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AN: This is the first sign of those dark undertones come into play. There is a warning in the description, but let me reiterate it.

There will be dark corners to this story, they will not necessarily be a focus of the story, but they will be there.. The Warring States Period was a horrific time. This is a time where might means right in its worst possible meaning.

Power corrupts people, desperation lessens our morals and killing damns our souls. Rape, pillaging, corruption, lawlessness and war were commonplace.

This is the Warring States Period after all.

This story is rated M, in other words its an 18 fic. Take care.

You have been warned

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I do actually have a [Title] to choose from, but I won't use it. Ever. It feels disrespectful, like desecrating the dead.

The title is called [Motherless].

Perhaps you are starting to see why I do not use it? It's effects are simple; amplify the effect of my charisma on mothers by 10%. I will not use it. I'm not that desperate. I hope I never am.

My distaste for the title itself aside, I find it interesting there is only the motherless title. The tale of my birth is not a happy one, but nor is it a particularly rare one.

My mother, and the man she had newly married, hail from a village some ways off to the east, situated at the base of a mountain. I do not know the specifics of said village, but I am told they mostly got by living off of the mountain.

Six years ago the mountain, the village and the men of the village burnt to a crisp. The women were stolen by the cause of the fire; bandits. They were raped.

The bandits were killed; a mix of men from the surrounding villages, and a troop of soldiers that had been tracking the bandit marauders down for some time.

Apparently the soldiers had really driven the bandits into a corner, they pretty much knew their end approached, which led them to do stupid, stupid things. Like burning down a mountain and indulging themselves in the pleasures of flesh, all the while their would-be killers draw closer every day, attracted by the wanton arson.

I was the only survivor of the massacre. A mewling, screaming, fleshy babe, still covered in the blood of my mothers cooling corpse.

Now here is where the questions pop up. Who's the father? You see my mother was a newlywed, she had only consummated her union with her husband mere weeks prior to the attack.

Ironically, this was most likely the only reason she survived long enough to give birth to me. All the other women were killed, either through beatings or to a slit throat.

However a newlywed is something special, there's an extra immoral flavor to it… something worthy of sullying properly.

My mother's husband was found in a similar state to my mother, his dead body slumped on a wall next to where my mother gave birth.

His hands and feet had been cut of prior, so he could not run or fight back, his eyelids were also torn off, so he could not look away.

The bandits took sick pleasure in keeping the married couple alive as long as possible. The would have made the husband watch as his wife was defiled.

'That is yet another reason not to use the title. I will not abuse her memory any further.'

Back to myself. The timing in which I was born means my father could have been either my mother's husband, or one of the bandits that raped her.

The title being [Motherless] and not [Orphan] is telling.

However this brings up another... quandary. Such a nice understatement.

I do not possess the [Orphan] tittle. This means my "father" is likely still alive. The bandit who raped my mother still breaths.

'… This will not stand…' I thought at the time I realised this fact.

An inexplicable rage filled me. I raged for a woman I did not remember, who did not hold be and I doubt would have ever be able to love me- yet nonetheless, I raged for her.

She did not name me, she did not raise me, she did not feed me, but she was my mother.

I will avenge her.

It was one of the initial reasons I decided to go out to war. Gather strength, influence and authority. Track the beast down. Murder it to my hearts satisfaction.

But as I grew, I found more and more reasons to remain on the battlefield. Happier ones.

I found a home there after all.

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Tongsen now six-years-old.


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There was no bonus to gaining a 1.0 charisma, or in any stat, I was disappointed discover. Not even a bonus to getting them all to 1.0.

How stingy my system is.

Ah well. I can't really complain. I'm grateful enough to have such a cheat in the first place. I will not allow myself to become spoilt.

I will not complain about lacking a Bugatti when I have been gifted a mansion. I will simply be grateful for the mansion.

'Umu. That's the way to go.'

Continuing on with the topic of my system…

There is a reason, beyond the obvious, that I value [Observe] so much; Its sheer synergy with my system is ridiculous, it's broken. It's the most naturally jailbroken ability in my arsenal, and the one that gets the most usage.

But before that, what drew my attention to the skill in the first place was my systems lack of "help function."

See, my system is only the "barebones.". There's no convenient tutorial, or options bar, or main menu nor anything resembling a help function. The only extra thing was a notepad screen!

Now that's not too bad.

I am experienced enough with gamer fics and such to fumble my way through things. Even the effects of the focus slots, timed removals and cooldowns would have eventually been figured out through trial and error.

But, it would have taken some time… seeing as the entire fucking thing is written in ancient Chinese... or mandarin or whatever other local dialect exits in this time. Point is; I couldn't read it for shit.

That's where [Observe] saved the day… and I would love to get to that but...

'Alas we must digress once more.'

Back in the early days, [Observe] was my only skill. Thus it was only a matter of time till I took the leap and put the skill in my (unknown at the time) "focus slot."

The focus slot function is, as it may suggest, an amplifier. It has various effects unique to each skill, but for [Observe] it granted the skill an active skill option.

'The types of skill being passive (always on/permanent), active (conscious use/casting) and active-passive (toggle always on/castable permanent) for the kids.'

Previously it was crappy little underlevelled passive skill, buzzing around in the background. When I stared hard at something the skill would kick in and give a trickle of information about the target over time.

A really, really, really slow trickle.

