《I Came, I Ran》


 Q&A

    Hello everyone, it''s ya boy, boi here, with a very special message!


    We have reached 50 followers, and that requires a small celebration plus a thank you to all of you, with some getting even more!


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 Rewind!

    ''Oh boy, here we go again...'' The same mantra was said this morning as it was said many other mornings before it. It was what one teenager had followed for 11 years now, since his parents had died and his life took a less desirable outcome.


    Ever since his previous house had set on fire, his life had taken a downward turn. Not only did his parents burn in the house along with it, but there was nothing left of them to even remember them by, not even their ashes, as those got mixed in with the houses. The boy did get all their money as dictated by their wills, but that he even had to save because living and supporting yourself as a teenager wasn''t that easy. So, he made a compromise...


    He was living with his grandparents now, the one''s that hadn''t died yet. They didn''t require much of him, only that he comes home on time, and that he doesn''t cause any trouble for them. The boy did occasionally help them with other things, like gardening or dishes, but that was only to not get nagged about helping them. He didn''t like helping people, or anyone for that matter, as it never brought any good to him.


    But enough with inner monologue, he had to prepare for school. In his current life state, his school is what he had hated the most, and it wasn''t just because it was school. For one, it had way too much people that were too full of themselves, and then there were too many smartasses too. But you couldn''t really go anywhere else, as this was the only school in his small town.


    The boy put on his clothes, packed his pack, and headed out to school. He walked alone, as there were really only old people in this neighborhood, and barely any people below the age of 50. So, the boy walked, and after he got to the halfway point to his school, he encountered the first of the seven "geniuses" of his school in the middle of but-fuck nowhere.


    The boy was just peacefully walking along, as the bus drove by and in the opened windows he saw Samuel Sackorel, the football star of the school, showing him the middle finger and laughing his ass off with his "minions" sitting close by. Most people in the town knew Sackorel as the local football champion of the area leading the school''s team, the Viper''s, to victory ever since he started playing. They all saw him as a perfect boy that would never cause any trouble and would never even consider doing anything less than exemplary.


    But the boy knew better. Beneath the mask of perfect star, lay a knee-breaking devil. On several occasions, the boy and his gang had started to tease and bully the boy back when he was young, even going as far as breaking his knee once. That earned Samuel the nickname "Kniebrecher" from the boy, and everlasting disdain towards him. It helped that Samuel stopped with the abuse now that he got super popular, but the disdain was still there.


    The boy didn''t even bother to give Samuel a second glance as they drove by, and just kept on walking, listening to the music provided by his earbuds. Not too long after the first incident happened, the boy encountered the second of the seven geniuses; Cestraye Killi. She was known in the school as "Seshat".


    There was a very special reason for this naming. See, the smarter kids in the school all went to her when they have questions not even Gulag could answer. She is considered to be the most knowledgeable student by the school body, knowing almost all topics, from D&D to different fields of scientific research. Those that have only herd of her, would think that she would be the scrawny, gaudiest, and weakest person alive. They are very wrong.


    Killi  is a 6 foot 2 inch girl with nearly perfect outlined abs. Because of this accomplished body, she had developed a habit of showing off her body by wearing a sport''s bra to school along with some sweat pants.


    Killi, while driving by the boy to school, didn''t really give him a second glance or open up the window and say "hey" to him. She knew that he was basically a nobody that basically nobody knew much about. He was an enigma in the school, that never really showed its face. The boy saw the car, and knew who it belonged to, but still didn''t do anything, and just kept on walking, without a care in the world for who just passed him.


    Finally, arriving to the front of the school, the boy knew that he had finished the journey to hell. He knew that he would have to suffer for six hours, with a little stop in between to eat. He knew that he had to this every day, and that it would not change. But he still wet in through the doors and met the third genius when he finally entered; Jack Mizzle.


    As soon as the boy stepped through those doors, he bumped into a person exiting the doors. Jack Mizzle was his name, and he was known as the "Mad Scientist". He was the top chemist in the school, known to really like to do uncontrolled and dangerous experiments in the lab. This is also the reason that nobody ever wanted to be his partner during any form of chemically based lab. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Mizzle exchanged a quick sorry before running off behind some car, presumably to get something from the trunk. The boy did a glance behind him to see this, and went off to his locker, to get prepare for the hell was about to start with.


    The boy sat in his first class, Biology, and listening to his teacher talk about something he already knew. So, the boy was left to his own machinations. He glanced around the classroom, and saw the fourth genius;  Rodrig Cerospeck. Generally known as the troublemaker of the school, he was a real package to work with.


    Rodrig was great with basically everything. From almost every kind of sport, to socializing with every kind of person. But he had one flaw about him that made him infamous, he was a naturally born troublemaker. He causes trouble wherever he goes, even if he doesn''t intend to cause the trouble in the first place. His most famous incident was centered around pigs and the school, but everyone in the school quietly and unanimously agreed to never talk about it.


    Rodrig was currently looking at his phone, not giving a care in the world to what the teacher was talking about, as he would still probably ace the coming exams. The boy never liked him, he was too arrogant for his own good, and one day, that would be his own downfall. But the boy couldn''t care less for Cerospeck right now, he had to study for exams.


    After the first class came and went, so cam the second class in where the boy learnt how to cook for himself. He got up and around his acquaintances and went to grab the recipe''s he was supposed to cook today. And of course, it was something super-fancy; he couldn''t afford to make this at home. So, the boy stared off into the other kitchens, and saw the fifth genius; Karia Dulce.


    If have ever seen a Greek representation of Aphrodite, you would know that she is extremely gorgeous in all the ways possible. She is the perfect women, in both body and mind. But Karia has one thing different about her then Aphrodite, she absolutely cannot fell love in her soul. Whenever any boy, no matter of their status or position in the school would come to her with romantic intentions, she would shut them down with any means necessary and then leave.


    Do to her being this cold to all the boy''s, she had earned the nickname "Hulda". When the boy realized he was staring, he quickly turned away and went to cooking the rich people food he was given.


    The rest of the class passed uneventfully, with the boy eating alone at a different table. From everyone else. Why would he care for those that didn''t care for him? He pondered on this issue until the bell rang again, signaling the coming of lunch. It was then that the boy packed his things, finished his meal, and went off to his corner of the school. But he didn''t expect to see the sixth genius on his way there.


    Rachel Soramonae was a special case of the seven "geniuses". She wasn''t smart, or great at sports. She was only a genius because of her body. She wasn''t a goddess when it came to her body, but she was pretty close; and that is what led her to succeed when it came to getting good grades. She was the harlot of the school and would gladly ride those with a good package to give her. The teachers were no exception, which led her to get what she wanted for almost no work at all.


    When the boy saw Rachel, he saw that she was standing in the corner of the hallway, talking with her friends about something ungraspable. He didn''t really care, so he just continued onto the basement of the school.


    While traveling all the long way down to his peaceful place, he saw last and final genius; Maea Akrotesh.


    Maea had a reputation for being the drug lord of the school. She had secretly started a school club in which they did group activities for the "poor" and the "needy", when really what they all did was manage Maea''s drug distribution to those who wanted it. Maea was also quite short, around five-foot-four. It is because of her size that has taught herself to be as ruthless as possible, even to her own minions.


    But the boy didn''t care for what she did, as long as she didn''t try and kill him; so, he just went on forth to his bloodless place. It was rather dim, but you could still make out the basic shapes of the things in the corner. The area itself was near the fire exit of the building, but the boy didn''t care, as he found comfort within this area, where nobody would bother him.


    The boy got out his lunch and started to eat, without a care for the world around him.


    As the boy was eating, strange things started to happen around the school. Thirty students, including the "Genius Seven", had started to glow. At first, they were all surprised, but then some became concerned, and others started to panic. Then came the cryptic runes underneath the thirty student''s feet. The runes glowed as well, and it was at this point that all the students were screaming for help.


    Some students tried to help, but couldn''t not remove the runes, nor could they stop them from glowing. Then came the teachers, who tried to extinguish them with a fire extinguisher, but that didn''t work either. Finally, after a minute passed, did the students who glowed disappear from sight; almost as if they stopped exiting all together. This left all of the school dumbstruck, but also fearful; as anyone could be next and follow the same fate as those who are no longer there.


    It didn''t take long for the police to show up and start questioning everyone involved with the incident. As this happened close to the end of lunch, not everyone was really informed of what had happened. But because of social media, soon enough all the students and teacher''s saw and heard what had happened.


    Mass panic from everyone came next. First students started to make rumors about why the thirty disappeared; terms such as "alien abduction" to "they were chosen" were thrown around. Then the parents were informed of their sons and daughters fates, which caused a lot of anger and confusion that proceeded for the rest of the day.

 The Start Of It All

    Unaware of what was happening in the building around him, the boy finished his lunch and packed up his things and prepared for the third class. The boy steeped out of the dimness, and not a second earlier as his body started to glow. He looked down confused, but then that emotion disappeared and was replaced by a sense of normality.


    The boy, not knowing of the fate that had taken the others who had glowed like him, just stood there and went back to the dimness, which seemed far darker now that he had started to glow.  He took off his backpack and placed into the corner of the dark area, which had grown even darker.


    The boy then started to notice how runes had started to appear below his feet on the tile floor of the school. As he moved, the moved with him, slowly spinning, but also visibly accelerating. The boy, after ridding himself of his phone and headphones, placing both in the backpack. He was without technology know, in a dark place where not even the sun would shine. Finally, his minute was over, and he was gone, leaving only his past self in an ever-darkening darkness.


    The world was bright for a moment; too bright. The boy''s eye''s burned, and his screams permeated the plane around him. But then it all stopped.


    The boy opened his eyes to a darkness that was similar to the one he was in before he stopped existing in the previous world. The boy realized that he was laying down on a smooth, but hard object, meaning that he might be laying on table of some sort. The boy looked around to both his sides, and confirmed; he was on a stone table, with a figure standing over him to his right.


    The boy then sat up and turned his body towards the figure to his right. Straining his eyes, the boy was able to make out some of the features of the figure. He wore a mask made from some dull metal, but the mask itself had engravings upon it, something that resembled a tornado seen from space and battle between a dragon ad some other, unidentifiable creature.


    The figure wore a cloak with a hood, that covered the rest of his head in darkness, the cloak going down all the way to his feet. The cloak was dark red, blending in quite well with the surrounding aesthetic and darkness. The room the boy and the hooded figure were in felt very much like a sacrificial altar.


    There were candles all around the room, some hanging by lanterns, while others just sat in different parts of the room. Some even floated, surprising the boy, making him want to come closer and inspect them. But he restricted himself and looked around more, seeing that there were four pillars around the room they were in, all etched with some unreadable art. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Finishing his look around the room, the boy looked back to the figure. "Are you still not going to say anything?"


    "...Where am I?" At this, the figure sighed loudly ''Why do they always ask such stupid questions?''


    "You''re in the kingdom of Vorsuun, in which I''m currently working as a spy for a neighboring kingdom, and you''re going to work for me. Now I must have you know, I am a seasoned spy, been in the job for many years, and taught a quite a bit of disciples back in the day. I am also inclined to ask you, but do you know of anyone else that was teleported just like you today?"


    The boy was a little bit overwhelmed by what the spy had presented to him, but still tried to not lose his calm. "No sir, I am not aware of any other teleportation''s."


    "That''s fine! Okay, time to go to work, if you would please follow me..." The figure then turned around, motioning the boy to follow him. The boy waited a moment, looking down and thinking if he really wanted to be a slave for this man. ''If I go with him, I won''t have a chance to change, but if I don''t, then he would most likely replace me...''


    The boy then noticed a short but sharp decorative stick coming out from the table he was on, and he made a decision. He quickly and quietly snapped the decoration, and headed on towards the waiting figure, who still had his back turned. The boy hurriedly went on, feigning his hurriedness for nervousness.


    The figure caught on that something was off but was too late. The boy stabbed the figure in the neck, hitting an artery in the process, killing the spy. The spy, even though his expression couldn''t be told, was shocked; ''He had the audacity to do this to me, the great spy...''


    The boy watched the spy fall with a neutral face, but inside he was excitedly disturbed by what he had done to the poor man. ''What have I done?! Why did I do that? He didn''t deserve to die! But he would make me his work slave if I hadn''t and what way would that be to live? But killing him felt so...electrifying.''


    The boy, while still arguing with himself, silently and cautiously knelt down and took of the mask of the spy. Beneath, he saw a man that looked to be in his forties, and had several scars running along his face. He had dirt brown hair, and nothing more of interest. The boy then looked at the mask, seeing it was bloody. He took the man''s clothing, and rubbed the blood on it, revealing a dull metal mask once again, but this time without any blood on it.


    The boy tried on the mask, but it didn''t fit him, so he went on and searched the rest of the spy''s body, only getting the cloak out of the process, as everything else on him was too big for the boy to wear. The boy made the cloak into a bag, putting the mask in, and headed out towards the door the spy tried to lead him out of.

 Run Boy, Run!

    ''Why did I do that?! There were a million other way''s I could of done that, but why''d I do that?! And what the hell were they doing here?! I thought their supposed to be back in the school!'' The boy was currently very distressed, he was currently being chased by two knights faster than him down a maze of hallways, and now he had discovered that he wasn''t the only one brought to this world, a bunch of others were too.


    They boy however, rid his minds of his thoughts saving them for later; he needed to focus all his being on running now. The only reason that the guards hadn''t caught up him by now was because he kept switching hallways at every possible chance, therefor decreasing their overall speed.


    But the boy knew that the guards would catch up eventually, as the runes in their legs have been lighten up ever since he started running, probably meaning they are growing in their potential speed. The boy knew that he finds a solution soon, or face death.


    Luckily, after his last turn, the boy saw a door leading somewhere bright; as was indicated by the bright light coming from the gap below the door. The boy knew that he had to get through the door, and fast, so the guards wouldn''t have an advantage and catch him.


    As the boy reached the door, he suddenly jumped into the closed door, allowing his momentum to carry him into the door. While in mid-air, the boy stretched out his legs, drop-kicking the door down, and getting up as fast as he can and starting to run again.


    The boy knew that the guards would catch him any moment now and he would have to go faster than he previously thought possible, so he only had a moment to see his surroundings. From what the boy could tell, he was on a balcony on some sort and that the balcony was stupidly close to the sky. The boy also noticed that he intruded onto some gathering, but he didn''t get a good enough look at exactly what kind.


    The boy ran forward, seeing that a lot of seated people were staring at him. He then saw that most of them were wearing some form of formal dress or suit, meaning that this was a formal event. The boy then looked forward and regretted turning to find this door.


    In front of the boys running figure were a bride and a groom, who both stared at him shocked, along with a very flabbergasted old priest. Then, the bride seemed to let go the hands of the groom and get in front of the running figure of the boy, who was fast approaching, and unable to stop.


    "Stop!" The bride yelled out, but the boy knew he couldn''t, so he just prepared his fist for an impact. As he was approaching, he saw that the bride wasn''t getting out of the way, so he silently mouthed sorry to her, and launched a punch aiming square for her jaw. It connected, and threw her out of his way, allowing him to see that he was running towards the edge of the balcony.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    The boy hoped that his luck would pay off again, so he just kept running, not stopping for anything in the world. He approached the edge, stepping on the fancy, ivory white rails, and jumped off with all his strength, hoping to land somewhere other than the ground below him.


    Below him, the boy saw a shorter tower, and based of his current trajectory, the boy knew he would land on top of the tower. He was happy that he would land onto something other than the cold, hard dirt, but then he realized that he might fling off the ceiling if he isn''t careful. ''Why must escaping after committing regicide be this difficult?!''


    The boy was falling quickly, hearing only his thoughts in his head, and is instincts preparing him to grab onto something when he finally landed. So came the moment where the boy finally landed onto the tower; and started to slide right of, no matter how many clay tiles he grabbed onto.


    But alas, the boy managed to grab onto a stone ledge going around the tower; but he knew that he couldn''t hold on for much more, so he looked around to be saved by something. It was then that the boy noticed a small window perching out from above him, so he started to try and talk to anyone that would listen to him.


    "OI, IS ANYONE THERE?! IF YOU''RE THERE, PLEASE HELP ME! I''M CURENTLY HOLDING ON FOR MY DEAR LIFE HERE, AND I DON''T THINK I CAN GO ON FOR MUCH LONGER!" The boy shouted to anyone that would listen; but there was no response, and the boy knew that his fate was sealed.


    That is, it was until someone blew the entire wall open and away, creating a large gaping hole where it previously was. The boy was nearly blown of the edge that he was holding on, but he still hung on for his dear, and started to scuttle over to the hole without a moment''s hesitation. The boy, after getting onto the new ledge provided to him by his savior, pulled himself up.


    On the top, the boy expected to see either a very powerful mage or a professional demolitionist, but instead he got nobody; it was as if a ghost blown the wall away to let him in. But, as common courtesy dictates, he still had to thank them, whether they were there or not.


    "Thank you very much, whoever did that. If you ever need anything from me, just say the words..."Bullying the sandwich people", alright?"


    The boy then turned to look out the hole, and consider his options. He knew that he was in a castle of some sort because of the ridiculously high towers, and now it was definitely confirmed to due to the castle walls that could be seen below. He also knew that he was now an enemy of the kingdom and had to get out as quickly as possible. But the only escape route that the boy could see was down, and it may not end up in a pretty result.


    The boy saw that the wall below him was quite tall and had a distance of probably fifteen meters between it and himself, meaning that he could jump it and survive. However, the knights had probably sent up archers at the balcony to shoot him down if he tried something like jumping; but the boy was willing to take the risk, after all; he had taken so many today, why not add another one to the list?


    So, the boy went back a few steps, and prepared to jump off.

 Death?

    The boy prepared to jump; but yet he hesitated.


    This was due to his previous experience jumping off a ledge, or more accurately a balcony. He didn''t want experience more deathly situations like the one he was just in. The boy thought of all the way''s this could go wrong, so he hesitated, his legs refusing to move and inch from where they were.


    But then the boy realized something; they could probably get into this tower. See, if the person that was in here saved the boy, that probably means that the guards and knights could get into the tower too and catch the boy if he stayed for too long.


    The boy didn''t hesitate now, knowing full well what might happen if he were to stay in this tower for any longer than necessary. He got himself into a runner''s position and breathed; trying to calm his nerves for the coming jump, knowing that it might kill him.


    The boy ran, just fast enough so that he would land onto the wall. Once he got to the ledge, he jumped, and then looked up to his left side and saw, that he had fucked up. On the balcony that he had just recently jumped from, were random people standing in different colored cloaks, all holding some form of staff.


    The people, as soon as they saw the jumping boy, started to prepare some form of spells, from the quick glance that the boy made, he saw that they were all making balls of something, each ball being unique to every person, but still matching their colored cloak. The boy knew one thing for sure though, he saw someone casting a fireball spell. This wasn''t going to be pretty.


    Around three quarters through the jump, the boy felt something fly by him; it was a ball of dark energy. The boy recognized that the people he saw earlier in the cloaks were most likely wizards, and they were meant to shot him when he came out. Now, it was up to luck to save him again. More balls flew past the boy, some were blue and very cold, others were yellow and made the air charged with electricity.


    Luck had done a great job of keeping the boy alive, but it couldn''t keep doing it forever; so eventually he got hit. From what the boy could feel, some ball of energy had struck him on his left flank, and the feeling was of extreme pain and... something else. It almost felt like he was touching wood, but with his organs.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Before the boy had a chance to check out the damage done to him, he finally hit the battlements of the wall. He landed on his right side, smashing both his arm and leg against the rails provided by the wall, breaking his arm.  But the boy felt no pain, as he was still in the adrenaline rush of running away from a group of wizards and knights. He had to get up and get over the wall before they shot anymore at him.


    But to the boy''s despair, when he quickly looked over, he saw that the wall was at least 30 meters tall, meaning he wouldn''t survive if he jumped now; so, he just started to run along the battlements, all whilst getting shot at.


    Luckily for the boy, one of the wizards seemed to have shot an exploding ball of energy at him, but missed by a couple of meters, blowing a significant portion of the wall behind the boy, and launching him forward, and nearly off the battlements.


    The boy shakily got up from the explosion, and headed towards the hole, noticing that he was bleeding all over, and having a bunch of shrapnel stuck in different parts of his back body. The boy did not feel the pain though, he only went on down the created hole in the wall, jumping down some seventeen meters, and trying his best to do a roll once down.


    The roll somewhat succeeded, distributing the bone breaking force of landing all over the boy''s body, further damaging his already broken body. But the boy''s adrenaline hadn''t run out yet, he kept going, running into the forest surrounding the castle walls.


    The boy ran for what must have been five minutes, as he was running out of oxygen fast, the pain of breathing becoming too great to bear. With his right arm disabled, his legs and back filled with stone shards, and the strange energy coming from his left flank growing to encompasses his entire stomach, the boy knew he was screwed; yet he still went on, desperate to survive this ordeal.


    But luck could not help the boy alleviate death, it can only make it go by faster. So, it was then that the boy saw a lake, and was filled with a new hope. He pushed forward even harder, use the remaining reserves of his strength to get to the shoreline of the lake.


    As he stood on the shoreline of the of lake, with the water his torn of up, the boy knew this was his last stand; so, he took in the beauty of the water, the water-like smell permeating the air, and the sight of some horse poking its head out from the water. It was this last sight that confused the boy, but he could not investigate, as he had lost consciousness.


    The boy fell, twisting his body just as he fell so he would fall onto his back, unconscious and dying.

 A Great Darkness

    As the boy lay there dying, the horse that was looking at him from in the lake sunk its head back into the water. It reemerged after getting to the shoreline of the lake, revealing itself to be an Each-uisge. The terrible, man-eating creature smelled the dying boy, and decided itself to have a snack on the human.


    The Each-uisge opened its mouth, revealing several rows of jagged, nearly serrated teeth which could only be used for tearing apart flesh. The Each-uisge prepared to take a bite of the boy, but then something...haunting happened.


    As the teeth of the Each-uisge barely touched the boy''s chest, the Each-uisge started to transform. It started to age on the spot; from it currently being a young adult, it went to its adult stage, to its olden stage, and then it dissipated to dust. The Each-uisge couldn''t do anything but jerk its head rapidly as it disappeared.


    The boy was alone again, laying in his blood, which was being diluted by the lake water. But the blast of energy still affected him, but now in a different way. It was no longer growing through him, but out of him; almost as if it was trying to get out the boy''s body.


    The roots came out through the lower back of the boy, creating some form of centipede legs that were then used to scuttle further on down the shoreline and into the water, where the roots promptly and completely exited the boy through his back, leaving a gaping hole and a lot of blood coming out of his sinking body.


    The roots tried to swim away, but were quickly eaten by some creature, all while the by slowly sunk down to the bottom of the lake, getting carried by the something towards the middle. His blood stained the lake, but no predator came after the trail of blood, almost as if their instinct told them not to.


    Once the boy finally reached the bottom, he looked paler than a bloodless corpse. It looked as if a vampire sucked every last drop of blood from his body, and then just disposed of his corpse. But the boy was far from dead, his injuries were healing at a visible rate.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The shrapnel of stone that was once in his back was being pushed out, the gaping injuries left healing up to only become minor scars. His bent, broken arm had its bones snapped back into place, healing six months of recovery in just a mere thirty seconds. After all was done, the boy had no visible or major injuries on him.


    But yet, the boy did not wake, he was stuck in his mind; trapped, only to awaken when he can finally break himself free.


    For the first few days, the boy was struck; he couldn''t do anything in his own mind, the reality of his situation dawning over him, consuming him. But slowly, day by day, he regained himself, until finally, on the fifth day, the boy was back.


    The boy awoke within his mind and saw only darkness around him. ''Well shit'' the boy thought, and saw the words come up in a bright white light in the darkness around; dissipating after a short time. The boy was confused, but after a while, pieced together that he was most likely stuck in his own head, and henceforth why he could see his own thoughts.


    For the first few days, the boy spent his efforts trying to get out of his mind prison. From saying random words related to opening magical objects, to trying to push on the darkness around and break through it. But after a while, the boy learnt that there was no hope for him, he would have to get out a different, currently unknown, way.


    So, the boy thought about what he would do for now; and it didn''t take long for an important matter to dawn on him. In this new world, he was at the bottom of the food chain. With things like magic involved, there were bound to be more things that could kill him in one shot or outplay him; this meant that the boy had to devise a way of fighting.


    The boy, after reviewing what he knew about most fighting style''s that included any kind of weaponry, concluded that he was better go off and just punching things to death. But, as he was in his mind, he couldn''t really train, as there was nothing and no-one to train with.


    But then the boy had an idea; ''If this is my mind, why don''t I just make a training ground?''  And with that thought displayed in front of him, the boy got to work.

 Fight!

    After what seemed to be like forever, the boy finally pushed the darkness back, to give him more space to train in. By his calculations, he was now in a twenty by twenty-meter "room". IN here, he could conjure up all kinds of things, all though he had a limit to how much can be in his space at once.


    For starters, he made two wooden training dummies, which he had placed in the middle of the space. The boy then got into what he thought to be a fighting position he had once seen on TV, and punched...


    "AHHHHHHH FUCK!" The boy however forgot, that he was punching wood, and that hurt like hell, even in this mind prison. So, after holding his damaged hand and swearing for a few minutes, the boy made the training dummies disappear. Instead, he got a human-like model to appear, it replacing the dummies for a more realistic experience.


    Punching these dummies wasn''t as punishing for the boy, but it still hurt his fists and knuckles on the first few tries. But the boy knew he had to continue if he wanted to survive, so he kept punching, sucking up the pain.


    The boy went on like this for a day, before realizing that in mind prison, one doesn''t need to sleep. After a short bit of confusion, the boy kept on with his punches, even starting to incorporate kicks into the mix after a while. The boy trained and trained, and after around three days of practicing his punches and kicks, he moved back onto the wooden training dummies.


    They still hurt like a bitch, but the boy could handle the pain after what he had gone through the past three days. After a while, the boy realized that he would also need to learn how to block punches and kicks, so he created his best memory of a spinning dummy from a style he remembered to be called Wing Chun.


    So, the boy hit the dummy, and got hit in the arms as his reward. At first this confused him, so he hit again, and got hit again. This happened over and over again, until the thoroughly pissed-off boy made all the dummies disappear. The boy had to get creative, make something that he could hit, but wouldn''t instantly hit him back; s the boy resorted to creating a fighter.


    In the boy''s mind, he knew that couldn''t create true life. He could only imitate it, and that was what he set out to do. First, he knew he needed a human opponent, so he created the rough base of a human body. With the body done, the boy figured that the body had to move around, so he made it his best interpretation of a human skeleton, along with some inner flesh and muscle. Then the boy gave the body weak points, just like the ones regular people had.


    The boy tested this weakness with one simple exercise; he punched the body in where the liver should be. The boy, when he gave the body the muscle and flesh, also gave it a nervous system. This meant that the liver was one of the weakest spot''s in the body if struck, and the body would collapse if he had done everything right. Thankfully, he did, and the body fell like a sack of potatoes.


    So, the boy then went to the last part of his creation, the brain. For this, the boy made it so the brain functioned more like a training bot, following and executing commands. Finally, when he was done, the boy looked upon his creation, and remembered to add skin; it was a little too terrifying to fight something without skin. So, the boy gave the body some vantablack coloured skin.


    The boy had finally completed his creation, the first of its kind; an Abyssmal. To start off, the boy turned on the Abyssmal by saying a few simple commands. He then told it to watch him fight, record it, and then practice what it had learnt on the human-like training dummy. The creature did as it was told.


    At first, everything was fine; the humanoid did as it was told, recording the boy fight and then practicing on the training dummy. But then the boy saw how hard it was hitting the dummy; it was sending ripples along the dummy''s skin. It was then the boy realized, that this was going to be his most painful lesson yet.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    After a while of recording the boy practice, the body started to improve on the boy''s semi-sloppy fighting style. Its punches became faster, more efficient. Its kicks struck harder on the dummy. It was at this point that the boy figured he should stop it before it became unbeatable.


    The boy stopped the body and gave it new commands to engage in a duel with him. After clearing up some minor confusion on what a duel might entice, the body understood and got into a modified stance, something that looked like what the boy used, but more grounded. The boy and the body ready, they started the boy''s first lesson on a real fight.


    The body struck first, aiming for the boy''s head with its punch. The boy didn''t see this coming, so he was smacked on the head, and dropped to the ground; unconscious. The boy, as soon as his head hit the ground and his eye''s closed, he reopened them. The boy still felt the pain and realized that he was knocked unconscious; yet he didn''t understand why he awoke as soon as his eyes closed.


    The boy lay there, unwilling to get up and go back to dueling his creation. He was defeated instantly, no one would want to return from that; but he knew. The boy knew that if he were not to be better now, he would pay dearly for it later, for the world always culled the weak, no matter who they were.


    So, the boy got back up, seeing the Abyssmal standing, waiting for him in a fighting stance. The boy got back into his own fighting stance and started again. This time he was the one that struck first, but the body dodged it, and punched the boy square in the chest and knocking all the air out of his lungs. The boy didn''t fall, he went onwards, fighting to his best capabilities.


    The duel''s continued for days as a result of both contestants not needing to sleep or eat, henceforth eliminating all the time they would need for breaks.


    The boy and his creation advanced too. Both the boy and the creation had learnt a lot from each other, but the one benefiting the most from these spars was the boy. The boy, for every time he would come close to counterattacking or attacking his creation, it would adapt, grow stronger than the boy, and render his efforts useless. But the boy only got more out of it.


    With every defeat, the boy became faster. While the Abyssmal could substitute its lack of speed for strength in every punch, the boy used his speedy arms to set up the punches, out-maneuver the body; and he was getting better at it with every battle. He couldn''t really tell if his arms were striking fast enough, but he knew that his attempts were going over 10m/s. The boy knew he was getting close to hitting the Abyssmal.


    So, came the two-hundred-and-third spar between the boy and the Abyssmal. Both got into their fighting stances, and both got ready to see, which one shall be sent to the ground. Both beings circled around each other, waiting for the other one to strike; and then the boy got went in with the first move.


    The boy tried to strike the body by shooting a punch towards the chest, but the body blocked by twisting its arm and throwing the boy''s arm out of the way. The body then counterattacked by launching a strike towards the shoulder of the boy, aiming to disable the boy''s right arm. But the boy dodged this by moving his body out of the way, allowing the fist to travel, getting the body out of position, and then allowing the boy to try and uppercut the Abyssmal using his left arm.


