Liam opened his teary eyes on the ground, bleeding from his broken nose and feeling a sharp urge to puke and his lungs refused to open for air.
"You bastards! I said no violence in the guild!" A woman screamed.
"It's his fault for insulting us. Blame him not us lady Selena." The deep voice of a man replied.
"He didn't insult anyone. I was behind my desk listening. Or are you saying him taking an f-rank quest is an insult to you?" She growled.
"It's indeed an insult. Seeing him keep trying and fail each time, the bastard stinks to high heaven. He's polluting the air we breathe." The man replied with a grunt.
"HAH…" A faint laughter came from behind them. Both the guild receptionist and the man looked over.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Liam burst out laughing and wheezing in place. "Weak! Pathetic indeed. Not a single drop of mana!" He stood, blood dripping from his face.
"Did you finally go insane, Liam you bastard?" The man growled.
"Liam! Get down, I'll call the healers." The guild receptionist cried.
Liam lifted his palms and grabbed his broken nose between them. CRACK! He twisted it back into place. "Thank you hu…" He was about to call her human, but stopped, trying to remember her name.
Who's the girl? I can't remember, this body took a heavy hit to the head. Semina, Serina, it starts with "Se" I'm sure of it… or was it "Sa?"
"…Sardina! But I'm fine!" Liam shouted with a proud face, pushing his chest forward.
"No you aren't, Idiot! My name is Selena; you need to get your head checked by the healers!" She cried, trying her best to keep a calm face, but couldn't.
Liam tilted his head, "Selena? I'll make sure to remember that name." He smiled, rubbing his chin with a grin, "Very few people stood for me. Solitude was my only partner as everyone thought I could handle everything alone." He started walking forward.
Liam lifted his hand to gently push Selena out of the way but stopped before touching her. "They are right. I do indeed stink, not that it matters in battle, but to a human girl it does indeed." He refrained from touching her and turned toward the large man, "You on the other hand, I couldn't give a rat ass about you. You smell like one after all."
"Back to sleep, but never wake up this time." The man pulled his sword and swung at Liam's neck.
Too fast to see, this body is indeed weak, too weak, I love it. I can start anew, and this time, I'll make sure to have more fun.
Liam bowed forward with his hands in his pocket, and the sword missed his neck. It's too obvious if you stared at my neck before swinging. And due to how heavy that hunk of iron is, you can't dodge this, can you?
Liam swung his foot, kicking the man in the jewels. "Special attack: Delete bloodline!"
The man groaned like a pig getting lifted, bending forward as he dropped his sword and fell face first on the ground.
"At least wear a codpiece." Liam walked around and kicked him again.
The man roared in pain, but Liam kept kicking him again, again, and again. Everyone in the guild stared with pained faces as Liam kept kicking the man for another five minutes until knocking him out cold.
Liam pushed his hair back with his hand and emptied his bloodied nose on the man. "Sorry man, but this is how nature works. The only way to make sure a trait isn't passed down is to castrate the monsters. Selective breeding is a thing." He stared down at the man, his black eyes glowing with a faint red light.
Liam let out a faint giggle, turned around, and started walking toward the quest board looking at his palm, closing and opening it. This body can't even support the base of my ability, what a runt, but that's why I choose him, may you rest in peace.
******
Name: Liam Leonard.
Race: Human.
Soul Record: Black.
Level: 1
Strength: 1
Speed: 1
Mana: 1
Special ability: None
******
Liam's soul record should be light grey, this is bad… I need the [Disguise Stats] ability to hide it or I'll get arrested on any inspection post. He looked at the quests, "Hmm, nothing interesting…but I need at least a few levels." He pulled one of the papers and took it to the desk where Selena sat.
"The healers are here." She said, pointing at a priestess who stood at the side of the desk.
"Why? I'll be fine." Liam looked at the priestess. He could remember her face, each time this body got beaten to a pulp; she was the one to heal him.
She stared at him with a sharp glare. "I'll heal you. It's free of charge."
Liam sighed. "It's already too deep of a debt. Not taking your hand now won't make a difference."
She gently put her hand on his head and started chanting in a strange language, and his wounds started healing as he felt warmth rushing from her palm across his whole body.
"Please don't get in any more fights." She slowly lifted her hand from his head and stared at him, "You aren't a fighter. You better quit adventuring and find a calm life outside the city." She turned around and left.
She's right, with my current stats, it's better to go outside and farm for the rest of my life. I'll make a decent living and not have to worry about much. But I can't do that…
He put the quest paper in front of Selena. To make sure I live a quiet life, I need to find the hero, kill them, and then wipe out the fanatics trying to resurrect me. In this life, I'll only live for myself, not for a goal that fate determined for me.
"Are you sure?" Selena stared at him. "Yeah, I'll be back before dusk."
She stamped the paper, "You better do. The forest is far more dangerous at night."
Liam took the paper and walked out of the guild, looking at the sun brightly shining in the sky. It's beautiful, I've only seen it in battles, but the sun indeed feels nice.
Looking at my guild card, it'll expire in a year. I have to find the [disguise stat] skill by then, or the guild would find out about my black soul record. No, I could be stopped at checkpoints between cities and asked for an inspection. I need to get that skill as soon as possible.
But…Liam looked at his arm. "First things first, money and a bath, some new clothes and weapons are in order."
With each step Liam took, he could see people moving away from him, giving him a sore glare and closing their noses. I can't blame them. I would've killed this body if he had come to me before.
He left the city and quickly made his way to the nearest forest.
The forest looks calm, but I can smell them in the air. Goblins are infamous for how they treat humans; they are cruel, vile, and vicious. Individually weak, but always hunt in groups of several tens of them. Even strong hunting groups find them hard to eliminate without a proper plan, but my quest isn't to kill them. It's to only find their tracks and report it to the guild.
He bent down and started inspecting the ground for footprints, gashes on the lower part of tree trunks, broken bushes, and blood and goblin soot. After only a few minutes, he did find the tracks.
Now… I should be running back to the guild to deliver the information and get paid… But a silver coin won't feed or pay for a bath. He started following the goblins' footprints.