Pine's father died, leaving him and his sister Lunar with a huge debt on their backs. His last words were 'I wish I could have been a better parent'. As far as Pine was concerned, that was the only thing both his parents had in common, leaving behind huge debt and meaningless wishes. 

Pine had to drop out of school to look after Lunar and try to pay off his debts. He took on odd jobs, several at that. After a few years, he managed to pay off his debts. He was planning on moving to a safer neighborhood, but the loan sharks weren't having that. 

They were not willing to let go of a hard-working young man that easily. They kidnaped Lunar and threatened to kill her if he wouldn't keep giving them money. Pine would not give in and attempted to save his sister but was shot while trying to sneak into their base. 

On his last breath, as the world was fading away, he understood why his parents left meaningless wishes. He laughed to himself. 

"I wish I could have been a better brother."

He closed his eyes, knowing it was the end for him. 

" You have been selected as a contestant for world exploration society. If you would like to join, reply with a 'yes' and you will be granted a new life. If you would not like to join, reply with a 'no' and you will die here. "

" What! What is this? World exploration society? Is this some kind of dream? "

" Please make your choice in, five. "

" Yes! "

" Maybe this time, I can save my sister! " He thought to himself. 

" Congratulations to the host for getting a new life! "

When he opened his eyes, Pine found himself lying on a bed in a large room furnished with red and black. On the walls, four torches were lit. They seemed to redden the room. He could feel his body ache all over. 

"What in the world?"

As he was still wondering, the door to the room opened and a woman walked in. On sporting him, she ran to his side. 

"Moon! Oh my son! How are you feeling? Mom was so worried about you! Let me check on you, my son! I'm so happy you are alive !"

" What! What the hell is this place? "

"Don't you recognize your room, my son! What happened to you? Did you lose your memory?" 

Moon looked at the woman in front of her, then looked around the room. He then looked back at the woman who seemed to be in tears. He tried to recall how he had found himself there but nothing came to mind. All he could remember was the voice he heard that told him he had a new life and something about a society. 

"So this thing doesn't come with a manual, guide or something? Now what am I going to do? I don't even know what I am!"

"What's wrong with you son? Have you perhaps gone mad?"

"What?"

Moon then realized that he was thinking out loud. He looked at the woman and smiled awkwardly. He then remembered that the woman had caked him son. He guessed that in the new life he had gotten, this woman was his mother. He remembered that in his previous life, he and his family didn't have a happy life. There were always people perusing them because of debts and bills. He recalled how there was nothing he could do to help his family. He took this life as a time to redeem himself. He swore to protect his family from every bad thing with all his strength. Starting with his mother. 

He snapped out of his thoughts and looked at his mother. Now he had to come up with a way to convince te woman that he was his son. After all, one could never lie to a mother about their child. He stretched out his hands and held the woman's hands.

"Who are you? You are so beautiful. Perhaps, do we know each other?"

As soon as she heard those words, the woman was shocked. She burst out crying. She covered her face and cried for a while. On seeing this, Moon gave her a hug to comfort her. There was really nothing else he could do. He was not her son after all. He thought that he might as well pretend he lost his memory in order to get more information faster.

"Please don't cry, miss. My heart aches when I see you cry like this!"

"My son! Have you really forgotten everything? I'm so sorry you have to go through all of this! This is all my fault."

"So, you are my mother? What exactly happened to me? Why are you blaming yourself? I seem to be feeling pain all over my body. What actually happened to me? Do you know?"

Moon started asking questions in the hope of getting some information from the woman. She seemed to care a lot about her son. So, Moon thought that she definitely knew what had happened to his body. The woman stopped crying and rubbed her tears off. She then looked at Moon with her teary eyes full of affection.

"I am your mother, you are the fifth son of the demon king. You are only fifteen this year, but I couldn't protect you. You went through your power testing trial two months ago and you failed. The demon fox said that your core was damaged beyond repair. So you cannot cultivate magic. Your second and third brothers attacked me six days ago while I was searching for herbs to make you medicine. I was hoping that the medicine could help heal your core. But before I could get a chance to make the medicine, they came out of nowhere, injured me and destroyed the herbs. When you found out about it, you confronted them and got into a fight. They used their magic on you and hurt you. I thought you were going to die, but thank the gods. Even if you don't remember anything, it's alright as long as you are here with me. Let's just live our lives and stay away from them from now on, OK?"

"But mom, where was my father, the demon king, when all this happened? Why couldn't he stop it from happening?"

"Your father was mad that you didn't have magic. He said that you couldn't help him or the kingdom in anyway. So, he demoted me from my status and said that unless I can give birth to another child, we can never get our status back. But it's alright, we can live peacefully by ourselves. I am tired of the palace completions. So let us just stay away from them."

"But mom, don't you think it's unfair? Even if we decide to stay away from them, won't they just attack us again?"

"We can endure for a while. Soon they will forget about us and leave us alone, OK son? Let us just stay away."

Moon looked at his mom and felt sympathy for her. Since he was going to be his son, he thought he should do something to help her. He decided that he would devote himself to finding a cure so that he could be powerful like others. 

