《Silences' Sweet Embrace: A Tragic Progression LitRPG》 Hitori (Alone) - 0 "To be alone." That had been the fate bestowed to me since the day that I had been born, with my name eternalizing this fact into my body. But, therein lay the problem. I wasn''t actually alone, I had a loving family, and I grew up as a normal kid with a slightly above average IQ compared to most adults. Well, not completely normal, but normal enough for me to live a happy life. Until the accident. The event where I lost everything. All alone in a foreign country, I had been forced into the foster care system, as none cared about me. Until the Schattans adopted me and truly made me one of their own. The two had met 5 years ago, and had gotten married soon after, having found a partner for life in each other. But then, devastating new had been broken to them. That it would be very, very unlikely that Emily would be able to reproduce. Falling into a depressed state, Rick had tried many different way to cheer her up, from parties to dates, but nothing could work, and everything turned out awkward in the end. Yet, at one of her lowest moments, Emily reached an epiphany. If she couldn''t conceive a child, then couldn''t she just adopt one? Feeling all giddy about it, she had talked about it with Rick, and, having agreed, they both rushed off to their local adoption agency, wherein they had met me. Listening to my story, they had both decided to adopt me on the spot. Of course, the decision was one thing, but the process was a whole other thing, as it took them a little more than two months to finally finish filling out all the legal documents and for me to be able to move into their home. The wait was worth it though, because, after that, my life was total bliss. Yet, in the end, I could never forget those 6 years, in which I had wallowed in my sorrow. Thinking about that time now, I could only sigh. At the age of 7, I had been on vacation with my family to America. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. My parents had died during this trip, whilst my biological sister, who had been with my grandparents at the time, had disappeared from my world after I lost all connection with my home, Japan. During this time period during which I was dealing with the immediate grief from the loss of my parents, I had tried to commit suicide a grand total of 7 times. Each time, I had failed due to various reasons, and in the end, I had just given up, resigning myself to the fate of living an unlivable life. Yet, my brain continued to run, as it reigned supreme over my body. Starting at the age of eight, I had needed something that would help me express my emotions, my sorrows, my loss, my pain, my suffering, as I was already too depressed by this point, so I started writing a story that I published by the chapter, online, about a handsome 20 something asian young adult that was transmigrated into another world and was forced to fight against 20 calamities. I had poured my everything into this web novel, my self pity, my grievances, my sadness, my desperation, and the feeling of being alone. I had made my story about a regressor, who, no matter what, couldn''t defeat the 20th calamity. This didn''t change no matter what he tried to do, no matter what he changed after each regression, no matter how much stronger he had gotten, even after the 1,000th regression. The main character had eventually fallen into a pit of despair, just like me, and had eventually become cold to humanity. In the end, he had become the 20th calamity himself, finally succeeding in destroying the whole planet and then his own soul, his regressions finally ending, ultimately putting an end to his legend. I had finished the series at the age of 13, after 10,107 chapters. The reason was simple really, it was the fact that I finally had the hope of adoption on the horizon. Thinking back now, the only comment I could make about the story was that it had been my best friend through those dark times in my life, being the only thing that I could share my thoughts freely to. But now, I had moved on, and that was the end of it. I had never looked back once, and I never thought that I would even see the book again in the future. All until the fated day. ... 14th January, 20XX - Austin, Texas - Hitori Schattan, 16 Years Old: "Waaaah! Wa... wa, waahhhhh!" Here I was, smiling stupidly, as I gingerly held my little sister in my arms, a little piece of happiness who was a combination of my mom and dad, a new life, a gift to the world. Rocking her back and forth, trying to keep her from crying I looked up and out the window of the hospital, as I felt something burning in the back of my eye. "Hitori... you''re crying." Hearing the gentle voice of my dad, I turned to him, as I couldn''t help but feel surprised. "Huh?" Bringing my hand up to my cheek, I realized that the tears had been flowing for a long time, as they continued to fall on and wet the blanket holding my little sister''s delicate body. Gently thrusting my sister into the arms of my dad, who had yet to touch her, I ran outside of the room for a second, not knowing what was happening to me. ''Happiness, a sense of joy greater than any emotion before it.'' Crouching onto my knees, leaning my back against the door I had just left through, I couldn''t help but let it all out, as more happy tears streamed down my face. "I am overjoyed..." I muttered, as I tried my best to comprehend the situation Such foreign words if the old me had been hearing this, as even I couldn''t believe the story of my life up to this point. I continued to cry by myself, as the majority of the night passed in the blink of an eye. ... Walking out just as the sun was peeking its head above the horizon, I was holding my little sister again, as my dad helped my mom to our car, her body too tired from the after-birth shock and from not sleeping all night. "Hitori, couldn''t you have given her an english name?" My dad asked, a dumb smile on his face, as he questioned my choice in naming my sister. "It''s a beautiful name for my cute little sister. I don''t see anything wrong with that. Also, it would just be your fault for trusting me with the name." Smiling back at him, I just felt a little amused as his mouth clammed shut, and he focused on supporting my mom. "Step." "Boing!" ''Huh?'' Hearing a weird sound, I stopped walking for a second. "Hitori, is there something wrong?" "I just feel... weird, dad." "Alright, but tell me if you''re feeling sick, okay?" "Yeah yeah..." Still feeling a little uneasy, I took another step. "Step." "BOING!" As a loud noise suddenly assaulted my ears, I couldn''t help but jump a little from the shock. "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" With my sister starting to cry again, both my parents looked back at us, only to see a horrified expression on my face. "N-no..." Uttering those final words out, I could only look at my parents with one emotion on my face, loss, the inability to do anything. And then, I started falling, as I clutched my little sister tighter, curling up into a protective ball around her. Bad luck... it had finally come for me. --- A/N: I little side-note, IQ is based off of how smart you are in relation to your peers, so with a score of 100 representing the average adult, is should show you that the MC was actually a lot smarter than most adults when he was 8, thus allowing him to write the novel. And also, I never said the novel was a good one... Kenka - 1 As we fell through the darkness, her incessant crying stopped, as the fear of the unknown gripped the both of us in the silence of the abyss. "It''ll be alright, it''ll be alright." Muttering this whilst stroking her head with my thumb, I tried my best to calm her down, knowing full well that it was I that needed to calm down the most between the two of us. "Your big brother is here for you, so don''t worry and fall asleep." Continuing to stroke head, I waited until she finally fell asleep. And then, I finally voiced it out, my thoughts of what had happened. "System?" Timidly crying out, I looked around for a blue screen, one that would pop up if my hypothesis had been correct. [Welcome, Player 77, to "Nullspace".] Seeing this, my eyes immediately hardened, as all fear left my eyes. Sure, there was still a little bit of uncertainty still contained in my heart, but by now, I had become almost 100% sure about my hypothesis. ''Falling into a hole that suddenly appeared after hearing strange sounds in my ear, traversing the darkness until the first sound is made, calling the fallen a "Player", and a place called the "Nullspace", everything is exactly as I described...'' My novel, somehow, the events of the first chapter were unfolding before my eyes. But, right now, it wasn''t time to think about the useless things. Knowing exactly what would happen next, I calmed myself once more, as the excitement was getting to me a little bit, and I called out to the system once more. "System, I''d like to change my player name." [Would you like to reset your "true name"?] "Yes." [Warning, a true name will stick with you for the rest of your life once you arrive in the "Badlands". Please procure a name after careful consideration. Also, keep in mind that any name already in use won''t be available, so please think of a unique name.] "Hitori. Please grant my wish to change my "true name" to "Hitori"." [Ding! Change successful. "Player 77" is now "Hitori".] "Could I please change the name of my sister too?" [Scanning lifeform...] [Error! Multiple life-forms detected.] [Searching for solutions...] [Searching for past cases...] [No precedents found!] The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. [Commencing analysis of unique scenario.] [Calling in higher being to judge the scenario.] [Summoning "Ariel".] And then, a bright light completely encapsulated my vision, something close to a diety descended into my specific "nullspace". A silence descended soon after, as I waited for "Ariel" to judge the situation. It actually only took a few minutes, as the bright light that had almost blinded me quickly left, and I was once again left in the darkness. [Moderator, "Ariel", has cast the dice and judged the situation in full fairness. "Player 78" will now become an "item" bounded to "Hitori" until they reach an age of "viable intelligence". Please name your bounded item, "Hitori".] ''An item? Well, it makes things easier for me then, but it''ll also make things harder for her...'' "Her name will be Eiko." [Changing "Player 78" status to "Bound Item". Changing the true name of "Player 78" to "Eiko". "Hitori" can now place "Eiko" in their "Inventory".] Immediately after hearing this system notification, I placed my baby sister in my inventory without a moment of hesitation, as I moved in a way that I had imagined many times over. [Warning! "Eiko" will be frozen in time once placed in the inventory of "Hitori". Please allow "Eiko" enough time to grow to a viable age by taking her out of the inventory once every...] [Caluculating...] [Ding! 5 days.] [For an amount of...] [Calculating...] [Ding! 10 hours.] Sighing, I could only commend the system that I had created for its fairness in dealing with my situation, as I would have done the exact same thing if I was the moderator and had come upon this situation. Well, now that all of that trouble had passed by, it would be safe to assume that the events that I had written in the first chapter of the novel would resume again. [User, "Hitori", please choose one gift from the starter pack: 1. Unlimited Storage Space 2. Monster Hunter Skill 3. "One Who Hungers Not" Attribute] "Please bestow the gift of "One Who Hungers Not" Attribute to both myself and my bound item." [Gift bestowed. Transporting user, "Hitori", to the "Tutorial Area" of the "Badlands.] [Good luck, chosen one.] And with that, my eyes were forced close, as I lost consciousness for an unknown amount of time. ... [Welcome User, "Hitori", to the Badlands.] Opening my eyes due to the notification, I quickly took in my surroundings, confirming that I truly had found myself in a place familiar to my imagination. ''A blue dome covering my body, hundreds of other blue domes spread across a dry, windy plateau, and a silver-haired Asian situated in a blue pod near the edge of the cliff. Yup, this is the exact scene.'' Now, the only thing that I needed to confirm was the number of the regression that the main character of the novel was currently on, as I needed to be able to plan out my strategy as quickly as possible. "System, can I inspect that user over there?" [Checking feasibility... Ding! User, "Player 1", has not touched his privacy settings yet, and thus, "Hitori", will be able to see a portion of the stats of "Player 1".] ''No privacy settings? Definitely a one-digit run-through then.'' [Pulling up the stats of "Player 1" for "Hitori" to see.] ''And a default name too? He''s definitely still in one of his first 3 regressions.'' [User Name - "Player 1" Atk: 10 Def: 10 Magic: 10 Intelligence: 30 Stamina: 10 Trait(s): " "] ''Well well well, lookie here. It seems like the dude''s only on his second regression.'' Meaning, he had only lived life twice, had just died to the 13th calamity, and had regressed for the second time, starting his third life. ''That makes a lot of things easier for me, but at the same time, many other things will be harder for me too.'' After all, all the disaster-causing things that the main character was supposed to take care of in all of his later regressions would have to be taken care of by me or an intermediate, as he was way too green right now for a regressor. Even now, just taking a look at him, I knew that, although he had a stone-cold face after having lost his life and loved one for a second time, he was still a little apprehensive, scared, and too trusting of the system. The system operated on the balance of equivalence, and due to his identity of being a regressor, an existence that broke this sense of balance, it was a given that the system actually made his life harder than most other users. ''Well, he''ll learn this along the way. Right now, I have to focus on my immediate survival.'' Looking up at the sky, I watched as the timer there ticked down to zero. [5] [4] [3] [2] [1] [The barriers will now be dropped. Your goal: To survive for as long as possible. There are no rules, and no act will be punished. Live how you want, but keep in mind one word at all times.] [Survival.] [Good luck, and don''t die, chosen ones.] And with that, the blue domes that had both imprisoned us and protected us fell. As chaos started to break out, and the peace was disturbed, I could only take in a deep breath of the iron-filled air. Society was now a useless word, and humanity was now no more. In this place, only one thing remained supreme over all. "Power." Muttering those words, I took my first step, my first step to both my future and my destiny. "Eiko, please don''t copy your brother when you grow up." With a sheepish grin plastered on my face, I started running, running away from the blood bath, as a coward with no power to his name. After all, why the fuck would I even join in when my basic stats looked like this? [User Name - "Hitori" Atk: 3 Def: 2 Magic: 11 Intelligence: 70 Stamina: 1 Trait(s): "One Who Hungers Not"] It was better to run, hide, and wait for a better day. This would be the only way that I could survive. "But man, I''m already setting a bad example, aren''t I?" Immediately shaking away these useless thoughts from my mind, I continued running forward with my head down. After having descended from the plateau in a much safer way than jumping off the cliff as the protagonist would do in a few moments, I slithered into one of the caves carved into the cliff face. Immediately collapsing, I took in large breaths of air, as I caught my breath after all that running. Flipping myself over, I stared at the ceiling of the cave I was in. "hehehehahaHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Letting out a laugh, as all my pent-up emotions rushed out all at once, I couldn''t help but cry a few tears in happiness. "Wait a little bit, mister godly MC, I''ll catch up with you soon." I continued to chuckle my stomach out all the way until the sun set under the horizon. "Haha, ha, ha... ha."