《The Kingdom of One (Hiatus)》 Prologue ~Ding~ ~Ding~ ~Ding~ ~Ding~ Slowly opening my eyes from the sound of the alarm set on my phone, I turn towards my night stand and pickup my phone. ¡°Too bright!¡± Immediately closing my eyes from the bright glare of my phone, I turn my head away as a reflex action. Turning of the alarm of my phone, I lazily get up from my bed. Looking at the clock hanging by the wall it seems I still have enough time margin to take things slow. Making my way towards the bathroom, I freshen myself up for the day that is to come. After cleaning myself up I make up way down stairs towards the kitchen by dragging my feet. People used to always complain whenever I used to drag my feet whenever I used to wake up in the past, it seemed it was loud enough to wake up the others from their sleep. Well now there is no one to complain it seems. Upon entering the kitchen, I see my usual music box which I use every morning. As I prepare my simple breakfast of eggs and juice I turn up the volume of my music box as loud as I can. This could be one of the few habits of my teenage years that I still haven¡¯t given up on. Turning the music loud isn¡¯t going to be a problem as I live alone in my 1-bedroom, bathroom and kitchen flat. Simple it might be but for a single person living like me it was more than enough. I¡¯ve never been good with girls and I might have a few girl friends over the years but things never worked out in the end. By now, for a 40-year-old man like me, chances of love and romances have dropped down even more. By now you must be wondering who I am. Well its obvious by now that I am the main character of this story. It still isn¡¯t late for introductions by now. To introduce myself I would only use one word and it would be Ordinary because that¡¯s what I am. My name was ordinary. My face was ordinary. My body was ordinary. My live up till now was nothing but ordinary. My everyday routine was nothing but ordinary. I lived a truly ordinary life. My job was ordinary. My ambitions and goal for the future were also ordinary. My skills and knowledge were ordinary. I was nothing but ordinary. I was an orphan from a very young age. I don¡¯t even remember how my mother or father looked like. I¡¯ve spent my days in the orphanage among other unfortunate children in similar situations like mine. The condition of the orphanage was one of the worst. With lack of government funding and greedy staff, the children at the end of this hierarchical tree got nothing but scraps. Surviving on those mere scraps, the children of the orphanage did their best.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. As soon as I got the chance, I left the orphanage and found myself a steady job and cut any link towards the orphanage. It seems because of my time in the orphanage I¡¯ve come to value stability, as we barely used to be able to even eat, which has lead me to live this ordinary life I am living right now. Such a life was never a bad thing as I appreciated the little things in life I¡¯ve never had but at times was another side to me which wants to do something MORE. I¡¯ve always felt like there was another side to me which wanted to break free. All my friends from college who did various thrilling, blood pumping things like sky diving or mountain climbing while I sat here making my life as stable as I could, were a source of envy for me. That side of me wanted to do something daring, something extraordinary. Something different. Even a man like me wanted adventure and thrill. Something different from this mundane life where I felt like a robot doing the same usual action daily and going through the same actions every day. I¡¯ve only realized this side of me when I¡¯ve wasted the major part of my life doing nothing but ordinary. Just like every day, it seemed like today was going to be an ordinary day for me. However, that was not the case for today as I break my cycle of 40 years of ordinary life today while I do something extraordinary. Is this the feeling people usually call as ¡°life flashing before your eyes¡± just before your death? Death had suddenly come to me. From an unexpected place and time. In front of a large truck. I remember that I was walking down the street towards the train station when I found this girl crossing the road. Everything was normal until now but from the corner of my eyes I saw a speeding truck heading down the street with no intention of stopping. If it was the ordinary me I would do nothing at such a time but the other side of me that wanted to do something extraordinary didn¡¯t allowed me to stand still. ¡® ~Ahh~ it seems I can¡¯t stop myself even if I want to¡¯ I thought to myself I felt like a third person looking at myself as I ran towards the girl and pushed her towards the other side of the street. Even though it ensured the girl was now safe but it meant I did not have enough time to move myself. Time had moved slowly. Things that I had left undone appeared on my mind one by one and disappeared. My boss from my part-time job, my friends, my recent client. That reminds me, I haven¡¯t submitted my report yet¡­¡­ And lastly everyone from the orphanage. Its weird to think about them at such a time. I think they would end up thanking me for my life insurance. I had written in my will for my life insurance to be donated there. Even though I know most would be pocketed by the orphanage director but it was merely for my own satisfaction. Truly a hypocrite I am. I still wanted to live with more thrills in my life if possible. When I though so, I heard a voice of someone screaming, and every bone in my body was broken. Chapter 1 I could feel nothing but darkness around me. I thought being hit by a fast moving truck would be painful but it seems the pain was only for a mere second. A dry laughter escapes as I imagine how badly I must¡¯ve been hit by the truck. By now I¡¯d be some pulp of blood. ¡°This is a dream. I¡¯m sure, this must be just a dream. I¡¯m sure I will be on a bed in a hospital when I wake up, or being ran over by the truck was a dream. Yeah, I¡¯m sure of it. Humans just simply die so it¡¯s impossible.¡± I wasn¡¯t foolish enough to raise such thoughts inside my mind. Unlike those people who don¡¯t face the facts and try to convince themselves otherwise, I knew the reality that had occurred. It was plainly obvious from the pain I felt even if it was for a split second that this was all real. Looking around I saw nothing but darkness. ¡®Yare yare. Somebody should seriously turn the lights on.