"Mom, don't worry, I'll stay away from them. I won't pick a fight with them. Instead, I am going to work hard and be strong. I promise you mom, I'll make you proud. I'll make them all envy you in the end!"

"As long as you are happy, son. Just don't get yourself hurt."

With that, they hugged then smiled at each other. In the next few days, Moon's mom searched high and low for scrolls about potions and elixirs. Moon then started studying the scrolls day and night. He studied a scroll each day for three days non-stop. On the fourth day, he went out into the mountains in search of herbs. He wanted to put the knowledge he had acquired into practice. 

As he was leaving for the mountains, he told his mom not to leave so as not to get in trouble with the other wives of his father. While he was in the market, which was located on the way to the mountains, he was spotted by one of his brothers. 

"Hey, Moon! Where are you headed? It's been so long since I've seen you. Where have you been? Seeing that you are on your feet, I guess we went easy on you."

"And who is asking all these questions?" Moon answered as he turned to look at the person talking to him. He seemed to be around nineteen or twenty. 

"Oh my! It's your dear second brother, of course. Who else would be so kind as to put you in your place?"

Moon stared at the man who claimed to be his second brother. He was speechless. He wondered why he was so unlucky. Now, he just had to humble himself until he got stronger. He had to find a way to escape. 

He looked left and right but couldn't find a distraction or a way out of his situation. His so-called brother was advancing towards him while laughing hysterically. He knew that if his brother caught him, he would die even before he could reach his goal. Suddenly, an idea struck him as he saw a carriage approaching. When it was close, he smirked and bowed down.

"Father!" he said, his head still plowed as if he was greeting his father. 

As soon as he heard this, his brother was shocked and turned around in a hurry. Moon took advantage of the opportunity and the carriage passing by, and disappeared. When his brother realized he had been tricked, he turned with anger only to be met by an empty street. He was furious, but there was nothing he could do. So he went back to what he was doing before.

After some time, Moon had reached the city gates. He looked around before going out the gates. He headed towards the forest. He heeded a sigh of relief. He didn't know what he would have done if he had not been able to escape. As he walked through the steep, sloppy mountains, he slipped countless times but still got up and continued on his way. He walked through the mountains for a very long time before finally reaching the forest. He did pass a lot of small forests along the way, but those forests didn't have the herbs he was looking for, at least that was what his mother had told him. His mother had instructed him that only the herbs that grew in the largest and furthest forest were reliable. That was because the forest was full of many demonic beats. Demonic beasts usually get into fights and most of those fights usually end in death. The beast who wins devours the core of the dead one and becomes even stronger. The dead beast decomposes to nourish the soil, since the whole body was bathed in magic and anything that grows there is usually filled with magical nutrients.

As much as the plants there are amazing, the demonic beasts there make it hard for other people to go in search of supplies. Even for powerful demons, it was quite dangerous. And here was Moon stepping into the demonic beast's forest. His mother had tried to stop him when he first told her of the plan but later let him go. She did, but, instruct him not to go deep inside and stay alert, since the beasts rarely came close to the edge of the forest.  After all, it was there that his mother had desperately searched for herbs to cure his core before. 

He walked into the forest steadily as his eyes swept across the surrounding area. He could hear the chirping of birds from far and the roar of different animals. He made sure that his footsteps were not loud and that he was keen not to be ambushed. After walking for a while, he saw a blue glowing plant on the ground. He made sure that there was nothing around, then moved closer to see what it was. Upon seeing it up close, he was amazed. The plant looked similar to one of the herbs he was looking for. The only difference was that there was no mention of it emitting any glow.

He was filled with excitement as he uprooted the herb and put it in the bag he had carried on his back. He stood up and looked back just to realize he had gone too far inside the forest. He wanted to go back, but then thought of how he could get even better herbs if he went just a little bit deeper. 

"I won't go too deep, just a little bit, so I can get a bit more herbs. They might even be helpful to mom." he thought to himself as he started moving forward into the forest. Soon he found another herb identical to te first one. Then he found two more that were among the list he had. He found more and more different and helpful herbs and, before he knew it, he was so deep in the forest that he couldn't even see the edge, let alone remember the way out.

When he looked around, he realized that the place he was standing in had lots of herbs. He decided to take te herbs before trying to find a way out. After all, he was already there. As he was busy picking the herbs, he noticed a bright golden light in the corner of his right eye. He stopped and looked in the direction to see what it was, but he could not see clearly and only saw the golden light. He got up and started moving closer to the light slowly. He kept looking around to see if he was alone or if there was company. He realized that there was nothing else in the area but him.

When he got closer to the golden light, he could not believe his eyes. He was staring directly at two demonic beasts who seemed to be dead. In shock, he withdrew backwards and hid behind a tree. He threatened in and out heavily, then peeped behind the tree at the seemingly dead beasts, then turned to hide.

"Am I seeing correctly or am I hallucinating? Man, I can't believe it. Is today my lucky day or what? Those beasts seem dead to me. And the best part, their cores are still floating above their bodies. Wait, and doesn't one look like a tiger and the other one a dragon!? I can't believe my luck!"

