《The Mercenary System》 Chapter 1: A conversation with Alice and time to reincarnate. Chapter 1: a good conversation with Alice (the AI of the system) and time to reincarnate. [ You have died ] Death somehow feels a little anticlimactic when the last thing you see is an amateur goon pointing an AK directly in your face and then BANG. Now I find myself inside a big white room talking with some metallic ball that glows every time it talks and the first thing it told me was that I¡¯m dead. ¡°I mean, I know I¡¯m not some super genius to know that a good shot to the head means death but why am I talking to you again, oh Mr. Shiny Ball, instead of going to wherever the place that I¡¯m supposed to be?" [ It is because you have been chosento become the new host of the [System] ] Hah. Gotta admit, the voice actually sounds kinda sweet, even though I don¡¯t know whether or not it belongs to a man or a woman. I''m gonna go with a woman. ¡°So what?¡± [ This means that you can either have your memory wiped clean and continue with your reincarnation ] Nope! Not givin'' up on my memory. ¡°Or?¡± [ Or chose to become the host of the [ Mercenary System] and keep your memory from your past life, as well as gaining a way to upgrade your body through points. You can gain points by doing missions assigned to you by the [System] or by the god that governs the world that you live on] Hm, it is actually a pretty good deal, but... ¡°The catch is that I must do missions given by the god or by the [System] and in return I get these point to upgrade myself. And if I say no,then I will forget everything, is that it?" [ Yes ] ¡°Hm... Sowhy are you choosing me to become the host of this system?¡± [ It is because the rate in which you had the chance to finish your missionsis over 90% based on your actionsand your special way of thinking in your previous life ] ¡°Well,I don¡¯t want to lose my memory, I guess... yes, I accept becomingthe host.¡± [ Excellent, now do you wish to learn about the [Mercenary System] or do you wish to skip it and continue on with the reincarnationprocess] ¡°Yeah, I think Iwant to know." [ Very well ] [ 1. We have your stats. This includesyour {strength}, {mind}, {speed}, {vitality} and {energy}. Youcan see them in your status. Youcan see your status by sayingthe word ¡°status¡± in any language ] [ 2. We have a shop where you canuseyour pointsto purchase abilities like {telekinesis}, {night vision},¡­ or weapons, items,and mineralslike gold or silver or skills like {sword mastery}, {crafting},¡­ and so on ] [ 3. We have the mission board where you can accept missions and receive your reward,which could be anything from an item to a skill and an ability ] You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. [ And that is it ] ¡°So what are stats for?¡± [ {strength}: your muscle, skin and bone density ] [ {speed}: your reaction speed and muscle speed ] [ {mind}: your memory and processing speed ] [ {vitality}: your immune system and your regeneration ability ] [ {energy}: the amount of energy in your cells. Thisenergy can be calledby many nameslike mana, qi. Ki, ¡­] So there isa chance I couldbecome a mage or a cultivator... [ Wouldyou like to see your past life''sstatus ? ] ¡°Show me." Let me see how I wasin my past life... [ status ] [ name: Raymon Anderson ] [ points: 0 ] [ {strength} : 1.8 ] [ {speed}: 2.1 ] [ {mind}: 1.2 ] [ {vitality}: 1.6 ] [ {energy}: 0.2 ] [ Skills: {weapon creation 3},{gun mastery 7},{bow mastery 3},{persuasion 6},{stealth 5},{swimming 3},{knife mastery 4},{close combat mastery 5} ] [ Abilities: {adrenaline rush}, {inheritance(new)} ] [ A normal human in your past life had stats at :1 ] Hm, not bad. Iunderstand the skills but why is my energy stat so low? ¡°Hey system, why is my energy stat so low, why are there numbers afterthe skills, and what domy abilitiesdo?" [ It is because in your pastlife,your world has little energy so your body has little of it ] [ The number afterthe skillsindicate your mastery over those skills with 1 as beginnerand 10 as master ] [ Your first ability {adrenaline rush} letsyou remove your limit for ashort amount of time while your second ability {inheritance} lets youinheritall of your pastlife''sstats,skills,memories,and abilities. Thisis a bonus the system gives to you for becomingthe host;the bonus usually israndomlychosen from an itemto an skill that will stay with your soul forever, so it very rare to get an ability ] So I¡¯m lucky, ha. Yeah, Ithink I¡¯m good, so let''sdo this. ¡°System I''d like to begin the reincarnation process now.¡± [ Yes, good luck user, andif you has any questions, youu can ask me again through the system ] ¡°Oh yeah, what do I call you again?" [ You can call me whatever nameyou like ] ¡°Then I gonna call you Alice." [ Hm...I like it. ThenAlice it is ] ¡°Wait,you like it? No,never mind. So,see you again!" [ Good bye Host] Thenthe next thing I rememberis a blinding amount of light and a sound of newborn crying. I guessthat''sme Chapter 2: time skip for 5 year and the process so far. Chapter 2: The Progress of 5 Years So yeah, five years have passedsince the day I was born or reborn. Fast, I know right? I mean there is literally nothing to do when you are a little baby besides eat, shit and cry when you need something. But it is still boring ''cause I got nothing to do besides asking Alice for information about the system. And the best part is, after the first 2 week, I found out that I¡¯m a girl. F**K. Sorry for the cursing, but try imagine yourself living for 43 years as a guy, and just suddenly become a little girl. And when I ask Alice, the AI, why this is happening, it tell me that this whole reincarnation process is random and that I¡¯m even lucky to be human. *sigh* Yeah, lucky. At least I look cute and if I have the genes of my mother then I¡¯m going to be a big hit when grow up, hopefully. And well, apparently, my new name is Lena. Just Lena. No last name at all. I have brown hair, purple eyes, white skin and a face that says cute and innocent. My new father''s name is Emil and his wife''s, or my mother''s, name is Elena. They both used to be adventures but now arethe owner of a inn named The Sleepy Bear, with Emil as the chef and mascot himself. Why? ... Just imagine a 2-meter-tall man with tan skin, a bald head, a face that look like a thug, purple eyes, plus a big scar on his chest, and too much muscle. Yup, really like a bear. Meanwhile, Elena has an oval face, brown hair, blue eyes, white skin and a body line that looks like a Victoria''s Secret model. It¡¯s a mystery how she is able to look like that even after given birth to me. At the beginning when I first saw those two together, I was like wondering ¡®how the hell did two you even get together?¡¯ But thanks to a few bedtime stories told by Elena when I was 2 years old, apparently, when those two were young, Emil and Elena used to be in a team of adventurers together. They were good, and that all she could talk about her team. That is until one day when they were out exterminate some hell hounds, which are some type of mutant monster dogs. Elena suffered a critical wound and because of the number of the hell hounds around, she was left behind by her teammates. All of them were gone; all but Emil. Desperate, he abandoned his shield to carry her on his back and ran with all the power he could gather in his legs and an arm with a single short sword. It¡¯s a miracle that he managed to outrun those nasty things. During this whole time, Elena was awake. Her eyes could barely open. But she could still hear her friend''s words of abandoning her, and the words of encouragement from Emil telling her to stay awake, to hold on till they get to town. And well, after that incident, the team was disbanded. Emil and Elena continued to do a few more quest together and then they decided to buy a inn in a small village near the border of the country using the money they had been saving for sometime. And one year later, I was born at that very same inn. Some bedtime story, hah. Anyway, thank god for Alice and my baby brain ''cause it took me 6 month to learn this world''s language and 1 extra month for me to walk properly. And what happened to my {inheritance} ability and my old world stats? Well, at first, I really wanted to use it right after my rebirth but Alice warned me that it could be bad for my body. Like really bad. After all, a new born body can¡¯t hold the power of an adult. So 5 yearpassedsince my rebirth and now that my body turning five, I¡¯m finally old enough to use it.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°{inheritance}¡± [ability {inheritance} has been activated] [user receives: 6.9 stats point] [user receives: ability {adrenaline rush}] [uses receives: skill {weapon creation 3}, {gun mastery 7}, {bow mastery 3}, {persuasion 6}, {stealth 5}, {swimming 3}, {knife mastery 4}, {close combat mastery 5}] [user ability {adrenaline rush} has combined with the current {adrenaline rush} and evolved into {limit break}] [ability{limit break}: allows user to go beyond the body''s limit for a longer amount of time then {adrenaline rush} with less consequences to the body] Now this got me all the more excited! Ok. ¡°Status!¡± [ status] [ name: Lena ] [ gender: female] [ race: human] [ points: 0] [ {strength} : 0.8] [ {speed}: 0.7] [ {mind}: 1.2 ] [ {vitality}: 1.4] [ {energy}: 1.8] [ sp : 6.9] [ skill: {weapon creation 3}, {gun mastery 7}, {bow mastery 3}, {persuasion 6}, {stealth 5}, {swimming 3}, {knife mastery 4}, {close combat mastery 5}] [ ability: {limit break(new)}, {inheritance}] Oh now it show the sp, gender, and race part. Hey, now that I think about it, it''s been 5 years and this is the second time I''ve seen my own status. [ You are just too lazy to say the word ''status'' ] ... And while asking Alice abouthow my stats are, I make a major discovery because this world has more energy than earth. A human here is stronger than one on earth. That¡¯s why my stats were so high for a 5 years old. And the second thing is that I can raise my stats through training, and for the last 3 years, that''s what I¡¯ve been doing anyway And since I don¡¯t actually have any points to spend and Alice told me that only after this body goes through puberty that I can receive my first main mission to get points... I don¡¯t really had a need to check on them. But seriously, I really need to check my status more often. [ Yes.You should ] Alice, how many times have I told you to stop reading my mind? [ 3991 ] Then stop reading my mind. [ 3992 ] Ok stop, first things first. ¡°Alice assign 0.6 points to {vitality}, 1.5 to {speed}, 1 point to {mind}, 0.2 points to {energy} and the rest goes to {strength} ¡± [ Are you wishing to confirm your choice? ] ¡°Yes." And let me see those stats again... ¡°Status!¡± [ status] [ name: Lena ] [ gender: female] [ race: human] [ points: 0] [ {strength} : 4.4 ] [ {speed}: 2.2] [ {mind}: 2.2 ] [ {vitality}: 2] [ {energy}: 2] [ sp : 0] [ skill: {weapon creation 3}, {gun mastery 7}, {bow mastery 3}, {persuasion 6}, {stealth 5}, {swimming 3}, {knife mastery 4}, {close combat mastery 5}] [ ability: {limit break(new)}, {inheritance}] There. Now I¡¯m 4.4 times stronger, 2.2 times faster, 2.2 times better memory, and regenerate2 times faster than a normal adult. I really like round number, don''t I? [ Yes, you do ] ALICE. Stop it. [ 3993 ] ¡°Lena honey, come down and have some breakfast already.¡± *sigh* Elena is calling again. ¡°Yes mom!! ¡± I guess I need to go down and I think I''m starting to feel a little hungry as well. OK. ¡°Coming mom!¡± Using these short, little legs and my new stats, somehow I manage to reach the kitchen just in time for Emil to reach the table. Hm, so these stats make you faster but because of my small-sized legs, I still can¡¯t reach my old speed. None of that matter. In ten more years, I''ll be back to my former self or even better. Not to mention the stats I can manage to have from now to then, hehe. [ Creepy ] Alice, stay out of my mind. [ 3994 ] Alice, don''t spoil my good morning. ¡°What is it Lena? You seem a little happy this morning?¡± said Emil. Oh yeah, there something been bothering me for sometime now. ¡°Hey Mom, Dad?¡± Ok do this fast and get it over with. ¡°What is it, Lena?¡± ¡°What is it, my dear?¡± Both Elena and Emil stop eating and look confused at me. Continuing with my question, I ask ¡°Mom, in your bedtime story you said you and dad were adventurers, right?¡± I said while doing an innocent but hopeful face. ¡°Well, what were your roles in the team?¡± I ask. ¡°My, well I was a mage with light magic and wind magic while your dad was a close range fighter and heavy hitter.¡± What!! She was a mage all this time and I never even see her doing any magic... Or maybe I never pay attention enough to notice. [ You''re just too lazy ] Not now Alice. ¡°Wait, you were a mage!! And does heavy hitter mean that dad can hit really hard?¡± I ask while looking confused and surprised at the same time and a little excited, thinking of future possibilities with this information. [ Can you be any more obvious? ] ¡°Yes, and heavy hitter means that he can hit really hard. So hard that he can cut through a really big tree with a single swing of his sword.¡± Elena answers with a soft smile on her face and Emil is¡­ blushing. Really blushing red. Why!!? Even though the guy looks so scary, he is actually really shy. And that is the hard truth I find out after living in this family for five years *sigh* Anyway back to the maintopic ¡°So mom can you teach me magic? Pleaseee!!¡± I ask with a pleading look on my face. So embarassing, but it is all for the sake of a better future. ¡°Well I was planning to teach you when you turned seven but I guess now is better than later. But I have to see which affinity you''re better with before teach you anything, so we will have to go to the Adventure''s Guild in order to get you checked.¡± After a short pause, she continues to talk after looking at my plate ¡°But first, finish your breakfast and then we can go.¡± Good!A chance to become a mage and get to see how this adventure guild look like. I can¡¯t wait. [ Sure you can ] ALICE!!! Chapter 3: world information, magic affinity and a surprise. Chapter 3: WorldInformation, Magic Affinity and a Surprise Adventurer''s Guild, a big building made of wood, three stories tall with a sign that has a sword and a shield crossing over each other, that kind ofadventure guild. Chapter 4: information about a side quest and a promise to Elena. Chapter 4: The Information of the First Side Quest and a Promise. While Talia and Elena continue with their arguing about why a hug shouldn¡¯t be too rough, I was busy mentally asking Alice about the system. Alice, 2 years ago you said that side quests are many and I can do it even with this 5 year old body of mine, right? [ Yes, your body is fully conditioned for several side missions ] Then could you show me the ones I could do tonight, without achance of Elena and Emil finding out? [ Fine, give me a few seconds ] Thanks, Alice. [ No problem, it¡¯s what I do anyway ] After a few seconds of silence, well almost silence ''cause Elena and Talia are still going at each other, I hear a reply from her. [ Ok, there are 6 side missions that you could do tonight without the chance of being notice by Emil or Elena ] Only six... then could you give me the one that have the highest success rate? [ Ok, then this one ] [ {side quest}: goblin killer. Details : Goblins are a pest that needs to be exterminate. Kill ten of them in the forest around the village. Reward : 20 points plus 1 extra point for every brutal kill. Note: This mission can berepeated until there''s not a single one of those pests is left alive ] One of the gods must really hate goblins enough to put up this quest and descride it like that. [ Yes, one of their heroes got careless and died under the blades and sticks of 8 goblins. ] I see, an idiot is what you should have said.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. And Alice could you give me the information about this world''s Goblin, please. [ { goblin } : a creature with the size and intelligence of a 5-year-old child but don¡¯t underestimate them, for they hunt in group with number ranging from 3 to 5 ] So they arethe same size as I am. That guy or girl really is an idiot, getting killed by a bunch of kids. But it seem easy enough. I just need to watch out for their numbers. [ Yes, but be careful. There a few cases where the cause of death of a few mercenaries is because they underestimate their enemy ] I know, I know. I just have to take a few extra precautions when dealing with those guys. For example, outsmart them or overpower them with my stats. ¡°Seriously Elena, you should be more careful with your kid, okay? Now, I¡¯m gonna go back to work. Call me if you need anything else.¡± Talia says while walking out of the room. ¡°Fine, you win. I will hug her gentler next time.¡± Elena says looking defeated. And it looks like they are done with their argument. Aah, don¡¯t look so sad Elena. But I¡¯m gonna have to side with Talia on this one. Those hugs are nice and all but they are deadly. ¡°It''s okey mom. I still like your hugs but please don¡¯t be so rough every time you do it.It''s painful.¡± I say that while inocently smile at her. And Elena is making a sad puppy face. No, don¡¯t do that kind of face to your daughter. Have some shame, it is cute and all but don¡¯t. ¡°So mom, when can we start training magic?¡± Geniusly change the subject, I continue to ask her questions. ¡°And can I be an adventure when I grow up?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Elena says, still haven¡¯t recover from my word. ¡°You promise!?!¡± ¡°Yes, and I never break my promises.¡±Elena says proudly, still not noticing something. Wait for it. ¡°Wait, no, you can¡¯t become an adventure.¡± Oh, now she notices. Let use my {persuasion 6} skill. ¡°It''s okay mom, I know the risk. And it is not like I am gonna accept some dangerous missions. Besides, you and dad were once adventurers as well.¡± ¡°No.¡± She says. ¡°But why?¡± I ask, looking sad. ¡°''Cause it''s dangerous. You could die or worse.¡± she answers, firmly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will only accept missions that have a low chance of deathand we still have a few year to train myself.Besides, I want to do this mom, to know more about this world and to make a name for myself just like you guys once did as well.¡± I say,while having a serious and resolutelook on my face. Luckily Talia already left, so it''s not that much of an embarrassment. Surprised with my answer, Elena agrees with my wish after a few moments of thinking. ¡°Fine, but me and your dad are gonna train you to the bone and if you can¡¯t defeat us both in the next 8 yearsandwhenyou are old anough to join the adventure guild...¡± She then looks me straight in the eye and says,¡°Then don¡¯t even think about becomingan adventurer young lady.¡± ¡°Yes mom!!