A week had passed since Raze had entered the world of Fabloth, and his time here had been weirdly… comfortable.

  He was currently seated on his bed inside a room, resting on a wooden frame with a soft mattress. His eyes were closed in deep focus as he stood on the verge of finally forming his core.

  The energy of the world embraced him gently and mana began entering his body from every pore. Soon, the veins across his body glowed brightly as a black, sticky substance was forced out of him.

  By now, his body was a mess of sweat and that dark impurity, when suddenly, a wave of golden energy erupted from him, signaling the successful formation of his core but just before the process was completely over, a wisp of dark energy appeared within his dantian before merging with his core without him even noticing as he opened his eyes.

  He could feel a glowing orb of energy floating within his dantian, connected through metaphysical mana veins that spread across his entire body.

  A status window appeared before him.

  ◆ STATUS Window ◆

  Name: Raze Ruinard

  Core: Gray

  Physique: Zenith

  Affinity: —

  Skills

  Swordsmanship (A)

  Perception (D)

  Basic Martial Arts (B)

  Basic Footwork (B)

  Mana Sense (D)

  Raze scanned through his status window within seconds. It looked different from before as the question mark in his name had finally been filled.

  His eyes briefly stopped on his affinities, but oddly enough, he couldn’t see anything there.

  ‘Do I have no elemental affinity?’

  ‘Or will my affinity be reflected once I start learning some spells?’

  He still didn’t know how the rules of this worked, so he simply shrugged the thought away for now.

  Right on cue, a small ten-year-old girl pushed open the door to his hut. Her brown eyes were filled with curiosity, and her appearance was far removed from the dusty, unkempt state he had seen when they first met.

  “Big bro, your body stinks.” She muttered, pinching her nose with her tiny hands.

  Within the time he had spent here, Raze had already learned the common language spoken in this world. It barely took him four days to grasp the basics, and the next three days to perfect the accent.

  So now, he could finally understand what this little ball of curiosity was saying.

  Raze sighed. “You needed something, Yuki?”

  He wiped his body with the wet cloth beside him, setting it aside before getting up from the bed.

  Yuki puffed her cheeks. “You promised to come with me to the market.”

  “Ahh… is it already that time?” Raze muttered.

  “Yes.” Yuki left no room for argument.

  “Okay, okay… let me take a bath first,” Raze said, walking towards a small bathroom at the edge of the room.

  After taking a thorough bath, wiping away every single stain of impurity, he looked at his reflection in the glass embedded in the bathroom wall, now fogged by steam.

  He wiped the mist away and examined his body.

  His blue eyes looked sharper than before and his muscles, still marked with scars from childhood, were now more toned than ever.

  “The scars didn’t vanish even after forming a mana core, huh? I guess it’s been too long… they have already become engraved into my skin.” He muttered, getting dressed before walking out of the bathroom.

  Yuki was seated on a chair, swinging her little feet as she hummed a song. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw him.

  “Big bro, you look more sparkly than before.” She praised him in her own simple way as she jumped off the chair.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Let’s go.” She walked up to him and held his hand with her tiny fingers and together they stepped out of the room.

  A vast city unfolded before him. Towering black walls surrounded it, while countless buildings stood within. The streets were brimming with people. This was Stonegate City, on the edge of the Starford Empire.

  After he had been knocked unconscious by the mysterious woman, who was none other than Yuki’s elder sister, he had been brought to this city when Yuki told her sister that he was the one who had saved her.

  She apologized for the misunderstanding, believing that his memory loss, an excuse he had made to cover up his complete lack of language, was somehow her fault.

  She even provided him with accommodation just a short distance away from their own, taking care of him like an elder sister he had never had.

  But through all of this, Raze made sure not to grow too attached to either of them. In one way or another, this world was destined to end, and he didn’t want any more emotional baggage when he already carried more than enough of his own.

  As they walked, Yuki tugged gently on his hand.

  “Big bro, can you tell if my mom is happy up there?” She asked innocently, tilting her head.

  The reason Yuki had gone into the forest behind the city was to gather herbs as an offering to a god, hoping it would ensure her mother was treated gently in heaven.

  And when he had saved her from the wolf in the forest, she had believed he was an angel sent by her mother to protect her…

  “Yeah. She’s happy… and she misses you every day,” Raze replied, his tone barely changing.

  A smile spread across her face almost immediately as she started humming her song again.

  —

  Yuki dragged him through the entire market, excitedly showing him all kinds of vendors and shops. But none of them had enough money to buy anything substantial, aside from the lunch money Yunhwa, Yuki’s older sister, had given them.

  Still, while wandering through the bustling streets, Raze’s eyes caught onto something that made him pause.

  It was a newspaper.

  The headline stood out immediately.

  [The Entrance Ceremony of Ascension Academy shall commence in a month.]

  Below it were images of several influential students who would be participating in this year’s entrance ceremony and among them, one picture made his gaze linger.

  Not because of the ethereal beauty the girl possessed… But because of the name printed beneath her image.

  Ravelle de Obsidia.

