Half a Marauder

Pain, pain, pain!

That was Lorry's first thought when he woke up.

His head felt as though someone had swung a massive iron hammer into it, pounding and battering it until the pain made him suck in a sharp breath.

"Hiss... urgh!"

An indescribably foul, fetid smell flooded his nostrils. Lorry immediately gagged, rolled over, and retched violently, almost throwing up last night's egg fried rice.

"What the hell?!"

Dazed and confused, he racked his brains as he continued to dry-heave.

Wasn't I just hit by the copy of Lord of the Mysteries I'd bought while cleaning my bookcase? Even if I passed out and my roommate took me to a hospital, it shouldn't smell like this!

Even sewer air would smell fresher than this!

Lorry thought indignantly as he struggled to get up, wanting to see exactly which hospital and ward he was in.

I'm definitely filing a complaint!

With that thought flashing through his mind, he looked around and froze.

"This isn't a hospital. This is..."

Lorry couldn't help blinking. He suspected the blow might have left him hallucinating, but unfortunately, when he opened his eyes again, the same scene remained.

He pinched his arm hard, trying to determine whether he was dreaming.

The sudden sting proved one thing.

This isn't a hallucination!

The tunnel was dim but tall, nearly three meters high by his estimate. Filth coated the walls, concealing their original texture.

Inky sewage flowed across the ground, deep enough to reach halfway up his calves. All kinds of rubbish floated on its surface, giving off an indescribable stench.

About four or five meters away was what looked like an exit.

Crimson moonlight slanted through it, lending the scene a dreamlike air.

"This really does look like a sewer!"

A moment later, Lorry abruptly came to his senses, nearly biting his tongue in shock. He couldn't believe he had been lying in a place like this.

He was sure that if he weren't surrounded by a suffocating stench and soaking in dark brown sewage, he would have wanted to take a souvenir photo.

After all, red moonlight wasn't something you saw every day.

But right now, he had only one thought: get out of here, fast!

He acted immediately.

Lorry planted both hands on the ground and tried to rise, but even that small movement jarred his head, bringing another surge of excruciating pain!

It was different from when he had first woken up.

This time, spasms of agony seemed to come from the very depths of his mind.

"Aah!"

Clutching his head with both hands, Lorry knelt in the sewage and cried out in pain.

"Aaaah-!"

His voice echoed through the empty sewer.

After ten minutes or so, the pain in Lorry's head eased slightly. Ignoring the stench clinging to him and filling his surroundings, he gasped for breath, still shaken.

Just then, fragments of memory began surfacing naturally in his mind.

The first time he went out stealing, he was too frightened to act and came back empty-handed after an entire day. The enforcers beat him half to death, leaving him bedridden for days...

By chance, he stole a very valuable wristwatch. For the first time ever, the boss received him personally and even rewarded him with a lavish Intis-style meal...

The fear of being caught and dragged to the police station after a failed attempt... the instinctive terror of spotting a police officer on the street... the joy of a successful theft...

These were things he had experienced himself.

"Backlund... East Borough... Pickpocket Gang... Potion..."

"Backlund? That sounds familiar... wait! Backlund!" Lorry went still, his eyes slowly widening.

"I... transmigrated?"

"Into the world of Lord of the Mysteries?!"

It took Lorry five minutes to accept his situation.

In truth, he might have needed longer if his surroundings hadn't been so awful, his head hadn't kept throbbing with pain, and his body hadn't shown signs of a fever. But he was in a sewer full of filth, and clearly had little time to waste.

"Transmigration..."

Lorry murmured, a complicated look in his eyes.

After a moment, he let out a soft sigh.

"When I read novels, I fantasized plenty about becoming the protagonist. But now that I've actually transmigrated, I never expected my first reaction to be fear."

"I loved the idea, but not the reality. The ancients really knew what they were talking about."

"Fortunately, I grew up in an orphanage. I don't have any family ties holding me back."

"But the world of Lord of the Mysteries isn't as safe and peaceful as Blue Star." Lorry trailed off, bitterness rising in his mouth.

The novel had been a thrilling read; otherwise, he wouldn't have read it more than a dozen times. But precisely because of that, he knew very well how strange and dangerous this world was!

"Whatever happens, I'm here now, so I might as well make the best of it. Even if this is a dream, I should see it through properly. Besides, I'm not completely without advantages."

Lorry slowly exhaled, set aside his distracting thoughts, and began carefully sorting through the fragments of his predecessor's memories.