He said to himself as he stood up majestically. He then walked towards the dead beasts slowly in case they were not properly dead yet. As soon as he got to where the cores were floating, he looked left and right to make sure he was alone again. He then grabbed the two cores at once. Immediately he grabbed the cores, a light was emitted from him. It was so golden and heavy it made him moan in pain. Even though he was in pain, he still controlled his voice so as not to attract beasts to himself.

Suddenly, the two beasts' bodies rose into the air before his eyes. They then merged to form a dragon with sharp claws like a tiger and the tiger's color was imprinted on the dragon's body. Soon after, the dragon flew directly towards him and entered the core, which had also merged together, as he was still frozen in place due to shock. The core slipped away from his hand and got directly into his body. He immediately felt a surge of energy fluctuation in his body followed by anguishing pain. He fell down on his knees as he hugged himself and moaned in pain once again. Then suddenly he collapsed, dropping his bag full of herbs on the ground.

Moon got up and looked at his surroundings. He was still in the forest where he had collapsed. He quickly gathered the herbs in his basket and fled the place. He kept scolding himself for being dumb and falling asleep there. He decided to hurry and get back home before his mother got worried. 

On his way, he could feel that his body was lighter and he seemed faster. He soon arrived home and found his mother waiting for him outside the house. She had a worried expression and was relieved when she spotted her son. 

"You are finally here! I was so worried. Why did you take so long? I almost followed you. I thought something bad happened to you or one of your brothers caught you. It's good that you are safe."

She hurriedly helped him with his basket and was surprised to find it full. She stared at her son, then at the basket, then carried it inside. When inside, she opened the basket to reveal grade one herbs. All the herbs he had picked had glowing light around them. She was astonished. 

"Did you go deep inside the forest, my son? I told you not to go too deep! Are you hurt?"

"Relax mom. I didn't get hurt. I didn't even go that deep. I mean, I thought I was lost, but when I got up to go home, I just walked out, and I found myself outside. That means I wasn't that deep, right?"

"But how did you get your hands on these powerful herbs that easily?"

"I am your son, mom! Can't you put your trust in me? I got them just lying there, mom. It seemed like there was a beast fight there and the loser died and added nutrients to the soil. See how lucky your son is?"

Moon then told his mom about the dragon core he had obtained. He had initially thought of keeping it a secret, but he remembered he really didn't know a lot about that world, and he could trust his mother. He hoped that she might have some helpful information that he could use. 

His mother was amazed by what he said and decided to try and sense Moon's core. His core had perfectly healed and, what's more, it had turned into a golden dragon core. His mother told him that he had a dragon spirit which, if cultivated, could get a dragon body, and he would be able to shape-shift. Dragon blood was important to a demon, especially one with a royal bloodline. Once a new demon king takes the throne, a dragon is always hunted down and its blood fed to the king. Its scales were made to be fine armor for the demon king and worn during his coronation ceremony. But no one has ever gotten a dragon core. It is said that not all dragons have it. It was only found in dragons with royal blood of the dragon clan. Which meant that he had merged with a royal dragon. 

A merge between a royal demon and a total dragon ment eminence power. Moon's mom urged him not to tell anyone about it until he was strong enough. He had decided that he wanted to train himself in the forest, for that he needed scrolls containing control methods. He also needed to find out what his power is. With a broken core, he had never got to know what his power was. 

In the following days, as his mother made potions to sell and exchange for scrolls, he read and practiced in the forest. He hunted and killed demonic beasts and absorbed their cores. As days went by, his power grew and red vein-like lines showed all over his body. He had learned that he had two powers, unlike everyone who only had one. He had the dragon's breath fire which was combined with flying. He could control fire and create fire from the air. He also had earth-shaking tiger roar which was combined with speed. He could control the movement of the ground. He could even break off a piece of land and lift it in the air. 

As he kept absorbing cores, he had new powers every day. Demons couldn't absorb demon beast cores because they had their own cores and if they tried to absorb the other, their core and veins would explode and they would die. Moon was lucky. He not only got a demonic core that had a royal dragon bloodline but could also absorb more cores in order to be more powerful. 

Due to his physical change, Moon had to cover himself with clothes whenever and wherever he went in order to keep a low profile. After about two months of training and reading, he was heading to the mountains when he heard some commotion on the way. People were talking about a tournament that was going to start soon and the prize for the winner was a lot of demon gold. 

He thought that if he won, the money might help him and his mother very much. Although he wanted to go, he didn't want to risk the safety of his mother if he offended anyone powerful there. He decided to go train first, as he thought more about it. He trained until evening before deciding to go back home. In his bag, he carried raw meat that belonged to a prey he had hunted. That was going to be their meal before bed. 

When he got home, he roasted the meat and told his mother about the tournament. On hearing it, his mother was scared and didn't want him to join, but she encouraged him to join if he wanted to because it would help him get stronger. 

"But it's alright if you don't win, okay? If you meet an opponent that is too strong, don't fight until you get hurt, give up and come home. No pressure, OK?"

"Yes mom, I promise! But you should have more faith in your son!"

That night, before going to sleep, he hurriedly went to town and wrote his name on the paper. Since he was the last one on the list, the paper was collected the next day and taken to the arena.