Invitation

"What the hell were you thinking?!" He suddenly screamed at me.

What the fuck? Why is he being so violent even though he saved me just moments ago? This guy has got some serious mental stability issues.

Just then, my vision flickered for some moments, and a 'screen' appeared in the air before me.

NAME: Azell Dwyer

TITLE: Regressor

My oh my, who would have expected this. Seems like 'Samur' has some sort of appraisal skill, and the boy in front of me is a Regressor who has travelled back in time to, I dunno, save the day, I guess?

Interesting, but also kind of weird.

The boy, Azell, continued glaring at me, which was making me uncomfortable.

"What do you mean?" I decided to ask what exactly he was talking about.

"Why didn't you try to save yourself?"

Oh, that.

"I had no way of fighting them."

What could a weak child like me could do against a horde of monsters?

"You should have tried, at least!" He barked.

His eyes shook and he gasped for air, all the while gnashing his teeth.

Okay, let's see. He's a Regressor, which would mean he failed in his previous life (why else would he travel back in time?).

It wouldn't be unnatural for him to have PTSD due to his failures. It is entirely possible that one of his comrades died in a similar way as me; by calmly accepting his death instead of fighting back.

If true, Azell is being driven by his emotions right now, so arguing with him would be a complete waste of time.

"You're right, I'm sorry." I apologised as meekly as possible.

How's that? In one of my past lives, I was hailed as the greatest actor of the era. If I remember correctly, they called me the 'God of Acting' or something?

I was not Him, of course, but the skills I learned in that life are still engraved in my mind, so fooling a young lad like Azell would be more than easy.

"Oh." As I expected, Azell was taken aback by the sudden, heartfelt apology and put me back on the ground. "No… it's alright. I'm, uh, sorry for lashing out at you." A slight blush appeared on his face.

"Don't worry about it. You were right anyway."

"Then why did you do it?" His eyes still held a fire.

Hmm, how should I answer this? Telling him that saving myself simply wasn't worth the effort would bring us back to square one.

Hmm, or maybe it won't.

"I…" I looked into the distance at the setting sun and continued in a sombre tone. "There was no more point in living."

Let's see how he'll take this.

Sure enough, when I turned back to him, both his jaw and fists were clenched while his eyes were slightly moist.

He kneeled down in front of me and gently rubbed my hair.

"Never, ever think that. Life is always worth living. You just need to endure these hard-times and one day, you will find happiness."

That's not how it always works, boy, but I guess explaining it to him would be meaningless. True understanding was impossible between us as I was someone who had lived for a very, very long time.

"I'll keep that in mind." I replied with a derisive smile.

So let's just go along with his words.

"Good." He smiled and extended his hand. "I'm Azell."

"And I'm Samur. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"So, Samur, why don't we move somewhere else?"

"Sure."

The corpses strewn about along with the scent of blood, were like an open invitation to the bloodthirsty monsters of this forest.

"Get on, then." He turned around and beckoned at his back.

"…"

"Get on."

"Uh, I can walk by myself, you know."

"Come on, we don't have all day."

Goddamnit.

"Fine."

See? It would have been better to just die.

I climbed onto his back and he started running. He handled my weight like a champ and moved through the forest effortlessly. Though it's another story that my malnourished body didn't weigh much.

"Before, you were left at that place by a group of men. Who were they?"

Oh? So, he saw the whole thing.

"My father's men. He had ordered them to kill me."

"What?" He flinched.

Alright, time to emulate a gaslighting victim.

"Because I'm cursed, you know. They told me that my soul is dirty and that one day, I'll bring ruin upon this world, so it's better for me to just die. You shouldn't touch me either, Azell, or you will be cursed."

I think this would be the appropriate response of a boy who has been treated as a monster from the moment of his birth.

"Those bastards!" Azell cursed under his breath. "Listen to me very carefully, Samur. You are not cursed, and you will never destroy this world. You're just a normal boy."

Of course, I am. Wait, no, I'm not just a normal boy; I'm the Normal Boy MK-II.

In the first place, it's literally impossible for my soul to be contaminated; it is eternal. But my persona of 'A Traumatised boi' requires me to disagree with Azell.

"You do not know anything, Azell." I shook my head. "I AM cursed. My sister almost died because of me. That is why my father threw me out. I deserve it." I firmed my grip on his shoulders.

"No, you're not. You're just a young, wonderful child." He shook his head. "You know, black hairs do not mean that you've been abandoned by the Gods. It's the opposite; you've been chosen by them."

"Really?" I made my voice sound hopeful, yet reluctant.

"Mm-hm. Just you wait, I'll prove it to you."

Oh? I thought he was saying it to convince me to not hate myself, but maybe there's some truth to it. Interesting.

I quietly nodded to his 'declaration'.

Anyway, what now? Hmm, let's check this body first.

…

...

...…

This body's utter shit, huh. No, like seriously, what the hell is this?

My Mana Circuits are almost non-existent while my aptitudes for strength, agility or flexibility are absolute trash. As if a lack of circuits wasn't enough, there's no Magic Calculation Area either, while this brain's capability of multitasking is also close to zero.

Goddamnit.

Whoever gave my body these stats should just stick a needle between his toe and toenail, then bash his foot into the wall. Fucking bastard.

This is borderline hilarious.

I have black hairs that are the symbol of being cursed so I'm ostracised by society.

I have also been thrown away from my family.

My body's stats are so shitty that in the 151897914 lives I have lived, this is quite possibly one of the top 10 worst bodies I've ever possessed.

No matter how I see this…

"Living is not worth it…"

"Huh?"

Oops. Did I seriously mutter that out loud? Gosh.

"Oh, nothing." I smiled.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Dude, please stop staring at me like a wife who has just seen her husband run into a wall with an erection only to break his nose first.

Ah, right.

"Azell, what do you think is the value of life?"

"…Where did that come from?" He furrowed his brows.

"I'm just curious."

One of the rules I made for myself is to repay every debt as long as it only slightly inconveniences me, and if possible, repay it along with an interest.

Since I cannot trust my own twisted views, I measure the weight of a favour by how valuable it is to the one who helped me.

In this case, for me the value of my own life is zero, which obviously cannot be used as a benchmark for evaluating Azell's payment.

That's why I asked what value life held, so that I can repay it while following the law of equivalent exchange.

"…" Azell looked back and stared at me for some moments, all the while maintaining his impeccable running form, then opened his mouth. "For me, life is invaluable. Yes, it is the most important thing in this world and must be treasured."

Good grief.

"I see."

There are people like him in every world; the type I'm the worst at dealing with.

Our views are literally on the opposite end of the spectrum; his is infinity while mine is zero.

But the debt must be repaid. Looks like I'll have to find some other way of doing it.

For starters, I need to do something about this body.

If my diagnosis is correct, this world has three different forms of energy; Mana, Dark Mana (which is the antithesis of mana) and divine energy (which is very efficient at dealing with Dark Mana).

This is a pretty generic world huh.

Now, how should I approach this? Should I recreate my Mana Circuits and Magic Calculation Area? Or should I surround my heart with Dark Mana rings? Or maybe I can form cores for each of these energies?

Maybe I can introduce something different, like spiritual energy or Ki, though I don't know if this world has the resources to further develop them.

Or I'll just do everything because why the fuck not.

"Hey Samur." Azell's call brought me back from my reveries. "You know, I'm the Guild Master of one of the most powerful guilds of this city."

At such a young age? Impressive.

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. If you're okay with it, would you like to join my guild?"

Huh?