Alaric's face shifted from pale to twisted, hopelessness creeping in and crushing every bit of his hope. However when he heard the mocking from beneath the ritual site, from the slave's owner, something else began to stir in his mind: a murderous intent.
"Damn it!"
It was hard to accept what was happening. What could he do with his summoned creature? it was just a big, motionless trash.
He could not even form a connection with it, so his core mana couldn't be created.
He gritted his teeth and let out a deep breath—not in giving up, but to steady himself.
"There might be another way."
Luckily for him, being the personal slave of a noble meant he could come to the academy with his owner's permission. He would find a way to resolve there; the academy surely held things he'd never known.
He just had to persevere.
After that, he returned to the initial spot with Tyler, his master was crossing his legs with a laugh in the front row of the arena.
"Listen closely, my favorite slaves. This is your fate. Even if I've given you guys a chance to summon, it won't change a thing. Your destiny is to forever grovel at my feet—so just accept it as usual."
"Do you hear me? Junks."
Alaric and his fellow slaves just nodded obediently, showing no emotions on their faces… however, Alaric understood that being raised like animals, they would never feel resentment toward their own master.
Of course, Alaric was an exception because he was a reincarnator—he really wanted to smash that bastard, but not now.
Ting!
Ting!
[The Nameless God is interested in you]
[You received a special reward from the Nameless God]
[System initialization started]
[00,02%]
…
[10,03%]
…
[99,99%]
[Chaos Point System activated]
[You have received a title]: The Courageous Useless Slave
—
[Personal] [Summon] [Gacha] [Mission]
Chaos Points: 0
—
''What was that? System?'' The slave frowned. A dozen questions ran through his head. Personal, Summon, Gacha? What the fuck was that?
The slave just froze as he gazed at the screen system, mostly speechless. He tried to dig into his thoughts.
The slave rubbed his chin, staring at the screen system and thinking. Yeah, damn. He had received a system he'd only read about in those bullshit novels. How could he have forgotten such a cheat?
First, he tried to think inwardly about [Personal]..and then instantly, a stat appeared on him.
—
Title: The Courageous Useless Slave.
Name: Alaric Jenkins
Age: 15
Mana Core Color:–
Blessing: [Blessing of the Useless Stone]
Curse: –
Color Slot: –
The slave studied each word on the screen system and assessed them.
"The Courageous Useless Slave?"
He frowned. It was clear he felt discomfort at seeing that rude title, but he couldn't deny that he really was useless. Yet, he wasn't the type to obsess over appearances, as long as something could be useful to him… though he promised himself inwardly that someday he'd change that damn title.
He resumed reading, his face again twisting with negative emotions. Blessing? He had a blessing? Based on the slave's memory, he knew every summoner would have a blessing through their summoned creatures, but if he had one, why hadn't he felt anything different since summoning that useless trash?
Unless the blessing was so weak that he barely noticed any change. And when his eyes landed on the word "useless" in the blessing's name, it only reinforced his suspicion.
As soon as he thought about his blessing, a description appeared.
[Blessing of the Useless Stone]
[Blessing description]: You're a good friend of stone.
"O-Oh… God." The slave's chest felt like it might twist, and he began to feel breathless as he read that description. The symptoms of Mana Circulation disorder seemed to appear under his surge of stress.
"My life always seems to require one indispensable word: useless."
To the slave's boredom, he summoned the screen system of summon.
—
Name: Massive useless stone egg.
Potential: –
Evolution stage: –
Mana Core Count: –
—
"No surprise."
—
[Use 500 chaos points to open a normal box]: 🎁
[Use 5,000 chaos points to open an epic box]: 🎁
[Current Points]: 0
—
Normal Mission (0/1)
Status: ✅ Discovered
Life-or-Death Mission (0/1)
Status: ✅ Discovered
—
His expression shifted from boredom to confusion when he saw the [gacha] and [Mission] screen. He scratched his head. What could he do with this?
He rubbed his chin as looking at [Mission] screen that he could use at this momment.
For some reason, as soon as he thought about Life-or-Death Mission, a description appeared.
[Life-or-Death Mission]: A Nameless God, the most mysterious and oldest of all Gods. No one—not even the other Gods—knows anything about the Nameless God. He and two other Gods made a deal with this collapsing world: to give it a chance to save itself.
Step through the gate of the Nameless God to seize the chance to change your fate—or die.
***
''What a relief.'' The Principal smiled in satisfaction while glancing at the outstanding students, who had just summoned creatures with Ascendant potential. He had high hopes for them, because they would be the core of the world in the future.
The children of three legendary clans:
Leonard Clan of summoning humanoid stone knights.
Alvarez Clan of summoning demonic trees.
Rhodes Clan of summoning dragons.
And several other students.
What luck that all of their children were born in the same generation. Just thinking about these dozen of Ascendant potential, he felt deeply content and happy.
''Sir, I think now it's time for it,'' a nearby professor spoke up politely.
''Uh, I know.'' The Principal quietly nodded and glanced at the gate behind him.
Three gates began to form from the void before bewilderment and astonishment of everyone in the arena.
Just so several people just knew those gates…the gates of god.
''What is that?'' A student widened his eyes while pointing toward those gates in surprise.
''It's… Ah, I used to hear about it in the past… The Gates of God…. I thought it was just a tale for kids, but…'' Another student flinched as he remembered some details from an old story.
Countless gossip spread again until the principal shouted, making everyone fall silent immediately.
He walked lightly to the center of the place, where the three gates converged, and eventually cleared his throat to prepare for his magnificent speech.
"Greetings to all precious rough gems. It's truly fortunate to have a second chance to stand here again. It's quite nostalgic… the first time I stood here by the gates of God 200 years ago… where excellent individuals were born… where transcendent potential summoned creatures came into being."
As soon as the principal mentioned "transcendent potential," silence fell over the arena. No one spoke.
All eyes turned to the principal in disbelief, because transcendent potential was so rare—almost impossible. No one in the world could summon beings like that normally, unless they went through a ritual of God. Yet no one really knew what that ritual entailed, except for some mythic tales passed down through generations.
The principal chuckled and continued.
"Are you thinking I'm lying? All of it is true. Leaders of legendary clans are a perfect example. You think they reached the peak of mankind for no reason? They possessed summoned creatures with Transcendent Potential, because the gates granted them that after they completed the challenges."
He gestured again for gossip to stop and spoke with formal authority.
"I guess you're all wondering why… Why now? Why did the gates of God just appear at this time? Honestly, I don't know either… But I'm the only one who can predict when the gates of God will appear again, because my summoned being are a bit connected to God… like messengers of God."
He restrained the pride in his voice and added,
"It's a miracle that this time there are dozens with Ascendant Potential. It comforts me."
"However!" The principal's voice grew heavier as he turned toward the three gates of God.
"It's extremely dangerous. In the previous challenge, various candidates and even three with Ascendant Potential fell – died during the challenge."
''It's not a game for kids…It's deadly challenge of god, only for worth candidates.''
Seeing the atmosphere grow heavy, the Principal scratched his head and said,
"Don't worry too much… Because you have the right to choose. I won't force anyone to cross the deadline of death. That's why I said anyone with Ascendant Potential should test themselves in the challenge. And those with Awakened Potential, you guys might also attend. I really like brave students. Anyway, it's a big opportunity for everyone."
Suddenly, he flinched for a moment as if he just remembered something important and horrible. He turned toward the three gates and pointed while some sweat dropped on his temple.
"Gate of the Sun God!"
"Gate of the Shadow God!"
"Gate of the Nameless God!"
"I have a word of advice for you guys: don't choose the Gate of the Nameless God… if you want to live."