    But the body caught on, striking the boys antebrachial as it was sailing through the air, throwing it off course and forcing the boy to try a new way to strike his opponent. So, the boy dropped onto his back, sending both his legs into the slightly surprised Abyssmal. But the body wasn''t going to allow the boy to win.


    As the feet were traveling through the air, the body was using all of its strength to pull back its arm and give itself a chance to block. And in the last moment, just as the two feet were about to strike the head of the Abyssmal, it''s arm shot to catch and throw both the feet off, leaving the boy laying on the ground defenseless. But the boy wasn''t going to let himself be beat down on the ground.


    The boy then threw both his arms behind his head, putting them onto the ground, and using them as springs to allow himself to shoot up into the air. And so, upon the approaching Abyssmal came flying the boy, his fist cocked and ready to punch the body into the ground. It was at this exact moment that the boy became too fast for the body''s perception.


    Unable to do anything about the coming strike, the Abyssmal stood there, desperately trying to get its arms up to block the coming strike; but it knew, it was too late. The punch came like a storm, striking the Abyssmal down onto its knee. It was upon the moment of the strike that something came up all around the darkness surrounding the boy and the Abyssmal.


    [Congratulations! Do to your actions and decisions, you have been given the title "Time." Long live the King of all that is, was, and shall be!]

 Awakening

    The boy stood, looking around himself, and unmoving.


    The boy, before the message had appeared, had thought that only his thoughts would appear written on the darkness; not random text that crowned him some random title. So, the boy, in his confused state, made the Abyssmal disappear into nothingness, leaving him alone to stand and think upon what just happened.


    But just as the boy started to process what had happened, a hole opened up in the darkness. Out came pouring a blood red liquid, filling the room that the boy had made for himself. The liquid reached over the boy''s head almost as soon as it came in, turning him and his clothes blood red. The boy, too confused to do anything about this sudden occurrence, tried swimming to the top.


    But he was too slow, for the liquid had already reached the top after he started his swim. Then the boy looked around himself, noticing that the liquid was corroding away the darkness of the room. I thought that it was indestructible...'' Was the last message shown by the darkness before its last part got eaten away, and the boy was broken free from his mind prison.


    The boy awoke having his vision filled with red, and no air around him. The boy found it difficult to move his body; and this is what told him he was underwater. The boy still didn''t understand why the liquid around him was red, as he remembered the lake he fell on was a nice, clear dark blue. But he couldn''t figure out the mysteries of a lake permanently changing color, for he was close to drowning.


    So, the boy swam upwards with all his strength. Surprisingly, his speed from the when he was in the mind prison didn''t transfer into the real world. But the boy could worry about that later, for he felt now like his lungs were going to explode. So he swam with even more might, disregarding the diver''s rule about not going up too fast after diving deep underwater.


    This action paid-off, as the boy got up faster to the surface, allowing for himself to breath in that sweat oxygen. After regaining himself, the boy looked around; he saw nothing human-made surrounding the blood-red lake, so he just picked a direction and swam towards it. It didn''t take long for the boy to reach land, feeling the dirt he took for granted all those many days ago.


    After laying on the soft dirt for a few minutes, the boy got up; he had to analyze his situation now, as laying on the dirt forever wasn''t really an option. First off, all of the boy''s clothing was torn up and wet, but as he had no replacement, he had to make do. The boy looked around till he found a tree with a valid branch that could all of his cloth and let them dry at the same time.


    The boy found one such tree and headed on over to it. Upon arrival, the boy took off his torn up, blood-red shirt and pants, and hung them on a rather long branch. He kept his underwear on just in case someone may come over and see him. The boy then, nearly naked, sat down against the tree, and felt it''s hard bark against his bare back; this reminded him of the next objective.


    The boy looked down onto his stomach, seeing no visible damage from where the ball of energy hit him. He only saw some very minor scars on his legs, but that was it. Then the boy felt around his back, which had obviously been changed. There was now a ginormous scar just above his pelvis in the rough shape of a circle. The boy also guessed that there was a bunch more scars he couldn''t reach, but he didn''t care enough to look for them now.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    The boy was tired and hungry; particularly, he was very tired, which made him want to have a sleep after his very long time spent in the mind prison, where he couldn''t sleep. So, the boy closed his eyes, and waited till Sandman brought him a dream; which he was very fast to do.


    -------------------------------------------------------


    The boy awoke to the smell of meat. He didn''t know what kind of meat, the boy just knew that it was the smell of meat, and it smelled good. The boy opened his eyes and saw something that wasn''t there before the day beforehand. In fact, he saw a lot that wasn''t there the other day.


    First, the boy noticed how there were two tents, both dull-green in color. They were militaristically styled, meaning that either the military had camped in front of him, or someone else had come with the same equipment as them. The boy also noticed a campfire in-between the two camps, with the remains of an animal hanged over the extinguished fire.


    The boy couldn''t see any particular shapes in the camp, meaning that the occupants could still be sleeping, or have left and are most likely watching him.  The boy, sincerely hoping that it was the first option, slowly and quietly got up, walking over to get and put on his clothing.


    Surprisingly, it was still hanging there, completely dried over the night that it hanged. The boy grabbed his pants and shirt, putting both on and then trying to quietly head behind the tree.  The made his first footstep and-


    *Crack*


    -He stepped on a rather dry branch. The boy''s body completely halted, refusing to move, almost as if he just alerted his killer to his location and his instincts could feel it. He turned his head precariously, seeing no movement on the outside around the tents, and no movement inside. Seeing this the boy internally sighed in relief and turned around to leave.


    "Tell me, where do you think you''re going?"


    The boy stopped yet again and looked behind him to see the source of the noise; it was coming from the top of the tree. Up there, in the darkness, the boy could barely make out a figure of someone with very dark clothing, and something small glimmering and spinning in their hands; presumably a weapon.


    "Well...maybe...yeast?"


    "Yeast?"


    "Yes"


    "You mean east?"


    "¡­.maybe"


    "Alright boy, stay right where you are. HEY GIRLS, WAKE UP!"


    It was at this point that the boy decided to not get outnumbered and started to run. His feet carried him toward the forest, where he was most likely to lose anyone that would pursue him. The boy ran, not even bothering to look back; he would have to save every bit of strength for the coming chase, which was most likely going to happen.


    The boy, after starting his run, noticed that he was faster than the previous time he ran away from danger, in fact he even noticed that his legs were moving at an almost comical speed. So, the boy gave himself a side-objective while running away; he wanted to break his previous record of sixteen kilometers-per-hour.


    The boy ran and ran, but after a while, he looked back and saw that no one was following or running after him; the boy stopped. He needed to take a breather, as he had run a significant distance without a break. But unluckily for him, the moment he took his breath, someone came out from behind the tree nearest to him and smacked him on the head, knocking him unconscious.

 Dungeon Run Part 1

    The boy awoke tied to something. He hadn''t opened his eyes yet, but from what he could tell, he was most likely tied to a tree. But he had all his clothes on, meaning that the people that captured him weren''t savages. He didn''t open his eyes yet, instead trying to loosen up the ropes he was attached to.


    After trying and failing to free himself, the boy opened his eyes, revealing that he was awake to whoever was watching. The first thing he saw was a barbarian lady with some fur armor placed all over her body. She had a large war-axe strapped over the shoulder and was currently rotating some new meat of a reignited campfire. Sitting across from her was a cloaked girl, wearing a dark yellow cloak and reading a book with some strange letters on the front.


    The shadowed figure that the boy saw earlier was nowhere in sight, or at least she was, till the boy looked up to the canopy of the tree, seeing the figure sitting up in the tree, looking down on him.


    "Well, look who has just awoken! Everyone come here, let''s talk to the bitch."


    The fur-clad lady and the cloaked girl than looked to the awoken boy, and the...barbarian girl laughed a little bit before standing up and heading over with the emotionless girl to the boy. Then the boy heard a crack coming from the forest, and he looked over to find a new member of the party come out.


    The girl that came out was dressed just like a scout would. She wore dull-green colored pants and vest, with several knives and other tools attached to a toolbelt that was running along her chest. She had a bow in her hands, with an arrow nocked in the bow, ready to fire at any time. It was at this point that the boy realized that his attempt at escape would have been useless, even if he had freed himself and managed to start running.


    The four girls gathered around the boy, making a half circle and staring down at him. The shadowed figure jumped down from the tree, and landed in the middle of the group, revealing herself to be the potential assassin of the group. She wore extremely dark clothing and had two toolbelts going around in a "X" on her chest. She also had another toolbelt that went around her waist like a belt; and it was at this point that the boy realized all of the "tools" on her chest were just really throwing knives. The boy would have to be really careful when talking to her.


    The girls, even though they had him surrounded and ready for interrogation, didn''t say a word; this made the boy take the lead.


    "Hello madams, how can I help you?"


    The rogue girl spoke first. "You can help us by telling us what the hell you were doing sleeping so close to the Devil''s Blood dungeon."


    The boy couldn''t respond; he had no idea that the place he came out of was called by such an intimidating name. He had only thought it to be a regular lake that was stained red. "May I inquire as to what you mean by Devil''s Blood dungeon?"


    All four of the girls made a surprised expression at that remark, even the cloaked one that showed no emotion up to this point. "What do you mean, "what do I mean"? I am talking about one of the newly developed and one of the dangerous dungeons in the country. And quite frankly, with how casual you acted near it, it would seem you have a death wish."


    After some thought, the boy came up with an answer. "I assure lady, I possess no death wish. I am not from around these parts, so I didn''t know about that being a dungeon, I only thought it to be a lake stained with something red. Now, I mean you no harm, so could you please untie me and let me go?"If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Upon hearing this, the rogue narrowed her eyes at the boy. She then pulled aside the scout and the sorceress, telling the barbarian to stay and watch the boy. The three girls went off to be in a place where the boy couldn''t hear them; so he was alone with the barbarian. The boy patiently and quietly waited until the girl''s got back, but after seeing them still talk after five minutes, he decided to strike up a conversation.


    "You wouldn''t happen to know when this dungeon was created, would you?" The barbarian didn''t really respond, so the boy repeated the question, getting a rough sigh out of the girl, after which she finally started to talk.


    "It was created eight days ago, on the day of the former king''s death." She bluntly responded.


    "Why is it the Devil''s Blood dungeon?"


    "Because so much adventurer blood has been spilt in there that they saw that it permanently dyed red, never to return back to its original color."


    "What are you doing here around such a dangerous place?"


    It was at this point that the barbarian turned her head towards him, giving the look. "...Are you fucking stupid or something? We''re here to try and clear out the dungeon."


    After that, both the boy and the barbarian shut up, waiting for the girls to come; which they fortunately did after the barbarian finished talking.


    "We have decided to use that you can go if you help us with our mission."


    "Your mission? If it''s going into the dungeon, please don''t bring me with you."


    "Sorry boy, but if don''t want to die right now, you might want to reconsider coming with us."


    So, the boy was faced with two options. Either he goes with the girls to try and clear the dungeon, or die here, tied to a tree. The boy choose the first option, even though it will most likely lead to his death as well.


    The boy nodded his head and agreed to come with the group. After untying the boy, and thoroughly explaining that if he were to do anything "funny" they would kill him, they finally explained his job when he would finally get into the dungeon. He was to be the bait and the opener of the dungeon. The boy got his first task, but he had to clarify his second task.


    The women told him it was better for them to show him what they meant; this didn''t inspire any confidence in the boy. The barbarian grabbed the boy''s standing self and dragged him over to a freshly drawn circle. But after looking at it, the boy saw it wasn''t just a circle, it had runes placed all over it, on the inside and outside. The runes were alien to the boy, but he knew that the red color of the circle and the runes did not mean good things.


    The sorceress girl had prepared the ritual circle, as the boy had come to understand it, before. After the barbarian carefully threw him in the middle, the rogue threw him a knife. The boy picked it up but didn''t what to do with it; he looked questioningly to the rogue.


    "Cut yourself so blood spills onto the circle." Said the rogue. To this, the boy looked pleadingly towards her, almost as if he was asking if there was another way to do this. The response he got for this was a dagger, flying right beside his head a t an incredible speed. The boy sighed; ''This isn''t going to end well.''


    The boy tried to cut into his arm, but his instincts took over at the last moment and stopped him. The boy, knowing that if didn''t do this, would die, closed his eyes. "UmbayaUmbayaUmbaya...'' The boy continuously chanted in his head, focusing with all his strength on the chant; and while he was doing that, he violently slit his palm, letting the blood freely flow and break his from his stupor.


    As the blood hit the red circle, the circle dissipated into a liquid-like state and flowed into blood lake. After a few moments of nothing happening; the boy was a little annoyed that his sacrifice did nothing. "Why did nothing happen?"


    The girls, especially the sorceress, looked confused. So, the sorceress proceeded towards the boy. But after the first step she took, there was an explosion in the middle of the lake. Drops of blood-red liquid fell onto the group of people, and the lake parted, allowing for the group to see a passage that lead into a hole that went underground.


    The boy turned to the group of girls, seeing all of them smile. The boy then remembered the second part of his duty under the girls; he would serve as bait. And as he was currently not fast enough to outrun arrows and lightning-fast daggers, he stood there, waiting for the girls to drag him under with them; and they did just that

 The Dungeon Part 2

    The passage into the cave went just fine. No monsters jumped at them from the parted waters, and they didn''t kill the boy on their way there. Once they entered the cave, the boy could see nothing; it was pure darkness, as if the light from outside would not come into the cave itself. It was then that the girls had lit some torches, allowing for the boy to see something strangely cool.


    The walls of the cave''s inside were just and underwater view of what was happening inside the lake. The boy was amazed, even though he couldn''t really see anything floating around out there; but he still went ahead and touched the liquid. It felt like water, but solid, as the boy could not push his hands through the liquid.


    "Oi, get a move on, ankle-biter, we don¡¯t have all day and we can''t stay in here for more than an hour."


    "Why''s that?"


    "Because after an hour, the difficulty of the dungeon doubles."


    The boy didn''t need to understand what the girl meant by "the difficulty doubles" to know it meant that there was a higher chance he would die. So, he hurried up and took the up the front line, just as the bait in any group should. The girls didn''t comment on this sudden movement, but the boy noticed how the rogue had quickly placed her hand on her dagger as he did, and the ranger reached for something hidden in her vest.


    The boy and the girl''s continued onwards for around five minutes before they had their first experience with a monster. It was red in color, and had gelatinous skin, through which the boy saw all of its organs. The monster also had some very sharp teeth, most likely indicating that it was a predator.


    The group noticed the monster first after the boy spotted it, so the girls all tensed up and hid their torches, but without extinguishing them. The boy asked the girls how they did it, but no of them spoke, so he gave up on prying it open from them. It was then that the rogue told the boy to go and approach the monster, distracting it so the rogue can go around and get a sneak attack in.


    The boy begrudgingly did as instructed, but not before noticing the rogue disappearing into the darkness, as if she wasn''t there in the first place. The boy approached the monster, and once he got close enough, finally noticed what it was doing; it was eating another creature of some form.


    As the boy got close enough, the creature turned its head and a light lit up inside its body, near the skull of the creature, illuminating a lot of its features far clearer than the boy saw earlier. He saw clearly through its skin how the eyes git into the skull, and how they moved around ever so slightly in the skull. He also noticed how the saliva was gathering in its mouth upon the sight of a new meal.


    But then the creature caught scent of its new prey; and it cowered. As the boy came closer and closer, the monster cowered further and further, to the point where it was yelping. About two meters from it, the boy stopped; ''The rogue should be close enough now, right? Why isn''t she attacking?'' The boy waited, but yet the rogue did not attack. So, he came closer to the monster, fully prepared to counter-attack if it were to try and pounce him.


    But yet, after getting to the one-meter range, only one thing happened; a dagger slid out from the darkness, in-between the boy and the monster. The monster, upon noticing the dagger and where it came from, tuned its head and growled; but the boy got its attention back quite easily. He growled at the see-through thing, making it even more fearful of him and getting its attention back at him.


    The boy got very close to it, so close in fact that he managed to kneel down right in front of its face with the dagger in his right hand, ready to slaughter the "pig". The monster, upon realizing its demise was imminent, started to plea, as if asking a ruthless king for mercy. But the boy only heard unintelligible noises coming from the thing, so he decided to not drag this on any further and stabbed through its head.


    Seeing the beast''s blood spill down the blade, it was strange. Taking the life of another being felt weird to the boy, almost alien; it was something that couldn''t be described. The boy, leaving the dagger stuck in the fallen beast''s head, stood and turned to the rest of the group, a confused look on his face. But that look soon changed to fear, as he saw that the ranger and the barbarian were charging him, with the sorceress charging a spell behind.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The boy did not understand why they had started to charge him, but he knew that he had to get ready for a fight. ''The one that strikes first wins.''  As the girl came within five meters of the boy, he was preparing a plan in his head to defeat them; and it wasn''t looking good. But thankfully, the rogue finally stepped out of the darkness in-between them, making the three girls halt their attack as he held out her hand.


    As the boy was about to thank her, she suddenly threw two knives beside his head, and practically teleported in-front of him, bringing another dagger up to his neck. The boy still didn''t understand why the girls had started to attack him, so he was surprised by this, afraid of the consequences of his actions.


    "Tell me boy, who are you really?"


    ''Honestly, I don''t know what the fuck you''re talking about."


    "DON''T BULLSHIT ME, BOY! You may not realize what you have done, but I will explain as thoroughly as your simple mind will understand.  The thing you just killed, a fire-jicker, bows to no man. Many have come here since the dungeon''s inception, and many a tamer have tried to tame a single variant of the jicker, yet all have come back with nothing, or haven''t come back at all. Yet here you stand, not just forcing it to cower below you, but making it plead for its life with your mere presence. You expect me to believe your just a random nobody after that?!"


    The boy now understood the consequences of his actions, yet he did not know why they had happened. He didn''t know why the creature had cowered as he had approached, and honestly, he didn''t even know why he hadn''t drowned for the eight days he spent at the bottom of the lake. So, the boy responded in course.


    "Again, I honestly do not know what had happened or why it happened."


    The rogue then stared at him, narrowing her eyes, most likely deciding if she should really slit this strange kid''s throat. In the end, the rogue begrudgingly removed the dagger, weighing that the pros of keeping him alive were better than the cons. And so, the girl told the boy to continue onward while she talked to the others.


    ''Ever since I came to this forsaken place, people have only tried to use me or kill me. I should really learn how defend for myself...'' The boy thought as he walked, strangely seeing nothing living in front of him. Maybe the creature''s "plea''s", as the rogue had called them, told all the other creatures in the dungeon to run and hide. The boy didn''t know, but he continued onward nonetheless.


    Soon, the group had reached a pair of plain, large wooden doors. This confused the boy for a moment, as they had looked completely out of place with the rest of dungeons aesthetic. But then he remembered one particular trope he had heard back on Earth; such doors most likely led to bosses, and those were a whole other level of trouble.


    The boy was stopped before he could open the doors by the rogue. "Wait here, we need to gear up for the coming fight with the boss." This had confirmed the suspicions that the boy had beforehand, and also gave him an idea.


    "Hey, girl in the dark clothing, can you at least give me something to defend myself with?"


    Upon hearing this, the group of girls all looked at each other. They said not a word, but the rogue nodded towards the sorceress, who had levitated a torch towards the boy. The boy grabbed the floating torch, looking at the group with a "Are you serious?" Look in his eyes, but they didn''t care, and kept preparing.


    There were red vials that were handed around, with the most given to the barbarian. Then there was a small number of blue vials that were all given to the sorceress, and finally some green vials given to everyone but the boy. The boy stood there, watching the group prepare, silent and waiting for the perfect to do something...he wasn''t sure what yet.


    The group was done soon and motioned for the bait to open the doors. The boy sighed, and proceeded to move the heavy doors, which took a lot of effort. Once the boy was finally done, he slowly entered the boss'' room. It was a large cavern, with proper rock wall all around it. And in the middle of it all, sat a humanoid.


    The humanoid wore green armor with inscriptions and runes all over it. The boy could not tell exactly what the runes were looking like or what the inscriptions were looking like, but he knew that the armor was most likely enchanted. The boy also saw a spear or polearm laying on the humanoid''s legs; the boy guessed that the long weapon was the former, as depicted by one edge of the spear ending in a sharp point.


    The humanoid waited till the entire group was inside of the cavern, before lifting its hand and forcing the doors behind to violently swing closed. The boy was surprised by this, looking back to the door and then to the boss. The boy then figured that it probably done this so the group could not escape; ''Why did I allow myself to be brought into this?''


    "Hear me, ye who dare to enter the Devil''s Blood. If ye want to fight me, Koran of the First Blood, stand tall and without fear. But ye want to leave, bow to me." The group, after hearing the humanoids speech, did not move a muscle. But yet the boy considered, thinking if it were best for him to leave before the group could use him even more; but his other side told him to stay, as beating the boss may bring him great rewards.


    The torn boy stood, his indecision tearing him apart. The humanoid, seeing that nobody had bowed, stood with his spear in hand, revealing that he was some form of sea-creature mixed human. The boy, upon realizing he was too late to decide, sighed again, and gazed toward the sea-human; who he just decided to call a merman.


    "Ye who come here are brave souls; but be wary, for I do not give mercy to those that start the battle."

 First Blood

    The boy wasn''t prepared for what for came next. Koran had thrown his spear into the boy, but he had felt it moments before it happened, so he dodged out of the way the spear the moment it was going to leave the merman''s hand. And rightfully so, as the boy did not even see how the spear had flew through the air past where his head was, and pierced the neck of the ranger, instantly taking her out before she could even dodge.


    The group then looked to the dead girl, and then back to the boy. All of them had a look of rage upon their faces, but they then saw that the boy was staring off into the distance, as if he was seeing something they weren''t. And he was, he got a "notification"; as he had grown to classify them.


    [Felicitations! You have proved that you are one lucky son of a bitch, but your luck always brings you negative consequences after you have used it. You''re lucky, but your luck always come at a price. You have gained the passive Devil''s Luck.]


    ''So, the second one come appears. What the hell keeps giving me these?'' The boy absentmindedly thought to himself, all while both the group of girls prepared to attack him with the Merman, who pushed his hand outward with an open palm. The spear, almost feeling this gesture, started to violently push through the ranger''s neck, until it was out. It then that it flied in a half-circle around the group and into the merman''s hand.


    The group did not seemingly care for the demonstration, as they had started to charge the boy. This brought the boy out of his trance, and he prepared his extinguished torch. The boy then realized that he was just holding a flimsy club, so he threw the weapon aside and prepared his fists. The boy knew best how to fight barehanded, and he would prove so.


    The barbarian came swinging in with her axe, with the rogue missing behind her, and the sorceress in the very back preparing a yellow ball of energy. The boy knew this ball would do serious damage, so he would have to keep an eye on her at most times through the fight.


    The barbarian decided to leap horizontally toward the boy, preparing her axe to cleave him from gut to gut. But incredibly, the boy saw this move coming, so he ran into her, and just at the last moment before he was about to get cleaved, he slid onto his knees under the girl, surprising her and allowing him to punch in the her in the breasts and the stomach.


    The girl made a loud grunt before sliding down onto her legs, and locking eyes with the stopped boy, who was also looking at her. But then the boy felt three things coming at him, and he knew that he couldn''t dodge all three, but he would try.


    At nearly the same time, there came a throwing knife flying from the darkness aimed for the boy''s throat. Very close by, a ball of crackling yellow energy flew out from the sorceress'' hands, and the spear of the merman flew toward the boy''s head. He could only dodge two of the three projectiles, and he choose the least deadly one to strike him.


    The boy jumped from his spot allowing the dagger to strike him in the thigh. The projectile whizzed down below him into the barbarian girl, shocking to a seizure, and the spear flew into the darkness. Upon landing, the boy heard something striking stone, and realized that the spear was stuck in stone. Excitedly, the boy approached the sorceress, running at her.


    The sorceress, upon seeing impending doom run at her, turned and tried to flee. But she was slow, as she was a mage and wasn''t physically fit, luckily for her, she was saved when the rogue threw a knife into the boy''s shin, making him fall over. He then turned around to see the merman charging him, a jade sword in hand.


    The boy rolled away from the coming strike, seeing that the sorceress had stopped and started to prepare another spell, which looked to be a darker shade of yellow. The rogue nowhere in sight, the rolling boy turned his attention to the barbarian, and saw that she was getting up; this was not going to end in his favor. If the boy wanted to survive, he would need to up his game.


    So, the boy did just that, spinning around mid-roll and sweeping the merman''s legs with his leg. The merman, surprised by this sudden and fast strike, fell over onto his bac, allowing for the boy to kick him in the head with his other leg; knocking the merman warrior unconscious.


    With one opponent down, the boy swiftly jumped up and pulled the dagger out of his shin, all the while paying attention to the angrier, stronger barbarian that was charging at him, and to the shadows, in case the rogue threw something at him or decided for a sneak attack. But then, as the barbarian got within range of fighting, the boy heard booming sound coming from behind him; the sorceress most likely released her spell.


    It was a larger, amber colored ball of lightning, which the boy guessed would outright kill him if he wasn''t careful. So, the boy dodged, allowing himself to throw the knife towards the sorceress. But as he did that, the rogue threw another one of her daggers, striking the boy in the shoulder. He yelped out in pain and felt the adrenaline course through his veins faster than before.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The boy didn''t see if the knife connected with the sorceress, he had to deal with another problem right now; the barbarian. She was charging at him again, but she seemed faster this time, and stronger too, as evident by her bulging muscles. The boy grabbed the throwing knife out of his shoulder and readied it in his hand.


    As the barbarian was about to try and decapitate the boy, a knife came out of the darkness. It was then that the boy, at a near impossible speed, turned and threw the knife where the other knife came through. He heard a scream on the other side a moment later, meaning he had hit something. He then returned his attention to the barbarian.


    She was too close now, starting to swing her axe at the boy''s neck. He dodged it by bending his back, but the axe still came and cut his forehead. The boy didn''t notice the cut, he just lifted his body back up as he was sending a punch into her face. The barbarian wasn''t able to get her face out of the punch in time, but she still got her face out of the way as much as she could.


    The punch hit her on the front most side of her left cheek, and her mouth, before flying off to the left. The boy in turn stepped back, as to not be open to more avenues of attack for the barbarian. The boy quickly glanced around him, assessing the situation. The merman was still unconscious, and the sorceress was laying on her back, a knife in-between her eyes. Blood was spilled all around her head.


    That counted three down, and two more to go. The boy turned his attention to the shadows, figuring out a way to take the rogue down. Then it came to him; the boy would need to draw her out. So, he would have to find the torches, which were on the corpse of the sorceress. But for now, the boy would have to deal with the barbarian. And from the look of things, he cannot afford to get hit by one of her strikes.


    The barbarian came just after the boy finished his thought. She was swinging her axe again, aiming to cleave the boy from head to toe. But he would not allow for that to happen, so he side-stepped the incredibly fast attack just barely so. But this attack left the girl surprised, as she knew she had grown stronger and faster since his last attack; him dodging this one humiliated her, angering her even more so.


    So, she pulled her axe out of the ground; or so she tried. She had discovered as she pulled, that it was stuck in the ground after her last strike, and that she couldn''t pull it out without spending time to do so. Noticing her struggle, the boy slammed his fist into her gut, making the barbarian slightly keel over. He then uppercut her in the chin, sending the girl upwards; but yet, she still did not fall.


    So, the boy kicked her in the knee, hearing a slight crack as it bent the wrong way. With girl screamed out in pain, but only fell to one knee. She did try and punch the boy away, but he dodged her punch so it would only graze him. He then hit her in the face again, with the hopes that this blow would finish. After the impact, the girl swayed for a bit, but yet she did not fall. So, the boy delivered the same blow, but with the other hand, finally dropping the striking the goliath down.


    Now only one was left for the boy to take care of. The rogue was still hidden in the shadows, but she had forgotten that the sorceress had torches all around her. The ran to the corpse and found the extinguished torches; this is not what he had planned for.


    Suddenly, the boy felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He screamed out and was knocked onto his back by a foreign force. It was the rogue, and she had snuck up on him.


    "Your luck has run out, boy. You know, it''s funny, I figured you had a luck-based class only after you killed Essan. She was a damn fine mage, but sacrifices must be made to kill the greater evil. And, clever you, thinking you can smoke me out by getting rid of the darkness; but the torches run on mana, which was supplied by the mage you had killed.


    The girl smiled and leaned into the boy, revealing a malicious smile below her dark hood. The boy knew what this meant. She then whispered in his ear, harshly, aiming to break his ear-drum.


    "I always love watching people like you struggle, so please darling, scream for me while you die!" With the last word spoken, the girl came up, and pulled a large dagger out of an unseen back pocket. She lifted the dagger high above her head but was unable to bring it down.


    With something wrong, the girl felt around her body and looked at the boy, seeing his arm near her neck. She traced his arm with her hand, and found it holding something near her neck. It was at that point that the boy let go and let her feel the thing that stopped her from speaking. Then, exhaustedly, the boy said;


    "...You can die for me, darling."


    After his words were spoken, the girl finally realized what had happened. The moment the boy ran over to Essan''s corpse, it wasn''t for the torches, it was for the knife stuck in her skull. He knew that she would attack him in her hubris, waiting until she was completely distracted, before finally delivering the final strike. It was...brilliant.


    The girl could not speak, instead she gurgled her own blood before falling over to the side. The boy, after laying there for a large amount of time, got up and headed over to the merman. His sword still laying by him, the boy picked it up and decapitated the humanoid. It was then that a message appeared over his head.


    [Hail you! You have completed the first floor of the Devil''s Blood dungeon. You have earned 500 EXP for defeating five foes high above your level and your current skill, also receiving items for single-handedly taking out the boss. If you want to continue down the dungeon, go through the hole, if you want to get out, please lie down on the floor and wait for discharge.


    Items Received:


    Amulet of Awakening- The amulet that Koran of the First Blood wore during his lifetime. It is said that wearing the amulet will open the eyes of the user, letting them see the world around them in a new light.]


    The amulet was dropped in front of the boy; but he didn''t even have the strength to bend down and pick it up. The boy dropped beside the amulet, dragging his hand over it and grabbing it. With his last vestige of strength, he brought his hand onto his chest, fainting away from consciousness.

 Conflict

    The boy awoke with severe pain. He felt like both his shoulders were on fire, his thigh was being cooked alive, and his head hurt for some reason. The boy then tried to feel what he was laying on; it was smooth and soft and had a grainy texture: sand.


