A Torrent of Rain the fierce wind from the storm was blowing strongly, the rain was pelting down quickly, and I was curled up in my dark room, remembering my childhood before my relationship with my friends and even my family grew distant.
"Hahahaha," children's voices laughed under the scorching sun.
"Safir! Lein! Why are you running so fast?" I said with an annoyed tone.
A girl with bluish-black hair and dark blue eyes named Safir turned towards me.
"It's not that we're too fast, Balance, it's that you're too slow."
Suddenly, a sandal was thrown at Safir.
"HEY! Who was that?!" Safir exclaimed, annoyed.
A tomboyish girl with blonde hair answered.
Once Safir knew who threw the sandal, she immediately shrunk back.
"My bad, Asa hehehe :'D."
Orion, who was beside Asa, tried to calm her down by massaging her shoulders. And there was Larry, trying to scold Lein (Larry's twin brother), and Charlotte, who was still alive.
This was a beautiful time, wasn't it? Not like now, where all your friends are more mature than you and are starting to drift away one by one. My fate was to be the youngest among them, and the child of their parents' superior. They are now working for their families. When I want to play with them, they just look at me with a pitying gaze, then go back to work.
Amidst this heavy rainstorm, I fell asleep in the shadow of that past.
The Next Morning the heavy rain had stopped, but... somehow the atmosphere still felt gloomy. I rushed down to the first floor of my house for breakfast. My father, who was about to leave for work, was there. I sat at the dining table right across from him.
CRASH!
My father slammed his hand on the table, his face full of anger in front of me. With his eyes still looking at me, my father showed my imperfect grades.
"What is this, Balance?"
I could only look down and hold back all my emotions as my father slapped me and yelled at me. Besides, if I said I was being bullied by the Hero's younger sibling, they wouldn't believe me either. I knew the fact that my family was hiding contradictory secrets from each other.
My father, who is actually the emperor of this planet, Pumnkin Night, has the symbol of a black wolf with a moon behind it. The original eye color of the Night family upon their awakening is green. However, he has now changed his eye color to hide his identity from his wife. My mother is Serina Shield, the leader of the rebels my father is fighting. She has the symbol of a Brown-headed Crow (Corvus fuscicapillus), with curly hair and brown eyes.
And me... my name is Balance, their only son. My hair and eyes are black like my father's, and my face resembles my mother's. They brought me to their respective headquarters at different times since the age of 7. I am currently 14 years old.
Honestly, I've told them their secrets several times, but they only consider me to be bragging. That makes me a little frustrated. My father also doesn't tell my mother about my health condition, which makes my mother train me as a warrior even though my body is very weak compared to kids my age.
This distance began to peak as the war intensified, coupled with the death of my aunt, which left my father devastated. How should I tell my father that the one who killed my aunt was a subordinate of his own brother-in-law, who is also my uncle?
After listening to my father's angry lecture while eating, I started packing my things and immediately left for school.
It was a quite long journey to school. I had to avoid a lot of mud and traffic jams. Well, thankfully I arrived on time. I opened my shoe locker, but it seemed my shoes were sprinkled with dirt and glue, making them disgusting. This is normal, you know?
Because the Night Imperial family has hidden their faces for generations, many people have started claiming to be the Night prince and princess. I want to be angry, but... I would surely get into worse trouble if I did.
I opened the classroom door.
"Ah, look, the gloomy one is still attending this class." Willi, the younger sibling of the hero, bullies me at this school. He claims to be the Night prince and bothers me because he doesn't like my plain appearance and below-average physical strength stats. Moreover, I haven't received a contract from any god or goddess yet.
The teachers don't stop him because they don't know whether he's truly the prince or not, and there is a law against harming a member of the royal family. You hate me, don't you, Willi? Anyway, I'm leaving tonight, and you might never see me again.
Willi demanded the assignment he had thrown at Balance.
"Balance! Have you done it?"
Willi patted Balance's shoulder, and then stared at him with a threat.
"Hey! You've done it, haven't you?!" Willi started emphasizing his words.
"Yes, here's your book." Balance handed the book carefully.
Well, I'm leaving anyway, just like you all want.
