'I never wanted to fight.

I never wanted to have to charge at an opponent, wielding a sword 3 times bigger than my body, with the intent to kill.

Yet that's exactly what's happening. What happened to bring me, a peaceful villager and a rookie Chronomancer, into the situation where I have to kill my sister?

...

I don't understand. Why is big sis trying to kill Sora? What did he do to deserve this? He's done nothing wrong! He only tried to help us! Why are you doing this!? Stop, Sis!'

On that night, Humanity's last hope for survival died. Nobody knows the killer aside from his friend.

~

ShangHun province, Homoru empire, spiral date 1337

It was your average day in the small village of Nomu. Shops were all open, kids running in the streets, mothers scolding them while their fathers laughed. All was wel in this area, as well as the whole province. One could say that this was the perfect example of a good empire. Meanwhile, underneath the surface of this wolf in sheep's clothing, much more brutal events were underway. Random lynchings, betrayal and back stabbing, Slaves tortured, women violated. This underground portion of the village was one of the most productive areas on the continent, known to peasents as 'the Red Zone'. Since everybody knew what went on down there, nobody dared to go down and solve the problem. Nobody, but one boy.

"Hey, what are you doing in the Red Zone? Don't you know what happens to kids down here?" Spoke a middle aged man who found this boy huddled in a corner. Just from appearances one ould tell he was a bandit. Reaching his rather buff arm out to grab him, he spoke.

"I know what happens down here in this hell. That's exactly why I came!" The young boy turned around to face the man, revealing a dagger in his hand, and thrust it straight at his chest!

"Huh... What?" The bandit looked in astonishment as his chest started spewing blood. Putting his hand over the wound to stop the bleeding, he coughed pools of blood with every breath before collapsing to the ground. It seems that the young villager child's single strike had pierced his lungs, heart, and stomach all at once. Dying with a look of absolute terror on his face, he let go of the bag he was carrying. A loaf of bread seemed to wedge it's way out, along with a bottle of what he thought was a bottle of sake. "Sweet! Nice drops, man! Thanks!" The young boy said. As if he rehearsed this line all his life, he proudly shouted, "Status!" And a small window appeared in front of him on what looked like a white board.

Hui Xie

Race: Unknown

Level: 9

Class: None Job: Villager [MAX, can be evolved]

HP: 37//37

MP: 13/39

SP: 27/34

The first time he opened this window, there was no name. When he saw this, he looked at the ceiling of the underground section he was in, and thought to himself, 'I wanna see the sky... that's it! Sora!' And the status window shook a bit. A few seconds later, it disappeared. A white message appeared in his retina:

Name changed to Sora HuiXie. Addtional name changes wil cost you 1 level from this point forward.

'Quite the heavy price for a name change... Wait, why are my stats so different? My SP used to be higher...' He thought to himself after reading this message. "Let's forget about that for now. Itadakimasu!" Sora declared and proceeded to eat the bread he had found. Looking at the rest of his spoils, he picked up the bottle that he had overlooked for now. After considering it carefully, he deemed it safe to drink and instantly regretted it as a massive wave of pain came over his taste buds. This time, another message appeared in front of his eyes.

All stat reducing effects have been cleared. All stats +2.

'All stats +2? Booyah!' This was an occasion truly worth celebrating for! After just 1 sip, his debuffs had all been removed, and on top of that, he had even gained 2 MP! He had just found an EXP bottle! 'Time to chug!' He thought to himself as he downed the entire bottle in one long gulp.

All stat reducing effects have been cleared. All stats +22.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

You have leveled up. Your level is now 10. All stats +3.

'Amazing! With this, I think I can finally take down the Red Zone!' He nearly said aloud, unknowing that the guy he just killed was drunk, was severely weakened before that, and was underequipped, even for a bandit. If he had even a single layer of clothing on, he would have survived the attack and won. This kid was just being too fanatical like the Demon he was*, and got really, really lucky. In fact, he was so lucky that he didn't even know that there was more! Opening the bag, upon recovering a bit of his sanity, Sora found what looked like a ring and some clothes that looked like they'd fit him if they were 10 times smaller. "Man this guy was fat..." Sora muttered to himself. Starting with the ring, he tried to put it on his finger, but it nearly cut off his circulation, so he gave up. Then, after throwing it at a wall while shouting "Damnit! Grow! Fit!" at the ring, in complete surprise to him and the guard who was passing by the alleyway, it emitted a shockwave, throwing Sora against the wall. Recovering of the shock, Sora walked up to it in a dazed state and pocketed the thing. "No way in hell am I letting this thing touch anything, ever. I did not like that at all! ... " After pausing for a moment, turning around, seeing someone charging at him with a spear, shouting stuff about 'violating the peace of the underworld', he took the ring back out and threw it at the guard's face.

