Chapter 1: Who Am I?
Expanse Origins is a game I had started playing when I was in middle school, as a now middle aged man, I had spent more than 30 years playing the game. The reason?
I liked the expansive world, the seemingly endless ways to build your character, and difficult fights.
Playing Expanse Origins had been my hobby for three decades, and you would think I would be happy to be able to experience more of it. Well, I shared the same sentiment.
Until now.
I was currently standing in front of a mirror, and looking back at me was not the same black haired 40 year old man I was used to. Instead I was looking at a teenage boy with purple eyes and long white hair.
I originally didn't know who I was looking at, until a familiar screen appeared before me.
[Theodore Crowley]
[Title: Extra]
[Strength: 10]
[Stamina: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Dexterity: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Spirit: 10]
[Charm: 10]
[Luck: 1]
[Skills]
None
[Gifts]
None
I remembered the name of Theodore Crowley, but I wasn't happy or excited to be him.
Theo only appears early in the game, not even the entirety of Act 1, as a fallen noble. His parents died when he was younger, and he had taken the position as the family head.
However he was young, and impressionable, so he was easily manipulated by his uncle who told Theo exactly what he wanted to hear.
His uncle, Raymond Crowley, was going to stage a coup d'état. He then exiles Theo and takes over the family. Later in Act 10, he leads the family to absolute ruin by joining hands with demon fanatics, and when the fanatics are defeated the family is executed by the royal family.
Theo ends up living a poor man's life, and eventually is found dead on the street. Having died of hunger, by his former classmates. A truly sad life.
But now it was MY sad life.
I didn't want to die pathetically, so I would have to make moves immediately. First things first, I had to deal with my uncle. The only reason for this was because the Crowley family was a noble family, they were also incredibly rich, and I didn't like that he was trying to take what was mine.
With the current timeline, I had three months before my admission into Erius Academy, where most of the first part of the story would take place.
I walked away from the mirror and began to contemplate my first move.
"Raymond has a lot of support, but that is only because the rest of the family thought he was useful. However they don't know he has already joined hands with a cell of demonic fanatics here in the capital, and the money he is making through 'smart investments', is funded by them. I think the most logical move would be to cut off the source of money."
I was soon walking out of the house, wearing a black cashmere sweater and some tan pants, making my way to the garage.
When I got there, I told one of the drivers to take me to the church. Soon I was sitting in the back of a large black SUV driving down the highway.
I pulled out my phone, but found I didn't know the code. I then realized I didn't know any personal details about Theodore, which meant I had to go to different places like banks and stuff to change my pin codes. It was annoying, but at least it was easy to change those things.
Soon we pulled up to the largest church in the capital, The Church of Sun, and I stepped out.
'Bastard didn't even open the door for me... I really am not respected in this family.'
I grumbled in my head, but I didn't voice my opinion since I was fairly sure even this driver could beat me to death. Instead I focused on the building before me.
The religion of Sun was simply one that believed there was a god who looked over the day cycle of the planet, and that prosperity was brought by praying. Saris, the God of the Sun, was a real being. Later in the game, the Gods would reveal their presence, and then the emergence of their Apostles would come to light.
Anyways, the reason I was now sitting in a confession booth in this church was simple, I was going to 'leak' the information to the church and let their inquisitors deal with it.
"Hello, Child of The Sun, what do you wish to confess?"
"Ah.. Hello father.. I... I have a secret, that I shouldn't know, but I feel it isn't right to keep quiet about. I know that eavesdropping is wrong, but I am worried someone can get hurt if I don't say anything."
"Mmm... Indeed you did someone wrong by eavesdropping on someone who trusts you, but now that you have, you know something that could cause people to get hurt if you don't say anything. The sun, shines brightly and proudly, even when the night is dark we still see it from the reflection of the moon. You should do what you think is right, no matter how dark it may seem, and you should do it proudly."
"Thank you father. That gives me the courage to tell the appropriate people... Father, I hope Saris can forgive me, for I have to betray my uncle's trust... Father, will I be punished for my uncle's connection to demon worshippers?"
There was a long pause.
"Are you... Involved with them?"
"No father! Of course not!"
