《Beast Master System》


 Sowing Karma

    "Prometheus? What a nice name, I''m Zeus"


    "That''s cool"


    "We both come from the same pantheon, hahaha" laughed the youth.


    His eyes, brown in color, suddenly seemed to shine with a golden light for a second. It only lasted for a second and then they returned to their normal color. Yet, the man''s expression completely changed, a sense of pity emerging on his face whenever he was looking at Prometheus.


    "Karma, yes, this must be Karma... let me help you then... what kind of life would you like to have?"


    ''Oh no, it''s a talker''


    "Ehm..." Prometheus was annoyed by the strange behavior of the guy before him. He just wanted to get his tip and go away, this was his last delivery for the night.


    "I don''t know... listen sir, I really need to g..."


    "Come on, you don''t have any idea about the kind of life that you want to have?" interrupted him the man, passing one of his dark-colored hands between his short white hair.


    The pizza delivery man was thinking about some kind of random answer to give to that weirdo just to make him stop, when with a ringing sound his smartphone lighted up.


    Taking out the phone, Prometheus hoped that it wasn''t his boss, asking him again to make runs after the end of his shift. His green eyes examined the luminous screen, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.


    ''It''s just Totem Master''


    Indeed, it was only a notification from the game that he loved to play the most in his free time.


    "Oh, what''s that?" asked the weird client.


    "it''s a game..." laughed nervously the delivery guy.


    The white headed man smiled. "What is it about?" he then asked with a strange smile.


    "You know... you need to capture beast souls and make them your totems... it''s one of those idle games... a stupid one... just to pass time between deliveries" explained Prometheus, on the defensive. In reality he played the game even in his free time, but he didn''t want to admit it to some random stranger.


    "Uh, you seem to like it?"the man noticed how Prometheus''s eyes shined when talking about the game.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience."There are worst things, yeah" said the deliverer, eying his scooter parked not too far from where he was.


    "Oh, I get that..." Zues'' fingers started to play with the ring on his right hand. "Well... let''s see... oh yeah, I did put together a similar matrix after I gave a look to the Keratu Method. I also managed to find a solution to the soul contamination problem... those morons Turukuha Devils would kill for this one hahahah too bad for them, they fucked with me one time too many, fucking anarchic morons... " blabbed the man, talking what appeared to be complete nonsense to himself.


    ''I knew it, this guy is completely wasted'' immediately realized Prometheus. He started to slowly move backwards, putting some distance between himself and the white haired guy.


    "You can have it, with the compliment of the house... " concluded the man, while a globe of dark light came out from his ring and after a pointing motion from him, dashed inside Prometheus''s chest.


    "What the hell" cried in shock Prometheus, eyes widening.


    "Now let''s bring you back to home... Illusory Thunder was it? Damn, that place is in that stupid cat''s weird territory... whatever... sowing karma is the best shield against the future storms"


    When Prometheus heard the words Illusory Thunder, his eyes almost popped out of his socket. He didn''t have any idea about the other strange things the man was talking about, but he did know Illusory Thunder. It had been 25 years since he last heard someone talk about that place.


    "Who are yo..."


    "I already told you, I''m Zeus. " smiled the man, while his eyes started shining like two golden stars.


    "You''re not from here! You''re like me!" suddenly exclaimed the pizza delivery guy.


    "Nope, I''m definitely from here. However, yes... I was once like you, a stranded puppy in a foreigner world... the only difference is that I went to a cooler world than mine, you kinda had it backwards... buddy... whatever, have fun back home..."


    Golden light enveloped Prometheus, blinding him completely. The last thing he remembered, before passing out, was a simple farewell from the strange man.


    "Try to not get murdered this time..."

 All Dead Already

    [Soul Synchronization... 1%...2%...3%...]


    A strange voice woke Prometheus up. English, with a peculiar accent. Maybe french? In any case, it was weirdly echoing all around the room.


    ''I might have left youtube on auto play again... Jesus, what kind of horrors will show up on my home this time''


    Yawning loudly, and hoping that his youtube main page wouldn''t be flooded by weird videos about the secrets behind Elvis''s death or (more likely, listening to the accent of the voice resounding in the room) some podcasts in french, the young man tried to get up. He tried to put his hands on the bed, using his arms as a lever to pull himself up.


    Left arm, ok. Right arm... ''????''


    "What the actual fuck?" a loud panicked scream surmounted the monotonous count of the french sounding voice in the background.


    Prometheus lowered his gaze towards his right arm, trembling in shock when he realized that in the place where his arm was supposed to be, there was absolute nothing!


    "Where''s my arm?" asked himself the youth, almost as if the question could make the limb appear again from nothing.


    He moved his gaze towards his shoulder, noticing the only thing that remained from his arm: a stump, wrapped in bloody yellow gauze.


    "No... no,no,no!" He suddenly felt his whole world explode in pieces. How about his job? How about gaming? Playing the guitar?


    [Soul Synchronization 100%]


    A black screen appeared right in front of the dazzled youth, like in one of those sci-fi movies.


    ''What the hel..."


    The french sounding voice started to read the lines that were appearing on the screen.


    [Welcome to Matrix FYD003201, all functionality have been activated]


    [Name: Prince Seven Illuria, Prometheus Flogos, Sif]


    [Age: 17 (Biological), 44 (Total) ]


    [Cultivation: None, Mortal]


    [Strength: 0.3/1


    - Moderate Wounds ( -0.2 Temporary)


    - Arm''s Lost ( -0.5 Permanent) ]]


    [Velocity: 1


    - Moderate Wounds ( -0.2 Temporary)]


    [Intelligence: 2]


    [Endurance: 1.3/2


    - Moderate Wounds ( -0.2 Temporary)


    - Lots of Arm ( -0.5 Permanent) ]


    [Soul: 1]


    [Totems: None]


    [Skills: Archery (Intermediate), Guitar (Poor)]


    [Techniques: None]


    ''??''


    Prometheus looked around in shock, realizing that he wasn''t in his bedroom. The walls were made of black wood and there weren''t windows. The only piece of furniture was the bed he was in.


    He tried to remember the last thing that happened before waking up in what seemed to be some sort of wooden cabin.


    ''Oh...''


    The strange man with golden eyes, the black ball of energy entering his chest, and now him waking up in a totally foreigner place. Even a fool would understand what was happening.


    ''It happened again... this mean that this isn''t my body...''


    Prometheus moved his gaze towards his left arm: brown, scrawny and full of nasty scars. This definitely wasn''t the body that he was using before.


    Maybe a normal person would have needed some time to digest the fact that the body he was in wasn''t the one he was born into, but for Prometheus that was almost a nonexistent problem. He had only two real problems: his missing arm and the fact that he woudn''t be able to see his family even again.


    Why he wasn''t that interested about the fact that he seemingly transmigrated into a new body? Simply because this wasn''t his first rodeo. He called himself Prometheus because he liked it, but his birth name was Seven Illiria, one of the many princes of the omonimous Illiria Kingdom. Can you guess which one?


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    Wrong.


    He was the Sixth Prince. Yeah, his first parents could be considered quite peculiar, if not completely insane.


    When he died, killed by his own brother, he transmigrated to another planet: Earth, waking up in posses of the body of two years old Prometheus.


    Earth was a very different place from that he grew in. For starter, cultivation wasn''t possible. The energy concentration was too low. Not that he cared anyway: even in Illusory Thunder, the planet he came from, he couldn''t cultivate because of a genetic defect.


    He also didn''t care about being the third son of a poor family, in fact he preferred his life on Earth to that he had in the Illiria Kingdom. Nobody called him a cripple, his parents genuinely loved him, and his own brothers didn''t try to murder him to get the girl that was creepily promised to him when he was only a child.


    He had a family, something that he never quite experienced in his first life. And now, they were all gone forever.


    ''Mom, Dad...little brothers''


    Prometheus eyes filled with tears, when he realizes that he would never again see those people that really loved him.


    ''Damn you, how dare you send me back without my consent you self centered prick?''


    He sobbed, looking with watery eyes at the black screen that was showing what seemed to be some kind of character sheet. Only that the character in question was him.


    ''This is a System! Like those in novels and games...''


    ''Who''s Sif?'' thought Prometheus looking at the first line of the character sheet, containing the names he had in his first life and second life plus one he didn''t recognize.


    The exact moment he though that, the screen before him vanished and a new one appeared. The french voice, that now Prometheus could tell that definitely wasn''t youtube, read the new messages out loud.


    [Initializing Memory Sync? ]


    [Yes/No]


    After a moment of hesitation, Prometheus focused on the "yes". He gritted his teeth, preparing himself to the countless fleshes of information that would appear in his mind for hours.