¡¯ It¡¯s dark enough that I can¡¯t even see my own hands. I could be blind for all I know. How would a normal person know if he¡¯s blind or not? This is getting tricky. I¡¯d like a hint by now. Judging from how things have progressed only one thought rushed through my mind. Reincarnation. It was a phenomenon that occurred invarious fictionsthat I¡¯ve read in which it had the highest probability to occur when one was run over by a truck. Fictions are made up stories, to put it bluntly, they are stories that didn¡¯t occur in real life. Thus, reincarnation was a lie, it¡¯s impossible to occur in reality. Yeah, it should be impossible. But I thought I was going to believe in things out of the ordinary from now onwards so I should assume for now that reincarnation but be a possibility. Judging from my train of thoughts, just about now some holy divine figure of some god would appear before me and give me the rundown of the things that are going to occur. Just as I finished saying that, a bright ball of light appears in front of me. Yare yare. This really is clich¨¦. I can¡¯t even believe things are going this way. To the writer of this world I¡¯d say please bring some originality in the way you do things. Even a dull man like me was able to predict that much.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡®What¡¯s with gods and extra bright lights? Can¡¯t they appear through normally bright light? Something that doesn¡¯t blind you?¡¯ Random thoughts like these ran through my head as the bright ball of light started to speak. ¡°I am the god of death. I am given many names by the living. I have governed over the souls of those who die and I am responsible for their judgement.¡± ¡®Now wait a second, wasn¡¯t death supposed to be all dark and gothic like? How come this one is a bright one?¡¯ Shaking my head to dispel such random thoughts from my mind, I try to concentrate on what this weird ball wants to tell me. ¡°Moments before your death you desired to do something that is not ordinary as you so put it. You desire to do something out of the extraordinary or the impossible. Your resolve has touched my heart and thus I have decided to reincarnate you in a new world different from your previous one.¡± I¡¯d wanted to retort here that do gods even have a heart like us humans but I held back. The other party is a self-proclaimed god of death, don¡¯t want to get on his bad side. ¡®Oh I think he just said something serious towards the end¡¯ or so I think. ¡°This world is different from what you know. There are races you have never seen. Their technology is different from your world. You shall be sent to such a world.¡± Why would you do this for a mere single soul? God of death replies next as if reading my mind. ¡°If you¡¯re wondering why am I doing this then it is very simple, I, an immortal is bored and I wish that you would be able to entertain me in this new world.¡± Fair enough, I can¡¯t question that logic. It¡¯s not like he¡¯s going to run out of time any soon. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to give me some kind of special power or the sort?¡± I timidly ask him. Well its natural in those novels I read that god gives the hero some kind of special ability or cheat before sending them to the new world along with a mission. ¡°It¡¯s not like you¡¯re some kind of hero but you¡¯re just there to entertain me by doing extraordinary things. And it¡¯s not like I am going to give you a fragment of my power! No god ever does that.¡± Yare yare what have I gotten myself in to. It¡¯s not like I can complain or anything, the other party is a god after all and from the looks of things everything doesn¡¯t look the same as it¡¯s in those novels. I feel like I¡¯ve been using Yare yare a lot since the time I¡¯ve died. I don¡¯t want someone pointing at me and saying ¡°Is that a J*J*¡¯s reference?¡±. I can¡¯t be having that in my story. ¡°Well then, I¡¯ll be sending you down to your new world. Beware that this is truly a harsh world so I wish you luck and try not to die in your early days.¡± Even though the things this god had told me really sound dangerous but the light way he is telling me is somehow making me take this whole matter lightly. A huge pitfall appears below me and I am dropped down at an amazing speed. The world blurs around me and before I know it I feel myself lying on grass. Oh well it seems this is how my second life is going to start in this new world. Chapter 2 The night sky was full of stars and a huge moon. ~So beautiful~ I lay down on the ground while thinking so. I close my eyes. A part of me still found everything that has occurred hard to believe. I realized that I needed to close my eyes and just relax myself to let it all in. Even though everything that has happened has followed the standard fantasy reincarnation novel tropes so it felt funny but still physically my body needs to accept this too instead of my mind only. This was the reality after all! After some time has passed away, I slowly get up and look towards my surroundings. I could see a sky full of stars and a moon bigger in size compared to the one back at my previous world. I seem to be currently present in some kind of a very dense forest. If the moon wasn¡¯t that big than I fear my visibility would had been very bad in this dense forest. The forest was dense enough that a large group of people would not be easily able to walk through these woods. Turning my head downwards I start to check my own body. My hands seem smaller and fairer compared to my previous body and judging from my eye level my height is somewhat smaller than me previous height too. It felt more like I was younger but I have no way of knowing how old I was. Obviously I knew that I was reincarnated so I would most defiantly have a new and different body so it was easy accepting this all. ¡®I wish I got a good looking face so I could mess around with girls.