Another World Mall

"Destroy your opponent!"

"Come with the intention to kill!"

Mara looked at the boy her age. The boy was holding a sword, while she was holding a long staff.

The moment they gave a signal, both of them lunged at each other, swinging their weapons as if they wanted to kill each other.

Mara stepped on the ground hard and struck the sword from below, kicking it up. Then, she stabbed the boy in the chest, causing his ribs to break and his heart to have a hard time pumping blood.

Unable to control his body, the boy coughed up blood and fell to the ground.

Mara looked at the boy and hit the chest one more time. She hit him so hard that the boy’s chest was crushed, including his heart.

"..." Mara didn’t say anything as the boy continued to glare at her, unwilling to die. Unfortunately, fate favored her.

"Very good." The instructor clapped with a big smile. "Next! Remember, only half of you can survive!"

Mara didn’t say anything. She just walked to the side, watching the match continue.

She had been wondering how long she had been staying here. If not for the fact that the winners would receive the awakening liquid, she wouldn’t realize that only ten years had passed.

She had been locked up in the white room for far too long that she felt like two or even three decades had passed.

In the end, out of 569 children who were brought to this place, only 80 of them survived to the very end.

After seeing how the boy suffered, she changed her weapon. She wanted to use something that could kill her opponent quickly.

As such, she was lamenting between a spear or a poleaxe. However, her choice eventually landed on the third choice she didn’t expect. A glaive.

"Use this and awaken."

Mara looked at the syringe on her hand as the instructor once again locked her up.

Mara simply stabbed herself, not knowing what she had injected.

’If I’m going to die, I’m going to die. There’s nothing more about it.’ Mara didn’t care about her life and death anymore.

She simply left it to fate. However, her killing intent suddenly surged.

"Khhh... Aaaghhhhh!" Mara suddenly screamed in pain as she clutched her head and fell to her knees. The killing intent erupted further, driving her insane. "Aaarrggghhh!"

’Someone... stop it please!’ Mara begged for it to stop, but the killing intent continued to torture her for several minutes.

The pain gradually subsided and her killing intent stabilized.

"Huh?" Mara was dumbfounded, wondering what was going on. She put her right hand forward.

She wondered if she was hallucinating, but it felt like there was a flame-like aura coming out of her body. Its color was dark red, as if it were a mixture of blood and the darkness of killing.

More importantly, it felt like there was a connection between her and this aura. When she tried to control it with her mind, it responded. Although it wasn’t responding completely, it actually reacted to her.

"This..." Mara was surprised, but her expression remained unchanged as though the muscles on her face were completely stiffened.

[Player 00003 - Online]

"What is this?" Mara was startled by the sudden appearance of a green screen. "Online? Who? Me?"

Mara looked left and right, wondering if the others were the same.

Suddenly, an alarm rang, signaling them to gather. The door was also open, so she walked outside.

"Hmmm...?"

The instructor gathered everyone together again. He asked, "Who among you felt or experienced something special after your awakening?"

No one raised their hands. Mara didn’t even bother to stand out, knowing that it would just cause a mess.

"Tsk. What weaklings." The instructor clicked his tongue.

As if trying to dispose of them, the instructor brought them to a place.

"This time, your mission is to kill beasts. Those who are able to hunt one hundred Tier 0 beasts first will receive free time. Make sure to gather everything here." The instructor gave them the tube to gather the essence.

In that instant, the competition began.

"Hmm..." Mara narrowed her eyes. She was curious about that power, but she didn’t want to stand out, especially in a place like this.

So, she cut down beasts without any special power. She simply crushed the beasts with her own ability.

After fighting for a whole day, Mara returned with one hundred beast essences. "I’m done."

"You’re the first. Very well, you are permitted to have free time tonight. Use this money to buy something." The instructor handed over ten union dollars. "Remember, you can’t say anything about where you’re staying. If you don’t come back before the moon is above your head, you will be hunted down."

"..." Mara nodded with a blank expression.

Mara just strolled in the city with such a messy appearance. The people were staring at her, but she couldn’t care less about their opinions.

She wondered what kind of things she could buy with this money. She didn’t even know the value of this money.

"Hmm?" Mara looked around, but she suddenly found her stomach grumbling. "Food?"

Mara suddenly sniffed something delicious.

She looked around and noticed the fast-food restaurant not far from her. Curious, she followed the scent and entered the restaurant, completely confused about the situation around her.

She had been locked up for so long. There was a time to learn about other things, but they never knew about common sense.

She walked to the counter.

"Hiii..." The staff was startled, seeing Mara. Regaining her composure, she suddenly noticed something. The staff asked nervously, but as gently as possible. "Hello. How can I help you?"

Mara simply took out the money that was barely enough for a meal and handed it to the staff. "Food?"

"This..." The receptionist was confused. She felt Mara was a bit weird. "This money is only enough for combo A: a hamburger deluxe with cola. Will that be fine with you?"

Mara just nodded, not knowing what it was.

It didn’t take too long for the staff to give her the food and drink.

Mara was confused at first, wondering if she should eat it like this.

When she was about to take a bite, the receptionist suddenly stopped her. "No, no, no. Wait. How have you been living all this time? You need to open the wrapper first. Here..."

She helped her and opened her first hamburger.

"Ohhhh!" Mara looked shocked, but she immediately took a big bite. She had been eating potatoes or raw vegetables most of the time. They barely fed the children in that facility.

It couldn’t even be considered food. This was probably the first real food she’d ever tasted and it would be remembered forever.

"Ohhhh!" Mara’s eyes flashed before she bit the straw.

"Ah, that’s not for eating. It’s for drinking. Just slurp it from the hole." The receptionist was completely speechless. This was the first time she had seen someone completely out of touch with society.

She slurped it before her body shook, liking it. "Oohhhh!"

She hurriedly devoured everything.

"What are you? Have you been starving all this time?" The receptionist shook her head helplessly. "You need to put the trash where it belongs. Don’t litter."

Fortunately, there was no one lining up, so the staff helped her. "This... Where do you live? Do you want me to bring you to your parents?"

"!!!" Mara was taken aback. She glared at the staff, her killing intent subconsciously coming out.

"Hiiii!" The staff panicked.

Seeing that scared face caused Mara to snap. She panicked and hurriedly ran away.