Chapter 4: Hard truth

<Welcome to the Main Hub World!>

With expressionless eyes, Frederick stood unmoving for about three hours. Then, he blurted out, "I was naïve and stupid. Thinking that I could achieve everything without having to give up anything in exchange. I thought I could live freely and happily by using others as mere stepping stones. But it's not that simple. I have to change more than that… I had to suffer so much just because of a little thing known as 'curiosity'—an invisible deadly poison.

If I hadn't investigated those noises, I wouldn't have suffered as much. If I hadn't loved Chloe, I wouldn't feel betrayed. If I hadn't trusted Jacob and become his friend, I wouldn't have lost my job. If my anger hadn't clouded my mind when I discovered their affair, I wouldn't have abandoned my car and left behind evidence of my crime, making me a fugitive. If I had stood up instead of being a coward to those bullies and fought back, even to the death if necessary, my childhood could have been much better.

The root of all my troubles are just 'emotions.' It prevents me from being truly happy. I had to suffer all my life because of this."

Frederick thought for a moment and opened his status.

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<Welcome back, candidate>

Name: Frederick Field

Race: Human

Age: 26 years old

Level: 1

<Authority>: Forgotten times (Unique)

<Curse>: One Against the Worlds (Unique)

-One Against the Worlds (Unique):

Effect: The worlds will try to kiII you by every means possible and the experience points you earn will be divided by ten times.

Remark: How did you even survived until now?

-Constitution: 10

-Mind: 10

-Perception: 10

-Dexterity: 10

Experience points: 0/1000

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"As much as I would like to, I can't just rid myself of all emotions. But… what if my ambition was stronger than the rest of them?"

Frederick stared at his status panel, particularly his level.

"Power... Yes, that's what I need. True happiness lies in power. Power won't forsake me like my parents did. It offers everything, unlike the orphanage in my younger days. With power, I wouldn't have been the pitiful coward of my youth. Power doesn't betray nor stab in your back. With power, I wouldn't have died earlier… And godhood… isn't that the peak of power and happiness?"

Frederick started laughing, disregarding any hidden enemies that could be lurking. He stopped laughing when he had enough.

In that moment, a new realization hit him. "So, this is the first way for the Chronicles to get rid of weaker candidates?"

Observing his surroundings and not finding any living beings except those monsters and humans

"It's impossible for me to fight those monsters now as they can rip someone apart as easily as paper, talking from experience" Frederick reasoned. "The Chronicles probably know this and offer an alternative way to level up—hunting humans."

"Four months is probably the time given by the Chronicles to become strong enough to survive the Main Story," he mused. "However, I thought the Chronicles wasn't as harsh, as the puppet never mentioned the death of candidates who fail a Main Story and only their right to reach level 99. Now that I know more about how the Chronicle operates... It's highly possible that failing means death. No wonder we are the 8th batch of candidates."

Frederick considered the second method to get stronger through side story but couldn't find a way to access them yet. He even tried to yell things like "Open side story menu or side story status" in vain

'Such as pain... But now isn't the time to dwell on that. I need to find water as soon as possible. Perhaps some fruits will do, but last time I walked around, I never found any fruits. Wait, does the Chronicles want us to eat monster or human meat?'

With an unchanged expression, Frederick began walking in the opposite direction of his previous path. To his surprise, he rapidly encountered a group of candidates consisting of a female and three males, all wearing grass clothes.

He hid in the tall grass for a moment, then decided to show himself and stood as tall as he could to appear imposing and deter potential threats... such as cannibalistic humans.

"Hello, everyone!" Frederick greeted with a bright smile. All survivors turned their gazes to the newcomer, sighing with relief upon seeing Frederick.

"Another one?" a man with distinct Asian features muttered. His prominent nose added character to his face, exuding strength. Despite his unique features, he had an overall average appearance.

"Hahaha, it's fine. There's enough bread and water for all of us. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Alexi. Alexei Stukov. I'm from Russia. Nice to meet you," said another man, radiating confidence with his striking face. He looked considerably handsome.

The other survivor remained quiet, his eyes fixed on Frederick. However, the only woman among them was looking elsewhere since Frederick was still clothless.

Frederick noticed it but didn't care. He was focused on the word "bread."

'Bread? They must either have an "authority" that creates bread from nowhere or found it somewhere,' he thought. He could pretty much guessed that "authorities" must be some kind of power, although he wasn't sure yet. As for "curses," they might be a way to balance the strength of authorities.

'So the power to go back in time...' Frederick was ecstatic about it, though he didn't show it on his face.

'Wait... How did the last batch of candidates still fail if they had a similar power as mine? Is going back in time limited or...' Frederick contemplated the issue, but it was futile to ponder at this moment.

"I'm Frederick Field. Nice to meet you too," he responded with a warm smile. 'For now, I should stick with them. I'm too weak to defend myself for now and I can try to see if there's any opening to kiII any of them.'

"So what are those crates you mentioned?" Frederick inquired, looking at Alexei.

"We were about to share the information we gathered. Care to join?" Alexei invited, his smile even brighter. After brief consideration, Frederick accepted and moved to sit with the rest of them, but Alexei pointed at Frederick's lower body and then to the woman who was still averting her gaze. Frederick understood what Alexei meant and hastily plucked some grass before attempting to conceal his private parts. However, compared to their makeshift "clothes", his attempt seemed rather primitive.

