After a few hours of walking, I made my way back home. I could sense Tyrone, which was a new and unpleasant experience. He tensed up, which I didn’t know I could feel from other people. After looking for a few moments and measuring his strength vs. my own, he wasn’t much. In a day, I had used my dragon power more than some experienced tamer did in months. Tyrone never left the city and showed no signs of leaving anytime soon. I doubted he practiced his skills very often, but he had a lot of confidence. That, to me, felt strange.

I was certain he had a gun with a silencer on it and wouldn’t hesitate to shoot me. But I had a plan; I shattered the front door into splinters, walked under Tyrone, and jumped. My hands shot through the floor, grabbed his ankles, and gravity plus my backpack helped me yank him through the ceiling. I slammed his face hard against the ground, and Tyrone’s gun flew out of his hand. When this was done, I planned to take that one too.

Tyrone struggled to his knees, and I threw myself down to slam my fist against the back of his head. His head bounced off the floor heavily. I got up and grabbed the gun just as mother ran out screaming.

“Zoran, what are you doing? Leave him alone right now. You’re ruining my life.” I shot Tyrone in the spine and watched his legs go limp. The man screamed in agony and started bleeding all over the place. My mother screamed until I pointed my gun at her vagina and pulled the trigger. She screamed even louder than Tyrone did when the bullet hit her. Blood pooled between her thighs as she stared at me in abject horror.

I tossed her a can of ointment, which she let me buy for my journey. Unfortunately, it expired months ago and didn’t heal injuries like the spray. She would have horrible scarring that would be really expensive to fix.

While she scrambled to open the ointment, I put my newest firearm in my backpack. Blood continued to pour out of her, and a part of me felt regret. It came from my body’s memories, but I was more than my mind. She had used me, and her boyfriends had abused me. I remembered broken bones and her makeup covering my bruises. So, I attacked her greatest too for making money. As for Tyrone, fixing a broken spine was expensive but possible. He planned to set me back for my entire career, and this would do the same to him. Really that should have been enough, but I checked the message boards and knew the outcome.

So, I stared down at Tyrone and decided. I stepped behind him raised my foot, and stomped down. I felt the massive presence of Professor Cacao just outside the house as I made my move, and a force seized my heart. My foot crushed Tyrone’s skull into powder and turned his brain matter into paste.

Men in black suits stormed the building with JCA stamped on their shoulder armor. They didn’t point their rifles at me; instead, they formed a column on either side of the room. Professor Cacao entered the room, and the men stood at attention. The king of the city had arrived.

“Help me, you promised.” A glance from the Professor silenced her.

Professor Cacao looked over the scene before smiling. “It seems your father’s method of nurturing works as intended. And I thought you would disappoint me and take up the position as manager to get revenge on poor stupid Tyrone.” Professor Cacao said.

This wasn’t in the forums; I was walking blind. Either I hadn’t bothered to look what happened next this early in the iteration, or the mods had completely transformed the world. Normally after killing them, I should be in the clear for a few days. Once I’m in the forest, they don’t bother coming after me. This was new territory. But then his words clicked, and I felt my blood boil.

“He knew this would happen. That’s why he sent her money. He wanted her to mistreat me so I would grow up to resent her.”

“That’s one way of looking at it. But you don’t know the full story. Let me say this. Your grandfather was a weak man and the son of my rival; his weakness caused your father a lot of grief. So, your father came up with a simulation to nurture his children in a way that drives out weakness. It has become the way of your family. If you manage to make it to Corinth to train in your father’s sect, you will be welcomed into the Kato clan.” Professor Cacao said.

Corinth city was seven sect cities and twelve normal cities away, they had the dragon attribute sect Grand Historia named for their massive historical records, and it was one of the richest cities in the world.

It would be destroyed in two decades by the rank 6 legendary waifu Apoklifu. If I wanted to get anything out of it, I needed to hurry or find a way to beat a rank 6 legendary with metal and night attributes. That wasn’t going to happen unless I really took advantage of the forums. Even then, with all the changes, it could be stronger, or a different legendary could destroy Corinth.

