Theo found himself floating in the darkness, he felt no emotions, neither anger nor sadness. Just nothing. Emptiness. 

Heh, is this the afterlife? Maybe death itself isn't so bad...WHAT THE FUCK MAN

As Theo thought to himself, he heard a deafening BOOM in the distance, yet it felt so close, like it's surrounding him. In that moment, Theo felt a tinge of panic due to the cacophonous sound, and his panic only increased as the space around started to distort and strands of white light started to appear in the distance. He then felt a suction force pulling him towards the white light at a tremendous pace, as Theo neared the light, he could hear faint sounds of chains rattling and the constant sound of something wooden hitting a stone floor. With just some distance apart from the light, Theo could almost make out the shape to be somewhat similar to a realm portal. However, as Theo got closer to the light, it's instensity blinded him, forcing him to close his eyes.

When Theo reopened his eyes, the first thing his eyes registered was the chain on his hands and legs which restricted his movements. After taking a good look at his surroundings, he realised that he was in a large cage on a carriage that was used to transport goods, he then saw several other people in the same state as him; their arms and legs were chained together and they wore ragged and dirty clothes. After noticing majority of them were females and children while the rest was males, he could not help but wonder what kind of shit he had gotten himself into.

"Young man, you have finally woken up huh...Sigh...how unlucky."

After noticing Theo has woke up, a shriveled old man next to Theo spok in a hoarse voice.

"Hmm? What happened? Where am I? Why am I chained?"

Theo was surprised at the old man for initiating a coversation with him as the atmosphere was dark and depressing, which caused him to blurt out a bunch of questions at the first instinct.

"Ohh, you must not have known this but the slave traders found you on the side of the road and assumed you must be a runaway slave due to the mark on your chest."

Upon saying this, he pulled apart his shirt and revealed a gruesome paw tattoo branded onto his skin. He continued,

"Whoever has the mark belongs to the slaves of the BeastHunter Guild. Upon purchasing any slaves, they will be branded to be identified as owned slaves. When you were unconscious, I overheard the slave traders saying that they will sell you as an unowned slave, it means that you will be put on sale once we reached the kingdom of Hastyrel, that's where we are going right now...try to get some sleep child, it's not gonna be an easy journey."

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

After thanking the old man for giving him some information on his predicament, Theo started to fret once more as he thought 'What is going on? why the hell am I a slave? I must be reincarnated into another world right? Or is it transported? Ugh...I don't know anymore...' The anxious Theo could not help but kept on coming up with several assumptions but alas, he could not outlast the weariness and finally gave in to sleep.

"BANG! BANG! BANG!" The sound of a metal rod hitting the cage woke Theo up from his sleep. Theo reluctantly opened his drowsy eyes and scanned his surroundings; He was in a much smaller cage now in some sort of secluded alley. There standing in front of him, was a well-dressed man trying to advertise his "merchandise" to a bunch of fancifully-dressed poeple, presumably nobles. As Theo glanced up, he made eye contact with a noble who was wearing an elegant and well-made clothing while his face was just ugh(let's be nice and just say it is a complete, total, 180 degrees of his clothes). His hands were occupied as he was busy rubbing them against the butt of 2 female demi-humans. The demi-humans had a human body with cat ears and tails, making them extremely cute and adorable. The noble smacked his lips as he raised his proud finger and pointed at Theo saying,

"I want him."

"Alright sir. It will be 100 gold."

"What the...are you trying to scam me??? Even they are worth only 20 gold" He argued as he pointed to his demi-humans.

"I'm sorry sir, but they are demi-humans. He is a human which is worth much more."-slave trader

"I don't care!! 90 gold or I will kill your family. You must know that my father is a Baron of The Emerald City."-Noble

"Deepest apologies sir but I don't have a family."-slave trader

"I will kill you then."-Noble

Using his "negotiation" skills, the slave trader sold Theo to the noble for 90 gold. Upon gaining his goods, he ordered one of his guards to brand Theo while the other 2 guards hold him down. As the red hot branding iron came closer, Theo tried his best to convince himself that it was all a dream and it will all end soon, but contrary to his expectations, he felt an excruciating pain from his chest as the branding iron came into contact with the skull tattoo and he grimaced at the pain. Eventually, Theo could not hold back the pain anymore as screamed and struggled, trying to escape the pain but his efforts were futile. Tears started flowing out from his eyes and stained his face. However, despite the pain and suffering, he looked at the noble with intense hatred and wrath. When it had all ended, Theo collapsed-unconscious from the pain. 

But before he collapsed, two texts appeared before him and a robotic voice sounded out.

[Passive skill gained. Hatred. Add 10 to stamina.]

[Passive skill gained. Wrath. Add 10 to strength.]

"implementing first time skills into host"-successful

"placing restictions due to unknown element"-failed

"Forcing restrictions"-???

.

.

"removing all restrictions"