However I clung to it. Because for some reason, despite being a skill spawned by the system, [Observe] translated all that information into glorious, glorious understandable English.

And when it became an active skill, I finally made some real headway. The effect of the (now) active [Observe] skill was simply to condense the information trickle into short bursts.

The skill had a cooldown but that was irrelevant due to just how much information was readily available at short notice.

I spammed the ever living shit out of it.

'Land ho! We're back to the main point.'

My [Observe] works on everything. Everything. That of course meant the system too.

I shall take this chance to formally introduce the affairs of my gift.

Bare in mind the continuing information in the cumulative of six years, and was not gained immediately.

Also these were all initially written in ancient Chinese before I translated them with [Observe].

Firstly, my stats. Somewhat different from the norm, more in line with the Terror Infinity interface.

[Muscle Density] = The density of one's muscles. Duh.

Pro: Greater strength and power. Solid muscles. Basically flesh armour.

Con: Increase in weight. Increase in required sustenance to maintain.

Note: Stat does not affect muscle mass. Otherwise it's your typical strength stat.

[Bone Density] = The density of one's bones. Duh.

Pro: Less squishy. Less broken bones. Supports any increase in strength.

Con: Increase in weight. Increase in required sustenance to heal and mend.

Note: Once more density does not mean mass. I am unsure how this stat affects the bone marrow and its production of new blood cells.

[Reaction Speed] = One's reaction speed. Duh.

Pro: Make or break a fight. Pretty much everything. No real reason to not level it at least a bit.

Con: Nothing really..

Note: Possible hypersensitivity in higher levels? Unsure how it effects higher brain functions.

[Agility] = Freedom of one's movement. Not so duh.

Pro: Lightens you; without compromising toughness. Greater flexibility (primary). Slight increase in body control (secondary).

Con: Lightens you; easier to throw around. Not much else.

Note: Directly counteracts demerits of muscle and bone density stats. Does not directly increase speed, but is a factor of it. Synergises well with Dexterity and Reaction Speed.

[Dexterity] = Control of one's movement. Not so duh.

Pro: Greater precision in precise movements. Greater body control (primary). Slight increase in flexibility (secondary).

Con: Involuntary twitching. Not much else.

Note: May develop a habit of flinching. Synergises well with Dexterity and Reaction Speed. Does not affect speed. Number one stat for calligraphy.

[Vitality] = One's lifeforce. A bit duh.

Pro: Increase in healing factor. Increase in longevity. Slight increase in stamina (secondary).

Con: May become inhuman in highest levels? Terrors of immortality. Can't think of anything else.

Note: The increase of healing factor is slight, best not get injured in the first place. Increase sexual stamina. May increase sperm potency? Dunno, I'm six at the moment.

[Stamina] = One's stamina. Back to duh.

Pro: Fight Longer. Sex longer. Slight increase in healing factor (secondary).

Con: Nothing really.

Note: I am unsure exactly what part of my body this stat effects. Perhaps blood? Lungs? Organs? I am unsure how this might synergise with vitality come the higher levels.

[Charisma] = One's charisma. Duh depends on what one quantifies as charisma methinks.

Pro: Speechcraft given a stat. Ensures survival outside a fight. A sword and shield. Necessary for leading people. Gets girls. One finds themselves becoming a tad more eloquent should said stat reach a surpassing level.

Con: May draw unwanted attention. May lead to the life of a male prostitute.

Note: Charisma is a broad term. The stat is an amalgamation of many concepts. A force of will, the weight of one's presence, the virtue of one's office and position; it aids the influence one possesses over others. Stat is purely metaphysical, has no effect on the physical; does not change one's physical appearance. May affect animals in higher levels?

And finally...

[Spare Points:] = Points… that are spare. Duh duh duh duhhhh.

The final line of my stat window. Thus far I have only gained extra points by levelling up. There has yet to be a quest, nor have I gotten anything from tilling the earth.

Reluctant as I am to kill a man in cold blood, I do not yet know if one can gain points by killing. I have also yet to kill any animals save a few chickens- the chickens gave me nothing.

As it stands I get a measly 0.1 points every level. Through given reaching the stat 1.0 was quite the trial in itself, this is quite a bit I suppose.

Regardless…

When I once more return to the fact that all this knowledge was only possible with the aid of my [Observe] skill, is it any wonder I want to level it as much as possible?

I think not.

[Observe] also aptly explained the functions of my "focus slot."

The fact that I only gain a new focus slot every three levels, the fact that possessions placed in said slot gain levels quicker, the fact that all possessions placed in said slot gain an extra function or ability…

It would have taken me longer than I would care to admit to figure that all out.

But this here, learning the functions of my system, was not the only thing my [Observe] could do. Oh no, no, no.

I mentioned the skill possessed a ridiculous level of synergy with the system no?

Let me introduce you to the previously thought useless… notepad feature.

...

Dun, dun, duhhhhhhh~

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AN: I'll stop there for today. Have College tomorrow.

As you can see, I do like my details. At least in the beginning I want to flesh things out. This "gamer fic" (if you can call it that) will be a fair bit slower to take off than normal stories in its genre.

My apologies if this irritates you.

But to those who choose to stick around; thank you very much.

The next chapter is already brewing as we speak, not sure when it will get out, but it shouldn't be too long of a wait.

Thanks for reading, leave a review, and I'll see you next chapter.