***In another world, faraway***
Pain.
An unbearable, raw pain. Like being stabbed in the gut with a rusty blade.
Which, well… I was.
But honestly? That wasn't the worst part. The pain was real, sure, but what really hurt was knowing I got myself killed over something so stupid.
"Shouldn't have taken this damn job," I muttered under my breath as the world around me started to blur. The blood pooling under me was warm. Not comforting, but warm.
I was born in the alleys. Not the kind you pass through on a bad day—the ones you pretend don't exist. The slums. Forgotten. Starved. Cruel. I didn't have a name back then, just hunger and cold nights. But I wasn't like the others. I had plans.
And I was… well, kind of a thief. You learn fast when your stomach is louder than your conscience.
But everything changed the day my dormant soul trait awakened. I still remember the rush. Like standing on top of the world for a second. I thought, Maybe this is it. My ticket out.
I was wrong.
My soul trait?Ki Manipulation.
Sounds cool, right? Mysterious. Powerful. Like I'd be slicing mountains or lighting up the sky. But reality?
Trash.
Because in that world, there was no such thing as Ki. No energy, no pathway, no fancy schools teaching it. Just a broken ability in a broken place. Something about "wrong era," or "dormant energy," blah blah—who cared? It was useless.
So I fell. Hard. Back into the gutters. But something in me cracked after that taste of something more. I couldn't go back to scraps. I wanted that feeling again—that high of being more.
And so began the sad little story of a "Pathetic C-rank Villain."
I did what I had to do. Shady deals, underground trades, selling weapons and relics I barely understood. I wasn't the kingpin or anything, but it kept me fed. Kept me breathing. Until he walked in.
A man carrying a strange orb. Said he didn't know what it was. Hell, I didn't either—but I could feel something in it. Something alive. So, naturally, I bought it from him. For a fair price.
Okay, fine. I scammed him. Like I said—thief.
But I didn't know what that orb really was.
Didn't know it would be the reason I ended up bleeding out in a back alley with regret tasting like iron in my throat.
Guess fate had a different plan.