    However, nothing happened for a while and when the young man finally opened his eyes to see if he really had activated the option, he realized that the screen in front of him was now showing a long text.


    ''Oh, this also works''


    The text in question was obviously the life of Sif, a young man son of a local hunter. His life was pretty boring, nothing particular happened until a bandit group razed his home, Mora Village,  killing everyone who opposed them.


    The bandit group was called Sons of Kaliah, and in their crazy assault they killed all Sif''s family and heavily injured him. In the end Sif died from his wounds, even if the village elders tried to heal him with all that they got.


    Prometheus eyes began to burn with fiery rage. He lost his Earth family and now even his third life''s family was gone? Vengeance! Retribution!


    "Character Sheet" He called out, his face darkening.


    As he imagined, the first screen that he saw appeared again. He studied the information on display, his eyes shining with a dangerous light. He didn''t see anything that suggested that his body wasn''t able to cultivate.


    "Totem? What''s that?"

 First Totem

    The strange voice that echoed in the room seemed to answer his question.


    [This Matrix prime purpose is to Create, Maintain and Control Totems.]


    [Totems can be used to progress in cultivation, stronger the Totem, stronger the cultivator]


    [Do you want to scan for possible Totem?]


    [Yes/No]


    Prometheus murmured: "Yes". His mind was reeling, he remembered that the strange individual that sent him back to Illusory Thunder asked him about Totem Master before putting inside him a ball of dark light.


    Was this some kind of real life Totem Master?


    [Scan Completed]


    [12 Potential Candidate Found, Classless]


    [x 10 Black Antenna Ant, Compatible]


    [x 1 Blue Silk Spider, Compatible]


    [x 1 Silver Fly, Compatible]


    Each of the three species had a small page with information about the creature in question. It included anything from size, colors, behavior to their life expectancy and the natural achievable rank.


    ''0.1% Chance of forming a cultivation base?''


    Prometheus didn''t know much about cultivation, but he felt that it was a little too much low. It was in that exact moment that a red shadow speed inside the room, coming from under the closed door.


    The young man saw it hide in a corner of the room, but he didn''t get a good look at it. It was incredibly fast.


    ''Was that some kind of cockroach? Disgusting!'' He now remember how little hygienic was this world compared to Earth.


    [Buffering... new specimen found]


    [x 1 Horned Flaming Lizard, Compatible]


    ''A lizard?'' The maimed youth looked at the information of the new available creature, his eyes widening in surprise.


    ''Fire Elemental Affinity, High Regeneration Ability, Highly valued for its secretion of precious Flame Oil...''


    Prometheus'' was incredibly excited. If this was anything like Totem Master, he would also become able to use the Fire Element thanks to his totem.


    ''40% Chance of forming rank 1 cultivation base!'' without further thought, Prometheus chose the new beast.


    The moment he gave the decision, the interface before him change and started to display a graph.


    [Objective Weakened. Chance of success: 70%]


    ''Probably of success? Seems pretty high.'' considered the youth, trying to use his sole remaining arm to get up and observe whatever was going to happen when he confirmed the order.


    [Continue?]


    [Yes/No]


    ''Yes''


    Suddenly black gas started to come out from his body, flowing toward the corner where the lizard was hidden. It started to make circles around the creature, until it formed a black sphere of some sort. Then, the sphere suddenly started to compress itself.


    At first it was loosing volume rapidly, then it started to slow down.


    [Totem Creation Status: 30%]


    [Time Left: 4h, 30m]


    Announced the strange voice of the system.


    ''That''s a lot of time'' sighed Prometheus. He observed for a while the weird black gas: it remembered him of the ball of light that the strange man threw inside of him.


    While he was waiting, he tried a couple of orders to see what he could and sound not do.


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    ''Inventory'' nothing happened.


    ''Options?'' nothing.


    ''Totem?'' a new interface appeared before him, with only had one item inside the whole screen.


    [Horned Flaming Lizard, 51% Captured]


    [Juvenile, 8 Days ]


    [Affinity: Fire]


    [Cultivation: None]


    [Strength: 0.2]


    [Endurance: 0.5]


    [Velocity: 1]


    [Intelligence: 0.1]


    [Soul: 0.3]


    [Techniques: None]


    [Skills: None]


    At first, Prometheus was a little disappointed about those statistics. They were incredibly low! But then he considered that it was only eight days old.


    ''It will become stronger... I hope''


    After a moment, he willed for the black screen to close and so it did. He started checking out his new body, trying to not think about all that he had left behind on Earth.


    There was no mirror in the room, so Prometheus had to use only his hand to vaguely discover his own looks by touching his face and hair. He kept doing so for a long while, trying to put together a mental picture of his new aspect.


    "Uhm.. ehm ehem" a strange coughing sound interrupted him.


    Turning towards the door, he saw a old man looking at him with a strange expression. Prometheus had no idea of who it was. However the thing that pressed him more at this time was the presence of the black gas in a corner of the room.


    He wasn''t sure about how to explain its existence if it was noticed by the old man. Thankfully, the man seemed to be more interested in his facial patting motions. He was probably considering it to be very strange behavior.


    Indeed, the old man was in fact considering the possibility that the pain and the loss of his family had turned the smart boy that he knew since his birth, into a retard. What else could explain the strange things that he was doing to himself when he entered the room?


    "Sif, you should rest... Syndra will be visiting you soon" he said with a concerned tone, before giving a nod and rapidly going away.


    Prometheus gave a sigh of relief when the old man went away. He really had no idea about how explaining a hovering bass of black gas hidden in a corner of his room. Plus he had no idea of who he was, as the memories of the previous inhabitant of the body weren''t detailed enough.


    ''Who''s Syndra?''


    [Requesting Information on Syndra]


    [Yes/No]


    ''Yes''


    A new series of texts appeared on the interface. It seemed to be all the information that the precedent Sif had on this Syndra.


    ''A friend''


    No, it was his best friend. Syndra was the daughter of the village''s butcher, and the only good friend that the precedent Sif had in his whole life.


    He kept reading the information about her that the system feed to him, completely loosing his sense of time. This was something that happened to him quite often when was reading something interesting.


    The thing that brought him him back to reality was the system''s voice.


    [Capture Completed, Proceeding With Totem Creation]


    The ball of black gas darted towards Prometheus chest, reentering into his body.

 There is a Malus After All

    Prometheus felt like if someone had touched him with gelid hands on the spot hit by the black gas. The dark sphere emitted a low whistle, consuming the cloth that was covering his chest and merging back with his body.


    The young man looked at his torso, seeing a hole in his ragged but clean shirt right on the zone that covered his right pectoral. He could see his robust body under, brown and decored by numerous devious scars.


    ''What''s that?''


    A faint red stain was appearing on his bronzed skin, slowly becoming more vivid each second it passed. Prometheus also sensed warmth coming from it, combating the cold feeling of before and even spreading all over his body.


    [Stabilizing Process]


    [Time Lef: 3h, 23m]


    ''Ah, so it didn''t speed up''


    Thought the youth, looking at the red sign on his chest with curiosity and a hint of concern. If he remembered correctly the system said that the totem would take more then four hours when the ball of gas had absorbed the little lizard. This stabilizing process seemed to be included in that estimate.


    Not having better things to do, the youth kept looking at the red mark on his skin.


    After a couple of minutes, the red stain became something barely recognizable as the shape of small lizard. It was very blurry, however each second it passed the colors and lines that defined it became sharper and clearer.


    It was crouched in a fetal position, its long tail covering a side of its head, almost as it was sleeping.


    ''So that''s a totem... well, it does look pretty similar to the original animal''


    Considered the youth, scratching his head. It was in that moment that something that left him shocked happened: the lizard moved! Yes, his tattoo moved! It literally twisted its entire body, turning itself on the other side.


    ''What the hell?''


    The lizard''s red eye abruptly snapped open, looking at him right in the eyes, a deep furious sentiment buried inside that dark red iris.


    This was the first time seeing something like that. A moving tattoo? This was some Harry Potter level weirdness. Prometheus realized that maybe it was something that had to do with the fact that totems were supposed to contain living creatures.


    ''This is so weird... I really shoul...argh!"


    Suddenly the youth felt a great sense of confusion and pain, it was almost as if someone had just hit him right in the head. The young man felt his vision fading, his ears began to tingle and everything around him became distorted, sound and images alike.


    ''What is happening?''


    [Consciousness levels is falling] announced the System, in the annoying french accent.


    ''Why?'' asked confused the maimed youth, trying to make sense of the sudden headache that he was experimenting.


    [0.3 of Soul is occupied by Totem N 1]


    Even not understanding what was the problem, Prometheus was panicking. He could tell that his senses were becoming more and more unreliable as time went on. Plus there was the system, giving explanations that made no sense to anyone around.