    The boy raised his back, debilitated, and looked around his surroundings. The dungeon must have spewed him out of its self after he had fainted, as he was now at the same beach he was before he entered. He then looked around and saw the unconscious body of the barbarian women with a bunch of vials laid upon her chest.


    They were the vials that the boy had seen before; the red, blue and green vials. And even though the boy didn¡¯t know what they do, he figured that they could help him in some way. The boy crawled over to the barbarian''s body and grabbed hold of a red vial. He drank it, but nothing happened; but then came the "fire".


    The boy suddenly felt both his shoulder wounds flair up in pain, he screamed. It was as if someone had used an actual fire and lit those two areas'' ablaze. The boy took off his shirt, to reveal that the wounds were healing at an accelerated rate. Upon discovering this, the boy was amazed; it was a real-life healing potion.


    So, he took one more of the vials, and dark that one too. So, did the pain come back, stronger than before, and the shoulder healed faster, but it seemed that the effect of the second potion was lessened.  But it was still visible, as the wounds have closed now, the dried blood and the scar the only visible reminder that they were there before. But the boy still felt the pain on the inside, meaning that the potions were still at work.


    The boy was happy; he survived his first real battle, even if sustaining severe injuries. He then remembered to check his thigh, which was healing up well too, but with a far lesser pain. The boy slowly stood up then and felt something shift around his pant pockets. The boy took out the object and saw that it was the amulet previously given to him.


    The boy decided to put it on, and then instantly regretted it. As soon as the amulet hanged onto his chest, his vision became brighter, more vivid, showing the world''s colors in a new, highly discomforting light. The boy, after seeing through this, took of the amulet and put it back into his pocket. It was then that he heard groaning.


    The barbarian was still alive. This presented the boy a new problem, one for which he was too tired to solve, so he went back into the girls'' camp, which was surprisingly still there, and started to loot the entire place.


    --------------------------------------------------


    The boy didn''t find much things of value that he could carry with him. All the pots and pans were too big, and the other valuables such as books and language-based items were useless to him since he didn''t know the language of this world. But the things he did get out of the were a new set of clothes that surprisingly fit him well.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    The clothes belonged to the ranger. She apparently had stored up another outfit, and the boy was thankful for it, as he now looked like a proper citizen. The pants fit him tight, and the shirt was a little big, but the latter could be fixed by wearing the matching vest with the shirt. Overall, the vest looked good, and the green and brown colors were a nice touch.


    As the boy was inspecting himself, the barbarian awoke. He heard this chinking of glass behind him, turning around to see the vials all falling of the chest of the barbarian. The boy then breathed out, ready to not start a fight once more.


    "Hey, hey, hey, take it easy there, you''re fucking heavily injured and your leg is broken. Here, have some of this."


    The boy made his best impression of a girl, and it seemingly work. With squinting, nearly un-opened eyes, the girl glanced at him and took the drink he offered to her. The boy tried his hardest to gently feed the girl, trying to set up the basis for a relationship where they won''t try to kill each other for what they had one to each other.


    The boy fed the drink to the girl before gently letting her down to the ground, but not before she elicited a response.


    "Lass, can you at least bring me to my bed, the ground is kind of hard here." The boy reluctantly and softly side, before attempting to pick up the barbarian girl. ''JESUS, YOU''RE HEAVY!'' He continuously thought to himself as he barely dragged her over to what he presumed to be her tent. He did this by looking at which tent had the largest bed-roll.


    The boy then quickly and nimbly left the tent. Once outside, he went back to looting the encampment. An hour later, the boy was done, collecting everything he could bring with him, and a little bit other thing''s he could use. The boy stole some rope and fire starter kits from the group, along with a tent that he would use as a very large bag.


    The barbarian woke up as the sun set down, leaving the boy to fulfill his role of the girl again. But then, he heard the mad rumbling of his stomach, leaving him to realize that he hadn''t eaten in three days and is really hungry right now. The barbarian heard this, and nearly jumped out of the tent.


    "Who goes th-" Then the barbarian saw the boy, and because he was up close, recognized him.


    "ITS FUCKING YOU AGAIN! WHY ARE YOU HERE, DEMON?! DID YOU-" But then the boy stopped her from continuing by just yelling at her right back.


    "NOW YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR A MOMENT AND LISTEN HERE. I NURTURED YOU, AND GAVE YOU A HEALTH POTION, ALLOWING YOU TO SEEMINGLY WALK AGAIN, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?! I COULD OFF KILLED YOU WHILE YOU WERE UNCONSCIOUS!" This sent the proper message to the barbarian girls head, who just resorted to cautiously looking at the boy.


    "Now do tell me, do you have any food stored around here, I haven''t eaten anything in three days." The boy looked to the girl, who didn''t move a muscle and didn''t let her eyes leave him.


    "We have some jerky and salted pork."


    "Well then bring it out."


    The girl looked at the boy with disdain, but still went ahead and grabbed the meat, never letting the boy''s figure leave her sight as she did. She slowly brought out the food, extending out her hand and giving the boy some of the dried meat. He thanked her, before going to sit down against the shoreline of the lake, enjoying the sight of the moon reflecting upon the blood.


    He enjoyed the meal he was given and finished it quite quickly; going so far as to go back and ask for more. But he found the girl gone; she most likely sneaked off into the forest and is running off right now, but she did leave some more food for the boy to eat. He quietly grabbed the food, the hidden bag of stolen goods, and walked off into a random portion of the forest.

 No Rest Allowed

    The boy woke upon a tree, the sunlight making its way from the space between the tree''s and hitting the boy in the eye. The looked around himself and recollected what had happened the previous day and night. After wandering around for some time in the forest, and consecutively getting lost, the boy decided upon a random tree to climb, making his way up and sleeping through the night.


    The boy made sure that his bag of stuff was still there and full; it was Confirmed that he still had all his stuff, the boy headed off into another random direction.


    Several hours passed by, the boy still walked the forest. It was then that he realized that he was lost. It was also then that the boy started to panic, as he realized that he was lost. But then came a simple solution to the boy, which the trees would readily provide.  The boy looked around, finding the highest tree and heading towards it. Upon arrival, the boy started to climb the tree.


    Upon reaching the top, the boy went further, beyond. He climbed past the canopy of the tree, allowing him to see the sky and clouds filling the air. He then looked around, seeing several things. There were mountains in some direction behind him, and the castle he most likely escaped from several days ago to his right. The boy, memorizing the way to the castle, climbed down and headed off.


    Several hours later, the boy got lost again. Sighing, the boy looked around for another tall tree to climb and re-confirm his position. The boy looked around, seeing different clouds and a slightly darker sky, meaning it was close to evening now. He looked around, before seeing that the castle was closer, but on his left this time.


    The boy tried to commit the castle to memory before climbing down again and continuing his journey. But as the boy was climbing down, he heard snarling; he looked down to see less than friendly faces.


    Wolves, the bane of all those who travel alone through forests. The boy, upon looking around, realized that he was surrounded by a pack of them on all sides. The boy sighed, slightly scared but mostly exhausted from all the walking he had done. He looked upon the wolves and decided upon his options.


    The boy had three choices; he could run, fight or wait. Running wouldn''t'' be wise, as he was tired from walking several hours while lost. Fighting wouldn''t be wise for the same reason of exhaustion. So the boy waited the wolves out, listening to their growls and snarls, some of them trying to climb the tree, leaving claw marks on the bark.


    Eventually, the wolves dissipated, till there were no wolves. The boy however, noticed it was nighttime, and didn''t want to wander a wolf-infested forest in the dark. So he choose the next best option; sleep.


    -------------------------------------


    Awoken to a fresh new day, the boy yawned, but then noticed something strange. The forest was quite; the wind didn''t blow, the small critters didn''t make a noise, and he couldn''t see any light passing through the holes in-between the tree''s. The boy felt a slight chill permeate the air, realizing that something was off.


    He slowly got down from the tree, and heard a faint snarl coming from all-around him, the world turning darker as it did. The boy practically jumped, running off in the direction he remembered the castle to be. Soon, the growls and snarls came closer, almost as if the thing making the noises was enjoying, feeding off the paranoia that it gave the boy.


    The boy looked back, trying to see what was upon him, chasing him down. There, he saw a wolf. It was the most ferocious wolf he had ever seen. At as tall as the boy, the wolf had black fur, teeth a light blue, seemingly glowing. It''s eyes a hateful white, staring upon the boy as an archenemy, not as prey.


    Upon realizing that he was likely getting chased by the king of all wolves, the boy stopped. He looked back to the hateful beast with his own hateful eyes, both looking at each other like devils to angels. The wolf got closer and closer, bringing a fog along with him, it as dark as the star-less night sky, the night around the two growing ever-so darker.


    Finally, the wolf jumped the boy its maw revealing its glowing blue teeth even further, them radiating with a fervid heat. This didn''t deter the boy, who shot out his hands to grab the foul beast''s maw before it clamped down on him. They connected, and the world went dark.


    The boy awoke, sweating and gasping. He looked around and saw that everything was in order. There was sunlight shining in his face, the forest critters were skittering around, going about their lives. There were no wolves around the tree, just a faint gust of wind.


    The boy warily got down, looking around just in-case something was to pop out towards him. After a few minutes of nothing happening, the boy relaxed, producing himself into a faint, but rather thoughtful to the castle; the only thought being ''What the fuck was that?''


    The boy, after another estimated two hours of travel, finally reached some road. He looked to where it leads; on one side, he got see the castle''s tower''s, and on the other side, the boy saw nothing bit forest and a dirt road. He choose the road to nowhere, and went on, wanting to go and find a real bed to sleep on.


    The boy walked for a few minutes before he met someone on the road. It was a single, rather dirty man sitting on the edge of the road. The boy glanced at him, before passing by, indifferent to the man''s situation. But as the boy passed by, the man stood up, and started to talk.


    "You know laddie, it''s wrong to pass by some poor old fellow like me and not offer anything..." After the man finished, suddenly three more men came out of the forest surrounding the boy. From the way the two in the front were dressed, the boy figured he was surrounded by thieves. This wasn''t a good day by any chance.


    "...So how about you pay up, give charity to this old man here?" The man said with a light laugh at the end. The boy noticed how the rest of the bandits also grew smiles on their faces when he said that, meaning that this was a routine thing for them. But the boy wasn''t so easily intimated by such people.


    "Well old man, I''m sorry to inform you I have no money to give you and your compatriots." The oy was calm, almost relaxed when speaking to the criminals. The man lost his smile and slight friendly demeanor when he heard that, his smile turning into a sour expression. The man then turned to the man beside him, ordering him to approach the boy, doing the same to the two men in front of the boy.


    The two men in front both got out some form of heavy-ended sticks probably used for bashing skulls in. Quickly glancing back, the boy noticed that the man behind him drew a rusty dagger. It was time to fight, and the boy realized that he had to strike first if he was to win. The boy placed down his bag, and prepared.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    First, he started to run towards the closest man in the front. Realizing that he was being attacked first, the man swung his club to meet the boy''s head; but he didn''t account for the boy to dodge. The boy sidestepped the attack, before smashing the man in the face with a highspeed shoulder block. Then came the other man, swinging his club, expecting it to meet the boy''s head.


    But the boy dropped his entire body in the last moment, making way for the club to hit the bandit in the side of the head, knocking him out. The boy then kicked the man in the knee before he had time to prepare another swing, downing him. But before he could finish the man, the boy saw the man with the dagger approach, nearly stabbing the boy in the arm.


    The boy nimble dodged, kicking the man in the stomach and jumping up to his feet. By this point, the second bandit and the bandit with the dagger had recovered and were both coming at him at him at the same time. The man aimed to tab the boy in the gut, while the man with the club swung at his head. The boy jerked his head out of the way and grabbed the hand of the man with the dagger.


    The boy, noticing that the man was about to grab his arm, kicked him in the balls. This surprisingly made him let go of the dagger, which allowed the boy to catch it mid-air. Dodging another swing for the head, the boy then stabbed the dagger into the man''s throat, killing him. The man gurgled for a bit before falling, the dagger stuck in his throat and the club in hand. The bandit who just lost his dagger got up from clutching his balls and threw a punch.


    The boy wasn''t really fast enough to dodge the punch, so he took it. It disorientated him for a moment, but nothing worse than what the Abyssmal could do. The boy near instantaneously came back, punching the bandit with his own fist several times. After the seventh punch, the bandit fainted, but the boy used his as a meat shield for an incoming strike.


    The dirty, old man suddenly pulled a sword from nowhere, and ran towards the boy as he was laying it on the bandit. The boy saw this coming, using the unconscious bandit in his hands to block the incoming stab. The boy threw the body onto the old man, who was surprisingly fast, and got out of the way, around the body, going for the man''s flank.


    The boy saw that the man just barely sidestepped the body falling onto him, re-directing his sword to face the boy. The boy and the man looked upon each other, and startled to circle each other, deciding their moves.


    Then suddenly, the man jumped the boy at an incredible speed, and with incredible strength, proceeded to do an overhead strike. Then he heard how the strike made a small crater in the ground, the old man surprised at the boy''s dodging ability.


    The boy didn''t waste any time, and upper-cutting the old man in the stomach before he could lift his sword again. The man barely moved, signaling that he was barely damaged by the attack. The boy then punched the man on the side of his head, but he still looked unaffected; and by this time, he lifted his sword from the ground.


    The boy scuttled away from the man, them both getting ready to attack each other again. The man held up his sword at the ready, circling the boy again, the boy following suit. Then the boy struck first, determined to end the battle before he was cut into pieces by the man. The man, obviously ready for the boy, waited until he was in range before violently swinging his sword in a diagonal way.


    The boy sidestepped the blade, going in for a gut punch on the man with all of his strength. The man let go of his sword, blocking the boy''s hand in the last moment. The boy, slightly surprised, went in for another punch, but was grabbed yet again. The boy then headbutted the man, but yet his grip was like steel, unyielding.


    The man then headbutted the boy walk, briefly making the boy lose his vision and awareness of the surroundings. Then, the man let go of his arm, delivering an uppercut of his own to the boy''s chin, further taking the boy away from consciousness. Finally, the man let go of the other arm, smacking him in the stomach.


    The boy, upon feeling the strike, stumbled back, clutching his stomach in heavy pain, while the man slowly advanced. The boy felt something coming back up from his stomach, lifting his head and puking all over the dirty man''s face. The man yelled in disgust, swiping at his eyes to remove the disgusting liquid from his eyes.


    As the man brought his hand to his eyes, the boy struck. He launched to strikes to the head of the man, effectively stunning him for a moment. Then, he kicked him in the balls, proceeding to punch him in the stomach afterwards. The man slightly keeled over, giving the boy enough room to kick him in the head, finally sending the man on his back, blinded.


    The boy wasted no time getting on top of the man, proceeding to beat him down over the head with all kinds of smashes, punches, and other strikes. The boy did this for fifteen strikes, before noticing how the man stopped resisting. The boy got up and curb stomped the man on the head, lest he was to get up again and fight.


    The boy then proceeded to grab the sword the man wielded and cut off all of the bandit''s heads and leaving the sword stabbed through the chest of the other bandit with a dagger through his throat. The boy then looted the bandits finding some amounts of shiny things on them that he took and put into his bag, taking everything and heading down the road.


    And as he took his first step, a familiar message popped up.


    [Hail! Hail! You have defeated four opponents of a higher level than you and have received 200 EXP. You have 300 EXP left till your next level up.]


    The boy read the message before heading on forwards, a question permeating his mind. ''What the hell do "level up" mean?


    After two more hours of walking, the boy finally reached what looked to be a town. He stopped in front of a large, wide wooden doorway that was encircling the supposed town with wooden walls. Then, a guard that stood on the right side of the wall approached the boy, looking exhausted and wanting to leave his position.


    "Now you just wait right there. What business do you have in this town?"


    "I want a comfortable place to sleep, and some food I can actually taste."


    "That is a good reason for a traveler such a yourself. Can I have your identification please?"


    The boy looked at the man for a moment, saying nothing and showing no facial expression.


    "...on the second hand, I think I will leave. See ya."


    The boy then went to the forest surrounding the walled off village, leaving a slightly surprised guard behind. The boy did hear the man try and say something, but he was long in the forest when he did, pretending not to hear him. The boy, walking beside the wall for some time, decided to go and find a tree to stake out on, wait out till night time came.


    Soon enough the night did come, leaving the boy to watch the wall. He learned about the time the guards watching the wall walked around, how many there were, and figured a plan that would allow him to enter without having to provide documentation. And it started with a really good run up and some holes in the wall.


    From what the boy could tell, years of weathering and possible defending have left the wall. This also means that the holes that are quite high would allow the boy to practically wall climb the place and allowing for a good sneak. The boy waited for the right moment on the ground, letting the two guards that would signify the most optimal time space to sneak in to pass each other, before he started to run as silently as possible.


    Upon getting to the right point on the wall, the boy jumped as high as he could, and as hard as he could, into the wall. This turned to be far higher than he expected; the boy jumped half the wall, which was at least twice at tall as him. This meant that he only had to grab the holes at the ? range of the wall, which he wasn''t prepared for at all. He just barely grabbed one of the smaller holes, before worriedly sighing and bringing himself up.


    Once he was on the edge of the wall, the boy quickly glanced over the side, looking to see if any of the guards were nearby. The closest guard, being at least two minutes away, the boy jumped the wall and looked around just in case and jumped down the wall. The boy then went down the nearest alleyway, and proceeded to out of it, completely confident in his ability to blend in with the people around him.


    The boy walked around, seeing little to no people on the streets, them only occupied by the torches. The boy walked and walked, diving in and out of alleyway''s the moment he saw anyone resembling guards patrolling the street''s. The boy, after a good hour of exploration had passed, came upon a two-story bar; which he had assumed to also be an inn.

 Making Money

    Before the boy even entered, he heard a lot of noise coming from the bar. It was like all the bands in the world decided to go to this one bar and compete with each other by all playing at the same time. That was really the only way to describe the cacophony of sounds coming from the bar, but the boy wasn''t deterred.


    The boy stood a few meters from the bar, not really sure if he wanted to go in. But then, as he looked around for other, quitter options, he saw two guards approaching, making a routine patrol of the area. The boy then decided it was better to not stick around on the streets anymore and went on into the bar.


    And it was even louder on the inside. The boy saw lots of humans in the bar, eagerly drinking and talking with whomever they knew or pleased; but the boy also saw some stranger races. Little people with long, stuffy beards, large, lizard looking folk whomst carried weapons that were bigger than the boy, and even one golem looking motherfucker that was playing cards with somebody in the corner of the bar.


    Thankfully, everybody seemed to be too busy with their own machinations or too drunk to pay any attention to the new person who just entered the bar. The boy proceeded towards the bar table, on which he saw several people serving. He approached one of the servers, who looked to be an old woman, who was carrying around fifteen glasses behind the table, them all empty.


    "Umm, Excuse me?" There was no response from the old lady, nor the people working around her.


    "Excuse Me?" Said the boy again, this time catching the attention of not the old woman, but a young man who seemed to be wiping the glasses people drunk from clean.


    "What can I do for you, sir?"


    "Yes, hi. Are you offering any rooms for people to rent out right now?"


    The young lad looked to another, older server, yelling something incomprehensible to the older server, before turning back at him with a pleasant smile.


    "We currently have a room right under the bar, ready for use. But I must warn you, you will hear all of... this."


    "Oh, thank you, but I have a sure-fire way of dozing off even with this level of noise. So how much will it be?" The young lad yelled at some old server, presumably the same one, again. After getting his response, the lad looked at the boy pleasantly again.


    "It would be five Rujas, good sir."


    The boy then opened his bag of looted items and looked over his coins. He saw some gold coins, some silver looking coins, and some bronze looking coins. But then he looked for letters and saw that some of the coins did start with "R", so he grabbed those and handed them to the lad. The lad counted it up, before handing the boy a key and telling him the number "thirty-one".


    The boy thanked the young lad, pocketing the keys and heading over with his bag to where the stairs should be. He was pushed by a large lizard fellow, but as he was too tired to cause an incident, just kept on heading towards the stairs, which he eventually reached. The way up was faster, as there were no people in his way.


    The boy looked around, trying to find the number thirty-one. Eventually, the boy found the room, and as promised, it was right under the rest of the bar. He unlocked the door, heading in and locking it behind him. He threw his bag into the corner of the room, before looking to the nearest wooden surface.


    He found a suitable wooden cover that held some strange lit light source on top of it. He removed the light source, before pushing the cupboard to be right in front of the bed. The boy walked in between the two objects, before placing his hands onto the cupboard. The boy breathed in and out several times, before he closed his eyes.


    He then smashed his head as fast as he could into the wooden surface, slightly cracking it and sending him stumbling over the edge of the bed and onto it, unconscious and sleeping.


    ----------------------------------------------


    A terrible headache met the boy as he woke up. He then connected it to his way of falling asleep yesterday, and he sighed; it was a terrible idea, but at least it worked. The boy got up from the bed, stumbling around until he found his bag. Opening it, the boy still found that his bag of goods was good, nobody had stolen from him as he was sleeping.


    The boy grabbed his bag again before heading out of the door and downstairs, finding the place to be desolate. There were some people around, most passed out drunkards, but other than those, he was the only one awake. The boy then found the same young lad, who was polishing glasses, just as he saw him do before.


    The boy approached the bar, sitting right in-front of the lad.


    "So, where can I get some work in this town?"


    The lad, knowing that he was asking him, thought for a moment. "Well, if you like to make a lot of coin in a short time but also nearly die while doing it, you can go to the recently established adventurer''s guild. But if you want to make less coin, ask around there are far too many jobs to be listed right here."


    The boy, after hearing out the young lad, though for a moment. ''Well...living the peaceful life sounds nice, but I already was doing that, and it got me nowhere.'' The boy, then asked the young lad on how to get to the guild and was promptly given directions which he memorized to his best ability.


    The boy then proceeded out of the bar, and towards the adventurer''s guild. He did get lost midway, but then asked around, and was redirected towards the building, which was on the basically in the middle of town, right in-front of the bazaar. The boy looked at the building and found it to be quite large.


    The entire building looked like it held court cases rather than house adventurers. It was plain old brown wood, with some white painted on the edges of the wood. In front of the building, was a sign of a figure holding a sword, which probably represented the job of the guild in these parts. The boy also noticed how there was a lot of traffic going in and out of the place, showing how there was a lot of adventurers in the place.


    The boy breathed in and out before entering the building and noticing that it surprisingly spacious. There was a bunch of adventurers sitting at dining table, discussing matters that the boy could not overhear. He also saw some people looking at what seemed to be a large wooden board with several papers. Finally, there were also booths at which adventurers interacted between the supposed workers in the building.


    The boy also saw signs above each both, all showing different "words". The boy, confusingly went over to one of the lonelier, two people groups sitting at a table. One was a boy in a heavy suit of shiny armor. He had his helmet placed on the table, revealing him to be a twenty or so year-old man with brown hair and decent teeth.


    There was also a sorceress, as far as the boy could tell by her clothes and the staff beside her. She wore a blue robe with yellow accents that had a strange, almost flame like pattern going down the middle of it. The robe left area for her to show of her cleavage, to which the boy then noticed how large the breast of the girl were. ''She must use magic to keep them from falling off...''If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The boy lastly noticed how she wore a classic, sorcerer''s hat, which had all the same colors as the robe, but without the strange pattern. The boy went up to the man in the suit of armor, having his questions at the ready.


    "Hello good sir, may I ask you to help me out here? I''m new." The man looked at the boy at first with the expression "who, me?" The boy then confirmed that he was in fact referring to him, before the man understandingly asked what he wanted.


    "Well, I can''t really read the language around here really well, and I was wondering if you could help me what those signs over there say." The boy pointed to the signs above the booth, and the man looked over before slightly chuckling and translating the signs. After asking again just to be sure he memorized it correctly, the boy went over to the registration booth.


    ''Hello, this is the registration booth, yes?"


    A young lady turned to the boy, smiling as if she was required to smile on a daily basis. "Why yes, what can I help you with?"


    "I have a few questions before I do anything serious. First, do I have to be a member to take the sheets on that board? Do I get paid for completing them? What are the benefits of being a member?"


    The girl was a little overwhelmed by the boy''s barrage of questions but recollected herself after a few seconds.


    "Well, no you don''t have to be a member to take on the requests on the board, yes they do give you money as stated, and you get protection by the guild if you join, and some insurance."


    The boy thought it over; ''There really is no benefit to me joining, huh?'' So, instead the boy asked if he could go and take any request, to which he was met by a yes, but he would have to sign a contract for every quest he took. The boy didn''t question it; he knew he wouldn''t want to be liable for someone else''s life.


    The boy headed over to the board, taking a long hard look at the papers, and then turning back to look at the people in the room. ''I can''t understand a word on these...''


    The boy then noticed how the man and the lady he talked to were still sitting on the same table, but another person had come over to their group; it was an MMA fighter, or what looked to be like one. The man, as far as he could tell from where he was looking from, had no armor of any sort on their chest, just bulging muscles. They had long, dirty hair, and wore baggy, dark orange sweatpants. Lastly, with the one hand that the person placed on the table, the boy saw multiple bandages wrapped around their palms and wrists.


    The boy, completely surprised for moment, stood there and stared at the group. Snapping out of his trance, the boy walked up to the group, just as the fighter was about to leave. The boy caught the attention of the man as he was approaching, seeing the man make a slight smile as he stood in-front of them.


    "Hello again; I was wondering if you could come help me read some papers?" The man''s smile grew upon hearing this, he bowed his and head and stood up to go and help; but then the fighter put their hand on the man''s shoulder, putting him back down in his seat. "I''ll help you kiddo."


    The boy then examined the fighter; and saw that it was a woman. She showed a sort off happy predator smile, leading standing up and motioning the boy to lead her to his objective. ''Why can the knight show me? Why does it have to be the exhibitionist?'' Upon arrival, the boy asked woman to read him the papers on the wall, all the while trying to stare at her.


    After all was done, the boy took exactly one paper that he thought he could do, thanked the semi-naked woman and headed back to the registration booth. The boy found the same girl standing there, and asked directions to do what the "quest" requested. And after finding out everything, the boy grabbed his bag, signed the disclosure paper, and headed off into the forest.


    ''What the hell is a Coribo, anyway? Maybe a fantasy caribou?'' The boy thought over why the quest specifically asked to kill ten of these creatures, and why to bring only their claws back; but he wasn''t going to argue on how to make money. Upon approaching the town gate however, the boy remembered that he was here illegally, and that would have to get out a different way.


    The boy then noticed a rather wide alleyway, that was also pretty empty, and an idea popped into his head. The boy started to run into the alleyway, dodging and weaving through a select few groups of people, of which he almost knocked over a small person in a red robe. Once in the alleyway, the boy ran until a few meters from the wall, at which point he jumped and crashed into the wall, grabbing onto the ledge and bringing himself up.


    The boy saw a few guards walking the walls, but none of them were close enough to stop the boy or see who he was. Mischievously smiling, the boy jumped over the wooden spikes that counted as a railing, going around the wall to the west side of the town and finding the west gate, at which point he turned left and started his hunt for the "Coribo".


    The boy walked for a few minutes before finding his first animal; of which he wasn''t sure if it was a coribo or not. It was large, had a form of mist coming down from its icy blue fur, and large tusks on its head. The boy then realized that he was looking at a boar that most likely had something to do with ice magic. Fighting it might not be needed, but the rewards looked pretty nice, so he approached the animal anyway.


    The animal heard the boy as he was approaching, making a sneak attack impossible. The boar then slightly tilted its head, showing its tusks to the boy, kicking its feet into the ground, signaling it was preparing for a charge. The boy was not deterred by this and got into his fighting stance, ready to take on the boar.


    The boar charged as expected, the boy slightly changing his form to catch the tusks of the boar as it was charging him. The boar was faster than expected however, forcing the boy to jump over the boar as it was coming towards him. The boy''s arms were grazed by the sharp points of the tusks as he jumped, but it was only a light sting, so he shrugged it off. The boar charged right through a tree, snapping it into pieces and making the boy reconsider fighting the animal head on.


    But then the boar ran around in a half-circle for the second charge, aiming for the boy again. But the boy ran to the boar this time, as it started to run towards him; the less momentum the animal has, the less damage it will do. The boy caught the boar tusks mid charge but was quickly overpowered and brought along for the ride; the destination if which was a rather thick tree.


    The boy, upon realizing what the boar was trying to do, flung himself to face the same way as the boar, grabbed both of its tusks and pulled into a different direction with all his strength. The boar, not expecting this move, tripped up flew for a few seconds, turning onto his back and sliding into the tree, all the while the boy jumped off the boar''s body.


    The boar crashed into the tree, cracking it and making it fall onto the boar. The boy stood on his spot for a few moments, then slowly approaching the boar, who laid stilly under the fallen tree. The boy kicked the face of the boar for a few times, before realizing that it was unconscious. The boy sighed, disheartened that he didn''t kill his prey.


    But he still wanted his reward for defeating the creature. The boy then snapped of a heavy branch from the fallen tree and started to hit the boar''s tusks as hard as he could. Several times the boar almost got up from his slumber but was knocked out by the boy smashing its head with his club. The branch broke after a while, but so did one of the tusks, meaning that the boy now had a stabby-stabby weapon.


    ''Why the fuck did I just...whatever.'' The boy then grabbed the particularly sharp tusk and pushed it into the boar''s throat; this didn''t work. The fur of the boar was too thick, meaning pushing the tusk through it would be impossible with the boy''s strength. So instead, he ran back twenty meters, and prepared the tusk as a spear.


    The boy ran, with all that his legs could carry him with, aiming the tusk for the boar''s throat. And the final moment came, the tusk piercing the boar''s throat, it eliciting a squeal and waking up due to the extreme pain it felt. However, the animal was too late, the tusk was several inches into its throat, it was already bleeding heavily from its throat, unable to move under the weight of the tree on top of it. It died a slow, painful death, one that lasted for a minute straight.


    The boy didn''t like what he heard, but yet understood that he couldn''t avoid it; he was unskilled in the art of murder. Sighing, the boy went up to the boar, using his broken branch to break another, slightly smaller branch from the tree, and then using that brunch to break the other tusk. A familiar message appeared when he broke off the second tusk.


    [A successful hunt! You have killed an opponent of higher level than you and have received 50 EXP!]


    With both tusks broken, and the boars body bleeding out on the ground, the boy grabbed the put the tusks in his bag and headed off towards the forest again, ready to kill whatever the hell a coribo was.