I put on my best acting.
"I have no ties to those heretics, I only happened to over hear my uncle talking about something with money and 'the Black Lions Inn'. I didn't have anything to do with them! Will... Will I really be punished by the sun God for this?"
There was a small sigh of relief, before I heard the priest's voice again.
"No, child you are simply someone who is surrounded by the those who are lost from the light. Confessions remain confidential, but may I ask who your uncle is? Perhaps I can give him some advice to convince him to cut off his ties with demon worshippers?"
I smiled.
"Of course, father. My uncle is Raymond Crowley."
****
It took less than a day for all the demon worshippers and the people associated with them to be apprehended. My uncle was one of them.
After it was publicized that he was involved with aiding the demon worshippers, I quickly put out a public statement, denying any and all knowledge of his association with the heretics.
The Church thankfully credited the bust to me, and with that there was some good press for the Crowley family. However my work wasn't done. Raymond was simply a part of the infection of my family. I had others to deal with, who I couldn't use the church to deal with, since their hands were clean of this. Instead they were just people who were untrustworthy, and I wouldn't allow to stay in the family.
The next three months were going to be busy.
****
"Crowley's Going Missing"
"Theodore Crowley: A Monster in Human Skin"
"The Mad Crowley House"
I shook my head as I read headlines in the back of my car. I glanced up slightly at the driver, who was different than the one I had before, and watched his reaction to my annoyance.
Sure enough, he was looking at me scared through the rearview mirror.
People saw me as a murderous monster, since I had ordered for multiple hits on my family members, and had exposed many of their misdeeds.
This had earned me the fear of a lot of people.
'Even though I am getting rid of bad people.'
I simply clicked my tongue and looked out the window.
It had been three whole months since I had been transmigrated, and not much has changed with my system. The only notable things were that I had gained a few new skills, but my stats had remained the same since I couldn't dedicate time to raising them. I was too busy with my purge.
[Theodore Crowley]
[Title: Extra]
[Strength: 10]
[Stamina: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Dexterity: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Spirit: 10]
[Charm: 10]
[Luck: 1]
[Skills]
Keen Eye (F-Grade 10%)
Instinct (F-Grade 5%)
[Gifts]
None
However there was something new.
[Buffs]
Priest's Blessing (F-Grade) +10% Recovery of Stamina {∞}
[Debuffs]
None
[FP: 0]
I discovered I am able to edit my buffs and debuffs. I received the priest's blessing when I was doing a publicity event after the bust on the demon fanatics, and found that this was my golden spoon in this world.
It took a resource called Fate Points, which I had not known I had until I discovered my edit feature. I was able to change the duration pretty easily, however if I wanted to increase the effects I had to use FP. When I was confused about how to get FP, a system message appeared that told me that I would get them from being involved in the story.
The Priest's Blessing I received helped a lot. I saved myself from almost an hour of sleep a night, which was helpful when I was especially busy.
Even now I felt very full of energy even though I had been in the car for over two hours.
The car ride was from the royal city to the academy. My admission was guaranteed as I was a high ranking noble, having the title of Duke, I could enter the school through my name alone.
The academy was where future heroes and pillars of the kingdom were raised. The normal entry process was to prove you had talent worth nurturing. Currently, I didn't have that talent, but I could get it. Gifts were awakened seemingly randomly, and were tailored to the person.
Skills could be gained by repetitive actions, or under certain conditions. Since I had knowledge of everything in the game, I had already planned how to get some useful skills.
I just had to hope my gifts were going to awaken soon.
"Sir, we are here."
I looked away from the window and looked at the front of the car. Ahead of us was the gate to enter the academy, and this was as far as personal vehicles were allowed. Inside the academy there was public transportation, while most would be able to walk everywhere they wanted with ease.
My driver soon opened my door, letting me step out, and he then grabbed my luggage from the back of the car. He carried it to the entrance, where we were then told to leave the luggage, and the students were to head inside as their entrance aptitude test was going to start soon.
'Entrance Aptitude Test. The first scene in the game took place here, as the main characters would have their unique skills showcased here. It was relatively unimportant to me, since the test was basically just a way for teachers to see potential starlets.