    ''Soul is occupied by totem? What does that mean?'' asked exasperated the young man.


    [A part of the host soul is occupied by the new totem, Totem N 1, this is equal to having lost said part resulting in the gradual lowering of mental capacity.]


    ''Whaaat?'' the youth felt afraid for the first time since he was back in Illusory Thunder. Nothing was worst as loosing part of your mental acuity!


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ''How much lower?''


    [Hosts soul was low to begin with, lowering it to 0.7 is equivalent of having the consciousness of a 2 Years Old Human]


    Prometheus almost lost his mind when he understood what was happening. He was loosing consciousness because part of his soul was used to maintain the totem. The totem was causing him an absurdly grave problem!


    Weren''t System supposed to always be overpowered? With no malus whatsoever? Why his own system was causing him to become a literal retard?


    ''This is the worst power ever! Zeus, you despicable liar! You took me away from my dear family and trick me into using this disgusting trap-system!''


    Prometheus'' moral was incredibly down. After having reincarnated while his future was still full of life and opportunities in Earth, now he was going to be transformed in some sort of talking complete moron! A grown up with the man of a two years old! What a cruel destiny!


    ''I can''t let this go on!'' thought the young man.


    "Stop the Totem!" he then ordered with authoritative voice.


    [Totem creation can be stopped, but the souls won''t heal] explained the system, giving Prometheus an interference to chose if he wanted to stop the totem creation.


    [Yes/No]


    ''I...'' Prometheus was left without words. This was a disaster!


    ''Will I be a retard forever?'' Was this the future that the Heavens reserved him in this third life of his? Become a mad cripple?


    [Absorbing the Soul will restore the previous level of consciousness. Activating Soul Unification?]


    [Yes/No]


    Prometheus almost started weeping with tears of joy. There was a method to revers this after all! Without any hesitation, he immediately nodded and give his consent.


    ''Yes! Do it! Fast!''


    [Soul Unification requires 364 Days, 12 hours, 6 minutes and 2 seconds] continued the System.


    ''That much time?'' Prometheus bit his lips, slapping the bed with his only arm. He was going to lose an entire year for this stupid mistake? No, this wasn''t that simple: while he wouldn''t be able to remember it, he would still be alive in the world for a year!


    It was practically leaving his body unprotected for 364 days! Absolute madness. However, he didn''t have any other choice, even now while he was thinking through his situation, he felt his mental faculty keeping their slow but steady fall.


    ''Yes! Do it!''


    [Are you sure? Totem N 1 will be unusable until the Unification has been completed]


    ''YEEES!''


    Who cares if the totem wouldn''t be usable? He wouldn''t even be enough aware to know his own name, why should he care about some totem? No, it was way better to have it non active! Only the Heavens could know what a two years old mind could do with what supposedly was some kind of magic power!


    [Unification Activated] concluded the system.


    Prometheus gave a long sigh of relief. ''Uf... I''m saved... even if... oh boy, one entire year?'' he really was concerned: he wasn''t ''t in the body of someone who had people left to care about him for an entire year! This wasn''t Earth! Illusory Thunder was a land were the strong pried on the weak, it had always been that way.


    ''System, how much time I have before I lose completely my ability to think like a normal person?'' asked the one armed youth.


    [Critical level will be reached in approximately two days] responded the echo.


    ''Two days?'' he collapsed back down on the bed, feeling the pressure of an entire mountain on his back.


    "Two days..."

 The Solution Is Simple

    "Two Days" continuously said the young one armed man sitting on a shabby bed. He felt like someone was holding a sword right on top of his head.


    ''I''m definitely not going to survive without help...''


    The sole idea of being alone, in this cut throat world for an entire year with the mental capacity of a two year old was chilling. Prometheus didn''t think that just because the village had helped him after the attack of the bandits they would also care about him for an entire year after he began to behave like a mentally impeded child.


    Not even in a aristocratic house they would do something like that. Probably in a royal family they would keep you and try to sold you of to connect the family to some rich merchant clan, but that was only because of the royal title.


    Poor people? They would probably kill him themselves and feel good about it.


    This was what he thought at least. He wasn''t an expert on poor people living in Illusory Thunder. In fact he didn''t know much about how poor people lived in Illusory Thunder. Yes, he was from here, but didn''t even know what region of the world was the one he was reborn in.


    Illusory Thunder was a huge world after all.


    Just take the kingdom where he was born in his first life, the Illuria Kingdom, as example: first, it was only one of the fifty-eight regions of the Luma Empire. Comparing it to a country from Earth, the Illuria Kingdom was about the size of modern day Russia. Even so, it was only one of the smallest region of the Empire. Plus, the Empire itself was only a small power in the North-East of Atlante, the Central and only Continent in Illusory Thunder. All around, spread the tumultuous Sage Sea and even farther there was the legendary Crown of Fire, an impassable mount range dominated by the most powerful organizations in the whole Illusory Thunder.


    ''Yes, that''s about all what I remember about this world'' considered the young man, trying to recall other information about Illusory Thunder that could help him.


    For the moment, everything he remembered proved to be completely useless. He was a prince in his first life, after all. He didn''t have much common sense knowledge. He knew a bit of general geography, lots of history about his own Illuria Kingdom and the Empire it served, and could recite and explain tons of poems and literary works. That was it.


    He had no real skill, nor he had been trained on how to find help while being a complete destitute.


    In his first life, most of his time had been spent preparing to marry inside the Imperial Family. Ah yes, he - Prince Seven- had been chosen by the Emperor himself to be the husband of his third daughter. It was because of a weird celestial sign that seemingly connected with the one that appeared when the princess was born. And again, yes: they were born in the same day.


    Weird stuff. But not the weirdest thing that ever happened to him.


    So, the Emperor decided that he had to marry his daughter. Probably that was the reason he was killed in the first place.


    In the seventeen years of his first life, he only learned about good manners and the history of the Empire. He was also forced to memorized poems and other literary works, when his royal family discovered that the imperial princess was passionate about those things. Him? Oh, he hated that with all his heart.


    Not being able to cultivate, his parents forced him to stay always inside the castle, fearing that some other power would try to assassinate him.


    Well, they were kinda right. However, even staying holed up inside his royal castle didn''t save him from death. A death that probably occurred while he was sleeping, as he didn''t remember it at all.


    Which was a thing that Prometheus had always been grateful of. Just imagining how much disturbing would it be to remember his own assassination made him shiver. How could somebody peacefully live remembering their own death?


    Especially one caused by a wife that they never met. How would you be able to ever form a meaningful relationship with such a disturbing memory?


    Prometheus laughed lightly.


    ''Marriage killed me... hahaha... wait?''


    The young man suddenly stopped laughing, his face freezing in a strange expression for a couple of minutes.


    ''I''m a genius''


    "A GENIUS" he exclaimed his face brimming with joy.


    He just had an incredible idea, something that would allow him to survive an entire year without being left to die.


    "... marriage"


    He mumbled. His eyes suddenly opened wide and he bounced up from the bed, his body exploding with new energy. This was an incredible idea!


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    "HAHAHAHA, YES MARRIAGE!"


    He screamed with passion, hope returning to lift his spirit. That was a genius idea! Why didn''t he think about it before? There were plenty of poems and myths were the hero lost his mind for a period of time and was cared about by his wife.


    Yes, they were only literature, but stories had some truth on them.


    "HAHAHA, Prometheus you are truly a genius!" he exclaimed loudly, slapping his tight.


    "Mmm? A genius? Who''s this Prometheus?"


    A vibrant voice came out from the door. Looking at it, Prometheus saw a tall fit girl with flaming short red hair. Her dark eyes looked at him with curiosity as she entered the room.


    ''Who the fuck is she?''


    Seeing that the maimed young man completely silent, the girl seemed to be offended. "Ehy, dummy! I asked you a question!" she said angrily, moving closer to the bed.


    ''System!''


    An black interface appeared around the pretty face of the girl, enclosing it in a frame of some sort and displaying a multitude of information about her in black boxes around it.


    [Name: Syndra]


    [Surnames: Flower Picker, Firehead Syndy]


    [Age: 16]


    [...]


    Lots of information remembered Prometheus about who she was and what relationship she had with the predecessor owner of his body: she was his best friend and hunt companion.


    ''Best friend?''


    Prometheus looked at the girl more closely: she clearly was a beauty. The tomboy kind. A flash passed between his eyes, as he tried to think about the information that he read about her before.


    ''Fuck, I should have payed more attention!''


    Maybe was the confusion caused by his recent inter-dimensional travel from Earth to Illusory Thunder, maybe it was the panic of having so little time before becoming a retard or maybe was his mind regression having an effect on his memory, but he couldn''t remember much about the things that he read just not too long ago about her.