    -------------------------------------


    The search ended with the boy killing a few more ice boars, as he had grown to call them, and getting eight tusks in total, all of varying sizes. The boy was also 100 EXP away from reaching level one apparently, so he was eager to see what would happen once he finally reached the required amount. But for now, the boy had to get over the wall again.


    The boy did the same procedure as the first time he got into the town, and successfully made his way back to the same bar. The boy made a quick remark of how loud it was, paid his fee and went up to the same room, where he unpacked and went to sleep without smashing his head in the cupboard. His exhaustion was enough to drive him to sleep.

 Drunk and Stupid

    The boy awoke tired; so, he went back to sleep. The boy then awoke again, and feeling less tired, got out of his bed. The boy then checked on his gains, and finding nothing stolen, went downstairs to the bar. There, he waived to the young lad, who waved back, and headed off to the adventurer''s guild.


    Upon arrival, the boy went straight to the drop-off booth, to see if the tusks he had collected were worth anything. He went up to the receptionist and took out his tusks. Surprising everyone in the line behind him, and the receptionist.


    "What can I get for these?"


    ''Um...we first have to measure everything. Their quality, their weight-"


    "Okay, go ahead and do that; where can I wait while you do this?"


    "Um...just over there."


    "Alright, I''ll be waiting."


    The boy then went over to a table that he was pointed to and waited. Thirty minutes later, the girl came out with a spreadsheet, and the boy came over just as she was about to call him.


    "Well, after everything we have calculated, we can give you nine Qatos and sixty Rujas." The boy didn''t understand how much "Rujas" were in a "Qato", but he knew that he only had twenty of the "Ruja" coins left, and that it he could only stay for four more nights if he didn''t get this money, so he gracefully accepted the coin bag that he was handed, and his coins in the bag before storing it in his bigger bag.


    The boy, collected all of his things, and went off back into the bar. He walked outside of the building just fine, but then something strange went off in his head; almost like a "you are being watched" warning. The boy kept his calm however, and just kept on heading towards the bar, making sure to visit a few alleyways along the way to try and shake off his watchers.


    This didn''t work, because no matter how much alleyways he had visited, he just couldn''t rid himself of the feeling. The boy gave up after that, and dejectedly went off to the bar, wanting to get a drink; he hadn''t had one of those in a while. The boy entered the bar, and before anything, went to lock his stuff upstairs, making sure that the door wouldn''t just open with the slightest touch.


    Going downstairs, the boy came up to the young lad, and asked him for a beer. The bartender looked at him funny for a moment, before the boy explained that he wanted a light alcohol. Upon receiving the drink which looked like a less viscous and drinkable caramel, the boy took a sip and hated it; bit not one to waste food or drink, he downed it all in one go before paying and going back to his room.


    Upon arrival, the slightly tipsy boy heard someone other than him in his room. The door was slightly upon ajar, but not broken. ''Shiit, I forgot there is lock picking in this world...'' The boy then tried to silently go in, trying his hardest to lightly step on the floorboards. The boy, as he entered, heard some metals clinking together, meaning that the thief freshly entered.


    The boy saw quietly picked up the cupboard, miraculously not being noticed by the thief, and tiptoed to the them. The thief, even when the boy was above them, was still too focused going through all of the boy''s valuables, not realizing that their doom was imminent. The boy then swung downwards with all his might onto the thief''s squatting figure, smashing but not breaking the cupboard onto the person''s head, knocking them out.


    The boy then picked up the heavily smashed and cracked cupboard and placed it back into its place. Then, grabbing the figure of the thief by the legs, he started to drag them out of his room; but then he remembered to loot them for their valuables. The boy looked through the thief, finding a few coins and other shiny things, which he all placed into the into his bag. Then he dragged the body out of his room, making sure to lock it before leaving.


    The boy dragged the unconscious figure face down the stairs, hearing their head smash against each of the stairs, and thoroughly confusing the bar workers. The boy went up to the young lad and asked him how to hand a thief over to the local authorities. The young lad stumbled through his directions before the boy finally got him.


    Before the boy went to hand in the body, he asked for a shot of the bar''s strongest alcohol. The young lad looked to a senior worker, who just quickly nodded. The boy then saw how the young lad practically ran to the back, probably to a storage room, and brought back a bottle with a dark green liquid. He uncorked the bottle and poured one shot of the stuff into a shot glass.


    The boy watched the liquid flow down the glass, almost spilling over the edge. As soon as the lad was done, the boy smiled a "thank you" and downed the glass in one go. He instantly felt the effect of it and coughed as if he suddenly contracted pneumonia. But when the boy asked for the price, the lad said it was on the house; after re-confirming, the boy went off with the body, dragging it to the battlements where most of the guard''s resided.


    The boy dragged the body face-down in the dirt for a few, hazy hours before he finally found the building that fit the description provided to him. He knocked on the door, maybe a bit too hard, but that didn''t matter, because a guard came out anyways.


    "Hollo, I brong yu a thefe!" The boy said, almost excited, like he just won some sort of medal. The guard looked at him strange, before seeing the body he dragged around for the last few hours, all dirtied. The man then looked at the boy strangely, taking a few seconds to study his face; and consecutively realizing 110% wasted.


    "Yeah, thanks...we''ll take it from here." The guard reluctantly said to the boy and saw how his smile only grew larger. "Alroight, hire ya goe!" The boy exclaimed, as he jerked the foot of the body forward, prompting the guard to take it; the guard reluctantly did so. A soon as he grabbed the foot, the boy spun his heels, and headed back to the bar. But before he took his first step, a message came in front of him.


    [Salutations comrade! You have defeated a foe of higher skill and level than you, and have received 100 EXP. You have levelled up, and now can choose a skill. Which would you-]


    "Tammoruw, we du dis tammoruw."


    A few hours later, and a few circles around the town, the boy made it back to the bar, only to find that transformed into an orchestra again. The boy complained to himself, before going in again, plugging his ear''s and going through the drunken crowd to his room. Surprisingly, the boy didn''t start any fights, just barely managing to find his way through the crowd.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Upon reaching his room, the boy found that it was still locked, so he fumbled with his key for a few seconds before being able to open the door. Once in, the boy nearly closed the door on himself, but stopped just before he could by crushing his hand in-between the door and the doorframe. Once thoroughly in, the boy locked the lock on the door, and dropped on the bed, falling asleep like a baby.


    ----------------------------------


    The boy awoke with a massive headache, and he didn''t want to get out of bed. But then the boy had an epiphany; he could try and reach the inner sanctum of his mind again and spend the day in there. But before he could even try a method of getting in, the boy was met with a message in front of him.


    [SALUTATIONS COMRADE! You have leveled up and can now choose a skill. What would you like to choose?


    Eyes of Chronos: Time is seen differently by all, no matter how fast or slow. King of Time, you see everything as it was originally intended. You gain the passive ability to see time in a slowed down state whenever you please. Scales with level.


    Gait of Janus: Time is a relative thing. No matter how fast or slow, all see time differently. King of Time, time is absolute to you, as you are it and it is you. You gain an active ability that allows you to walk at a far faster rate than normal. Scales with level.


    Brush of Time: The world is your playground, your battlefield, as you have created all of it. You paint the world as you like, with the color of your actions or the paint of your enemies. You gain the passive ability to incorporate the aspect of time into your fighting style. Scales with level.]


    The boy thought over his options, and decidedly, wanted to get all three of the skills. But the boy had to choose, and in his current, slightly average situation, there was one clearly logical answer that would give him a boost during combat.


    [You have chosen the "Eyes of Chronos" skill. As you are now level one, all your abilities are now going to be modified. Devils Luck changed to Clockwork Fate.


    Clockwork Fate: Fate is a machine. A ruthless, merciful machine that always adapts to change, never changing its course for one being. But for Time, creator of the machine, it''s for it that it is most chaotic. This is an upgraded version of Devils Luck. All effects are tripled.


    Good luck!]


    The boy, happy that he received something new, re-seated himself on the bed. He tried to do his best lotus position, but the discomfort in his legs was unbearable; so he settled for a cross-legged position instead. The boy, completely oblivious on how to meditate, laid his hands on his knees and tried to empty his mind.


    ''Empty my mind, empty my mind, empty my mind...HOW THE FUCK DO YOU AN A MIND?!'' The boy, thoroughly annoyed that him entering his own head wasn''t working, tried to empty his mind in a different way. He tried to not think. At first, when the boy truly emptied his head of his thoughts, there was a deafening silence; it almost drove the boy to insanity, but his persistence drove him through.


    And just as the boy thought he could enter his mind prison again, someone knocked on the door, kicking the boy out of meditative state. The boy practically yelled out, before rushing the door, and swinging it open, nearly making a hole in the wall. In-front of the door, the boy saw the young-lad.


    "Um...hello I am here to inform you the guards are looking for you downstairs."


    The boy, quelling his rage, thanked the young lad and dismissed him. The boy then sighed, packed up his things, making sure to put the coins with the coins and the other things with the other things. Through his organization, the boy stumbled upon the jade amulet again, and sighed. It would most likely help him if there was a fight, but it would also make him see colors that were never intended to be seen by a human.


    After some decision making, the boy decided to put on the amulet. Upon being hung around his neck and left there, the amulet changed. It''s bright, polished jade color became an ethereal blue. And then a message popped in-front of the boy.


    [Item ownership discovered! Item being modified...item modified: Amulet of Awakening turned into Riteful Amuelt.


    Riteful Amulet: When Time returns to its rightful place, and all the dues are given to it, then it shall be as it wills. This amulet lets you travel to your own dimension, if you wish to create and manage it. It also gives the user tripled the effects of the previous item.]


    The message disappeared almost as soon as it appeared, but the boy was able to catch one word; "triple". And because of what he was seeing, he figured that it most likely tripled the effects of the amulet, making it far more potent. The boy was now seeing colors indescribable, shades that only mantis shrimp should see, and the sound and light around him was different; it was colored.


    The boy fought the urge to rip the amulet of his chest, and quietly got up, hiding it in his slightly dirtied shirt. The boy then prepared a weapon he stole last night from the thief in his vest. Fully prepared, the boy got his things and headed out, making sure to lock the room behind him. The boy calmly headed downstairs, squinting his eyes, trying to not see as much; but he did notice his eyes were slowly getting used to the color overload.


    The boy went downstairs and saw the guards, who then turned their bodies and saw a strange boy with black eyes. The boy however, saw two rainbow creatures; all the color on them was so vivid that he could only describe them as rainbow creatures.  But the boy recognized that he was looking at the guards, so he waved at them before turning and starting towards the exit.


    "Stop right there, under-investigation scum!" One of the guards yelled at the boy. The boy reeled from this, clutching his ears and closing his eyes. Apparently, the amulet also increased the quality of his hearing, so now he heard normal sentences from up close as screeching; and the colors that the words gave off were so bright, so flashy that the boy thought he would have a seizure just looking at them fly all around him.


    The boy, no longer wanting to experience over-sensitive hell, took off the amulet as fast as he could without ripping the string that held it. After the amulet was off, his eyes returned to normal, and he turned around, seeing two very fearful guards trembling, with their swords out.


    "How can I help you?"


    "We''re here to ask you to come with us to the battlements!" The guard stumbled through his words, all the while still trembling.


    "All right, but I get to keep all my stuff."


    The boy then got in front of the guards and left with them. One of them did try to grab the boy by the hand to lead him forward, but the boy slightly growled, making the guard shoot his hand back beside him. The trip didn''t take long but left a sour taste in the boy''s mouth. ''Did they have to parade me like a captured trophy?''


    The boy peacefully was led into and through the building, enjoying its minimalistic and slightly militaristic interior. He was led to a jail cell and motioned into it. Knowing that talking his way out would be near impossible, the boy went in and sat down on a bench.


    "Proud of what you''ve done? Because of you, now we''re both going to be executed!"


    The boy, entirely too surprised at the sudden voice from the shadows, nearly threw his dagger into the darkness; but he stopped himself at the last moment, for he could most likely guess who it was talking.


    "Well you shouldn¡¯t have tried to steal from me then."


    "Well you shouldn''t have brought the MAYOR''S BASTARD DAUGHTER INTO A BATTLEMENT AND REPORTED HER FOR THIEVERY!"


    "How in the nine circles of hell was I supposed to know what the hell you were? And did you say "execution"?"


    "Yes, you buggering egg, "execution"! DO you think that they''re going to reveal my existence and that I''m a criminal?! In your fucking dreams!"


    It was then that the boy realized just how much he had fucked up.

 JailBreak

    The boy was pacing around in his cell, trying to formulate a plan to get out. He looked through his bag, several times, but only found trinkets and coins that would not help him escape from a locked jail cell. The boy, almost hopeless, dropped down on the bench once more, but then felt a slight prick in his chest.


    The boy reached into his chest and took out the dagger he had placed in there. A smile came to his face as a new, dangerous plan came to his mind. The boy walked up to the jail cell with knife in hand and drew his arm back as far as he could and struck with all his speed possible. The boy cut through one bar of the of what he guessed to be iron and got the blade stuck in another.


    He took out the blade, before going in and trying again, slashing in the same spot and cutting through the half-cut bar and cutting another one whole. He did this process till the knife broke, and at that point, it already got through the entirety of the top of the bottom half of the jail cell door.


    "Hey, how strong are you?" The girl in the darkness didn''t respond; this annoyed the boy, so he repeated himself, but yet the girl refused to talk. The boy, now angry, put on the amulet and suppressed another urge to scream before looking into the darkness where she was hiding. The boy saw her sitting figure in the shadows, sitting in the middle of the wall.


    He went over to her, seeing that she was getting out of the way. But he followed, which thoroughly surprised her, the moment of hesitation to try and escape getting her caught.


    "I ASKED YOU A QUESTION! ANSWER IT!"


    The girl didn''t speak, she just stared into the boy''s eyes for a moment, and then came out of the darkness. The boy also tried his best to not show his eyes and ears were reeling from him screaming.


    The girl was nearly naked, save for a few, loose-fitting white clothes, which were almost see-through. But the most noticeable thing about the thief was that she was albino. Her eyes were a bright pink, the shade of a ballet slipper. Her hair was a deep white, reflecting almost all the light that was in the cell. Her skin was white, very white; but to the boy, it was like he was looking at a sun.


    He took of the amulet and confirmed that he was in fact looking at an albino. The boy also saw that she was showing him her arm, he inspected it, and saw that she was jacked in her arms. The boy didn''t even bother to look at the rest of her body, he just pointed to the bars he cut and said: "Push on them as hard as you can."


    The girl sighed and went to the cell door. The boy then laid down on the bench and proceeded to watch as the girl was slowly bending the bars over, until an hour and a few breaks later she finally bent the bars so much they could both get out. The girl went out first, and then came out the boy; he went straight towards the exit.


    But before the boy could go upstairs to the actual battlements, he heard someone behind him, walking slowly and trying to step at the same time as the boy. The boy turned back, and saw the thief girl following him, her body in a lowered state, crouch-walking. He sighed and just continued.


    The boy pulled on the door but found that it didn''t want to open; so, he knocked on the door and waited, much to the girl''s worry.


    "What are you doing?! They''ll know that we-" The girl suddenly stopped talking, as she and the boy heard someone walking down the stairs. The girl quickly melted into the shadows, and the boy stood at the door. Soon enough, the door opened, and the boy saw a guard, and activated Eyes of Chronos.


    The boy saw the guard with his head down, it slowly lifting up, the man still not sent he prisoner. So, the boy shot his fist into the guard, and saw that his fist was going slow as well. Just in-case, the boy also shot his other fist into the gut''s stomach at a slightly slower speed. The boy then deactivated the ability and saw how both fists smacked the guard, him stumbling over the stairs and falling onto them.


    The boy then stepped over the dazed body, making sure to give it a good kick on his way up to thoroughly knock out the guard. The boy calmly proceeded up the stairs, and found that he came upon another door, which wasn''t locked, so he pulled it and went through.


    On the other side, the boy saw three guards playing some game and putting coins on a table. The boy smiled, they still hadn''t heard him walk in. The boy noticed an empty chair, meaning that the guy that went down also probably played with them. Before doing anything, the boy looked around the room and noticed nothing could be used as a weapon.


    Then, one of the guards noticed the boy and drew his weapon. The other guards first recoiled back, but then looked to where the other guard was staring and saw the boy, they also drew their swords. The boy sighed and bolted to the closest guard.


    The guard tried to cut the boy with his sword, but was unable to, as the boy just went under his blade, punched his knee twice and then nailed the unarmored guard in the stomach. The boy was about to send the final punch to knock out the guard, but then felt a swing incoming. The by barely dodged a sword which cut into the thigh of the guard he just pummeled, forcing the man to scream out and faint from shock.


    The boy then grabbed the arm of the guard who just cut into his friend and pulled as hard as he could, forcing the guard to use the sword as a cane, cutting deeper into his unconscious friend, and sprawling onto the ground. The boy then ducked his head, just in time for another guard to miss his strike and overshoot. The boy then spun on his heels and shot and uppercut into the guard that overshot, hitting him on the chin.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    The guard stepped back a few steps, allowing the boy to get up and punch the closest guard back down to the floor, kicking his head into the floor, making sure he was unconscious. The boy then spun on his heels again, just in time the last guard to do a battle cry and cut across the chest.


    The boy yelped out in pain, and clapping his hands on the guard''s head, effectively stunning him for a moment. The boy then, with pure rage, kicked the guards left knee, breaking it with an audible crack, dropping the man onto his knee. The boy then punched the man in the face, stunning him once more and allowing the boy to break the second knee.


    The man completely dropped to his front now, his face hitting the hard, wooden floor. The boy then sat atop the man''s back, grabbing his head. The boy, having a firm grip on the man''s life, ended it by snapping his neck. Finished with the last guard, the boy grabbed one of the wooden chairs, and smashed it on top of the unconscious man''s head, giving the man brain damage.


    Once finished, the boy saw the albino thief walk out of the darkness, absolutely horrified. The boy could only feel the large amount of pain within his chest, so he looked around for something that would help. In the wall near the table with all the money, he saw a bunch of bottles laid out on a cupboard. ''Clouding the brain clouds the nerves...''


    The boy walked over to the cupboard urgently and opened a random bottle. He downed it in one go and got a sudden and explosive headache; but the pain still didn¡¯t go away. The boy then grabbed another bottle and opened that one as well. As soon as the stench hit his nose, the boy''s vision turned black.


    ------------------------------------------------


    The boy opened his eyes to find darkness around him; he desperately hoped he wasn''t trapped in his mind again. The boy used his hands to try and remove the darkness, all the while bringing his body up. He didn''t even need his hands, as the boy discovered he was only buried in a small layer of ash.


    The boy, after noticing he was completely blackened by all the soot and ash that was on him, also noticed that he was naked. ''Something probably burned all of my clothes off...'' The boy then looked around, and saw only ruined remains of buildings, blackened, most of which were ash and soot. The boy got up from the ash pile and looked around once more.


    The boy saw nothing new, just more ash and soot in all of the remains he could see. The boy then looked up in the sky, and saw that it was dark, almost like a volcano exploded and released everything it had into the sky.


    The boy walked around for some time, seeing if he could find anyone or anything in the rubble. The boy did find some coins; this reminded him of his loot. The boy now panicking because all of his stolen possessions had disappeared, ran back to the original remains he had emerged from. He found nothing there; no bag, no money, no trinkets.


    The boy depressingly went back to looting but not before hearing a tinkle coming from below him. He looked down, and saw the amulet, meticulously tied around his foot and clinking every time he took a step. The boy sighed; ''Out of all the things to survive, why this?''


    The boy, now without clothes or loot, had to figure out what he wanted to do. But before he could even sit down and start to think, he heard something off in the distance. It was like the sounds coming from the slightly burnt forest completely stopped. The wind wasn''t blowing, no animals or critters could be heard, and the situation eerily reminded the boy of the dream he had not too long ago.


    The boy then heard a low growl coming from all around him; ''NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN'' The boy knew who most likely produced the growl, and he really didn''t want to encounter the wolf a second time; but fate was a cruel bitch. The boy saw the exact same wolf come out from the tree-line he was looking at, maliciously smiling. But it did not move, it stood there, staring into the boy, drilling a hole through his soul.


    Suddenly, the wolf turned back, and left in the ever-darkening tree, the boy sighed when he no longer saw it; this wasn''t a good start to a day. The boy then noticed that the sky was brightening, the dark clouds fading away. Then, he heard a branch crack from the tree-line opposite to the one the wolf came out from, the boy spun around near instantaneously.


    The boy had no weapons, but still got into his combat stance. He saw that his target was...the albino thief girl, but apparently some of her clothes had been burnt off, she had a collar around her neck that had a meter of chain loosely hanging off it, and she was dirtied black, almost completely camouflaging her pure white skin.


    She looked at the boy, extremely frustrated; it was then that he knew he had done something wrong, but he didn''t know what it was. She started to approach him in this angry, almost enraged walk; by this time, the boy had relaxed back to his naked, normal form. He had noticed that she was slightly looking to the lower portion of his body when walking.


    The girl was finally upon the boy, and she stared furiously at him, before trying to slap the boy with a palm that was faster than what the boy could see; but then his eyes changed. He suddenly saw everything around him was far, far slower. The boy easily saw the palm swinging up and towards him, so he just moved his head out of the way.


    The girl was surprised by the boy¡¯s action, so she tried to smack him again, He did the same thing, dodging out of the way from the other palm. The girl, realizing that he was easily dodging all of her strikes, just stared at him furiously, angrier then before. There were few tense moments between the two, before the boy finally started up a conversation.


    ¡°Nice collar, where¡¯d you get it?¡±


    The girl finally reached the breaking point and sent a lighting fast punch towards the boy¡¯s stomach; all the while screaming at him: ¡°YOU PUT THIS ON ME, MOTHERFUCKER!¡± The boy, even though his vision turned slow again, couldn¡¯t move out of the way of the incoming punch, it was too fast for him. So, the boy counter-attacked instead, by punching her right in the collar.


    Both the punches connected, the boy keeling over and the girl stepping backwards while clutching her neck. It was the boy who regained his composure first, he straightened his body and looked to the girl, who held the collar in her hands, staring at it dumbfoundedly.


    ¡°Well, there you go, it¡¯s off. You can go now, now shoo.¡±


    The girl looked up and stared at the boy for a few moments, before dropping the collar and heading off in the opposite direction. But just before she disappeared into the tree-line, the boy yelled out to her; ¡°Remember this, I always remember those who owe me due¡¯s.¡± After this, the girl stopped, but then continued, disappearing into the forest.


    The boy looked around and decided to go into a random direction towards the mountains he saw looming over the village beforehand. But as he made his first steps, he heard something in the distance. He stopped, and paid close attention; galloping, someone was riding here on horses at an incredible rate.

 Return To Ashes

    The boy, knowing that the approach of cavalry, no matter how far away, meant bad things were going to happen, hid away in a large ash pile. It didn¡¯t take long for the galloping to come closer, being right above the boy. But the boy could not see the riders; his eyes were covered with ash. The boy heard the rumbling of the ground, each step making a slight vibration in the ground. ¡®When did I start hearing steps in the ground?¡¯


    The boy waited for the horsemen to pass, but they never went away. They walked around for what must have been an hour, before the boy finally heard the vibrations stop, the ground now peaceful and quiet. Sighing happily within himself, the boy raised his body out of the ashes. And saw that he was in-fact surrounded by the horsemen, their swords pointing at him.


    The boy smiled, before swiping the ash into as much faces as possible and tried to make a run for it. He did see several people reach with their hands to their faces, but others were unaffected, swinging their swords in the direction of the boy. The boy looked back, and his eyes did their thing again, slowing down time.


    He saw six swords coming down at him from random directions. The boy most likely couldn¡¯t dodge all of the swords, but he would still try. Two of the swords could be dodged by just slightly twisting by dodging his body. Two swords aimed for his arm and chest, the boy moving his arm out of the way, and elbowing the sword that was moving towards his chest to strike the ground instead.


    Finally, there were two swords that aimed for the boy¡¯s thigh and his leg. The boy knew that he couldn¡¯t dodge one of the swords, but he would try to make the damage as minimal as possible. So, the boy twisted his leg so that one sword would not cut his leg, but the other would just leave a semi-deep gash in his thigh. The movements worked out as planned, and the boy turned around to run.


    Only to be met with a very hard club to the face.


    -----------------------------------------------------


    The boy awoke and quickly found out that his head hurt like hell. The boy opened his eyes to find a woman in a full set of semi-revealing metallic armor, complete with bracers and knee-pads. The woman had a sword strapped to her side, and a helmet sitting on a table right beside her. She was staring menacingly at the boy.


    As soon as she saw that he had awoken, she had called out for someone to come into tent he was stuck in. The boy looked around, trying to get a better idea of his environment. It was small, dull brown tent, with a table in it, a plain wooden chair that the boy was tied too, and another plain wooden chair that the blond woman sat on. Taking in the details of the other person in the camp, she had blond hair, blue eyes, and a near-perfect face.


    She had put on her helmet, as the boy heard some movement from outside. She got up from her chair, and saluted just in time for someone to come in. The boy couldn¡¯t see the figures face, as the girl was blocking it. She talked with the man, but the boy didn¡¯t pay attention; he had noticed that the ropes holding him were a little too loose, so he got to slowly getting himself untied.


    The girl saluted once more, and promptly went behind the figure ash she left. It was then that the boy stopped untying himself; the person he saw shouldn¡¯t be in the tent with him. It was Samuel Sackorel.


    The teenager was dressed in a leather suit of armor; from what the boy could see. The chest piece of the armor had his name written down on its front, like a football jersey. He also wore some strange looking gloves, which had some runes on them. The boy saw how Sackorel had also started to grow a beard, one which could smite all the girls if maintained properly.


    The teenager had a look of determined anger on his face while looking at the boy. He didn¡¯t say a word, just took of his gloves and pulls out a table out of nowhere. The boy stared at the space the table just appeared, his mouth gaping.


    ¡°How the fuck did you do that??¡±


    Samuel didn¡¯t respond, he just proceeded to pull up the chair that was there earlier and sit right in-front of the boy. The boy, unanswered and annoyed, stared back at Samuel, while proceeding to continue his untying process. Samuel stared into the eyes of the boy, much to the boy¡¯s discomfort. He didn¡¯t look away however, as he wanted the teenager to keep staring at him and not what his hands were doing.


    ¡°Well, I heard you were found among the ashes by my troops...why were hiding in the ashes of this freshly burnt town?¡±


    The boy didn¡¯t respond instantly, he waited to think out his answer; he really didn¡¯t want to reveal anything to someone like Sackorel.


    ¡°Well sir, I was getting chased by a wolf, and had to hide somewhere, as I could not for the life of me, outrun it. I stumbled my away upon this corpse of a town and the wolf refused to enter, he turned his back. But then I heard a loud noise coming from someplace close and decided to hide.¡±


    ¡°Okay, but why were you in that forest in the first place and why are you naked?¡±


    ¡°I was...taking a walk and saw a brilliant river that I decided to bath in. But then the wolf attacked me just as I was getting out, forcing me to run away naked.¡±


    ¡°Yeah okay, that¡¯s really inconvenient for you. But why did you have this amulet on you if you took everything off?¡± Samuel then brings out the Riteful Amulet from his somewhere inside his leather chest piece. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    ¡°We took this off your unconscious body and had one of our oracles tell us what this is. Tell, how did a random hiker like you get your hands on an item of incomprehensible rarity?¡±


    ¡°Well...I found it?¡±


    Samuel stared at the boy for a second before placing the amulet down on the table, getting up and going out of the tent. The boy sighed, before finishing untying himself, grabbing the amulet, and leaving the tent out the back, where hopefully nobody would see him.


    Before fully going under the tent, he poked his head out, and saw a bunch of other tents surrounding the one he was in. He sighed, knowing that this may be his only opportunity to get out, and crawled as quickly as he could out the back and running off towards the closest edge of the forest.


    Unfortunately, he heard shouting about someone escaping; and he realized he had been seen.


    -----------------------------------


    The boy, since he had started running five minutes ago, found out several things. First, he had learned that his speed had severally increased since the last time he ran, so much so that he tripped several times when he first started running. Second, if he put on the amulet while running, the world jumped to light speed; at least that was what it looked like.


    The boy was still running away from around one-hundred or so knights on magically sped up horses, but he was slowly getting further and further away. But what really stopped him from running at full speed was the activation and deactivation of his Chronos''s Eyes. The reason he had to do so was because of all the projectiles flying at him.


    At almost every moment, the boy dodged several launched spells, several arrows that pierced tree¡¯s like butter, and magical soccer balls that had the power of cannon balls. The boy was tired of dodging, so he tried to weave and bob through the trees, but after several of them exploded and left wood chunks in his backside, he went back to dodging.


    The boy kept running and running seeing his new goal, the mountain range, come closer and closer into view with every step he took. Going to the mountain range would provide far more cover and would make it easier to lose his pursuers. The boy, as he ran, began to feel the ground start to get wavier, almost like an actual wave.


    He fell over once, but rolled back up, just to get and arrow to go through his arm, leaving a slight hole and making the boy scream out in pain, holding his arm while running some more


    The boy ran out from the tree line and saw that he was in a bad spot. He saw no entrance near where he was standing and the cavalry was a few seconds away. Panicked, the boy looked side to side, and started to run, but was stopped by a football going right in-front of his head. The football crashed into the mountain, creating a large dust cloud, and sending rocks and pebbles into the boy, some sticking in him.


    The boy walked out of the dust cloud and was met with several mages with floating balls of energy, bowmen and women with their arrows trained on him, and several people with lances and swords ready to slice and stab him. The boy looked around, and saw that Samuel was riding out of the crowd on a black horse.


    Promptly, Samuel got off his horse, and walked towards the boy, stopping several meters away from him, but still within the crowd of knights and mages.


    ¡°Okay boy, I will have to ask you to stop this fiasco right now, so please come with us. It will make things quite a fair bit easier for you and us.¡±


    Instantaneously, the boy said: ¡°No¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s a shame. Right guys, kill this one.¡± Samuel turned around to his cavalry, got on his horse, and raised his hands, in time for the archers of the group to fully knock their bows and train them onto the boy. The boy stared at Sackorel, slight confusion in his eyes. The boy saw how Samuel turned to face him and threw down his hand.


