Side Story: L996

"May I have your name?"

"Rin... Rienta."

In the village, Rienta stared blankly at the purple-haired girl carrying a basket in front of her.

She looks very young, but her hair already reaches her waist.

She spoke softly, had delicate features, and was quite adorable.

Rienta shook her head, trying to shake off the inappropriate thoughts from her mind.

But at that moment, a rich aroma wafted from the basket in the girl's hands, completely dispelling the chaotic thoughts in his mind.

The remaining two days were spent experiencing hunger due to lack of food.

Rienta has been in this world for two days.

Although he didn't know why he was here, at least he had escaped that hell.

A hell I've lived in for decades.

From childhood.

Many people told him that knowledge changes Fate.

He believed it.

Like many others.

At such a young age, he was certainly worthy of the title "someone else's child".

He considered himself a genius.

He would chase and play with his friends every day, and rarely finished his school assignments on time.

Although he was often beaten by his family, he still consistently ranked among the top students in every exam.

This made him even more reckless.

Until junior high school.

He went to the largest school in the county.

He discovered that his once-proud academic talent seemed to be losing its effectiveness.

He only half-understands the problems the teacher explains, and it takes him a lot of time to figure them out.

Yet his grades still ranked among the top in the class.

In addition, his family members had all gone to work in other places, and the people who had always been a source of support for him were no longer there.

All of this made his heart drift even further away.

After all, it's just knowledge that can be understood with a little more effort.

On weekdays, playing games and daydreaming take up a large part of his daily life.

The teachers would occasionally call him aside for a private talk, telling him not to waste his talent.

As a young boy, he didn't understand these things and continued to do things his own way.

During his second year of junior high school, he even dropped out of school for most of the semester.

Until the exam was approaching, until his family returned.

He panicked.

Fortunately, his homeroom teacher gave him the opportunity to take the exam.

After finishing his exams, he went to study in another city with his family.

He found that he was completely falling behind at this school.

At first, he didn't pay any attention.

He allowed his grades to plummet.

Until one day, perhaps, I gained intelligence.

He realized he couldn't go on like this, so he started to study hard.

In a dictation test, he achieved a 90% accuracy rate.

The teacher didn't believe it.

Call him into the office and have him rewrite it from memory by himself.

This time, his accuracy rate was only around 80%.

The teacher didn't say much, just told him to go back to class.

He understood the teacher's approach, but he still felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Later, his math teacher asked him why he used complicated steps to solve the problem, instead of using the formulas and theorems that had been taught before.

The history teacher made him the class representative because he could memorize texts very quickly.

The chemistry teacher said he was quick-witted, and even when students from other classes were doing experiments, the chemistry teacher would single out his name as an example.

It was simply because he had completely simplified a color-changing experiment from a pop quiz.

All of this made him feel that his talent had returned.

Time flowed on until summer vacation.

His family told him to find a summer job so he could earn his own tuition.

At first, he was full of confidence.

But the reality is, nobody wants to hire summer workers.

After drifting along like this for a while, he got into a fight with his family.

After being beaten and scolded, the young boy, his face swollen and red, was overcome with anger and asked, "Then should I die?"

'Your life was given to you by me; even if you want to commit suicide, you need my permission.'

This answer surprised him, but it also made him understand many things.

He changed after that.

He has an indifferent attitude towards everything, and even when he gets home, he locks himself in his room.

Although he hadn't communicated much with his family in the past, he hasn't spoken to them since then.

One day, while my younger brother was having a happy time with his family, my father suddenly called him to the living room.

They said, "You lock yourself in that room every day, never opening the window, and slowly your mind becomes dark."

He looked up.

In the living room, the father, mother, and younger brother sat upright. The mother and younger brother watched TV without saying a word, while the father stared at him with a serious expression.

They weren't like this when he was reading a novel in his room.

He could hear their laughter and chatter even while listening to music and reading a novel with headphones on.

He couldn't understand it.

Although this wasn't the first time this had happened, he still couldn't understand it.

You three were doing fine, why did you have to call me over? It made you unhappy, and I got scolded too.

Later, at the strong urging of his family, he went to a well-known local vocational school and chose to major in medical technology.

Later, at the school's job fair, he chose a factory that was far from his family.

Later, he began a life consisting of going between his dormitory, the workshop, and the canteen.

At first, he thought he had escaped that oppressive place.

There's no need to lock yourself in that dark corner anymore.

No longer do we have to feel ashamed to ask for a weekly allowance of one hundred yuan.

No longer do you need to earn money by working as a black slave to earn money so you can go shopping with your girlfriend.

He can start a new life.

But is this what he wanted?

This is the question that arose after he was confessed to by a female senior who also came to the factory.

He felt unworthy of her, so he laughed it off with jokes.

Just like my girlfriend who broke up with me when I chose to work for a big company after graduation, since I chose to work in a factory.

He felt he was not good enough for them.

For some reason, although he did not agree to that confession, the two became increasingly familiar with each other.

His mindset also underwent a subtle change.

Until that day, the girl changed into a light purple fitted long dress, and her slightly chubby face was covered with light makeup.

With her bag slung over her shoulder, she looked at him with a bright smile and asked, "What do you think of me wearing this to a blind date?"

Blind date?

What kind of blind date?

Aren't we talking about this right now?

Don't we always have endless topics to talk about?

He stared blankly at the girl in front of him.

Oh right.

That night, he didn't agree to her request.

We'd been together for so long, why didn't I say yes?