¡¯ Checking around the cloths I was wearing, I found no clue as to my identity or any personal information regarding me that could be helpful. The only cloths I was wearing were a pair dull and dirty trousers and shirt medieval styled. Standing here won¡¯t help me much so I start to aimlessly walk towards a single direction hoping for some clues about my location and to be able to meet another living being that could assist me. I don¡¯t know how much time had passed but my aimless walk eventually led me to a small pond in the middle of the forest. I bend down towards the pond to drink some water. While doing so I see my reflection on the surface of the water under the moon lit sky. ¡°Hmm, the face is not that bad.¡± What reflected in front of me was a young boy©` no, my face. Emaciated, and dirty like a stray dog, but each part still looks good. The color of his skin was generally known as olive color. ¡°Oh well, now that I am here, there¡¯s nothing to be done about it¡­¡­¡± To start with, I need to begin preparing the necessities to survive in this forest. I shall go with that objective for now. But first I have to say one thing¡­¡­ ¡°My body needs some food.¡± So I stood up in search of some food. I don¡¯t know how long it has been since I began my search in the forest. Initially I thought the trees in the forest were really big, but now I understand. It looked big because I shrank. Calling the tree huge was not really huge. ¡°Nevertheless, there is nothing here, in this forest.¡± There weren¡¯t any kinds of nuts or fruits at all. I tried eating the grass which was growing inside the forest¡­¡­ it was unpleasant. I think I¡¯ll hold back on grass for now since reality isn¡¯t like those survival movies. Judging from the temperature I¡¯m feeling, seems like it¡¯s summer. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. There should be one thing I can eat during summer. Maybe my search method was wrong. In the first place, I do not have any knowledge regarding wild grasses or for the matter any knowledge about the plants and vegetation of this world. It was a mystery to me whether the vegetation was the same as the ones on Earth. ¡°Either way, I have no choice but to eat insects¡­¡­¡± I said as I watched a pretty fat centipede on some leafs. ¡®NO NO NO! I cannot be thinking about this. I WILL ABSOLUTLY NOT EAT SOMETHING SO DISGUSTING!!¡¯ Even thinking about eating a bug creeps my whole body out. With saying that, I resumed my march in search of some food and living soul. I can¡¯t even remember how long it has been since I made that declaration. My body has started to feel wobbly and weak. I could barely walk and my mind felt like I was high on some drugs. I could barely comprehend what my body was doing or where I was going. I¡¯ve filled my stomach with nothing but water for the past few days. It felt like my mind has started to hallucinate from all this. Last night I saw a brightly lit burger joint in the middle of the forest. At first I was surprised about its totally random appearance in the middle of the forest but I figured it was a fantasy world so what do I know. Now here¡¯s the tricky part, no matter how much I ran towards it, I was never able to close the distance between us. Eventually I gave up in frustration. I could faintly hear the sound of the burger joint melody that they always used to play which was stuck inside my mind. I don¡¯t know but this really feels like it is mocking me. ¡°HEY! ARE YOU MOCKING BE YOU BASTARD!?¡± After my sudden outburst, I was finally able to calm down a little. That god of death really has screwed me over. Since that episode I wonder how much time has passed again. The concept of day and night seemed very vague to me now. There was once this hallucination where I saw a huge black dragon flying above the forest. It was so realistic and scary that when I looked down I found a small puddle of water only to realize that I had actually wet my pants. I don¡¯t know when but between my hallucinations I found a burger right next to me. I hungrily gripped it and started to chow it down. It was half way eaten when I finally got back to my senses and found myself actually eating a fat centipede. ¡®Oh hello we meet again mister centipede¡¯ I thought. By now I should had been disgusted but the taste and texture felt rather nice to my hungry stomach. Even though it was a little chewy but it was still tasty. Conquering my fear, I¡¯ve been hunting these fat centipedes and enjoying a luxurious meal. I have all kinds of centipedes lined up. As long as you don¡¯t eat the head which is said to be poisonous, the rest is fine. My hallucinations had stopped too. Although its thanks to the centipedes that I regained some physical strength, it doesn¡¯t mean that I have to eat more immediately. But this body had insufficient nutrition in the first place. I may not be able to move tomorrow if I pushed myself all day long. I should, at least, learn how to start a fire. So that I can grill and eat with a peace of mind some ants, cicadas, centipedes, and even some scorpions too. Oh well, I did eat something raw while still wriggling yesterday. I wonder how can I start a fire. I know that frictional heat caused by rubbing two twigs will start fire¡­¡­ Igniting a fire was a mystery to me, I can¡¯t even find some suitable twigs. I feel that it¡¯s not a wise move to waste my physical strength and time if I can¡¯t do it. It¡¯s probably better to search for a human dwelling. ¡°Oi kid, you over there. This is this one¡¯s territory. Leave at once.¡± I was called out from behind. The voice seems to be commanding, but I¡¯m certain it belongs to a human person. The heavens haven¡¯t abandoned me yet!! ¡°Actually, I¡¯m lost¡­¡­¡± When I looked back, there was a monster before my eyes. It felt like a giant lizard was standing before me with its red blood eyes and huge black wings. No the whole body was dark black in color which in contrast to the red blood eyes made it even more fearsome. I could feel my shaky legs. The first thought to risen up in my mind was that it was a hallucination like before but another part told me it was the real deal. It was a Dragon. The heavens seem to have abandoned me. Chapter 3 ¡°Umm, I don¡¯t taste good! I¡¯m only skin and bones. I only ate a centipede yesterday. So it¡¯s better if you sto©` stop!¡± I backed off. I was reincarnated with great pain, why do I have to go through so much effort to pick up my life back! ¡®Curse you god of death for screwing me over!¡¯ I screamed inside my mind. ¡°This one is picky with food. Who would eat something disgusting like you bastard? Do you think this one is a fool?