The Demon World

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. 

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