Planning the Next Move

(Samuel's POV)

The whiskey burned as it went down, but it was a welcome burn. Sitting in this bar, away from the chaos of the Forgotten Abyss, felt almost unnatural. We were warriors, conquerors, not men who sat around drinking while the world moved without us.

But even warriors needed a moment to breathe.

I leaned back in my seat, twirling the empty glass in my hand before looking at Henry.

"So, in Eastern Europe, which place do you suggest?"

Henry exhaled, running a hand through his hair. His golden eyes flickered with thought, but the small smirk on his face told me he already had a plan.

"There's a place," he started, his voice low enough that only I could hear over the quiet hum of the bar. "It's not on any map. No official records. But the underground knows it as the Black Hollow."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Sounds dramatic."

Henry chuckled, setting his own glass down.

"It is. And for a good reason."

He leaned forward slightly, his fingers tapping against the table as he spoke.

"The Black Hollow is a dungeon buried deep beneath an abandoned city—somewhere between Poland and Romania. The thing is, no one's ever cleared it. No one's ever even made it back out to tell the full story."

I smirked, leaning in as well.

"So, what you're telling me is, it's either insanely difficult or a damn death trap?"

Henry shrugged.

"Probably both. But that's exactly why we need to go there."

I nodded, thinking it over. We could've gone somewhere safer—somewhere with predictable enemies and calculated risks. But that wasn't who we were. If we wanted to level up, if we wanted to become more than what we were now, we had to chase the impossible.

"Alright," I said, standing up and stretching. "Black Hollow it is. Let's see if this dungeon is as deadly as they say."

Henry smirked, throwing some cash on the table for the drinks before getting up as well.

"Oh, it will be. The only question is—will we be the first ones to make it out alive?"

I chuckled, cracking my knuckles.

"Guess we're about to find out."

With that, we left the bar, stepping back into the world that was waiting for us to conquer it.

(Samuel's POV – A Conversation of the Past and Present)

As we continued walking down the street, the city lights casting long shadows over the pavement, Henry's voice broke the silence between us.

"You really are good at this," he said, his tone shifting slightly, as if a more serious topic was coming up. "After dealing with Bardot, you seem to have... changed."

I didn't look at him immediately, but my mind replayed the memories of the past.

"You know," I said, my voice low and steady, "in our first life, when I read the novel about Samuel... I couldn't help but be depressed by her actions toward him. She was the reason I started believing that all women are just bitches once they get power."

I paused, letting that sink in for a moment. The original Samuel, a man who'd been crushed by the very woman he loved, and how his fate had turned out, twisted by betrayal. It didn't sit well with me.

Henry didn't respond right away, sensing my anger. He knew it ran deep.

I sighed, shaking my head. "If you ever had a woman, and she brought different men into your bedroom, then asked you to go buy condoms so they could moan all night... what would your reaction be?"

My voice was laced with bitterness.

Henry stopped walking for a brief moment, looking at me with an expression of quiet understanding. He knew that Bardot had broken something in me—something that Samuel could never recover.

"I can't even imagine," he said, shaking his head slightly, his voice low. "That kind of thing could destroy anyone."

I exhaled sharply. "Exactly. But that's what she did to the original Samuel. And honestly, that's why I hate her even more."

There was a brief silence as we walked on, my mind still racing with memories of betrayal and heartache. I knew it was more than just anger—it was something that had been building over the course of three lifetimes, a deeper resentment.

"Good thing you reincarnated into another trashy novel," I said, a cynical laugh escaping me. "But the novel I reincarnated into? That one was even trashier than anything. And the worst part? I don't even remember what happened in the original story."

Henry looked at me, his expression unreadable for a moment before his lips curled into a small grin.

"Life's a mess, isn't it?"

I sighed, my hands digging into my pockets. "If I were in the place of original Samuel, the first thing I would've done is make her life a living hell. And I did that once I transmigrated here, as Samuel Gebb."

I paused, thinking back to everything I'd done in this life. I wasn't just Samuel Gebb anymore. I had become something more, something far darker and far more powerful. But I knew that power came with a price—the echoes of the past still haunted me.

"And now?" Henry asked, his voice low and filled with curiosity.

I glanced at him, the weight of the past heavy in my chest. "Now... I am him. And he is me."

It was strange, almost unnerving. I didn't know where Samuel ended and where I began. But I knew one thing for sure. I wasn't the same person I once was. The pain, the anger—it had become part of my essence, something I couldn't escape. And yet, it fueled me to become stronger, to rewrite everything.

Henry nodded slowly, his face thoughtful.

"Guess we both have some serious baggage."

I nodded, my mind still spinning. "Yeah. And the worst part is... I'll never forget what she did to me. And to him."

We walked in silence for a while, each of us lost in our thoughts, the streets stretching out before us. The world was a chaotic place, filled with broken memories and painful truths.

But as long as we kept moving forward, we could create something new—something far more powerful than anything from our past lives.