"Your name was Lorry too?" He gave a self-deprecating smile. "Rest in peace. I'll take good care of this body of ours and witness the wonders of the future for you."

Lorry's faint laughter rang through the sewer.

Perhaps it was his imagination, but after saying those words, he suddenly felt a wondrous sense of his soul and flesh melding together, his mind and body becoming perfectly aligned.

Two people from different dimensions had become one.

Reading through the memories, Lorry learned that the original owner of this body had also been an orphan.

Clearly, though, Emperor Roselle had forgotten to copy the idea of orphanages. Despite their identical beginnings, the two men's lives had taken vastly different paths.

One had smoothly completed university with support from the government and charitable donors, then found a job that paid little but was easy.

Getting rich was hard, but supporting himself was simple.

His counterpart in the world of Lord of the Mysteries, however, had begged from childhood, never knowing where his next meal would come from, almost constantly on the verge of dying from hunger, sickness, or cold.

That had continued until he was thirteen.

Then the Pickpocket Gang took notice of him and recruited him. He gained a crude place to live and no longer had to worry about freezing to death.

But his circumstances had improved only slightly.

Anyone who fell ill would be mercilessly thrown out by the enforcers, lest they infect more pickpockets and disrupt the gang's income.

Failing to meet the boss's quota had equally serious consequences.

At best, you went hungry or took a beating.

At worst, you had your hands or legs broken.

His predecessor spent five years in the pickpocket organization, working his way up from the lowest ranks to become one of the boss's favorites.

He had the chance to learn to read and write, and even had his own bedroom. He no longer had to cram in with everyone else and struggle to fall asleep amid their snores and sleep-talking.

As far as his predecessor was concerned, he had made something of himself.

Unfortunately, those good days barely lasted. The boss summoned him and bestowed on him a bottle of Potion that could supposedly change his destiny completely.

With the enforcers watching, he gratefully accepted the boss's "kindness," tilted back his head, and drained the bitter blue-black liquid.

After that, there was no after.

His predecessor soon lost consciousness. By the time his eyes opened again, he was lying in a filthy sewer, with Lorry taking control of the body.

"Lost control and died?"

Having read the original novel, Lorry readily thought of that possibility.

"Then am I an ordinary person now, or a Beyonder?" At that thought, excitement stirred in his chest, and he began carefully examining his body.

"I think... I really am a Beyonder?" Noticing the changes in his body compared with before he drank the Potion, Lorry froze for a moment, then was overjoyed.

Fortunately, he still remembered the book's description of Meditation. Back when his adolescent fantasies had been particularly intense, he had even secretly tried it a few times in the dead of night.

"Focus my mind... replace it with something that doesn't exist..."

The process wasn't easy. Chaotic hallucinations kept interfering, but after several stumbling failures, Lorry soon emptied his mind.

Is this fast or slow? Looks like I have some talent. No wonder my predecessor was given a Potion. The thought suddenly crossed his mind.

He frowned slightly, feeling that he had overlooked something. Weren't Potions supposed to be precious? His predecessor had obtained one far too easily...

But Lorry didn't dwell on it and continued sensing his mind and body.

Gradually, an understanding dawned on him.

"The Potion gave me three abilities."

"Stealing: instead of relying purely on technique like before, I can now take what I want from a target's pocket more easily."

"Agile Hands: my wrists and fingers have become steadier and more nimble. In other words, my hands are more stable and flexible."

"Exceptional Observation: I can directly sense valuables within a certain range, though I can't tell exactly what they are."

"Besides that, my physique has improved to some extent."

"Hmm... there's also proficiency with short weapons, such as short swords and daggers."

"Overall, the abilities this Potion granted me mostly enhance my own capabilities rather than manifesting Beyonder Abilities externally. And I have a feeling..."

"This Potion seems incomplete. Its enhancements aren't at full strength, probably only sixty to seventy percent of what a complete Potion would provide."

"Was it given to my predecessor because it was incomplete?"

Lorry let his thoughts wander, boldly exploring that line of reasoning.

Unfortunately, he knew too little to take it any further.

Lorry shook his head with a smile and stopped wasting time.

"Never mind all that. In any case, I'm Lorry now."

"Half a... Marauder."

"First, I need to find somewhere else."

He said that to himself and was about to leave this filthy place when two faint, blurry white specks of light suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

"Is this the effect of Exceptional Observation?"

Lorry murmured to himself. Just as he was about to examine the sensation more closely, something else occurred to him, setting alarm bells ringing in his mind.

At the same time, a low shout rang through the empty space.

"Who's there? Come out!"