Chapter 1: Another World
Huff... Huff... Huff... A man around seventeen years old opened his eyes, sat up and was confused by a memory that did not belong to him.
A memory of a different person, called Claude Silvergale.
He remembered falling asleep at his working table because of fatigue.
Unexpectedly, he occupied someone's body and identity in a world called the Primordial Heaven Continent.
Claude is the fourth illegitimate son of Baron Sigele Silvergale from a maid.
Unfortunately, Sigele Silvergale died three days ago due to poison from a fourth-level Swamp Salamander.
Without his protection, Claude, without any backing or influence, was expelled from the castle.
To make matters worse, someone hired a group of gamblers to beat him to death and dump his body outside the stronghold in a patch of high weeds .
Claude's clothes were bloody, but for some reason, his injuries were completely healed.
Then, at the corner of his left eye, he noticed an option similar to a panel. He clicked on it, and to his surprise, the virtual panel expanded.
"Welcome to the Daily Hint System."
Such words appeared boldly on the panel before disappearing.
"Daily Hint System?" he murmured.
In front of him were four written options: Inventory, Hint, Hint Mining, and Hint Shop.
Inventory: Composed of ninety-nine grids.
Hint: There are three hints.
- Hint 1: The bandit leader slain today buried three thousand gold coins that he plundered over decades at the highest torn tree root in the Torn Forest, ten miles east.
- Hint 2: At the Blaze Slave Trading Company inside the Silvergale stronghold, there is a girl with unawakened lightning mage talent. She has silver hair, blue eyes, and a scar on her cheeks.
Reminder: She needs to consume a lightning elemental stone to awaken her talent.
- Hint 3: At Greenhill Village, six miles south of the Silvergale stronghold, there is a girl named Ray with Wind Knight talent.
Reminder: Three days from now, she will be sold by her gambler father to a merchant's son and will be tortured to death in ten days.
Hint mining is a Level 1 small cave that can mine hint points, yielding 10 points a day. It was full, so he claimed the 10 hint points immediately.
Upgrading to Level 2 requires 1,000 hint points.
The last was the hint shop, featuring six items, with three items locked.
To Claude's surprise, the first item available to buy was at a 100% discount, making it free, and the remaining five items were at a 90% discount.
The three available items were a lightning elemental stone (1,000 hint points), a Midnight Armor (10,000 hint points), and a Phantom Illusory Blade (Mysterious Arts) (1,000 points).
Claude wanted to buy the Midnight Armor; however, he wondered if the other locked items held more valuable treasures.
Without delay, Claude clicked on the fourth locked item.
"1 hint point to unlock, do you want to unlock?"
"Yes or No?"
Claude clicked Yes. Then, the item was revealed, and to his surprise, the item price was a staggering 100,000 hint points.
"Eye of Sloth (Divine Arts)"
Abilities:
- Time Reversal: The ability to reverse time for 30 seconds on a certain target.
Cooldown: None
- Time Deceleration Domain: The ability to slow time tenfold within a hundred meters for 60 seconds.
Cooldown: 1 day
Looking at the information about the Eye of Sloth, Claude bought it without hesitation, his hands trembling with excitement.
Soon, he realized that the three remaining locked items could no longer be bought for free; luckily, they were still 90% off.
Claude checked the item in the inventory; there lay a scroll with golden edges. With a thought, the golden scroll appeared in his hand.
He opened the scroll, and the ancient characters inside floated and merged into his forehead.
Afterward, Claude groaned as he clutched his head.
He cried out, twitching on the ground, and fainted.
A few hours later, he woke up. Now, within his purple eyes, there seemed to be a gray magical pattern shimmered on it.
Furthermore the ability was automatically engraved in his mind, along with how to activate it and how much mana and blood energy was needed.
Claude contemplated for a while, organizing the memories he had inherited.
Before he was beaten to death, King Khanlan Silva made a decree: those with noble lineage were permitted to expand the kingdom's territory, two hundred miles into the endless wilderness to the east.
Of course, there were conditions to receive a title.
First Condition:
- Build a stronghold with a population of ten thousand.
Second Condition:
- There must be a Grand Knight or Grand Mage to protect the territory.