    The boy¡¯s vision went black. He couldn¡¯t see anything around him, so tried to close and open his eyes, which seemed to bring his vision back. Looking down, the boy found himself kneeling, seeing at least seven arrows in his chest, and far more than he could count in the rest of his body. It was then that his vision went black again.


    The boy looked for a few moments, and started laughing, making Sackorel and the rest of the cavalry look at the boy, worriedly and slightly frightened. The boy¡¯s eyes then turned completely black, and he stood up, the arrows moving alongside his body. The boy, stood in still, almost like a zombie, before raising his arms and moving his head upwards, looking at Samuel and his cavalry, smiling.


    At this point, Sackorel was thoroughly confused and scared, he ordered his archers to take aim and fire again, this time along with his mages. They all took aim, and just as they were going to fire, the boy started to float upwards, a slight black light coming from his body. The arrows flew at the boy, but were seemingly eaten by the black light, the arrows that were already in him melting away into a black sludge.


    The boy¡¯s smile never faltered as he floated higher and higher, until he finally reached the ten-meters up in the air. By this point, Samuel ordered his knights to get off their horses and for the mages to make trenches for them to hide in, from whatever the boy was bringing about. It took them an impressive half-a-minute for everyone to get in, and for the horses to run off.


    By the time all the knights were behind cover, the glow of the boy started to sink into the earth and trees around him, turning them black as well. Then, without warning, the lowing stopped, and all the darkness that was once surrounding the boy retracted at a lighting fast speed back into him. Noticing that the trees and the earth had gone back to their regular color, some of the knights looked over.


    Then, the world went dark. All the darkness that retracted back into the boy suddenly shot out, the distance it went enormous. After a few, long, seemingly unending seconds passed, the world went back to its original color, the darkness dissipating. The knights and mages that didn¡¯t look over the trench looked to those that did. They found black statues of sand-like material, not their comrades.


    The boy was nowhere to be seen too, seemingly disappearing with the darkness that he had created. After a few seconds, the remaining knights and mages tried to communicate to their comrades, but to no avail; they quickly discovered that they shouldn¡¯t touch them, as they would just turn to a black dust and float away.


    Then came the wailing and the sorrow. The knights realized that all those that looked were dead, frozen in time. Those that didn¡¯t weep looked to see that the surrounding nature had also turned to the same material as their comrades, the statue like trees going as far as the eye could see.


    It was at this point that Samuel Sackorel realized that he had fucked up, and that whoever that was, will be coming back. He definitely needs to get stronger, far stronger.

 Kidnapped as Food

    The boy woke up looking at a clear blue sky. He felt dusty, as if his skin was replaced with dust. The boy breathed out, getting up on his ass. ¡®Why do I always wake up lying down on the ground?¡¯


    The boy looked around and found that his skin did almost look like it was replaced with dust. The boy dusted his arms off, creating several dust bunnies in the process. He got up, and dusted off his legs, looking back up and seeing a new notification


    [Kudos! You have defeated fifty-eight opponents, of which some were a higher level than you. You have gained 2,600 EXP and have leveled up to level 2. You currently have 600/3000 EXP needed to level up again.


    Your abilities are improved accordingly. Good Luck!]


    The boy was surprised. ¡®When did I kill fifty-eight foes?¡¯ The boy didn¡¯t think on it for too long, switching to the analyzation of his situation. He was currently somewhere on a mountain, laying on a small patch of dust and crushed rock sand. The boy moved to the edge and found that he was really high up. Like, at least a thousand meters were below him.


    The boy cautiously shuffled back, and turned around to find his old nemesis, the giant wolf. ¡°YOU AGAIN!¡± It was smiling at him, looking like it just found the best meal of its life. It started to circle around the boy, but the boy wasn¡¯t without action. He started circling the wolf as it circled him, and after a few moments he stopped, and so did the wolf.


    The boy ran toward the wolf, but the wolf didn¡¯t react; it stood there, its smile growing. Then, just as the boy was about punch its head, the wolf leapt backwards at Mach one into a shadow provided by the mountain. The boy ran past where the wolf just was and crashed his fist into the mountain side. He screamed out in pain and rage, but mostly rage.


    The boy was fuming, looking around to for something to relive his anger on, but after finding nothing that he could relieve himself on, the boy gradually calmed down, and started to climb the mountain. ¡®Why go down when you can go up...¡¯


    The boy took a few hours to climb to the top, almost falling off several times, and severely scarping his entire, naked front body. But every scratch, scrape and bruise didn¡¯t deter him, he pushed on upwards until he got to the peak of the mountain. Looking over the world in-front of him, he saw everything, the natural wonder of it all bringing peace to his mind.


    But there was a sort of strange thing down below him, he saw how the world turned black for no apparent reason. The dirt was still brown, but the tree¡¯s and some other shapes with many appendages were black of color almost like a black hole. ¡®When did that happen?¡¯ The boy stared at the black zone, deep in thought.


    Something loud woke the boy from his mind. He looked around, and saw large shadow approaching him from further down the mountain range. It looked to be giant bird of some sort, but it was hard to tell, as there were several thick clouds blocking the details of what it could be. It then made the extremely loud noise again, nearly making the boy let go of the ledge he was grabbing onto to grasp his ears.


    The bird flew towards the mountain the boy was on, its wings producing large booms as it got closer. The boy, suspecting that he was the birds next meal, began scurrying down the mountain. But he was to slow in the eyes of the huge creature, who extended its claws to his last seen position. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The claws crashed through the top of the mountain, the combination of falling stones and the shaking forcing the boy to let go and fall down the mountain, him screaming ¡°WHAT THE FUCK?!¡± as he fell. But the bird didn¡¯t understand, it just turned downward at bone-evaporating speeds, extended its claws and caught the boy during his fall.


    The bird flew through the sky carrying the struggling, naked boy through the sky. The boy tried punching and kneeing his way from the grip of the bird, but stopped after he realized that the drop would kill him if it let go. He allowed himself to be carried wherever the bird wanted. In his spare time before he was brought to his destination.


    The boy came to the conclusion that he was carried by an abomination of a giant white-chested emerald hummingbird. This one had a few differences; in that it didn¡¯t have a white-chest, it was dark grey like heavy rain clouds and the beak was more for ripping flesh apart. And of course, the bird didn¡¯t hum; it produced a very deep boom sound.


    The boy estimated an hour passed by before the boy noticed that the bird was lowering its altitude, as he now saw the ground and not the tops of clouds. Then, the boy looked to the direction that the boy was lowering, and saw a humongous nest with something moving in it. It was then the boy realized that he was food for the bird¡¯s babies, and started to struggle again.


    His struggle was useless though, as the bird just kept on flying downwards, unaffected. The boy struggled until the bird dropped him in the nest, returning to flight and going off towards an unknown objective. The boy sighed, before hearing footsteps behind him and turning around.


    ¡°Dear God, you¡¯re are ugly!¡± The boy was looking at the supposed child of the bird, who had just started to grow out its feathers and was slowly hopping towards the boy, staring at him like a worm. ¡®I guess I¡¯m supposed to be its food, but I¡¯m hungry myself, and I could go for some poultry...¡¯


    The bird tried to stab the boy with its beak, but he dodged, running under the bird. The boy quickly glanced around the nest, and noticed several skeletons with different weaponry and rusted armor or pierced leather. But one thing caught his attention, a whip. ¡®Asphyxiated bird, anyone?¡¯


    The boy sprinted for the whip before the bird could try and stab him again, and just got away in time before the bird fell on its back, nearly crushing him. The boy, slightly stumbling, ran and took the whip, trying to crack it as he looked back to the bird, who was finishing tumbling over to stand again. The crack didn¡¯t work, and the whip limply swung through the air. ¡®So much for dramatic action...¡¯


    The boy firmly gripped the whip, staring at the chick who was staring back at him, looking at him as a threat. The boy sprinted straight at the chick, it preparing to stab him again, as it just saw a foolish, alive piece of food coming to be eaten. But just as the bird shot down its beak at maximum thrust, the boy stopped, and went around shot under it. The chick was surprised by this, and started to turn around.


    It was too late for it however, as the boy was already jumping on top of it after he came out from under it. Once on top, the boy sent the whip around the frail neck of the young chick, and wrapped it several times over. The bird did try to get him off by flailing wildly, but it was too late, the boy was done wrapping the neck.


    All the boy did was grab onto some feathers and pull with the other hand, and after a minute or so of struggling, the chick dropped dead.


    [Salutations! You have defeated an opponent of lower level than you and have received 25 EXP. You have 625/3000 EXP needed to level up to level 3. Good Luck!]


    The boy, heavily sighing and heaving, dropped down and started to ponder how exactly he would cook the chick. Unfortunately, any and all thoughts of cooking his food were interrupted, as the boy heard a deep cry coming from the sky, meaning that the mother was back. ¡®Ohhhh nooo.¡¯

 And It All Goes Dark

    The boy was hearing some very unpleasant sounds. He was currently hiding beside the nest; his body being squeezing between the mountain and the nest. From the noises echoing in the boy''s mind, he could hear the bird was weeping for its child. And he really didn''t want to be found by it.


    After some several minutes passed, the boy came out of hiding, as he stopped hearing the terrible mourning noises. He slowly shuffled out from the crevice, and then climbed up back onto the nest. There, the boy found the corpse of the dead chick, and a some slightly torn up patches in the nest.


    The boy relaxed, as he could not spot the bird in his vicinity. Without wasting a moment, the grabbed the chick''s foot and started to drag it to the edge of the nest. He had to take a break several times, as he wasn''t prepared for doing what he was doing. Eventually, the boy reached the edge, before jumping over the edge and looking for two rocks.


    Within a few moments, the boy spotted and grabbed two rocks, placing side by side right by the nest. Then, climbing over the edge, the boy grabbed the driest sticks and branches he could find, before placing them all right in the middle of the nest, in a formation that would supposedly burn well.


    The boy then strutted there and back, kneeling in-front of the stack of dry-wood. Soon, after banging his fingers a few times, the boy struck the stones together in the right fashion, and they produced a spark. The spark did nothing.


    The boy tried and tried again, and the fire lit once, before being put out by the wind. The boy, thoroughly pissed off that his method of cooking isn''t working, smashed the rocks together. They shot in the direction thrown, but not before creating a large spark that lit up the dry-wood.


    The boy, now ecstatic that his fire was lit up, quickly realized that he had fucked up. ''How the hell am I going to cook the chicken, when the chicken is going to be part of the fuel?''


    With that, the boy sighed and got up, jogging his way out of the quickly burning nest. As soon as the boy got off the nest, he looked over the ledge of the mountain to look how to get off before the fire forces him off. The boy saw a nice edge to start off from, and walked on over to it. The climb wasn''t going to take a while, the ground wasn''t too far down.


    The boy climbed and climbed downwards, when he smelled something weird. It was like the smell of rotten egg. ''Wait, metha---SHIII-''


    The explosion happened above him the boy, yet it still rid him of his consciousness, his grip on the mountain, and the portion of the mountain he was holding on. The boy fell fast and outward, smashing through a pine-looking tree on his way, and getting buried by it and a several medium-sized rocks.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    -----------------------------------------


    The boy awoke in someplace dark. As soon as he saw the amount of darkness, and the amount of light in the area he was standing in, the boy figured out he was within his mind again. He tried to go into the darkness, only to walk out onto the light. The boy sighed, and got to doing what he did last time.


    He first expanded his area of work, pushing it to twenty meters, and then going the extra mile and putting all his effort into making it thirty meters. The boy then created his training partner again, trying to make it remember all of its fighting memories.  He tried to make the Abyssmal set up in its fighting stance it once had, but it just stood there, unmoving facing the boy.


    The boy, stumped on how to make the figure remember its training, thought for a moment; before high-kicking it in the head. The boy thought that smacking the body in the head would ¡°awaken¡± it. The leg didn¡¯t connect, the body caught it. ¡®Hallelujah.¡¯


    The body then proceeded to throw the boy¡¯s leg downwards, but the boy used the momentum of the throw to uppercut into the Abyssmal¡¯s head. The body moved its head to the side, and, the punch shooting out and upwards into nothing. The boy then fell over on his stomach, sighing and then getting up, seeing the Abyssmal twitching.


    ¡°This never happened before...¡±


    After a few more moments of twitching, the Abyssmal stopped, and turned its head to look down at the boy. The Abyssmal grew a mouth, a grin going up to its supposed location of its eyebrows. It then opened its mouth, revealing seemingly infinite rows jagged, disfigured teeth. The Abyssmal had no tongue, but still managed to be terrifying with the way it showed its teeth.


    The boy, now thoroughly startled that his creation grew an entirely new body part, removed the implications from his head and approached it, ready to fight. The Abyssmal lowered its head, and got into its fighting position; it removed its smile, going back to a face with no features. The boy went for the first attack, aiming for the gut.


    The body caught the fist, and sent its own fist into the boy¡¯s face. The boy tried to move his head to the side, but the punch still slightly grazed him. ¡®It seems the thing got better since last time.¡¯ The boy then twisted his arm so that the Abyssmal would have to let go or suffer, all the while sending his other arm to whack it on the hand that was holding his other arm.


    The Abyssmal let go of the boy¡¯s hand as its hand was struck, it then stopping any movement it was about to do. The boy confusingly looked at how it the body brought it hand up to its head, almost like it was looking at it. The boy, not wanting to give the Abyssmal any advantage, sent out another attack.


    The boy tried to kick the body in the chest, but as the kick was about to connect, the body disappeared. The boy fell into the splits, and let out a short squeal. He then slowly got up from the position, and looked to where the body was. He found it behind him, in a fighting stance, the smile back, and the teeth showing.

 The Battle of Wolves

    The fighting between the boy and the body never stopped. It was like an endless loop of pain of the boy, and growth for the Abyssmal. With every hit on the Abyssmal it got faster, stronger, more like a beast then a body. At times, it even tried to bite off a part of the boy.


    The boy however, was getting weaker. His punches were more drawn out, having less force behind them, less of a chance to hit the body. At random times, his legs gave out, dropping the boy on floor and leaving him vulnerable. He knew that he would have to kill his creation soon, or would die.


    He really doesn¡¯t want to find out what happens when he dies in his own mind.


    So, the boy devised a plan to use his powers against the Abyssmal, as it would be the only way to win for the last time. From what the boy could count, this was the 106 fight with the body, and it would be its last.


    The boy tried to get into his fighting stance, but the body was already upon him.  Opening its maw, the Abyssmal tried to eat the boy¡¯s head, which he narrowly dodged by ducking and sending an uppercut into the beast¡¯s belly. The hit connected, and that is when he turned on his power; The Eyes of Chronos.


    The boy saw a lot of slight muscle twitches in the body, and predicated the next move of the Abyssmal, allowing for a counter-attack. The Abyssmal spun around in mid-air, and sent out a kick to the boy¡¯s shoulder, aiming to dislocate it. But the boy caught the foot, nearly breaking his hand because of the force it delivered.


    The boy then threw the foot to the side, and sent out his own punch to the body¡¯s genital area. The boy noticed that as the very slow punch was coming, the beast held a surprised expression, but was already sending a far faster fist onto the boy¡¯s head. The boy started moving his head out of the way as soon as he saw the fist and its trajectory.


    The Abyssmal¡¯s fist reached it¡¯s the spot the boy¡¯s head was first, but found no contact, as the boy saw it coming. His punch reached its intended point, striking the body backwards. The boy turned off his power, and everything returned to normal, the body¡¯s back hitting the floor. No sooner as its back had hit the floor as it jumped up onto its legs, and got on all fours.


    The body snarled at the boy, the grin appearing on its face as it did so. The, its body changed even further, the mouth area extending into a snot like shape, the Abyssmal growing something all over its body. Before the boy could use his skill to see exactly the transformation, the body exploded into a heavy, black fog.


    The boy saw nothing with his eyes for a few moments, before the black fog retracted back into the Abyssmal. Well, what was once the Abyssmal, but now it looked more like the boy¡¯s archenemy; the wolf.


    Its eyes shone a lapis color, them bright as a flame during nighttime. It¡¯s glowed a hateful white, looking upon the boy as the creature that murdered its entire family. It smiled not at the boy, instead showing its teeth in the most aggressive way possible. Its feet were no longer that of paws, but large claw-like hands, ready to tear flesh from bone.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    The wolf¡¯s size was taller than the boy, all this probably a result of the Abyssmal¡¯s upgrades. But even with all of these changes, the boy feared the wolf not; he looked upon it with a deep, odious look. Just the mere existence of the beast in-front of him had driven him into a deep state of madness.


    This resulted in the black area surrounding the area that the boy had opened up becoming a cloud-like form, ever-changing and teal in color.  The wolf darted its eyes around quickly to take in its new surroundings, but returned them to see the boy running up to it, his fist about to strike it in-between the eyes.


    The wolf jumped forwards, opening its maw to try and bite off the boy¡¯s approaching arm. The boy met this attempt head-on, by sending his arm into the lower jaw of the wolf, closing it as it approached and allowing for the strike up top to connect and stun the wolf.


    The stunned wolf fell landed on his feet, and quickly shook his head, just in time for the boy to send a spear-like hand move into the neck of the wolf. The speed of it allowed to pierce the wolf¡¯s fur and its skin, puncturing its throat.  But the wolf didn¡¯t fall, it just looked down at the boy, twisting its head to bite into the arm of the boy.


    The boy screamed out from pain, before smacking the wolf¡¯s head with several shoulder strikes. After several of these strikes, the wolf finally let down, letting go of the boy¡¯s mauled arm. Quickly analyzing his situation, the boy figured that his arm was now useless, and that he would have to defeat the beast with his other appendages.


    ¡®It doesn¡¯t have long to live now, just gotta hope I hit an artery.¡¯ The boy left the useless arm to hang, while raising his other arm and getting into a fighting stance. The wolf also recovered, but you could see droplets of blood coming from its mouth. This along with the trickle of blood down the wolf neck showed it didn¡¯t have long left to live.


    The boy activated his power once more, slowing down everything once again. The boy punched towards the wolf, aiming to stun it again. He saw as the wolf brought up its claws, aiming to slash across the boy¡¯s chest. Foreseeing the movement, the boy tried to move backwards, but the wolf speed outmatched his.


    The wolf slashed the boy chest, creating a large gash and the pour of blood almost instantly after the slash came. The boy stumbled back, almost falling over. ¡®Have to finish this quickly...or will die.¡¯ The boy was losing conscience, stumbling about and trying to see what the wolf was doing. He noticed it also stumbling about.


    Both the boy and the wolf were losing conscience, and both of them figured that they would have to finish the other first. With all his might, the boy ran at the wolf, his spear-like hand aiming to pierce its skull with incredible speed. The wolf in-turn, saw this coming, and prepared to jump for the boy¡¯s neck.


    Both came at each other with incredible speed, but the boy saw the bite coming as the wolf started to open its maw. The boy didn¡¯t care for what will happen, he only knew to kill the beast first before it killed him. The boy scoured his mind for ideas on how to win over the wolf, who was currently coming at him at the same speed the boy was.


    There was nothing. Only speed and power would help him here, so the boy only hoped for the best. He and the wolf came at each other, and made contact. The boy¡¯s hand pierced through the skin of the wolf, and into the brain, the broken bones digging into his hand and parts of his arm. The wolf and his bite reached the boy half-a-second later, biting into the boy¡¯s neck.


    Both of the beings fell, almost on top of each other. The wolf bleeding from its skull, the boy¡¯s hand still in there, and the boy slightly bleeding from his neck. The boy was losing conscience fast, his vision turning black. The boy felt wet, almost like the blood that was pouring down from him and the wolf was surrounding him, almost like a lake being filled up.


    By the time the blood had gotten to his eyes, the boy had completely lost conscience.

 The Hunt

    Awaking, the boy saw trees. Trees with no leaves, branches as thin and as dead as the chick he had killed some time ago. He felt himself laying on the dirt, but not itching from any grass. He moved his hands and felt the dirt have cracks in it, producing a dusty feeling on his hands as well. He knew he was in a badlands zone, but this didn¡¯t make sense.


    When climbing down the mountain, the boy distinctly remembered how the tree¡¯s and the Earth were rich and vibrant, giving off the feeling of live. This place where he was laying now wasn¡¯t the place he landed in. The boy wanted to get up, but he couldn¡¯t lift his chest; he looked to see why.


    There, laying on his chest, was a body. The body had thick, dark fur with almost no visible signs of fighting, and it was heavy; almost crushingly heavy. ¡®Oh...yep, now I feel it.¡¯ The boy felt the weight of the body on himself, and started pushing against the body. Eventually, with much struggle and little success, the boy freed himself.


    The boy went around the body, and his mood almost instantly improved. He saw that the body belonged to his dreaded terrorizer, the wolf. ¡®Looks like the battle was real... but how?¡¯ As the boy was questioning the how the fight that took place in his mind was real, he also looked to his surroundings.


    The dead trees went almost as far as the eye could see, with the exception of the living ones reappearing right at the limit the boy¡¯s vision. He also noticed an annihilated rock surface not too far away from his location. This rock surface was part of a mountain, which the boy supposedly came from. This concluded the theory on how the boy got here.


    ¡®How the hell did all this greenery turn to death in the time span I was out...¡¯


    The boy¡¯s thoughts were interrupted by a great rumbling in his stomach. He felt like he could eat a person, and only then be sated. The boy started heading towards the lively part of the forest, hoping to find some food.


    ------------------------------------------


    It has been an hour, and the boy still found no food. He was now in the forest for forty minutes, hiding between trees and going further and further into the forest, feeling both his hunger and the feeling of extreme thirst. He was getting weaker and weaker, wanting to eat and drink more and more.


    Finally, on the 11th tree the boy stayed on, he found himself some wandering food. It was a small doe, eating some twigs off a bush. The boy prowled on his branch above the doe, as quietly as possible trying to move into the perfect position to strike. The boy made some noises as he was prowling towards the doe, stopping as to not alert the doe several times.


    The doe almost noticed him once but the boy¡¯s speed allowed him to stop, the doe unknowing about its coming demise. Once in position, the boy jumped down onto the doe, his hands aiming for its neck. The deer almost instantly noticed the flying teenager, and started to run. The boy fell on the ground, but got up and started to run after the doe, his want for food outmatching the pain of the starvation.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The boy¡¯s speed and acceleration were far faster than the doe, allowing him to catch up to it with only mild obstacles, provided by the forest. Once on top of the doe, the boy wrapped his weak hands around its neck, squeezing as hard as he could. The doe kept running, slowly running out of both strength and breath.


    The doe fell to the ground, no breath left to breath. The boy put his head to its chest, and still heard a heartbeat. ¡®Unconscious then...not for long.¡¯ The boy brought back his arm, preparing to stab into the doe with his hand. His hand straight, the boy shot his arm into the doe. It pierced through easily enough, but the bones the boy hit pierced into his hand.


    Bleeding and stabbed, the boy went further in, his hand searching for the doe''s heart. Eventually he died find it, crushing it and killing the doe if it wasn¡¯t already dead. Taking his hand out of the body, the boy saw a large bone chunk stabbed into the space between his middle finger and pointing finger. Carefully, and very painfully, the boy took out the bone shard.


    His hand bleeding, the boy looked around for something to stop it. No clothes or items on him except the amulet, the boy turned to ripping off and placing on resin covered leaves around the wound, as a sort of bandage. The wound kept bleeding, but significantly less. The boy left it to naturally heal, going on with the next step of his plan to eat. ¡®How the hell will I carve you up?¡¯


    The boy started to drag the doe¡¯s corpse, only to be shoot at. The boy felt the projectile coming before it hit him, so he shot out of the way, the projectile grazing his chest. The boy shot his head towards the direction the projectile came from, only taking a quick glance at the projectile, an arrow; he was dealing with a hunter.


    The boy jumped around the closest tree near him, hiding behind it, trying to hear where his assailant was. All the trees around the boy made it impossible to spot whatever was hiding, so the boy relied on sound. A few moments passed, and the forest was silent, signifying that a predator was nearby. ¡®Must be my new friend...¡¯


    The boy remained hidden behind the tree, snapping off some bark, and slowly sticking it out to see if the hunter was still there. An arrow shot into, and through the bark, hitting another tree. The boy took back the bark, and started to think on how he could get out of his situation. ¡®Maybe...no...the amulet maybe?¡¯


    The boy started to slowly reach down to his leg, making sure to not appear from his cover. Taking it off, and putting it on, the boy¡¯s eyes instantly started to hurt. The worlds colors jumped into the boy''s eyes, new colors appearing around him, showing the world in a godly sight. The boy resisted the urge to groan, and ran out from the tree.


    A fast arrow came a moment later, slicing through the top of the boy¡¯s shoulder. The boy managed to feel it coming several moments earlier, moving out of the way to not get the full hit. The boy saw where the arrow came from getting there in two seconds, one arrow stuck in his thigh. The hunter had a very quick draw.


    The boy pounced his assailant, managing to punch them in the face without even looking at who he was exacting murder on. The assailant brought a dagger from nowhere, and tried to slash across the boy¡¯s neck, failing with a wide miss, opening themselves up for another punch in the ribs.


    The hunter being thoroughly punched in the ribs, tried to stab the boy. The boy caught the arm of the hunter, and brought himself around them. Putting the person in a chokehold, the person started to claw at the boy¡¯s face, getting one finger in the eye and forcing the boy to let go. Promptly so, the boy took off the amulet, dropping it to the ground.

 Outclassed

    The hunter was nude. She wore a bronze-looking amulet with a large red bead in the middle of it. She had a milky-white mohawk, almost like a rockstar from a punk-rock band. She was ripped, muscles on almost every centimeter of her body, a bow dropped beside her and arrows scattered all over. The hunter had no clothes, showing scratches and bruises all over her, and a purple area around her neck.


    The boy fiercely blinked, readjusting his eyes and seeing the hunter scramble for her bow. ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t!¡± The boy jumped onto the hunter just as she was to grab an arrow and nock it into her bow. Grabbing onto the boy, the boy smashed his head into hers, and ripping the bow from the hunters stunned body. Then, swinging the now like a club, the boy broke the bow on the hunter¡¯s head, dropping her.


    Using the top side of the bow, the boy brought it around the hunter''s neck, and pulled backwards. The hunter started to choke, and brought her hands to the piece of the bow, trying to pull back. But the boy only pulled harder, rendering the efforts of the hunter futile. This continued for half-a-minute, until the hunter finally stopped struggling, dropping her hands to the ground.


    The boy sighed, getting up and going to retrieve his amulet. Upon finding it, the boy saw the string that held it together was whole; almost like it was never ripped. The boy tied the amulet around his leg, and went back to the body of the hunter. ¡®Wonder what she had on her...oh fuck off.¡¯


    Upon looking back, the body of the hunter was gone. The boy only saw the broken bow, all of the arrows disappeared alongside with the body. The boy, about to break the closest tree in half, remembered about the doe corpse. The boy ran to the corpse, finding it there and letting out a sigh of relief.


    Grabbing the doe by the head, the boy started to drag it again. He hoped to find a river soon enough.


    -------------------------------------


    ¡®Where is that good damn river?!¡¯ The boy¡¯s anger grew with every passing moment he couldn¡¯t find any river. He was getting smelly, and it was getting dark, meaning that it would be easier for the huntress to find him in the dark. ¡®She is definitely still alive...why can¡¯t people stay dead?¡¯


    The boy, tired from dragging a body through an entire forest, laid on a tree, putting the doe corpse beside him. The boy knew that it¡¯s smell and his would reveal his position to anything with a nose within five-hundred meters, but the boy wanted to rest. The boy looked to the stars, and closed his eyes.


    Waking up, the boy couldn¡¯t move his arms or his legs. He tried moving his appendages, but found himself tied up. The boy felt rope in his mouth, preventing him from speaking. When the boy opened his eyes, he saw a skinned deer corpse and a woman attending the food. The boy''s mouth started to water, before noticing a problem.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    The women attending the doe corpse was not the same as the one the boy had supposedly killed. This woman was almost the same in appearance, but her mohawk was almost as black as a star-less night sky.  The boy, watching the other women, made a plan. The boy started to make noises with his mouth, attracting the woman¡¯s attention.


    ¡°Chi ru.¡± The women said without even turning her head to the boy. The boy stopped, analyzing the women, before making random noises again. ¡°Chi ru.¡± Said the women, slightly more annoyed with the boy, but paid no attention to him. The boy did it again, this time making the woman turn her head and say the same words once more.


    This went on for one more time before the woman finally stood up, and headed to the boy. Upon arrival, she lifted the naked teenager up by rope around his legs, bringing his head up to her waist level. Then, spinning him like a wheel of fate, she reversed his position so he would be facing her. ¡°CHI RU!¡±


    The boy looked back and forth between the woman and the food, trying to motion with his eyes to feed him. The woman, not understanding what the boy was wanting, confusingly dropped him back on the ground, and went back to tending to the food. The boy, extremely hungry and thirsty, decided to take the situation into his hands.


    He started to worm his hands out of the tight rope, as the spinning and dropping of his body had loosened them slightly. He intently watched the women, making sure she wouldn¡¯t notice him very slowly escaping from the rope. After ten minutes, the boy got his arms out from the rope, and took it off his body.


    Sitting up, the boy quietly took the rope off his feet, and lastly off his head. Walking over to the women, she had heard him approach. She jumped up at a speed the boy almost couldn¡¯t see, and got into a combat stance. The hunger of the boy made him uncaring, as he approached the cooking food over the fire without the least bit of hesitation or want to fight.


    The woman, slightly tense up by the approaching figure, kept her fists up and ready for use. But the boy made no moves toward her, just went straight for the meat. He reached for the super-hot meat, burning his hand and ripping off a chunk of it. The hunter, extremely confused about what the boy was doing, slightly let down her guard.


    The boy, now having an extremely hot piece of meat in his hands, started to gorge himself on it. Paying no attention to the confused and slightly disgusted look of the woman, the boy gorged himself like a savage, and when the piece of meat he ate was finished, he went and ripped another chunk for himself.


    This happened until a third of the doe meat was gone, with the woman trying to stop him several times, but failing as the boy tried to eat her every time she got too close. Once finished, the boy stood up, and looked around for his one possession. The boy noticed the amulet laying on a bag of stuff, and headed towards it.


    The woman, realizing that the boy was heading to retrieve his loot, got in-front of him. The woman said some un-understandable garbage, so the boy went around her and grabbed his amulet. Turning around, he was met with a fist into his face. The boy flew back several meters, breaking into and through a tree.