Since I had no important skills, I planned to slack off.
****
"Why did we have to get HIM on our team?"
"Shh! You know what they say about him... He is suspected of having killed off more than 40 members of his family."
I glanced at the two teammates I had, but I didn't pay much attention. Instead I was focused on my other two teammates.
'Alice Sanders, and Olivia Robinson. Two important supporting characters. Alice was from a large merchant family, and Olivia was a talented alchemist who would gift the MC with potions.'
The two of them were on the main character's team in the test.
Knowing this, I looked at a person who started to walk towards us.
'This is our final teammate, and the main character too. They look like a randomized character... Well I guess since we don't have someone playing the game, there is no one to customize the character. I wonder what skills they have?'
I inspected the main character while they were introducing themselves to the rest of the team.
[John Smith]
[Title: Hero]
[Strength: 10]
[Stamina: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Dexterity: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Spirit: 10]
[Charm: 5]
[Luck: 70]
[Skills]
Swordsmanship (C-Grade)
[Gifts]
Heroic Will
Unwavering
Decent skill, and two good gifts. I also now knew that the hero was going to go down the swordsman path. I started thinking about how I could assist the hero, either being a ranger or some sort of mage might be fun.
We were walking through the forest, while I was distracted with my thoughts of future plans, when I felt a tingling sensation in the back of my neck. I didn't know what it could be, but I thought it was my Instinct skill warning me of something.
So I bent my waist at a sharp 90 degree angle, and felt something speed past me. When I looked up, I was mortified for two reasons.
One, I saw that I had been able to dodge an arrow that was aimed for my head.
Two, and the worst part, was that because I dodged it someone else was hit.
Pinned to a tree, John Smith had a black arrow going through his head, and he died on the spot.
I was so stunned I couldn't move.
'Th-the hero... is dead?'
"Theodore! We have to move!"
"Huh?"
I stupidly said as I turned to look at Alice, who was yelling at me, and pulling me to the side. I still hadn't collected myself, but I moved per her orders.
We soon found ourselves in a part of the forest where there were thick bushes and many trees. There was no longer a path we could follow, but I think that was the least of our concerns.
The original goal was to simply follow the path, fight the enemies along the way, and make it to the end of the path.
"SHIT! The communication devices they gave us aren't working! They're jammed by something!"
One of the boys who had been talking about me earlier was frantically fiddling with a magical walkie talkie type of device.
The other one was looking around frantically, but the two women were different.
Alice was biting her nail, thinking hard about what was happening, while also trying to figure out what the best next move is.
Olivia was highly on guard, while she snuck a glance at me every so often.
"Theodore, you need to snap out of it!"
Alice said to me. I looked at her again, still slightly in a daze, but a little more reeled in from my shock.
"I-... Sorry, I just didn't expect him to suddenly die..."
"Yeah well.. The arrow was aimed at you so I guess you're shaken up by that too."
I simply nodded before collecting myself. The past three months I had seen a lot of people die, and at my orders too, so I wasn't shaken by the death itself. I was more thrown off by all the thoughts of how the story was going to deviate without the hero.
But those thoughts can wait.
I took a deep breath, before standing up.
"First things first, we have to find a way to signal for help. I suggest we do the simplest thing, and start a fire. Olivia, you use Earth Magic, remove the grass from around this tree. This way the fire doesn't spread too far."
"How did you know I use-"
"Alice, set the tree on fire. You two, I want you both to hide. They seem to be after me, so if you hide you'll most likely get ignored even if they find you. Just stay within earshot distance of the tree, in case help comes."
With that everyone began moving. I simply stayed in place, examining the surroundings for the best places to ambush me from. This allowed me to identify a few blind spots, and I paid close attention for any movements from there while feigning ignorance to those blind spots.
It was less than a minute later that there was a large tree burning in front of us. The whole time I was walking back and forth. It was only a matter of time before the teachers find us, so we were not the ones who were on a time crunch.
Hence why I was walking the specific path that I was too. While it looked like I was pacing nervously, I was actually walking between two lines of sight, from the spots where I calculated would be the best places to attack from.
It happened when we heard voices from the side.