¡± ¡®Nothing like a talking fearsome Dragon tells you this is a fantasy world¡­¡­ DAMNIT WHAT AM I EVEN THINKING AT THIS MOMENT¡¯ ¡°It¡¯s©` it¡¯s not like that. Ahahahaha. In fact, I¡¯m actually leaving now. Goodbye~ ¡± I hastily reply. As soon as I said that I turn my shaky legs and began to run away at full speed. It seems like the other party doesn¡¯t want to eat me and just wants me out. Then I should be able to escape. Since it was not my intent to invade the territory or domain of that person. I¡¯ve read this before but Dragons have always been creatures with extra amount of dignity present in them and they are very serious about invading their territory so if I¡¯ve gotten this chance I should run as fast as I can before it can change his mind. woosh woosh woosh I heard a noise of flapping wings. Sands was flying everywhere, and I reflexively closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes, the Dragon was in front of me. Furthermore, it had a look of anger on its face and those blood red eyes were shining. ¡® Why!? ¡¯ I thought ¡°Do you even know who I am!?¡± the dragon asks me in a roar. The roar was so loud that I could feel any second now my ears would start to bleed. Even when I cover my ears with my hands and roll myself up like a ball, it wasn¡¯t helping me in a least bit. Time as long as a single breath passed and finally the roar stopped. ¡°This one is called Hereon the Black. This one has lived for 10,000 years. This one has destroyed numerous armies and killed numerous so called heroes of many kingdoms. This one is the all-powerful elder Dragon.¡± After pausing for a bit to see my reaction the Dragon continues. ¡°And are you trying to tell me that this one¡¯s territory ends just ahead!? Everything inside the forest is my territory, a person cannot enter or leave. That was the pledge. Even so you bastard, are you still planning to acquire your food on this one¡¯s territory!?¡± The Dragon was practically roaring the second half of his speech. I could already feel my body feeling shaking in fear and my head in immense pain. The smell of urine reached my nose and I knew I had wet my pants. This is the worst nightmare ever in my history. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. My bearing was wrong for a bit. It is indeed still your grace¡¯s territory ahead, therefore¡­¡­¡± I replied while I tried my best to not show my fear even though it was apparent from my shaking body. ¡°Don¡¯t lie! The pledge between this one and your bastard people has been just passed down for nearly a 100 years! Even little kids know it!¡± Even if you said that, I don¡¯t know what I don¡¯t know. The beast had a majestic appearance in spite of having a short fuse. ¡°Tell me a little more honest excuse. If you do so, this one might just let you live because I am very curious here. You look like a human but your silver hair and red blood eyes¡­¡­. It¡¯s something I¡¯ve never seen before. ¡± The Dragon said so as it scowls at me. A chill ran up through my whole body. This guy intends to kill me. Just because I¡¯m an eyesore. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I don¡¯t have any excuses and wait a second, did he just said silver hair and red blood eyes? I never knew that¡¯s how I looked. It was obvious the reflection on water in the first night I was here wasn¡¯t clear enough to tell me these things. But why red blood eyes I wonder? Doesn¡¯t the Dragon in front of me have red blood eyes too? ¡°That¡­¡­ Actually, I was reincarnated.¡± ¡°Haa? This one doesn¡¯t understand the meaning.¡± The expression of the Dragon changed. Its eyes were glittering and shining. I may actually die here. ¡°Well, you see, when I woke up I was already in the forest, I don¡¯t even know why I became a kid. This is the truth you know? Please believe me.¡± I knelt on the ground and begged. I want to be pardoned from dying this quick because I was reincarnated with great pains. ¡°Hmm¡­¡­¡± Whether my desperate kneeling worked, I felt that the Dragon¡¯s killing intent had subsided. The eyes of the Dragon shined red. ¡°Little one explain yourself more clearly.¡± I don¡¯t understand it quite well, but I do somewhat understand that the only way to survive is to tell the truth about everything, I¡¯ve read that Dragons are wise so maybe he could understand my situation and not kill me. ¡°I was brought from another world into this world by the god of death on a whim of his. Other than that neither do I know anything nor was I told anything.¡± Suddenly the Dragon¡¯s killing intent disappeared completely. ¡°This one feel sorry for little one. Leaving from your hometown that you are familiar with to such a remote place, oh well, there is no method for you to return even for this elder Dragon. It is your responsibility to be picked by god of death. If you want to blame someone, blame your own life.¡± I didn¡¯t quite understood it, but this fellow seems to know something about reincarnation. ¡°Umm¡­¡­ do you believe that I am reincarnated?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing unnatural for the gods to do, they can do anything and furthermore when this one saw your eyes I felt something different from you so that explains the feeling I got.¡± ¡°What do you mean with my eyes?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± The Dragon was puzzled as it didn¡¯t understand the meaning of my question. ¡°Your eyes are blood red color even though you are only a human being. Only powerful ancient beings below gods like us Dragons have those eyes. The reason you have those eyes is because you¡¯ve come in contact with the divine will of a god even if it was a very small amount.¡± Hearing that I started to worry for my body. Where their any changes in my body I need to know about? Seeing my worried face the Dragon replied ¡°There is no need to worry little one, your body is fine. Instead its stronger than regular humans so you should be happy.¡± Indeed, it¡¯s no use worrying now. I will probably have to steadily investigate it. ¡°By the way little one, you explained earlier that your soul was of an adult?¡± ¡°Yeah, it is. It¡¯s difficult now, but what can I do?¡± The Dragon grinned at my question¡­¡­ It was really visible. The next sentence of the Dragon sends shivers down my spine. ¡°Then I can eat you can¡¯t I? Us Dragons enjoy the flesh and soul of our preys and eating a reincarnated person would be a first for me. I truly wonder how does it taste.