    ''What the hell?''


    [Short term memory compromised by the decreasing of consciousness] informed him the system, with the weird english-french accent.


    ''Fuck! This is broken! I hate this system! I should be invincible and have free packs of super useful stuff, not getting a useless lizard tattoo and fucking Alzheimer!''


    "Hey silly, I''m talking to you!" said the red haired girl, putting an arm on her side while stopping right in front of the bed.


    "Oh sorry, I was distracted" nervously said Prometheus, trying to gain time. At the same time he ordered the system: '' System! Was Sif close with this girl? Not friendship close... I mean, very close...''


    [Please provide examples of "very close"] asked the System.


    ''Damn you stupid thing! You are truly useless... you know... walking under the moon or some thing like that...'' started the youth, thinking of some random things that could rapidly confirm to him that they really were childhood sweethearts. ''...or doing thing naked together'' he immediately added after thinking of it.


    [Indeed, Sif and Sydra have talked many times under the moon and bathed naked together in numerous occasion] revealed the system.


    Prometheus eyes lit up with surprise, but then he thought about it more and realized that it was probably things that happened when they were children. ''Yeah probably when they were younger... no, I''m talking about recent stuff!''


    [The most recent time was 3 days and 13 hours before the bandit assault] responded the System.


    ''Oh? That''s... amazing! I don''t even need to work on it!'' Prometheus almost couldn''t hold back from exploding in laughter at the news.


    ''Fuck it, if the power of the mc is disgusting but at least I have the childhood love interest that can help me stay safe.'' thought the Illuria prince. He just needed to ask her without rising any suspicion. Maybe he didn''t even need to marry her in the end.


    ''No, I still need to make it sure!'' he decided after a moment of thought. What would happen if someone else tried to take her hand or some other crazy thing like that? In this world she was already supposed to be married.


    "Ahaha, of course... I was just in awe of you beauty Syndra, you look amazing today" confidently said Prometheus, after having received confirmation about their relationship from the system why would he feel nervous?


    "Uh? Good, you clearly are feeling better today, at least your brain is surely working better" said the girl with a radiant smile. She seemed pretty happy about the compliment.


    ''I''m saved! The Heavens truly do have eyes!''

 Of Your Own Age, They Said

    "Sif, did you see a red lizard somewhere?"  suddenly asked the girl, looking around the room with a serious expression on her face.


    Prometheus froze when he heard her words. He immediately put up his best poker face, trying to look intrigued by her question.


    "No, why?" he carefully responded, his hearth already up his throat.


    "A Squire has given out a prize of 10 silver coins for anyone who finds it! 10 silver coins Sif! We could buy our way in the Mercenary League!"  said the exited red haired girl, grabbing his only arm.


    She suddenly seemed to remember something, her gaze wavering for second. She then looked at his other missing arm, a sad expression appearing on her face.


    "If you become an adventurer you''ll have a chance to be admitted to an exam for knights! Father told me that some of them learn to grow back entire limbs!" she confided, looking at him like if she was waiting for him to pull the lizard from under his bed.


    "That sounds cool..." he really thought that. Being able to regrow his own arm? That would be nice. He really didn''t like it like this.


    ''10 silver coins? That''s a misery!'' he internally felt very depressed. ''Ah, I''m really destitute and poor in this third life of mine, even 10 silver coins seem an incredible amount to my closest friend. What a complete shame.''


    "So did you see a red lizard around?" asked the girl approaching to his face. "I...no, I didn''t see any lizard thing" lied Prometheus, trying to appear the most sincere he could.


    "It''s quite a shame that I can''t move... or I would have gone around the village to try and get my hand on the prize!" he added, to try to sound more convincing.


    "Yes, it''s a real shame... " she confirmed the girl. She leaned over, giving a pat on Prometheus''s shoulder. Se then sit on the side of the bed, looking concerned about the bloody stump cover in cloth.


    ''It''s your chance boy!'' tried to encourage himself Prometheus. ''Here we go... make it or break it! He straightened himself, looking right in the dark eyes of the tomboyish girl.


    "You know, during these days I had plenty of time to think..." he started.


    "Same!" interrupted him the girl, her eyes shining with a gleaming light. ''I think we all did the same, after what happened to us..." continued the girl, suddenly pensive. The bandit killed many people, but they also changed those who remained alive. People were reevaluating their life choices in the wake of that disastrous event.


    "Many of the young generation are considering joining the Mercenary League. However, the five silvers necessary to get a bronze ranked token are hard to get." sighed the girl.


    "That''s cool, but I was thinking of something different... on a more intimate level" started Prometheus trying to steer back the conversation on the right track.


    "Ah... yeah, people are getting lots of that too...you know the blacksmith''s son? Darius? Ahahah, he confesses to me! hahahhaha" laughed the girl.


    ''Fuck, who is this guy? System!'' immediately order Prometheus, black lines appearing on his front. However, before the system had the chance to show him the information it had on this Darius, the red haired girl said something that reassured the inter-dimensional traveler.


    "Like I care about his old stupid ass... more than thirty and still chasing young girls, what a looser"


    "Yeah, you are right! We should definitely find only a partner of our own age" said self-righteously Prometheus. On the inside he was instead taking a large sigh of relief. For a moment he almost thought that he had already been too late.


    "Plus he isn''t my type at all... he can only think about forging weapons... boring" continued the girl.


    "Ah... so what''s your type?" smugly said Prometheus looking at the girl right in her eyes. Syndra seemed confused by the question. She looked back at her old friend, who was looking at her with a strange half smile.


    "Are you done being retarded?" she jokingly asked pinching his right leg.


    ''I''m not doing it, but soon enough I won''t even need...  I will be naturally retarded for an entire year'' thought painfully Prometheus.


    "Hahaha, it''s just a question..." he defensibly said, moving his only hand to protect his flesh from the cruel and painful attack.


    "Sif, did you hit your head or something? How could you not remember, we talk about her all the time..." said Syndra looking at him with serious concern. She didn''t look annoyed, but a mix of surprised and worried.


    ''What?'' Prometheus felt his heart skip a beat. Did he hear correctly? No, he couldn''t.


    ''She didn''t just say...''


    "Uh, really don''t you remember?" continued the young girl, putting a hand on her right side. Her face changed, showing an intoxicated expression.


    "Young pretty girls! Hahaha, like that hot beauty of the Gurma Village! Petite, black hair and phoenix eyes! If I could put my hands on that ass... hahahaha" her eyes shined with intense feelings, and both her cheeks reddened.


    Stolen story; please report.


    Prometheus stood there in silence. Outside he was seemingly quietly listening to Syndra, but inside he was exploding with furor. It happened again!


    ''System? Did you just trick me again?!'' Prometheus was seething in rage. This was the worst system of them all! ''Maybe it''s like those system that are in reality living intelligent being and they try to fuck with their hosts!'' evaluated the young man.


    [The Matrix can only respond to your command. It''s a tool, nothing else]


    ''Dam you lying piece of shit! If you explained things more clearly we won''t be in this sea of trouble now!''


    In the meantime the girl continued describing very in detail all the lewd things that she wanted to do with the Gurma village beauty, while licking her lips with an intoxicated look in her face.


    "Ok, ok, I remember now..." tried to calm her down when she started to describe a vast array of sexual techniques that she had thought of.


    "Oh, Sif, you seemed to be strange today? Are you sure you have not hit your head or something?" said the girl, looking at him strangely.


    "No, I''m fine... I support you, I support you... just, i don''t need to know how you wanna do it... not in detail at least, ok? " said the young mutilated man, trying to be the most sensible possible.


    "What?" the girl was shocked. This was the first time someone said something like that to her after she started to describe her fantasies. Insults? Yeah, she got plenty of those. Awkward looks and fleeing people? Yeah, also a loot. But someone who actually said that he supported her love quest? That was the first time!


    "You definitely have hit your head... but I like you better like this Sif!" she smiled widely, then grinned and gave to the young man a elbow hit on his chest.


    "He He He, seen that you support me, I should also support you buddy!" she smirked, coming near the wounded youth. her eyes examined him from head to tows.


    "Wait, what are you doin..." Prometheus backed off towards when confronted by the strange inquisitive look of the red headed girl.


    "Mmm, you don''t have an arm... but that''s ok, you can still work and you won''t be drafted by the Lord if there is a war, so that evens the bonus and the malus..." said Syndra.


    "However you are ugly as fuck my dude... those scars are everywhere!"  she continued shaking her heads while passing a finger on Prometheus face.


    "and the only thing that would attack some fair maiden attention is hidden beneath your pants..." she finally added, staring at Prometheus crotch without any shame whatsoever.


    The maimed youth widened his eyes in shock. This girl had no decency!


