1 One

Frowning with pain, William slowly opened his eyes only to fall into a deep state of confusion. He remembered getting into a fight, someone wanted to kill a small child and he intervened, only... did he die while trying to save the kid?

As he tried to get used to the pain, he slowly took in his surroundings. He was sitting on the cold hard floor of a carriage, one that seemed old.

But why?

While pondering, a voice reached him from behind.

"Hey, Leylin! You woke up!"

Turning around he looked at a boy with blonde hair and green eyes. As he stared at him, memories started surging into his mind. Somewhat dazed, he gave him a questioning glance before calling out his name while still unsure. "You are... George?"

"Holy... that beating must have really injured you, eh? Are you okay?"

Seeing the guilty look on his face, Leylin slowly remembered what had taken place.

Turns out that the original Leylin Farlier was a dickhead. Not only was he a lazy pervert, but he was also a dumb idiot who tried to rape a girl with a bunch of simps flocking around her like flies.

Thinking of that, he suddenly remembered. 'What the... isn't this... eh, what was it called again? Warlock Apprentice or something?'

Although he forgot the name because it had been years since he had read the book about the batshit insane mage who would give the Joker a run for his money, he could somewhat remember a few things about that story, one of which being the beginning where a scientist from the future reincarnated as Leylin.

'Do I also have a AI system?'

Just as the thought crossed his mind, his mind went blank for a second when a screen appeared in front of him.

"Shit!" Leylin was so scared that he stepped back and hit his already injured head on the wall. "Ugh!" Clutching his head, he curled up on the ground with tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Fuck! Are you trying to kill yourself?! Here let me help you apply this bottle of medicine." Helping the injured Leylin sit upright, he applied all the paste inside his pot of medicine on the place where Leylin had been injured.

Giving him a thankful glance, Leylin decided to focus on the screen in front of him which George seemed unable to see.

[Welcome to the talent system! Choose an option!

1 - Talents

2 - Stats

3 - Quests

4 - Help

]

After looking through the options he promptly picked the last one.

[The talent system was created by ***** to assist beings into becoming better. It doesn't matter if you use it for banalities such as becoming the best pop singer or just the most charming guy in your neighborhood. The talent system can convert the karma generated by effort into points that can be directly used in a way that affects the very existence of the one who uses it. As a system that respects the law of conservation of energy present in most universes to prevent the Soul of the host from being corrupted, the system isn't omnipotent and can only give you a talent based on things that you have come across. Most hosts of the system will have somewhat around two to ten options for their first pick! Just be careful! Valuable things are expensive and only the first acquisition is free.]

Just as he finished reading, George patted his shoulder. "Alright! All done! How do you feel?"

Slightly taken back, he touched his head and realized it wasn't hurting as much as before.

"Amazing! I can barely feel the pain!"

"Haha! No worries, this is a secret knight medicine, my father even uses it during his training . It was meant for me to use during the journey in case of any accident."

Hearing those words, Leylin couldn't help but feel a little touched. The original Leylin was such a horrible brat, but he somehow made friends with such a generous person. Although it's true that he let him lie on the cold floor for hours, since he was willing to lend this type of useful medicine, it means he still cared for his friend.

"Thank you."

"Haha, why so serious all of a sudden? If you hadn't messed with my goddess, you wouldn't be needing this type of thing."

George was correct. If not for him messing around with Bessita, things would have been fairly well. Now, rather than having a good life, it was more like being surrounded by a bunch of savage airheads who can only resolve problems with violence and who think they can get into the bed of a princess by doing whatever she asks.

Thinking back on the beating he got, Leylin frowned as a murderous intent emanated from him. This bitch, he didn't even touch her and was just being more aggressive. No matter what his intentions were originally, the fact that he was almost murdered for something he didn't commit wasn't in line with how justice works. If he got the chance, he would make sure to rid the world of this venomous girl who is already capable of taking lives away.

As his thoughts went to that point, he suddenly stopped and shook his head. What's he doing? Did Leylin's memories affect him? How could he talk about killing so casually? No, he wouldn't do that, but he would definitely find a chance to make her pay the price for giving him such a harsh beating.

"Alright, here, take the bottle, you can apply the rest yourself. Dinner time is about to start and I don't want to be seen with you least they try to kill me too, hehe. Also, don't be too late or you will miss on the food."

Understanding his thoughts, Leylin chuckled. After applying the medicine to all the injuries on his body, he finally left the carriage feeling reinvigorated. No matter what, it was good to be alive.

Looking around, he found the queue to grab food and lined up to get his. Standing there, he could even feel many people giving him malicious stares. Shaking, it reminded him that he was still surrounded by enemies all around him. Worrying that it might lead to an early death, he couldn't help but think on the system.

