Young Jonathan

"Jonathan, what is a killer's code? Answer me!"

A burly, middle-aged man with a full beard, dressed in black and wearing sharp daggers strapped to his arms and calves, shouted loudly.

Not far in front of him stood a boy of seven or eight, his eyes full of determination. He wore the same clothes as the bearded man.

He swung a stone hammer in each hand, each weighing dozens of kilograms, and was currently holding a horse stance, drenched in sweat.

Hearing the bearded man's voice, Jonathan answered in a clear, ringing tone.

"First, never underestimate your opponent!"

"Second, stay calm under all circumstances!"

"Third, always keep a heart ready to embrace death!"

"..."

"Good. You must always keep these in mind, as if they were engraved on your heart!"

"Yes, Father!"

"Hold it for another hour!"

"Yes!"

Jonathan's arms trembled incessantly, his upper and lower teeth chattering against each other with a "clack, clack." Sweat fell from his face like pearls from a broken string, pattering onto the ground.

Despite all this, Jonathan didn't so much as groan. He only spoke when answering.

His heart held only one thought: endure, and endure some more.

The bearded man before him was named Abraham Rhode. He had found Jonathan on a battlefield strewn with corpses after completing a killer's mission.

Abraham didn't know whose child Jonathan was. He'd assumed everyone, children included, had already died. But during his final inspection, he unexpectedly found a child who still had the faintest breath, despite a wound that pierced straight through his chest.

After decades as a killer, Abraham had thought he'd long since become heartless. But at that moment, his heart softened, and he couldn't bring himself to deliver the final blow.

He even secretly took the child home, adopted him, and named him Jonathan, giving him his own surname.

Jonathan meant a gift from heaven.

Jonathan had begun receiving Abraham's rigorous training at the age of six. Two years had passed since then.

He had never missed a day. Even when Abraham was away on a mission, he followed the training regimen they had set out and practiced on his own.

Abraham did this so that Jonathan could join his own killer organization one day: the Saber!

The Saber was an ancient killer organization on the Yulan Continent. It didn't casually recruit outsiders; its members were mostly young children it had adopted and trained from an early age.

When it did recruit, it only took the elite.

Few eight-year-olds were as determined and self-disciplined as Jonathan. The reason was that his body housed the soul of an adult who had lived for decades.

That's right, Jonathan was a reincarnator. His soul had entered the body of the child who had been pierced through the chest by a sharp weapon.

The child had already died. It was Jonathan's arrival that gave him a faint breath of life.

And Jonathan hadn't come empty-handed. He had brought with him a Dao Fruit from a game in his previous life, arriving in this world with it.

This Dao Fruit was called the Soul Dao Fruit. Every time he advanced to a new realm, it strengthened his soul. A layer of misty green haze shrouded it.

The haze was a special kind of soul energy. Until it was depleted, it could protect its host's soul from all harm.

Cooldown: ten years!

Since the soul and body depended on each other, the Soul Dao Fruit also had the ability to speed up the healing of his physical injuries.

When Jonathan had first crossed over, the body's original owner had sustained such a severe injury that he should have died soon after. But the Soul Dao Fruit protected his soul, keeping him alive by the thinnest thread.

His body's injuries also gradually healed. After Abraham found him and took him home, he cared for Jonathan attentively, and that was how Jonathan ultimately survived in this world.

At first, Jonathan had been at a loss about this world. But later, he heard Abraham mention the Yulan Continent and the Saber.

Only then did he confirm that he had crossed over into the world of Coiling Dragon.

He still remembered some of Coiling Dragon's story, but not much.

That wasn't important. What mattered most was that this was a magnificent world with battle qi, magic, and the possibility of becoming a god.

There were also the Four Supreme Planes, countless powerful beings, and endless wonders!

Since heaven let me survive, I'll live a life worth living until the very end!

Then my second journey through this world won't have been in vain!

"All right, take a break. In fifteen minutes, you'll run twenty kilometers with weights!"

Abraham glanced at the silver pocket watch in his hand, his expression stern as he kept track of the time.

"Yes, Father!"

Jonathan set down the stone hammers. They hit the ground with a thud. He shook out his arms, pounded his legs, then paced back and forth to get his body moving again.

He had long since grown accustomed to Abraham's training.

Still, whenever the weight of the stone hammers or his running load increased, it took him a while to adjust.

Fortunately, the Dao Fruit's effects were constantly at work, allowing him to recover much faster than ordinary people. That made it much quicker for him to adapt.

The fifteen minutes passed quickly. Jonathan strapped black iron weights to his calves, arms, and waist.

At Abraham's command, Jonathan shot off like an arrow. Abraham ran right beside him.

Abraham was a seventh-level warrior. His breathing remained steady as he ran, and his voice was calm.

Jonathan's running route had been carefully planned. It included flat ground, boulder fields, rivers, and forests.

Wherever such terrain was lacking, Abraham built it himself.

The boulder field was one such example.

With the strength of his seventh-level warrior's body, he could lift boulders weighing thousands of pounds. This was an easy task for him.

When the afternoon training ended, the two of them returned to the cabin.

After a simple dinner, Jonathan went back to his room. By the lamplight, he read books and practiced his handwriting.

There were only a few books on the desk, but behind it stood a bookshelf holding dozens, perhaps even a hundred. Abraham had found them all.

Reading could broaden one's horizons and cultivate wisdom.

When Abraham first learned about Jonathan's reading habit, he was delighted. Many people didn't have Jonathan's disposition and couldn't quiet their minds and immerse themselves in a book.

On the Yulan Continent, most people thought it was enough to learn to read. As for anything else, either they lacked the means or they didn't care.

But that was understandable. In a world where the strong ruled and strength came above all else,

cultivating battle qi or magic was what people devoted themselves to.

From his books, Jonathan reviewed the geography of the Yulan Continent.

The Magical Beast Mountain Range stretched from north to south across the entire Yulan Continent.

The lands west of the mountain range were mainly under the influence of the Holy Union and the Dark Alliance, and their territories were vast. The powers to the east, however, were more complicated.

There were not only the Four Great Empires, but also the Eighteen Duchies of the Northern Region, the Land of Chaos, and all kinds of other factions.

At the moment, Jonathan and the others were in the Dark Alliance territory, west of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

More specifically, they were in the forest outside Black Flame City.

The Saber had a branch in Black Flame City.

Abraham had originally owned a house in the city, but because he needed to train Jonathan, he built several wooden cabins in the forest outside it instead.

Suddenly, someone outside the cabin called out Abraham's name.

Jonathan, who had been looking down at his book, couldn't help raising his head and looking out the window. Another mission? he murmured to himself.