    "What? We bathed together plenty of times after our hunt trips... ehehehe, I always pay attention to details. However, in your case calling it a detail it would be pretty wrong" laughed evilly the girl her eyes forming two crescent moon and filling with tears.


    ''What the fuck is she talking about?''


    "Listen, here''s my plan: you should run naked around the village and let all the girls see it... you can just say that you were confused by the pain of whatever bullshit..." she proposed, nodding satisfied by the plan she devised.


    ''...'' Prometheus opened wide his eyes, his mouth almost hitting the floor.


    "I promise that they would immediately change their idea bout you, especially that little whore of Tendrias... didn''t you say that you liked her once?" questioned the girl, putting a hand under her chin, striking a weird ponderous pose.


    "I''m not running naked around the village! Are you insane?!" screamed Prometheus pushing himself outside of the bed. He stood up painstakingly, ignoring the stabbing pain felt on his spine and remaining arm.


    "Oh well, now you''re back to your usual self... screaming at me like always... that''s refreshing and sad at the same time... however it''s a shame... a very shame... and it leaves you with very little choice. That''s because your face is pretty ugly... too many scars... told you that you needed to pay more attention hunting..." persisted the young girl, ignoring the movement of the maimed youth and keeping thinking about how she could match-make him with someone of he village.


    "What the hell..." Prometheus was almost falling into depression hearing so many times that his new body was horrendously hideous from someone who was supposed to be his closest friend.


    When the girl finally gave a look to her wounded childhood companion and saw the emotional pain that appeared in his scarred face, she felt bad. She tried to think about someone in the village else that could accept to be together someone like him.


    "Hey, there is still the old cursed hag if you''re desperate..."


    "..."

 Blind Marriage

    Prometheus looked deep in Syndra''s eyes. He soon realized that she wasn''t kidding. She truly was proposing him to marry an old woman.


    ''That''s... genius!'' shouted inwardly the youth. He wasn''t angry at all for the suggestion. Nor he was offended. He found it genial! An old matron could care about him better than a young girl! Plus, she would probably need less his help to survive.


    He took a large breath, tried to calm himself and then nodded to the energetic girl before him.


    "Okay"


    Syndra was smiling ironically, waiting for her old friend to start again cursing her and screaming in agitation like he always did when she played tricks on him. When see saw him nodding and heard him say that he was okay with her proposal, her mouth opened wide and her eyes almost popped outside her eye-sockets.


    "Okay?" se asked, shocked.


    "Yeah" confirmed Prometheus.


    Syndra gave herself a pinch, to be sure that she was really awake and she wasn''t having another of her weird dreams. The pain confirmed to her that she was indeed awake.


    "Are... are you sure?" she tried to confirm again that she did heard correctly what he said.


    Prometheus sighed: he knew that it wasn''t something normal for a young man to ask to marry an old lady. Even on Earth, a planet that was incredibly more civilized than most regions of Illusory Thunder, that was seen as a very weird thing. Yet he had no other choice. He needed someone that could care for him and he needed it now!


    In less than 40 hours he would be a complete retard incapable of securing his own survival. He didn''t have any family left and his only friend was a lesbian teenager! Marriage was his only chance for survival. It wasn''t much, but it was better than having no one to rely on.


    "Yes!" he exclaimed trying to sound the most truthful possible. "I always liked older women!" he added after a moment. The last part wasn''t a real lie. He actually liked more mature women. He tended to consider that women were like wine: the one that tasted better was the more aged one.


    Now there was a line between aged and rotting, a line that he didn''t want to cross. Hold had? that seemed to cross it, but he cound''t do anything about it. It was survival at this point.


    Syndra''s eyes shined with a strange light. She smiled, hugging the maimed youth to her chest. Finally she found someone that could relate to her at a deeper level!


    "I support you Sif! Us weirdos should always back each others to fulfill our dreams!" she screamed, tears of joy pouring down on her face.


    ''Wtf?'' Prometheus was taken aback from her sudden movement. Weirdos? He wasn''t a weirdo, nor was she one. ''No, I need to stop using my Earth common sense here'' he realized. Yes, if he used the common sense that he developed during his first life he could see that both their love preferences were quite far from the normal way of doing things in Illusory Thunder.


    "Do not worry Sif, I will help you with the old hag and then you will pay me back helping me build the greatest harem of hot babes in the whole county!"  said the red haired woman, holding him so tight that Prometheus was feeling his wound begin to act up.


    "Argh" he lamented, unable to control himself when an agonizing pulse of pain run across his body starting from his maimed arm.


    "Oh sorry, I forgot" claimed the girl, rapidly separating herself from his body. She gave a look at his missing arm and her eyes watered a bit. The girl knew how much her friend was an archery and hunting fanatic: his body full of scars was a witness to that. However without an arm he would never be able to hold a bow again in his whole life.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Loosing access to the only thing that he seemed to enjoy had probably pushed him on the edge and now he wasn''t caring much about what people thought of his love preferences. That''s why he was finally opening with her. This was almost the same thing that happened to her.


    Realizing how serious was the situation, Syndra couldn''t bear to just sit on the sidelines: she needed to help him directly!


    "I will go and talk with her! Just stay here and rest" said the girl already eyeing for the door. Panicking, Prometheus stopped her by grabbing her arm and pushing her back on the bed next to him.


    "Wait, I need to.." he tried to find an excuse to forbid her to go talk on his behalf. He just didn''t want her to ruin his only chance by doing or saying something stupid.


    Syndra didn''t resist, even if she knew that she could easily overpower him. She let herself be pressed down on the bed. However, when he started to talk she immediately interrupted her friend, putting a finger on his lips while shaking her head slowly.


    "I really want to help you Sif, but you can''t train your skills on me... I really don''t swing that way" she said, giving to the appalled Prometheus another brief hug and then pushing herself again up.


    Before the stunned youth could say anything else, she was already gone, moving with big steps outside towards the center of the village.


    ''What just happened''


    Prometheus was beyond shocked by what just happened. That girl was completely insane. Who the fuck wanted to exercise on her? He just didn''t want her to ruin his only chance for survival by saying some stupid thing to the woman he wanted to marry.


    She didn''t look like the person that had a good reputation in the local community, who was the moron that would want her to go and propose a marriage on his behalf? She would probably hit on the bride if she found her of her liking!


    Feeling an headache coming Prometheus put a hand on his head in despair. This third life of his was the worst!


    ''Well, at least I can only go up from here... I''m already at rock bottom''


    He had a system that continuously led him into traps, a best friend that was a moron and a sex fiend and his whole family was already dead in a attack where he lost his arm!


    What else could go wrong?


    ''System: who is the old hag?''


    Seen that things were already in motion, Prometheus didn''t try to run and stop the red haired moron. He didn''t know even if he could manage to keep up with her speed thanks to the pain that he was feeling. The only thing that he could do was to get information on this old hag person.


    [Old Hag: Name Unknown, Aspect Unknown. She lives on the edge of the forest, expert herbalist.]


    "An old herbalist living in near a forest? Sounds like an Anise to me..."


    The system didn''t any other information on this woman. In fact, the only thing that Prometheus learned was that she lived near a forest and was an herbalist.


    "So clich¨¦, is she a witch or something?"


    He wouldn''t be much surprised by that. Not with all the weird stuff that were happening to him. The thing that he found curious was the lack of information on the woman, even her real name and aspect were missing from the thing that the system was showing him.


    [The owner of the body didn''t have any interaction with her whatsoever.] explained the system to the young man''s disappointment.


    "Talking about blind dates... this is a blind marriage!"

 Ceremony

    [Consciousness 97%]


    [Consciousness 98%]


    [Consciousness 99%]


    [Consciousness 100%]


    ''Hmm'' Prometheus woke up, feeling incredibly dizzy. He tried to move his hand over to his bedside table, trying to silence his phone but instead he lost his balance and just twisted strangely, falling from the bed.


    The youth''s face met the cold stone floor with a loud snap, making him wail. His confused mind was rapidly flooded by a wave of pain.


    ''Damn'' he though, while trying to get up from his position on the ground. He tried to push himself up, only to lose balance once again and fall flat on his face a second time.


    ''What the fuck'' Prometheus looked at his right side and was met with a brow skinned lump of flesh moving weirdly where his arm should have been. After a moment of panic, he suddenly remembered: the delivery, the strange guy, the black sphere and the fact that he was back in Illusory Thunder.


    The last thing he recalled was him waiting for Syndra, the crazy friend of the previous owner of his body, Sif the hunter. She was supposed to go and speak on his behalf to a certain Old Hag, trying to get him a marriage deal that would save him.


    "When did I fall asleep?" murmured the young man, getting up and sitting back on the large king sized bed. He didn''t remember falling asleep.


