1: Clarissa

“Roar!”

A group of tall, muscular, green-skinned humanoids with sharp teeth, clad in simple leather armor and animal hides around their waists, wielding heavy weapons like spiked clubs, great sticks, and bone clubs, were rampaging through a village.

“Ah! Help me!”

“No!”

“Let’s fight them to the death!”

“Damn orcs!”

“Kill!”

The villagers in the village picked up their weapons and fought back.

However, the strength of this group, which the villagers called orcs, was simply too great.

Facing the villagers, who had almost no professional training, it was a one-sided slaughter.

And when the orcs broke through the male villagers' defensive perimeter and entered the village, even the women picked up weapons, but if the able-bodied men couldn't resist, how could they?

The villagers were massacred, and the old, weak, women, and children could not escape death.

This massacre did not last long.

About twenty minutes later, the entire village was covered in corpses and flowing with blood.

Hundreds of people died gruesome deaths, and the blood and slaughter made the orcs roar with excitement.

For them, invasion meant not only slaughter but also food!

The village's cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese, none of them escaped; all became their food!

Including... the dead enemies.

“Kill!” Suddenly, earth-shattering shouts of battle rang out from outside the village.

“Retreat!” an orc leader shouted, and the orcs quickly left with their various provisions.

Being extremely strong, they could even carry one cow in each hand, two more on their shoulders, and still run at full speed.

Several breaths later, a group of infantrymen in neat, standardized armor rushed in from outside the village.

They were a unit from the nearby Mans City.

“Damn orcs!” The commander's eyes turned red as he looked at the horrific scene before him.

As the Grosster Empire, a northern empire, they had the most conflicts with the orcs located in the Northern Barren Mountain Range.

Compared to the Dahra Empire and the Irus Empire located in the central and southern parts, the Grosster Empire in the north was brave and skilled in battle, with a fierce folk custom.

After all, constantly dealing with brutal orcs, they naturally developed this martial spirit and fierce folk custom, and at the same time, due to continuous orc invasions, the overall atmosphere of the Grosster Empire became more united.

“Captain! There’s a survivor!” a soldier suddenly shouted.

“What?! Quick, quick, quick! Medic, follow up!” the commander immediately shouted, afraid that this survivor would not make it.

...

My name is Clarissa, and I am 15 years old this year.

Three days ago, her village, Coco Creek Village, was attacked by orcs, and the entire village was massacred... She survived because her parents hid her in the family cellar.

However, orcs also search these places.

Others who did the same did not escape death.

She was just lucky that at the last moment, the army arrived.

The orcs did not want a conflict because they had already succeeded and taken what they wanted.

She, too, was lucky enough to survive.

She was brought back to Mans City by the army.

She temporarily settled in the Refuge.

The Refuge can be considered a unique place in the Grosster Empire.

Due to the orcs, villages and even small towns were frequently attacked by them.

It was good if they could defend, or if reinforcements arrived.

Those who couldn't wait or couldn't defend, like Coco Creek Village, were completely slaughtered and looted.

If there was ample time and too little food, women would even be spared and taken away by the orcs... reduced to breeding machines, dying within two years.

And one couldn't stay in the Refuge for long.

A maximum of 7 days.

Food and lodging were provided, though the food wasn't very good, just enough to fill one's stomach; as for taste, as long as it was edible, it was fine.

After 7 days, one had to leave the Refuge.

Clarissa could stay here for 4 more days, but she didn't want to just wait four days; she went out onto the streets every day to look for work.

However, 15-year-old Clarissa, due to malnutrition and her age, basically couldn't find any place that would hire her.

Her figure looked very thin, though her height, due to genetics, had reached 1.7 meters, which made her appear even thinner.

She had golden hair, but now it was dull and yellowish; her features were proper, suggesting she should be very good-looking.

But now, she hadn't bathed in days, and her body was covered in dust.

Wearing linen clothes, she was very... well, unbearable.

After three consecutive days, Clarissa couldn't find a single place that would give her work.

She was even chased away as a beggar.

At night, Clarissa curled up on a very simple bed made of wooden planks, with a thin layer of cloth haphazardly laid on it.

This was not a private room, but a collective dormitory for 24 people.

Hmm, considering Clarissa's current situation, you can imagine what kind of smells such a place had...

It wasn't that one couldn't bathe here; a hot shower was only provided once every 7 days.

The next one was in 2 days, so Clarissa had to wait 2 more days.

You mean cold water? It’s autumn now... In the northern Grosster Empire, not snowing at this time was already considered a slow onset of cold.

Not to mention being close to the Northern Barren Mountain Range, whose size was unknown.

That is where the orcs are located, a wild land, a snowy mountain range.

It was precisely because of the barren food and the orcs' brutality that they continuously invaded the Grosster Empire.

“What should I do...” Clarissa curled up; the night was very cold, but fortunately, it wasn't very airy here, and with a group of people, it was barely tolerable, although she only had a thin cloth blanket covering her.

“Girl! Do you desire... oh no, do you desire power?”

Suddenly, a young-sounding male voice echoed in Clarissa's mind.

Who!? Clarissa suddenly opened her eyes, sat up, and looked around; everyone was lying down, and by the dim moonlight, no one was talking to her at all.

“Who is it?!” Clarissa whispered.

“Don’t panic, I’m communicating directly in your consciousness. Just think what you want to say to me.”

“(Who are you?)” Clarissa suppressed her panic and thought in her mind, following the mysterious voice’s instructions.

“Emmm... how should I put it~ I’m just a system creator. What is a system? You don’t need to know. For now, you are the protagonist... Don’t ask what a protagonist is... In other words, you are the chosen one!”

“(Are you God?)” Clarissa suddenly thought of God; communicating directly in a person's consciousness... could such a method only be achieved by God?

“Hmm...”

In a certain void, a young man looked at Clarissa with a strange expression.

His name was Tang Ziheng, and he was the “God” Clarissa spoke of.

In reality, he was a transverser, no, it should be said he was... he didn't even know what he was, because he had died, and then inexplicably came back to life, opening his eyes in this void world.

He had obtained a system, and this system was for creating systems. It would randomly select a world from the endless void, then randomly select a “chosen one,” deploy a system, and earn source points.

Once these source points reached a certain level, they could allow him to revive and possess a true physical body.