Midnight Escape At 12 AM, when everyone, including my parents, was asleep, with the money I had saved, the black card my father owned which I would turn into cash to register as a Council member for my future income, some clothes, snacks and noodles for temporary provisions, drinking water, rain gear, and my SD card memory to look at old memories, I carefully opened the house door so that no one would wake up from the sound.
"Papa, Mama, I'm leaving."
CLICK The door closed.
I ran down the dark street. After getting far from home, I went to a place I saw on the internet. It was said that the dark alley near the park was a fake identity trade with many types of identities you could choose from. The identities were made in such detail that the country's officials had an extremely difficult time distinguishing them from the real ones. For now, my name is Nox, 17 years old, ready to clear a dungeon.
This world is a world that has collided. The fantasy world of the gods ran out of control due to the anger of the dragon goddess Leticia so that she could stop her treacherous disciple, but until now no one knows who the goddess's disciple is.
After morning arrived, I went to an illegal bank to exchange the black card without being caught. I got a lot of money. It was enough for me to buy a gadget with 8/512 GB RAM, rent a place for a few months, and register as a Council member.
The gods who originated from various legends appear as something called a 'System.' They are beings that originate from the elements/properties believed in by humans, but some top systems are not in legends, such as Author, Golden Dragon, and others.
The Council is a warrior chosen by the gods and goddesses as friends, entertainment, messengers, and more. A person chosen by a System will become a Council member who can eradicate dungeons, and Willi is an A-rank Council member with a DPS role. That makes people believe he is a prince, while I... I haven't even gone through the determination ceremony yet.
But it's okay. With my savings and the money from the card I exchanged, I will definitely get my System... I... am sure.
For now, I have a place to live, a communication device, and a fake identity. Now it's time to register as a Council member.
The entrance door to the Council examination building opened, greeted by humanoid AIs.
"WOAAAH."
Maybe that's the right word to describe this place. With many shimmering weapons, Roman-style walls, a pleasant smell like a library aroma, diligent and neatly dressed staff, and senior Council members with their luxurious equipment.
"All of that looks practical! Is there a class detector? I want to secretly see my class."
"But, well, it seems there isn't."
I walked to the reception desk to register and see which god or goddess would contract with me.
"Welcome, sir, how may I help you?" The receptionist smiled.
"I want to check my stats and register as a new Council member." I handed over some important documents for registration.
"Ah, a new Council member. Alright, just a moment." The receptionist began informing the testing team.
A while later, the receptionist returned and started escorting me to the testing room. Then one of the researchers told me the testing sequence: first, insert my palm for soul synchronization, and the stats would appear on the card distributed by the receptionist. And the stat card is absolute; it cannot be changed, except for a few Council members who have exclusive gods and goddesses.
"Ah, it's ready."
I saw my glowing stat card. The receptionist was asked not to look at the card because the card was automatically connected to the imperial data.
"Have a pleasant day, sir."
I will look at my stats later in my boarding room. As I was walking to my room, I saw a recruitment poster for a small party called Sunflower. I picked it up because from its language and design, they seemed like nice people (maybe).
In my room, I looked at my stats:
Name: Balance Night
Age: 14
Date: September 25
Clan: Night
Parents: Pumnkin Night & Serina Shield
System: Author
Class: Creator (Support/DPS)
Lvl: 1
Skills: Crate(L), Munderer (S), Invisible (a passive that will automatically activate if the user becomes invisible when experiencing certain feelings like fear or sensing a threat), Cats eye (C), cooking(B), Manipulate(A). (Sorry, subsequent skills will be unlocked upon leveling up.)
Special Monitor: Can create skill data and fake identities. This effect is only given to certain Council members.
"So it seems I can edit my stat screen? That's great!"
I started tinkering with the stats I had, resulting in:
Name: Nox
Age: 17
Date: September 28
Class: Munderer
System: Anubis
Lvl: 1
Skills: death blood(S), scyht of night (S).
"Well, even though they are equally strong, this one is better."
"I wonder..."
Balance pondered.
"Was running away the right choice?"
Balance started texting the phone number listed on the brochure. They agreed to meet tomorrow at the main square in front of the dimensional rift for an introduction and to learn about dungeons.
"That older sibling is really nice. I can't wait to meet them."
Balance hugged the bolster and blanket in his room.
After thinking about it, when was the last time I had a friend?
"Well, I'd better just go to sleep now."