Author: Thank you for reading so far. I was working so things got a little delayed

I also updated the prologue and some things here and there, it won't change the story but will make things more clear since I felt I didn’t word things well enough.

The prologue though has a more 1st person view in the end to get into the mc’s head during the killing scene. It is recommended to read it, no change to plot but the scene is a lot better, and the effect the gods have on him are more easily spotted if you got this far.

Just a reminder, it was mentioned that the mc would be placed in an area that still had some semblance of safety. However the area isn’t guaranteed to stay safe.

As for Shiro’s safety, the mc has been keeping tabs on her to keep her as safe as he is able. He isn’t strong yet and can only do so much.

The system he is in only gives him the ability to grow faster, and has a lot of secrets (just a hint he is still a person and not in a game), but this is only when his body fully develops. His mana core fully formed at 8 yrs and to get it functioning took him till he was 9. Even then it still needs to be refined for better quality. Now that his body is stabilizing he is entering the best time to build his foundations. Yes from now on his progression will increase.

(Don’t worry I’m keep track of his stat table on the side. Will post later.)

Happy Holidays! (I know my job requires this line so the habit will follow me here.)

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Things have gotten out of hand back at “home” when one of my secret stashes was discovered. I would usually just give them the quota for my residency and hide the rest. Showing that you have valuables in that place just brings trouble.

Most of my stash consisted of extra pocket money and some items I can use like sowing needs and other useful tools. The problem is, my loot amounted to getting even a few silver coins mixed in. People in this area are lucky to get big copper coins, so it was taken pretty seriously. Fortunately they had no proof it was me and that was only one of my smaller stashes. But I’m gonna have to leave here soon before things get worse than they already are.

It’s mostly because of Shiro, but it’s my fault in the first place. My [Magic Hands] skill seems to have a more mysterious effects than I gave it credit. Growing up I couldn’t protect Shiro from a lot of the abuse the other residents threw at her. The results left her pretty scarred up and made her feel ashamed to show her skin to people.

Well that was until my skill cleared it up. When I first used the skill on her she only said that her body didn’t hurt so much, which I suspect was from some type of internal injury. But as things carried on we both noticed that her skin started to lose some scarring tissue here and there. After that she would have me massage her at any free moment we had.

I can’t say I felt comfortable massaging her, the skill only affects areas in direct contact. So in a nutshell she would want me to remove ALL of the “painful parts” as she stated no matter the location. In no way do I dislike her, but yea she is a young girl, and I got some years on her (mentally at least), so I felt pretty uncomfortable. Adding to the issue, Abra was also usually out doing what she does, so I had no choice but to use my [Magic Hands] skill on Shiro to improve it. She has gotten unusually happy whenever the time to practice [Magic Hands] came, which is good since I like seeing her smile compared to before.

...

As my proficiency increased so did the speed of the effects. Right now Shiro’s complexion is a far cry from what it was a year ago. She would have been a looker since the beginning but her treatment prevented it from showing till now. This attracts a lot of unwanted attention especially from slave traders that can’t take a hint.

As something to bring up I even managed to make toothpaste which added to the situation. It wasn’t some top quality store brand stuff but considering the place we are in, it can be considered top notch goods.

To be honest making the stuff isn’t that hard, the main ingredient that I know of is Fluoride. The [Soul Bound Mind] trait happens to have an interesting effect. If I have information on something from my previous life that I need, the trait will zero in on the memory and it’ll pop up in my head. The one for the toothpaste happened to be when I got bored and looked at the ingredients on the tube.

My identify skill spotted a plant growing around that naturally has the stuff inside it’s stem. Yea I know, I was pretty shocked. That plant is actually treated as a type of useless weed that grows everywhere.

When I heard this I seriously wanted to laugh at anyone who calls themselves an alchemist.

I may not have any alchemy skills but using that plant, which is actually called Pucker Weed, and another plant that has a type of minty taste. A viable toothpaste was made with some trial and error.

Shiro was curious on what it was so I explained it. She didn’t believe me, but ended up brushing twice every day when she discovered how nice her mouth felt after brushing. The brushes were also a product from my [Handicraft] endeavors. After that I was spurred two make other products but only came up with a simple soap that barely suds due to a lack of materials, gets the dirt off tho.

Hygiene aside it was getting too dangerous for Shiro to be here any longer with me practically turning her into a budding beauty. Her habit of covering herself is still there though, but it doesn’t work as much anymore.

