I know the events are moving quickly, and you might not be satisfied, but what I'm showing now is just a glimpse into Leinder's life before reaching a certain point in the story — the true beginning of the tale. So please, stay with me until the end. That's all I hope for. I promise to do my best to make you happy, to make you live this story with me. Tell me, what do you think of the novel so far?
Chapter 5: The Wise Man Yields to His Circumstances
Linder hadn't expected to hear those words. In some strange way, he had been content with his previous state.
> Initiating the second trial.
Duration: Twenty years.
Objective: Save four hundred souls.
"A second trial?" he wondered. So, it wasn't over. And maybe it wouldn't end with the second. Would there be a third? A fourth? A tenth?
Yet the most perplexing part wasn't the number—it was the final phrase: "Save four hundred souls."
Why souls? Why not people, patients, or cases? The wording felt deliberate... heavy.
But there was no time to dwell on it.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself seated in a wide auditorium. Rows of orderly seats surrounded him, filled with students in their early twenties. At the front stood a middle-aged man wearing glasses, lecturing before a digital screen that displayed a beating human heart.
The lecturer spoke:
> "We'll now begin with the heart. The heart is a central organ in the human body, responsible for pumping blood and nourishing the organs..."
Familiarity crept into Linder's mind. He had once lived on Earth for forty years. This... was a university lecture hall. From the man's accent and the presented material, he realized: he was a medical student.
Only then did the objective begin to make sense—saving souls... literally.
He smirked inwardly, forced to accept it.
"This is a different kind of trial. Not one of power or dominance, but of understanding... and action."
---
The Years of Medicine
Linder spent his university years with the mindset of a contemplative observer. He wasn't exceptional, but he wasn't average either. To him, every medical subject was a map leading to the core of human existence.
His grades ranged from good to excellent, yet he never chased marks—he chased comprehension.
Everything he learned about the body amazed him... but nothing fascinated him like the mind.
He never accepted the analogy that likened the brain to a computer. To him, the mind was much more: adaptation, forgetting, willpower, and the inexplicable resurfacing of buried memories.
That enigma... was what captivated him.
So, he chose to specialize in neurosurgery.
---
The Physician's Trial
After six grueling years, he finally graduated and began working in a public hospital. He started in the emergency department, where souls flowed in like rivers—rushing, battered, sometimes drenched in blood.
One day, the true test arrived.
An elderly woman was brought in, suffering a massive stroke. A minute later, a wealthy young man was wheeled in after a minor car accident, accompanied by his influential father and a government minister.
The director immediately ordered the empty emergency room to be used for the young man.
Linder looked at the case board. The old woman would die without immediate surgery.
> "Take her in first."
He said it calmly, though he felt its weight.
The director protested. The minister shouted.
But Linder didn't back down.
The surgery was performed. Her life was saved.
By the end of the day... he was fired.
He didn't regret it. But in that moment, he realized that fairness, even in saving lives, was an illusion. Power and authority ruled all.
Linder was never driven by mercy. But he had decided to see the trial through to the end.
And there, he understood the meaning behind the phrase: "The wise man yields to his circumstances."
This wisdom would serve him for the rest of his lives.
---
Souls
He then moved to a small hospital in a poor district.
And there... he truly began saving souls.
He wasn't compassionate in the poetic sense—but he respected life.
Each patient was a novel. Each cry of pain, a chapter.
The child with a rare brain tumor.
The woman hiding bruises from her husband.
The old man whispering to himself in the corner.
At some point, he realized: the number of souls he had helped save—directly or indirectly—had reached 412.
Days later, the voice came again:
> "Objective completed."
He didn't celebrate.
He simply exhaled deeply.
"So, I'm capable of more than I thought."
---
The Unfolding of Lives
Then came the next trial.
And the next.
And the next...
Each began with a familiar line:
> "Initiating trial three."
Duration: Five years.
Objective: Survive.
> "Initiating trial seven."
Duration: Thirty years.
Objective: Become a noble knight.
> "Initiating trial fifteen."
Duration: Unknown.
Objective: Unknown.
He lived more than twenty lives:
A terrified soldier in a chemical war.
A girl beaten until she lost her memory.
A king slowly poisoned by his brother.
A slave who loved a noblewoman.
A samurai forced to kill his master.
A scientist whose cure was stolen before he was murdered...
Each one was a full life, brimming with emotion—love, hatred, passion, betrayal, pain.
They forged him.
They turned him into something else.
He tallied the years... they had surpassed a thousand.
---
The Final Trial
Then, he heard it:
> "Initiating the final trial."
Duration: Sixty years.
Objective: Become a king.
Time froze.
A king? Again? He had played that role before.
But something about this felt different.
The first phrase mattered most: "The final trial."
A thousand years of lives, ambition, agony, and will... and now, this was the final chapter?
He hoped this final journey would be his own—driven by choice, not by force.
---
He lay on a luxurious bed, surrounded by dark fabrics and velvet drapes, the air rich with musk and polished leather.
Then came a familiar voice—one he didn't immediately recognize.
> "Lord Linder, wake up. The king requests your presence for a meeting with the Kingdom of Quandor."
He turned his head.
And saw the man.
He froze.
It was Marcus... the head butler.
---
To be continued...