Chapter 2

A massive tear in space, a distortion of light. The gate was open, revealing a swirling vortex of dark, shimmering energy that seemed to pull at the very fabric of reality. The gate pulse with a strange energy, drawing them in.

"What is that?" Dave muttered, his voice shaking.

Before Fievel could respond, the ground beneath them began to tremble. The distorted light began to glisten. Glowing runes showed up, becoming clear, but none of them understood that foreign language.

The wind whipped around them, growing stronger and more violent by the second. Leaves and debris flew through the air as the vortex expanded, sucking everything into its gaping maw. One by one, the classmates were lifted off their feet and hurled towards the gate.

Dave tried to grab onto a tree, a rock, anything, but the force was unstoppable. Alice was clung onto Dave, but it was futile; they were both swept away, powerless to resist. Fievel however, knew he couldn't resist the force. And, lunged forward. The last thing he saw before plummeting towards the deep, bottomless, lightless gate was two figures struggling to run away.

Then, Fievel fell into the embrace of the darkness.

***

When Fievel opened his eyes, he found himself walking on the slope of a mountain.

There a lonesome mountain stood, Jagged and tall, it towered over the other mountains, cutting the night sky with its sharp edges.

A radiant moon bathed the slopes with its ghostly, pale light. The air was thick and humid, and the sky above was a swirling mass of clouds covering the sun. Snowflakes escaped from the embrace of the clouds and touched the floor. On one of the slopes, remnants of an old road stubbornly clung onto the rocks. Here and there, weathered paves was visible through the snow

The first thing Fievel felt was a dull ache radiating through his bloodied feet, he was shivering from the biting cold, the tattered threadback tunic he used was useless. His main source of agony was the wrists: hurting from the iron shackles. They sent a sharp, burning, striking pang of pain every time the metal shackles touched his bare skin. Oddly enough, his wrists were also the warmest due to the insulation of the metal.

Fievel looked left, right, up and down, his familiar classmates were nowhere in sight. Instead, he noticed a long chain winding down the road. With several dozens of people with hollow eyes shackled to it at small intervals.

In front of him, was a strong slave with broad-shoulders and a body that started to decay due to malnutrition. And behind him, was an aggressive slave, eyes filled with desperation. Everybody was clothed with pieces of ragged tunics, while the guards are using fancy whips and chainmail armour.

Fievel noticed a peculiar status screen. Fievel, who has read many webtoons, mangas and manhwas. Somewhat having an idea what this means, he saw shimmering runes that appeared into the air in front of him. However, these runes weren't the seemingly complex, divine, forbidden runes that appeared on the gate. Sucking him and his classmates into this unknown world.

***

Name: Fievel Xia

Rank: Dormant

Affinity: Sacrifice

Affinity Description: [The Sacrifice are livestock, the lowest of low. Death Row Criminals, Corrupted Nobles, Slaves are all branded with the Touch of Divine]

Traits: [Touch of Divine], [Sense of Indifference],

Speechless, Fievel stared at the runes, trying to convince himself that it wasn't real. Surely, he couldn't be that unlucky right?

WIthout paying attention, Fievel lost the rhythm of the steps and stumbled, pulling the chain down with his weight.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" the aggressive slave shouted "You stinky brat, I'll kill you!"

Fievel hurriedly dismissed the runes, which were only visible to him. And tried to regain balance. A moment later, he was once again walking steadily.

Suddenly, a voice came from somewhere further back. This one sounded gentle and intelligent.

"This mountain pass is usually warmer this time of the year. We just really had bad luck, and I would advise you to not harm this boy." One of the guards said.

"Why is that?"

Fievel turned his head slightly, listening.

"[Touch of Divine], are the Touch of gods. With the help of gods, mankind has made a tool to brand humans with Touch of gods. Their objective is to bring the most vile humans as a sacrifice to gods. The Touch of gods is more of a curse than a blessing, those who have it are fated to have a life full of agony and becoming a sacrifice to the gods. No one knows how or why, but this boy. He was born with the Touch of Divine and those who were born with it, are the dangerous amongst the perilous."

Their conversation was stopped by a young soldier riding a beautiful white horse. Clad in a simple leather cuirass, armed with a spear and a short sword, he looked dignified and noble.

"We will camp here!"

Following the head soldier's order, the Sacrifice stopped and fell to the ground, shivering and exhausted. The soldiers got busy herding the slaves into a tight circle, forcing them to share warmth, and lighting up a large fire in the middle of the camp. After that, they started tending to their horses. The heavy wagon carrying food, water and other cargo.

Soon, the bonfire was blazing, the stronger slaves tried to find a way closer to the fire, while the weaker ones, like Fievel, were on the outer circle; their backs trembled against the biting cold. However, any movement was hindered due to the shackles. Despite all the broad-shoulder slave's efforts to get closer to the flame, he ended up where he started.

Fievel, who didn't get a chance to read his other Affinity Trait, concentrated on the words 'status' and summoned the runes.

[Touch of Divine] Trait Description:"This passive trait is a mark of the gods. Allowing them to enter sacred places. However, without a cost, one must suffer unimaginable agony to receive the fruits of the divine"

Fievel knew the information the guards said was partially false. How could a mere mortal know the will of the gods after all. There is a blessing to this Trait, however Fievel didn't know any of it. He just had to find a temple.

[Sense of Indifference] Trait Description: "This Active Trait enables users to erase all emotions, and acts as a sixth sense. Calculating the best possible decision only activates when the user is in high mental stress."

'Ah! The gods must have blessed me.' Fievel always ran away from his problems, always scared of pain, therefore, easily stressed and frightened. With this trait, he could solve problems that his past self couldn't and move his body without thinking. Letting the Trait do all the work!