One Week Before:
As the familiar bright light died down, I found myself in a plaza that I had seen so many times before.
'Ahhhh, I'm back in the "Town of Beginnings".'
Seeing this nostalgic sight, I couldn't help but reminisce and think back to all the times that I had been here before.
Surrounding me were about 500 other players, presumably having all passed through the tutorial tower.
'I wonder how much people died for us 500 to stand here?'
As they were all standing there in confusion, I quickly used "Shadowless Figure" to turn into a shadow and quickly escaped the central plaza.
If one was a keen looker, they would have noticed a strange shadow racing up a hill a while away from the town.
Breathing in the fresh country air, I stood on the top of a hill overlooking the beginner town.
Feeling like I was on top of the world, I let out a loud laugh that reverberated across the valley.
"Wahahahahahaha"
I listened to my echoing laugh for a few seconds before leaving.
My figure disappeared again in the blink of an eye.
I ran to a random point on the map, and waited for my "innate ability" to manifest.
In my game, based on a player's actions in the tutorial, they would get a "innate ability" that was specifically tailored to them.
If I had calculated the time correctly, our innate abilities should be given to us in about a minute or so.
As I sat there on the ground, I couldn't help but think that this was a waste of time.
'What the fuck is taking The Creator so long?
(A/N: If you don't remember, this is the guy that manifested the game into the world.)
Just as I was about to get up, a black light started swirling around me.
'Finally, just how long were you going to make me wait?'
The abyssal light made me float for a few seconds before planting me firmly on the ground again.
Judging from the color of the light, it seemed like I had gotten a more evil inclined ability.
"Status Window"
[Player Shinubwa Lv. 87 (74,213,910 TC):
Strength: 37
Stamina: 57
Agility: 47
Mana: 47
Hp: 37
Perception: 47
Intelligence: 37
Extra Stat Points: 8
-------------------------------
Job: None
Innate Ability: Psychopath's Carnage
Titles: "Perseverance Maniac", "The One Who Broke the Limits of Humanity"
Skills: Tactical Domination (S), Figureless Shadow (AAA), Firestorm (AA+)
Bounded Weapons: "The One That Split the Night"]
'Shit, that isn't good.'
At first, I had been expecting an innate ability that would compliment my assassin skills as I had acted like one for most of the time that I was on the tutorial tower.
But, it seemed like they had decided to give me this innate ability more so due to the amount of people I killed.
I had forgotten that this had been an innate ability that I could get, as when I had beta tested, there hadn't been any other players to PK, so I couldn't get an ability like this.
This ability was still expected for me though, as I had known for a while that I was different from most people, as I really couldn't bat an eye even when faced with horribly disgusting sights.
I even knew, myself, that this was due to my twisted nature after having been thrown away like a stray dog.
Of course, this event hadn't been enough for me to become like this.
I had only become like this after that day.
...
6 Years Ago:
(A/N: MC was 20 6 years ago because he is now 26 as 1 year has passed in the tower.)
I had already been a member of the gang for a year and had just gotten my first break.
I had grown in reputation after successfully hacking into an opposing gang's surveillance network, but had garnered some not-so-good attention from outsiders.
Then, the opposing gang sent 5 hitmen to kill me.
All I could remember from that day was death.
The smell of blood as I mercilessly stabbed and beat back the 5 broken men.
The sight of red, mutilated corpses, unidentifiable as humans anymore.
The feeling of immense pain coming from multiple holes in my body, where a red, viscous liquid was pouring out.
The sounds of multiple gang member's feet thumping as they ran up to my apartment to check if I was okay.
And finally, the taste of snot, blood, and tears that flowed into my mouth as I kneeled down in the sea of blood that I had created, weeping to myself.
As my gang members came up, the crying suddenly turned to crazed laughter.
"Hahahaha, to think that my life turned out like this."
I looked at their fearful faces as they cautiously approached me.
When they got into striking distance, they immediately restrained me and then knocked me out.
I continued to laugh, even as the darkness engulfed me.
...
Present:
Before that day, I had been emotionally broken, a bent stick waiting to snap at any given moment, but I had still showed emotions that any normal young adult would have shown. I had experienced happiness, sadness, anger, love, and so many other emotions during that time.
But after that day, I started to see the world in black and white. My emotions started fading.
Happiness?
'Gone.'
Sadness?
'What... was that again?'
Anger?
'Useless.'
Love?
'What a joke.'
I saw the world as just another form of hell where I had to do anything to survive.
So I just became indifferent not caring about anything except for myself.
The only bright lights left in my world were my game, and the one image of my little sister that was imprinted in my head, her laughing in a green, windy flower field, pulling my hand along as I stared at the back of what I had thought at that time was an angel. But even this was a slowly fleeting memory.
This was why I hadn't flinched when I saw all those people die during the first trial.
Why I had killed without a second thought.
Why I had been brutal without a sense of wrong.
But it was also why I had saved Hope.
Why I had found my sisters again.
And why I survived.
This was why my indifference was both a path of suffering and a path to move forward.
And it became my only way.
I actually recognized this. I knew that I had no emotions unless it was something related to my game or to my sister.
So I was surprised when I got this innate ability.
'Could it be... that I actually enjoy killing?'
Well, there was no use thinking about it now as I had gotten this innate ability already.
Psychopath's Carnage - Description:
When the user's blade tastes blood, the user will automatically enter a frenzied state where for each organism they kill, their attack power is doubled.
Sure, this seemed like a really good ability at first, but I knew that there was a sharp blade hidden in the description.
As I had designed my game with balance in mind, I knew that even though the exponentially increasing attack power was an overpowered ability, the description using the word "frenzy" probably meant that I wouldn't be able to distinguish friend from foe in that state.
This would obviously become a huge problem, and if this applied to monster blood too, then I would become a madman every time I grinded, which would be very troublesome.
'I guess I better start searching for a "Clear Mind" skill book or something like it.'
I didn't even want to imagine the consequences if I lost my mind every time blood was spilled.
I knew where a "Clear Mind" spell book was, so I would probably just go get it after some time.
'But first, it's time to hatch the egg.'
I took a deep breath and steadied myself, awaiting my first look at an actual god.
I took the egg out of my inventory and pressed the hatch button.
I watched as a pillar of light descended from the heavens and engulfed the egg.
As the pillar slowly dissipated, I stared in disbelief at what appeared.
"What the FUCK is that?"