Something behind it

Adrien, better known by his alias Rei, opened his eyes and squinted them to lovk in and focus his sorroundings... at the peeling paint on the walls around him.

The room reeked, garbage, dirty clothes it was a show of neglect and simply carelessness and untidiness.

Then, memories that's what he concluded from the incoming media that flooded his mind. They were not his own, but of the kid whose body he now took over.

It was the life of the kid apparently named Raven.

He was the abandoned, neglected, isolated son of a large family.

He heard mummers that had pointed to Raven as a cursed reminder, he was shunned due to the sins of his father.

There were talks from the maids when they saw him, they spoke and hinted at a dark organization and a mother, the prodigy destined to ascend to the coveted rank of 12-Star.

But after and during Raven's birth, his father had attempted it, the assassination of his own wife.

Fortunately or unfortunately the assassination failed, but the damage was already done.

The people painted out Raven's father as a long-term mole. Who probably studied the family's defenses, secrets for over a decade.

" Well he played well, he was patient..." Adrien, now Raven thought with admiration and pity toward Raven.

So on the day Raven was born, the organization, led by his traitorous father, struck.

With the family very much weakened. But they still held firm. Even his mother fought and emerged from the fight a 'changed woman'. As the people around the palace called it.

She regressed from a 10-Star Mage to a 9-Star and that was when she retreated into a seclusion and relentless training.

Abandoning her son to the maids probably.

Maybe she was consumed by grief and an insatiable thirst for revenge.

Of course Raven didn't understand why he was left behind but like how he saw the other kids with their parents he also wanted to be close to his mom. But the woman was cold to him in the countable times he was with her.

So abandoned little Raven became the target of the family's misplaced rage and grief.

He had to endure years of neglect, insults, and even abuse from his redheaded sister who probably felt the reason for her mother's new cold behavior came because of Raven and the rumours moving around didn't help much either.

The servants too, mirroring their superiors also treated him with disdain.

Even through all of this... his mother remained a distant figure.

" They blamed a kid for all their problems... Got it."

But... Why hadn't they simply killed him? If they hated him that much why not get rid of him? Was there maybe something more?

He was a failure... Apparently he had D-rank potential... That was in no way good.

The rest of the memories are hazy... Even the memories he had he couldn't see the images properly... They were censored and pixelated he couldn't even identify his mother even if he stood right before him.

With a slight understanding of the situation.

Raven attempted to rise, to push himself off from the thin mattress, but his muscles refused to cooperate.

They were weak and sluggish and it would take time for his new body to adjust. But there was one thing he felt... Hunger.

His body couldn't even rise... So he just sat there.

To think Raven had been living like this for two years. Two hard years, getting change by working as a familiar cleaner here in Silvencrest.

He had been the one who made sure that the adventurers' precious companions remained clean and pampered.

He also thought of the tasks and jobs he had to take just to keep himself alive... like grooming, cleaning, even shitty jobs of cleaning toilets and sewers.

All of this barely kept a roof over his head. It wasn't even a decent roof... it was a leaky roof, in a barely standing apartment.

1900 Bronze coins that was the avarage he earned... an income that barely covered the monthly rent of 1500B for room.

The remaining 400B went towards sustenance. Which he rationed and bought the cheapest scraps he could salvage from restaurants that were about to discard their leftovers.

Raven smiled bitterly at the nostalgia. He even thought of the image of someone's left over that was probably spit on or had cigarette buds.

Just like in his previous world, he craved strength.

Unfortunately for him... mana control and combat techniques weresecrets held close by the privileged few. Probably the very knowledge his own family, may have taught him poorly or just gave him something that would harm him.

Still some memories were not adding up how did he end up in this city.

Begging on the streets had been Raven's first desperate attempt, but in this world that functioned on power, begging was for the weak and the weak didn't survive here.

As he lay there, a new worry dawned on him, who would be his teacher?

Who would take a chance on him, a nameless nobody from the slums?

The great schools were out of reach, except for the privileged few who could afford the exorbitant fees could gain entry.

It seemed like everything was against him and there was no path forward... Even if he wanted to sell his Soul he didn't know how.

He didn't know anything.

Silvencrest.

Silvencrest.

Silvencrest?

'Wait' the name of the city sounded familiar.

'Could it be?'

"...a world you may be familiar with..." He unconsciously muttered those words and why he did it he didn't know.

" Wait? How did I even get here the last thing I remember is..." He thought.

" Jason that bitch. He killed me and somehow I got here?" He thought.

" And why am I only thinking about this now? It should have been my first thought as I got to this body noo... This world." He thought with a frown.

After thinking about it for a long time he finally decided to give up focussing on his current situation. He didn't remember anything.