¡± I saywith a big smile on my face and hug her to seal the deal. That is fine as well. I can learn to become strong like Emil and use magic like Elena, while give them a reason to feel safe about me. And when I get home, I still need make preparations to hunt some pests tonight. Chapter 5: preparation and a bloody night. Chapter 5: preparation and a bloody night. After a silent walk back to the sleepy bear inn. Elena is in the middle of talking with Emil about our earlier conversation, while I was busy looking for their knife and Emil pepper powder in the kitchen. You see, most people in this town don¡¯t really like spicy food so Emil had ton of those powder bag store away for a very long time. I know where they were store, cause I accidentally drop a bag of those thing on the floor the other night, when I was looking for a midnight snack. Let just say that there are lot of tears and a pair of really red and painfull butts when Elena found out about it in the morning. I haven¡¯t used my {inheritance} ability back then, so it really painfull with Elena strength and my sensitive butt, but now I think I have a good way to used those bad boy. And I¡¯m sure that Emil won¡¯t mind if I take a few of them. [ what are you gonna do with them ] It¡¯s just a simple trick Alice. I¡¯m gonna throw them into those thing face or eyes, what else?. [ Oh, that evil man. ] I know right. --( A few minutes later)-- And there, I found a cleaver knife, a kitchen knife that is roughly 25 centimeter long, enough to stap and slicing thing plus ten small bag of pepper powder. Just remember their position and I will comeback for them tonight. --( a serious conversation with Emil and Elena about been an adeventure and 10 hour later)-- Seriously, thirty minute of talking with Emil and Elena about my future and Emil look like he is about brust into tear any second, that guy really need to man up. But it¡¯s nightime and that means it¡¯s time for me to go for a night of goblin hunting. Silently walking down the stair to the kitchen while acctivating {stealth 5} just to make sure Emil and Elena doesn¡¯t wake up. I take all the stuffs that I had prepared in the mornin and put them into a small bag. since I haven¡¯t learn any magic yet. This is going to be a good old hunting and kill with a knife one by one, like back in the old day. Most of the village is a sleep at night beside a few town guard patroling around the wall. But the wall have many blind spot that the guard can¡¯t see. So when I make it out of the house, I imdedietly run to one of those blind spots and used my new {strength} stats, a single 4 meter high jump over a 3 meter tall wall and I¡¯m out of the town.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Continue with my run into the wood, I make another high jump on to one of the tree branch. From then on, I jump from tree branch to tree branch to avoid being spot by those goblin I try to hunt and have a good advantage in height. When you accept a mission there will be a arrow pointing in the direction where you suppose to go to complete the mission. And In this case is to the nearest goblin. Even after 12 minute of constand jumping and I haven¡¯t even feel any fatigue, these stats upgrade are really good. Suddently the arrow started to point down. I stop jumping, standing on one of the thicker branch, and Look at where the arrow was pointing, from between the bushes, I notice there was three green, little humanoid creature each one arm with a wooden club in their hand walking around lesurely withough any care in the world. This is going to be the last mistake you three ever made. Waiting for the right moment then I jump from where I were standing, directly toward where the last of the three was standing. *crack* A good chop from the cleaver to the skull, acompany with the sound of bone breaking and that thing will never see the light of day again. Fast but steady I take out the other knife from the bag and stab the second one in the heart from behind making it an instant dead while the first one just about to turn around from the sound. Seeing two of it comrade dead, it was shock but that quickly turn into rage as it started to run toward me with it club raise into the air. Seeing that, I immedietly pull out the knife from the second goblin, and used my leg to sweep the running goblin off it feet. Surprised by it sudent lost of balance, it fall into the dirt and before it got a chance to understand what happen I had already put the knife through it eye ball and into the brain, fast and efficient. 4 second, the whole thing only took 4 second to kill 3 goblin, all with critical hit and not a single drop of blood was spill on my pajama. Yes I¡¯m wearing my pijama to go goblin hunting. Pull out the cleaver and the knife from the two goblin body, I began to search their corpses, 16 copper coin from a small dirty bag on the first goblin, 2 copper coin from the second and nothing on the third one. Putting all 18 coin into my bag as I begin the next hunt. Since I have already test my speed, now is to test my brute strenght. Striping naked in order to make sure my pijama won¡¯t have a single blood stain on it by the end of the night or Elena will start asking question I don¡¯t know how to answer. With my right hand holding the cleaver and left hand holding the knife in a reverse grip. I started to jump branch to branch following the arrow to the next victims. 3 minute later I found a pair of goblin this time. Took out my pepper bag, aim and throw it with my left hand into the goblin on the left while I jump to the one on the right with the cleaver and *crack* Chop it head clean and flying from it neck. Blood is spraying this time, painting my little body red. The other one is still try to rub the pepper off it eyes only to made it worse, repeating the process I chop of it head as well. 2 minute of searching with the result of one silver coin and 11 copper coin richer from the those two goblin, I resume my hunt, after 1 hour and an extra 10 minute break by a stream later. I found a group of 5 goblin camping around a fire, three is sleeping and two is guarding, this is going to be a hard one. Quickly thinking up a plane. With my left hand raise while holding a stick and right hand ready the cleaver. I throw the stick to the bush on the other side of the camp. Opposite direction from where I was standing. A noise was made and the two guard immedietly look at where if came from, far away from me. I took the chance and jump at them with my left hand reach and pulling the knife from the bag. With both hand arm with weapon, I throw the cleaver at one of the goblin midfligh while stab the other through the heart. The cleaver hit the goblin but it still a live. And before I have a chance to finish it off, it scream. The scream alert the 3 that was sleeping. After ending the remaining guard and pull out the cleaver from it dead body. I ready myself for some good fight with the last three. Chapter 6: one side massacre and the end of the bloody night. Chapter 6: one side massacre and the end of the bloody night. In a forest outside of venzor town. There was scene that can leave nightmare to anyone who unlucky enough to witness it. Two goblin cropse on the ground bleeding and three caustion looking goblin each of them arm with a weapons, two is holding a wooden club and the last one is holding a short sword. Facing them is a five year old little girl, naked, cover in blood and like them, she is arm with weapon. Right hand holding a cleaver, left hand holding a simple knife in a reverse grip, while a smile is cover her bloody face, an innocent but scary smile . Alice how long can I activate {limit break} before it started causing permanent damage to my body. [ The safe amount of time is 1 minute and 8 second ] Hoo, that¡¯s more time than I ever needed. So let end this real fast, shall we. I Just need to look out for the one who is holding the sword. [ yes with your strength stats that sword is curently the only weapon could injure your body] Really why ?. [ because those club can¡¯t even hurt you, not with your skin, muscle and your bone dentsity, not to mention all three of them doesn¡¯t have enough strength as well] Then take out the one holding the sword and brutality kill the other two to earn extra point, that sound like a good plan. ¡°{limit break}¡± [ Ability {limit break} had been activated x2 to all of your stats ] I can feel it, i can fell my heart rate accelerating, my body became lighter, hotter, every thing slow down, the whole world is turning red and power fill my entire body. So this is what happen when you push youself beyond the limit. I like it, I love it. ¡° Come here you little bastard, let¡¯s us dance to the sound of death ¡± So embarrassing, why did I have to say that. While I was trying to hide my embarrassment, the goblin started to charge. But I don¡¯t care, I only want the one holding the sword and I want that sword, so give it to me you pest. Runing with a speed the old me or even my pass life could never reach, I went pass the two who is holding the oversize stick. Slide under the one holding the sword to dodge the incoming blade.