After discussing it we decided to leave during the night with whatever we can bring, most of it consisted of my stash since that fat man tends to take anything of value. I still don’t know his name, or anyone in this place other than Abra for that matter.

Sadly though some plans don’t go well. It’s seems me and Shiro have become pretty suspicious to the others, and have had a few people watching us just in case. I did notice some of them watching, but I assumed it was because they were waiting to get to Shiro during the times I wasn’t around. Even if I say that though, Shiro doesn’t stray far from me as often as she used to. I can’t blame her since one of the older residences tried to get a little too friendly with her, if you catch my meaning.

It didn’t end well for him, I’ll just leave it at that.

Me and Shiro are currently surrounded by the older kids in this place, the total amounting to 6 idiots. I wasn’t really scared of them, hell these guys looked even worse than the generic bandit troop in a book which made it even less scary. Their fighting skills are pretty unpolished too.

The only weapon I had was a simple copper dagger but it was enough. Usually it’s pretty difficult getting actual weapons with them being priced for more financially stable individuals, but I got lucky when some thief tried to kill and mug me.

Even if I am out numbered, the things I learned in my past life and the effort I put into training this body put me in a pretty good condition. Shiro can even put up a good fight against them with the things I’ve been teaching her after I caught her trying to imitate my exercises. I enjoyed having company in my training, especially when it started getting way beyond the level of regular training. Seriously, there is a limit to when things stop being parkour and turn into downright ninjutsu martial arts stuff.

*Shiver* I gotta stop thinking of all those scaring things I was doing for training.

“We’re ya think ur goin midget. hahaha” (idiot 1)

{Hey I’m still growing!} “I don’t recall having to tell you anything.” (Kuro)

“I hate wen he talks, tryin sound betta then us.” (idiot 2)

“Not my fault you guys are as dumb as shit.” (Kuro)

“Lets jus kill this bastad already!” (idiot 3)

“ya, haha, an half some fun wit the girly too” (idiot 4)

“*nod**nod* yea kill this twat” (idiots 5 and 6)

I’m starting two angry at these guys, every time they speak, the language is practically butchered to oblivion. Not to mention how fugly these guys are, their odor doesn’t help either. But most of all they want to do *crack* disgusting things *crack* to Shiro.

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As my gaze sharpened as I looked at the scum before me the air went cold. Noticeable shivers went down their spines but they seemingly didn’t understand the cause. Whatever they thought didn’t matter to me anymore, me and Shiro are leaving and they are only an obstacle. I looked at Shiro and her gaze told me everything I needed.

“Let’s kill them.” these thoughts resonated between me and her as we both took action at the same time.

She took the left while I took the right.

With swift movements I propelled myself and used my dagger to slit the throat of idiot 2, the shortest one of the group, as he was caught off guard by my sudden approach. I then used his body as a pedestal and jumped off of him as he fell to get above my next victim.

Shiro took advantage of this distraction and struck idiot 4 in his crotch with a strong spartan kick and quickly shifted her balance to keep her momentum. Striking his lowered chin with her palm to break whatever balance he had left. He fell back readying himself for her to quickly break his neck as she moved above his falling figure. She grabbed his head and twisted it into an unnatural direction ending his life.

The others were struck dumb by suddenly seeing two of their group suddenly killed. With me in a good position above idiot 1, I proceeded to slam my knee into his face stunning him as he fell on his back, and leaving himself open to pierce his heart as he held his nose. Another idiot quickly died and the remaining three are beginning to panic realizing the situation.

We can’t let them make too much noise and draw attention so I moved forward toward idiot 6. I saw Shiro kick idiot 3’s left knee in while positioning herself to strike at his neck with the wood spike she got from idiot 4. His screams quickly turned into gurgles as his life ebbed away and he too died.

I was worried Shiro would hesitate since this is the first time she took a life, but she was pretty calm. I quickly quelled these thoughts as I finally reached idiot 5.

He began screaming the words, “MONSTERS!” and “STAY AWAY!”, but it only made me want to kill him faster, He collapsed on his ass and allowed me to make quick work of him. My bloodied copper dagger pierced his right eye and entered his brain leaving him silent forever.

The last idiot didn’t even give Shiro any trouble when he was distracted looking at his suddenly dead companions. A simple rod to the temple and he was down, not without soiling himself though. I proceeded to finish him off with another piece of wood, my dagger was stuck n the head of idiot 5.

After finally fishing out my dagger, I walked toward Shiro. She didn’t seem to really care that we killed them and just gave me a big grin.

I understood what she meant and I smiled back. We were leaving this place and nothing was stopping us.