After finishing his work, Jin activated his mask and left this camp, now devoid of life. He walked further in the forest and once he found a satisfying location, he checked to make sure that there were no wild animals around. Then, he scaled up a tree, took out a rope from his pouch, tied himself to the tree and drifted off to sleep after deactivating the heat-vision.

Cold murderer? Traitor? Monster? Maybe. But he couldn't care less. This world was one where might ruled. If you asked him if he didn't feel anything after killing a kid? He would reply that he was a kid too right now. It wasn't the first kid he killed either. He murdered a few in public during his entrance exam after all.

He wasn't a crazed murderer thirsting for blood either mind you but he was a realist. Those kids would have died either way. Killed by a beast, killed by the Empire if they ended up retreating, killed by the enemy country... It was better that their deaths could be used to propel his life forward.

So, yes, he would kill a lot from here on out. Would he regret? Probably not. That was just the best way for him to survive and live on. Did he really need to be the one to kill them? No. But since the situation was already this bad, he decided to.

What was he feeling now? How could he sleep after this small slaughter? Because he was used to death as someone who dodged it so many times in his previous life. He knew what 'kill or be killed' meant. And right now, he believed that his only way out was to kill. Not just those guys, he would kill others too.

For their plates. To get resources later on. To fool the ennemy and enter their ranks. ... To survive. And thrive.

Being the good guy was for heroes but the thing is, heroes die young. He had met many men and women who played themselves being on the 'right side' of things. The truth though? The winner is the right side. And him in all this? His goal never changed: to reach the peak in this world.

He would need ressources to do that. If he survived the crisis of course. And this was an opportunity to get some. Ugly as it was. Sometimes, opportunities were bad and not worth grabbing. Sometimes, they were morally wrong but worth grabbing. He was no longer an innocent kid. He knew. You couldn't reach the top while remaining 'clean'...

If he managed to reach the top, it would be over a pile of corpses. He was no stranger to the fact and didn't recoil at the truth. Instead, he could rationalize and profit from the worst. This was a war and people would die. He would try to survive by switching sides so he would need to kill his previous allies. That was all that there was to it.

He would make the most of the bad situation he had been put in.

As for the poor souls he would face? They could always kill him instead. He was prepared to die during every battle. He wasn't some kind of doofus who would spout nonsense that he could kill without repercussions. He would kill. He knew he might be killed too. But then so what? That's what being a warrior meant.

- Kill or be killed, and thrive through it -

As for forgiveness and repenting? He didn't deserve to be pardoned nor was he looking for it. He didn't see himself as a good man anyways. And he didn't care of others saw him. He did what he believed to push him forward on the greatest path towards his goal.

Morals? Honor? He tossed those to the trash a long time ago. What use were such things once dead?

As he drifted to sleep, he had already put aside the murders he just perpetrated. And he was sleeping soundly at that, undisturbed. His mental state forever calm and steady.

He woke up refreshed and the sun was already high up. It was a good weather. He untied himself after a quick check around his tree. No one around. He jumped down and went on his way silently.

It took a few hours for him to find another group. A trio this time. One of them was being fawned upon by the other two and seemed to have reached the spiritual warrior realm. As they were busy flattering his ego, he was busy asking for more and bathing in their praises.

Seeing as they had no wristbands, they were part of the Empire too. Jin was quite happy to see that the stronger one had a pouch to his side. Likely a space equipment like his.

He followed them from a distance, in hiding, and soon realized that they were truly not wary of their surroundings. It was still close to the castle city but still... They seemed aware that the crystal was stolen and such but unfazed about it. Why? He wasn't sure since they weren't talking about it. But it didn't matter much. He was eyeing the pouch with greed. There had to be some good stuff in there.

Jin took out two of the four swords he plundered last night and followed them for a bit longer before acting. He ran a bit and launched both swords like javelin towards the trio, impaling the two weaker ones straight away. He probably didn't manage to touch a vital area but having swords go through their torso was enough to put them down. They would likely bleed to death on the ground painfully.

Startled, the spiritual warrior turned around in a hurry only to see a strange cultivator with a kid mask of a snake taking a new sword similar to the other two. As he saw this, he turned serious and took out his own weapon: a spear with both ends being blades.

Then, he took a stance and coldly told Jin: "You're dead, fucker"