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. And I stab the knife on my left hand into it leg and immedietly pull it out, blood flow out of it, it¡¯s look like I cut an artery, yay!!. I swing the cleaver into it shoulder, cuting it entire left arm from it body, so much blood, so much red, so beautiful. And before it could understand what happen I have already turn the blade and chop of it head off. At this point the other two who is holding the club had just turn it head around to see their boss decapitated body fall to the ground. To save time I jump toward one of the remain goblin and chop of it head like the other one, while the last one is too afraid to move, so I will leave it for last. ¡° deactivating {limit break}¡± [ ability {limit break} had deactivated ] [ you only use the ablity for 6 second, so there will be little to no damage done to your body by the ability ] Ah, thank goodness. Now let get an extra brutality point, after all we don¡¯t want your friend to wait for you on the other side right mister goblin. The goblin now too afaird to even stand properly when it realise that I was slowly walking toward it, because i wanted to end this fast, but cause as much pain to it as possible. I started to use the knife and continuously stab into it stomach, stab, stab, stab and sidestep to let it intestine fall out of it body. use the knife to cut it neck so it choke on it own blood and finally finish it with a good pull by my own hand and separate it head from it body. So Alice is that enough brutality for an extra point. [ Ugh, even though I can¡¯t, but I¡¯m think I gonna puke my none existing gut out ] I¡¯m take it as a yes then. [ side quest: goblin killer complete ] [ you is reward with 20 point for quest complete and 7 point for brutality kill ] Wait what ?. Alice could you explain where the other 6 point come from, please. [you just kill those thing with a cleaver or a blunt weapon is enough to count as brutality already ] [ You don¡¯t have to go and kill the last one like that] What !!, I though brutality kill was surpose to be painful like that. Why didn¡¯t you told me that from the beginning. [ I though you already know ] No, no I didn¡¯t. No, never mind let just see what these goblin have on them. --( 2 minute of searching the goblin corpse later)-- Jackpot !!. 2 silver coin and 40 copper coin these guy is really rich compare to normal goblin, plus I got an extra short sword too, now I don¡¯t have to borrow Emil knifes every time I have to go hunt these thing anymore. After the goblin camp massacare, I had got myself 3 silver and 69 copper coin and one extra short sword with it scabbard, a success full night, I must say. Then I went to a nearby stream to wash myself and the knife from the blood with a wet cloth I have in the bag. 12 minute later with a body clean of blood and a pair of shiny knife, I dress myself with my pijama and started to run back to the town. It took a while but by the time I was back to the wall and a few more minute to reach my house the sun still haven¡¯t rise so I don¡¯think I took that long of a night hunt anyway. With my strength I jump to the second floor where my room is locate and enter through the window. After that I put away the money and the sword in a serect place that I used to hide my important stuff. Then I let gravity took control of my body and drop myself on the solfbed. It was so solf, so warm and I was too sleepy. And I let myself fall into the dreamland ¡° good night Alice¡± [ good night Lena ] [ ¡­And sweet dream. ] Chapter 7: A new day and magic training. Chapter 7: A new day and magic training. Suddenly waking up from my sleep, I realize that I had made a big mistake on yesterday night. ¡° I forgot to return the knifes !!¡± I said, while looking outside of the window. And the sun is rising, that mean Emil is going to wake up anytime soon. Fast, like a bolt of lightning I jump out of the bed, and start searching. ¡° where are they ?, where are the knifes, Alice ?¡± [ on the floor near the window ] ¡° Ah, thanks¡± Picking up the knifes, I open the door and ran to the kitchen. I really shouldn¡¯t run around with knifes like this but there¡¯s no time. Make it to the kitchen I put a little power into my leg, jump and put both knife on top the cupboard, exactly where they were place last time. Someone is coming, and by the sound the wood are making with each step. I think it¡¯s Emil, Ah, and I was right. ¡° Hi dad !!¡± I say hi to him, smiling and tackle him. ¡° WOAH, Le¡­Lena ? ¡± Surprise with my presence, a few second to calm down, he continue. ¡° You scare the shit out of me¡± Oh i know Elena are going to like this. ¡° Dad language, I can¡¯t believe you say that¡± ¡° Ah, sorry Lena, It''s just that you surprise me¡± He apologize, while I put a cute but devious smile on my face, and add. ¡° Oh, I¡¯m sure mom would like to hear this¡± And there, now his face is started to turn white, pale white. ¡° No, no, no I¡¯m sure we can do something about this.¡± He said while panicking, then an idea hit him. ¡°Here I can give you 10 copper coin or buy you those sweet that you wanted to eat and in return you forget the whole thing alright¡± With a smile, he made an offer. ¡° 20¡± I said.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡° what ?¡± he ask, not getting the meaning. ¡° 20 copper coin¡± I said it again. ¡° Ok, 20 copper¡± he said, agree to it immediately. I smile and took the money, I should had raise it more but he is my temporary father, so I gonna let it slide this time. ¡° By the way, why are you up so early in the morning ?¡± He ask after notice something, to which I immediately answer. ¡° Cause I was hungry¡± I told him the reason and rub my tummy. ¡° Then what do you want for breakfast¡± He then said and smile warmly like the fact that I just black mail him never happen. After a few second of thinking and pondering on what to eat this morning, I answer his question. ¡° Pasta, I want pasta¡± I answer him and jump around where he is standing while holding his arm. Of course I don¡¯t use my full strength, cause I will hit the kitchen roof if I do that, that and Emil realize that I¡¯m not as weak as I look. ¡° Ok, Ok we still have some leftovers from yesterday, so let me heat it up for you and could you call you mom for breakfast too¡± ¡° yes dad !!¡± I happily answer him and run to their bed room. Open the door silently and walk inside, I see Elena on the bed sleeping peacefully. Well until I jump on her, started to shake her shoulder and say. ¡° Mom wake up, wake up, I¡¯m hungry and dad is already making breakfast¡± ¡° Huh ah, Lena why are you up so early¡± She said sleepily with her eyes still close. ¡° You promise that after today breakfast you gonna teach me magic so hurry and wake up, wake up,¡­¡± I said and continue to shake her up. ¡° Fine, fine I¡¯m up so stop shaking me, you little rascal¡± She said, this time up and out of the bed with both hand raise in a dangerous position, no not this. ¡° Come here you tickcle, tickcle, tickcle,¡­¡± Noooo!!. ¡° Ahahaha mom stop, it tickcle hahaha¡­¡± A few minute of joke and torturing from Elena later, we are finally make it down stair to have breakfast with Emil. After that she take me out of the inn, into the street and we started to walk to an windy hill on the edge of town. ¡° Lena, this is where we will start practicing your magic¡± She said, hand point to where the bottom of hill is. ¡° Now sit down, close your eyes and give me your hand¡± ¡° yes mom¡± I answer, do as she said and let her continue ¡° stable your breathing, close your eyes and feel the mana around you, anyone a can do this but it¡¯s depending on their talent to control the mana in the air¡± I calm my breathing and for the first time in my life fully focus on the world around me. And like she said I can feel the mana or energy, it around me, small particle of light full of color yellow, red, white and so on. Wow this is really easy why haven¡¯t I notice this before. ¡° I did it mom, I can see it around me, little dot full of light flying in the air and going through the earth¡± ¡° What !! you did ?¡± She said, her voice sound so surprise, but I was too focus on feeling the energy around me that I doesn¡¯t even notice. ¡° Wow, you are a genius Lena, it took me a week just to feel the mana around me and you did it in second. Ah, I¡¯m so proud of you¡± She sound so happy now, again I doesn¡¯t notice it, a few minute later I open my little mouth and ask her. ¡° What next mom ?¡± ¡° Now try to control those little light to move¡± She said to me and add after a few second of thinking. ¡° Do you remember how the wind feel on your skin. Try and move those dot around you to recreate those feeling and there you go, your very first spell, but don¡¯t be sad if you can¡¯t do it, even I fall on my first time¡± I remember how the wind blow pass me when I was free falling out of a plane, how it used to feel on my skin when I was falling out of the sky and imagine those dot of light to move around me creating a little vortex with me as it center. ¡° Don¡¯t know how I should feel any more, on one hand proud of my daughter talent, on the other hand sad because her talent is so far ahead of me¡± Elena talk to herself when she see that I have create a vortex around me that strong enough to move even the rock on the ground. ¡° Nah, I feel proud of her¡± She then said and nod to herself. But the vortex suddenly stop and before I knew what happen to it. ¡° Lena !!