    ¡®Jesus...she¡¯s too strong...¡¯ The boy got up, completely dazed and reeling from the hit that almost knocked him out. Activating his power, the boy saw the woman coming at him at an almost regular speed, while he was still moving in slow motion. The boy, completely defeated by just one hit, raised his hands in surrender.

 Battle Pt. 1

    The boy was currently tied up and sitting, watching the two women discussing things in an unknown language. He was sat in-front of a plate of deer meat, which he didn¡¯t eat as he had feasted earlier. He watched the women discuss, and even raising their voices at each other at times.


    The boy watched them intently until one of the women, the one with the black hair, sighed and walked over to him. She raised him up by the newly secured rope on his chest, and dragged him over to sit in-front of where they were conversing. The boy watched as they pointed to him and talked, until the black-haired ones sighed again, and squatted down next to the boy.


    She started to talk very slowly in English. ¡°Who is you?¡± The boy looked at them, and answered: ¡°I am human.¡±


    The woman looked at him weird, before telling him ¡°Hello human!¡± in a semi-excited manner. The boy nearly burst out laughing, holding himself back just barely. The women with the black mohawk didn¡¯t notice his tiny smirk, but the other seemingly did but did nothing about it. The black-haired women had a brief conversation with the boy, before returning back to her talk with the hunter.


    They talked for a few minutes, before the fighter, as the boy had found a name for her, knelt down again. She asked the boy a few simple questions, before going back to talking with the hunter, seemingly more and more distressed after each talk.


    Finally, she knelt down for what must be the sixth or seventh time, telling the boy in a slow manner: ¡°You have two options: slavery or die.¡± The boy looked at the fighter, thinking for a moment before saying ¡°Slavery.¡±


    The women sighed, before going back for the final talk with the hunter, the last few words coming from the fighter¡¯s mouth causing the hunter to look at the boy and smile. The boy did nothing but look at her, smiling back in his most pleasant attempt at a smile. The hunter, after looking smugly at the boy for a sufficient amount of time, headed into a tree.


    She disappeared in the top of the tree, leaving the boy with the fighter. The boy tried to talk to the fighter, but the speed at which he talked and the words he used made her unable to understand him. He gave up, and laid to rest near the campfire.


    ----------------------------


    The boy woke up in the middle of the night because of a bright light. The boy opened his eyes to see the light all around him, the sources of it swaying back and forth. He rubbed his eyes, and saw why it was so bright.


    He was surrounded by men and women with swords, axes and clubs. Some of them carried torches, which woke the boy up. He saw both of the women that enslaved him back to back, facing the circle of enemies. Neither of the groups did anything, only tensely staring at each other. Then, came out the leader.


    The instantly told the leader apart because of their getup. A full set of charcoal black plate armor, with several decorations, including human skulls and bones on different parts of their body. The one thing that wasn¡¯t distinguishable about them was their gender, the plate armor covering all the telling parts.


    The knight came out from the tree¡¯s, and almost instantly some random enemy came to his side and started talking. ¡°Shi ku ra ca hulme...¡± the boy lost the speech after that part. He listened, and looked at the faces of the hunter and the fighter, seeing them look at the knight with heavy caution. Once finally finished, the hunter started speaking to the bandit, who promptly shook his head in a ¡®no.¡¯


    The boy then saw fighter punch the air in-front of the knight and a group of bandits, sending a strong gust of wind towards them and extinguishing all of their torches. Almost at light speed, she kept turning and punching, blowing all the torches. It was at that point, that some of the bandits screamed and ran for the attack.


    The boy couldn¡¯t see who grabbed him, but he knew it wasn¡¯t one of the women. The boy slightly resisted the person pulling back, but focusing more on getting out of his bindings. The person kept pulling the boy back, until they thought that they had enough distance. Lighting the torch, they saw the boy sitting there, looking up at them.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The bandit, thinking the boy to be useless, took out their sword and prepared for a chop. The boy kicked the bandit in the right knee, causing the bandit to fall on his back in a scream of pain. The boy spun around, jumping up and ridding his arms of the rope. The boy, hoping in one place, watched the bandit scream in pain before untying his legs and jumping onto the bandit.


    The boy jumped onto the bandit''s head, putting the maximum amount of force into his legs. There was a resounding crack, and the boy landed on his back. He got up fast, only to see the lifeless eyes of the bandit staring into the forest. The boy took a moment to regain himself, before hearing sounds of fighting in the background.


    The boy thought for a moment, looking back and forth from the forest and the cause of the noise, before finally setting on a decision. The boy ran in the direction of the battle, the advantages of having someone that powerful greater than the danger presented.


    Shortly after, the boy arrived at the scene, and saw some bandits had relight the torches, and were watching the fight between the knight and the fighter. A group of bandits were rummaging through the loot of the two, and some were holding the hunter, showing her the entire fight with a dagger on her throat.


    The first sneaked around behind the group that held the hunter in place. The boy noticed a dropped club behind one of the bandit¡¯s, so he picked it up and proceeded onwards. Once directly behind the bandit who had the dagger on the hunter''s throat, the boy prepared his arm back and swung.


    A loud splat resounded in the air, as the bandit dropped, and the others around him looked back. The boy saw several bandit¡¯s turn to him, all of them drawing their weapons. The boy dropped his club, and lunged for the dagger. Luckily, he only got a slight cut above his elbow as he flew through the air, so the boy grabbed the dagger with ease.


    Cutting the rope that held the hunter in place, the boy dropped the dagger between her feet before dodging a cop coming for his shoulder blades. The boy then punched the bandit that tried to chop him in the gut, and dodged another strike aiming for his balls. The boy kicked back with a fierce speed, connecting and dropping the bandit who threw the kick on the first place.


    Turning back around, the boy saw the hunter stabbing a bandit in the throat, the fighter catching the sword of the knight in her bare hands, and the looters looking cautiously towards the boy and the hunter. The boy smiled, before intercepting another attack, an attempted slice to his neck. The boy du ked under the sword, and uppercut the bandit.


    The bandit didn¡¯t keel over, so the boy took his time to side step and punch the bandit in the face as he was, which sent the bandit down on his side. The boy, not one to miss an opportunity, kicked the bandit¡¯s head into the soil, a splat accompanied with the action. The boy then felt something hard hit his back, making him stumble forward.


    The boy nearly ran into a stray slice of the knight¡¯s sword, just barely stopping himself by dropping on his ass. The boy swiftly spun around and got up, running back into the fray that were the common bandits. The boy saw multiple corpses around the hunter, but also saw she was bleeding from almost every part of her body, so he ran straight for her.


    The boy saw how one bandit was about to slash at her back, so he changed his trajectory to crash into the bandit. The boy with his speed and ferocity, crashed his spear palm into the bandit¡¯s neck, entering and piercing through the arteries there. Ripping his palm out, the boy turned to face the other bandit¡¯s.


    The boy just barely felt a sword about to stab him, so he leaped out of the way, receiving a minor scratch along his belly and getting into his fighting stance. Three bandits ran at the boy, all three with varying weapons consisting of a sword, and axe, and a club. The axe person was closest, and they wanted the boy¡¯s head.


    As the axe was coming, the boy waited until it couldn¡¯t be brought back and sidestepped the bandit, smacking him on the head with a fist. The boy then saw the sword bandit try and stab him in the gut, so the boy simply used the axe bandit as a meat-shield. The bandit, unable to stop his sword, stabbed the axe bandit through the chest, a sickening scrunch heard for all four people.


    The boy dropped the axe bandit, and punched the sword bandit in the chest, while dodging a swing from the club bandit. The boy, seeing the club bandit open, kicked hm in the knee, downing the bandit onto the ground. Feeling a slash coming for his side, the boy stepped out of the way, backhanding the sword bandit.


    The boy, seeing the sword bandit briefly stunned, hit the man on the neck to stun him further. Going around the coughing bandit, the boy gripped his neck and twisted in an unnatural way with extreme force, snapping it. The boy, upon seeing the body drop, went to the last bandit, who was fearfully looking at him.


    The boy ran at the bandit, who yelped and shabbily swung his club. The boy easily dodged it, and with maximum speed, punched the bandit in the chest. This shot the bandit away, leaving a fist imprint in their chest. The boy, finished with the three, observed the surrounding situation.

 Battle Pt. 2

    The hunter was holding her arm with her other arm, both of them bleeding far more severely than before. She was surrounded by corpses, but there were still four bandits around her. The fighter was heavily cut all over her body, some of her flesh even sticking out from some parts. But the knight wasn¡¯t in good shape either, as you could see several fist shaped indentations around the plate armor.


    The boy, deciding to save the huntress, picked up the axe and threw it at one of the bandits. It hit nobody, and fell in-between their feet. All five people looked to the fast approaching person, and one of them didn¡¯t reach fast enough. The boy, using his spear palm, pierced the throat of one of the bandits.


    The other¡¯s reacted quick. The huntress threw her weapon between one of the bandit¡¯s eyes, and dropped to the ground, unconscious. That left the last two, which both swung at him with an overhead strike, aiming to stick their swords in his skull. The boy used his shoulders to block their hands, stopping their attack in its track.


    The boy then threw both of their arms away, and kicked one of the bandit¡¯s in the groin. The other, the boy made a spear palm and stabbed into the bandit¡¯s stomach. One of the bandit¡¯s clutched their groin, while the other gasped out in pain. The boy ripped out his arm, and went around the living bandit, who just barely recovered.


    The bandit struggled as the boy grabbed around their neck. The tried clawing at the boy face, but the boy just struggled through and snapped it with all the force he could muster. The body dropped, and the boy looked to the stabbed bandit. Having doubts about the bandit¡¯s death, the boy brought up his leg, and stomped down on the bandit¡¯s head, a splat being heard by the boy as he did.


    Sighing, the boy looked around and found corpses littering the area, and the fighter still duking it out with the knight. The by went to huntresses'' body, and looked signs of life. She was still breathing, which was advantageous for the boy. The boy turned his attention back to fighter and the knight, and saw that both the fighter and the knight were heaving.


    The boy sat down near the huntresses'' body, and watched what they were going to do next. The boy saw the fighter make the first move, her body glowing as if she was charging up for something. The knight seeing this, made his sword start glowing. The boy watched with wonder in his eyes, wanting to see their attacks.


    The fighter made the first move after glowing for a sufficient amount of time. She practically disappeared for a moment before reappearing above and behind the knight''s head. She punched it just as the knight swung his sword into her leg. Both strikes struck true, and the knight fell, the fighter dropping on top of him.


    ¡®That was fucking cool.¡¯


    The boy got up from the ground, and went to the body of the fighter. She was a shitshow; she was bleeding from several spots all over her, there were bruises everywhere, and the cut on the leg was killing her very fast. The went over to their loot bag, when...


    [Congratulations! You have defeated seven opponents or a slightly higher level than you! You have received 245 EXP and now have 870/3000 EXP needed to reach level 3. Good Luck!]


    The boy smiled for a bit, before rummaging through and finding some deep red liquids in small vials. The boy reminisced, slightly shuddering before giving two vials each two both the women, and saw both of their bodies shake a bit before the boy saw their wounds started visibly healing.


    The boy satisfied, went back to the loot pile and found his amulet and tied it to his foot. It was time to loot all of the corpses.


    -----------------------------------


    The day¡¯s passed uneventful, as the boy ate food and organized all the viable loot. Almost all of the knight¡¯s gear had the boy taken of the body, and some other pieces he put on himself to stop being naked. He also took some coins and other things from different bandits, not bothering with the rusty weapons or the extremely dirty clothing. The bodies were a problem, however.


    Not only did they start to smell, but they had also started attracting animals. The boy couldn¡¯t figure out what to do them, as burying them would require a lot of work which he wasn¡¯t willing to put in. So, with much time to think, the boy came up with an idea.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The boy looked for what the women used to start the fire that cooked the deer, and found some flint and steel. The boy, pocketing the item, started gathering all of the bandit corpses in one big pile. ¡®This is going to smell so fucking bad.¡¯


    The boy then remembered to set up a good bonfire foundation before burning the large amount of people, so he set up a foundation out of any and all sticks he found within a kilometer-wide radius. He also broke almost every axe the bandits had chopping down tree¡¯s into pieces, but they were useless anyway.


    Finally, the next morning had come, and the pile of bodies would burn well. Before the boy could start the fire, he heard a loud groan coming from behind him. The boy turned around, and saw the fighter slowly getting up from her position on the bed the boy found for her. The boy put away the flint and steel, turning and heading towards her.


    She said something in her gargled-up language, but the boy didn¡¯t understand. He asked her: ¡°You okay?¡± The fighter opened up her eyes, looking to the boy, and the pile of bodies behind him. She looked extremely worried after seeing the bodies, and how they were piled up. The boy upon hearing no response, went back to burn the pile of corpses.


    The fighter said something, but the boy, unable to understand the gibberish, kept on going. Using several torches with dried bandit clothing on them, the boy lit all the torches on by one, and throwing them into the small spaces created for oxygen. The boy watched as the fire started, and went to grab all of the packed-up loot.


    The fighter looked horrified, the boy snapping her out of her stupor by calling out to her and pointing at the body of the huntress, motioning to lead the way out of the forest. The fighter looked at her partner, looking amazed. ¡®She¡¯s probably amazed I didn¡¯t kill her or that bitch.¡¯


    The boy stood there, watching the fire develop, when the fighter finally moved, picking up the hunter, and heading out into the forest, the boy following suit.


    -----------------------------


    The boy and his group went for a few day¡¯s in one direction, only stopping to eat the ever-lowering supply of doe meat or to sleep. It didn¡¯t help that the group couldn¡¯t hunt, as the forest fire behind them made all the animals escape or burn alive. But with some prodding from the boy, he found out they were close to some form of settlement. ¡®Oh, thank god.¡¯


    The huntress, who had woken up by the sixth day, was constantly giving the boy stares, almost like she was looking at a monster. The boy didn¡¯t mind, he just wanted to get to some form of civilization, as being in a group with two nudists that could kill him at any moment was putting him on edge.


    Thankfully, the group had reached the supposed civilization the next morning.


    And then came all of the possible problems.


    The guards, upon seeing the two nudists, stopped the group from entering the settlement. They started to talk in the gibberish, so the boy turned to look to the nudists, whom both sighed and started to talk. After about half-an-hour of this, the guards, tired and slightly angry, let the group through with a few understandable warnings. The boy later cleared it up as just simple laws.


    Upon entering, the group separated, the boy going to find what was closest to an adventurer''s guild, as he wanted to eat, and he couldn¡¯t do so without money. The search didn¡¯t take long, as the boy just simply looked for a sign that had an image of weaponry on it in a crest like shape.


    Upon entering, the boy was surprised to see other races then humans. He saw two humanoids made of a stone-like material, their sizes far greater than his. The boy saw how they were discussing things near a board with different sized paper on it. ¡®I guess that¡¯s the board; those are the boulders blocking the board.¡¯


    The boy, to pass the time while the rocks blocked his passage, went up to a line with several different people, all looking around as if looking out for something. The boy couldn¡¯t care less, he was just looking at different people around the room.


    The boy saw multiple shady individuals looking in his direction Some had dark hoods and cloaks, some had outrageous attire with multiple forms weaponry all over them, and the boy even spotted some shiny objects being twirled around in the shadows. ¡®Well, this is a tourists paradise...¡¯


    It was finally the boy¡¯s turn at the booth, and the first thing he asked was: ¡°English?¡± The woman looked at him weird, before making a soundless ¡°Ahh¡± face, and pointing over to a different booth. The boy said ¡°Thanks,¡± and headed over to the practically empty booth. There was only the attendant, and the previous person was seen walking away.


    The boy walked up, and saw the most superior specimen of a man. A moustache to rival that of any merchant, the shiniest, baldest head the boy had ever seen, and muscles on almost every part of the man¡¯s torso and arms. The boy was speechless for just moment, before recovering, thinking to himself: ¡®How the fuck did they hire the God of Strength!?¡¯


    ¡°Hello, I am here to make money.¡± Said the boy.


    ¡°WELL, WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? WE HAVE MOSNTER HUNTING JOBS, DELIVERY JOBS, SUBJUGATION...¡± The god went on and on, listing off all of the job types. The boy¡¯s ears nearly bled by the end of it, and the told the god to tell him about the jobs that gave the most money.

 Its Delivery Time!

    The boy was walking through the forest surrounding the town, proceeding with delivery service. The god had told him that this job was the most lucrative, and the boy stopped him before the god could even start listing of the ¡°dangers.¡± All the boy did, was interrupt the god and ask for the backpack carrying all goods he was supposed to deliver.


    The boy however, wasn¡¯t happy with the way things were going. He was supposed to climb the nearest mountain, and the delivery went to a monastery. ¡®Why must the religious people always live so high???¡¯


    The boy walked and walked through the forest, and by the end of the day, got to the foot of the mountain. Not one to give up so easily, the boy started to climb. Getting to the top of the mountain took him almost the entire night, along with almost slipping off and falling to his death do to some poor decisions while climbing.


    The boy, once finally at the top of the mountain, laid on the pointy mountainside and heaved. His clothes torn apart, multiple bruises and scratches all over him, the boy didn¡¯t want to continue. Then, he remembered all of the money he would be earning if he did complete this quest.


    Heavily sighing, the boy checked the backpack and headed on onwards to the top of the mountain.


    The boy, upon seeing the rising sun, groaned and continued onwards. ¡°This better be worth it, or I¡¯ll burn down the monastery to make it worth it.¡±


    The boy continued up and up the mountain, and finally saw the monastery in the distance. Reinvigorated, the boy continued upwards at a faster rate, the pursuit of money driving him forward at a rate he previously hadn¡¯t achieved before. As the monastery was coming closer and closer into view, the boy went faster and faster...


    And then the mountain shook.


    It was as if some child was shaking a bag with an unmoving clownfish inside, seeing it was still alive. The boy nearly tripped, almost falling over and off the mountain, when the source of the shaking revealed itself in-front of him. Whatever it was, it was made from an extremely reflective material. It had five appendages, and bloated the sun out with its size and positioning.


    The boy however, didn¡¯t give it any time to react as he just ran beside it and headed straight for the monastery. The creature looked behind itself, and seeing the boy making extreme progress toward the monastery, roared out. It fell to the ground, and propelled itself using all five of its appendages. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The boy was almost upon the monastery when he quickly glanced back. Seeing the creature, and now being able to understand exactly what was coming for him, the boy doubled down on his speed. ¡®WHY IS THERE A GIANT ARM IN-FRONT OF THE TEMPLE?!?!¡¯


    The arm was pure white, the finger nails almost invisible, and it was skidadling to the boy at an incredible speed; so incredible was the speed that the it was going to catch the boy in a few seconds. The boy smashed into the large, ornate wooden doors of the monastery, breaking through them and into the monastery.


    The boy looked back, extremely hoping that the arm wouldn¡¯t bust into the monastery like the boy did. The boy saw the arm menacingly stand on its five fingers, facing him as if were looking at him. Eventually, the arm went back, to what the boy guessed was the hole it came out from. Seeing the danger pass, the boy stood up, and was faced with religion.


    In-front of the boy were multiple bald-headed men and women in black robes, several weapons of varying types pointed at the boy. One bald-headed person stood in-front of the boy, looking solemn and unmoving. The other members of the monastery slowly approached the boy, until he spoke out.


    ¡°I have a delivery here for...¡± The boy took the sheet out of an easily reachable backpack pocket and looked at it. ¡°...A Grandmaster T¡¯Rine?¡±


    The hooded person held up their hand, and all the other monks in the black weapons stopped, their weapons still pointed at the boy. The hooded figure grabbed their hood, and let it down, revealing some interesting features. She had completely black eyes like she was possessed, and her entire forehead had black liquid flowing in around it.


    The boy slightly raised his eyebrow, and handed the mutated human the letter. Practically swiping the letter from his hand, the boy¡¯s hand was left empty in the air as the supposed grandmaster read the letter. Finishing the reading session, the grandmaster snapped their fingers, and all the weapons from the monks were sheathed.


    Handing the boy back the letter, the grandmaster started speaking. ¡°Pleased to meet you, kinsman. I see you have met Robert, our guardian. He hasn''t given any trouble, has he?¡± The boy, slightly taken aback by name and implications, replied, ¡°Well, actually-¡± before the grandmaster interrupted him.


    ¡°Well, that is good. Tseru, kshitemara ire botu.¡± Said the grandmaster while pointing at the bag of the boy. Two monks then headed towards the boy and motioned for him to take off the backpack. The boy did just so, and the monks grabbed both of the straps, heading off with it to some portion of the building. The grandmaster then turned around, and motioned her students to head back to their business.


    Once all of the students were gone, the grandmaster turned to the boy and stretched out their hand. ¡°My name is Grandmaster T¡¯Rine. And you are?¡± The boy stretched out his hand, ¡°Name¡¯s-¡± and as the boy was talking, his touch shot the grandmaster backwards several meters, through a pillar and a wall, into a room.


    The boy, aghast at what just happened, didn¡¯t move from his spot and just watched as all of the monks he just saw rush out to see what happened. Almost all of them ran to the scene of destruction, with two monks unsheathing their weapons and running towards the boy. The boy, upon sensing danger, got into his fighting stance. ¡®WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!¡¯

 Trapped and Sent Away

    The boy and the two monks were staring down each other, seeing who would make the first move. The boy did notice how the eyes of one monk were darting back and forth. The boy was about to pounce the slightly distracted monk, when he saw the grandmaster slowly getting up to her legs.


    The boy relived the tension in his legs, and lifted his body to a regular stance. Unfortunately, the nervous monk took this as a sign of aggression, and stabbed his scimitar towards the boy¡¯s heart.


    Almost instantly, the boy activated Eyes of Chronos. Time slowed down to a crawl, and the boy went over his situation. Then it came to the boy, as he was staring down the incoming scimitar; he could just catch the sword. After some quick decision making, the boy came to the conclusion that it the only logical solution.


    So, like a slightly faster snail, the boy brought his hands up to the blade, and pressed as hard as he could on the blade¡¯s center. The boy, filled with confidence, watched as the sword proceeded ever closer to his chest, only slowed down slightly. Now filled with extreme fear, the boy moved as fast a s he could out of the way of the sword, all the while trying to slow down or even stop the blade.


    The boy, now sure that he cannot stop the blade, deactivates Eyes. Everything returns back to normal, as the sword pieces through the clothes and cut off a thin slice of the boy¡¯s skin. Incredible pain shot through the boy, as both the air started stinging him like a bee, and the cold metal of the scimitar froze the exposed meat.


    Barely responding, the boy sent two fingers into the eyes of the monk, sending them sprawling backwards while clutching their face and screaming in pain and discomfort. The boy clutched his open wound, all the while watching as the other monk stood there, unsure of what to do.


    Suddenly and without warning, a blade flew past the boy¡¯s head. The boy shot his head, looked at the blade, and then looked to where it came from; all these performed with a ¡°What the fuck?¡± expression on his face. There, approaching slowly and looking heavily damaged, was the grandmaster, looking like she just received one thousand cuts all over her body.


    Seeing the sorry, bloody state the grandmaster was in made the boy extremely worried. ¡®I swear, if she blames this on me...¡¯ Then, out of nowhere, the grandmaster fixed her position, and pointed back with her hand, while turning her head to the boy. ¡°Would you like to come with me please?¡± In a voice all too sweet to be good-natured.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t think I want to follow you. Just please sign...¡± The boy went to the backpack, and pulled out a sheet of paper that looked very much like confirmation documentation. ¡°...These papers and I¡¯ll be on my way.¡± The grandmaster¡¯s smile grew even further. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t let you do that, Time.¡±


    Near instantly, several shadows appeared behind the boy. He turned to see all of the dark figures holding polearms pointed at the boy, blocking the exit to the monastery. Turning back around to face, the boy saw lots of monks sitting on the rooftops, all holding bows with arrows knocked into them, ready to shoot.


    Sighing, the boy headed over to the grandmaster, feeling the shadows following behind him, and the archers following him with their bows. The grandmaster, still smiling, went ahead in-front of the boy, making almost no sound as she walked, only occasional droplets of blood from her wounds marking the floor.


    The boy and T¡¯Rine walked into and through the monastery, the boy noticing the beauty of some intricate designs on the walls. ¡®What the hell is that dragon doing to that sheep? Oh, that is a nice representation of a panda...¡¯ Sometime later, the boy looked out of a window, and noticed that he was higher up than he started.


    Looking down, the boy also noticed he was on a spiral staircase, slowly but surely going up to the very top of the tower that was in the middle of the monastery. The boy also noticed how T¡¯Rine had a change of clothes while heading up, as the robes she wore were a completely different color and had no bloody spots on them.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Soon enough, the boy and the grandmaster got to the top of the tower. And taking one glance around the room, the boy was forced to whisper ¡°How much money do these monks have??¡± The room¡¯s walls had been painted royal red, the tops and bottom lined with sheets of gold, and four pillars in the room with golden inscriptions on them in a unknown language.


    When the boy finished gawking at the opulent room, he returned his eyes to the location of T¡¯Rine, and saw her making a circle around herself with a mysterious white substance.


    The boy, without moving a centimeter, asked: ¡°What are you doing?¡± To which he got no immediate response, as the grandmaster just finished the circle, and stood straight, looking at the boy. ¡°I have drawn a protection circle with this blessed sugar. Have a good journey.¡±


    Wait, what do you...and she disappeared. And I still didn¡¯t get my money...¡± As the boy was thinking about his next move, the walls started to melt. Their once royal color turning to a deathly sick grey, the gold turning to a poisonous green, and the pillars turning to dust and starting to float into a circular shape.


    The boy, thoroughly confused by his surroundings, looked back to where he came from. Seeing the door start to melt, the boy went to try and open it. As soon as he grabbed the handle, it melted into the same grey goop as the walls. The boy, throwing the goop off his hands, tried to kick down the door, but his goop just absorbed all of the force that his foot brought down.


    Panicking, the boy swiftly turned around, looking for an exit. Several things became abundant after the point the boy looked around the state of the room. One, the end of the room, where the lookout over the rest of the mountain was, was untouched. Two, the pillars had completely turned to dust, and all of it was coming to together to form a growing ball.


    The boy ran to the windows at the end of the room. But, halfway along the way, the ball turned to a black hole. The boy found himself running on the spot, slowly starting to go backwards in the direction of the ball. The boy looked back to see all the goop, both grey and green, being sucked into the ball, turning to dust as soon as it crossed a certain boundary.


    Reinvigorated by his wish to remain as flesh, the boy put maximum power into his legs and arms, starting to run on all fours. The boy gained some distance, almost reaching the windows, when the ball started to suck things in with far greater fervor. The boy noticed himself starting to float backwards at an accelerated rate.


    The boy tried to grab onto something, but everything in the room was gone or was turning to dust. Once the boy finally reached the dust ball, everything went black.


    -------------------------------------


    The boy vision returned got him not a second later, and he was in a far stranger environment than before. He was still in a room, but the walls didn¡¯t have one color, they continuously shifted in all ways possible. At one second the wall looked smooth, almost like a spreading of chocolate, then turning into a sand-like material.


    Taking his eyes of the walls, the boy found a small person sitting on a bed in-front of himself.


    The human wore a red mini-skirt, it constantly fluttering about like it was been driven around by a light breeze. Below the red mini-skirt, the figure wore red stockings, those flowing upwards and downwards in a continuous motion, mesmerizing like a peaceful river. Below those, the figure wore red high heels. The boy took a closer look, and saw that they were just regular high heels.


    Above the waist line did the person wear a short leather jacket and crop-top, both being an azure color. Unchanging they were, still and unmoving. On their hands did the person wear azure biker gloves, as unchanging as the jacket. Finally, on top of the persons head was... a hat, and another, and another, and another...¡¯Why is their hat changing every moment?¡¯


    ¡°So, you¡¯ve finally arrived. How unmannered of you, making a girl wait this long for your arrival...well it matters not. Welcome to Abroo.¡±


    ¡°...Who are you?¡± Said the boy, confusion filling his tone.


    Looking like she was just shot, the girl responded: ¡°With all that you have done, you still don¡¯t know who I am?¡± The girl left the question hanging, leaving the boy to respond. And just as he was about to, she started talking again.


    ¡°I am Carmira, the Goddess of Time and Death. And quite frankly, you have done a lot of killing. So much so, that some Gods have decided that it is time for you to go bye-bye.¡± The goddess left off there, letting her words sink into the boy. After a few moments, Carmira continued: ¡°So, I propose a deal: You become my champion!¡±


    As the goddess finished, small fireworks went off behind her, filling the room with a celebratory aura. The smile on Carmira¡¯s face was wide, and she stared at the boy waiting for an absolute agreement. But the boy stared at the goddess with a ¡®Who do you think you are?¡¯ look, his face remaining the same until the fireworks ended. And just when he was about to start talking, an explosion occurred behind the boy.

 Its Time To Commit Thievery!

    The boy couldn¡¯t even turn his around completely to look when two doors were shot beside him into the goddess¡¯s bed. The boy turned his head around again, and saw that the Carmira was unfazed, and her look told the boy that she was slightly disgusted with what was behind him. So, glancing back, the boy looked and saw what caused the explosion.


    There standing in the space where the doors previously stood, was a tree-person. The girl had tree-bark for skin, extremely curled horns, and her eyes glowed with a deep green, almost like she had no actual eyes. The boy also noticed how the women wore no clothing, but also had no genitalia to speak of, except some unfeatured breasts.


    Not a moment later, did the pissed-off treant start shouting at Carmira.


    ¡°Carmira, what have you done, bringing this... this thing into our holy realm?! You know what he is and what he has done, so why did you invite him here?! Carmria, looking completely unfazed by the verbal barrage just shot at her, responded with the calmest of voices: ¡°You¡¯ll have your champions, and I have finally decided to get one for myself.¡±


    Looking horrified, the treant screamed out into a supposed hallway, and the boy heard something very large start running. The boy slowly got up and went to the wall, as unnoticeably as he could. However, all his sneaky efforts were proved pointless when the wall he was heading to suddenly burst open, the material flying everywhere around him and into the other wall as well as the bed.


    In-front of the boy, there stood a large humanoid. The thing was colored black, slightly less dark then the boy¡¯s Abyssmal. The thing was twice the size of the boy, and its head was its strangest part. It was a stumpy stub, with one singular blue gem in the middle with some strange liquid in it that sloshed around when the body moved.


    The boy stopped in his tracks, as the humanoid turned its stump of a head to look down at him. Then, came the voice of the treant from the background, ¡°K¡¯thrzx, do please take our guest to the Room, while we talk Carmira.¡± The humanoid complied, as it grabbed the boy, and headed through the hole in the wall.


