Maru was just a young boy who had just graduated from school and was busy preparing for entrance exams to get into some good university.
But his luck has always been rotten, and he’s always been in many unlucky situations in his life.
"Sigh, today definitely is the unluckiest day of my life..."
The young boy walked slowly while dragging the chains binding his hands and feet along with the other prisoners like him.
All of them were being forced to walk towards a wide hall where they would gather and enter a teleportation portal, batch after batch, and then they would be sold off to the Orcs.
"I knew I was quite unlucky... but to think that I will die in such a way, I am sorry, Mom, dad... I apologize for being such a useless son..."
The young man shook his head in despair, helplessness, and defeat.
"Don’t be so pessimistic, bro; it’s not like there’s no hope at all. Changes always happen at the last minute ya know?"
Just when Maru was sighing in helplessness at his fate, the voice of another young man walking beside him entered his ears.
Maru glanced towards him and saw that the boy was wearing tattered clothes and was also bound with shackles like him.
He had bluish hair and eyes and had a confident expression on his face.
"Oh, aren’t you the new guy that just came?... Sigh, I was also as confidant as you when I just got caught... I have been here for half a month now and I have lost all confidence..."
Maru shook his head, glanced at the Orc warriors stationed nearby, and spoke in a suppressed voice.
"You are new and just got kidnapped, so you don’t know; these fellow treat us very poorly and they beat us whenever one of their comrades falls in the hands of the ’Dark Star’..."
"Truthfully speaking, I can understand why these orcs are so unhappy and frustrated just at the name of our ’hero’... he’s butchering them crazily every day, after all..."
Maru isn’t an awakener and has no idea what the reason is why everyone is so afraid of a young dude who’s barely just 18 and has only recently reached S-rank.
But he feels pride whenever he thinks about that person; after all, that person is fighting out there even now for the nation’s sake.
"Sigh, if only I was as powerful as him... I wouldn’t have fallen in this ditch..."
Hearing Maru’s words, the blue-haired guy spoke with a smirk.
"Then why not try to resist? Maybe you can also get the power to actually go against the world..."
Maru was taken aback by the guy’s words and hurriedly looked at the Orc warriors in fear to confirm if they had heard it or not.
"Are you insane!? If they heard you saying this, they would kill you!"
The blue-haired young man wasn’t fazed by Maru’s concern-filled words and replied in a calm tone,
"You are not able to go against them because you are in fear of their power; that’s the fundamental difference in being ’ordinary’ and being ’extraordinary’...’
"Those who become ’extraordinary’ have the courage to be one... otherwise, no amount of talent will make you move forward..."
Maru was stunned by the young man’s words and questioned immediately,
"You speak as if you have the courage to resist. Aren’t you also a prisoner here? What are you trying to tell me?"
The young man smiled at Maru’s words and didn’t say much in return, making him confused.
Just as Maru was about to question him further, the group of prisoners reached the giant hall and an Orc wearing luxury clothes spoke in a loud voice,
"All of you! Get into the teleportation circles obediently! Anyone who resists will be killed on the spot!!"
"Don’t you pathetic worms dare resist! There’s no one who will come to save you! This will be the last time you are able to walk freely!!"
"You better walk into the circle on your own, otherwise we also have many other ways to get you to walk, hahaha..."
Several other orc warriors stationed nearby also started to laugh and sneer loudly at the same time.
The men and young boys were still able to keep themselves from collapsing, but young children and women among the crowd were already on the verge of despair by now.
Men might only get killed and eaten alive by these cruel Orc, but women have it even worse; they will have to suffer a fate worse than death before they actually die.
Each one of them knew what was coming, and they were all on the verge of collapse by now.
Maru looked at this scene and clenched his fists in anger and helplessness.
"I don’t want to just die like this... I promised my parents that I will make them proud... I promised my mom that I will be a son that she could brag about to others..."
"I don’t want this to end up like this... why am I so unlucky..."
Just when Maru was starting to feel despair, the bluish-haired young man jabbed his sides lightly and spoke with a smirk,
"If you don’t want it to end like this, then there only one way out... Resist until the end, break the predetermined fate, break the curse of being unlucky by forcing that ’luck’ to bow down to yourself..."
"A person might die, but their deeds and ideologies live on for a long time to come..."
Maru felt an odd sense of confidence arise in him after hearing that young fellow’s words.
"B-but, what can I do against such powerful people? I am not even an awakener... Can a talentless person like me even become ’extraordinary’?"
At that question, the blue-haired young man smiled and replied in a very calm tone,
"Why not? Of course you can be ’extraordinary’..."
"If you have the confidence to challenge fate itself, won’t you already be an ’extraordinary’ being by then..."
That sentence was spoken with such confidence that it made Maru feel baffled and puzzled at the same time.
He himself knew that he had no talent to be an awakener, yet the other party seemed to think that it was possible for him to reach that ’extraordinary’ category of superhumans.
Maru could not understand why that strange young man seemed to have such confidence in him and why his words were hitting the exact weak spot in his heart so accurately.
Before Maru can continue to ask questions, the loud voice of the orc standing in front of the prisoners rings out in the hall again.
"Hahahha! Cry! Despair, like the pathetic worms that you are! AHH~ I love this smell of fear and this feeling of dominance!"
"Ahahaha!! There’s no one who can save you today!"
Just when the orc was laughing at the misery of the poor humans, a loud voice interrupted him.
"There is someone who will save all these people today."
*Step* *Step*
A noise of footsteps rang out as a young man with bluish hair walked to the forefront and stood opposite the Orc who was belittling everyone.
"You don’t really think that you guys can just do whatever you want, do you?"
Everyone was stunned at that young man’s daring words, and even the people crying in despair stopped for a moment to look at him.
Maru was shocked when he noticed that the young man who was standing beside him just a second ago had already gone, and he was already standing in front of the orc.
Compared to that gigantic three-meter-tall Orc, that young man looked tiny and weak.
Seeing him act so brave, all the prisoners felt pity and sympathy for the young man, and they knew that he was likely done for.
He will likely get killed by the Orcs and will suffer a lot.
"AHAHAHAHAHAH! You are one courageous rat!! How dare you question me!! You pathetic worm!!"
The orc laughed loudly along with the other orcs, who stared at the young man with a mocking smile.
"If I am a pathetic worm, aren’t you also a ’worm-eater,’ a lowly being who’s only capable of picking on the ’weak’ and does not even have a ’path’ to greatness...’
"Hmm, in fact... you have already cut off your own ’path’ forward by walking into the wrong area... a faint bit of corrosion is also present, very fitting, I would say..."
The young man’s voice had no fear in it, and instead it made the Orc feel confused and a bit panicked.
Seeing this situation, Maru finally understood what the young man was trying to teach him.
Maru was already going to die; if he complied with the orcs, he would be teleported to the orc nation, where he would be butchered. He will surely die no matter what, and if the final outcome is already death, why fear it then?
Why fear death if you already know that it’s inevitable? At some point, you can just go and openly defy fate and challenge death till your last breath!
If his final outcome was already death, he would prefer dying while fighting for a better cause at least!
Maru’s feet moved at that moment, and he also came over to stand beside the young man and spoke out loudly.
"I do not fear you! Even if I die today! I will not be a coward who never spoke out the truth! You Orcs who only dare to bully the weak, you will surely face your due punishment too!!!"
Maru’s voice carried the courage to defy fate, the courage to go against his predetermined ’path’ in life and walk on a new ’path’ that he wanted for himself.
[Ding! The ’World’ has recognized your ’ambition’!]
[Ding! You have awakened the power to control ’mana’!]
[Ding! Congratulations, you have become an awakener!]