¡± I hear Elena voice calling my name, right before I pass out. [ Danger ] [ User had used all of the body energy ] [ Entering energy saving mode ] [ Shutting down ] Chapter 8: realization and a true family. Chapter 8: realization and a true family. [ User body has enter stable condition] [ Repower the system] [ 1%...] [ 57%...] [ 92%...] [ 100%.] [ Alice is fully awake ] [ Awakening the host conscious ] [ Activate force awakening on the host body] ¡­¡­¡­. A sudden shock ran through my entire body forcefully waking me out of my sleep, no I was unconscious. What happen ?, why it¡¯s that I suddenly pass out and where am I right now ?. I look around the place. And let out a sigh of relief, it¡¯s my room. And why it''s that my leg feel so heavy. Something is pressing on it. Ah Elena is sleeping on it. What are you doing here Elena?. Why aren¡¯t you sleep in your room?, and sleeping while sitting like that is bad for your back, you know. It¡¯s look like she had been crying, why ?. I mean I pass out and all but do you have to be so, I don¡¯t know, dramatic. ¡° Mom wake up, you shouldn¡¯t sleep like that, you know. You will hurt your back¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. I try to shake her out of my leg for a few minute until she show sign of waking up, good. ¡° Huh, Lena you are awake. Woahhhh !! ¡± But right after she look at my face, she suddenly hug me and cry, and she cry a lot. ¡° I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m so sorry Lena. I should have warn you about over using your mana but I forgot, I was so happy about your talent that I forgot. I¡¯m sorry Lena, I¡¯m sorry. Woahhhh!! ¡± She keep hugging me crying and apologize, I was to surprise to do anything and it stay like that for a few more minute then. ¡° You pass out for two day *hic* and I was so scare*hic*, me and your dad was scare that *hic* we might had lost you forever¡± She said between her hiccup that she and Emil, no dad was worry about me. She then said while hiccup, that both of them had been by my side for two days straight and dad had just gone out to make a meal for me when I wake up, seeing that I¡¯m started to recover. And I was shock. I was shock, because I didn¡¯t know that I have pass out for two day. And more importantly, I was shock that Elena and Emil care so much for me and yet, here I¡¯m never really, really treat them anything more than a cover, to help me blend in with this world. I never had a parent in my pass life, so I never pay it much attention in this life as well. Now that I think about it, I used to live independently and never had anyone taking care of me that, I doesn¡¯t even think that I¡¯m their daughter, but a burden to them, just because I can¡¯t take care of myself when I was a little baby. I don¡¯t know, maybe, I think I should change the way I¡¯m right now. Maybe I should give them a chance, to truly accept them as my parent from now on. To properly call them as my mom and dad. So first. ¡° Mom it¡¯s okay I fine, aren¡¯t I ?¡± I reassure her that I¡¯m okay, and ask her ¡° So, please don¡¯t cry ¡± With a smile on my face. ¡° Ok, *Hic* I won¡¯t cry anymore, ok¡± Mom answer with a teary eyes and a hiccup. That¡¯s better, then I slowly but gently hug her and whisper to her the word from my very own soul. ¡° Thanks you¡­¡± Then continue. ¡° ¡­ for loving me and for worrying about me¡± Mom is surprise and a gentle smile appear on her face when I look at her again. ¡° My, silly girl you are my one and only daughter. Who I precious more than anything in this world, so of course I love you and worry about you¡± She said, this time look a little happy with my word then close her eyes and said. ¡° So forgive me, Ok. For letting something like that to happen to you¡± But I hold her hand, and as she look at my face, I smile to her word and just nod with tears in my eyes. No, thanks you for letting me be a member of this family, this small but wonderful family. But I don¡¯t think I will ever say those word out loud. A really important pole for the story. Guys and girls, help me decide which option should i choose. should i continue with the pace right now or should i skip to the adventure registration part of the story. of course, if i skip i would still told you how much she had progress over the year. (Ps: she is Op as an summoning hero). The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Chapter 9: The power I have gained and the first step of many to come. Chapter 9: The power I have gained and the first step of many to come. So, over nine years had passed since I truly accepted myself as Elena and Emil daughter. Nothing much had happen, because well after that morning, we eat lunch and spend more time together than we used to be. Life is more beautiful than ever before. A few day of resting later, I continue on my magic training with mom, who is paying a very close attention to me this time just to make sure the same accident never happen again. I also train my body under the guidance of dad as well. And It¡¯s Turn out that the reason for why he is so strong. It¡¯s because he had been cultivating energy, by condensing the mana into his body which can result in permanent increase of his strength, and his size, he said he is the first person in this world to ever do this and he ¡®s only teaching this to me, but I think it¡¯s because the lack of knowledge in human anatomy, that¡¯s the result is this 2 meter tall mini version of the hulk I call my dad today. And since I had the resolve to beat the crap out of the other mercenary system user. I used every free time I could gather to train myself with the knowledge I had gather from mom and dad both, and because of that I never really made any friend with the other kid in town, except for this idiot one name Paul. There are three major things I had decided and found out in these nine year. First I decided to improved Dad mana cultivation, just because I don¡¯t want to look like him when I grow up. To improve it, thanks to the help of Alice. After a few weeks of experiment I realize that by mostly focus on condensing the mana into my bone, I can increase it toughness and flexibility and it¡¯s the same with skin. Or if it¡¯s in my muscle I can increase it power output and it resilience instead of just randomly condense it and hope for the best, like dad, which I never want to try, seeing the possible outcome to my body. So I condensing my mana into my body following the order from the bone on the first step, to the muscle on the second step then to the skin on the third and finale, right before going to bed and repeat the entire process on the next day. With the result, is a major increase in my { strength }, { speed } and a little bit raise on my {vitality} stat, and I was manage to protect my body from becoming a macho. Second, I discover that meditation and channeling the mana around my body after condensing it help increase my {energy} stats by a small amount right after the first few week, so I replace sleeping with meditating for the last nine year, and it felt good. Because every morning after meditating I feel refresh, like I had a full eight hours, no ten hours sleep on the night before, and it also slightly increases my {vitality} stats like cultivation mana as well. The third and finale is that I learn a few new spells from mom teaching. Spells like: { wind blade } where you create a blade from wind and launch it at you enemy, the more mana you put into it the sharper it get. { wind wall } the spell where I pass out when mom first teach me on how to control my mana, which is creating a wall of wind around you to deflect the incoming projectiles. { heal } a basic light spell that can closed wound and stop the bleeding in a short amount of time { light ball } a basic light spell that can light up the surrounding area. Learning is the spells from mom is only the easy part. No the hard part begin is when she told me to create a new spell on my own or there will be no sweet for me, and it¡¯s so much harder when inventing a new spell of your own, with no sweet. And after four years of trial, error and a bad case of begging for the sweet that I finally create my own spells thanks to the lesson I learn from mom, and the motivation from the sweet reward.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. With wind element I got: { Pressure bomb }: by condensing the air like when I was condensing the mana, I manage to create a ball of condense air and if I spin it fast and launch it away from me then the moment it impact, it explode like a grenade but without the fire and there¡¯s more shock wave to do the internal damage than a normal grenade. The more air I condense the bigger the damage. Mom was shock, with her jaw drop to the ground when I show her this spell. And of course, she said she is proud of me and make me promise to never used this in tight space, town or highly populated place cause it will be dangerous to the people around me and myself. { air jet } : a spell where you create a jet of air and push it in the opposite direction of where you were running to increase your speed and push into the ground to have a softer landing but it eat mana like there¡¯s no tomorrow. So I never used it continuously. { vacuum space}: a spell where you create a space that devoid of air just like in outer space, making the victim slowly choke to death in their sleep, perfect for assassinating and killing pest like goblin. { vacuum space} and {air jet } is the two spell where I created in the middle of a few {goblin killer} side quest so I never show them to mom. While with light element i had. { flash light}: after learning the {light ball} spell from mom I manage to change the direction of the light, instead of shining everywhere, I focus the light in one direction and result in a light that look like flash light. But since it a focus of light, it shine brighter than a {light ball} spell but had the same amount of mana it consume, I can use it to blind an enemy for a short amount of time. But i got no spell on dark element, because no one in venzor have it beside me, and i had no knowledge of the element to begin with so I just leave it there. And well *sigh*, I hit puberty and boy what a hard punch, when it hit me back. I mean I have my first period with a trauma for the rest of my life with all the blood and the pain a girl have to go through to become a woman, plus the hormones is driving me crazy. Those are the thing no man should ever go through. I mean, I almost used the short sword from back then to end myself with all the stuffs puberty give me. And oh yeah, I''m still doing the { goblin killer} side quest, every two or three nights from then to now for 9 years straight as a way to release stress from the puberty and save up a