Past:

In a secluded street of the commoner's district, rows and rows of houses were built in a honeycomb-like structure. There were narrow passageways, and it was very confusing to move around without getting lost. And so usually, only the residents of mizar came here.

Travelers generally avoided this area due to its messy alleyways and lack of order. Killing and theft were common in this area, and it was like a paradise for doing dirty work in this city.

City Guards were aware of this fact, but they received money from local gang leaders, and they couldn't be more happy to slack off from their job of keeping order in this area.

As Mizar was a safe city with no external threats, it made the military of Mizar to be rotten from the core.

Hidden from the prying eyes, in the heart of a dilapidated slum stood a discreet two-story building.

This humble structure was burrowed among the crimes and poverty, which at a glance looked abandoned and forgotten by the city. Unbeknownst to anyone, it had a secret hideout that served as a meeting place for one of the strongest person in the entire Noah Empire.

Within the dimly lit room on the first floor, a heavy air of wrath clouded the area. The walls were decorated with half-torn moldy posters and faded paint. A testament to the passage of time and the neglect that nobles had for the slum.

"Did you find the corpse of that idiot? If that bastard of a city lord finds out that we are here, things will get very... messy."

A burly-looking man inquired to one of his subordinates. He was five feet tall with a stocky build. His dark ivory skin gleamed in the dimly lit room, his messy beard flying in rage. With just a glance, it was apparent that he was not from this city.

He didn't have a bad temper; but even a saint would be cursing if their subordinate who was actually a mighty mage, ended up being killed in a drunkard's fight.

And to top it off, he was supposed to be on the job of gathering Intel. To make it even worse, as it is necessary to go into hiding in these types of missions, no one even realized that he was dead for a month.

It was only a few days ago that his remains were found, Only a decaying skeleton remained.

"Yes Master, we have found his Corpse. And nothing was missing from it. I've already erased all the clues." a skinny youth in his twenties replied with a fawning look on his face.

"Good job."

Hearing the master praise their colleague, other subordinates looked at him enviously. Because all the work they did had gotten bad news for master, the only progress they had made was towards his bad mood.

It'd never hurt for a powerful man to have a good impression of you. They knew it better than anyone, as the reason behind their current strength was due to the mage in front of them.

The masked man who had answered earlier looked at his colleagues with scorn in his eyes. ‘These simpletons really don't know how to make the best of a situation. Although I discovered missing notes from the corpse, I still didn't include that in my reply to the master.’

'If I had said that truth, I would have been scolded just like them.' Ever since they left, they were strictly forbidden to have any items that may leak their identity.

But it's not possible, is it? Mages were by nature studious people and if they slacked off from reading for months, their progress would stagnate.

Not that the leader cared.

Smart ones among their team already knew that those chosen were obviously cannon fodders and real talents remained at headquarters.

'Besides, it's not that like few pieces of paper will cause any change to our plan,' The man had a smug smile hidden behind his mask. Although he knew he was not as intelligent as others, he still felt good after fooling his superior.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't know that this small misinformation had screwed up their entire plan.

…

Present:

Odin yawned from exhaustion as he changed his clothes. He was so engrossed about his predicament that even the dreams he had were about his future plans.

‘A lot of things happened yesterday, but to sum it up, the first thing I should do is to gather more energy in my body. I've already completed the initial life form ascension, but due to insufficient energy I have yet to finish the transformation.’

From his Right eye he could vaguely see a path ahead of him which he had to walk on. In order to get there, he had to get more energy to cause a qualitative change on his dormant powers.

Secondly, he had to figure out more information about his bloodline powers. Just like many others, he came across this term in his mind due to synchronization. He thought that there was only one kind of bloodline, but there were actually millions of them across Svemir.

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'Though I don't know what Svemir is'

He knew that his ability of stealth and fast speed, which manifested by blue rays coming from his body were due to his bloodline.

‘But I’m sure that’s nothing worth celebrating, not after I know about that “thing”.’

He was now even more certain that the lower layer of the underground mine contained the secret about his bloodline.

Lastly, he needed at least some basic understanding regarding cultivation methods of this world, he was sure that he would walk on a different path, but to understand his future enemies and strengthen his allies, he needed to understand some fundamental things first.

‘But the biggest problem is where can I actually find energy in this underground mine?’

A thought suddenly occurred to him and he decided to experiment with Vidre stone because it was the only potential source of energy in his current situation.

He combed his silver hair, and the broken mirror reflected a tinge of wisdom in his blue Eye. Despite not being even 20 years old, he gave off the aura of a thousand year old sage for a fleeting moment.

Despite losing his eye, he didn't have any fear or hopelessness towards his situation. After getting ominira, the only thing he felt right now was boundless excitement for the future.

After getting changed in regular white shirt and black pants, he bounced his way to the dining area with a subtle grin on his face.

As Odin stepped into the vast hall at the central cliff, he was greeted by a lively atmosphere filled with sounds of clattering dishes and cheerful chatter, accompanied by the mingling aromas of food.