  She was the target of his mission.

  ‘I guess it’s time to say goodbye.’

  He thought quietly as he looked at the small girl, her tiny hands still holding onto his, her eyes filled with trust.

  He didn’t say anything on the way back.

  Yuki chatted endlessly, unaware of the decision already settling in his chest.

  That night, after dinner, he told Yunhwa about his plans after Yuki slept and although she looked hesitant, she agreed to help him.

  —

  The next morning—

  “Big bro, you meanie.”

  “You are a big, big meanie.”

  Yuki cried her heart out as she hugged Raze tightly, refusing to let him go and just behind her, Yunhwa stood helplessly, watching her little sister.

  Their mother had died while giving birth to Yuki, when Yunhwa herself was only ten years old and later, their father had gone missing when Yuki was just five.

  After that, Yunhwa had begun working as a mercenary most of the time. She was rarely home to take care of Yuki and had no choice but to leave her with a babysitter.

  That was also why Yuki had entered the forest alone and met Raze, the mysterious boy who had lost his memories but from the dead wolf she had seen, she knew he was far from ordinary.

  She had helped him, hoping he would regain his memories so that they wouldn’t be troubled by whatever noble household he belonged to… yet no one came searching for him.

  A whole week passed without any news when suddenly… Yesterday, he said he remembered something and that he wanted to go to Imperial City, the capital of the Starford Empire to enroll in Ascension Academy in hopes of regaining his memory.

  Yunhwa couldn’t stop him as she understood that he needed to return to his own life. She even helped him find a travelling mercenary group of her friends to get a safe ride to the Imperial City.

  But Yuki, who believed she had finally gained a big brother, couldn’t accept it. It had been half an hour since he told her about his departure and ever since then, she had refused to let him go and the boy, who usually wore a cold expression, simply kept patting her back gently without even a hint of impatience.

  “Please, don’t go, big bro.” Yuki kept saying again and again.

  Just as Yunhwa was about to step in, Raze spoke.

  “Don’t worry, Yuki. I am not going that far and I will keep visiting once in a while.”

  His voice was gentle and Yuki finally began to calm down.

  “You… promise?”

  She extended her pinky finger toward him and he met hers with his own.

  “I promise.”

  Yunhwa watched from the side as Yuki finally let him go and wiped her eyes. She walked over, gently patting her head, before handing a small pouch to Raze.

  “This has some money for you to get back home once you reach the Imperial City.”

  “Take care, Raze.”

  She muttered softly as he accepted the pouch.

  “Thanks for all the help, Yunhwa.” He replied quietly.

  “Don’t worry about it. Just make sure you get back your memories and reunite with your family safely.” she said with a small smile.

  Raze paused for a moment.

  ‘Family, huh?’

  The only family he knew was his cruel mother and he had no desire to ever return to her if he could help it.

  “You should go now. It’s time to meet up with the mercenary group. They’ll be waiting near the city gate. I’ll take care of Yuki.”

  She said, waving at him and Yuki did the same with both her tiny hands. Raze waved back as he turned and moved toward the gate.

  —

  After a few minutes of walking, he finally arrived and spotted a group of seven guarding a carriage being pulled by two horses that definitely didn’t look ordinary.

  The carriage itself looked luxurious.

  ‘Are they escorting some noble?’

  He approached them while roughly estimating their strength.

  ‘At least a few ranks higher than me…’

  With that thought, he greeted the one who seemed to be their leader.

  “Hello, Sir. Yunhwa sent me.” His face remained expressionless but his voice was polite.

  The bulky man grinned widely. “So you are Yunhwa’s little brother, huh? You arrived at the perfect time, we were just moving out.”

  Raze didn’t know what she had told them about him, so he simply nodded.

  “Good. You can sit in the carriage with the client and protect her.” He winked, clearly implying that “protecting” was just an excuse and that they simply didn’t have enough horses for him.

  Unlike his home world, this place still seemed stuck in a medieval era, without cars or any similar vehicles or maybe there was some other reason but either way, Raze didn’t complain and walked toward the carriage.

  He knocked on the door and a girl opened it. Her face was cold, sharply contrasting her fiery red hair.

  Raze immediately recognized her.

  She was the daughter of the baron in charge of Stonegate City. He had seen her on the city board when he was with Yuki yesterday.

  She didn’t speak and neither did he. He quietly took a seat some distance away from her, resting his sword on his lap.

  The young maid beside the girl stole a few glances at Raze but he ignored them. He simply closed his eyes as the carriage slowly began to move.

  But one question still bothered him.

  ‘Why would the daughter of a baron travel with mercenaries instead of her own knights?’

  He brushed it off almost immediately, assuming it was just some strange custom of this world or perhaps the baron had no spare guards to escort her.

  ‘Come to think of it, I did remember reading about some new dungeon openings nearby… maybe that’s the reason.’

  Still, that didn’t mean he lowered his guard. His grip on the sword tightened ever so slightly as he expanded his senses even further than before.

  ‘It never hurts to be careful, does it?’