Subduing a powerful metal night type would be amazing. Legendary waifus had unique skills that couldn’t be found with normal waifus and even alternate versions of some skills that melded well together. Devil power of mecha power would be great additions to my skill set. A metal power skill would help regulate my current always-on dragon power. But none of that mattered in the present.

“What happens now?” I asked.

The Professor smiled, and his eyes glowed. A second later, a light beam shot through my mother’s eyes and dissipated before scorching the wall. She was dead before she hit the floor.

“Captain, come over here.” One of the JCA soldiers approached the Professor without hesitation. “I understand there was a monster attack in the city, and it was just reported oh, 7am tomorrow morning.” Professor Cacao said.

“Yes, sir, it was terrible; there were two casualties, and we’re looking for Zoran for questioning inside the city.” The captain said with a straight face.

“There you have it. Be gone by 7am from my city, or you’ll be tracked down for questioning. But, of course, you don’t want that to happen; your footprints are everywhere. Black waifus have such a terrible reputation too. Who knows what she convinced or helped you do?” The Professor said with a smile on his face.

He just killed my mother like he was squishing an ant. She was less important to him than a speck of mud on his lab coat. The centuries-old man was in his twenties and had crystal blue eyes and blonde hair. He smiled like an old grandfather and killed like a psychopath. Worse, he seemed to have felt nothing from his actions. I killed for revenge, but he killed for convenience. Being near the old monster made me feel sick. I needed to get out of the city and never look back.

I stared at the man as he smiled, unable to think of what to say.

The man cupped his face and whispered. “This is the part where you say, thank you for your help, Professor. I will be gone before first light. Thank you for the opportunity to prove myself.”

Like an actor recovering from stage fright, I repeated him. “Thank you for your help, Professor. I will be gone before first light.” I paused, and he rolled his hand, encouraging me to continue. “Thank you for the opportunity to prove myself.”

The man smiled even grander. “What a polite young man you are. I can only say it's no problem. I look forward to seeing how you turn out. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be the second Waifu emperor of your generation after Alex, of course.” The Professor said with a smile.

I read the message as try to upstage my grandson, and I’ll kill you. “Of course, I’ll work hard to be the second Waifu Emperor of my generation,” I said.

“Well, we’re done here. I’ll see you in a decade or two if you don’t end up dying in the forest. Good luck, kid.” The Professor said before he left, escorted by his armed guards.

I stared down at the blood-soaked carpet mother made me clean regularly and the chunks of brain matter buried in it. Finally, I walked over to the white couch that was somehow pristine and started laughing, then I cried.

I stared at my mother’s burnt-out eye sockets when I finished. It was the last time I would ever see her, and I hated her so much, but I didn’t want her to die. I only wanted to hurt her like she let me be hurt. I wanted her to pay money to restore herself, but that was it. She wasn’t supposed to die. This was supposed to be heaven, so why did I feel lost, alone, and terrified.

When I looked at her corpse, I saw the same blonde hair as Professor Cacao. Her bone structure was similar in some places and different in others. When I looked in the bathroom mirror after washing my hands for the seventh time, I saw similar eyes to his. My black hair was different, but our faces were similar.

I cleaned the blood and brain matter off my boot in the sink before leaving the house. Anyone could look in with the door destroyed, but no one did. No one would be dumb enough to investigate after Professor Cacao was here. A mountain of corpses could be in here, and no one would say a thing. It was the power of the name Cacao in Jackson city.

When I reached the gate, there was a precession of JCA agents pulling a stretcher through the gate. Someone had managed to get back in sight of the gate after being wounded. They must have been either extremely lucky or powerful.

As I moved towards the gate, the guy raised up and looked at me with haunted eyes. “Save her for me. If you can rescue Clarice, then I’ll owe you.” He said before losing strength and falling back.

“Don’t listen to him, kid. Nothing good will happen from looking for a tribe of horny goblins. They’ve probably raped his dinofu a hundred times already.” A JCA agent said.

Knowing that he lost his dinofu didn’t sit right with me. How would I feel if I lost Alice?

I took my tablet out of my bag and opened the map app. “Mark the tribe for me. I’m going to rescue her.”

“You’re making a mistake, but fine.” The JCA agent marked my map, and I made my way to the gate.

I needed to wipe out the tribe and return the waifu before sunrise. That was something Professor Cacao wouldn’t do.