“Wake up Kinoya.”  With little reluctance, he sat back up on the hay bed. It wasn't comfortable enough but had peace Kinoya was looking for.

 

Each day, the sun was selfish enough to remind of those people he had lost but… Similar to last time, Kinoya had no memory of the time between the castle incident and the next time he woke up in the orphanage. 

 

It was peaceful right now but he couldn't be too careful. Though the voice told him that the tribulations he continued to face each time he matures because of some complicated relationship between the world and his soul. 

 

And due to the sacrifice of demonic souls, the voice inside him was actually able to connect his soul to the will of the land. And the result was [The Broken System].

 

“They won’t wait for you. If you miss this chance, you will have to wait for a whole year and you won’t be able to go out like other children. So wake up quickly.” The caretaker shouted again. 

 

The caretaker wasn’t too friendly nor was too distant. But Brian and his wife took care of everybody in the orphanage with a smile.

 

It was an orphanage close to the sacred land of Krounen empire. Right at this time of history, the human-controlled more than 1/3rd land of the continent and the Krounen empire control 1/3rd land of all the human land. At the west end of this big empire, there was the big mountain range known as Krounen mountain range. At the foot of the mountain range, there was the city of Arviga. 

 

Looking at the absent-minded Kinoya, Brian couldn't help but shook his head. 'He must have been hurt when he was in his mother's belly. Otherwise, why would they have given up on such a good child?'

 

Though the boy is usually silent he would do anything if asked without a question. This was the reason Brian's wife was fond of him. He could only sigh before leaving Kinoya in the room.

 

Hearing that he might miss the chance Kinoya jumped out of the bed. He ran straight to the bathroom. 8 children out of 50 of the orphanage would be going to the trial, so it was quite natural that the bathrooms were to be crowded. 

 

He ran straight to the barn. There was where the water was kept for the animal, used it without hesitation. Got ready within 10 minutes and came to the dining hall.

 

Soon enough he and 7 of his peers left the orphanage after breakfast. The caretaker Brian asked as he led the kids through the street along with 2 teenagers “Does anybody knows where we are going?”

 

Rather than the ‘so-called’ trial, the children were more curious about the surrounding. It was their first time they had left the orphanage. The carriages along the road were new to them, from the butcher shop to garment shops, even the beggar along the road sparked curiosity inside them.

 

“Today is the day when you get to decide the future of you. If you have an innate skill you can become rich, even a noble, you can eat without restraint, even become great general, or the officials of the city.”

 

One curious child asked, “I can eat anything I want? Even meat?” The orphanage was funded by the second emperor and every city under the empire’s jurisdiction had a similar one. So it was quite natural that there are very few days when they can eat till they are full.

 

“Yes, not just any meat, even the spirit beast meat.” The child almost drooled, Brian smiled “But before that, you will need to have the innate skill for it.”

 

As they entered the inner part of the city, Kinoya was more curious about the city. The view in the city was different from the outside. 

 

The roads were clean and paved. The carriages were following a strict rule. There were shops on both sides of the road but none of the vendors was shouting. At each junction of the road, there were at least two soldiers. Traffic was much higher than outside but there wasn’t any sign of chaos.

 

After entering the city Brian became silent too. They followed Brian’s lead and reached the city square. It was the most crowded place of all. 

 

But the amount of guard was much higher too but something was different. The armours were much more designed and the weapons were of better quality too. Under the observation of these guys, no one dares to make any noise.

 

They hadn’t had to wait too long. Soon one of the inspectors came up and turned into the centre of attention. He described the process in simple words

 

“There are 10 tents around the square so you are going to make 10 lines. After that, you will go into the tent one by one. And leave after the trial is over. The recruitment will happen tomorrow. Only those who are chosen can come.”

 

“Now, I will brief you about the procedure. There will be orbs in every tent. It will show your 4 attributes. Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Health. It will show the path you can choose in the future. Depending on stats you will be able to choose out of 5 types of work. Mage, Magic Knight, Military, Garrison and Officials. But if you have some special skills then that is a totally different matter. Now the inspector will say something”

 

Covered by the most glamourous armour Kinoya had ever seen He walked on the stage. “Listen well, it doesn’t matter whether you are a commoner or the son of the noble if any of you dare to make any ruckus,  by the name of the emperor he will be cut down at the place, no questions asked.”

 

Though everybody was excited none dared to force their way. The movement of the lines was very slow. The sun had already started to fall towards the west from the mid sky as Kinoya entered the tent.

There were 4 people present in the tent. Two of then dressed like the inspector, 2 were like the armed guy. At first, Kinoya didn’t notice it but it was the same guy who delivered the speech. 

 

“Come in.” Kinoya obeyed line by line and put his hand on the orb. Suddenly a screen appeared in front of him.

 

[NAME: Kinoya Arviga
Title: None
####:@@@@
Strength: 16
Dexterity: 49
Intelligence: 56
Health: 64
Skill: @@@@@@, @@@@@, @@@@@
#####: @@@@@@@]

 

Kinoya had never expected that there would be a status screen, the same screen he had expected from his system. He remembered it carefully before turning towards the skill that he couldn’t read.

 

“Is it good or bad?” Kinoya had seen too many games in his life on earth, some with 100 as the basic stat, some with 10. So it was kind of hard for him to understand whether it was a good stats or bad stat.

 

The inspector said with calm, “20 is the average.”

“Then I am very good, right?” Kinoya couldn’t help but feel joy. If 20 is average then other than the strength he is better than everyone else. If will be helpful for his development. But didn't dare to show it outside.

