'' Urgh! ''
A weak grunt escaped Jerouch's mouth as the thick wooden club struck his stomach.His hands were tied on two separate poles which were a couple of meters apart, and his body was left hanging in mid-air.Blood trickled from both corners of his mouth, and his grey robe was stained with dried blood.The hot wind blew his dishevelled platinum hair as he looked downwards to avoid the fierce sunlight.He had been in this state since three days ago when he was caught by the head guard of the slave house.Whenever a slave was caught trying to run away, they would tie them to this particular pole, torture them, starve them and watch as life slowly left their body.This was done in other to instil fear in the other slaves. If not, with the hundreds of slaves here, many could go rogue.'' You seem quite tough for your age. '' The guard in charge of the torture laughed as he struck the club on his thighs.The guard wore rusty armour just like the other guards here, and each strike that landed on Jerouch made his inside churn with happiness.'' patt! ''A thick spit landed on the guard's brown forehead, and his face contorted in fury and disgust.'' Bam! ''A heavy slap landed on Jerouch's right face, which was wholly covered with an old burnt mark.His eyes started twinkling and his ears buzzed.' These fuckers. ' he gritted his teeth as he endured the excruciating pain.'' I swear I will screw your mother. '' The guard roared as he saw the mocking looks that the other guards gave him.Even though all the slaves were made to watch this kind of event, none of them dared to look at him mockingly.However, he knew they were also gleeful inside, which worsened his exasperation.'' Well, you will be saving me more energy, hehe. '' Jerouch replied with a weak smirk. He raised his head, giving the guard a dark stare.Since these people would kill him anyway, he would gladly use the little time he had to annoy them down to their bones.Actually, tortures like these were common occurrences for Jerouch.His life had always been full of miseries since he transmigrated to this world.He was reborn as the child of a noble in a city neighbouring the imperial capital.He retained all the memories of his life on Earth. And he had great anticipation for this world when he found out that it was a world where magic was the foundation.He found out that this world not only featured the medieval era, but also sophisticated magic technology.Being a transmigrator, he was optimistic to become some sort of protagonist with unparallel magic powers that would make him walk the path of the strongest warlock.However, fantasies were sweet but the reality was full of grief and bitterness.His parents at first, had high hopes for him as he showcased his bright head that wasn't expected of a kid.Soon enough though, they soon realized that he had no talent for magic.It wasn't just poor talent, it was zero talent for magic.Life turned in a one-eighty degree for him at the age of seven when his younger brother who was just five was admitted to the imperial warlocks' academy on scholarship due to his astounding talents for magic.Before, his brother used to stand against his parents to not maltreat him but with his departure, starvation and heavy beating were the least of the maltreatments that he was subjected to.'' A kid with no magic? What would be your use in the future? ''The shrill voice of his mother would enter his ears whenever she sighted him.As for his father, he didn't give a damn about one random child that had no talent for magic.Even if it was the two kids who had no talent, so what?He was a well-to-do noble in his forties, and he could get any lady to bear his seedlings if he wanted.That pressure too was constantly mounting on his wife, which spiked up her hate for Jerouch.Things went worst for Jerouch though when his brother came back home during his second year in the academy.During his first year's holiday, Jerouch had noticed that his younger brother acted distant to him, but he still wasn't mistreated.However, it didn't remain like that when he came back home for his second year's holiday.Torture!!!That was what his life revolved around.His younger brother used him as a sparring partner to practice magic. And whenever he was injured, an evil grin and dead expression would appear on his face.Jerouch might have the mind of an adult, but he was still in the body of a kid, and those pains were nightmarish for him.The last day for him in that house was the day half of his face got burnt. His brother had called him as usual that he wanted to spar with him.He was enduring the beatings like he had been doing until he cast a high-class fire spell that charred his face.He straight away passed out due to the heat stroke and from there, he was sold to the slave merchants at the age of nine.As for his life in the slave house, it didn't get better, it could only worsen.They only ate dried bread or nut once a day, and the only water supply was filled with mud and excrement.Here, the male slaves had to do hard labours such as mining, breaking rocks, and dragging wild animals.The female slaves were usually taken as toys for the guards, and the beautiful ones were sometimes sold to brothels.' Just what fate is this? ' Jerouch couldn't help but wonder as another strike woke him from his reminiscence.' I was betrayed by my brother in my past life, but here is even worse. ' his teeth cracked against each other.' I want to rip these fuckers apart. ' His face turned grim as he felt an intense urge to reduce these people to dust.[The first requirement made, initialization in progress…]'' Take him to the edge of the Nega forest. '' The bulky head guard with tanned skin commanded and left the open space where Jerouch was being tortured. Jerouch had been starved for five days straight while being occasionally beaten. He had lost the strength to think, let alone see any strange thing up in his head. However, he could still hear little things from his environment amidst hallucinations. ' Nega forest, eh? ' he lamented inwardly. ' Embracing death for the second time I guess is not that bad with this daily torture uh? '' A soft self-mocking chuckle left his mouth but could barely be heard by even someone staying very close to him. ' However, if there's something they call third chance, I really want to step on these pieces of shit and let them know that they messed up with the very wrong person. '' he couldn't even vent out his anger due to the intense fatigue He could only watch as he was untied and pushed in a cart pulled by a horse alongside two guards who wer