"ARE THERE STUDENTS OVER HERE?"
Alice turned and shouted.
"YES! WE ARE HERE!"
I also turned, but the moment I did I felt a familiar tingling sensation.
I immediately threw myself to the ground, completely shoving my face into the dirt, but I didn't care. An arrow whizzed by where I was standing, and I watched it stab into a tree.
Immediately I moved again, moving to where I knew would be safe from the spot where I was attacked from.
There was only one angle where they could attack me from, so I knew exactly where he was. I began hiding behind trees, weaving between trees during the intervals of their shots, and moving sporadically.
The rest of my team was already running towards the voices from earlier, yelling about someone trying to attack us.
While their yelling got more frantic, the attacks towards me started to speed up as well. The assassin was nervous, and trying to kill me as fast as possible. I was desperately running around, but they had switched their positioning, and now I couldn't track where they were.
Instead, I began running towards the voices from earlier, but that soon proved to be the wrong move.
I saw the teachers talking to the students, and I felt relieved. As long as I made it to them, I would be safe.
But in that moment where my rationality broke due to the glimpse of the prospect of safety.
While I was taking a step, I shouted to draw the attention of the teachers, and when they turned to look at me an arrow pierced into my side. I felt my body lift from the ground. Which was a very unique sensation, but the pain the followed was one I could do without.
I saw the real time reaction of the teachers as I flew through the air, and I must say it was quite quick. Immediately two teachers sprinted ahead, one caught me while the other immediately formed a shield around us. One of the teachers stayed back to defend the other students, and with that there was no longer any risk of my death.
Perhaps because of the pain, or shock, I passed out immediately after finding that I wouldn't die.
****
"Tsk! The fucker won't die from just that... I should have laced the arrow with poison or something. Man, why the fuck was that kid so hard to hit anyways?"
A man in a dark green robe was running through the forest, with a bow strung on his back, and was carefully watching his surroundings while he ran.
"Let's just get the fuck out of here, I'll tell the guild later that I failed, but they won't punish me. After all getting into the academy itself is already super hard. We'll have to tell the client to increase the bounty, since they'll be watching him no-"
"Who's this client you speak of?"
It was a voice that was absolutely enchanting, but the assassin knew better than to be fooled by the sweet voice.
'Killing intent!'
He immediately used a skill to teleport a few meters away, a skill that had allowed him to sneak into the academy, and also the reason why he was such a valued assassin. Teleportation was a rare skill.
However the single most defining thing about the assassin, was neutralized instantly.
"Where are you going? You think you can try to kill a student and get away for free?"
The assassin was swiftly slammed into the ground, from a swift kick from the owner of the voice. A giant crater had formed from where the assassin hit the ground, and with a groan he barely managed to roll over to look at the person who overwhelmed him so easily.
There stood a woman in a long red dress, with black high heels and long black hair. The assassin instantly recognized her.
'Berserker Luna... I have the worst luck...'
"Y-you said something about not getting away for free? How much do you want?"
"Mmm? I did say something like that earlier... Hmmm... You tell me the name of the client who ordered the hit, and I'll let you go."
Sighing, the assassin was frustrated to no end.
"You know I can't give you the na-"
With a crunch his skull was crushed under her heels.
"I know, dumb fuck."
The woman pulled her heel from the skull of the dead man, and rolled his body with her foot.
"From what I know... The Crowley kid is considered useless, and insane? I wonder if that's true? Someone clearly thinks he's a threat."
With a smile the woman disappeared from where she was standing.
****
My whole body felt warm and comfortable. More comfortable than I had ever been, in either of my lives. I barely managed to force my heavy eyes open, and saw that I was in a hospital room. I was just able to barely remember something important.
[Buffs]
Priest's Blessing (F-Grade) +10% Recovery of Stamina {∞}
Rapid Recovery (A-Grade) +200% Recovery of Health, Calming Effect, Feels Comfortable {2 Hours Left}
I made a quick change, before closing my eyes and sleeping again.
Rapid Recovery (A-Grade) +200% Recovery of Health, Calming Effect, Feels Comfortable {∞}
I had the best sleep of my life after that.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone