Jake kept standing there as scenes changed.

    After some time, the little boy woke up. Seeing himself in his mother''s arms, he snuggled more, but as soon as he touched her mother''s arm, he found it cold.

    "Mommy..?" He tried to wake her up.

    "MOMMMY...MOMMMY"

    "Wahhhhhhh!!!"

    And he faced the cruel reality.

    The little boy kept crying until he got exhausted and fell asleep once more.

    Waking up at night, he looked at his mother''s body. He covered her with the rough blanket and left the house. Using his little shovel-like tool, he dug a hole from night to the next afternoon.

    After more hard work, he buried her and slept on her grave for a few days, as if he was mourning her.

    But Jake''s heart grew more bitter when the little boy stood up from her mother''s grave. He no longer had the innocence of a small kid. His eyes were now burning with anger, so emotionless that Jake felt he was looking at a dead body.

    The little boy, once again, picked up his basket and his shovel and went to the forest.

    "Finally, that brat is going to get some food, hehehehe."

    Jake looked at the old man who came out of the bushes after seeing the little boy going to the forest. Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire

    After a few hours, the little boy returned. He began to cook. Jake sighed seeing this.

    ''That is poisonous.'' ''Perhaps in his grief, he accidentally picked the wrong plant,'' Jake felt pity for the boy.

    But he also felt somewhat good, knowing the old man would die too. ''At least the old bastard got killed by karma.''

    Jake silently watched, but his face paled as he looked at the boy. The little boy was not eating the meal he cooked but was eating a separate meal, and this one didn''t have that poisonous herb. ''Wait, don''t tell me.''

    [You guessed it, it was his plan to kill the old man,] Nexus said.

    Jake watched as the old man appeared, took the food, and ate it. But soon, just after two bites, he started coughing up blood. But it didn''t end there; his eyes started bleeding, then his nose, and then his ears. And soon, blood flowed from all his orifices, causing him to die in the most horrendous way.

    [This kid sure knows his stuff.]

    "My mom was killed because of you and this village."

    "No, the Empire, who killed my father and drove this village to starvation, is at fault too."

    "I will kill them all."

    Jake looked at the kid who was now laughing maniacally and thought, ''He is not a normal kid.''

    [I see, no wonder.]

    "What did you find?" Jake asked.

    [You will know.]

    Jake pursed his lips and kept watching the journey of the little boy.

    After killing the old man, he killed the entire village in the same way.

    "Was it necessary?" Jake asked him.

    [Maybe it was from his perspective.]

    "Why did you do all of this?" The village elder asked the boy as he coughed up blood.

    "Why? WHY, you ask?"

    "Don''t you already know?" The little boy smiled and said.

    "My father was forced to go on the front lines, even though he was not supposed to go."

    Jake''s eyes widened up hearing this, and he thought, "Is this weak?"

    The little boy was now punching and destroying walls like they were made of paper, not stones.

    [You could do that too,] Nexus said.

    "I could do that after 6 years of strict training and eating Dragons and alike beasts for 6 years," Jake said, pointing at the little boy. "Not like him, who got all this stuff in a few hours."

    [He also went through the pain] Nexus reminded him.

    Jake nodded and then watched as the little boy checked his physical capabilities.

    "I wonder, what kind of core he got," Jake mumbled, and soon he got his answer as the little boy''s hands got engulfed in crimson mist.

    "That is the Mist of Annihilation," Jake said.

    [Yes, and that means this little boy is the War Monarch.]

    [I thought he was someone important, but I never thought he would be the War Monarch himself,] Jake said.

    The little boy then touched the wall, and it turned to powder. "The power of Annihilation Mist is Decay, after all."

    [That''s true and it is one of the most powerful core]

    Jake kept watching as the little boy felt happy with the result and then packed his belongings. He went through all the houses in the village, took anything useful, and then started his journey.

    "After 6 months of travel, he finally reached another village."

    "I am honestly confused about whether to be amazed by his stamina and strength or by the fact that he didn''t encounter even a single beast during his journey."

    [I am more amazed he found this village just by going in one direction blindly,] Nexus said.

    "This is not a true story."

    [Agreed.]

    Despite that, Jake kept watching.

    He watched as the little boy entered the village and sold the stuff he stole from his village. With the money he got from selling all those items, he applied for awakening.

    [Why would he apply for awakening?]

    "How would I know that?" Jake mumbled and watched as the Elder in charge of the awakening helped with the little boy''s awakening.

    It was like a normal awakening.

    "Your name, boy?" The Elder asked.

    "Noah," the little boy said, and then the Elder registered him.

    Noah then left the temple and arrived at an inn. Booking a room, he meditated and checked his body.

    "It was true," Noah muttered, and Jake understood what he meant by that.

    "He now has a dual core," Jake said.

    [But it wasn''t known.]

    "Yes, he probably hid it."

    "His other core is a normal Druid Core, like his deceased mother," Jake observed, seeing the woody green core light.

    "He probably never used it," Jake speculated.

    "Why do you think so?]

    [Druid is a powerful core, but it was also the core of his mother. He might not want to use that core to kill anyone. That''s why it wasn''t known that he had another core, aside from the Annihilation core," Jake explained.

    [Maybe, but let''s see.]