tried to hold his anger.
The terrible training the previous Ethan had received was barely enough to ensure a decent chance of survival against the beasts that threatened their city at all times.
The way some of the talented people looked down on him, not even bothering to learn his name because he wasn't expected to survive long enough to matter.
Having no choice but to deal with the reality he was put into, Ethan's eyes swept across the area.
"What kind of carnage..." He muttered.
Four bodies lay scattered nearby.
"My former teammates..."
Their uniforms were torn and bloodied, faces frozen in expressions of terror and pain.
Nearby lay the massive corpse of what he now recognized as a Shadowfang Wolf, a Mid-Iron rank beast, its grey fur matted with blood from the multiple wounds it had received from Ethan and his teammates.
"At least this Ethan managed to take revenge before dying...just like me," Ethan smiled wryly, noting the spear still lodged in the wolf's throat.
His mind drifted back to his previous life.
Ethan had been a victim of bullying.
It was an endless torment that had follow him like his shadow, persisting even after his family's desperate attempt to make him start fresh in a new town. Unfortunately, their savings had been blown away with that move, leaving no chance for another escape.
Yet, still.
Even in a new city. Ethan had become the new subject of bullying due to his poor background and weak frame.
'It seems like it all ended at the riverbank.'
Ethan clutched his head as he remembered the moment when Jack and his friends had cornered him near the riverbank.
The beating he had endured before falling into the clutches of the river.
It hardly mattered anymore.
What mattered was his choice when Jack reached for him, afraid that he would be charged with murder, after Ethan had fallen into the water.
Ethan had chosen to pull him in, to let the river's cold embrace claim them both.
"Mom... Dad..." his voice cracked.
"You won't have to work double shifts anymore to feed an extra, useless mouth. Dad, maybe you can finally rest those worn-out hands of yours. I'm sorry I couldn't be a better son. I'm sorry I couldn't stop being a loser."
A haunting howl shattered his thoughts, making him come back to his senses.
The sound was closer than he would have wanted, scarier than anything he'd heard in his previous life.
Panic seized him, this was a world where death was as common as cabbage.
He scrambled to his feet, trying to run, but his foot caught on an exposed root.
'Shit! How could I be so careless?' He thought, afraid of making any sound that the wolf could hear.
He fell hard, his hand instinctively reaching out to catch himself. His palm pressed against the corpse, the blood-dyed fur of the dead Shadowfang Wolf.
Then his eyes widened.
'Wasn't Ethan meant to be talentless?' He expressed in shock, as he stared at the holographic screen.