good amount of 17300 system points, then I bought the { healing factor} ability from the system which cost me exactly 10000 points, I think I''ll let Alice explain how this ability actually works, Alice. [ Yes] [ {healing factor}: an high class ability that triple the efficiency of user {vitality} stat and capable of letting the user re growth lost limp and increase life span according to the user {vitality} stat.] Man, that is one useful but expensive ability don¡¯t you think . [ yes, yes it¡¯s] Ahem. Now since I had reach 14 years old and beat both mom and dad in a contest of strength and magic on the other day. It¡¯s nothing much, just an arm wrestling with dad and spells activating contest with mom. What ?, you thought that we¡¯re gonna fight until there is only one person left standing ?. No !!, no we¡¯re not, cause dad still have food to cook, mom is still need to manage an inn and healing potion is expensive. So, no !! we do this the civilized way and settle them through contest. And so I win and currently standing in front of the adventure guild equip in my new armor, a full set of leather armor, with two gloves, a pair of steel shoulder plate and a steel breastplate, all brown, just like my hair, it¡¯s a gift from mom and dad on my 15 birthday. The whole set is enchanted and cost 26 gold coin, that is over a year of money saving from my parent, to which I continuously thanks them for the gift. My weapon of choice is a steel cleaver on the right side of my hip and a steel long knife which I put on my lower back, the material for the long knife is from the short sword of the goblin a while ago, I ask the town blacksmith to meld it down and change it to a knife. Make two scabbard and enchanted both knife to increase it sharpness and it durability. Taking one last look at my status to increase my confident. ¡° Status.¡± [ status] [ name: Lena ] [ gender: female] [ race: human ] [ point: 7300 ] [ {strength} : 30.5 (26.1 up) ] [ {speed}: 25.6 (23.4 up) ] [ {mind}: 17.8 (15.6 up) ] [ {vitality}:15.7 (13.7 up) ] [ {energy}: 30.6 (28.6 up) ] [ sp : 0] [ skill: { weapon creation 3 }, { gun mastery 7 }, { bow mastery 3 }, { persuasion 7 ( 1 up) }, { stealth 5 }, { swimming 3 }, { knife mastery 6 ( 2 up) }, { close combat mastery 6 ( 1 up) }, { energy manipulation 3 ( new) } ] [ ability: { limit break}, { inheritance}, { healing factor ( new) } ] All of my stats increase by leap and bound thanks to dad mana cultivation method, which I had slightly improve, for the safety of my body. With my new stats, Alice say that I¡¯m as powerful as an summoning hero or even more, but I curious to where she get that information from. Ah, all good and ready, now taking my first step through the door, say hi to that idiot name Paul, register myself as an adventure and let¡¯s made a name for myself. Chapter 10: Accepting the main mission. Chapter 10: Accepting the Main Mission Standing in front of the quests board, I wonder which quest I should choose: the herbs gathering quests or the delivery quest? ¡°I¡¯m fine with either one of those, so hurry up, Lena,¡± Paul said to me, looking bored. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m still wondering which is better, ok?¡± I answer him with a little irritation. Paul is currently standing beside me, still waiting for my answer. You see, Paul is someone I rescued some time ago from a group of goblins when I was 10. He is the same age as me, meaning he is currently 15 years old. He has a pointy chin, blue eyes, blond hair, a childish-looking face and he is about 1.78 meters tall with tanned skin, but not too much. Coincidentally, he happened to have the same dream I have. Well, almost the same. He wants to become a famous adventurer and travel the world while my dream was to leave my mark in the history of this world. ¡°Let take the gathering herbs quest,¡± I say, making up my mind, while my hand reaches out and takes the paper. Since both of us are new adventurers and have the same rank, rank F, we decided to form a group and share everything 50/50. ¡°We will take this one, Talia,¡± I say to Talia and give her the quest so she can record it down. ¡°Here you go Lena, and be careful with the goblins when you are going outside of the wall,¡± she says to me and adds a little bit of teasing on the side. ¡°I don¡¯t want Elena to yell at me for not warning you.¡± ¡°Hey, I can handle a bunch of kid-sized monsters with ease. Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± I say as I talk back to her, putting up my fist and show her my smile. ¡°Not if there are more than 20 of them, ''cause you can count me out,¡± says Paul on the side. ¡° Oh, don¡¯t be such a coward,¡± I say, punching him on the shoulder. Well, jokes aside, I have enough power to pulverize a goblin with one punch, so I actually mean it when I say that I wasn¡¯t afraid of those small things anymore, even if I have to face against a hundred of them with my bare fists. I mean, mana cultivation is such a cheat to gain power. It could potentially destroy the world if the knowledge of it is wide spread. We make our way out of the guild, say hi to everyone that we knew on the way to the gate, and give our papers to the guard so that he would let us out of the town gate. It kind of felt normal, doesn¡¯t it? A few meters out of the gate, Paul suggested that we split up to save time.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Are you sure? Do you even remember the look of the plant from the picture?¡± I ask him with doubt. ¡°Of course. My mom is a herbalist. If I couldn¡¯t even remember the most basic plant used in potions, then she is going to kill me,¡± Paul says with a trembling voice. ¡°Yeah, she is scary when she gets mad. Ok, let''s just split up and meet again in two hours,¡± I say while adding a little detail on the side. ¡°But I keep the quest paper. Unlike you, I need the picture to know what I¡¯m looking for.¡± ¡°Fine, I don¡¯t need it anyway. Then we will meet again in two hours, so don¡¯t be late again,¡± Paul says, waving his hand and he starts walking the other direction. ¡°Don¡¯t treat me like I¡¯m a kid. I know when to go back,¡± I say to his back, a little angry. Ok, I need to find a bunch of little blue flowers with six petals that are about 20 centimeters tall. Alice scans the area and finds the flowers. [ Scanning the area ] [ ¡­..] [ Done. Received the results ] There, now the locations of all the blue flowers in the area are flowing into my mind. Yeah, last year I found out that Alice had a scanning function installed in her. I don¡¯t know why she never told me this, but it proved to be useful for many occasions. Because of that, this is going to be an easy quest. And after 40 minutes of searching, I found a total 23 blue flowers. It had a name, but I can¡¯t pronounce it. So, I call it blue flower. I still have one hour and twenty minutes left... let''s do something fun. Oops. After wandering for 30 minutes, definitely not looking for goblins to kill, I¡¯m accidentally found out by three wandering goblins. What do I do? Should I run for it, should I hide from them, or should I break all of their bones? ¡­ Ah, they are running away. Hey, wait for me! Let me kill you guys by breaking your necks! Wait, don¡¯t run! Please, I¡¯m bored¡­ and I lost their tracks. *sigh* Just ''cause I massacred their entire village, every single one of those things ran away the moment they see me now, even though I have my high {speed} stat. I still can''t keep up with them. I guess it''s because of their will to live that their speed gets boosted. That, or I¡¯m too lazy to chase them around the forest. No matter. Alice, can you show me the list of items I can buy from the system? [ Here you go ] [ Items ]: [ {weapons}, {armor}, {minerals}, {support items}, { accessories} ] I don¡¯t need armor or weapons ''cause I¡¯m fine with what I have, and no need for minerals... maybe { accessories } later, but first... ¡°{support items}¡± [ Support items ]: [ {potions}, {antidotes}, {gear} ] ¡°{gear}¡± [ Gear ]: [ watch: 25 p] [ compass: 40 p] [ binoculars: 500 p] [ flash light: 120 p] [ water bottle: 10 p] ¡­¡­. [ backpacks: 50 p] So much stuff, but why do the binoculars cost 500 points? [ ''Cause it can zoom over 1000 meters, has heat vision, night vision, infrared vision¡­] Oh, that explains a lot. But, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything I need right now. [¡­¡­.] Alice, what happened? [ Lena, a {main mission} has appeared ] Ah, wait, what?, A main mission? Alice, can you show me the main mission, please? [ Just a second ] Thank you. [ Oh, don¡¯t mention it ] [ {main mission}: rescue the hero. Details: Next year, at this very same time, the royal family of Alaelyra will summon a group of heroes from earth to fight against the demons. One of them will be betrayed and left for dead by his friends inside a dungeon near the capital. Rescue him. Reward: the {inventory} Ability and 100 points. Note: You have one year. Get to him and save him. If not, this mission, along with its rewards, will be erased ] Alice, what does the {inventory} ability do? [ { inventory}: is an ability that allows you to store a number of objects in a different dimension. The objects that are stored will stay the same, even after a long time. Cost: 18000 point] Why is it so, I don¡¯t know, expensive? [ ''Cause it allows you to bring an object that you store in this life to the next life, be it weapons or foods ] Then accept the mission, Alice. I want that ability, and I¡¯ll be damned if I let the other guy get it! [ Already on it ] Good, let''s see here... one year. There¡¯s still some time left to prepare. Chapter 11: a normal day in the town of Venzor. Collecting the last blue flowers, which makes an even number of 30, I take a look at the clock on the system interface. I find that exactly two and a half hours have passed. I think it time for me to go back to where Paul is. I hum a song from Earth while making my way through the thick forest, holding a bag full of flowers. Stepping into the clearing, I see that Paul is waiting for me and it looks like he was waiting for some time. ¡°You were late, again!