"I was born into a farming household. My father and mother were both ordinary commoners. Our family was very poor; basically, we ate only one meal a day, and sometimes we had nothing to eat for an entire day."
"Back then was the happiest time of my life, and also the most carefree."
"But in the end, the country went to war and began conscripting soldiers on a massive scale. My father was forced into the ranks of the new recruits. Not long afterward, we received news of his death."
"At the time, I was still very young. I had no idea what death meant. I only knew that my father had gone somewhere very, very, very far away."
As Ethereal spoke of this, his tone was utterly calm, as though he were recounting something entirely ordinary.
The Human Race prodigies listening quietly around him empathized deeply, each of them holding their breath for Ethereal.
At that time, how had Ethereal, left alone with only his mother, managed to survive?
"In the end, news of my father's death spread through the entire village. Later, my mother was violated by three idle young men from the village."
"Do you know? I was under the bed at the time. They violated my mother on the bed, and I heard every single thing clearly."
"In the end, my mother died. Throughout it all, she did not let out so much as a cry, all because she did not want me to worry."
"After my mother died, they threw her beneath the bed. She just looked at me like that, with such a loving, pitying gaze. I will never forget that look in my mother's eyes."
"Before she died, she even comforted me. She said she was only going to find my father. She