    ''Yeah, I guess that reincarnating was a stressful, especially in a body so fucked up'' he considered, trying to find a motive for his mysterious little nap.


    His eyes moved around the room, in the direction where he remembered was the narrow wooden door. Instead he found a rack of weapons. Spears, to be precise.


    "What the fuck"


    It was in that moment that he realized that the room where he was in wasn''t that similar to the one he had in his memories. Wooden ground? No, this one was cold black stone! Shabby bed? No, this room had a giant bed in black metal with a large and comfortable elastic mat.


    The walls weren''t of wood either, they were made from large rectangular stones. There were many racks filled with countless weapons, especially spears, tridents and javelins.


    "Where Am I?"


    [Location: Blacksmith''s House, Basement]


    [Do you want to open Map]


    The sudden and weird voice of the System made Prometheus jump in fight. He then looked at the interface that appeared before him: the blacksmith''s house? What the fuck was he doing in the basement of a blacksmith?


    ''No, what I am doing in anybody''s basement?!'' the youth was understandably confused: just a moment ago he was in a wooden room, healing from his wounds and now he was in some creepy basement filled with weird weapons.


    Talking about injuries: Prometheus looked again at the stump that was the only thing remaining from his right arm. It was healed up! Completely!


    ''How on earth it is already healed up?''


    The young man started to move around, trying to see if there still was something that still did hurt him. Nothing! His body worked perfectly.


    "Rise and shine, young man" exclaimed a hearty female voice as a large number of locks snapped open on the the west side of the room. Then a large metal door creaked opening, and a robust woman with curly black hair entered the room.


    "This is the day, young man! Marriage! Isn''t this great? We all waited for so long for this!" she laughed happily, looking at Prometheus with a loving gaze.


    The youth listened to her words and tried to make sense of them, but his mind was keeping to thing to the sound of the locks opening.


    ''Wtf, was I locked in here?''


    Locked up in a basement? What on earth was happening?


    Here, put these on!" ordered the woman with a firm voice, putting a new elegant black oriental tunic on the side of the bed. "Come on, hurry up! The others are waiting to get going!" she encouraged him.


    ''Maybe it''s a marriage tradition? They drugged me and locked me in a basement... what a fucked up tradition'' he considered dubiously. ''Well in the end the most important thing is that the marriage is on! I need to make it happen before my time is out!" he roared internally.


    He immediately went on his feet, putting on rapidly the clothed that she provided while she weirdly watched him from the side. Prometheus felt that is was a little creepy for the middle aged woman to look at him while he was changing, but then he remembered that he was going to marry and old person that he never met.


    ''Maybe she thinks I have a fetish and she''s trying to get some of this...'' considered the young man, looking at his well defined but heavily scarred naked body. The woman didn''t do much, only watched with the same happy expression plastered on her face until Prometheus finished preparing himself.


    "Let''s go now" she firmly said, starting to move. The youth followed behind the large woman that led the way outside the basement and into a small living room. There, a small group of people was waiting for them.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "This must be my other friends"


    Their names were displayed in little plaques hovering near their head, making it easy for Prometheus to recognize them from the little story that the system fed him about Sif before.


    "It was time, let''s go" said a black haired youth sitting between two thin guys that looked exactly the same. He looked annoyed, almost as he didn''t want to be there.


    "Don''t be rude, Darius... this is a great day for our young man!" said immediately the robust woman, with a strange voice while giving the young man who talked with a nasty look.


    "Ah... ah... yeah, sorry... your right! S..sif, let''s go buddy" stuttered weirdly the black haired young man, trying his best to give a smile to Prometheus but failing miserably.


    ''These people are fucked up in their heads... I don''t want them anywhere near me, let alone at my marriage''


    Yet, he couldn''t just do what he wanted. He needed the marriage to go as smoothly as it was possible.


    ''I''ll put up with these morons for now''


    He looked around the room, trying to find the woman that made all this possible. He liked Syndra, she was weird but kindhearted and she was literally saving his life with this marriage thing. The present seemed to notice that he was looking for someone and started to smile wryly.


    It was the black haired woman that intervened again, trying to assure him.


    ''Syndra is waiting for us there, silly... let''s go!''


    Prometheus didn''t get how she could know that he was looking for the red haired girl at first, but then simply considered that it was because she was the person with whom he spent more time. It would be pretty strange if his best friend didn''t show up to his marriage.


    They all started moving, getting outside from a side door and finding themselves in a garden surrounded by large hedges. It was morning, the air was fresh and a timid sun was shining from under a cover of white clouds. The garden was almost fully occupied by a large white tent, where some people could be already seen inside.


    Prometheus immediately realized that it was the place where the ceremony was supposed to take place. He was pretty impressed by the whole thing.


    He was pulled by the black haired woman towards the tent. When he entered, the first thing he saw was a old man with a large flaming red beard. He looked at him with pity then he gave a nod to the women that was pulling him alongside her.


    "Go sit somewhere, be good" he grunted harshly. Then he rapidly moved away, bringing the woman with him. The maimed youth was disgusted by such a rude behavior, cursing him inwardly.


    ''What a dick, why did they invite him if he doesn''t like me?''


    He really couldn''t understand why a person like that would come to the ceremony. Maybe because it was a small community and everybody was invited?


    ''Still, it sucks''


    Left alone, Prometheus moved his gaze all around the tent: there were at least a dozen people there, but strangely no one seemed able to meet his gaze for more than a couple of seconds. They all diverted their sight from him, like if they were afraid of him somehow.


    ''Well, I do look like a murderer for hire... plus the previous owner of the body was a weirdo that only cared about hunting and practicing with a bow''


    Finally, between the countless faces present, the young man found Syndra. She was sitting next to a group of other girls, chatting. Smiling, Prometheus started moving towards her.


    The young red haired saw him coming, and a flash of sadness appeared in her eyes. She moved to meet him, giving him a hug and friendly smile.


    "Ehy buddy, are you ready? You won''t let me down, now, will you?" she jokingly asked, her gaze faltering. There was something wrong with her expression, but Prometheus couldn''t tell what she was thinking.


    ''Maybe she''s bi and now she realized that she committed a grave mistake by committing only to chase girls'' thought the youth, suddenly getting closer to the girl to make sure the people around him wouldn''t be able to overdevelop him.


    "Listen up, although I''m not that big on the whole harem thing, but... let''s be honest for a second...  the more the merrier" he said, looking the girl right in her eyes with an upright tone.


    "What?" shock appeared on the redhead eyes, and her mouth opened in surprise. Prometheus felt an headache coming, trying to correct what he just said.


    "I''m just saying, never say never... plus free love is very..." he started saying, but he was interrupted by a acute scream of joy coming from Syndra.


    "You spoke!" she cried loudly, attracting the attention of everyone in the tent.

 Kidnapping The Spouse

    "Yeah, funny... listen..." continued the young one armed man after giving a long nasty look to the girl before him. Screaming that loud a stupid joke like that? On the day of his wedding? If she wasn''t the one that helped him organize it in the first place, he would definitely stop talking to her forever.


    "Can you count to ten?" excitedly asked the girl, grabbing his arm tightly that he felt her fingernail penetrate his skin.


    Prometheus furrowed his brows, and he began to suspect that this "count to ten" thing was another of the crazy marriage tradition of the Mora Village.


    "Of course... of course I can count to ten...what the fuck" answered the young man without thinking. The woman seemed to almost explode with delight at his answer, her fingernails going even deeper inside his skin. The pain was so high that Prometheus couldn''t help himself and gave a shrill scream.


    "Are you crazy?" exclaimed the youth moving away his arm and distancing himself a bit from the red haired woman that grabbed him so tightly that her nails punctured his skin.


    "This is amazing" said girl, tears of joy filling her eyes.


    He moved towards her his only arm and and showed her the blood that was now filling the small injuries that her fingernail had left on his flesh.


    "What is so amazing about this? Are you insane" he roared, getting more and more angry at the strange behavior of the girl.


    "You can make conversation, and you can feel pain!" continued the young woman her face radiant. She put a hand onto her chest and immediately after she began to cry and laugh, large tears of happiness pouring down her cheeks. "I''m free" she murmured to herself, almost in disbelief.


    Abruptly, her smile transformed into a confident expression."Ok, I''m not doing it anymore!" she exclaimed loudly, putting her hand on her hips and pushing her chin toward the ceiling. "This girl has changed her mind! I won''t do it! Understood?" she then started to laugh loudly.


    ''What the fuck is happening to this girl?''


    Prometheus started thinking that maybe she was having some sort of burnout seeing her best friend getting married. He looked around, trying to find any other sympathetic gaze from anyone. He needed some help to stop the overexcited girl from ruining his marriage. This is too much important for him to let the red haired crazed youth ruin it.