Scanning the hall and the faces of slaves, he saw families eating together, friends engaged in banter, a couple flirting, and a solitary person finding peace in his own company.

The hall sang the symphony of life, brimming with an aura of kinship and warmth.

Although their lives were filled with hardship and pain, they couldn't spend their entire lives willowing in sandess.

'As much as I hate this, the fact remains that we are the same in some ways'

As he saw them, Odin promised himself that he would help them regain freedom one day. However, that day was still far away.

The shift in thoughts didn't dampen his excitement even by a bit,

It wasn't his first time he had these thoughts.

With each step he took, the aroma of food grew stronger, calling him towards the centuries-old long buffet table. There, elderly figures and little kids worked merrily, giving out portions of food to the hungry slaves and their families.

Steam was rising from pots and pans, giving an appealing scene to the food cooked with love and care.

Approaching the table, Odin's senses heightened. The food was by no means extraordinary, but the lack of taste was nothing compared to the nutrients it provided.

As always, it was stew with scarcely visible vegetables and yellow rice, accompanied by hard loaves of bread.

It was a feast shared among thousands of slaves. It represented the their tenacity and urge to survive in the underground mine.

With Plates in his hand, he moved through the merry crowd, his dark blue eye scanning the hall for his friends. A smile brightened his face as he spotted Rolf and Darrick bickering.

“Oy 2709, so you finally came out of your room,” yelled Darrick while chewing up a piece of bread in his mouth. He was slightly overweight and his curly brown hair matched the color of his eyes.

“Don't shout while eating, you look more of a moron than you already are,” said Rolf Who was also sitting beside him. Contrary to Darrick, he had short black hair and green eyes like that of a cat.

“You are one to talk.”

They all wore the same uniform, the only difference bring the number of stains on their shirts and the degree of fading on their pants.

Odin then went towards them with his plate in his hand as he saw the two bantering as usual.

“Yup I actually woke up this morning, but sister brought me breakfast and I went back to sleep afterwards, I missed my lunch and here I am.”

Odin spoke as he showed them his overly stuffed plate.

The two stopped eating and looked at him as if he was some ghost.

“What are you two staring at? Is it my right eye? Don’t worry it doesn't hurt anymore.”

“Who’s worrying about you” Rolf retorted and asked with surprise

“Did you become normal again after yesterday? That’s some dog shit luck you got pal.”

‘Although 2709 was able to talk normally before, his eyes were never clear and he didn’t speak this fast either’ thought Rolf while eating.

It was only then that Odin realized that he was supposed to act like a dimwit, but after waking up the first person he met was his sister, and all this thinking in excitement.he forgot to keep up his act.

‘Now that I Think about it, I'll get stronger in short time as well so there's no need for me to worry about how I act anymore.’

Besides the only reason he started acting like a fool was due to his fear and overreaction, something that only a child would do.

'Well partially because it was fun... sometimes.'

There was no need for him to explain it to anyone, so he kept behaving like an idiot in front of others from time to time.

“Yeah, something like that” replied Odin with a shrug.

“Well at least there is something positive from this situation,” said Derrick

“By the way, how did you end up losing your eyeball?” asked Rolf while leaning forward, his voice filled with curiosity.

“Who knows, I don't remember what actually happened, but if I were to guess it would be something like a stone fell on my head or I tripped on the ground”

“Damn! First there were cleaning issues and now stones falling on top of our heads, as if our jobs weren't bad enough already. This place is getting shittier day by day.” Rolf grumbled as he ate the hard bread.

“No point in thinking about it, it's not like we can do anything”

“Who knows... that might not be the case,” Odin spoke in a nonchalant manner.

Both Rolf and Darrick were speechless for a moment but started their verbal war soon after.

Odin ate as he heard them and enjoyed every bit of the meal. Not because of the taste of the food, but due to the floating message in front of him.

[Synchronization progress 12..13%]

He could feel the food nourishing his body, and for the first time, he felt a genuine happiness while eating among the crowd. He looked around to find his sister as he wanted her help in his future plans, but she was nowhere to be found.

Odin sighed and went towards the cleaning area. Regardless of the age, all able bodied people were to clean their own plates and they weren't allowed to waste any food.

“Are you sure he really got normal?” Asked Rolf in seriousness.

“I'm really not sure about him being normal is a good or bad thing. If he starts spouting nonsense like this to someone else, he might really end up being dead this time.” Said Darrick in a hushed tone.

“Well that's none of my business, off to bed I go.” Looking at the departing Rolf who looked tall and fit despite eating like a pig, Darrick felt unfair. left with no other choice, sighed in frustration and trudged after them to clean his dish.

‘Those two're really weird. I’d better mention this tomorrow to his sister or else 2709 might bring us trouble, just like Lucas.’

Even if Darrick looked like a childish and boorish fellow, he was quite smart. Both he and Rolf knew about the whole Lucas incident, and they weren’t the only ones. Despite that, everyone acted as if nothing had happened.

They had different methods to cope with it. Most of them acted like Rolf and lived a carefree life. However as 2709 was one of his best friends, he had to warn him and at least try to prevent any harm from coming his way.