He mulled over this long and hard, it was actually now that he is as glad he was born different.
His mind never worked like others, he could still be influenced by his emotions, especially while he was between the ages of 5 and 10, but due to how his mind worked, he had asked himself strange things before.
Could he kill? Yes. It might make him feel a bit sick after the first few, but he could get over it, even in the modern world, it may have changed slightly, but the strong decided how the weak lived.
If he was given the chance, would he help someone? Yes, but only if the benefits were better than the risk.
He already decided that if there was a high-risk high reward situation, he would decide upon it depending on how he felt at the time he needed to make it, leaving it for the future him to decide so to speak.
Thanks to his logical mind, that honestly was a bit strange since magic was no a factor he had to deal with, he decided he would be neither hero nor villain. He wouldn't be the good guy, but he wouldn't be the bad guy.
He would be in between, he would help some, slay others, give to others, steal from others.
He would let this world help shape what, or who he would eventually be. With that decided, he needs to make a plan now.
Adventures existed in this world, the golden dream for a lot of orphans, but also the easiest, all though most dangerous occupation in the world. They were the front liners to explorations, subjugating monsters, and exploring the still massive world that has yet to even be 10% explored.
This was a good start because it offered a lot for a single title, it offered the path to money, connections, equipment, and an easy pass to do a lot of questionable things depending on the job.
Though there was no branch here, he knew from his crude knowledge there was one in an actual town not too far from here, only two days worth of travel on foot.
Deciding it'd be best to get out of the village as soon as possible he knew he needed more than just a knife, and not willing to spend the coppers he had he decided to look for his first 'Victim'
He stood and put the bag over his shoulder and began to walk along the dirt road, not looking for anyone in exacts, more so just looking out for people. He wasn't able to see mana threads until now, so he was on the lookout while being as low key as he could, making sure no one with a large number of strings, or thick ones were present.
Making his way to the blacksmith, he had been here plenty of times, this is where he sold all the trinkets, or arrows he had made, looking around or more 'feeling' he noticed no one was around really, since it was still early morning those who did work were already away from the village, or within their respective stores working. He could hear the clang of a hammer from here.
How did he feel for people? Well due to his newfound ability with mana, he could use some strands to 'feel' around. Turning into the alley, which was normal for him since that is where the blacksmith took goods, he hoped the fence pretty easily, he was active even before coming to this world, and with the new version of his body that was adapted to mana, he felt much better. The air, despite smelling bad, was far more clear. Once he was in the backyard of the blacksmith he made his way quietly through, nothing in his bag made noise other than the coin but due to how tightly they were bound in the pouch they were in, and his clothing they didn't make noise. He made sure to 'sense' if there were anyone in the forge other than the blacksmith.
Sensing no one he made his way to the storage room, making sure to be as careful as he could he look at the door, and sure enough, even if it was the blacksmith of some small village, there was a precaution.
All be it incredibly crude, there was a concentration of threads on the door, and after following them for a bit he found it was attached to a lock on the inside.
Pulling the strings the door swung open without much noise, and the noise it did produce was just a gentle creak of wood which was easily drowned out due to the loud hammering.
Getting into the storeroom and closing the door behind him he began to look around. He noticed weapons of all types lined on one side, while another wall had materials and random tools.
Taking a short bow from the shelf as well as a short sword he got an actual belt, it was a bit too big for him but with just his small rather sharp knife he made an additional notch into the belt that allowed him to tighten it securely to his body. Taking a quiver he stashed it over his shoulder along with the bow. Trading the crude bag he had he took an actual pack that he just put the bag in for now. He now had a quiver, a short bow, a shortsword, a proper belt, and a pack, he took a bundle of arrows but he left them bundled together and put them into the pack since he didn't want them to rustle in the quiver too much while he was sneaking out. Taking a few materials to later make some crude leather armor and to maintain his weapons.