 

“20 is average for a common human adult. So yes you are good. But not good to be admitted in the army. You need 60 on average to join the army”

“What about Mage or magic knight?” If he can be either of it his life will be smoother. In his eyes, the military and the mercenaries had a similar standing.

 

The man couldn’t help himself from smiling before turning to the armed soldiers in glamour armour. 

 

“The minimum criteria for a mage is 200 in intelligence. And for knight one will need 100 in both intelligence and strength. But worry not son, your stat is very good. You know it is hard to raise basic attribute but if you train hard then you will be able to increase your attributes.” The soldier shook his head before adding, “One way or another you can’t join the army before you are 14 years old. So train hard.”

“I will,” Kinoya said with resolution. “But what are the skill?”

 

“That is not something you need to know now.” The clear rejection put a frown on his face. But he understood that it was only him who couldn’t read that stats.

“Ok boy take this” with the word he hands over two medallions to him. “One is the from the moon legion, when you become 14, before joining the army look for me. And the other one is for the Academy of the Arviga. Give it to your parents.”

 

‘So the skills are important enough for him to recruit me.’ The expression wasn’t on his face, “I don’t have a parent.”

“Oh!” The man was surprised for a moment. Then quickly took out a scroll from his armour. “Use the scroll, they will give you a military scholarship. With your intelligence, it will be easy for you to get in. But the scholarship only covers 4 subjects for 2 years. History, geography, politics and military strategy. They will also give you food.”

“Not magic?” Kinoya was disheartened. ‘Looks like he really wants to drag me into his legion.’

“No, it is a military scholarship, so it doesn’t cover magic. And the Academy of the city doesn’t give any practical magic classes. So even the magic classes won’t be useful.”

“Thank you.” Kinoya gave a full bow and left the room without any more words.

“Why do you deceive him?” The only other armed person in the room moved for the first time. “It is not right for a 2 star general of the empire to deceive a 6-year-old child.”

 

“He is special that is for sure, if he gets too full of himself then it will be bad for his future growth. On top of it, none of the magic academies of the capital would take a student under the age of 16. So he has a long time before he gets to decide his future path.”

 

“That was a 6 years old child. They are bound to be lazy. But with those three skills do you really think he would be lazy and...”

He really had no idea how a 6 years old orphan was able to awaken a hidden stats. The value is too high to be a mare mage, “If he joins the army by 14 then I will send him to the magic academy.”

 

By the time Brian came back with all the children, it was already night. Brian was too happy about the result. For the first time, 6 out of 8 got selected in the trial. 2 officers, 1 garrison, 1 military, 1 magic knight and 1 mage. On top of that 3 of them got the scholarship for the Arviga academy. He was sure that he would get some extra money from the office.

 

On the other hand, Kinoya had his own thought. Now he had only one aim, and that is to increase his stats. Though he didn’t know much about fighting he still knew about how to prepare the body for fighting. Like horse stance that increases the stability of the body, jogging & running to increase stamina, meditation to increase the concentration and others to increase the agility.

 

‘I don’t think my body is developed enough to do weight training.’ While sleeping on the not so soft hay bed his train of thought changed constantly. ‘Right now my biggest concern should be the strength. There isn’t any good equipment that could increase my strength. I should have asked the armed man. Well, I will do it tomorrow.’

 

*****************

 

The situation of the square was totally different from tomorrow. It felt like a fantasy recruitment expo. Some of the magic academies, mercenary academies, some sects or dojos were here. Though the children were too small to be recruited that didn’t stop them. 

 

Kinoya had the intention of joining a mercenary academy. It was only that he didn’t have the option to join the army then. Well if a mage academy chose him he will join it without hesitation. It was not like he had wanted to be a mage or something, it was because the mage had a higher standard than army personnel. 

 

“Starat academy of witchcraft is accepting students for the Basic magic course for 2 years. Only 7 seats of 30 left only 70 golds. Filling up first. A lucky student will have a chance of becoming an apprentice. Come on, hurry.”

 

“Black jade mercenary academy is accepting students. Join now. Granted jobs after the competition. Free of the coast. Child below 10 doesn’t need to worry. Sign up now and you will get 5 gold each month without doing anything, you will join us after you are 10 years old.”

“Plum blossom sect…”

 

‘There is no free lunch’ Kinoya knew very well that no matter which world it was there was no way that any mercenary will spend money on you for free. 

And in case of the sect, your loyalty will be for a lifetime. And right now he didn’t want to be bound to anyone. So just the moment he reached the square he started to look for the armed man.

 

‘Something is off.’ There were too many unwanted people. He looked around only to find the number of soldiers was much higher than yesterday. But rather than being spread around evenly through the squares they were kept moving along the edge of the square. 

 

‘It is not like it matters to me.’ Soon he found the soldier he was looking for, on the opposite side of the square.

 

But on the first step, he could feel that his danger sense banging its head inside him. Without hesitation, he ran straight towards the closest edge. With each step, he could feel something was wiggling through the ground under his feet.

 

‘Now if I think about it the number of garrisons was higher too but for some reason, the security was too lax. Something is seriously wrong.’ All the dot were somehow connecting inside his head. ‘It is like they are waiting for something, more like they are setting a trap.’ 

 

His deduction was a little too late. Just the moment he moved his left leg to leap forward the whole square lit up by a giant magic circle. Kinoya turned back only to see the whole square engulfed in the black light of the magic circle in the noon.

 

With a moment's notice, the whole square plunged into chaos. With every spark, people continued to appear at the square. With leaf-shaped gladius and small round shield they slashing at anyone close to them.

 
Not just human, animals also started to appear one after another. Whether it was a bear or tiger shaped animal, all of them were wearing small armour protecting its vital spots. Soon the ground started to turn red but the black flashing didn’t stop flashing.