    He scanned with his eyes the area around him, and realized that everyone was looking at them. Which should be normal: Syndra''s behavior was incredibly strange and loud. Yet the looks that they gave them and the strange atmosphere that he felt in the tent, made Prometheus sense that something wasn''t quite right.


    Then he realized something: the people in the tent weren''t looking at them. They were looking at him. Most of them looked confused, then there were some people that looked amused and finally there was a very small group of people that were visibly fuming in anger.


    The latter were made of the red bearded man that was very rude to him at the entrance, the fat woman that brought him there and the black haired youth that spoke with him in the blacksmith''s house.


    Finally, the red bearded man raised his voice and slammed his hand on the large table before him. His flaming beard swing under his abrupt movement and his thick brows knitted themselves in a severe expression of disapproval and anger.


    "Dammit Syndra! Stop your nonsense right now! You promised that you won''t disgrace us if they allowed you to keep caring for the simpleton!" he screamed.


    ''Wait what?'' Prometheus eyes widened. Simpleton? Plus, why the old fogey was pointing at him while giving his little monologue?


    "Syndra, my daughter... Darius has been incredibly kind to you, why are you humiliating us in his most happy day?" timed in with an unsatisfied tone the large middle aged brunette that brought Prometheus to the tent. Near her, a young black haired youth had an extremely tense expression on his face while he was looking at Prometheus with his hand clenched around a glass of red wine.


    ''Her wedding? Wait what the hell is going on?'' thought Prometheus, lost. He looked back at the red haired woman with a stunned expression.


    "Are you sure that you feel fine?" she asked him, completely ignoring the two people that had just talk to her.


    "Yeah, I feel pretty well... except for my arm, obviously " said Prometheus. Looking at his missing arm. He coudn''t believe that he had such a bad luck, transmigrating into such a shitty body.


    "What is the last thing you remember?" asked suddenly the red haired girl, with a strange expression on her face.


    "I was waiting for you to go and speak with the old hag, why? Didn''t you make it?" he answered scratching his head. ''Why she''s asking me that...'' he felt pretty confused about what was happening. It was almost as the people around him treated him like an infant.


    ''... like a child?'' a very uncomfortable idea flashed in his mind. "Oh fuck" the more he thought of it, the more that particular idea made sense. Yet, there was only a way to know if it was anywhere true.


    ''System!'' he carefully called out in his mind.


    [Matrix FYD003201 active, waiting for instruction]


    After a moment of hesitation spent looking at the hovering interface that had popped in front of his face, he finally tested if the idea that he had to see if it held any truth to it.


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    ''... how much time has passed since I woke up?'' he simply asked.


    [1 hour and 16 minutes] answered the strange sounding system.


    ''No, moron, how many since I woke up in this body''


    [325 days, 3 hours and 16 minutes] revealed with precision the voice in his head. A new window popped up in existence, showing a real-time count of the period that he had asked information about, precise to the seconds.


    Prometheus felt a cold sensation of fear run down his spine while he watched the interference. It already happened? How it was possible? The moment when he thought that he had solved that problem seemed almost less than a few hours ago.


    The fear continued for a couple of seconds, then he had another little realization: ''Wait, I survived!''. He almost coudn''t believe his luck. He did survive!


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA, I survived!" he loudly laughed the one harmed man, ignoring all the looks that he was getting.


    He didn''t get how he did it, but it seemed that lady luck was on his side this time. Even if something had evidently gone wrong he still managed to survive and that was what it mattered.


    "Wait, if I survived, then why I''m marrying?" he asked the youth as his smile died down when he realized that there was still something weird about the situation that he was in.


    "What are you talking about Sif? This is my marriage!" exclaimed the red haired girl newt to him, shocking the already confused Prometheus.


    "Well it makes more sense now... Ah, sister Syndra, congratulations! Did you finally manage to get that girl from the neighboring village to accept your love?" Prometheus still felt that there were some things that he didn''t understand, but he was too much exited by the fact that he had survived the time-skip to bother with those details.


    "No, that stupid girl died raped and beaten to death a bunch of mercenaries that she run off with..." she said the red haired girl, her face suddenly loosing her radiant smile.


    "Oh... that''s not good" realizing that his words weren''t that comforting, the one armed youth tried to think of something else. "I''m sure that this girl you chose for the marriage is as sexy as her" he nodded with a serious expression on his face.


    ''No that''s as bad as the first one... what''s wrong with me... three life times and still as awkward as people could be''


    A sudden loud sound of caked glass attracted his attention to the little group of furious people: the black haired dude had literally broken his glass of wine, harming himself with plenty of sharp sharps.


    "Phhh, to think that I got almost married to that moron!" said Syndra, a flash of anger appearing in her eyes.


    "Ah, you fina..." started Prometheus, but then looking at the threatening glint in the girl''s eye he stopped halfway through his phrase. "... I mean, you changed to boys? That''s cool I guess..."


    "Bitch, I did it to help you! I couldn''t take care of you alone, and Darius''s mother said that she could take care of you if I married her stupid ugly son" she explained.


    Prometheus felt a warm feeling in his heart when he heard what the girl said. She cared for him while he was a retard? That meant that she was the reason why he survived! Maybe he had someone who loved him in this third life of his after all.


    "That''s... thank you" the one harmed youth didn''t find the words to express how much he felt in debt in that moment.


    "Oh don''t worry. We are basically family" she said smiling. Prometheus felt even more touched. He hugged the red haired girl, prompting plenty of whispering from the people in the tent. What was happening? The spouse started screaming that she wouldn''t do it anymore and now the groom''s best man was hugging her closely?


    "Eh, you better help me out now... to save you I almost got married to that stupid ugly ass bitch over there" then she pointed at the black haired youth next to the robust woman.


    "Damn, Syndra be more considerate! maybe he''s stupid, but he doesn''t seem ugly to me... and it''s not a polite pointing at people..." said Prometheus, looking at the black haired youth and giving him a nod. He knew the how hard the pain of refusal could be, so he felt bad for the poor guy.


    "Look at him! No perky tits, no nice ass... what''s supposed to be beautiful in that thing?" she shamelessly exclaimed the red haired girl, checking out the now trembling black haired youth with a gaze full of disdain.


    "Disgraceful slut!" roared the red bearded man, flipping the table before him and starting to move towards the two friends.


    Syndra didn''t wait for the man to reach them to start to move. She grabbed Prometheus with a hand, and started running towards the side of the tent.


    "See you retards!" she screamed loudly, as a large hunting knife appeared in her hands taken from under her cloths. She cut the white wall that stood before her, and bringing Prometheus along she started running crazily towards the outskirt of the village.


    "Oh, look! Crazy Sif is kidnapping the spouse!" screamed an old woman near the section of the tent that had been cut by the red haired girl.


    Prometheus heard the loud scream and almost tripped face first to the ground: he was the one kidnapping her? What the hell was wrong with these people, were they blind?

 From Zero to Hero

    The Mora Village was your typical small and remote hamlet.


    It was surrounded by fields and wasn''t too much far from a forest. The habitations were made mostly in wood, with only a couple of structure that stood out for being at least partially made with large rock slabs. Most of the buildings were recently built, and there were also some new in construction on the north side of the village.


    Contrary to most places like this, Mora was quite heavily defended: the village was surrounded by a double layered palisade with a single large entrance on the southern region. Drenches had been dug outside a long wall made of spear-looking pales and the only entrance to the village was defended by massive iron doors. A tall watch tower surmounted the entrance, equipped with large plates of copper that could be used to alert the entire community in case of attack.


    More than a small village, Mora looked like a small fortress, at least from the outside.


    These defensive measures weren''t always there. There was a time when the hamlet didn''t even have wall, nor an actual entrance. There were no watchtowers and everyone could leave and enter from every side of the village.


    It all changed when less than a year ago a bandit raid had put the entire community on their knees.


    Almost half of Mora''s population died in that bloody attack, many survived only to perish shortly after from the wounds that they received. Most of the structures had been put on fire after being searched for valuable items. Many girls had been kidnapped, and almost all those who remained were abused in some way.


    To avoid this happening again, Mora''s people requested some help from the local Lord, Knight Feng, but he didn''t seem to care much about such a small hamlet. The noble said that he felt that sending his forces to hunt the bandit that attacked the village would be a complete waste of time.


    The village bordered with the Iryona Forest, an immense wild region that spanned also in the territory of several other nobles. If the bandits hid in another lord''s territory, he would have no way to reach them/


    Even if he didn''t help, he sent word to the village, allowing the fortification of the community. Without his express approval, creating walls and other defenses would have been a direct offense against his authority and the people there could have been declared traitorous.


