Ashes of the Elite - Chapter 1: Prologue

I died in my world… and woke up in someone else’s story.But not as the hero. Not as the villain. Not even as a side character who mattered. I’m… an NPC—a nobody, a background observer, invisible to everyone.At first, I thought I was powerless. But then I discovered something strange: I could leave notes, whisper hints, move objects… small nudges that subtly changed the story. Every tiny action rippled through the plot, shaping outcomes, saving lives, and altering the fate of heroines, heroes, and even villains.The catch? The story is alive. It resists interference. Push too hard, and accidents happen. Plot twists turn against me. Minor disasters loom. The more I try to influence, the more the story fights back.So I play carefully. I study. I manipulate quietly. I watch the heroines, heroes, and overlooked side characters, weaving invisible threads that guide them. I don’t fight. I don’t cheat. I survive—and maybe, just maybe, I can change the story from the shadows.From an unnoticed NPC to the hidden hand behind the world, I’ll prove that even a nobody can rewrite the story.

What is martial arts?Martial Arts has nothing to do with musical instruments, chess, calligraphy, painting, treasures or secret manuals, nor is there so much talk about being the best in the world. Martial Arts is a technique, a method that gives the weak a chance to draw their blades against the strong.What is chivalry (xiá)?Chivalry is not about romantic affairs, traditional culture, or being gentle, respectful, frugal, and compliant. Chivalry is violence, it's the bayonet forged by those driven to Mount Liang to use against tyrants.Cao Mo pledged with a dagger, (Returning to) Lu to invade. Zhuan Zhu entered with grilled meat, (Pacifying) Wu to usurp the throne. Brother Zhang cried in the market, avenging his lord by defiling a lavatory. Suicide by cutting one's own throat to seek justice, acting while concealing his sleeve. The tyrant of Qin seized souls, the coward gained courage.This is a martial artist's story.In the 1930s, a group of like-minded young people came together, striving to change the world.Then, two hundred years later, in a garbage landfill, Xiang Shan, the Progenitor of Cyber Martial Arts who had once rebooted heaven and earth, woke up reciting the name of his enemy, having lost all his memories.“Perhaps it's because I lost back then that the world has become what it is...”“So this time, I won't be defeated again!”This is the story of a person changing the world once more!

The protagonist, having degenerated into a “loser” after being unable to find employment, gets caught up in someone else’s attempt to commit suicide-by-train and ends up traveling to another world. The numerous cheat powers he demands from God are all granted to him. But contrary to expectations, these powers bring about disastrous consequences for the protagonist.

Having reincarnated into another world, the optimistic protagonist (Yuuri) starts his(her) heart-warming training days with his(her) teacher.

You say you know about pain? To feel this sort of hunger... for your body to never be satisfied... your mind crazed by endless thoughts of satisfaction. To gaze upon the stars and know that it’s not enough, That is pain. Now you stand before me and I truly question myself. are you enough.He sought a cure for his power. Now, he'll use it to consume a world.At six years old, Dax's life ended. His trait, [Insatiable Hunger], awakened—a curse that promised only madness and an empty stomach. After two years of torment, he found his answer: [Synthesis], the power to integrate anything he touched.Four centuries of research later, known across galaxies as the Black Researcher, he finally achieved his goal. And in that moment of triumph, he exploded.Reborn in a brutal realm of cults and crumbling gods, Dax finds himself weak, but free. His Hunger is quiet, his Synthesis intact. The local gods think him a pawn. The cults see him as a sacrifice.They are all gravely mistaken.Dax sees this world for what it is: a Petri dish. His new traits are the ultimate research tools. His goal is no longer mere survival, but the answer to a new, thrilling question: Can a man who was once devoured by his own power, now learn to devour divinity itself?