¡± With him crossing his arms, he looks grumpy. ¡°Oh, knock it off, mister grumpy. I was just a little late,¡± I say to him, with a little teasing. ¡°Don¡¯t be "a little late" like that. I was just about to start looking around for you, afraid that something bad might have happened to you.¡± His face is red as a tomato when he gets to the latter half of his words. ¡°Like what? You know that I¡¯m a great spell caster, ¡± I say to him, looking like I have been wronged. ¡°Yeah, but something bad could happen!¡± Paul says, emphasizing the word ¡°could¡±. ¡°It''s not like I can be injured that easily,¡± I say in a low voice that he can¡¯t hear. ¡°What''s that?¡± Paul asks, not hearing what I say. ¡°Nothing! So, how many flowers did you get?¡± I say changing the subject. ¡°I got six. How many did you get?¡± He looks a little proud when he says that. Fu fu... laughing a little in my mind, I take out the bag of flowers from behind me and say. ¡°Not much,¡­ just thirty of them¡± I say while looking at the reaction on his face. ¡°What, no way! Let me see!¡± Shocked with my answer he immediately takes the bag out of my hand. And it was priceless! His face is red from embarrassment when he looks into the bag. That¡¯s right, try better next time. ¡°...How? How did you get so much?¡± Paul asks me. ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s a girl''s secret,¡± I answer him with a look of mischievousness on my face. ¡°Humph, like I care.¡± Seeing that I was teasing him, he tries to ignore me. A few minutes after that, we start making our way back to the town. ¡°By the way Paul,¡± I say with my eyes still on the road and as I continue walking. ¡°What?¡± Ok, he is listening.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Let''s go to the capital,¡± I suggest as an idea. ¡°¡­and why should we go to the capital?¡± he asks. ¡°''Cause I want to make a name for myself and you want to be able to travel here and there,¡± I can see the town at this point. ¡°Sure, but we still need money,¡± he states as a matter of fact. ¡°Then we could go after a few more missions. After we save enough money,¡± I say and then add. ¡°Plus I have some savings as well.¡± ¡°Ha, there¡¯s no way we will go with your savings alone. My pride won''t allow it, but maybe after a few more missions then we go,¡± he says. Arriving at the town gate, I look up. The sun is at its highest point, meaning it''s lunchtime and we still have a lot of daytime left. ¡°So, let¡¯s get some lunch at my mom''s inn,¡± I say to him after some thinking. ¡°Right after we collect the quest money, right?¡± asks Paul. ¡°But, you sure know how to make money for your family," Paul says joking. ¡°Then you don¡¯t want to have lunch with me?¡± I ask him. ¡°I... I do want to have lunch with you,¡± says Paul panicking. His face is red. Why? I just asked him out for lunch. ¡°Then we will eat at my place,¡± I tell him my decision. Walking back to the guild, I say hello to Talia and give her the bag of flowers. ¡°Lena, where in the world did you get so many flowers?¡± says Talia, shocked with the number of flowers I have. ¡°So that makes it 6, no, 7 herb gathering quests completed, right?¡± I ask her. ¡°Ah¡­ yes with 3 silver coins a quest, that makes it 21 silver coins and 60 coppers for the extra flowers,¡± she says after the shock. 21 silvers and 60 copper coins... not bad for the first day. Let''s take the delivery quest, so we can do it after lunch. Walking back to the board and grabbing the paper quest, I give it to Talia. ¡°And we will take this one too,¡± I say to her. ¡°Ok, and¡­ here is your money,¡± she approves the quest then it takes her a moment of preparation to give me a bag full coins. *Jickling* *Jickling* Ah, the sound of the coin bag is like music to my ear. ¡°Lena, you are making the weird face again,¡± says Paul from the side. Aaah, so embarrassing... The money is making me show my weird side again. Looking into the bag, I take out about 7 silver coin from it and hand them to Paul. That leaves me with 14 silver coins and 60 copper coins. I then say to Paul. ¡°Here you go Paul, 7 silver coins.¡± ¡°What? Why is your share of the money more than mine?¡± complains Paul. ¡°''Cause 30 of the flowers were found by me,¡± I say, looking at him in disappointment. Paul flinches when he sees me looking at him like that and gives up on the money. After that, we make our way toward the Sleepy Bear Inn, have lunch, and help mom a little with the guests. Of course, we don¡¯t charge Paul for the meal with him being my friend and comrade. I stretch a little after eating and we continue making our way toward the location where the delivery quest marks. We arrive at a house on the north side of the town and have to carry 7 wooden crates from there to a house about 14 blocks away. I was carrying 3 crates at the same time while Paul tries to carry two crates but fails miserably. After two trips, we finish the mission without breaking a sweat... for me that is, while Paul looks like he is about to die from overworking. We receive 10 silver from that quest. This time, I split them evenly, 5 for me and 5 for Paul. But he looks at the coins for a moment and then gives me two of them. ¡°Why are you giving me your share?¡± I ask him, confused with his action. ¡°Because you do most of the work,¡± he says looking down. ¡°Nonsense, you helped me carry two of the crates, right?¡± ¡°And you carry the rest like it was nothing,¡± Paul says, looking a little sadder now. ¡°So what? You know I¡¯m stronger than normal people thanks to my dad,¡± I say and add. ¡°Besides, you also tried your best when carrying those crates, saving me from making a third trip, so take the money back already.¡± This time I smile as well. ¡°Fine.¡± He takes the two silver coins back, looking a little happier from my talk. Good. The sun is about to set so we part ways from the adventurer''s guild and I go back to home, making it the end of the day. Today, I made 19 silver coins and 60 copper coins. I still have a year before the deadline of the main missions. Chapter 12: The Night Before the Journey to the Capital. Chapter 12: The Night Before the Journey to the Capital. 3 months have passed since the day I registered myself as an adventurer. Meand Paul both got promoted to D rank. Well, with the number of "gathering herbs","house cleaning", and "delivery" quests¡­Wefinished. It''shard to not get promoted. And we just accepted an escort mission this morning: protecting a caravan of merchants from here to the capital. It''s aconvenient way to earnsome money while making our way to the capital. I will just have to convince mom and dad to agree. ¡°Mom, dad, I¡¯m going to the capital.¡± I said in the middle of dinner. And both of them stop eating. Ok, mom is about to say something. ¡°And why would you want to go to the capital?¡± mom asks. ¡°Because I hear that the dungeon near the capital is full of treasures and rewards.¡± I say with a glint of greed in my eyes. ¡°No!! Many people die in a dungeon because of its traps and their greed. There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll let my little girl go there.¡± shoutsmy dad. Looks like he is out of his shock. ¡°You are not going to the capital and you are definitely not going to that dungeon ¡± he saysagain but with a serious tone. ¡°But why?¡± I ask him. ¡°What your father istrying to say is that there is a lot of dangerous things inside a dungeon and we lost so many friends in there that¡­¡± There''sa little pause andthen she continues. ¡° ¡­is just that we don¡¯t want to lose you too, for some useless treasures.¡± she looksa little sad when she says that. Ok, change of plan. ¡°Eh, I was just joking.¡± I said, waving my hands around in panic. ¡°There¡¯s a merchant wanting me, Paul and a few other D rank adventures to escort him, plus his caravan, to the capital and since we already agreed to the quest, we can¡¯t back out or we will sufferthe penalty.¡± I say. I show them the quest paper. I have a really bad habit of carrying around all the quest papers Iaccepted. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s from my past life or from my current life. But I am glad that I have it on me now.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. After a minute ofreading the paper, dad breathes out, relieved that his daughter isn¡¯t doing something dangerous, but mom is looking at me, hard, with the word suspicious written all over her face. Scary! It¡¯s those looks again. I can feel a cold sweatgoing slowly down my back. Please stop looking at me with those eyes; it¡¯s scary! ¡°Eh¡­Paul is coming with me too¡­ so you don¡¯t have to worry about anything.¡± I try to say something to make her stop. And it worked! But dad is angry now. ¡°I don¡¯t trust that boy. You should stay away from him Lena,¡± he says and crosses his arms. ¡°Nonsense, Paul is a good boy. If he is with you, then I don¡¯t have to worry much,¡± mom elbows dad while saying that. ¡°What was that for honey?¡± dad asks mom, confused. But mom ignored dad and says,¡°If Paul is with you then you can go.