Observing this, Hiro Suzuki, the Asian man rolled his eyes and said in an irritable tone, "Let me handle it." Hiro approached Frederick, picked up a chunk of grass nearby, and tossed it at him. He then placed his palm on Frederick's head, saying softly, "Authority of Threadweaver's Touch" The grass blades started to glow with a white light and rearranged themselves into a piece of clothing that covered Frederick's body perfectly.

Frederick was taken aback by the wonders of this authority. It was his first time experiencing an authority directly, apart from his own. However, he noticed that Hiro seemed to be in a bit of pain, though he was trying to hide it.

'So, Authorities are truly supernatural powers that can be used. Each authority seems to have its unique power... But why the rarity? Is it about the strength or the limited number available?' Frederick pondered while observing his own unique rarity in his status.

"So let's talk while we eat," Alexei suggested, taking some bread and a few glass bottles filled with water from a large crate concealed near a tree. He distributed food and water to everyone, excluding Frederick, who politely declined despite his hunger.

During the discussion, Frederick gathered several interesting pieces of information, particularly about the stats.

Constitution is the stat of the body so upgrading it will boost strength, vitality, agility etc… This much could be guessed pretty easily by everyone as it is clear.

Mind stat is a bit more complicated. It enhances your "mind" and increases what the puppet called "calculative power". The calculative power is apparently used to activate authorities. Frederick asked if it doesn't use mana or something similar but apparently there are no magic spells nor mana whatsoever. Frederick also found out something very important about mind stat, this stat can protect its user against the perception stat.

Talking about the perception stat. This stat serve mainly to increase the user's awareness to their environment and can even give a sixth sense in case of danger or crisis. But the more interesting part is that this stat can forcefully access another candidate status if the user's perception is twice higher than the target's mind stat. Meaning that someone with 10 perception stat can see the status of anyone with 5 or lower mind stat.

When Frederick asked about the dexterity stat. The only woman of the group that didn't say anything until now simply said "It is apparently for Authority smiths and the usage or authority or something like this but when I asked what it was, it said that I have to discover that by myself.". Her name was Amely Adam.

The woman had vibrant red hair and freckles on her fair skin. Her green eyes were lively, and a scar marked her left eyebrow. She looked confident and looked athletic

As for Ethan, the overweight man who could locate hidden food crates thanks to his authority, Frederick thought multiple time to make him his first target but didn't as he was too useful in this situation. Frederick's mind raced with calculations, as he considered who to ally with, who to prioritize and who to eliminate.

Then, a rustling from the nearby grass made everyone tense. Frederick was on the verge of fleeing, even contemplating using his companions as bait if a monster appeared. After all, only he knew the terror of being caught by those creatures.

Everyone remained vigilant. Alexei's fists even ignited with fiery red flames. Frederick noted this and made a reminder to himself to not provoke him yet. For now, his ability to go back in time seemed to offer no offensive or defensive capabilities.

With another rustle, an elderly woman appeared from the tall. She had a gentle expression, white hair due to age, and wrinkled skin. Anyone could deduce that she must have been a beauty in her youth.

The group sighed in relief, except Frederick, who'd learned the hard way that this world was different from his own. On Earth, one couldn't do much against numbers, but here, a highly leveled individual could easily wipe out a group.

With a surprised look and a with a smirk, the old lady spoke up, "Well, well, well, hello there. Whew, I'm relieved to finally find someone around again."

Alexei stopped his authority and massaged his head because of the pain. It seemed that even a short usage of his power took a lot of his calculative capability. However despite his pain, he armed his face with a smile and without looking directly at the lady, he said:

"I'm Alexei Stukov ! Nice to meet you ! Do you need our help? Also what did you mean by agai-"

"Authority of Blood Dominion"

Before he could finish the old lady sent a tiny red needle that instantly transperced his left eye and his brain, killing him instantly.

Everyone was speechless. He is dead just like that? While the group were too frozen to move. Frederick didn't hesitated to run away in the opposite direction with haste.

As the now lifeless body Alexei body fell, a tiny bright blue marble dropped from his forehead.

Unfazed by Frederick's escape, the old woman's smile remained gentle as she invoked her power again, "Authority of Blood Dominion" With dull thuds, three more bodies collapsed lifeless on the ground and soon three green marble come out of their body. With a nod of satisfaction, she observed a screen materialize in front of her:

<Congratulation for reaching level 3. Please assign your free point into a stat>

-Constitution ( 7 -> 8 )

-Mind ( 13 -> 14)

-Perception ( 6 -> 7)

-Dexterity ( 8 -> 9)

Without hesitation, she chose the mind stat and immediately felt some relief as her headache due to the overuse of her authority lessened.

"Hmm, it's a shame one escaped, but it's fine. I just need to find more prey. But for now, I need to recover," she muttered. The old woman laboriously dragged the corpses together and then began to feed, drinking their blood from their necks.

While she was engrossed in her gruesome meal, a rock struck her head from behind, knocking her unconscious. Her limp body crumpled to the ground. However, the assailant didn't stop there. They continued to pummel her with the rock until, at last, a purple marble fell onto the ground

Struggling to catch his breath, Frederick that was hidden nearby, had never felt so satisfied to see his of experience points going up.

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<Welcome back, candidate>

Name: Frederick Field

Race: Human

Age: 26 years old

Level: 1

<Authority>: Forgotten Times (Unique)

<Curse>: One Against the Worlds (Unique)

-One Against the Worlds (Unique):

Effect: The worlds will try to kiII you by every means possible and the experience points you earn will be divided by ten times.

Remark: How did you even survived until now?

-Constitution: 10

-Mind: 10

-Perception: 10

-Dexterity: 10

Experience points: 427/1000

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