Jerouch finally calmed himself after thinking about the whole situation. He was supposed to die, but somehow, he managed to come back to life with a screen clouding his vision. He was not new to the idea of dying and coming back to life. Furthermore, he was a specimen of that, anyway. However, he had woken up in the same body, although with little changes. And to cap it off, there was this screen that stuck to him like a louse. This was too familiar for him not to get an idea of what was happening. He used to be a game developer on earth, and he sometimes read novel to get inspiration for his gaming projects. ' So, a system of some sort? ' he frowned as he felt into deep thought. ' But why now? And most importantly, why me? ' His eyes sharpened as he read the previous notifications again. ' I guess my strong will to rip those rats apart triggered the system, and as for the two near death situations…' he smirked and his eyes twitched in excitement. ' Open notification' Jerou
' Where's this? ' Jerouch muttered in a sceptical tone. He was still checking what the system was all about when the notifications rang non-stop. A few seconds after that, he felt as if space was twisting and by the time he regained his senses, he found himself here. The room looked like a traditional Japanese training dojo. It was fifty meters wide and long, with earthen walls that smelled of antiques. At the centre of the dojo, there was a brown cylindrical punching bag that hung down from the dark earthen roof carved with different runic symbols, which allowed no sunlight. Instead, there were oil lamps fixed at strategic places to illuminate the room. In one corner of the room, there was a section that appeared to be where weapons were kept, but currently, there was no weapon there. The floor was made of matte buttermilk stones that were a bit smooth, but not too smooth to make one slip. Jerouch walked closer to the centre, stepping on the brown mat that covered five meter
[New active skill unlocked.]Dash- +10 increase to host agility stat. Mana cost- 5 MPDuration- thirty seconds. ' Well, that was unexpected. ' Thought Jerouch as he picked himself up. He began to look around wondering where he was. Because of the chase, he had gone a bit deep in the forest. ' Ahh, I forgot. ' he dusted his hands as his focus went back on the system interface. [Status Page][Stats] [Skills] [Quests] [Shop]Choosing the stat panel, the figures were like this. Host- JerouchHealth: 60 Mana: 25Race- ???Level-2(5/200)Class-???Rank- FStrength - 2Agility- 2Mind- 15Perception-1( Stat point- 2 )Seeing the stat point, Jerouch didn't think much before he decided on what stat he needed to increase. His mind was already leading with great numbers and his strength and agility had already increased, hence he chose to spend one stat point on perception and one on agility. ' Better awareness and the ability to escape quickly. ' he smirked. Now his perception was 2
[New quest received.]Build the strongest force. [Reward] @$#@#$' Is this system a stalker? ' Jerouch rolled his eyes while reading the notification. ' And just tell me what the rewards are,' he muttered, a bit annoyed. He had already left that place that was brimming with battle, and he was currently some couple of meters away from a dungeon entrance. Dungeons were said to be pocket worlds that served as bridges between this plane and the nether plane. It was believed that there used to be no dungeon before, and their origins were still unknown to many. What happened eons ago had been lost to history and no one fully understood the event that transpired. Dungeons had monsters of different levels depending on the rank of dungeons, and they were to some extent different from the monsters of this world. Each dungeon had different floors and the more the floors, the more powerful the dungeon is. Jerouch could see a red monolith and on top of it was one star shimmering with blu
In a distant location that was unknown to many, two people were discussing in a serious tone. They both were clad in white robes with hoods that obscured their facial features, and the aura they exuded was overbearing. '' Are you sure of what you just said? '' One of the figures resting on the wall of the dark cave they were currently in questioned. '' Being sure of myself is an understatement. '' the other figure who was opposite to the figure that questioned him replied. '' Although it was brief, I definitely felt that Mana. '' he added, his voice a bit shaky. '' Is it happening again then… '' The first figure murmured, but the other one could still hear him. '' Just the thought alone is giving me nightmares, I think it's time we let others know of my findings. '' '' No, not now, we can't throw the balance into shambles because of what we are not even sure of yet. '''' But… '''' No but. '' The first figure reprimanded. '' For now, you should widen the search. '''' And rem
A thick, dark book with no extraordinary features appeared in thin air. A white page opened, and Jerouch picked up the jet-black pen he found on the Grimoire. Enoch. Ding![Target analysis in progress…]It wasn't even up to a few seconds when he saw the results. Target- EnochRank- FClass- Tank[Passive skills]Hammer- Lvl 5Hand to hand combat- Lvl 6[Abilities]TremorEarth spikeEarth wall. [Copy ability] Yes/No' Who in their right mind says no? ' Jerouch laughed as he said yes in his mind. The next thing, he felt as though he was connected to something. Opening the status page, he went straight to the grimoire tab, and there he saw it. [Grimoire. ][Copied abilities.] Tremor. Earth spike. Earth wall.Focusing on each skill, he soon got their description. Tremor- an earth related ability that made the ground two meters around the host vibrate, making his foes lose their balance while being unaffected. Rank- FEarth spike- the power to summon a couple of spikes made
Jerouch stepped inside the new floor and just from the interiors, he could tell that this place was far different from the previous floors. The wall here was smoother, and the flame torches were bigger too. The ground was covered in cobwebs and so was the roof. There were also rusty weapons scattered all around the place, and Jerouch could smell something familiar in the air. He focused his eyes on the distance, and he couldn't help but frown. He saw fresh corpses at the centre of the room and, counting them, they were four that lay on the floor. Krack!Jerouch subconsciously turned his head backwards, and he found the door to have locked by itself. He could feel that something ominous was brewing, which made him clench his fists and blood rushed to his face. '' Ggrrhh! ''At the end of the room, what seemed like an elevated platform suddenly shook. '' Fuck. '' Jerouch swallowed hard as he saw the three-meter-tall spider. Just looking from the distance, one could tell that i