    The boy turned his head one last time, and saw the treant, and other un-detailed figures enter the room.


    --------------------------------


    The boy was currently sitting in a leather chair, the humanoid standing beside him, supposedly staring off into space. ¡®I¡¯m getting heavy waiting room vibes here.¡¯ The boy was currently sitting in a hospital waiting room, almost like he was waiting for his doctor to accept him for his appointment. It was a very boring time, as nothing had happened since he was brought to this seat five minutes ago. But the boy had a ¡°plan¡± to get out of this situation.


    The boy started poke the humanoid. It showed no response, so the boy started slapping it. There was no response, so the boy got up, and tried to leave through the hole that the humanoid created. This triggered a response, as the humanoid grabbed the boy by his ripped shirt.


    The humanoid threw the boy back into the chair, and went back into its standing place. The boy, equipped with new knowledge, started to get out of the chair, and stood in-front of the humanoid. The humanoid didn¡¯t move, meaning that it only cared for when the boy tried to leave the room. ¡®So, all I have to do is remove its eye...¡¯


    So, the boy reached up to the humanoid¡¯s head, and grabbed the eye. Instantly, the humanoid shook and a message popped in in-front of the boy.


    [Hola Amigo. You have touched the ________ K¡¯thrzx, and have the option to change it. Please choose from these options:This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Eldritch Abomination: A mix of many animals and beings, such creatures have a mind of their own. Represented as nightmares in this and your world, they will start converting the nearest living being into one of their own, as to start their hivemind.


    Menehune: Back in your world, these people existed before your people ever tried to cross the oceans. Excellent craftsmen they were, building roads, churches and other great structures before the humans ever discovered how. If they come back, a new race of super-people will be created, exceeding humans in brain¡¯s and brawn.


    Deru: The thing with a thousand legs. Legends speak of these things roaming below the dirt, before the sun ever existed did they move, hunting each other and anything they saw moving. Those who speak of seen them tell that they first thought that they saw a regular man or woman, nude and looking about like they were seeing something. But when they got close, did their bones creak, and their blood freeze. Before them stood a half-man, half-millipede thing, and the claws on its hands, the teeth in its mouth, and the noise it made all enough to make anyone who saw them run. These abominations are the hunters of this world, and never show mercy once born.


    Abyssmal: ???]


    The boy took one look at the options, and crossed off one option immediately. ¡®Eldritch are too screwy, so not them. I currently don¡¯t need crafters, so probably not Menehune...The Deru are absolutely unneeded, so Abyssmal it is.¡¯


    And with that, the boy chose the Abyssmal. Instantly, the body of K¡¯thrzx started to change into that of the Abyssmal, beginning to grow smaller, its color beginning to look more like a black hole. When the transformation was done, the boy looked upon his sparring partner in perfect recreation, standing there and waiting.


    ¡®Stolen from two planets by the humans and their gods? Guess I¡¯ll have to take as I got...¡¯ The boy looked with a smile on his face to the Abyssmal, before starting his plan. ¡°I need you to go and run around till you find something that looks like treasure or a treasure room. Come back once you find it.¡±


    And with that, the Abyssmal ran through the hole in the wall.


    --------------------------------


    The boy sat on the chair, sleeping to pass the time while the Abyssmal was running around in the god¡¯s realm searching for the boy¡¯s loot. ¡°...put down the pizza...no, don¡¯t...pootis?¡±


    As the Abyssmal was running back into the room it found his master sleeping, so in a pure act of consideration, it followed its orders. It shacked the boy awake, until the boy told it: ¡°Stop, Stop, I am awake!¡± The Abyssmal then started running out of the hole again, with the boy following suit.


    The boy and the Abyssmal ran for 10 minutes, with the boy tiredly jogging behind.  Once finally arrived at the place, the Abyssmal got into its original position, and the boy looked upon two very large doors.


    The doors were made of gold, as far as the boy could tell. On the front, the boy saw etched into them were extremely magical carvings. He saw wars been fought in-front of him, forests growing and dying, the animals in them living and migrating, and he saw heroes walking the plains, their deeds written onto the wall in a language he finally understood.


    The boy was amazed by the doors before him, before he noticed something very peculiar near the bottom of the doors. For a moment, the boy saw a slight line appear and then disappear, like it was never there in the first place. ¡°Hey, come here for a moment.¡± The Abyssmal reanimated from its statue-like position, and came beside the boy. ¡°Go and experiment with that space over there and see if it opens.¡±


    The Abyssmal did so, and started to ¡°experiment¡± with the space the boy pointed to. The Abyssmal pushed as hard as It could on the space, and fell right through to the other side. The by, surprised went ahead and did the same thing, finding himself in a hallway leading into a chamber.


    The boy was in a hallway with rainbow colored walls, of which the rainbow constantly moved forward to the end of the hallway. As soon as the boy entered, the Abyssmal went back through the small hole, leaving the boy alone in the hallway with six doors. Three doors on each side of the hallway, the boy wasted no time and did ¡°Innie minnie minnie mo¡± on the doors.


    Landing on the third door on his left, the boy came over to it and entered.

 Level Up!

    As soon as the boy entered, it felt like he just went ahead and entered the Abyss. He saw nothing but darkness around him, and strangely enough, when he looked down to the rest of his body he could see perfectly clear, almost like his vision went back to 20/20. Then the boy saw the eyes.


    Instant exit back to the hallway.


    ¡®What kind of fucking abomination lives in that room?!¡¯ The eyes that the boy saw made him live through the entirety of three nightmares, and possibly more if he hadn¡¯t exited at the time he did. So, the boy performed ¡°innie minnie minnie mo¡± again, and chose the first door on the left.


    In the room, which was colored a plain brown all over, was a marble stand containing nothing. The marble stand stood there, bare and uninteresting. But the boy, not one to leave behind such a curiosity as nothing, came over to the stand. The boy inspected the object from all sides, and then thinking something might be underneath the stand, pushed it over.


    As soon as the boy touched the stand, the room changed to color to white, and he heard a disembodied voice say: ¡°New Individual Found. Processing Potential and Power Level...Potential: Ruler of The Rite, Power level: Demi-God. Attaching...¡± As the sentence finished, the table started to morph around the boy hands, the boy himself frozen for a moment.


    Regaining his senses, the boy tried shaking his hand, but found the marble froze his whole arm, as it refused to move. The boy tried to move back, but the marble thing struck without being seen, as it froze his legs in place by engulfing them as it did his hand. The boy, unable to move, resolved himself to the mercy of the stone.


    After a moment of not moving, the marble thing started to climb the boy almost like water would if you were to enter it. The boy let it climb, as he himself regain control of his limbs the more it climbed. After five minutes of a turtle-like climb, the stone thing fully disappeared into his clothes, weightlessly moving about on his back.


    ¡®Why must it fell like a few hundred spiders moving on me...¡¯ The boy, very uncomfortable, moved out of the room, which returned to its plain brown, and headed back into the hallway. Upon exiting, the door behind him closed on its own, and disappeared in the most sci-fi like manner possible. ¡°Wow, it''s almost like space time collapsed in that one space for that moment...¡±


    The boy then went to the room directly in-front of the recently disappeared one, the first door on the right. Upon entering, the boy felt like an astronaut. It was like he had just stepped in actual space. The boy saw stars and the black spaces between them, and in the middle of it all, there floated a perfectly still knife.


    The knife looked to be a chef knife, the blade containing an entirely different star system, which moved around, showing different colored stars and other very beautiful things. The boy started tried to walk through space to get to the knife, but to no effect. So instead he got into a laying position, and using all his limbs, shot himself into the knife.


    The boy shot right below the knife, and grabbed it. As soon as his hand was around the knife, the boy felt instant regret.


    The boy felt like his head was just cracked open, like an egg that was just thrown into a skillet. A rush of continuous, seemingly endless knowledge kept on pouring into the boy¡¯s head, further killing his brain. But then, in the nick of time, the stone thing came from his back and wrapped the boy¡¯s head whole, somehow stopping the flow of information.


    The boy then felt the marble crawl done his hand, feeling like a few hundred spiders were making their way towards the knife. Upon finally reaching it, the marble consumed the knife from the boy¡¯s hand, and retreated back to its spot on the boy¡¯s back. Gaining his vision back, the boy saw a message.


    [Congratulations! You have acquired two of the six Relics! You have:


    ???: It was once said that the White Thing was the pet of a powerful being, a being that could end the universe with the White Thing. But, the White Thing saw it was being used, and killed its former master. After that, it had found many masters over many years, searching for its creator.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°???¡± renamed to ¡®The White Thing¡±


    Edge: The Goddess Carmira, responsible for time and the death of everything, created this weapon to cut down her enemies, and end all that couldn¡¯t be ended by regular means. It is said in an ancient text that everything that ever died is kept in the blade, and that is what gives it the power to give the knowledge of all that it has taken. Holding this item will kill an unworthy wielder.]


    The boy sent away the message before noticing that the room had changed from space to pure white, almost like it just turned into the negative abyss. The boy, his head still feeling cracked, searched for the door, and got out as soon as he found it. He heard the room disappear behind him, as he sat against the wall, eyes closed and resting.


    ------------------------


    The boy woke from his rest, the head pain gone away and the White Thing still feeling like a few hundred spiders on his back. The boy slowly got up, and had an epiphany. ¡°I can now kill the abomination!¡± Although the knife had nearly killed the boy, it also could now allow him to murder the abomination.


    Slowly, the boy walked in-front of the room, and felt the marble rush down his back and to his hand, covering his hand in a slight layer. He then felt something go above that layer, as the marble placed the knife in his hand. ¡®At least my skull is feeling like it was just smashed...¡¯ The boy breathed in and out, before heading into the room again.


    The boy felt as if the abomination knew his exact plan, because as soon as he entered, its stare was already upon him. The boy saw nightmares, horrors, abominations in those eyes, and he couldn¡¯t move an inch. That is until the White Thing decided to help again, as it wrapped around his eyes, blocking off his vision.


    Now that the boy couldn¡¯t see, he relied on sound to guide him to the abomination. However, almost like it knew this, the thing didn¡¯t move, nor did it make a sound when breathing. The boy resorted to his last option; swinging and hoping to hit the thing. The boy heard a quickened breath for one moment, throwing the knife in the direction of the sound.


    He struck true, as he heard the abomination make the most wretched of noises. Not one to waste an opportunity, the boy jumped toward the noise, and felt himself latch onto...fur. ¡®No wrinkly, absolutely irritating skin?¡¯ The boy, slightly surprised, reached up with his hand as fast as he could to the top of the creature and found it to getting thinner.


    ¡®I am on the neck...¡¯ The boy shifted slightly around the jumpy thing¡¯s supposed neck, and started to squeeze. The abomination, realizing its position, started to jump into the walls of the room, hoping to bash the boy off itself. To its demise, the marble skedaddled to and around the boy¡¯s arms.


    Unable to lose his grip, the boy waited out through the pain of having the rest of his body bashed against the wall. After three minutes, half the strength of the thing was lost, and boy only felt his entire left sized was bruised and maybe broken in a few places. The boy doubled down on his effort, squeezing harder; and it payed off. The abomination finally fell, the sound of its breath leaving the air, and its body slumping to the ground.


    The White Thing retracted back from the boy¡¯s eyes, leaving a pure white room in vision. ¡®Why does it have to such a pain for the eyes...¡¯ The boy stood, and looked at the creature he had killed.


    It was a completely black stag. Its horns were white, milky and pure. ¡®Why does the author have such a hard-on for black creatures...¡¯ The boy grabbed the stag corpse by the horns, and started to slowly drag it out of the room. Once finally out, the boy dropped the head of the stag, and heaved from the weight of the giant thing.


    [Congratulations, you have killed a Relic and have guaranteed two level ups! You are now LVL. 4 and have the ability to pick a new ability! You are now need 5000 EXP to level up again and are at 0/5000. Please choose from one of these skill¡¯s:


    Gait of Janus: Time is a relative thing. No matter how fast or slow, all see time differently. King of Time, time is absolute to you, as you are it and it is you. You gain an active ability that allows you to walk at a far faster rate than normal. Scales with level.


    Brush of Time: The world is your playground, your battlefield, as you have created all of it. You paint the world as you like, with the color of your actions or the paint of your enemies. You gain the passive ability to incorporate the aspect of time into your fighting style. Scales with level.]


    ¡°Gait of Janus please.¡±


    [You have selected Gait of Janus. This is an active ability, and will drain your stamina with use. Good Luck!]

 Trouble Has Arrived

    The boy looked at the remaining doors, and choose to go for the second one on the right. Upon entering, the boy found himself in a room like the one that had the abomination. And for a short moment, the boy had remembered what had happened not too long ago.


    ¡®Breath in and out, in and out...¡¯ After reassuring himself that there wasn¡¯t another abomination, the boy looked around the room. The boy found a bright light source coming from the middle of the room, the source of it coming from a fire. The fire was in a golden brazier, which was...empty.


    ¡°But why...¡± The boy was clearly seeing the fires shadow, but the actual fire was invisible. The boy gazed into the empty space for a few moments, before heading to grab the brazier. ¡®Gold must be worth something.¡¯


    ---------------------------------


    The boy successfully managed to push the braxier out of the room, and it disappeared behind him. Of course, some hookups were there, as the boy had to let his hands cool down several times after touching the hot brazier. Once it finally came out, the boy pushed the brazier next to the dead stag.


    The rubbed his hands on his cloth, before finishing off the right part of the hallway. The boy went in, and saw a soothingly green room, with a flower pot in the middle. The boy strolled in, and started to inspect the pot. It was a large, plain brown flower pot. What made the pot interesting was what was growing inside of it.


    In the pot, was a suspiciously weed looking plant. The boy looked at it from several angles, carefully touched its leaves, and even after all the inspecting, deduced it was a magical weed plant. What made it magical was that the plant looked like it was made from pure mist, of which the mist was slowly circling around in the plant.


    The boy reached out, grabbed the pot, and headed back out of the room. The door disappeared, the boy placed the pot down on the ground, and headed into the last room. The room was an actual armory, with tables and stands with weaponry and armor on them. In the middle of the room, was another stand.


    ¡°Hey White Thing, are you two related by any chance?¡± The marble didn¡¯t respond, and just kept on giving off the feeling of a hundred spiders on your back. The boy chuckled, and then looked at what was on the stand. It was a head mannequin, and it had an eyepatch on it with a strange inscription on it.


    The boy went up to the mannequin, ignoring all of the weapons and armor. Upon picking up the eyepatch, nothing happened. The boy sighed in relief, before trying it on his head. As soon as the eyepatch was on his eye, the boy found himself in the abyss. The boy instantly took off the eyepatch, and sighed. Then, he grabbed it and exited the room.


    ¡®I wonder, why haven¡¯t any messages shown up yet...¡¯


    The placed the eyepatch on top of the weed plant, and then finally got his notification.


    [AMAZING! You have collected all six of Relics! Now, you*^&$^%*&&amp</img>**O]


    ¡°...Excuse me, what?¡± And at that moment, the white thing crawled from his back, and onto the boy¡¯s loot. The boy tried to grab onto the marble thing, but it escaped his grasp and encompassed everything that he took out. The boy stood there shocked, seeing all the slightly unnerving movement below the thing.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Before the boy even took a step, the White Thing ejected out the fur and the perfectly cleaned off bones of the black stag, the entire skeleton being held together by some white goo. The boy stayed away from the skeleton, before going over to pick up the fur. Just as he was about to grab it, the marble thing reached out and grabbed the fur back inside.


    ¡°Son of a bitch, give me back my shit!¡± The boy lunged at the marble thing in frustration; it moved out of the way as the boy was in the air. The next thing that the marble thing did was spit out the pot that held the weed, with stalk and the leaves sitting inside, dried up. The boy, confused as to why it did this, looked at what it as doing next.


    The marble thing spit out the brazier, with a few extra adjustments added to it. First, the brazier was floating by itself, and there was a lot of meat hanging above it. The meat was hanged from the same white goo as the bones; then the boy remembered how small the fire was before. He looked down to the shadow of the fire, and found it to be far higher, and far hotter when he approached. ¡®What is that thing doing?¡¯


    Then, the white thing finally finished. It slowly came off of the rest of the loot, and formed into...clothing.


    The top that he could wear was a cloak, one that looked it belonged in an old western movie. The cloak was black, had many drawings of gears, all of which were interconnected in some amalgamation of an unknown machine. Beside the cloak was a scarf, with the first ten roman numerals on it from start to end. Lastly, the was also some furry anti-black pants, which absorbed all the light that was around them. ¡®No shirt...¡¯


    The boy didn¡¯t know whether to put on or leave the clothing where it was. He looked at the slightly smaller white thing as it laid in its place, unmoving. Sighing, the boy took of his clothing, and put on the items he was given.


    [Kudos! You have been gifted two items created by the White Thing. These are:


    The Blueprint: The Machine created by the original Time is what decides everything and anything that happens. Only three individuals are free from it, them the original creators of all that is. This cloak is the blueprint for the Machine¡¯s core, a set of gears that make everything go turn. You get a 30% proficiency bonus to your Time related skills.


    Ten-Gauge: This is a scarf used by and for something that wants permanent change. Wearing this scarf grants the user the skill ¡°Countdown.¡± Using this skill permanently changes the world the user is currently in. Using the skill notifies the entire world, and will take ten seconds, with each of the numerals lighting up with every second. The countdown can be interrupted, and if it is, the skill has a cooldown of one year.


    Skill granted: Countdown.


    Good Luck]


    The boy was surprised that the pants weren¡¯t considered an item. But he didn¡¯t give it any thought, as he just turned his attention back to the brazier, as the marble thing decided to scoot back to his back. The boy saw how the meat was visibly being cooked above the fire, so he sat down and-BOOM.


    Suddenly, the door to the hallway had a giant dent in it. ¡°Oh no...¡± The boy guessed that the gods were just outside the door, and they really didn¡¯t want him near their stuff. ¡®I wonder how the Abyssmal is doing out there.¡¯ And as if almost on cue, another giant dent appeared, in the shape of a person. ¡®Well, shit.¡¯


    The boy felt the marble thing scuttle down from his back, and form a barrier in-front of the door. The boy heard the hitting continue, but no more dents were visible on his side, only slight jiggles from the White Thing. Being slightly less worried, the boy looked back to the brazier. ¡®COOK FASTER!¡¯

 From Heaven into Hell

    It had been an hour since the bashing started, and it was still going. And the boy knew that the white thing was soon about to give in, as previous wobbling had turned into hard shaking with each new hit. The boy looked for a way out several times, but couldn¡¯t find anything close to a backdoor anywhere with the hallway. So, he just sat in-front of the brazier, waiting.


    For a moment, the denting of the door stopped, and the White Thing jumped onto the brazier, collecting it and the meat above. The boy then saw it shrink to an impossible size, before skiddadling onto the boy¡¯s legs and up on his back. He shivered, as the feeling of a few hundred spiders crawling onto his back for god knows what time was still uncomfortable.


    The boy formulated a plan on how to get out, and prepared to run. A punch came towards the door, it finally falling down and revealing five very pissed off looking figures, with one just standing in the middle with a smug look.


    The figure in the middle spoke first ¡®See? I told you he would be here!¡± And upon closer inspection, the boy realized that the figure in the middle was Carmira. Then, another figure spoke as they were entering, and the boy heard a far less friendly tone from them. ¡°I DON¡¯T CARE IF YOU¡¯RE RIGHT OR WRONG, HOW IN THE HELL DID HE GET IN HERE?!¡±


    The tree person was pissed, and before the boy could even respond, he felt an extreme danger. He ducked, and heard a crashing sound behind him; looking back, the boy found someone had thrown a throwing axe the size of his head at him. The boy looked back, surprised and scared, and saw that another person had thrown the axe at him.


    The person was an extremely buff half-goat half-snake thing. It looked like the abominable love child of a goat and a snake, with the lower half belonging to the snake, and the top belonging to the goat. Strangely, the thing had human hands, one of which was holding a spear. The boy was ready to dodge the spear, before Carmira stopped any further action from the group and its members.


    ¡°FUCKING STOP! WE¡¯RE NOT SAVAGES LIKE OUR CREATIONS, so we should really reconsider this! The goat-man and the tree lady both stopped in their tracks, still spitefully looking at the boy. He smiled, before whispering to the White Thing: ¡°Let¡¯s get out before anything happens to us.¡±


    ¡°To whoms¡¯t are you whispering little, boy?¡± said another figure. The boy took a good look at them, and started to drool.  It was like somebody took everything out of his dream women, and put it into reality. The boy literally couldn¡¯t take his eyes off her, so the White Thing interrupted by covering his eyes, and his face, and it just kept going down.


    Soon enough, the White Thing covered the boy¡¯s entire body, controlling him like a ventriloquist and a puppet. The boy heard some muffled words, of which he couldn¡¯t understand. And right before he could say anything, the White Thing started to run. ¡®I should really get this thing a name...¡¯


    The boy felt something impact the side of his head, but he only felt the impact, not any pain. ¡®This makes for some great armor.¡¯ The White Thing continued to run like death, carrying the boy somewhere. Hopefully, somewhere to get them out of the realm and back to the land he was previously on.


    ------------------------------


    Some time had passed, with many different sounds and feelings coming and going as the suit carried the boy forward. He could tell that it was slowing down, all the blasts and other projectiles slowly taking their tolls at it. But what the boy didn¡¯t expect was it completely stopping.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    The suit came off, the boy looking around as he saw a portal in-front of him. The White Thing jumped into it near instantly, not giving any time for the boy to react or talk to it. The boy sighed, before hearing a loud crash behind him. He jumped into the portal instantly.


    [You have escaped and stolen from the gods, leaving their barracks dry and barren like a desert. You have received 5000 EXP, and have leveled up to level 5! Your abilities have slightly been increased. EXP till next level, 0/6000.]


    The boy didn¡¯t see the notification, as it appeared and disappeared right as he entered and exited the portal. He instead found himself falling through the sky, the white thing slightly below him. The boy didn''t know exactly where he was falling, but looking around, he couldn¡¯t recognize any landscape features. There were no towns, or any stupid monasteries on top of mountains. There was only a forest going into desert that stretched as far as the eye could see.


    Realizing that if he doesn¡¯t somehow stop or slow down his descent, he¡¯ll become a red splash on the dirt like red sun contrasting against the earth in a painting. He started to ¡°swim¡± towards the White Thing, who was carelessly falling like it did this every day. Upon reaching the White Thing several seconds later, the boy tapped on the hard marble, alerting it to his presence.


    The White Thing looked surprised, even without a face. It realized shifted from top to bottom, before going around the boy¡¯s body again, encasing him in itself. The boy sighed, and felt himself fall far faster now that he had so much more weight. It seemed that the White Thing hardened itself or just made itself denser. The boy didn¡¯t really care however, as he was satisfied that he wouldn¡¯t become a red smear.


    After a minute or so passed, the boy felt the impact. ¡®Uhhhhh, my body will be sore for a while now.¡¯ The boy felt the White Thing slowly climb off him, and onto his back. The boy slowly got up, making sure not to pull any muscle. Upon actually standing up, the boy looked around himself.


    He found several angry...things.


    The boy was surrounded by jelly balls. They had no faces to speak of, had nothing in them, and just wiggled...angrily. The boy also noticed that he was completely surrounded by these short little blobs, and that each one of them had a different color. After inspecting around himself, the boy looked down, and figured out why the jelly balls were angry.


    There was large splash of red and purple jelly below him. ¡®I landed on a blob, huh?¡¯ The jelly around the boy wiggled even harder, and started to approach him. The boy having nowhere to go, stood and waited for the jelly to make its way to him. As the blobs came up to his feet, they stopped, becoming more and more compact, combining themselves to form a giant, multi-colored jelly blob.


    The jelly produced a noise that reminded the boy of a very hungry stomach; a deep, deep rumbling sound vibrating through the jelly. The boy looked at the thing, and saw how more and more blobs kept coming into it and adding their colors to it. Soon enough, all the blobs were gone, and one giant blob, the size of two fully-grown trees stood before the boy.


    The jelly made one last grumble noise, before the boy¡¯s vision went dark.


    The boy woke up on the ground in... darkness. He felt the cold dirt as on his ass, his clothes still on him, as well as the amulet that was on his foot. The White Thing was still on his back, the feeling of hundreds of spiders not bothering him quite as much as it was before. Suddenly, there was light.


    He saw how some of the blobs were on fire, seemingly uncaring for how they were burning alive. Around them were other, multicolored jelly¡¯s that menacingly...blobbed in place. The boy had to stop himself from laughing, as he figured this was meant to intimidate him. Surprisingly, a voice came from behind him.


    ¡°WHO DARES ENTER OUR DOMAIN?!¡± A deep, non-human voice said behind him. It sounded like a mix of different humans together. The boy looked to see who the voice belonged to, and saw a giant blob of purple jelly; this one having a ball in its middle.


    Before responding the boy looked around, and saw that he was surrounded not only by blobs, but by dirt as well; dirt that was way too smooth. ¡°I do.¡± Said the boy back to the jelly. The jelly wiggled a bit before rolling starting to roll towards the boy.

 Slavery Start!

    The boy saw how the bib blob rolled closer and closer to him, and really felt like trying to run. He then remembered how there were probably hundreds if not thousands of other blobs behind him, so he stood his ground. Once the big blob finally finished rolling, it lay in front of him, the orb inside of it coming closer to the boy, and to the edge of the blob itself.


    Then the blob reverberated. ¡°HOW DARE YOU SPEAK LIKE THAT TO ME, OZYKMUDAS, KING OF THE SLIMES?!¡± The slime screeched at the boy, in the process spitting at the boy with large amounts of slime. The cleaned his face off from the slime as he was giving an answer to the king.


    ¡°Well, you see here my dear king, I just escaped from your supposed gods.¡± The slime wiggled thoughtfully after hearing that, it¡¯s core slightly starting to float around. ¡®I wonder why¡¯s he¡¯s the only one with a ball inside of him.¡¯ After a few more thoughtful moments, the slime king started to speak again.


    ¡°TELL ME HUMAN, WHAT ARE THE NAME OF THESE GODS?¡± The slime king said slightly less loud. ¡°Well, one of them was named... Camille? Cameron? Car-¡± The boy was interrupted by the slime.


    ¡°CARMIRA?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the name!¡± The boy said, slightly surprised that the slime knew about the gods. The slime then wiggled some more, its core moving inside in a thoughtful-like manner. The boy silently stood, making and scrapping several plans to get out of this situation. Suddenly, the king called out; ¡°RAZABON! COME HITHER!¡±


    A slime came out from the wave of other slimes, this one dark blue in color. The slime moved beside the king, and wiggled a bit and then stayed still as the king¡¯s core moved closer to it. The boy was still thinking of ways to escape, and still coming up on blanks when the king started speaking again.


    ¡°WE MUST CONFIRM YOU¡¯RE TELLING THE TRUTH, LET RAZABON HERE INSPECT YOU!¡± Then, right after the king finished, the blue slime wiggled over to the boy. The boy didn¡¯t try to resist, as nothing was worse than the feeling of The White Thing climbing on you. The slime swam onto and upwards to the boy¡¯s chest, staying there for a moment before glowing its color. The light was unexpected to the boy, so he basically got flash banged for a moment.


    After the blue went away from his eyes, the boy saw that the blue slime was beside the king, the king¡¯s core chaotically moving inside him. Confused, the boy looked around the cave, and saw that the rest of the slime¡¯s furiously jiggled as well. Now really confused, the boy looked to the king. ¡°What-¡±


    ¡°MORTAL, HOW DID YOU GET THAT POWER?!¡± The king shouted at the boy, his core threatening to jump out of his body as he did. The boy cleaned slime from his face again, before answering: ¡°Well, depends what power your taking about?¡±


    The king core went chaotic again, shooting in random directions all around the king¡¯s body. The boy looked in wonder, before the core shoot towards him again. ¡°THE POWER OF TIME ITSELF! THE LAST TIME HISTORY SPOKE OF SOMEONE WITH THAT POWER WAS AN EPOCH AGO, AND THAT WAS WHEN MY FOREFATHER¡¯S WERE STILL ALIVE! SO, TELL ME MORTAL, HOW DID YOU, A LOWLY HUMAN, ACQUIRE SUCH POWER?!¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The boy didn''t even bother to clean off the slime this time. ¡°Well, it was handed to me the day after I came here.¡± The entire cave went silent after his response; the king¡¯s core unmoving, staying in-front of the boy like it was frozen in time. Then, like the gods themselves made time move again, all hell broke loose.


    The slimes that surrounded the boy and the king started to wiggle furiously, literally vibrating in their spots. Some of them even started to climb to the roof, moving erratically on it. The king¡¯s core shot so hard into his back that it nearly popped of, and the closest slime¡¯s next to the boy started to climb onto him.


    The White Thing reacted first, coming out from his back and... eating the slimes. As each of the slimes got within range of it, it ate and ate them just by creating and moving tentacles around. More and more slimes approached the boy, but not before the king stopped everything. ¡°NOBODY MOVE!¡±


    The king grew limbs. He now had extremely thick hands, and really, really stubby feet. He had no face however, his core just being in the middle of his body. As soon as the slimes ¡®saw¡± the king in this form, the all backed off, those on the roof falling down into the available places. The king then grabbed the boy¡¯s head with both his hands, his core shooting to the edge closest to the boy.


    The king then, with the boy¡¯s head still grabbed, opened his eyes. The boy saw that the king¡¯s core started to glow, before blinding him. Before he even recovered from the flashbang, he was dropped onto the ground as the king started to speak. ¡°IT SEEMS THAT YOU TELL THE TRUTH, HUMAN. THAT ALSO MEANS THAT YOU GET TO WORK FOR US!¡±


    The boy slowly got up, and asked: ¡°...What do you mean, work for you?¡± The boy saw how the core inside of the king moved...heartily? ¡°YOU WILL FIND OUT SOON.¡± Then the boy was knocked out by something.


    ---------------------------------------


    The boy regained consciousness in another cave, this one having stone bars. The boy got d¨¦j¨¤ vu, and instantly started making a plan to escape the place. First, the boy noticed how he was in a small pocket of a larger cave, as a stony dead-end as behind him. Two, the boy noticed a lot of slime trails outside his cell, meaning guards were on regular patrol-


    The boy heard intense wiggling behind him. He looked out his cell to find ten slimes were laying there, wiggling. He looked slightly worried, before he saw all of them go in-between the bars and surround him. One of them tried to climb on his foot, at which point the boy kicked it off. The slime flew into the wall, before falling down and laying there.


