"Don't be so surprised."
Karna said, beginning to recall his memories, the plot he had seen and understood, and the past of this body.
He stood up, wiped the armguard on the Stitched Werewolves' arm, and explained, "Do you know the history of the country you are in?
Do you know the Royal Family you swore allegiance to?"
Aliris thought for a moment and realized that she truly didn't know much about the country she was in.
Previously, she only knew her village; after it was destroyed, she was taken to the city, adopted, and began training to become a Knight.
After becoming a Knight, she swore an oath to become Karna's Guardian Knight.
"Let's go to the village to collect some supplies. We can talk as we walk."
With that, Karna picked up the armguard and walked into the village. Aliris drew her sword and quickly followed beside him.
As they walked, she listened to Karna say, "We are just a small trading nation. With our open and free policies, plus a few good ports, we are barely prosperous.
But this also created extremely favorable conditions for the breeding of evil."
Safro, a free nation established in the name of the Royal Family.
Compared to other nations, to be honest, this country can only be considered a small one, located at the northernmost tip of the Southwest Continent.
It is surrounded by the sea on three sides and mountains on one side.
Besides entering the country by sea, the only land routes are on either side of the Southern Mountains.
Maritime trade, lenient policies, a small nation.
Combine these factors, and you can imagine how outrageous the black market industries are in this country.
"Actually, the Royal Family intentionally did this; they needed to create favorable conditions for their research.
This country was only established over 100 years ago, and those who founded it were merely a cult organization of an evil mage.
And now, all these monsters appearing in this country are actually the Royal Family's doing."
Hearing this, Aliris was somewhat shocked and stood rooted to the spot, unable to believe it.
If it weren't for the fact that the speaker was Karna, a Member of the Royal Family himself.
"Then Your Highness, why did you..."
"You want to ask why I ran if we were the ones who did it, right?" Karna turned his head and asked with a smile.
Aliris nodded.
"It's simple, I'm also one of the test subjects, and I don't want to turn into those disgusting monsters."
However, this was a lie. The truth was that Karna was too foolish to know any of these things.
While the Royal Family Members were not many, they were not few either. Some who lacked qualifications simply weren't allowed into the inner circle.
As luck would have it, the former Karna was precisely such a person.
And it just so happened that when the crisis erupted, Karna was on a spring outing outside the city. He didn't understand the situation at all and was escorted away by the Soldiers and Aliris.
Furthermore, those monsters had been tracking Karna's scent, leading to their constant, urgent escape, leaving them no time to calmly ponder the situation.
Moreover, the outbreak was nationwide, erupting simultaneously in all major cities, which made them feel that the country was doomed.
In the original plot, he would be captured and brought back in this village, including his Knight Aliris.
As a Member of the Royal Family, there was nothing to hide once the plan began, so he was re-transformed into a Blood Race.
He didn't make his first appearance until the mid-to-late stages of Version 1.0, after the Flesh and Blood Royal Court fell into weakness and was counterattacked by the allied forces.
At the end of the version, the Flesh and Blood Royal Court was destroyed, and the Blood Disaster was suppressed. The original Karna, who had indeed not appeared on the front lines, then inexplicably escaped a calamity by being re-transformed into a pure-blooded species.
"What about Her Royal Highness the Queen Consort? Was she also a participant?"
Aliris's voice was a bit urgent.
Karna turned to look at her: "Who knows? I can only say don't hold too much hope."
"No, Her Royal Highness the Queen Consort wouldn't do such a thing. She must have been deceived."
Aliris was deceiving herself.
Deceived my ass. According to the identity in his memory, his body's mother was a pure core Member.
The original owner of the body even thought his mother had died in the fall.
And this Queen Consort was also one of the researchers.
However, if he said it all at once, Aliris definitely wouldn't accept it, and problems could arise.
For now, let it be. He would gradually influence her thoughts step by step later.
"Alright, enough idle chatter. We don't have much time. Let's pack up, see if there's anything useful, and then leave."
They began to plunder the village extensively under the cover of night.
...
The night had receded, and the morning sun shone upon the land.
"【Painful Werewolf Armguard】"
"【Category: Armguard - Wrist Guard Armor - Relic】"
"【Attributes: Sturdy, Heavy】"
"【Effect: Sewing Pain】"
"【Sewing Pain: When the wearer feels pain - provides strength bonus (Strength +)】"
"【Evaluation: Embedded with the pain of stitching, only anger and will can resist! 】"
Karna, who had spent 5 magic points to transform the spoils stripped from the Stitched Werewolves into equipment, looked at the attributes.
How to put it, at least it had an effect.
It seemed a bit useless, but in the reality of this world, Karna, who had fought, could clearly say:
This effect is very easy to trigger.
Although the body was Dataization, pain could still be felt.
If it really didn't work, he could give himself a cut. If he adjusted the method, he could completely exchange a little blood for a strength increase, which was worth it.
Thinking this, he put the armguard on his hand.
"Your Highness, do you want to rest? You've been walking all night." Aliris, knowing that Karna's physical fitness couldn't compare to hers, asked from the side.
Since they had scavenged some supplies in the village last night, they had been carrying simple supplies and walking until now.
They hadn't stopped for a moment on the way.
Aliris herself, of course, had no problem, but she couldn't compare her physical fitness to Karna's.
Hearing this, Karna came back to his senses.
Unknowingly, he had been traveling all night. If he calculated carefully, he had probably been walking non-stop with supplies for almost eight or nine hours.
But he didn't feel tired?
To be honest, with the physical fitness of this body, he should have felt tired long ago.
It seemed that the Dataization body also brought a significant increase in stamina.
"Don't underestimate me. Speed up!"
Saying that, Karna even began to jog.
Aliris could only follow, but she asked, "But, but where is our destination now?"
She was a bit lost. She had been adopted since childhood to be trained as a Royal Family Guardian Knight.
But now the entire country had fallen, and the culprits were the Royal Family. For a time, her path ahead was unclear.
"Don't be confused. Follow me. We're going to find Count Wayne Xia."
"Count Wayne Xia?" Aliris had heard that name but didn't know much about him.
This was an important early character, even arguably the version character of Version 1.0.
Throughout Version 1.0, he was the one who guided players, led players, and introduced the main storyline.
In terms of blood relation, this Count was also a relative of this body.
Also a Member of the Royal Family, he seemed to know some of the Royal Family's schemes and refused to be associated with them, always staying on the periphery.
After the Blood Disaster erupted, he led some teams from his territory, along with some fleeing people, and left the country together.
The player's starting novice village was the small territory later given to him by the neighboring country, where he built a place.
Karna had participated in the closed beta test, which was the period just after the Blood Disaster erupted, before the plot began, when the Count's defense failed, and he was escorting refugees to escape.