The last time he was in this restaurant, everyone called him 'young miss.'

Despite being a young boy, Kai had to pretend he was a little girl. His late parents insisted it was to protect him. Young and noble, he remembered how everyone used to treat him as if he was a treasure—the Young Miss of the Ergon Clan.

What a joke.

At that time, the eight-year-old Chaeus 'Kai' Iggo thought it was normal. He was young and rich, noble and powerful. What a silly assumption that was. Now that he thought about it carefully, none of the treatment they received when visiting this place was normal. He chuckled to himself.

Eight years had already passed since then, and the Kingdom of Wren was still the same. The same filth, the same corrupted, dark, and shallow people.

They need to be purged, he thought. But first, he needed to get rid of the voices inside his head.

The smell of cooked meat stirred him out of his stupor.

"Anything else?" the waitress did not bother hiding the irritation in her voice. He glanced at her, smiling. It must be because of his current appearance. A sixteen-year-old boy wearing decrepit clothing with long matted hair was not exactly a very flattering sight. Something that can only be blamed on the task that he just completed from Hunter's Society.

"None. Thank you." He lowered his voice, making it sound more masculine, hoping it was enough to convince the woman that he was no longer a child. Unfortunately, his appearance changing potion did not have the ability to change his voice. The woman responded with a hum before leaving, not wanting to spare him another glance.

She must have thought talking to someone like him was a waste of time. She might be wondering how he was able to pay for the food. Still, she would not worry too much. The ring on the woman's left hand meant she was a Summoner. She could quickly kill him, an average human without a Summoner's ring, if he refused to pay for his food.

A smile bloomed on his face as he stared at the meat in front of him. Its steam seemed to call him out, reminding him of how long it had been since he had eaten meat. Two? Or three months? He chuckled before he started digging in.

Too long — it had been too long.

It did not take very long for Kai to finish his food. He beamed, smiling at the clean plate made of wood in front of him. Ignoring the other people's gazes, Kai called out to the attendant asking for a second serving.

"Oi… Oi… are you sure you can pay for all that?" a gruff voice echoed behind him. Kai pretended not to hear it. "Oi kid! I am talking to you!" the man called out. "Is he deaf?"

Kai turned towards the man wearing an article of white clothing popular for the nobles of Wren, sitting a few tables away from him. "I have money," he answered. Talking to strangers was never his strong point.

"Is this one dumb?" Another one chimed in. "How dare you talk like that to our Young Master?"

Kai stared at the man, confused. Was he supposed to address him with a name? He doesn't even know the guy.

"Is he ignoring me?" The man's voice was thin and irritating. It reminded him of a eunuch's in his previous life. The man stood from his seat and walked towards the man who called Kai deaf. "Young Master Chen… do you want me to deal with him?"

[Malicious Human Detected. Summon Mushrooms that burns malicious mortals. Please pay 100 coins.]

[To Summon the mushrooms say: Summon!]

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The voice rung in Kai's ears. He knew that he was the only one who could hear the weird voices. Still, he lowered his head and avoided staring at them.

"Young Master Chen... if you want..."

Kai lifted an eyebrow. Chen… Chen Family of Wren? The last name was familiar, yet distant at the same time. Of course, for someone like him who was living away from Wren, hiding in the mountains with his old grandmother, not knowing Wren's noble families was pretty standard.

However, since he had been taking on missions for the past few months, he had somehow heard of a few noble families. If he wanted to avoid trouble during his stay in the Kingdom, he needed to stay away from the noble families.

"Leave him be." The man in white smiled as he tucked a strand of his long, straight hair behind his ears. He looked at Kai. "I am sure he won't just run away now that he knows we are watching him." Kai ignored the warning that laced the man's voice.

"Never mind," Kai uttered. He laid a couple of his last copper coins on the table as he looked at the attendant who was staring at him. "Thank you. I will leave now." He immediately stood from his seat and left the place. Nobles are pretty troublesome to deal with. He would rather go and stay away from trouble. At least until the testing was finished.

With this in mind, he decided to find another place to eat his meat. Because of the testing, the streets of Wren were littered with people. It was not even noon yet. The roads were already full of travelers with different ethnicities, walking, mingling, getting drunk. Excitement filled the air as they talked about the Testing of Aether Cores held once a year in the Kingdom.

"Why is there a beggar here?"

Hearing their words, Kai hastened his steps towards the alley. He knew that he would hear that system any minute now.

[Summon poisonous mushroom with .002 toxins enough to kill a hundred people. Please pay 100 coins.]

[To summon the mushrooms say: Summon!]

"..." His face contorted into an ugly scowl. What the hell was this? Since waking up, Kai had been hearing this weird words every time someone would make fun of him. It would tell him to summon his mushroom to kill people. Sadly for him, he was broke.

All he could afford was summon a mushroom that he could use in his potions for ten coins. He gnashed his teeth. Anger and frustration swirled inside him. Despite being in this world for three years now, Kai know little to nothing about this... weird voices! His only chance is to find some information about the matter inside the academy and the kingdoms library which he could only access once he finished his education at twenty!

Four years!

He needed to wait for FOUR YEARS!

Frustrations burst inside him as he kicked the cobblestones on his way out of the Hua City- the biggest City of the Kingdom.

He tried to avoid everyone on his way. As expected, the people here could not stand someone of his appearance. He sighed. This was the only option recipe that he found in his late grandmother's notebooks, one he could afford to make for his previous mission. It would take another four hours before the potion would stop working. Sadly, his stomach could not wait that long. He had been away in the mountains for two months just to pick herbs for Hunter's Society, hoping to earn money so he could summon his mushrooms! He wanted food. He craved meat.

Now that he thought about it, his grandmother must have tricked him into making a feature-changing potion to teach him a lesson — something she always does when she was still alive. Unfortunately for her, the only thing that he learned was how superficial everyone was. People tend to judge everyone based on their clothing and not on their actual abilities. He sneered as he started walking towards the gates of the capital.

With the number of people arriving for the test, it would be hard to go to another restaurant unnoticed. His heavy footsteps soon took him past the stalls that sold various potions and artifacts to strengthen the body. Then to the children wearing long tunics playing on the cobblestones' cracks on the pavement that led him out of the city.

Surprisingly, the number of people outside of the gates did not decrease. People who could not afford to pay for accommodation started to build their own tents. Some were using trees to shelter themselves from the sun as they laughed and danced in the middle of the day. Another sigh escaped his lips as he continued walking towards the east where the oaks grew tall. After a few minutes, Kai looked back at the gated city.

It was huge, bigger than the place where his Ergon Clan used to live. Protected by tall concrete walls, the Kingdom of Wren stood proudly in the middle of a steppe. Ten thousand years ago, this place was nothing but a treeless grassland. Ten thousand years ago, this place was where the demons battled with the Ancients, who are now called Summoners.

Of course, this was nothing but a part of a history that was not included in the history books of Radfall — a continent occupied by people who fought against the demons thousands of years ago. Slowly, a smile slithered onto his wrinkled face. His gray eyes glittered against the sun as he continued walking towards his small cave where he and his grandmother when they were still on the run from the people who obliterated their clan precisely three years ago.