Prologue – From One World to Another
My name was Ken Williams.
Half-Japanese, half-American, full-blown otaku.
The type of guy who lived paycheck to paycheck, clocking in at a dead-end job, then rushing home to binge anime, devour manga, and grind through games until my eyes burned.
I didn't exactly have the most productive life… but I wasn't miserable either.
Still, I wasn't a total basement dweller. Somewhere along the way, I'd gotten into Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — partly to keep fit, partly to make sure I didn't get winded just walking up stairs. Those martial arts classes became my only real source of discipline, the only thing where I felt I could improve myself.
Then came the day when my story should've ended.
They say death comes when you least expect it. For me, it came at the hands — or rather, the wheels — of the infamous Truck-kun.
One moment I was carrying takeout home, dreaming about the new Kingdom manga chapter…
The next, I was staring at the underside of a truck.
Blackness swallowed me whole.
When my eyes opened again, I was standing in a place that wasn't a place — an endless void, like a blank canvas. Floating before me was a man… or something like a man. His form shifted subtly, as if reality couldn't quite decide what he looked like.
He smiled in a way that told me this was not his first time doing this.
"Bored," he said, stretching the word like a cat waking from a nap. "I am bored, Ken Williams."
"Uh… okay?" My voice cracked. "Who are you supposed to be?"
"Call me ROB," he said. "Random Omnipotent Being. My hobbies? Plucking people from your world and dropping them into others."
My brain short-circuited. "...Like reincarnation?.
He grinned wider.
"Exactly. And you, lucky boy, get to be my entertainment for a while. I'll send you to the world of Kingdom."
That made me blink. "As in… the Kingdom? Qin, warring states, Shin, Ouki, all that?"
"The same," he said, clearly enjoying my shock. "But I don't do wishes. I give gifts. Whatever I think will be interesting."
Gift One:
"You'll have the ability of Taskmaster — photographic reflexes for combat. Anything you see, you can replicate — sword swings, spear thrusts, martial arts, even archery. Combined with Captain America's super-soldier physiology, your speed, strength, reflexes, and endurance will be far beyond normal men."
Gift Two:
"Complete immunity to all poisons. Venoms, toxins, bad food, whatever. You'll never die from a cup of poisoned wine or a snake bite."
Gift Three:
"Ten companions. All male, all around your age. Each a 'jack of all trades' with average genius-level learning ability. Six of them will have grown up being forced into the scholar's path by their parents — but they deliberately failed their exams to escape it. All ten will be reincarnated into Qin like you, scattered in the same province but different towns. They won't remember a past life, but they'll be born with one absolute mission: serve you with unwavering loyalty."
I swallowed. "Why give me so much?"
He chuckled.
"Because I want to see what you do with it. But remember… you may know the story, yet you cannot change everything.
Some deaths, some events — they are inevitable. Even you will not be able to stop them."
That last part hit me like a weight.
The void dissolved.
I was born again in Qin, in a modest farming village.
My new name was Gi Ken. My mother died giving birth to me, and my father — a retired Qin soldier — raised me alone.
Life wasn't easy, but Father's hands were steady. He taught me the basics of spear and sword, of discipline and patience. He wasn't rich, but he had his old armor and weapons, and when I was old enough to lift them, he let me train with them.
Years passed. The Taskmaster ability awakened quietly. Every move Father made in training, I could mimic perfectly. Every trick I glimpsed from traveling soldiers or local hunters became mine. My body grew taller, stronger, faster — I was growing into my gifts.
But fate doesn't care about strength. Illness took my father the year I turned sixteen. He left me his old armor and his weathered glaive — the same one he carried in battle — along with a handful of coins.
That winter, war drums echoed across the province. Qin was mobilizing for a campaign against Wei. Recruiters arrived, shouting promises of glory and coin.
I didn't hesitate.
This wasn't just war.
This was the moment where I'd reunite with the ten companions ROB had promised me.
The moment I'd begin my march into the chaos of the Warring States.