The last thing he took was an actual good knife, either it is used to take lives, or survival needs he needed one, the small one was good for crafting and skinning only, if used for combat it might not hold up to good. Bonding with the sword, removing the bond from his carving knife he placed it over the bow. Letting the passive information help him for now.
He noticed that when he bonded with the sword he felt as if he knew his body better, only slightly, more aware of his body and where the items on him were. With the bow, he noticed that his senses were sharper, or better trained. The hammering was far more clear, he could actually hear past the loud noise to the difference in the strength of the swings by the amount of noise they made.
Did his ability get stronger when he traveled over, on that note, how did he even travel over? This was too real to be a dream, he could feel down to the dirt beneath his crude shoes, to the weight of the items on him. He looked around to take note of anything he might need, finding nothing else he left the shed, closing the door behind him he was easily over the fence.
He would need to be stronger to get answers like that, so for now, he decided to travel to the village elder next. He slipped through huts and small houses with ease. He noticed the more he did something the better he got with it. Was it due to the bonds helping him, or was he just a natural?
For now, he didn't put too much thought into it, however, he jumped into the window of the village elders' house after sensing. He felt a 'Strong' mana source in the house, but it wasn't a person. It might be an object of magic, he knew the elder must be out to help examine the surrounding forest, he might be in his older years, but he did have a slight magic talent because of his age so he was of help along the forest line.
Using the strong threads of mana he followed them to their origin, where he found a bag. After examining it a bit he noticed it had a lot of random papers inside it, some with drawings, others with information about random facts, and what looked to be 'Explorer' notes. After examining it he noticed it was some sort of space bag? But it seemed to only work with paper and writing utensils, using the mana threads coming from it he had a thought that it might be some sort of document bag? A scholar bag? He felt such words enter his mind but he decided to take it, it was useful. When he put it over him he noticed that it was incredibly light despite the number of papers in it.
A quick experiment and he found he could put books in there as well, like his 'spell' book. When he did he noticed that the feeling of the bond suddenly disappeared, he still felt the bond but it was as if it wasn't 'Around'. Taking it he did a quick search around before he found a few coins, he found a single silver and almost 45 coppers, he took them gladly. But now that he had some more coin, and his first-ever magic item that was pretty much useless to others he decided to leave the village.
After being careful, he was soon in the forest, taking a long way around to get out of sight of the village and outside of their patrol zone before he decided to walk onto the road.
----A few hours later, in a medium-sized building a gathering in the village.----
Thick chest and armed man, bald with a beard. ''I found a few materials, a bow, belt, sword, and knife had been stolen from my equipment room, but as you know there is magic protecting the door, and no way to open it from the outside so whoever did it knew the basics of magic.''
The old man sitting in a chair. ''I noticed some coin and my old scholar bag was gone as well.''
Random citizen. ''Hey, wasn't there an orphan who got released today, what if he stole before leaving?''
The smith, old man, and a few others shook their head, the old man spoke up. ''The only orphan that could be, is Felix, and he is a good boy, he worked hard not only for the orphanage but for others. He even came around to learn how to read and write quite a bit and helped some of the younger kids learn as well. Despite how smart he seemed I don't think he would've stolen anything, he was a kind boy and full of smiles.''
The large man with a beard nodded. ''He was a good kind of lad, hard-working and honest. I trained him a bit in hunting and smithing myself, but he doesn't know any magic, I forgot to open the door to the shed once when he was younger when I asked him to get a bundle of charcoal for an adventurer, and the poor lad came back crying because he couldn't open the door.''
The lady from the orphanage spoke up. ''I did give him a book of magic, but there is no way he could get through even the basic level of magic locking, it was just a book explaining what magic was and its uses. Even when I tried to help him learn elementary magic to help clean clothing, he struggled. I doubt he became good enough overnight to do something, and he can't see mana threads. That much is clear, even when I made a ball of threads and tossed it at him to see his reaction he didn't react, just asked why I was being weird.''
Everyone nodded, no way such a well-mannered boy would steal, let alone be able to get through the magic door, and out of the village with all the equipment without being questioned about it.