A Test Subject

Perhaps saying that you knew this soul was a misnomer. You had only ever encountered it once, quite recently in fact-but it had served to entertain you and help you, unknowingly and perhaps unwillingly, yes, but entertain and help you nonetheless.

The soul was one you recognized from back when you were testing your new reality-bending powers in the plaza-more specifically, it was the girl who you made kill her boyfriend. Of course, perhaps this soul wouldn't have caught your eye if that was all. But apparently, your reality warping powers left a mark on the souls of people touched by it to a certain level. When you had made the girl kill her boyfriend, she had changed too, becoming a more cold and sadistic individual. Perhaps this was unsurprising.

What was surprising is that she hadn't changed back when you rewrote the whole world's history. With her past altered, she would've never killed her boyfriend, so she should've been the same as she was before you experimented on her. But instead of her changing, her soul was in the same tainted state it had been after you had changed her from birth-drastically altering the lifestyle she would've had otherwise.

Once again deciding to **** your powers to gain free knowledge on your target, you look into the girl's history. Her name was Davina Erast, born as the 3rd of 6 children in a commoner family. Her father was a somewhat successful blacksmith, inheriting a family business. Her mother had been a waitress in a mid-upper class restaurant when Davina was born, but the woman had lost her beauty as she aged, and was now working at a daycare to take care of adventurer's kids while their parents were doing their jobs. It should've been a relatively slow but steady life for Davina-but two things changed that.

The first was her innate cruelty and darkness that existed due to your modifications. Coupled with her sharp wit and intellect, she was cruel and devious from a young age-a bully who got away with her dirty work despite lacking any money or authority to throw around as early as 8 years old. By the time she was 11, she was already planning out how to get herself into the town's criminal underworld (all towns of any size possessed some sort of criminal underworld in this world), and get to the top of it later down the road.

This goal was only furthered by the second thing that set Davina apart from the rest of her family-her mark.

Now, let it be stated that things like trading, blacksmithing, or even potion-making, are skills that anyone could possess in this world. The Mark of Kellis was specifically meant to give The Races a change to fight against the monsters and demons, not to guide them in life, or any such thing. Therefore, everybody possessed a combat related mark-but not everybody had the courage, heart, or even just desire to pursue a life of combat. Therefore, it was unsurprising that both Davina's mother and father possessed one of the core 6 marks-that is to say, the 6 marks that were far more common than any others, so common that their bearers made up almost 90% of the population). In particular, her father possessed The Mark of the Warrior, and her mother possessed The Mark of the Cavalier.

Four of Davina's five siblings also possessed a core mark. Davina, however, did not. She possessed The Mark of the Blade Master-a mark that granted **** sword skill and high levels of speed and offensive power. In terms of Marks that almost ignored magic entirely, and focused on just blade skills, it was within the 3 strongest.

This power accelerated Davina's ascent in the town's dark side. Now at 19 years old, she was a high ranking gold class Adventurer, and the second-in-command of one of Mardis's top 3 gangs. A position she gained through her intellect, combat prowess, cold demeanor, and stunning beauty. She hid almost all of this from her family, which was perhaps her one soft spot. In short-she was a cold and cruel combat prodigy that came from out of nowhere, possessing a powerful mark and a fierce determination. She had plenty of potential, and was particularly ideal for your party.

Destination and target set, you teleport yourself an hour away from Mardis. Checking the sun to see it's about 11:00 in the morning, you start yourself on your journey.