?


    Ss could not help but blink as he saw his status screen, however, his eyes were drawn to three specific indicators that confused him.


    Race: ???


    Core: Solid-Topaz


    Affinities: Darkness


    Why was his race unknown? What the hell happened to make such a thing ur. He remembered what the screens had said before he had been sent into a rampage, but why did his race change.


    The screen had told him that all his bloodlines would be set to 100% due to the awakening of his volition me. Sure, he had a rough idea of what a volition me was, but since it wasn''t something he had researched on Earth, his understanding of it wasn''t as high as he would have liked it to be.


    However, after looking at the list of his bloodlines and their percentages, the only thing that seemed to have changed was the percentage next to "Mistwalker".


    He assumed it was because he had killed many of them when he had cked out in the misty forest. However, there was no way that a 5% change would have such arge impact on his race, right?


    Ss couldn''t understand it. He was confused. No, he was beyond confused. Maybe the awakening had done something to him? Maybe those ckouts on Earth were due to his volition me too?


    What is a volition me, really? Was it the reason he discovered the life equation in the first ce? Or was it a catalyst that brought him closer to the discovery of the life equation... Closer than any human before him.


    "Kid? Are you going to go in?" A voice asked from behind him.


    Ss looked up and realized he was already in front of Archie''s office.


    Looking back at the man who was talking to him, Ss smiled, but when he realized who was standing behind him, he couldn''t help but narrow his eyes.


    ''Hmm... He seems familiar.'' Ss thought while looking at the young man behind him.


    He was no older than 20 years of age, however, there was one thing that stood out about him.


    ''And why the hell is he so handsome. Leave some women for the rest of us!'' Ss inwardly screamed.


    Sure, at that moment he still hadn''t hit puberty, so his interest in women and rtionships in general was quite low, but he had to think about the future generation! What would happen if this man were to go into the dating world, huh? He would steal all the women!


    He looked like the average harem isekai protagonist, and for some reason, that very thing was making Ss really angry.


    "Oh, sorry about that. I was just daydreaming. Next thing I knew, I was over here." Ss smiled, yet the man could the corner of Ss'' mouth twitching.


    "Are you okay? Your mother seems to be twitching." The mean leaned closer with a kind smile on his face.


    ''Get away from me you beautiful bastard!'' Ss pped his hand away and walked into Archie''s room before mming the door behind him.


    "Oh! Ss! Finally! Where have you been. I might be elected any day now and I need you around to take the Judgement seat." Archieined.


    Archie was sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk.


    Before him was a gorgeous woman with silky ginger hair that flowed down her back like a waterfall of orange, while her eyes glowed with a green radiance, simr to Ss'', but not quite the same.


    Looking at Archie, Ss narrowed his eyes in annoyance before looking at the second guest in the room.


    "Am i interrupting something?" Ss asked while crossing his arms.


    "No. Of course not. You''re always wee in here." Archie smiled while Life''s face became beet red.


    Ss could have sworn that he could see smokeing out of her ears, but after blinking a few times, he assumed that it was just his imagination.


    "Wannae take a seat?" Archie ignored Life''s reaction and went to sit on therger seat. offering the seat he was previously sitting on to Ss.


    Ss quickly walked over to the seat and sat down opposite Life.


    She was still burning bright red for a reason Ss could not understand, but he didn''t really care.


    ''Do I trust her?'' Ss asked himself while looking her in the eye.


    Of course, he couldn''t trust her. In reality, in all of the darkless organization, there was no one he could trust. Everyone had their own agendas and goals, and that was a simple truth he could get behind.


    Pulling his hood back, Ss revealed his jet-ck hair that naturally fell on his face.


    "Oh? You removed your white hair... Why? Did you go see your parents? I told you not to do that. It''s extremely dangerous, not only for you, but for them too. What if the Skrks find out your alive and kidnap your family to use them against you? They know that you killed themande-"


    "Calm down. I didn''t go to see my parents." Ss cut him off.


    "Okay... Good. I''m assuming you want the serum to turn your hair white again." Archie asked.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Yeah." Ss smiled. However, he couldn''t help but feel a little bit of suspicion toward the situation. Archie had every right to ask him how he made his hair ck again, but for some reason, he didn''t.


    Maybe the new serum will be poison? Wait no, that wouldn''t make sense. They needed him alive. Plus, from how everyone seemed to describe Archie, he could have killed him in less than a second if he really wanted to. There was no need for mind games and poison, not that any of them would have worked on Ss.


    "If you''re as cautious as I was when I was in your ce, you''re probably asking yourself why I haven''t asked about what happened and how you did it."


    "Read my mind." Sss awkwardly chuckled.


    "Ss... The thing you have to realize about this world you''ve entered is that... Everyone has a secret. Everyone is keeping something from you. Everyone had a goal, and they''d throw you under the bus if you stood in the way of the goal. Do you understand?"


    "Yes." Ss replied with a nod.


    However, just as Ss nodded, he couldn''t help but stare Life from the corner of his eyes. At Archie''s words, she seemed to be looking at the ground, her eyes not daring to look away from the spot she was staring at.


    ''Everyone has secrets...'' Ss inwardly repeated before looking back at Archie and taking the serum out of his hands and gulping it down.


    ------------


    Having returned to having white hair, Ss shook his hair a little before checking out the length of it.


    "A little longer thanst time. Do you want me to give you a haircut?" Archie asked.


    "No need. I think I like it this way." Ss smiled.


    So far, he had been gelling it back, but now he just wanted to flow down his face. Plus, it wasn''t actually that long, only reaching up to his eyes. Even Lochras had longer hair than what Ss currently had.


    "Hmm." Ss looked at life and wondered if she knew anything about what volition mes were. However, after thinking for a moment, he decided it was better if he didn''t ask her... Or at least not yet. He didn''t trust her, or any of them for that fact.


    He needed to make sure that they were trustworthy before telling them something that could be detrimental to him.


    "What''s wrong?" Archie asked.


    "Well, it''s just that we were attacked by a bunch of assassins on the way back from our mission." Ss exined.


    "Really? How many?"


    "20? Give or take." Ss lied through his teeth.


    "How strong?"


    "All of them were equal to a beast with a dull-amethyst core. Though, one of them was a little stronger than that. They killed most of my teammates and only left one alive." Ss exined


    "So, they were all around the gold rank."


    "What?"


    "You know... Gold."


    "What the hell is that." Ss asked with visible confusion.


    "You... You don''t know what a gold rank is?" Life asked with even more confusion.


    "Did you not go to school?" Archie asked.


    "Of course I didn''t! I''m not even 7 yet!" Ss shouted in reply.


    "Oh my god." Life rubbed the bridge of her nose while Archie simply gawked.


    "Okay... Uhm, the metal rankings are using by most kingdoms and continents of Gilea... Hell, even the demons use them. Anyway, if you''re a gold rank, that means you''re about the same level as an amethyst core.


    The metal rankings don''t really mean anything by themselves, unlike the core rankings.


    They are assigned by the kingdom or empire you''re in to indicate how strong you are without using the core stages. If you go to the mercenary hall, you can ask one of the receptionists for the card that tells you what rank you are and how the rankings work." Archie exined


    ''Ah... That exins that poster I saw thest time I was there.'' Ss thought before looking at Archie again and asking the question on his mind.


    -------------


    [A/N: I''m sorry this chapter is longer than usual. I ran out of time writing through it, but I''ll make it up by releasing two chapters in the next hour or two. Again, really sorry about this. I know some of you don''t like it when the chapters go on for too long and would rather me split it into two.]