Third Condition:
- Donate ten thousand gold coins to the kingdom.
All these conditions must be fulfilled within five years, and the royal family will send an officer to inspect the territory to verify fulfillment before bestowing the title of Baron.
In the coming days, nobles flocked to this region, vying for opportunity, especially those noble sons who had no chance of inheriting a title.
And as I bore the surname Silvergale, even though I am just an illegitimate son, I have such qualifications.
Moreover, with the help of the system, I am not lacking in opportunities and talent for recruitment.
The thing is, if you don't have strength, you will surely be buried in the endless wilderness.
Within the vast, endless wilderness, there are countless dangers: powerful magic beasts, ferocious dragons, and different tribes of wildlings like goblins, lizardmen, murlocs, and those corrupted beings that came from the Corrupted Continent from the south.
Amidst these unknown dangers, even a Sky Knight did not dare to venture deeper into the endless wilderness.
With this thought in mind, I need to prepare myself. First, I need to acquire the buried gold coins, then buy the slave and the daughter of the gambler.
Claude stood up, his stomach growling, but he endured his hunger and traveled toward the gold coins' location.
A few minutes later, Claude arrived at the Torn Forest.
Observing the trees in the forest, he found the tallest among them, located in the middle.
He began to go inside, of course, he needed to be careful. After all, the ground was scattered with leaves from the torn trees; moreover, these thorns contained a small amount of poison that could paralyze an adult person in a short time.
On his way, he picked up a sturdy thorn branch and removed the thorns using a stone.
A makeshift tool for digging. Once he reached the tree, he carefully observed the soil around its roots and jumped on them.
Seeing that the soil sunk, Claude began to dig. Not long after, he found a wooden box, but he couldn't open it; there was a rusty chain wrapped around the box.
He looked for a larger stone and struck the chain again and again and again. Fortunately, the chains were covered in rust, so not long after, the chain broke, and he opened the box.
Inside the box were gold coins covered in cloth. There were three thousand gold coins inside, together with a few silver and copper coins.
Claude breathed a sigh of relief, sweat covered his forehead. He was exhausted, but he smiled, and holding the pile of gold coins, he stored them away inside the system inventory.
Knowing that the place was not safe, Claude immediately walked away.
Soon, Claude arrived at the stronghold. Fortunately, the previous owner of the body was a solitary figure, and only the trusted subordinates of the Baron and his family knew him.
So, he was able to pass through the gate once he paid the entrance fee of two copper coins.
Even though his body was covered in blood, a dirty person like him was mistaken for one of the serfs, whose life was no better than that of livestock.
"Therefore the onlookers didn't care."
First, he went to the equipment shop but was initially stopped. However, when he tossed a silver coin, they let him in. Then, he bought a set of fine leather armor, boots, gloves, and a handkerchief to cover his face, in the end spending more than a gold coin.
Moreover, he ordered white bread and roasted pork meat at the tavern.
After satisfying himself, he immediately made his way to the Blaze Slave Trading Company.
The guards, seeing his equipment—although it wasn't as expensive as the nobles' equipment—still, for a normal guard like them, such quality equipment was not easy to acquire.
With a respectful bow, they let him enter.
Inside, he was greeted by a greasy, fat, middle-aged man with luxurious rings on all ten fingers.
"How can I help you, sir?" he inquired.
"I need a slave, preferably a woman," Claude replied.
"How many slaves do you want to buy, my Lord?"
"I only need one; however, if I find a decent one, I might add another."
The middle-aged man, hearing Claude's answer, was disappointed; however, he immediately recovered his composure.
"Please follow me, my Lord," he said, smiling amiably.
Soon, Claude followed him, and he opened a floor panel revealing a path going down below.
It was illuminated by torches placed on the walls.
Claude followed, and as he stepped on the stairs downwards, he saw two iron prisons, one with female slaves and the other with male slaves.
They were thin and had yellow skin, a result of a lack of food and nutrition.
With a sigh and a shake of his head, he looked for the girl with silver hair in the female prisons. After observing more than a hundred female slaves, he finally found her.
There, a girl was hugging her knees in the corner. She was around fifteen years old, with silver hair, thin, sunken blue eyes, and a scar on her face.