Chapter 1

I woke up one day with all of my memories from my past life.

I was once the shadow of a great King who conquered various lands and was a hero in the people's eyes. Though it was not easy to get him to become King since he was only half royalty, through a lot of effort we managed to do it. Unfortunately, as I was about to retire, I ended up getting ambushed by some enemies and died.

However, it seemed that the Gods had other plans for me and I was reborn in another world where I became the illegitimate princess of an Empire. But somehow, I ended up losing the favour of my father upon birth, because my mother died right after bringing me into this world. And so, I lived a miserable life, getting mistreated every single day.

Nevertheless, at that time, I did not know my past life and so, I had to be the victim but now that I remembered everything it was time for me to turn things around.

It had been eleven years ever since I was reborn and now was the time for me to truly start my new life.

Well, though that was easier said than done. Long ago, I had a lot of strength and Ki energy but right now, all I had was the Ki that followed my soul. Sure it was extremely powerful, but without an adequate body, it was useless. I also had all the fighting techniques in my mind but I had to train my body first and gain some muscles.

However, this was not the perfect environment. I first needed food and a quiet place. Since I was malnourished, I lacked the correct nutrients to grow. This was quite the problem.

I sighed heavily as I looked at myself in the mirror. I did look very improper... no one would believe that I was a princess of this Empire. I looked frail and pitiful. The past me would have loathed this appearance. Being weak was the thing I despised the most.

I had to get moving if I wanted to survive this. For now, I planned to regain back my strength. As for the rest, well... I would think about it later. Without strength, I was at a complete disadvantage in this world so I had to get it back.

I looked around the room trying to find anything of value and somehow put my hand on some small golden statues. Fortunately, the maids had not found them yet. Or perhaps they were waiting for a good opportunity to sell them. Too bad though, I was going to use them first. I put them in a bag and then looked for some decent clothes.

I put on an old coat, tied my messy black hair and hid them under my hood. Black hair was a symbol of royalty here. Only the members of the Imperial Family had them so I had to hide them if I did not want to get caught.

I then headed outside. My small body moved slowly, it was a pain to be a kid. However, it reminded me of my past life. I was around this age when I met Kyle and he took me under his wing and trained me to become a warrior.

The castle where I lived, was surrounded by a forest. It felt nice to run through it. I felt free like the wind. Even though it was only temporary.

Soon, I got out of the forest and a huge wall appeared in the distance. On top were a bunch of Knights in shining silver armour and gold uniforms.

As I looked around, I saw a small pathway where servants were working to and fro. I followed them in silence and merged with the groups. Then I saw a carriage going through a small gate. I somehow managed to climb into it and hid inside.

There were a lot of empty boxes. I guessed they were merchants that came to deliver goods for the Imperial Palace. They passed through the gates without any problems. I took this chance to do some meditation. I could feel my Ki Core inside of me and the amount of Ki it held was the same as in my past life. I had worked hard to get it to this tremendous amount so I was grateful that it had stayed with my soul.

I closed my eyes and then took deep slow breaths, connecting with my spiritual energy. I then unlocked my pressure points and Ki's vessels, then slowly but surely, I removed the seal on my core and started mending it in my body. It took a lot of time but once I was done, the carriage stopped moving.

I now had back my Ki energy and I could at least use it to protect myself. Once I had a better body, I could use it to punish those who mistreated me.

I immediately got out of the carriage before anyone caught me, freeriding. As I looked around, I got a little dizzy at the number of people surrounding me. A new world had opened to me.

The town was huge with thousands of people bustling around. There were merchants on each street, all loudly shouting to attract more customers. They sold a diversity of things that I had never seen before even the vegetables here were bigger than in my past life. Everything piqued my curiosity but I had to focus.

And so, I walked around the masses and tried to find a pawn shop. Surprisingly, there were many of them, next to weapons stores and what looked like magic stores.

Magic was something that was present in this world and they used mana energy to do magic. Thus they did not know about Ki energy. Making me the only one capable of using this energy. Well, it was better this way since I would be one step ahead of the others. However, I did not know how powerful magic was.

From what I noticed, it could be used for necessities such as cooking or making items. But medicines were also made from it. So it had multiple purposes. Perhaps I would study it once I was done with my dilemma.

As I stepped inside the pawn shop, I noticed that people were observing me. There were three of them and they smelt like thieves.

"Good morning, how may I help you, little one?" asked the man in charge of the shop.

"I would like to exchange these for money," I said as I took out the golden statues.

He stared at them in shock, "where did you get these young miss?" he asked as he examined them carefully.

"My grandfather was once a rich merchant. But he was swept into debt and died. These are what remains of his assets. I need the money to at least give him a proper funeral," I said in an innocent voice.

"Oh my, I see. Well since it's made of pure gold, you'll get enough to live a good life and hold a proper funeral," he replied with a smile.

He then went into the back of the store then brought five pouches of coins.

"For these three golden statues, I'll give you two pouches of gold coins, two pouches of silver coins and one pouch of bronze coins," he said.