It said that the first purchase would be free... should I? After pondering for a moment and seeing that there was still eleven kids in front, he made up his mind and opened the system's interface.

[Talent store:

TP: 0

1 - Recovery [Rare]: Recovery is a talent of unknown origin, it's considered rare because of almost never appearing in any universe's history, might be tied with an unknown fate. Although it's only considered rare, no one has ever seen its limits. Level 1 Recovery slightly increases the speed of recovering one's stamina, mental acuity, energy and health.

Cost: 0

2 - Revision [Rare]: Some times, a person is born with an innate talent, yours hasn't been awakened, but you can do it manually through the system. Revision is a scholar's best friend. Level 1 slightly increases your learning ability and gives you the power to recreate, upgrade, and recover any knowledge so long as your understanding of it is enough. Every scientist that defined an era surely owned this talent.

Cost: 0

3 - Knight: The years spent by Viscont John Farlier weren't all useless. Level 1 slightly increases your talent towards the knight techniques.

Cost: 0

]

Looking at the options, he couldn't help but frown. Although they all seemed good, none of it seemed like it would instantly increase his chances of surviving those bastards. After pondering for a moment, he decided to take the Recovery talent, no matter what, a Knight's training speed is defined by his ability to heal his wounds so that he can continue his training. No matter how lazy the original Leylin was, he was still the last descendant of generations of knights, his body already had the potential to become a skilled knight.

As soon as he bought Recovery, he felt his whole body being washed up in a manner he couldn't explain or understand, it was almost as if he had been submerged in a sea of holy water, his whole body almost trembled from pleasure. If he hadn't controlled himself, he might have moaned right then.

Feeling the changes in his body, he couldn't help but feel astounded. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that his injuries were a trick of his mind. He couldn't feel them anymore!

Fuck! Is recovery so OP?!

Before he could feel delighted by his choice, a frightening hoarse voice resounded.

"Hurry up!"

"Ah...! Sorry, Lady Angelia!" The boy apologized and quickly took his food with him.

Seeing the frightened boy took his bread and juice before leaving, another piece of memory resurfaced.

The boy had been scared by the scarred man wearing a black cloak. If he wasn't mistaken he was a powerful knight that the original Leylin scanned and discovered to be three times stronger than normal people.

Thinking how he would miss on that ability, he couldn't help but feel a little scared too. One of the reasons behind Leylin's ability to survive various calamities was exactly because of his chip. It could loosely tell how dangerous anything was and even served as long range threat sensor.

"Next!" Lady Angelia, a woman in a white cloak shouted and Leylin took a step forward.

After taking his food, he bowed following the proper etiquette and thanked the man before leaving.

The reason? To leave a good impression of course! Although his memories of what happened in the future of the novel was pretty much non-existent, he still remembered most of the beginning.

Even if it helped just a little, he would rather bet on the chance of the man helping him a bit then not having any help at all.

Sigh... let's hope that I will be able to have a descent conversation with this guy later. Since the book skipped on the contents of what they talked about, I will have to rely on myself to build a small connection with him.

Looking around, he saw that everyone either gave him disdainful glances or turned away the moment they set their eyes on him. Knowing he wasn't welcome, he went to a corner alone and sat behind a tree.

After taking a bite of the bread, he couldn't help but frown. The black bread tasted badly and it was quite hard. Compared to what he usually ate, it was trash.

Accepting his fate, he ate everything and drank all the juice.

Somewhat satisfied, he thought only for a moment before secretly glancing around him and going further away from the camp.

On the way, he found a wooden stick that weighed a little more and could barely serve as a substitute for a sword.

In his memories, there was a scene of a time his father taught him about the cross blade technique and the accompanying breathing technique.

Knights were special existences. They were the semi equivalent of wuxia novels martial artists. They could stimulate their life force to gain power beyond human levels, while also permanently improving their bodies in a way that made them vastly superior to a common human. In fact, a knight and a human could only be mistaken as being from the same species because they already operated on very different principles.

The cross blade technique was only a set of movements. It taught the proper way to manage a sword in battle and in various circumstances. The only reason he could remember it all was because of getting all those memories in but one day...

If he didn't want to forget them, he would have to start practicing from today onwards without rest.

Other than that there was also the breathing technique. The breathing technique was a way to stimulate the life force within an individual. His father explained that by doing so, one would be able to use it to enhance one's body. However, life force was something very chaotic and volatile, the more you use it, the more restless it becomes and the more damage it can cause.

Likewise, the benefits of being able to hold on for longer are undoubtedly very good. Unfortunately the Farlier's family technique wasn't good enough to hold on for more than 30 minutes. Something even the AI chip was able to notice through its analysis in the novel.

But I'm different, no? With recovery, I might not be able to learn the techniques to the level of Viscont John Farlier in mere days, but the progress of my body's enhancement will undoubtedly be much better... I hope.