¡± Cold sweat starts to appear on my forehead. This is a really bad direction we are currently heading towards. I¡¯ll seriously lose my life just like that and it won¡¯t be a joke either. Am I to reincarnate and die this quick just like that? I thought I told myself to do the extraordinary. The ordinary will tell me that the Dragon will eat me as Dragons are above all in the food chain. But I can¡¯t that happen. I will break the ordinary and do the impossible just like I promised. The real question is what do I do? There must be something I can use from what the Dragon told about himself. Anything can serve as a hint. Remember the reason the god of death sent me here, it was to do something impossible that would even entertain a god. Ah! I remember the Dragon did tell me it was 10,000 years old so if an immortal being like god can get bored so maybe a 10,000 years old Dragon might be bored too. The only thing I need next is what do I need to do that can satisfy him and serve my purpose of doing the impossible? Before coming here, the god of death did tell me generally about this world that there are 4 races that live here: Humans, elves, dwarfs and the beast kin. They have always been living separately in their own kingdoms for thousands of years. And that there was some huge war 100 years ago between humans against all the rest which the humans won. The humans achieved victory by a landslide and it was a total slaughter but that all I know about the background of this world. Suddenly as I was recalling my memory I felt like a light bulb going up in my mind. I just might know what I need to do in this world which would even amaze this fellow Dragon and save my life. I¡¯ve found the impossible. Chapter 4 Before I knew it I had a smirk on my face. Looking at my smirk out of nowhere made Hereon hesitant. ¡°Little one, what do you have to say for yourself?¡± asked Hereon after some time passed by. I was waiting for that question as I had figured everything out. The god of death and the thing in front of me where very similar to each other on one aspect and I knew I could use that to my advantage. ¡°Tell me Hereon the Black, you are a curious fellow, are you not? Otherwise why would you even talk to someone who is like an ant in front of you if you weren¡¯t curious about my hair and the eyes?¡± Seemingly a little puzzled, Hereon urges me to explain myself by nodding. ¡°You are an elder Dragon called Hereon the Black who has lived for 10,000 years. After living for this long you must have seen many kingdoms rise and fall. You must¡¯ve seen hundreds of generations of the living of this world pass away while you remained the same. All of them afraid of you.¡± ¡°This one has always been feared and this one has seen countless chapters of history occur in front of me only to fade away to be replaced by new.¡± ¡°Then tell me this Hereon the Black ¡­¡­¡± By this time, I had gained my confidence. I realized that my body was not shaking nor was it bent in fear but I was standing with my back straight and looking at this fearsome creature directly in the eyes. I felt like right now I controlled everything over here. ¡°¡­.. are¡­¡­you¡­..not¡­..bored?¡± I deliberately spoke every work with a pause to increase its effect. After hearing what I had to say Hereon stood still for a long time. From this I knew that either Hereon was too shocked that how could I know this or surprised that this was something he actually felt but never realized himself. Finally, Hereon replied to my question. ¡°Muhahahahahaha, I am surprised that a mere ant¡¯s word could ring so true. A mere ant¡¯s word could hold such power to make a supreme being like myself falter for a second there. This one knows what you are trying to do but this one is interested in what you have to say to save your life.¡± ¡°Then listen to this oh Hereon the black.¡± I reply while being a little dramatic. ¡°Allow me to be your entertainer. You have been bored for thousands of years so this time let my do something impossible, something which would even amaze and surprise you. Allow this lowly ant to change the world in front of your eyes¡± I continued. ¡°This one is not a fool. Many have said such world and a few may even have fulfilled their words but I have never cared about the affairs of mere mortals.¡± Replied Hereon back to me. ¡°I would not do something as simple as that, I would do something impossible. There exist 4 races in this world. From these 4, no race ever lives in harmony together. Exploiting this, the humans have defeated all the other 3 races to declare themselves the most powerful race¡­¡­¡± I stopped my words mid-sentence to wait for Hereon to catch up to what I¡¯ve said by now. ¡°¡­. The impossible that I speak of would be to make the losers the winners. I shall do something that has never happened before, something imaginable even in legends and myths. I shall unite all 3 races that have been banished by the humans and I shall fight against the humans to break the balance of power. Humans are far too clever and powerful while the other races are far too arrogant to evolve themselves and are thus losing to the cycle of evolution. I shall change all that!¡± I loudly proclaimed in front of the Dragon I waited for a moment so that the meaning of the words I had spoken would sink down inside Hereon¡¯s mind. ¡°Tell me Hereon the Black, won¡¯t it be something amusing to see the 3 races who have lost all fight against the humans who have become the ever powerful? Can you even imagine the elves working with the dwarfs or beast kin working with elves?¡± Even I knew from the books that Elves and Dwarfs never got along but the beast kin part was a gamble. I only knew that Elves are always arrogant in books and consider themselves above all. I¡¯ll need to investigate this late to understand the social standings better. After a very long pause Hereon burst out laughing. ¡°Hahahahahahahahaha, it has been centuries since this one has laughed like this. I will not lie to you little one but even for me this idea of yours seems interesting. Even I would be amused with what you have just said. These 3 races have always never gotten along with each other so what you say will be fun to watch. But remember something little one, this road of yours is an impossible road to walk down. First uniting them all and second being able to fight the humans who have gotten stronger at a surprisingly fast pace.