Prologue

In the dim room, only the large monitor flickered with a faint glow.

On a sweltering summer night, the low background music intertwined with the cicadas' chirping outside, creating a strangely tranquil atmosphere.

Lines of text appeared silently on the monitor, like inscriptions branded into the soul.

You used to live in Barkley, a distant continent in the southwest of Pande. Your father was once...

[A knight.]

When you were a child, your days were good. Your father was a master of weapons and was often hired.

He possessed extraordinary martial arts skills and patiently taught you every technique, making you an expert with the sword and lance.

Your father was gruff, cold, but fair.

Your mother was a minor noble from Pande. She rarely mentioned her past, but she did reveal how she first met your father: he had rescued her from kidnappers.

Your father only mentioned the knightly order he once belonged to once, while drunk. He said the order had been banished by the Lion King.

But he refused to answer any questions about the order, not even its name.

He said he'd rather never speak of it again.

During your teenage years, you had little free time because your father...

[Was away for long periods, leaving you to live alone.]

As a boy who grew up on the streets, everything you did was for survival.

You begged, stole, and worked for gangs to earn supplies, surviving day after day in a violent world, often on the verge of the law and surrounded by malicious people.

In what seemed like an unchanging life, a new change arrived. You had the chance to become...

[A bounty hunter.]

Things couldn't stay the same. Under the guidance of some unknown force, you grew into a man, and the world around you seemed to transform.

Unwilling to toil like the common folk for meager profits, you made your own way in the hidden corners, earning wealth outside the damned law.

You relied on your skills for some less-than-legal dealings, and occasionally took on jobs involving theft or robbery... these dangerous ventures brought you considerable profit.

But as if fated, everything changed suddenly. You had to leave Barkley for Pande because...

[You received news of your parents' death.]

Their deaths were sudden and violent, and the killer's identity was unknown.

Furthermore, countless enemies wanted you dead, and the lord had even issued a warrant for your arrest. You were forced to leave Barkley for Pande, hoping to escape those wicked villains.

You took your father's treasured sword—a family heirloom worthy of protecting your life and reputation—booked a ticket to the Pande Continent, and left your familiar homeland alone.

Based on some rumors you'd heard about Pande, you decided...

[To take a Fieltzwe merchant ship to Mistveil City.]

The monitor in front of you began to blur, and your consciousness rapidly fell into darkness.

In a daze, Li Ang seemed to hear someone call his name, but the call was fleeting, lost in the cicadas' song.

He stubbornly moved a finger, and an option on the monitor was selected.

Then, the moment the interface switched, he plunged into a long darkness.

The selected option was...

[Face life directly, no saving or quitting!]

Hey, are there any young men here looking for a future in war?