[Name: Raul Lornway]

[Age: 60]

[Level 38][? EXP]

[Mana State: Breath]

[Health: ?]

[Mana: ?]

[Occupation: Captain of the Mourning Hive]

?

The man sitting on a rock in front of him perfectly took the image of a mercenary captain. Scruff looking, heavily geared middle-aged man with a c.o.c.ky smile ever so present.

"Are you gonna kneel there all day or are ya gonna start chattin lad?" asked Raul.

"I.. uh ah, I'm Doni-Donis!"

He was barely able to get the words out, and was lost for what to say. Especially after being put into this sort of situation, it all just happened too fast for Donis to really take in. He was JUST in the carriage, how could there be kidnapping without him noticing anything.

"Oh the boy speaks! Lads, it's not a mute this time!" shouted Raul back to his men. In unison the men belted back shouts of delight. "Cap'n don't treat the lad too bad this time okay? Last one barely fetched us anything back after the bruisin ye left em!" laughed back one of the rougher looking men.

"Well, at least I don't have to get the lad to talk this time, I'd say he'll be more... cooperative, right, kid?" said Raul with a wolfish smile.

Donis swallowed hard. Sweat had drenched his back, his mind abuzz with questions and confusion. 'Why is this happening to me? I thought this was going to be just like those f.u.c.king novels I read before I got brought here, right? Why am I kidnapped now? I haven't even gotten a chance to power up, or make enemies with anyone, I haven't even began my big journey yet!' mentally screamed Donis, trying to explain the injustice of it all.

Raul then picked up the kid by his clothes when he noticed the kid was mentally gone already. Carrying him to a relatively remote building outside the camp, Raul threw Donis into a small room that was only decorated by a single bucket with a lid on it. No windows, no wallpaper, just raw wood. There was no bed nor blanket for Donis, just the hard floor.

Upon impact Donis. .h.i.t his head, making his forehead bleed profusely. He quickly scrambled on the floor reaching for the door as he saw Raul close it with delightful expression. Donis's arms fell to his side as he finally realised he was now locked in a room with zero ability to get help. He was 6 years old, and level 2. It was entirely hopeless for him to even try.

-[Side-Quest: Find an incriminating piece of evidence.

Reward: [150SP] + ?]-

-[Growth-Quest: Survive.

Reward: [Innate Void Knowledge] + [400SP] ]-

Donis's eyes widened as he saw the quests pop into his tab. Two quests came in at the same time and they're both focused on Donis's predicament. His heart rate fluctuated heavily when he saw the notification. It firstly let him know that the situation is survivable. He wiped the blood off his face and found a corner to sit in, not that it was hard.

'Why am I getting [Innate Void Knowledge] for free? Is it cause I upgraded my control to include the void element? Hmm.. the SP rewards are insane compared to what I've seen before. Even if I keep these for now, I still cannot get the system upgrade, but I could in theory grab all of the Innate Knowledge that's in the system shop. All I have to do is survive. I need to stop panicking, and just survive. Ha, funny me, of course I have to survive," mentally laughed Donis, feeling like he's close to losing what little he had of his mind left.

After a few minutes Donis began pacing around the room. It was about 1.5m by 1.5m, not much room at all, but for Donis's height, and build it was fine. He traced the walls with his hands, then with his void-mana sense to see how the two can compare. Right now his void-mana sense was like a very blurry 3D image compared to the tactile information his hands could provide.

-[Void Sense]-

[Basic] –

[Cost: 1MP/s] –

[Level: 1/15][EXP 0%]

Allows the [User] to tap into the surrounding Void Charged Mana to sense the world. Information is transmitted directly to the brain.

A new notification popped into existence distracting his terrified mind.

'An ability was gained through me trying new things? It seems like this ability was already within the System cause I didn't get any sort of reward. I think I remember it saying something in the tutorial that I can gain skills by focusing and committing to an action or something? Maybe I should try to gain other skills that I can imagine when I get out..' Donis trailed off into deep thought.

Minutes turned to hours, and those hours seemed to stretch eternally. The only reason he knew time was pa.s.sing was that he was getting hungrier and hungrier. No one has yet come to give him water, or even feed him. Donis was slowly losing his confidence that he'll be found but he still held on to that idea for dear life.

Yet the quests he received clearly stated he had a high chance, or at least he thought so. The high SP gain from surviving was incredibly suspicious if looking at it from a perspective where higher means more dangerous, or less likely.

He knew not how it was all graded, but now wasn't the time to ponder on such luxurious matters. He had to plan, to formulate anything. To do that, he'd need information to work through this whole matter. To get information he'd have to leave here. 'How the f.u.c.k am I leaving this room,' thought Donis.

So, he did what he's been good at since he was born, crying. He cried hard, and loud, for hours. He tried and tried, cried and cried, yet no one came. His vocal chords had been used raw, his throat burned and felt p.r.i.c.kly, and his mind was not better either.

He had never experienced anything of this sort in either of his lives, as far as he could tell at least, otherwise he'd probably have a better coping mechanism.

As Donis pa.s.sed out from the continuous strain, Raul burst the through the door, kicking him into the stomach, making him vomit immediately. A loud crack resounded in the tiny room as his boots made contact with Donis's body.

Donis's eyes shot wide open, unable to hold back his innards from trying to escape through his mouth. He gagged and gagged, followed by deep and guttural gasps for air. Being winded while throwing up is quite difficult, Donis nearly inhaled some of his vomit, nearly. He was kept in check only by the sharp stabbing pain from his ribs. He was no doctor, nor could he inspect the insides of his body, but he could still tell something was broken.

"f.u.c.ker did I say you could sleep? You're lucky already I didn't kick the s.h.i.+t out of you for crying like that earlier either yet you still try to do things without asking for permission?" said Raul venomously.

"So..s..sorry sir.. it.. wont happen again.." said Donis gasping for breath.

"Shut the f.u.c.k up, just cause you're a kid doesn't mean I wont kill you. You belong to your buyer so you'll have to learn how to behave, and this would be considered a kindness already for not feeding you to the wolves," said Raul as he kicked Donis one more time, this time in the thigh.

Holding back a scream Donis didn't reply just merely nodded while tears streamed down his face.

"Good kid, now, you're not allowed to sleep, and every time you do, you'll be kicked again and again until you're on the verge of wis.h.i.+ng to die. Trust me, I've had plenty of experience with kids, you'll survive with me here, if you only listen to me," said Raul closing the door behind him, leaving a sobbing Donis on the floor.

Etheria had been wanting to pop out for a long time, wanted to protect her master, but Donis had been suppressing her will. He knew if she popped out she was either killed on the spot, or something he couldn't imagine right now would happen, but it surely wouldn't be something he'd want to see.

He wanted her warm embrace, to make him feel less alone in this situation, but he also couldn't bear the idea to put her into harms way this early in their companions.h.i.+p.

'Neither of us were ready, so why was the world treating us like this?' cried Donis silently.