I looked around and saw a set of nice-looking daggers.

"Can I have these too?" I asked with a puppy face.

He hesitated a bit but then gave in. No one could resist a child's charm.

"Thank you, sir," I said happily then went outside.

That was quite a lot of money for just three golden statues but I guessed they were worth it. Now I could eat to my heart's content.

All of a sudden, I knocked against a tall man. He was one of the three who were keeping an eye on me.

They all smirked at me. I sighed heavily and then walked into a dark alley, pretending to follow them. Once I was out of everybody's sight. I cracked my fingers.

"Hand us the money right now, kid," said one of them.

I put my hands together and then did a hand formation.

"Shadow Technique; Form 4: Devourer of the abyss!"

My shadow merged with the darkness and then a giant mouth appeared on the ground devouring the thieves. Their screams disappeared together with their bodies as the shadows completely absorbed them.

It seemed that I had not lost touch even after all these years. Though using it without an appropriate body made me feel weak. I sighed heavily, I had to eat something.

I quickly went to a nearby tavern and ordered all the food on the menu. I stuffed myself with the delicious dishes of this Empire. I had to say that it was extremely tasty, maybe even better than the food I had in my past life.

"Slow down kid, your food is not going to disappear," said the waitress as she served me some juice.

"Ah thank you," I replied as I chugged down the juice.

It was all so good. My body finally got decent food after eleven years. I was almost moved to tears until I heard the people at the other tables talking.

"I heard that the Emperor has gone into a killing frenzy again. He skewered his officials from the financial management when he heard they had embezzled some money," said one of them.

"He must be running wild again since the crown Prince went to a neighbouring country for some event. He was the one who could keep our Emperor at bay. In his absence there might even be a blood bath," added another one.

"But well e is not wrong. Traitors should be killed. It's because he takes radical decisions that we all like him," replied someone else.

"The Emperor is returning to his tyrant days," said the waitress.

"A tyrant?" I asked.

"You don't know? The Emperor is known throughout the Kingdom as a Bloodthirsty tyrant. He likes to kill anyone who annoyed him. There are even rumours that he started wars against other Kingdoms because their rulers made him mad," she said.

"I see. How interesting," I replied as I continued to eat.

"By the way kid, are you a runaway?" she asked.

"Huh? Why do you ask?" I replied.

"Well because you look like one. If you don't have a place to go, there's a guild that recruits kids like you and gives them opportunities to earn a proper living. They own this tavern and the boss is here today, if you want I can introduce you to them. It's better than sleeping on the streets," she said.

I paused. There was such an organisation, huh? How fascinating! However, I did not have time for this... I had to train my body and figure out how I wanted to live in this new world. But I did need information too...

"Is this guild an information guild?" I asked.

"Yes it is," she replied.

Perhaps I was in luck.

"I only need to stay for one night though.... is that still alright?" I asked.

"Sure. But if you like it you can stay here. We won't force you," she said.

I nodded then followed her once I was done eating. She took me downstairs where there were a bunch of guards with swords. They did not look that intimidating and were less strong than the Knights at the Palace but they were strong fighters.

Those born on the streets had unorthodox fighting skills that were meant for survival therefore they should not be looked down upon.

"By the way, my name's Crystal, what's yours?" asked the woman.

My father did give me a name... I believe it was something like Kor... Oh yeah, Koralina Von Ascardia.

"Kora," I replied.

"What a unique name," she said.

"Thanks... I guess...," I replied.

We soon stopped in front of a wooden door. She knocked at it twice then went inside. There were a few men who were discussing around a table.

She signalled a man with long blue hair attached in a ponytail to come our way.

"What's the matter?" he asked then looked at me.

He scrutinised me, trying to decipher my origin and perhaps even my purpose in life. He had quite beautiful grey-purple eyes too.

"Who is she?" he asked.

"Kora, a runaway," said Crystal.

"Oh nice to meet you, Kora, I'm Kain, the boss of the information guild. So where are you from exactly?" he asked.

"From a forest," I said.

"A forest? Which one?" he asked.

"I don't its name, I have been imprisoned in the house my whole life," I said.

"Is that so...? Alright, welcome to the Dark Society. We are an information guild that can get any information as long as people pay the price," he replied.

"I see," I said then looked around.

The people in this room were all very strong. It was nothing compared to those in the hallway. They were too strong to be just simple information traders.

"We'll make group A disguise themselves then they'll attack from inside. We'll wait on the outside and take care of any guards that come in the way. Since it's an important event, there will be a lot of maids and servants. Group A will take their places," said a man with short wavy red hair.

Huh? Make a whole group infiltrate an important event? What were they thinking? That was not a good idea at all.

"Alright then, I'll talk to Derek about it. Since we can't bring in weapons, it's best to have the physically strong fighters in," added the platinum ash blond hair.

"That's bullshit," I uttered out of shock at their complete lack of common sense.

They then all turned towards me.

Well.... damn me and my inability to stay quiet in front of stupidity.