"What the hel... Agh!" With a loud bang, The shockwave that had just hit Sora a second ago now hit both of them again with the same force. Sora was knocked further into the corner, while his opponent was hit out of it, across the street, into another alleyway, and got in the way of a soon to be rape session via tackling the woman. Getting back up, although already on the verge of death, the guard tried to call for reinforcements before he was beaten to death by the group of 10 that surrounded him. They were all going to go at it with the 10 year old girl he literally flew into, so naturally they'd be irate. Sora seized this opportunity to grab the ring, change his rags out for the o shirt that could now be called a dress, and run. 'Run to the forest, run!' Only after he was at the border of the subterranean crime den did he stop running, and only then did he start thinking about what had happened. 'So, for the past 3 years of my life, i've obtained a status screen, leveled up from 1 to 9, stole 4 gold coins, and got a nice weapon. Today, I got my first meal that wasn't rice, found my 2nd EXP bottle, and got a ring that explodes.' He casually thought while leaning against the wall of the town. "Just what else can this unwearable ring do? Item Check!" He shouted, and received a message.

You must equip the item to see it's stats.

Seeing as he couldn't put the ring on, he got curious. Instead of putting the ring finger on his middle finger, he put it on his 'flip off' finger, which most humans would normally wear rings on.

Ring of the Lords

Class: Low Elf

Level: 1

Bonuses: HP +3, MP +5, SP +3

Bonus Effect: Upon impact with non living objects, creates a mana shockwave. +1 damage per level. +2 force per impact. Natural Damage +200% when thrown by this attack.

A ring made by an elf slave to help resist whip beatings. Does not help against whips specifically, but when guarding, it automatically absorbs part of the impact. Grows in strength according to the user. Can be thrown.

"And my luck just keeps on coming! Good job, me! If I didn't know better, i'd say this is a late-exposition item! But the story's only just started! Let's keep the dice rolling and bet on black as those damn criminals leave me alone!" While HuiXie Sora was reading the stat screen for his ring, a group of mercenaries had snuck up on him and were brandishing their weapons.

Based on their looks alone, it seemed they had just gotten out of bed and were enraged at something. "This is for Phil! Die you bastard!" One of the 5 had shouted.

"Can everyone just leave me alone, for I dunno, 5 minutes, also, Are you really going all out on a kid? Seriously, you're 25! Get a life!" Sora said bluntly while dodging the first knife. The leader of the group sneered. "And what makes you better? Robbing a thief in the Red Zone, no matter the circumstances, is worthy of death!"

Sora sighed while dodging a bullet and drew his dagger. "Oh well. You guys have holes in your formation anyways. Can I go now?" He asked, and got a loud "No!" from al of them. Seeing how words wouldn't reason with them, he grabbed a knife embedded in the wall, threw it at the leftmost person, shanked him in the gut, and ran like the Demon he was, all while dodging gunfire and a shoe. Just out of curiosity, he grabbed the shoe in midair, saw that it had a bonus effect of paralyzation, and continued running, ducking in and out of side streets until he reached his goal.

Sora, like all the other civilians down there, sought to see the sky. Going up a final flight fo 297 stairs, he had reached the passage to the surface, what he called 'the green kilometer'. The group chasing him had to stop to catch their breath at the bottom of the stairs, and cursed. "Damnit, he's gonna get away! How did he get up there so fast! Wasn't there a barricade here?" The leader grunted. Everybody that was there, which now numbered 23, al nodded their heads. "We can't let anyone outside know of what's going on down here! Come on, let's go kill that kid!" He shouted. "Boss, aren't you chasing him because you were mad about Phil's death?" Another merc spoke up.

"Who's Phil? You mean the guy that was obsessed with hideous outfits?" [Lead]

"Yup, that's the one." [Merc]

"Was he wearing the purple suit?"

"No, boss."

"Then he didn't deserve it! Another thing to add to my list!"

"That was the only thing on your list in the first place!"

And the conversation ended at that, as the smal army charged up the stairs. Sora HuiXie was long gone by this point, but he had set a couple of traps to throw the group off his trail, including impromptu smoke mines, tear gas tripwires, knockback grenades, and his personal favorite, banana peels on oil. Naturally, the banana peels did the most. After all, Sora used paint to make them look like the stairs they were cimbing! After a short while, Sora had finally finished sprinting through the Green Kilometer. But what he found on the other side was not his hometown. Rather it was...

"What the hell is this place?"

A cliff 30 kilometers above sea level, overlooking a ruined Homoru empire.