    The people of the village worked very hard creating a defensive system that would allow to protect themselves against another attack of the bandit group.


    They even made a new rule that stated that at least one person should always be on top of the watchtower. No matter what was happening, no matter if it was day or night. Someone needed to stay in the tower to make sure that nobody tried to sneak in the village.


    On the day of the marriage that someone was Rob. Rob was a tall and well built man. He was always clean shaved and wore large working clothes all the time. He had been a soldier, serving for a few years in Lord Feng''s army before settling down in the village and using all his money to pay for an apprenticeship to the local blacksmith.


    He stood there, on the top of the watchtower, looking inside the village, towards one of the stone structures that stood out between the wooden ones.


    "Ah, the ceremony should have already started" he said, talking to himself with a sad smile. He really wanted to be there, but someone needed to stay on guard.


    "Maybe it was a bad idea volunteering for this" he continued, remorse appearing in his eyes. This wasn''t his turn to be on duty after all. Normally, it should have been old Kruth''s turn, however he had asked to take his place.


    This was the day when Kurth''s gran-daughter would finally marry his teacher''s son after all. How could the old man miss the marriage of his only remaining family member? It felt the right thing to do, taking his place on guard duty.


    Rob was only a couple of years older than the son of his teacher, Darius, and he didn''t know the guy that well. However, he knew how much hard the young man had worked to get that girl to accept his proposal.


    Even when she finally accepted, he had basically forced her hand. Everybody knew that if it wasn''t for crazy-Sif she wouldn''t have agreed. She needed someone that could help her care for her retarded friend, because she wasn''t able to do so alone anymore. When Darius heard that, he offered her a deal: she had to marry him and he would take care of crazy-Sif for the rest of his miserable life.


    "???"


    The man looked down, his attention attracted by a loud scream. He saw a couple of people running out from the blacksmith''s house.


    The person running on the front was surely Syndra. Her flaming hair was something very easy to identify. Rob was pretty confused: was the ceremony already ended and the newly wed couple running to their new house? No, that seemed a little bit far fetched. The ceremony would last for a couple of hours at least.


    Plus, even if Darius had been waiting for that moment for long, Syndra didn''t seem the type of girl that would run towards the place where marriage would be consumed.


    "Wait a moment, that''s not Darius!" exclaimed the man in the tower, noticing that the guy that she was dragging along with her was too meager to be the son of the blacksmith. When he saw that he had only one arm, he immediately knew who he was: Sif, Syndra''s crazy friend.


    Sif had been a silent strange guy for most of his life, even before he went insane. Before they called him the hunter mania, because he could only think of hunting and training his archery skills.


    However after the attack of the bandits, the guy completely changed: not only he lost all his family, he lost even an arm, becoming a cripple at such a young age. Something snapped in him and now he was a retard, a completely crazy person that couldn''t even talk.


    "What are they doing?" Rob noticed that the two of them had surpassed the wooden house that Darius''s parents had rapidly built for the marriage of their son. They kept running in direction of...the doors!


    "They''re running away!" he finally understood.


    A grin appeared on his face, as he started to move down the watchtower. From his side, he took out an old looking mace, his weapon from his day as a soldier that he brought with him everywhere he went. Then, he put himself in the very middle of the road that lead outside the village.


    This was his chance to make his teacher fall in debt with him! He didn''t feel that bad for Syndra at all, even knowing that she was basically being forced into the marriage. Darius was a good man, she should just stop being such a nuisance and just go with it.


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    Plus, where she thought she was going to go? Maybe alone she could manage to survive outside Mora for some time, but with that retard with her? She had no chance at all. He was sure that once she calmed down and matured a bit she would even thank him for stopping her for making such a big mistake.


    With a severe expression on his face, Rob stood there, waiting.


    Not too far from where the blacksmith''s apprentice was waiting, a young couple of friends was running as fast as they could.


    Prometheus felt his hand hurt from Syndra''s grip, but each time he tried to free himself she only closed it even more.


    ''Dammit, I can run all alone! I don''t need help to follow you, I''m not a child!'' he wanted to scream, cursing at her but at the same time he didn''t want to start an argument in such a precarious situation.


    "No" exclaimed out of the blue the redhead that was running before him. The woman stopped suddenly, without giving poor Prometheus any indication that she was going to do so. Obviously, the guy crashed into her, and they both ended rolling on the ground.


    Prometheus wailed in pain as he got up, frowning towards the girl that was still on the ground next to him. If it wasn''t for the fact that she just revealed to him that she saved his life, he surely would have beaten her to a pulp.


    "Stay down kid" Ordered a severe voice that made him jump in his place.


    Prometheus moved his eyes beyond the body of the woman before him. A dozen meters from his position there was a big metal door. In the very middle of that metal door stood a tall man that was pointing a mace towards him.


    He naturally ignored his order, his brow knitting in displeasure. Kid? That man didn''t seem that old. Even if he was, he surely wasn''t as old as him. Moreover why was he giving him orders and threatening him with a weapon?


    "I said stay down, don''t let me come there to spank you kid" laughed the man, rotating the iron weapon in his hand.


    Prometheus''s face fell. Did that guy just threatened him of spanking? And why was he playing with that hideous looking mace? Was he planning to spank him with that?


    This Mora Village was truly a nest of despicable degenerates.


    "Fuck off weirdo" said the one armed guy with anger, while patting the dust out of his clothes. He wasn''t scared of a guy with mace.


    "Oh did you grow a tongue? Hahaha, Syndra you thought your pet a new trick?" said the man that was blocking their escape, giving very inappropriate looks at Syndra''s exposed thighs.


    The red haired girl got also on her feet. Her right knee hurt like hell, probably it was dislocated.


    "Dammit!" she cussed. Trying to outrun the man was now out of the picture: probably now she needed to beat him in a fight! Syndra took out the long hunting knife that she had used before to escape from the white marriage tent.


    "Let us pass Rob, this doesn''t concern you!" she said, slowly moving around the man, trying to get to the other side of the gate.


    "Mph, of course it does. Did you forget who''s apprentice am I?" responded the man, not seeming concerned at all about the blade that she had on her hands.


    "STOP THEM" furious screams came from far away. Syndra glanced back, only to see a large group of people running towards them. They were still far away, but she knew that if they managed to reach them, it was all over for her. She would be forced to marry Darius. Her dreams of chasing after the most beautiful women in the world would end before even beginning.


    "MOVE NOW" she roared, readying herself to fight. There was a mad fire burning in her eyes that made even the experienced ex soldier feeling uncomfortable.


    "Ahaha, stand down little girl. I''m not a dear or a rabbit, you won''t win a fight against me!" Rob tried to scare her off. "You should stay here and wait until your husband comes to get you. Your place is-"


    Prometheus, already trembling with rage for the insults taken from the tall man, exploded in fury listening to what the guy was saying to the person that saved his life.


    He never was a very calm and poised guy, so his first reaction was to go there and beat that man to a bloody pulp.  He didn''t have any weapon, but he still attacked. Taking advantage of the fact that he was completely ignoring him and was focused on Syndra, the one armed guy flashed towards the mace wielding man.


    In the moment he started moving, Prometheus realized something strange: he was too much fast! Before he could even realize it he crashed into the tall man, tackling him like he was in a rugby game. They both ended up on the ground.


    The one armed man immediately got on his knees, eyeing the mace that was still in the other man''s hand. Rob, instead was paralyzed by the pain for a moment: he felt like if he just had an impact with a solid piece of rock. He couldn''t believe his eyes: was that really crazy-Sif? When did he become so fast and strong?


    However soon his fighting experience made him recover from the stupor and with a loud scream he forced his body to move. He swung his mace towards the young man''s head, not hesitating to try to deal a mortal strike against him.


    Syndra''s eyes almost gouged out of her eye-sockets. One moment Rob was teasing her while playing around with his mace and the next one he was wrestling on the ground with Sif. Before she could join the fight, helping her friend, she noted that Rob was striking with his iron mace towards Sif''s head.


    "Sif, no!" she screamed, darting towards the attacker with her large knife.


    Prometheus looked at the approaching seven bladed iron mace. He didn''t feel any panic at all. Why would he? That mace seemed to travel with an insanely slow speed.


    He moved his hand, and closed it around the wrist of the man that was trying to kill him. It was something that he learned in a self defense class when he was in high school, but he never thought it would be so easy to do it in a real life and death combat.


    ''Maybe this is adrenaline?'' he though dubiously. He tightened his grip on his enemy''s hand, and the air was filled by the cracking sounds of broken bones.


    Rob screamed, he was in disbelief and pain. He, a trained veteran that served for years had been so easily subdued by the madman of the village? How come he was so insanely strong?