He didn't understand himself back then, nor did he understand the girl standing in front of him now.

"I'm afraid it'll be awkward, why don't you come with me?" The girl invited him when he didn't speak.

He agreed, almost as if possessed.

After the group met, the man who had come for the blind date brought a bouquet of flowers and was dressed very appropriately, like an adult.

He seems to be a good match for the girl next to him.

He was simply dressed in casual clothes, trailing blankly behind the two of them.

Along the way, the girl kept turning back to talk to him.

He noticed the man's embarrassment and tried to steer the conversation towards him.

Although he felt a little bittersweet, he didn't want to ruin the blind date.

The man was very shy. While the girl was choosing a drink during the meal, he quietly told her his taste and preferences, and she thanked him repeatedly.

When they were playing video games in the mall, the girl would always ask him to join her, but he would always push her towards her.

After returning to the factory.

He felt that the blind date had been very successful.

But the look in the girl's eyes when they parted kept him awake all night.

After that, the two communicated less.

It should be said that there are far fewer.

After that, the two didn't talk much for a long time, and when they met on weekdays, they would only nod to each other.

It wasn't until he messaged the girl because of work that he discovered he had been deleted.

This time, he still couldn't understand it.

Human hearts are truly complex.

Later, he continued his routine life, going back and forth between home, work, and school, just like always.

One day, he suddenly grew tired of this kind of life.

He resigned from his job and went to another city alone, wanting to live a different life.

He found a new job, rented a room, and worked hard towards the life he dreamed of.

As for what his dream life would actually look like, he didn't know.

But it should never be the kind of life I used to lead.

Until the pandemic, he contracted the virus.

I initially thought it was just a cold, but the symptoms have become increasingly severe.

After a few days of feeling dizzy and disoriented, he felt he might not make it through, and that proved to be true.

He felt he should leave something behind, but when he opened his phone, he couldn't find anyone worthy of his message.

In a daze, he fell into a deep sleep again.

When his consciousness returned, he discovered that he had been reborn as a child.

The lingering memories in his mind told him that this was a world of magic.

And after two days of hiking, I met this girl whose art style is very anime-like.

Fern frowned as he sized up the boy in front of him. Ever since the boy told him his name, he had been staring intently at the basket in his hands.

Where are your mom and dad?

"I have no idea."

Fern sighed, took a piece of bread from the basket, and handed it to Rienta.

Here, take it.

Rienta took the bread and immediately began to wolf it down.

After a moment's hesitation, Fern said to Rienta, "Rienta, right? My name is Fern. Come with me."

By this time, Rienta had finished her bread and followed Fern without hesitation.

From then on, he stayed at Fern's house, where Fern's parents took good care of him.

But the good times didn't last long.

However, in just a few months, the Demons arrived.

Their village was destroyed by the Demons, and both of Fern's parents died.

Only Fern, who had been dragged along by Rienta to hunt game, escaped unharmed.

After the two barely survived for some time, they were discovered by Demons scouts.

Is that all?

Rienta was thinking, a figure wearing a black hood stood in front of the two of them.

The man simply raised his hand and lightly pointed to several Demons scouts. A massive portal appeared in mid-air, accompanied by countless Magic Array Pattern.

"[Super-tier Magic - Star’s Radiance]."

Fern gripped Rienta's clothes tightly, staring blankly at the attacking Magic Array Patterns in the sky.

After a moment, Rienta cautiously asked, "Senior, those Demons scouts must have been annihilated long ago, right? What are you doing...?"

The figure wearing a black hood turned around and looked at the two of them.

"Rienta, do you want to learn?"

Before she could even think about why the person in front of her knew her name, Rienta bowed deeply.

"Thank you, Master!"

Time has passed, Rienta and Fern have been training with that person for nearly two years.

However, they have yet to see the person's true face, which makes them extremely curious.

Until Rienta and Fern successfully passed the Fifth-Class Mage exam, that person finally took off the hood that he never took off, not even when eating.

Fern instinctively called out "Rienta," then froze on the spot.

The reason was that the person in front of her looked so much like Rienta; he was practically a grown-up version of Rienta.

Time is a quack doctor, yet it cures all ailments.

"Time is not the cure, but the cure lies within time."

Give time time, let the past be the past.

"Rienta, do you understand?"

K996 Rienta looked at the still young L996 Rienta with a smile.

Seeing his blank expression, she then said softly, "Never mind, you'll understand later."

After saying that, he vanished without a trace, as if he had never been there at all.

There were only leftovers on the table, left over from celebrating Rienta and Fern passing the Fifth-Class Mage exam.

Suddenly, a Magic Array Pattern appeared beneath Rienta's feet, and familiar Mana enveloped Rienta.

Fern pursed his lips and watched this scene in silence.

Having studied under that master for two years, how could she not recognize who this Mana came from?

A moment later, the surging Mana gradually dissipated.

Rienta reappeared, her expression a mixture of excitement and exhaustion as she clutched her stomach and murmured:

"I'm so hungry... wait, I think I'm full?"

After saying that, Rienta looked around and realized that she was actually in a beautifully decorated wooden house, with a purple-haired girl sitting next to her.

But his memory remained stuck on the time he spent hiking for two days in search of any sign of life.

Huh?

Is there something wrong with my spawn point?

Ale?

Why do I feel like I've traveled through time?

Rienta subconsciously looked at the girl beside her and asked:

"Who are you?"

"... My name is Fern."