¡± ¡°Really? ''cause I already packed my things. We will leavetomorrow morning, so I¡¯ll turn in for the night,¡± I said, happy that she agrees and then running up the stairs and into my room. I can still hear dad asking mom why she hit him with her elbow, but I don¡¯t care. Alice? [ Yes? ] ¡°Is there a way for me to sneak into the dungeon without being found out by the knights, monsters, or the students?¡± I ask. [ You have light affinity, right? and the skill {energy manipulation 3} right?] ¡°Yeah?¡± [ Then you could try and bend the light to go around you and turn yourself invisible.] Like one of those fancy camouflage technologiesthe US was researching on? [ Yes, but you can¡¯t see when there is no light shining into your eyes so bend the normal light and used the {infrared vision} ability in the shop to see. ] And how much does the {infrared vision} ability cost? [ Only 1500 points.] Hm... That looks cheap enough. Then buy it for me, will you? [ Done.] [ And here you go.] [ {infrared vision}: A low-level ability. Usingtheir eyes, the user can detect infrared radiation. In other words, give the user thermal vision. Cost: 1500 p] Let''s see what it looks like when activated. ¡°{infrared vision}¡± And hey, it feels just like when I was using those infrared goggles, with the colors and everything else. [ Yes, those goggles give you thermal vision, just like the ability.] Then why did you suggest we buy the ability when we could have bought the 500p binoculars?I¡¯m started to feel a little angry, Alice. [ ''cause with the ability, it is easier to turn yourself invisible and it will stay with you forever.] [ While the goggles are cheaper, you can¡¯t bring it to thisnewlife.] Well, if you put it in that way, I guess buying the ability wasn¡¯t the worse choice I ever made. [ It wasn¡¯t. ] Fine. Now I will only need to practice and hopefully find a way to make myself invisible with magic. I still had 9 month left, No big deal, right? Chapter 13: the beginning of the journey. Chapter 13: the beginning of the journey. It¡¯s dark. Everywhere around me is dark. Monster!, you are a monster, Ray. Someone is talking. you act nice and innocent but you can¡¯t fool me. W-What?. just because you act as one of them, doesn¡¯t mean you are one of them. Oh, not you again. This is the tenth times already. You really are a great actor Ray, you lie to them, you even lie to yourself. Shut up! Again, how many times do I had to says this, I¡¯m not that cold blooded murder anymore. I¡¯m sorry but I made the choice, I changed, I¡¯m Lena, not the old Ray, I have my parents, I have actually made a friend. True friend! Are you sure Paul is your true friend? Again! yes, I¡¯m sure!. Are you sure he is loyal and would never betray you? Like your old friends. Yes!. Never trust anyone Ray and you know that. Stop calling me Ray!. You trust your teammates and they abandon you in the middle of the battle. Don¡¯t you remember, that¡¯s one of the reasons why you died. They did do that, didn¡¯t they. But I think I could trust this one. And even though you try to behave like a little kid, you even try to think like an innocent child, but we all know what you are underneath the lies and don¡¯t you dare forget that. No, but¡­this is the tenth times you and I meet likes this. What are you? Or¡­ who are you?. I¡¯m¡­ you. . . . . [ Lena wake up!] Whoa, A ¡­ Alice, what is it? [ The escort mission remembers, it¡¯s today. ] Ah,¡­ shit, you¡¯re right, I¡¯m late!. I immediately got out of the bed, dressed myself up, put on my leather armors, ready my knifes. Wait! I still got a few minutes to sharpen the cleaver, just in cases i forget. Then after that, I grab all the stuff I had prepared yesterday night, and ready for the long the journey ahead. And after I¡¯m done with everything, I made a full sprint from the inn to the town gate, where I suppose to meet Paul and the merchant. what was his name again? Nal¡­Nate? That¡¯s right! Nate. Ah, there they are!. *Sigh*, Paul looked angry because I made him waited, again.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Hi Nate, sorry for making you wait, it took me a whole night to prepared.¡± I apologize for being late. From the inn to the gate. it usually took 20 minutes of walking for a normal person but with my strength and speed It only took me ten seconds. yet I still late because I oversleep, and a few minutes to sharpen the cleaver. ¡°it¡¯s alright Lena. But, try not to be so late next time, okay. Besides there is still 15 minutes before we left.¡± Nate said. Nate is the same height as I¡¯m, that¡¯s mean he is short cause I¡¯m roughly 1m65, he is a little on the chubby side but, he has a good nature and a good reputation as a merchant, so a lot of adventures really likes working with him. ¡° O¡­ okay, again, I¡¯m sorry for being late,¡± I reply and sorry again. After that Paul lectured me about why I shouldn¡¯t let others wait, like today, cause it¡¯s bad for our team reputations. 10 minutes later, after making sure that the cargos and everything are ready, we start the journey, a long one but the rewards are 2 gold coin and 50 silvers so it is worth it. The caravan, including us, had 18 adventures. 7 D rank 8 C rank and 3 B rank. The 3 B rank adventures are from the same group call the bloody shield. Nate says that they are from the capital, but they look a little¡­ Nah, it¡¯s just my imagination. Even though it¡¯s a long and dangerous journey but with 3 B ranks and 8 C ranks accompany with us, everyone is pretty relaxed. Well, after a few minutes traveling I realize that the journey itself is not as fun as I would expect. Just mostly sitting around on the horse cartridge and looking around for dangers. Trees, trees, grass, small rocks, medium rocks and oh look a big rock that can move. Wait! I think that big one just moved. That big rock really is moving! ¡° Hey Paul, that big rock over there is moving,¡± I said to Paul about my discovery. ¡° what? Oh, those are roc..,¡± ¡° Those are rock turtles, they are slow and not much of a threat so you don¡¯t have to worry about them. Little miss is this the first times you see them¡± one of the B rank adventures explain to me, interrupted Paul. The guy has a good looking face and charming smile, blonde hair. Urrg, I don¡¯t think I like him, those eyes had the same looks as the eyes of that warlord in Africa, greed. ¡° Ah, yes. This is the first time we moved this far from Venzor.¡± I answer his question, timidly. I really want to shoot him in the face with one of my {pressure bomb} spell. Hey! stop looking at me as if I¡¯m some cheap prizes. ¡° Hey! I was in the middle of talking.¡± Paul angrily said to him. That right! show him what you got Paul. ¡° The name is Kra the destroyer, leader of the bloody shield, what is your name little miss.¡± But Kra the delusional ignored Paul and ask me my name. I think he is hitting on me. Now he just put himself on my blacklist. Just because I accepted myself as a girl when I was three-year-olds doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m interested in guys. Well, maybe Paul, a little. ¡° Lena, just Lena,¡± I answer him, as cold as possible. ¡° Lena, ah what a beautiful name.¡± he said and smile to me, then add. ¡° Miss Lena if you want. I could show you around the capital when we get there, I knew the placed liked the back of my hand. So what do you think?¡± Nice try, but no!. ¡° Sorry mister Kre is it?. But I have to say no to your offer.¡± I rejected and ignored him, Paul is sitting by my side trying to hold back his laugh when the guy face turns red, from anger. Fortunately nothing happened, and a few hour later. With the sun slowly coming down, Nate decided to stop and set camp near a small stream to rest for the night. The B rankers decided to take turn guarding with C ranks while the D ranks, that¡¯s mean us, collecting fire wood, cook foods and set noise traps around the camp. After I¡¯m done with my part of the job and eat dinner with Paul, I turn in early for the night. With {healing factor} ability and my {vitality} stats, I don¡¯t really need to sleep. So I used the times to work on my invisible spell. Lying down as comfortable as possible in my tent, I closed my eyes and concentrated on the mana around me. Ok, feel the light around you, Lena. From the camp fires, from the stars,¡­ Used the mana, focus a barrier around my hand first to test the spell, that right, move, my {mind} is 17.8 times better than normal human so use it to its best potential. Concentrate, alright! There you go, lets the mana moved around your hand, your finger and bend the light, makes it so it go around the barrier, not into it. And as I open my eyes, I see that my right hand is missing. No, it¡¯s still there, I can feel it, just can¡¯t see it. Oh my goodness! it¡¯s a success, on my first try. My right hand is invisible on my first try. And if I stop the mana flow then it immediately reappears. Haha wait! calm down. I activating the mana flow, the barrier again and turn my right hand invisible. ¡°{infrared vision}¡± Ok I can see the hand with the ability on, and unless I put more mana to mass it from thermal vision, I can see the heat of my skin, outlining the image of my hand. Oh, I wish I had this ability in my old life. So many mission would have been a piece of cake. But I still need more practices if I¡¯m gonna use this to go around undetected and unseen. Alice, I think the reward is as good as ours. [ well it¡¯s better, causes the other one is already done prepared and currently moving, that¡¯s all the information I could say] I know, thanks you. And I don¡¯t know how he or she managed to shorten the times as a kid and reach puberty the same time as I¡¯m. But I¡¯m gonna make sure he/she regret it and lets me in on his/her secret. Now, gonna have to focus on perfecting the {invisible} spell first.