Leveling Through Betrayal

CHAPTER 3 — The Discarded Name

Alex still stood frozen on the spot. His gaze was locked intently onto the small glass bottle now in the grip of his hand. The clear, bluish liquid inside it seemed to shimmer, reflecting the dim light that pierced the silence of the forest fog.

[Healing Potion (No Side Effects).]

The mechanical text still hovered faintly, floating right in front of him. Alex’s fingers trembled slightly.

"No side effects...?" he muttered softly.

It sounded too good to be true. His pessimistic thoughts began to spark. What if it was actually poison? What if this strange system was just playing with his sanity before killing him slowly?

However, when Alex tried to shift his seating position, an excruciatingly sharp pain instantly radiated from all the joints in his body. His hands were covered in gaping, torn wounds, his bones felt crushed, and his breath was still coming in heavy gasps from the remnants of the deadly fight against the monster earlier.

His gaze slowly shifted toward the carcass of the giant black wolf in front of him. The size of the monster's body still successfully made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. If it hadn't been for that black sword and some strange stroke of luck earlier... he would definitely be dead for the second time.

And now... he was required to survive for seven days in a cursed place like this.

"Tch..." Alex gritted his teeth softly.

With his physical condition nearly ruined and the pain constantly torturing him... let alone a week, Alex was sure he wouldn't be able to survive until morning. In the end, out of sheer desperation, Alex had to conquer his fear.

Alex lifted the small bottle slowly to his lips. "If this really is poison... at least I die faster."

Without giving himself any more time to hesitate, Alex immediately downed the bluish liquid.

Gulp.

For a moment, nothing changed. The silence of the forest became suffocating again. But in the next second—

"Hah...?!" Alex’s eyes suddenly widened completely.

A dense warmth suddenly spread throughout his entire body, flowing like a gentle stream of fire that surged rapidly inside his blood vessels. The gaping wounds on his hands began to close slowly, knitting back together. The severe pain binding his body vanished bit by bit. Even the extreme fatigue that had almost destroyed his consciousness earlier disappeared without a trace.

Alex stared at both of his palms in disbelief. "What on earth is this..."

He clenched his fingers slowly. His body felt much lighter, and for the first time since waking up in this foreign world, Alex felt he had a hope of survival.

"...Maybe this system isn't entirely bad."

However, that inner peace only lasted for a brief moment. His gaze swept back across the dark and quiet expanse of the Forbidden Forest. Thick fog enveloped the giant trees around him, looking like an endless sea of ghosts. On top of that, the sound of another monster's howl still echoed faintly, answering from the distance.

This place remained a hell. Alex swallowed hard. "Seven days..."

He still didn't truly believe that he could survive that long. However, one thing was firmly planted in his brain—he did not want to die again.

Alex slowly took a deep breath, trying to gather his courage before finally speaking in a hesitant tone. "System..."

Ding!

A bluish light suddenly sliced through the darkness in front of his face, forming a vertical transparent screen that resembled a hologram. Alex’s eyes instantly widened as he stared at the rows of text displayed there.

━━━━━━━━━━

[Name: Aldric Stormblade]

[Level: 1]

[Title: The Forsaken One]

[Status]

Strength: 4

Agility: 5

Vitality: 3

Mana: 0

[Skill]

— Egoist System

— Inventory

— Limit Breaker

[Main Quest]

Survive for 7 days in the Forbidden Forest.

[Reward: ???]

[Failure Penalty: Death]

━━━━━━━━━━

"Aldric..." Alex fell silent, spelling out the name.

The name appeared again, triggering his memory. And in the very next second—

"GHH—!"

His head suddenly felt as if it were being struck by a massive, invisible hammer.

Alex’s body instantly fell to its knees on the ground while he held both sides of his head tightly. Pieces of brutal, foreign memories invaded his mind once more, forcing themselves to synchronize with his brain.

A middle-aged woman wept hysterically while tightly hugging a small child.

"Forgive me... Aldric..."

The sound of a whip swinging and tearing through skin. Screams of pain.

The disgusted and utterly contemptuous stares of nobles dressed in luxurious clothes.

"Useless trash."

"He doesn't even have a single drop of mana in his body."

"The illegitimate child only brings shame to the royal family's great name."

Flash after flash of those memories kept spinning rapidly like a broken roll of film. Until finally, a grand, crowned man appeared sitting upon a golden throne, staring down with a pair of cold eyes devoid of any emotion whatsoever.

King Theron Valemire—the biological father of this body's owner. Yet, that man had never once been willing to acknowledge Aldric as his own flesh and blood.

Alex’s breathing turned chaotic. The flashes of memory still continued, exposing everything. Aldric grew up as a royal disgrace, a child born to a low-born concubine.

He had no magical talent, no fighting ability, and even the physical condition of his body was far frailer compared to an ordinary commoner. He was insulted, beaten, until finally he was cast out.

Until the last, terrifying flash—

"Quick! Kill him before he has a chance to open his mouth outside!"

The royal soldiers hunted Aldric down like a wild animal in the middle of the forest. The people closest to him were killed without mercy, turned into an offering for the king's selfishness, to something the kingdom's people had never imagined before.

Demons.

In terror, Aldric kept running and hiding from those hunting him. Aldric had never thought that his father, the King, truly did not want him alive.

Aldric ran until, without realizing it, he was inside the forbidden forest. No wonder the soldiers were slow to pursue, because the forbidden forest was a very terrifying place.

Escaping from the royal soldiers chasing him, he instead encountered a fearsome monster. With a weak body, Aldric was unable to fight. He was attacked, ran continuously, until finally he fell into a deep ravine and died a tragic death.

Alex’s eyes slowly widened, realizing the whole connection. "So... I really entered the body of a dead person..."

Not taking over a living soul. Nor sharing a body with another consciousness. The original Aldric was indeed dead. And this empty body he left behind had now become entirely Alex’s property.

The forest atmosphere suddenly felt much more silent and oppressive. But—

Ding!

[Warning.]

[Presence of a human detected.]

Alex instantly froze stiff. "A human?"

[Warning: No intent to kill detected.]

Alex’s gaze instantly shifted warily, trying to pierce through the thick forest fog. With his footsteps suppressed as quietly as possible, he moved following the direction of his instinct and the system's guidance, until finally his steps stopped.

The body of a man was seen lying miserably under the roots of a giant tree. His body was covered in horrific torn wounds; even one of his arms looked nearly severed due to the slash of a sharp weapon. Fresh blood was still wetting the ground around him.

A few meters from the man's position, two corpses of soldiers in distinct royal armor lay rigid and lifeless. Alex’s eyes narrowed slowly. Royal soldiers; they were the people who must have been sent to hunt Aldric down.

The dying man looked up weakly with his remaining, fading consciousness upon noticing Alex’s presence. "H-Help..."

His voice was hoarse and barely audible, drowned out by the rushing forest wind. "Help me..."

Alex only stood silently where he was, staring coldly without expression. And right at the moment that silence was created—

Ding!

[Egoist Choice Detected.]

[Choice 1: Help the target]

— No reward.

[Choice 2: Ignore the target and take all his supplies]

— Reward: EXP +5

— Additional Reward: Basic Survival Pack

Alex’s gaze slowly froze on the glowing system screen in front of him. This mysterious system... was truly designed to push him to become a selfish and heartless human.

Alex stared at the dying man without blinking. Then, slowly... his fingers moved toward the man's bag.