    The slimes to wiggle again, this time making some of the nearby stone chips shake on the floor. Then they all jumped onto the different body parts of the boy. Two went onto his arms, two onto his legs, one onto his head, and the rest onto the connected parts of his body. Then, with all the slimes on him, the boy was dropped onto the floor as he was wiggled out of the cell.


    The boy was brought to another room, before the king slime, who was back in full slime form. ¡°WELL HUMAN, GOOD MORNING TO YOU!¡± shouted the king with obvious fake excitement. ¡°...Why am I here?¡±


    ¡°GOOD QUESTION HUMAN! YOU WILL HELP US KILL A LOT OF PEOPLE, OR YOU WILL DIE!¡± The boy looked at the slime king¡¯s core, before sighing heavily. ¡®This is going to be a fucking pain...¡¯

 Meet Teq

    ¡°You do realize that I¡¯m not as strong as you think, yes?¡± The boy said rather worriedly; he really wanted to take a break from all the crazy shit that has happened in the past thirty-one chapters. The king looked at him, and laughed, ¡°YES MORTAL, I DO REALIZE THIS! THIS IS WHY YOU¡¯RE GOING TO HAVE TEQ HERE TRAIN YOU!¡±


    The king pointed behind the boy, and he saw how something came out of the crowd. It looked like a midget, but had an ugly shade of green skin color. The thing also had large, pointy ears, which were semi-covered by its short black hair. The boy also saw that the humanoid was wearing something akin to monk¡¯s robes, but for very small people.


    The boy stared at it for a few moments, seeing it standing there and look at him. Turning to look at the king, the boy asked: ¡°What is it?¡± The boy was genuinely confused at what he was looking at, as he had never seen or heard of such a creature before. He saw how the thing made an ugly face, before the king spoke up. ¡°HUMAN, THAT IS YOUR TRAINER TEQ, AND SHE¡¯S A GOBLIN!¡±


    The boy looked back to the king ¡°A what?¡± he saw how the king wiggled in annoyance, before the goblin thing spoke up: ¡°Don¡¯t talk chief, I feel that broken bones will teach him better lessons.¡± said the goblin in a slightly raspy, female voice. The boy looked back to the goblin, just in time to see her disappear.


    The boy activated Eyes of Chronos, just in time to see a fist appear out of nowhere, the body connected to it filled with bloodlust. The boy shot his hand in a purely reactionary manner, moving the punch out of trajectory. This happened just in time to get his cheek grazed by the punch, and the boy to send another punch into the goblin.


    The goblin girl was completely surprised by this, allowing the boy¡¯s strike to go through. She was shot a few meters away, but almost instantly stood up, the surprised look still on her face. ¡°You will be interesting to teach! Come!¡± The boy looked back at the slime king, who just wiggled smugly. Sighing, the boy followed.


    A few minutes later, and a very silent walk through the cave, the boy and the goblin arrived to a room. This was a huge, dome¨Clike room, with nothing on the walls except weird looking lights. Before the boy got a chance to further inspect the room, he was attacked again; this time, with no preparation, he was sent back a few meters.


    The boy laid on his back, ready to not get up. He wanted no part in this ¡°training,¡± as it was more like torture to him; he didn¡¯t see a need to get stronger. However, seeing a short humanoid fly above, hover in the air for half-second, and then shoot back down towards is a great motivator to get back up.


    The boy rolled out of the way, having no time to rest, as the goblin mercilessly did a backflip on to his current position. The boy saw this coming however, and activated both Eyes and Gait at the same time. The world around the boy slowed down, but he was still the same. He caught the feet of the goblin just as they were coming down on his chest.


    He pushed the legs off back into the air, before getting to his feet and kicking the goblin in the ribs. Seeing her body slowly getting shot away, the boy felt pretty tired, so he deactivated both. The world returned to normal, and he saw the goblin hit the ground... and instantly get up, and devious smile on her face.


    The goblin disappeared from sight again, and the boy not prepared for the assault, got beaten into the dirt. First, he felt three punches into his chest, thoroughly forcing out all the oxygen in his lungs. Then a kick to his balls, a chop to his throat, and ankle shot to his head, and finally a drop kick to his back is what put him down into the dirt.


    ¡°You rely too much on your power, human. It¡¯s bringing you down, and if this was a real fight, you¡¯d already be dead. But I will fix you and your bad habit, and I will enjoy it!¡± The boy couldn¡¯t even respond, as he was still trying to get air back into his shocked lungs. The goblin waited a few moments, before saying; ¡°Now get up thirty-one, you have work to do!¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    ------------------------------


    The boy had to be brought back to his cell, as his legs wouldn¡¯t carry him back. Teq, the goblin girl had thoroughly broken his body many times, and then got those slimy bastards to heal him right up to perfect condition of fighting. And with the reward of taking a break being constantly on the horizon, the boy kept fighting.


    But it was all in vain; he could tell by his broken bones. He didn¡¯t even know if he got faster, all he knew was pain and hatred for the goblin as he went to sleep.


    As soon as the boy awoke, he saw the face of goblin. ¡°WHAT THE FUCK?!¡± Instinctively, the boy punched her face; or so he thought. She disappeared just as the punch was about to hit her face, and the boy got up because of the adrenaline and shock. ¡°You know thirty-one, if this was a real combat situation, you¡¯d already be dead.¡±


    Regaining some of his composure, the boy said: ¡°You said that yesterday... and why the hell do you keep calling me ¡°thirty-one"?¡± The boy yawned, just in time to see a very toothy grin come from Teq. ¡°Oh, that is because you¡¯re my thirty-first student.¡±


    ¡°What happened to the other thirty?¡±


    The goblin chuckled, the toothy grin growing as she said: ¡°They all died trying to kill me!¡± The goblin looked at the boy¡¯s apprehensive face, then saying: ¡°C¡¯mon, we have training to do.¡± The breathed his millionth sigh as he followed the goblin.


    The boy and the goblin arrived in the same room, and he didn¡¯t get attacked straight away; ¡®Well, this is surprising.¡¯ Teq turned around, a smile on her face. ¡°Alright thirty-one, let¡¯s train your speed. Start running!¡± The boy looked confused at the goblin, before she disappeared behind him and hit him on the back of the head. ¡°I SAID, START RUNNING!¡±


    The boy chose a direction, before starting to jog in a circle around the room. He saw how Teq calmly proceeded to the middle of the room, and sat down, closing her eyes and slowing her breathing. ¡®Well, might as well train my eyes...¡¯


    The boy slowed down his jog slightly, taking the Amulet of his foot and putting it around his neck. The boy eye¡¯s shot up in pain, but he didn¡¯t care, he just kept running.


    ----------------------


    Several hours later, the boy stopped. He was extremely sweaty, he was seeing white everywhere, and the amulet was glowing a deep red. He was laying on the cold, hard ground when Teq stood over him. ¡°What the hell do you have on you?¡± She picked up the Amulet, inspecting and putting it on her. The boy saw her outline, and gave up. ¡®This... won¡¯t be good¡¯


    Teq¡¯s eyes started to glow a bright light, which kept changing colors. She had a blank expression on her face; the boy took this opportunity to sleep.


    Not ten minutes later, the boy woke up with a wet feeling on his face. He opened his eyes and saw translucent orange everywhere. He immediately rolled over, putting the slime off his face and getting up to see Teq still in her trance. He calmly walked over to her, and took of the Amulet. He then promptly received a punch in the face.


    ¡°WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!¡± He held his nose, checking to see if it was bleeding. Upon seeing that he was fine, the boy tied the Amulet around his foot. ¡°The dimension of terror. What do I do next?¡± The boy looked tired, not wanting to do anything; but he also realized that he would get beat if he didn¡¯t.


    ¡°...Well let¡¯s test if you got any faster. Attack me!¡± He sighed, getting into position, and ran at her. ¡®...Why do I feel faster?¡¯  The boy figured out that he was moving unnaturally fast for what he was doing, and that he might be able to actually attack her; and she disappeared. The difference this time was, that the boy saw where she was going.


    Activating Eyes of Chronos, the boy saw that Teq was teleporting short distances to him. She appeared behind him, and the boy activated Gait. He backflipped, his leg coming down like a guillotine. Teq¡¯s head was smashed into the ground, and then the boy jumped above her, smashing both his legs onto her chest.


    Deactivating everything, the boy saw his unconscious ¡°teacher¡± laying helplessly on the ground. ¡°Hey White Th-Folo, can you steal her teleportation?¡± Folo moved from the boy¡¯s back, skedaddling down his leg and onto the goblin, enwrapping her. After a few moments, it came out, skedaddling up to the boy¡¯s head, and enwrapping it.


    He stood still, slightly slouching while Folo was feeding him information. When it was finally done, the boy found out several things; ¡®What the hell are stats?¡¯

 Discovery

    He tried to look at his ¡°stats,¡± but no matter what he said, the boy couldn¡¯t access them. It was like he was locked out of the seeing them. Putting the currently unachievable aside, the boy went to the achievable; learning to teleport.


    ¡®I need her to train me... let¡¯s start.¡¯ The boy started to slap the little goblin. After a few slaps, she awoke, wide-eyed and instantly going for a punch. He activated Eyes, and grabbed her fist an inch away from his face. ¡°Good... what time of day is it?¡± Teq stared with askance at the boy: ¡°Why am I still alive?¡± The boy smiled.


    ¡°Because you will teach me to how to teleport like you!¡±


    Teq looked at the boy with a ¡°are you fucking kidding me¡± face. She then said to him ¡°You¡¯re too slow to even begin to comprehend that.¡± The boy¡¯s smile disappeared; ¡°Then teach me then.¡± Teq laughed, her toothy smile growing in size. ¡°... fine, but first we go and raid!¡±


    Teq jumped to her feet near instantly, motioning for the boy to follow. She ran into the hallway leading out of the room, the boy hot on her heels. Five minutes of running later, the boy and Teq both appeared before the king in his throne room. "I think he¡¯s ready for his first mission.¡±


    ¡°THAT IS WONDERFUL! BEFORE YOU GO OUT HOWEVER, WE MUST FIRST DO THE ¡°PROCEDUERE.¡± HOLD HIM DOWN, BOYS!¡± Suddenly, a lot of slimes came from out of nowhere, jumping the boy. But before came Teq, her usual smile gone, her eyes turned dull grey.


    The boy tried to resist, but he was too late. With slimes literally on every inch of his body except his head, he couldn¡¯t do much but watch the king grow hid limbs and approach him. The king kneeled, and put both of his ¡°hands¡± to the boy¡¯s ears. The boy felt something going in, and tried to struggle away; the king just grew some tentacles to hold his head down.


    The boy¡¯s world went black.


    -------------------------------------


    [You have been affected by an abnormal status! You have been affected by status ¡°Mind control.¡± Calcula-**()*&&amp</img>^&^$@#&


    Status has been resolved.]


    The boy opened his eyes, and felt that all the weight that was on him previously was laying and standing beside him. He felt Folo slowly slither away from his head, before he noticed how the king was sitting on his throne.


    ¡°LOOKS LIKE THE PROCESS IS DONE. TEQ, TAKE HIM TO THE NEAREST HUMAN CAMP AND TEACH HIM OUR METHODS.¡± Teq¡¯s dull grey eyes returned to normal before she also got her smile back. Looking like a psychopath, Teq said: ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± The boy followed, a plan forming in his head on how to overthrow this kingdom.


    Teq and the boy came out of cave system, him trying his best to memorize how he even got here in the first place. Whispering, the boy said: ¡®Hey Folo, when you looked into her head, did she have the same... thing inside her?¡± Folo moved on the boys back, somehow indicating confirmation.


    The boy whispered: ¡°Can you take it out from her too?¡± Folo moved again in confirmation and the boy¡¯s plan began. He followed Teq for what seemed to be hours, before finally approaching the human ¡°camp.¡± However, it was better to say encampment, as the size of it was way too big to be called a ¡°camp.¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    It was more of an army encampment. He saw lots of different tents, leaving the boy to wonder what he was really doing here. But the oddest thing must have been the large camp in the middle of it all. ¡®Talk about revealing where the important people are...¡¯


    ¡°Listen up thirty-one, we¡¯re aiming to kill the person, or people in that big tent over there.¡± The boy looked at Teq; ¡°And how do we get through all of them guards?¡± The boy looked inquisitively at Teq, awaiting at an immediate and brilliant response from his mind-controlled master.


    ¡°We shall wait till night-time, and then head in.¡±


    ¡°... Wake me up when we¡¯re about to go in.¡±


    ¡°DON¡¯T GO TO SLEEP YOU SOW!¡± Teq scream-whispered while punching the boy in the jaw. The boy didn¡¯t have time to react, so he heard a nice crack in the back of his neck. ¡®While we are waiting for nightfall, let me teach you about the shadow teleportation technique.¡±


    Teq teleported off the tree branch that she and the boy climbed some time ago, and motioned for him to follow. He sighed before jumping down and rolling unto the ground, before standing up and heading after her.  Five minutes later, the boy was sitting in a somewhat bizarre lotus position.


    ¡°Now to start, we must first find out what teleportation is! Tell me what you know about teleportation.¡± The boy sighed before explaining the science behind the displacement and reconstruction of matter between two or several locations.


    ¡°... I only understood around 10% of what you said. So, whatever you know, throw it out the window because it is wrong!¡± The boy sighed again; this was going to turn out like any other lesson with the goblin. ¡°First the fundamentals! We must first see what type of teleportation will fit you best.¡±


    The boy expectantly for Teq to continue. ¡°You must first learn to know yourself. We will start with learning about what is inside of you!¡± The boy groaned; ¡®I hate spiritual shit like this...¡¯ He listened to instructions on how to meditate, so he followed in hopes that Teq would shut up and let him learn in peace.


    He breathed in and out, trying to empty his mind of thoughts; this would¡¯ve been far easier if he wasn¡¯t concocting plan after plan to escape and relax somewhere. He put aside everything that was currently in his mind with great difficulty, nearly earning himself a headache or popping a vein in his forehead.


    Almost like she felt that his mind was fully cleared, Teq started to talk. ¡°You must ponder on how to achieve the highest form of movement. How do you achieve the maximum speed? Some philosophers have been...¡± Teq trailed off in a slight rant about history, but the boy ignored her. All he needed to ¡°ponder¡± about was speed.


    He remembered all the times he ran, and how that in avertedly led to him to more problems. He foresaw how his speed wasn¡¯t enough to survive in this world, and how he would need to change that...¡¯Naw, I just need to be faster!¡¯


    He kept imaging what it was like to be faster, to be so fast that the ground quakes before your every step, that you outrun the wind, outrun light itself! These thoughts came in and out at unimaginable speeds, and then something else happened.


    From the corner of his inner sanctum, where all the fast thoughts played in and out, the boy saw a thing. It shined brightly into one of his eyes; the boy stopped everything, and slowly approached the shiny thing. Floating around his shoulder level, the boy reached out and grabbed the object.


    Suddenly, the boy and his inner sanctum lit up like an inferno during the midnight. Thoroughly startled, the boy started to run, letting go of the object. Running back into the darkness, the boy smiled, seeing that the light... followed him; it was getting very hot where the light was.


    Upon seeing the light grow even the slightest bit, the boy sprinted in the other direction. Rightfully so too, as the light shot out, almost like it wanted to catch him. The boy ran hopelessly, as whenever he looked back the light got closer and closer. He ran, but felt himself getting tired, and just when he was about to be caught, he awoke.


    He found Teq staring deep into his face, studying it for no apparent reason. ¡°Good, you¡¯re awake now thirty-one. Let¡¯s go and do our mission.¡± She said in a whispering tone; it took a moment for the boy to understand why. He first noticed how it was dark outside, then noticing he was sweating all over, and lastly how there was a lot of light coming from the direction of the encampment.

 Making Friends

    The boy and Teq lightly approached the tree they were on a long time ago. A completely new sight greeted him. Magical floating lights greeted each tent entrance, most of the tent insides being dimly lit or completely dark. He saw some guards marching around, most having spears in resting on their shoulders as they walked.


    But the best thing was how the commander''s tent was well lit up, meaning that Teq and his job was made that much easier. ¡®They¡¯ll never expect an attack when everyone¡¯s awake.¡¯ It was then that Teq laid out the plan for them both. ¡°Alright, you need to find yourself a disguise, as you can¡¯t blend into the shadows as well as me. Once you finally find it, go to the big tent over there and be nearby. Got it? Good!¡±


    Without giving the boy the slightest chance to respond, Teq disappeared. Sighing, the boy jumped off the tree, and went to look for potential targets.


    Currently, no one that was his size was close to the edge of the encampment guarding its perimeter, so he sneaked around to see if he could find any guards that matched his size. After five minutes of careful sneaking around, the boy found one person that matched his size... if not for their lack of left arm.


    The guard wore some dirty armor, helmetless and looking very tired, like he was about to collapse any minute. So, the boy got to attracting him into the forest. He whistled a bit, and that caught the guard''s attention, making them swiftly turn their head to his direction. ¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡± The guard let the spear of their shoulder, pointing in the direction of the forest.


    The boy made a softer whistle, trying to imitate what a ghost might sound like. Whether it was the sleep deprivation or the general fear of the forest, the guard fell for it and started to slowly approach the tree the boy was hiding behind. ¡®Fucking idiot...¡¯ The boy waited for the guard to be close enough, before grabbing his face.


    A muffled scream came out from the guard before he was quickly silenced with a hit to the windpipe a quick snap of the neck. Sighing, he took off his clothing and put on the guards. Putting the spear onto this shoulder, the boy walked out of the forest and back to where the guard was supposed to be. Then he left his post discreetly and headed towards the main tent.


    [You have defeated a plebian and have received 5 EXP! You now have 0005/6000 EXP to LVL. 7. Good Luck!]


    On his way there, the boy noticed a lot of joyfully drunk soldiers. Some sat around campfires, others walked shoulder in shoulder, arms interlocked so they wouldn¡¯t fall over. The boy smirked when looking at these soldiers, guessing that tomorrow was going to be a hard day for them if they were all drinking this much.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    As he continued on his way to the camp, which was quickly getting bigger, the boy grabbed a helmet off the floor and brought it to his head. It fit him well, and gave him less of a chance to being recognized.


    Upon final arrival to the tent, he found two sober guards guarding the entrance to it. He walked up to one of them; the more tired looking one, and hoped that they wouldn¡¯t ask him anything, as he still didn¡¯t know the language that any of these soldiers spoke. The soldier that he approached made a relieved sigh, before saying some short word, to which the boy just nodded.


    Standing, the boy looked to see if he could find any semblance of Teq. He then felt a blade against his neck, ¡°You should be more aware of your surroundings, thirty-one.¡± she whispered. The boy sighed, before he felt the knife disappear from his neck. He turned to see the other guard with the knife through his neck.


    Teq slowly let the corpse fall to the ground, making it look like the guard was sitting down rather than falling over dead. Then she went in, and the boy followed, inside the boy found a man sitting behind a table, a very ¡°military commander¡± feeling coming off from him. ¡°Yes?¡± the man asked.


    The bot off his helmet, before saying to the supposed leader: ¡°I¡¯m sorry for what¡¯s coming next, sir.¡± The man looked up from his work, just in time to catch the blade that was supposed to go into his neck. ¡°It seems assassins these years have lost their... edge.¡± At that moment, the man grabbed Teq¡¯s hand, and threw her at the boy.


    Teq teleported mid-flight, just in time for the spear the boy was holding to get thrown at the man. He caught the spear, before tossing it right back at the boy, who was didn¡¯t expect to have to dodge. AS he saw the spear was halfway to him, he activated Eyes and Gait and dodged the spear, running out of the giant tent.


    There, the boy found himself surrounded by a lot of soldiers, who all seemed to be very not drunk. ¡®Now how do i get out of this one...¡¯ Before he could even move, the boy was teleported somewhere fifteen meters behind the encirclement. He saw Teq laying on the ground, unresponsive, and most likely unconscious.


    The boy picked up her small body, before gunning it towards the place he left his actual clothing. On the way there however, he found an army of soldiers chasing after him, all screaming and pointing spears at him as they ran. He ran to the end of the camp, managing to take off most of the clothes on the way there.


    Picking up his clothing, the boy kept running and the soldiers kept chasing. This went on until he lost them, and hid up in a tree. Resting, the boy took off the pants and put on his own clothing. Sighing, and trying to remember how to get back to the cave system, the boy picked up Teq and-


    He remembered about the mind-controlling thing.


    Placing her back down, the boy spoke. ¡°Hey Folo, can you get the thing that was trying to control me out of her?¡± Folo warbled in a ¡°yes¡± movement, before scuttling off of the boy¡¯s back. He then went up to Teq¡¯s face, and like a perfect recreation of the face hugger, enwrapped her face.


    The boy saw Folo moving about, sometimes shaking, but eventually he came out and went back to his spot. ¡°Did it work?¡± Folo moved in a ¡°yes¡± motion. The boy smiled; it was time to start his revenge plan against the slimes!

 A New Challenge

    ---A week later---


    [You have defeated sixty-four enemies and have earned 320 EXP! You are now 0325/6000 EXP on your way to LVL. 7. Good Luck!]


    The boy and Teq were currently killing lots of soldiers. They came through just about every direction, but were almost always spilt up; making his and Teq¡¯s job easier than ever. Another thing that helped was that the soldiers were exclusively looking to kill slimes rather than them, making sneak attacks that much more efficient.


    But they were now surrounded on all sides. Teq told the boy to stop moving, as she and he were both tired from running and killing. They¡¯re mistake was that they did this in a corridor with six different openings, from which five of them did soldiers run out from. Almost all entrances and exits blocked off, the boy thought: ¡°How did this even happen?¡±


    ---Six hours earlier---


    The boy woke up as usual within his cell, and then came the same slime that always came in the mornings to check up on him. But today was a not like those other day¡¯s; today was the great escape of him and Teq. They had been formulating a plan of vengeance on the king since the day of her freedom, and she gave some very useful tips.


    ¡°You know, there are two ways to kill a slime, thirty-one. You can either drown it, or completely squish it. slimes with cores are very easy to kill too, since the core is what holds everything together. But we must be cautious, those slimes with cores are very strong.¡± The boy soaked in all such knowledge that Teq gave him as thanks for sticking with him in the revenge plan.


    Teq on the other hand, thanked him by doubling down on the boy¡¯s training routine. His body was broken a lot, but the boy made big progress in understanding his speed and learning how to get used to it. This in turn allowed him to use it far more effectively; making him perceive things slower than him the faster he went.


    He could almost catch up to Teq without using any abilities; but he would easily beat her if he used them. That is why Teq restricted him to only using his natural speed and perception until he could beat her without them. The boy agreed, and this is why he was nearly wining right now.


    Teq had once again cut the boy with her dagger, this being the forty-third time today. He was bleeding all over, but this didn¡¯t stop the boy. He had gotten some good hits on her too, as evident by the bruises around her neck and under her eye. But he has yet to defeat Teq and her teleporting strategy.


    Teq would teleport in from a random angle before cutting the boy. He almost caught her several times, but she always escaped his grasp with a teleport.  The boy in turn saw where she teleported back to, and started to calculate where she would appear next; which led him to being cut again.


    In the end, with his whole body bruised and bleeding, he threw in the towel. Out of nowhere, the healing slime came in, and start to wobble onto the boy and heal up his wounds. Once finished, the boy and Teq nodded to each other. ¡°Hey little slime, wait up!¡± Said the boy to the blob of gelatin as it was moving on.


    ¡°Blah blah blah blah bluh, bluh blah blah...¡± He went on and on, and by the time the slime realized it was being made a fool of, Teq teleported in and smashed it with a hammer. Now that both of them were covered in slime, the boy looked to Teq. ¡°Did you have to be so brutal about it?¡±


    Teq smiled at the boy before throwing away the hammer she had hidden earlier.


    ¡°Now thirty-one, follow me!¡± He followed the teleporting Teq by sprinting alongside her predicted trajectory. The boy and Teq killed several more slimes on the way to their objective, arriving at their destination.


    In the king slime¡¯s throne room, the king slime rested on his giant chair. He smiled at Teq, before heading into the room as slow as possible for maximum dramatic purpose. ¡°Hello your maje-¡± The boy was cut off by an explosion coming from the ceiling in the middle of the room.


    Dropping down were several soldiers from the newly made hole in the ceiling, all wearing fully plated armor, the one in the middle wearing a different set of plated armor then the rest. The assumed leader came out from the middle and towards the king¡¯s pedestal.


    ¡°We have come here by the orders of King Propu the Second to subjugate the monster group known as the kingdom of slimes. Please come peacefully, or die.¡±


    The slime king wobbled outrageously, looking like it was about to explode with all the anger in it, when it began transforming. Before it even began to bring out it¡¯s legs, the slime king exploded. The boy then looked to where a red light came from moments ago, and saw a plated figure with their hand out. ¡®They have a magician... shit¡¯


    The leader then spoke: ¡°Kill everything that isn¡¯t us.¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    The boy then moved back to be behind the wall where he was standing, and was met face to face with another soldier pointing a spear into his face. The soldier, who was without a helmet, was about to open his mouth when the boy grabbed the spear, and covered the mouth of the soldier.


    The soldier tried moving the spear while screaming mutedly, but the boy just let go of the sharp stick and sent his hand into one of the soldier''s eyes, grabbing and ripping out the eye. The soldier screamed and bite down on the boy¡¯s skin, the boy¡¯s reflexes sending his hand away from the still screaming mouth.


    The soldier dropped to his knees, holding the space where his eye was. The boy looked to the dropped spear, picked it up, and slammed down with his knee near the sharp end. Picking up the newly made dagger, the boy stabbed it into the soldier¡¯s skull, ending his screaming.


    Unfortunately, the boy looked back to the group of knights, and saw that they had seen him, and that all of the slimes that were in the room now covered the room. The commander looked at the boy, and said ¡°Get him.¡±


    The boy wasted no time using Gait and Eyes, and ran off, as he was running, he remembered about Teq. The boy stopped and looked back, only to hear her voice up ahead. ¡°WHY¡¯D YOU STOP RUNNING YOU IMBECILE?! KEEP RUNNING!¡± The confused boy hesitated, before continuing to run.


    [ You have defeated a peon of the subjugation army. You have received 5 EXP. 0330/6000 EXP left till LVL. Up. Good luck!]


    ---Current time---


    The boy raised his fists, slowing backing into Teq from the five groups of soldiers, who now formed a massive grouping around the boy. Blocked off from all exits, the boy made plan after plan to escape and dismissed every single one of them as a death wish. The soldiers lowered the spear, ready to stab into the duo. The boy began to feel his eye twitching from the stress, as he unconsciously activated Eyes of Chronos.


    The world slowed down as he saw the soldiers coming slower, their spears ready to be blooded with his own blood. The boy kept looking from soldier to soldier, trying to find a way out, a way to beat them. At one point, his eyes were moving so fast that he blacked out.


    As his vision returned, the boy saw nothing but black in front of him. He looked around, and saw a familiar orb, which was emitting light. The boy wasted no time in sprinting in the opposite direction.


    The boy saw the orb¡¯s light up the darkness behind him, so he ran faster. The orb¡¯s light sped up as well, forcing the boy to go at maximum speed. Yet the light didn¡¯t give up, as it sped up another time.


    It was slowly catching up to the boy, and he knew this. He knew that if it caught up to him, something bad would happen and he would die in the material world. He knew that Teq, a formidable ally, and terrible master would die too. The boy didn¡¯t want this, he wanted to live, and most of all...


    He wanted to run away from all this.


    The boy suddenly found himself running faster, faster than the light. He looked back, and saw that the light was slowing down; or rather, he was gaining speed at a rapid pace. In the distance, he saw the orb, still emitting light. The boy saw how it changed the direction of the light to go towards him.


    But this time, the boy had a plan to get rid of the sphere. Permanently.


    The boy, without hesitation, ran directly towards the light. ¡®Be faster than the light particles, faster than the light particles, faster than the light particles...¡¯ He kept repeating the same mantra in his head, hoping that it would work. He also hoped that the next part of his plan would work as well.


    He activated Gait and Eyes, meeting the light at the same moment. The next few moments were filing the boy¡¯s mind with only single words; ¡®Heat, Pain, Blind, Speed.¡¯ Were of the four repeated words as he got closer and closer.


    But with every step, a patch of his skin was burnt to a nice crisp. And with another, his hair was turned to ash, flowing off of him like leaves in the hurricane. Soon, he lost feeling all over his body, but the boy kept on walking, getting closer and closer to his goal of the orb.


    Putting all his remaining strength into is legs, he watched as his skin and flesh started to burn away, revealing the bones underneath. It didn¡¯t take long for the bones to turn black and burn away as well, the incineration of his body spreading further and further up his body.


    Soon, his arms were gone, and his legs had no more flesh left on them. His organs were exposed, and the only thought that was in his mind was pain. When he finally came before the orb, the wave of heat doubled, blowing the boy onto his back. With his limbs complexly gone, the boy had only one thought left in his head.


    ¡®Pain Pain Pain Pain Pain Pain Pain Pain Pain... END OF ALL OF THE PAIN¡¯


    He started to laugh. The boy¡¯s eyes turned black, a black light beginning to emanate from the remains of his body. His body began to float back to where he was, shadow limbs growing from his remains. The boy then looked at the orb with a calm expression, before grabbing it in both hands, and filling it with darkness.


    All light from the space was gone, and the boy placed down the orb back onto its pedestal. One last chuckle came from him, as his limbs grew back, his hair returned, and his eyes... stayed black.


    [Gods save us. You have conquered The Challenge of Time, and have received rewards for doing so. You have received the passive skill ¡°Father¡¯s Rate.¡± Another skill of yours is experiencing evolution... Clockwork Fate has evolved into Trap of Sands


    Father¡¯s Rate: It is said that Father Time can only go in one direction, and nothing will stop him. Although he can travel in any direction, nothing will ever stop him. When you are proceeded with a great obstacle on your path, your speed increases until the obstacle is overcome. Scales with level.


    The Conscious Desert: Some say that time is like a desert, always, moving, and never resting. They say once you get caught by it, it is only by will of the desert do you get out, or turn into sand yourself. This is an upgraded version of Clockwork Fate. All effects are sextupled.


    Good Luck]


    The boy opened his eyes, and saw the spears were all pointing away from him, a path made between the soldiers to their captain. ¡°You must be fucking kidding me.¡±