¡± ¡°I know the road I have to walk and that is why it is something not ordinary. If it was something ordinary, then how could I enjoy it?¡± I repliedFind this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! And I believed doing this would even amuse that god of death too. ¡°Well you have guts that have impressed me little one. It seems you will do something to entertain this old Dragon then as a Dragon I need to give you something in return too. Tell me what is it you require of this one?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t just give me some super power or magic power can you?¡± ¡°This one will have to disappoint you on that. But what I can tell you is that because you have been in contact with a small amount of god¡¯s divine will, your body is comparatively stronger from the average human, your eyes are shaper, your mind is better and you even can learn things faster. Furthermore, from what I can sense, you have talent for magic too just like those humans.¡± Well I was a little disappointed but it still better than nothing and I can work myself to improve. I knew the things I wanted to ask of Hereon. ¡°I have only 3 requests then. The first being that I want you to tell me all about the war and your pact with humans and secondly I need a piece of your scale which can help others identify that it¡¯s from you. The third is I need some equipment for battle or farming.¡± Each request had a reason. Information was the most important thing especially for a guy like me who just came here with no knowledge thus the first request. The second request is so that I can use a piece of his scale to act like his messenger in front of others who fear Hereon. This would sooth things out at the beginning. The third one is pretty obvious one. ¡°The war started 150 years ago and ended 100 years ago. The humans created new calendars which starts from the day war ended and so right now is Year 100. All 4 races were like water and oil against each other thus they had no harmony between each other. The humans follow the religion of Kratos with Kratos as their god. One day an oracle from the god declared war on all other beings beside humans. The other races were declared as demons or taboo creatures. After which the humans started the great war which engulfed the whole world. The humans had from a long time made themselves stronger. The humans who used to be in the bottom of this food change developed themselves and became stronger while the others remained the same. The 3 races watched as one by one the other race was defeated never helping the other against this common threat of humans. Each believing themselves to be the strongest. Eventually, the war was over 50 years later and the humans won while the rest of the world was made into slaves.¡± There is something that I need to ask of importance that could help me here. ¡°Tell me Hereon the Black, how did the humans become this strong?¡± ¡°Let this one tell you this little one, each race has a special attribute of its own. The beast kin have the body as strong as the beasts, the dwarfs have short yet sturdy bodies making them king of the mountains with their additional knowledge of weapons, the elves have the ability to control nature and they possess the most remarkable marksmen ship while the humans who were the weakest had people who could use magic.¡± Hereon paused there so that I could understand what he just said. After a moment he continues ahead. ¡°The humans have the weakest bodies, they have no minds like dwarfs to make weapons and have no help from the nature. Furthermore, only 1 person from 100 people can have the ability to use magic. They had all the odds against them but they were persistent and they used their valuable resources of magicians very wisely. They were a clever lot and made various strategies and made some strong stone castles that no other race could break down. They used their wits and blind faith in their god to win.¡± By now I understood the whole actual picture of what had actual happened. It was enough for me to connect a few more dots and finally see the bigger picture. This was more than enough for me to work on. Seeing that I understood this all, Hereon removed a part of his scale and handed it over to me. ¡°Anyone who touches it will understand that this scale is of Hereon the Black.¡± After seeing the second request being completed I waited for Hereon the complete the last request. ¡°I have some equipment from the knights and heroes who come to challenge me. They may not be a lot but they are around 50 pieces. They will be enough for the start. The rest is your job. After this I will not help you anymore and remember this oh little one, if you fail then I shall kill you myself in such a way that even your soul would be eaten by me and you wouldn¡¯t be able to go to your gods.¡± Listen to the last sentence sent a shiver down my spine but I was prepared this time. It wouldn¡¯t be something daring if I wasn¡¯t pushed to the corner. ¡°Before you receive your equipment I want you to conquer this forest first. This will also aid in your mission. After you¡¯ve done so then only this one will give you the equipment and as a bonus this one will give you a hint about something which will assist you greatly.¡± It seems like this jungle will be my first stop them. From the way Hereon has said thing this is another challenge he has given to me and some trick must be there for him to give me this task. ¡°I accept it!¡± I replied. ¡°Good good little one, then I shall guide you about another thing too. You will eventually learn it yourself but this will speed up things. The language of this world is of magic. Every race speaks a different language but everyone can understand it because when a word is being said, the meaning of that word is transmitted to the other person. If a large amount of people believe that a sound produced has a fixed meaning then whenever that sound is made, others would understand its meaning even if they don¡¯t speak the language as long as a large body of beings believe in the meaning. This means you can freely talk to any race without the language barrier.