"Hoo… let's go home. The new game is about to finish loading…"
Raize looked up at the night sky and walked along the familiar route toward his home. Although he could have rushed back in an instant, there was no need to.
Having just killed several ghouls reminded him of certain painful memories. He wanted to take a walk back home, calm himself down a bit, and see if he could lure out a few more ghouls with a death wish. He didn't mind killing a few extra ghouls to use as fuel for the system.
Even though he was very familiar with this world, after losing his family and awakening his memories, Raize inexplicably felt like a stranger in a foreign land.
His father's once-strict voice and his mother's gentle words felt as though they were still echoing in his ears. His mischievous younger sister, who loved playing pranks on him, seemed like she might suddenly jump out and mess with him again.
Raize also found himself thinking about his parents from his previous life. To be honest, when he was younger, the idea of transmigrating into a two-dimensional world might have seemed exciting.
But after experiencing so much, if he were given a choice, he would never abandon his parents to head into some unknown other world.
"Parents from two lifetimes raised me, and neither of them even got the chance for me to repay their kindness…"
Raize muttered bitterly to himself in a low voice. Now that he was in this world, he felt a deep sense of loneliness, along with guilt toward both sets of parents.
Just as he was drowning in melancholy, a petite and dreamlike figure entered his field of vision.
Outside the window of a convenience store stood a little girl who looked like an elf, carrying an illusory, unreal beauty.
Despite her extremely distinctive aura, all the men and women coming in and out of the convenience store completely ignored her. In Raize's eyes, this was abnormally conspicuous.
She was a girl in a white Gothic dress, extremely petite and adorable. Long white hair that seemed to emit a faint glow flowed past her hips. Her apparent age was somewhere between a loli and a young girl. Her skin was as fair as milk, her slender limbs exposed, with delicate calves tightly wrapped in pure white, ice-cream-like thigh-high stockings.
Her blank, slightly dazed expression was incredibly cute. Her beautiful, sacred, and exquisitely refined face felt unreal, like a dreamlike mirage.
A pair of golden eyes that seemed to contain radiant light held a sense of detachment, along with confusion and hesitation similar to Raize's own.
Having seen many beautiful girls before, Raize still felt a soul-deep shock of amazement from her presence.
But the moment he was struck by her beauty, Raize immediately sensed something was wrong. Such beauty and aura, combined with the fact that she was strangely unnoticed by everyone else—
Was that normal? No, it was extremely abnormal.
In a world where gods and devils lurked in the shadows, any existence with such a bizarre presence was, in Raize's mind, equivalent to trouble and an untouchable big shot.
Right now, he genuinely couldn't afford to provoke such people. Better to lie low and develop slowly.
Beauty was nice, but with hatred in his heart and an urgent need to grow stronger, Raize truly felt he couldn't afford to enjoy it.
Time to go. Slip away!
[Clear choice, Raize. That existence is a special soul entity. I can't probe her strength. In my unrepaired state, probing certain beings at will could attract their attention. If you don't want trouble, stay away from her as fast as possible.]
The system suddenly popped up to warn him. Being one with Raize in mind and soul, it approved of his decision not to approach her.
It shared the same feeling as Raize. Although the girl looked beautiful, instinctively she was definitely not someone easy to deal with.
In its current unrepaired state, the system also didn't dare casually investigate others' depth. The risk of exposure was simply too high.
Hearing the system's words, Raize said nothing and didn't look at the astonishing loli girl again. He directly began to leave.
However, both Raize's and the system's instincts were spot-on. A powerful existence that had set up a cognition filter around herself would naturally be extremely sensitive to others' gazes.
The girl cast her indifferent gaze toward the spot where Raize had paused earlier, then followed the lingering aura and turned her head to lock onto Raize's back.
Her blank, rigid expression suddenly became vivid. Those brilliant, sacred, star-like golden eyes began to flicker with emotional light.
"…Sha… Shana…"
The beautiful white-haired, golden-eyed girl stared at Raize's slightly hurried departing back. A frightening brilliance burst from her golden pupils. After watching him disappear around the corner, a layer of sacred light emerged over her entire body.
In the next second, the beautiful, dreamlike girl dissolved into countless particles of light and vanished. The bustling pedestrians around her failed to notice anything strange at all.
Just as Raize had thought—someone that abnormal was not to be messed with.
Meanwhile, after passing the corner, blue-white arcs of energy appeared around Raize's body. He turned into a streak of blue-white aurora and vanished from the spot.
Entering supersonic movement, Raize ran at full power. Within seconds, he arrived at his doorstep, pulled out his key, and opened the door.
Open door, enter, close door, lock—everything was done in a single smooth motion.
"Damn it. These days I'm not afraid of ghouls anymore, but there are plenty of powerhouses hiding in human society who could take my life."
"No, I have to get stronger as soon as possible. Living like this, unable to control my own fate, is just too damn unbearable!"
Changing into indoor slippers, Raize went into the kitchen, put away the things he bought, and sat down in his familiar home, letting out a heavy breath.
Just as he said, although he wasn't afraid of ghouls anymore, what he feared were those ordinary-looking, strange existences hidden among the crowds—those unfathomable beings that could easily kill him.
Without sufficiently strong power, Raize was like a man outside without money or confidence.
Don't say he was too timid or cowardly. If he didn't know the truth of the world, he wouldn't be like this.
But once you know the truth, how can you possibly ignore it?
Think about it—if you knew there were many beings like ghouls in the world, disguised as humans and mingling among crowds, yet even more terrifying than ghouls, capable of slaughtering humans in droves with ease—how would you feel!?
With no power at all and no means of self-protection, could anyone truly live at ease in such a world?
A certain villain-savior once said:
Everyone lives in order to overcome unease and fear so they can live with peace of mind. Whether it's striving for fame and profit, dominating others, or earning money, it's all for peace of mind. Getting married or making friends is for peace of mind. Even striving for peace is just an excuse for one's own peace of mind.
"I, Raize, also believe… that so-called 'living' is about overcoming fear. And the one who stands at the top of the world is the one without even a trace of fear!"
Raize felt anger and frustration over his own avoidance today, but he didn't regret his decision. Seeking fortune and avoiding disaster was human instinct.
As long as he lived in this world, besides taking revenge, his goal was to keep overcoming his own shortcomings and grow stronger.
He wouldn't make excuses for his avoidance. Only those who face their own flaws can keep improving. Making excuses for retreat was the lowest of the low.