¡± This was really a good piece of news. I hadn¡¯t even thought about the language of this world and how to speak. Wait a second, for all this time I¡¯ve been speaking the language of my previous world so how does Hereon understand me then when no one here believes in the language in speak? ¡°This one understands what you are thinking, let me tell you this that because I am an ancient being that is why if a language that even only a single person believes in, we ancient beings can understand the meaning behind it. But others cannot and so for that I shall grant you the power ability to speak the language of this world.¡± With that I felt light glowing around me for a second only to disappear like it nothing changed. Hereon points towards a direction and speaks ¡°This one suggests you going in that direction. Do not disappoint this one then.¡± Hearing that I turn myself towards the direction Hereon pointed towards and start to walk I have now taken the first step in breaking away from the ordinary and into the extraordinary. I now had a goal and a direction. ¡®Well this will be a fun ride¡¯ Chapter 5 ¡°Little one, head in that direction for half a day which will lead you to life.¡± That¡¯s all Hereon the black said towards my back before flying high up in the sky and heading towards the mountain range north from this forest. I did not understand the geography of my surrounding area but I knew for now the only thing that mattered was this huge forest which I had to control. Heading in the before mentioned direction for half a day, I reach upon a small hill. From where I was standing I could see a small man made cave carved inside this cave. Must have been made for protection against sun and rain. I headed towards the entrance of the cave. ¡°What is this¡­¡­¡± Upon entering, I saw 40 beast kin present inside the cave. There were a variety of beast kin present inside the cave ranging from wolf kins, dog kins, cat kins and a few lizard kins. Five of them are still toddlers. 20 of them are between ages 8 ¨C 10 years old, 5 of them were old beast kin and the remaining 10 were all heavily injured. The injuries of the 10 injured ones looked like they were all infected and had reached a very bad condition. Their faces were listless as if they were half way between being alive and dead. The children and the elder looked like mere sticks that would blow away even with the slightest wind. Most of them were lying down on the cold hard ground looking so still that I feared few of them might even be dead. ¡°What the hell is this? Why did the children become like this?¡± Is this where Hereon wanted to lead me? The only reason I could think for their current predicament was that they were struck with a famine. However, that wasn¡¯t the only reason here, looking at the slash wounds on the injured beast kins I could conclude that they were made not by some beast but from weapons. They must¡¯ve been some beast kin who were escaping from the forces of humans. Slaves who¡¯ve ran away but they must¡¯ve paid even a heavier price than what was in front of me. Pity rose up inside of me. They were in such a bad condition that they didn¡¯t even reacted to my presence. How have they been surviving like this? No one here can hunt or gather food and wood. Just as I said that I felt a cold wind hitting my back. ¡®This is bad, they are all already so weak, I need to cover them up with something and find them something to eat.¡¯ I quickly rushed back outside and got some large leaves to cover them all up. After that I needed to think about filling their stomachs. The only thing I knew was the location of the pond I found on my first day in this world that could help. Holding on tightly the earthen bowl in my hand which I had taken from the cave, I run towards the pond. Reaching the pond and quickly filling up the bowl, I rush back towards the cave while being careful not to spill the water. Breathing heavily and finally reaching back to the cave, I knew I had to make a very inhumane choice. That choice was necessary for the greater good. Few lives would have to be forgone to save the majority important ones. I had decided that saving the elderly and the severely injured who were close to death would not be an option here and they will have to be sacrificed to save the lives of the rest of the group. They were nothing but a burden right now. Finally making up mind, I head inside the cave and give small gulps of water to the children and the few injured beast kin who were somewhat better compared to the others who were seriously close to dying. I do not dislike children. Rather, I like them very much. I can greatly sympathize with them who had been left by their parents since I also grew up in an orphanage. Therefore, I don¡¯t have any problem with helping them and children are important for the next generation to continue. All these things that I was thinking was actually me trying to convince myself. Even if I was a logical person but my previous world was peaceful. Doing something this cruel was naturally going to make me hesitate. Just when I was thinking this, I recalled the words of the director of my orphanage back in my previous world. Even though he was a greedy piece of shit but I¡¯ll never forget these words of his. ¡°If a starving puppy approached and clings, will you pick it up? After that, will you irresponsibly abandon them? Picking them up is akin to their live being in your hand. That¡¯s how it is. Once you¡¯ve made your mind you have to go through with it till the bitter end.¡± I see. I certainly was aware that this was a bad choice but I must go through with this till the end if I have decided to save them. I¡¯ll have to make sure to save as many as possible even it my methods are cruel. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Although I had the capacity to help them, they will just starve if I don¡¯t use that capacity. This decision will weight down on my mind in the future but I can¡¯t help it for now. If I find a way, I¡¯ll help them later. Even if I wanted to move them all towards the pond, I don¡¯t have the strength in my body to survive that long in this hunger. I am not in any good condition either. Most of the beast kin were so out of it that they couldn¡¯t even drink the water. I had to open their mouths by force and give them water drop by drop so they could easily take it in and don¡¯t choke on it. By now, I could sense some life in the eyes of these dying beasts unlike before. Finishing the task, I realized that I too was thirsty myself but I couldn¡¯t complain because the bowl in my hand was now empty. I didn¡¯t felt much strength in my body. All the running on a starving stomach has made me even more weak. Lazily getting up, I walk out of the cave to find something that could help in this situation. As soon as I got out, I saw around a large group of beast kin surrounding outside the cave staring at me. There were probably around 40 beast kins in front of me, both male and females with a variety of dog kin, wolf kin, rabbit kin and one of them was even a lion kin who also looked like the leader of this pack. Around half of them looked around 14-17 years while the rest looked like past their twenties. They must have been the rest of the pack of the beast kin living in the cave. So that¡¯s how the beast kin in the cave were surviving. The healthy ones were hunting for food and that was apparent from the animal bodies they were dragging along. Even then they didn¡¯t look in good shape with many of them looked very thin and a few were even wounded at some places. Instantly killing intent from all around was focused on me. The leader-ish, lion kin stepped forward and practically roared to me. ¡°What is a human scum like you doing over here and what have you done to my people inside the cave!? I¡¯ll rip you apart and eat your flesh you bastard!¡± Uwaaaaah! This is scary. The dude literally looks scary with those big teeth and his lion like face full of fur and that tail behind his back. Now that I thing about it, that¡¯s how everyone around me look. They all looked like some kind of mix between animals and humans. They had a face of a beast with a body of a human along with a beast like tail of their respective beast kind. This is really bad! The situation will get out of control at this rate and I¡¯ll seriously get killed here. First it was that stupid god of death, then it was that scary Dragon and now these flesh eating beast kins ready to rip me apart!! Why do I have such bad luck? As soon as I thought that I see the lion kin moving towards me, I quickly raise both my hands in surrender and speak to him. ¡°Listen to what I have to say! I am not your enemy here. I am a friend of the Black Dragon that lives near here. I even have proof.¡± ¡°Do you take me for a fool! Don¡¯t lie about being a friend of the Dragon. Dragons are supreme and strong. They¡¯ll eat the weak and won¡¯t definitely be friends with mere mortals like us especially a human.¡± I quickly took out Hereon¡¯s scale out of my pocket to show it to the leader lion kin. Looking at the object in my hand the lion kin started to hesitate. Before I didn¡¯t felt it but now even I could feel something like fear from the scale in front of me. Even without knowing it I can tell it¡¯s the scale of Hereon the black. Was this the power of an ancient being that even a small scale of his would be this incredible. The lion kin asked the rabbit kin standing next to him to go inside the cave to check it and then spoke to me. ¡°How can a human ever be a friend of the Dragon? No one has ever been one.¡± The lion kin asked me. I could sense that now he was starting to cool down. This was good. Now we can have a real talk. ¡°Do I really look like a normal human to you? Have you even seen such hair and eyes before?¡± I replied while trying to make myself sound mysterious. I know beast kins would obviously hate humans, the feud between them would only be solved by blood and so they won¡¯t listen to me. The only way to overcome this was to prove myself different from the humans to reduce their hostility. ¡°That makes sense. I¡¯ve never seen someone like you before.¡± By the time the lion kin had said this, the rabbit kin came from the cave looking slightly happy as he reported. ¡°Nothing has changed in the cave and everyone is fine. Instead this person has it seems given the children and a few injured water and covered everyone up with leaves to warm them up.¡± Listening to this, I could feel everyone¡¯s killing intent vanish towards me to be replaced with a look of gratitude. The lion kin immediately bowed his head a little and said. ¡°I am sorry for my rough treatment to a friend of the legendary Dragon. Surely you yourself won¡¯t be someone ordinary. And you also took care of my brethren. I am thankful to you. Tell me what is it you wish from me?¡± I was waiting for this exact moment. ¡°Make me the leader of your pack.¡± That is all I said which immediately caused confusion among everyone. The lion kin still maintaining his calm replied ¡°That is impossible. Even if you are someone different from the humans and the friend of a Dragon, I can¡¯t make you the leader.¡± If it¡¯s something impossible then I must do it at all cost. ¡°What is it you require for me to prove myself? And tell me, the way you¡¯re living right now is that the way you wish to survive forever? I promise you this that I¡¯ll take care of everyone and I¡¯ll make your current situation a lot better than before. If I fail, then you may have my body to feed the young of your tribe to keep them alive.¡± I knew betting my life was the only way. ¡°The resolve in your eyes is good. But we beast kin only follow the strong. The law of the jungle is our law. The strong shall always lead the weak.¡± ¡°If that is so then let our fist do the talking. I will defeat you and take your position.¡± Back from my orphanage days, there were a lot of times when us poor defenseless souls would become easy targets for the criminals and so I knew some self-defense methods. I knew right now this lion kin was in his weakest form. It wasn¡¯t any better for me either but he was tired and hungry from the hunting. Now was the only chance I had to win. Hearing my proclamation, the lion kin introduces himself and accepts my challenge. ¡°I am Leon the chief of this tribe. I have seen your resolve and accepted your challenge. Now prepare yourself!¡± With that Leon rushed towards me. Now this was something not Ordinary. The ordinary me wouldn¡¯t even have imagine to challenge this beast kin who was in every way stronger compared to me. But that wouldn¡¯t have been fun. Its only fun when it¡¯s the extraordinary or the impossible. ¡®Let the fun begin¡¯