Rei squinted at the sudden bright light. Slowly opening his eyes again, he found himself standing in an entirely different space.
It was a vast expanse of space with no end in sight. The ground looked like water, but he didn't sink. It was solid, like glass with ripples moving across it.
The sky above shone with countless stars, and auroras drifted across it, giving the place a sacred feeling.
"Where is this..." He muttered looking around.
And what he saw shocked him. Golden lights constantly descended, lighting up the space, as the light fully dissipated, figures were revealed. And no, they weren't all humans. Many had shapes and statures that clearly showed they belonged to other races
"The Royale has started?"
[Welcome, Players from Myriad worlds...] A voice filled with supreme majesty resounded across the vast space.
The players lifted their heads, searching for the source of the voice with uneasy gazes.
[You stand within the Astral Nexus, where you will be provided with relevant information for your journey. The main purpose of this gathering is to distribute talents at random to all of Batch 10,000,000. Once this is done, your journey as Players... will begin.]
"What!? I'm in the Ten Millionth Batch?" Rei's eyes widened in shock.
Earth had only been part of the Royale for ten short years. Yet now he realized they were just a tiny piece of something far greater. One batch among millions, with countless Players who had come before them.
It wasn't just Rei, the other players were like this.
[Talents are divided into two kinds: Active and Passive. Each Player will receive only one kind, determined by luck. This is an ironclad rule that can never be broken.]
"Based on luck, huh…?" Rei muttered, his brows furrowing ever so slightly. "That doesn't sound good at all."
It wasn't just Rei, others were equally stunned. After all, who would willingly choose a passive talent over an active one? And yet… it all came down to luck?
"Hah, figures they'd leave something this important up to luck. What's next, roll some dice to see if we survive?" a human standing beside Rei but obviously from another planet muttered.
[For Beastkind and other non-human races, the equivalent will manifest as bloodlines. Dragons, phoenixes, and the higher order races fall into this category as well]
[Talents are divided into nine tiers, from F at the lowest to SSS at the highest. The talent you receive will decide your potential and survival in the Royale.]
[Now, the first nine tiers shall be revealed. The pyramid of talents is as follows:
F-Tier – appears in 1 out of every player.
E-Tier – appears in 1 out of every 10 players.
D-Tier – appears in 1 out of every 100 players.
C-Tier – appears in 1 out of every 1,000 players.
B-Tier – appears in 1 out of every 10,000 players.
A-Tier – appears in 1 out of every 100,000 players.
S-Tier – appears in 1 out of every one million players.
SS-Tier – appears in 1 out of every 10 million players.
SSS-Tier – appears in 1 out of every 100 million players.]
When the glowing pyramid appeared above the Astral Nexus, voices rippled across the crowd.
"What… only one in a hundred million for SSS?" someone whispered, eyes wide.
"That's insane. So most of us are just… stuck at the bottom?"
"F-tier… one in one? Doesn't that mean almost everyone will get it?" a boy muttered, frowning.
Unlike most, Rei wasn't in despair "Crazy or not, it basically means no one gets left out. Everyone's stuck with a talent,"
"That Rowan got an E-tier talent? I just hope mine isn't lower. Hmph, let's see how his liver turns green when I break his record."
Murmurs spread, rising into uneasy chatter. Some Players clenched their fists, others exchanged wary glances, but no one could hide the tension in their voices.
Even those who tried to laugh it off couldn't disguise the tremor in their tone.
[This pyramid applies to all races. For bloodline creatures, like dragons or beasts, their bloodlines follow the same nine tiers, F to SSS.]
The voice spoke again. But this time, the clamor that erupted wasn't from human race but from Bloodline race.
A bloodline race youth who had been laughing at the misfortune of the other races suddenly froze, his face turning green.
He looked human at first glance, tall and handsome, but the two pairs of horns jutting from his forehead marked him clearly as a dragon.
"What!?"
He felt as though countless eyes were stabbing into him like needles.
"Young Master, don't worry. You've always been blessed with luck, and your bloodline is the highest among the other young masters. You'll definitely receive a higher tier," a nearby dragon tried to reassure him.
The speaker wore rough, plain clothes, one of his horns broken. The contrast made it clear. He was the servant, and the other was the master.
[With the information provided, Talent Awakening will now commence.]
As the voice fell, the countless races burst into light, flooding the space with brilliance.
But there was one exception: Rei.
"Why… why is nothing happening?" He looked around, watching the others glow like stars while his own hands remained dim and empty.
[The Talent Awakening has concluded. Players may now view their information and assigned talent through the Player's Panel. Simply will it to appear.]
"I… awakened a B-level bloodline? Hahahaha!" Naturally, the dragon young master was the first to check his panel. His laughter was smug and unrestrained.
His eyes swept across the crowd, landing on those who had scoffed at him earlier. A wide grin spread across his face, every bit of it dripping with arrogance, as if daring them to speak now.
With his bloodline awakened, the young master opened his wide mouth to flaunt, releasing his coercion toward the nearby beastkin.
Dragons were a higher-order race, so naturally, he believed no one here could possibly awaken a bloodline equal to, let alone higher than his.
But the instant his aura spread, he slammed into an invisible wall. A heavier, far more oppressive force crashed down on him, grinding his proud body to its knees.
"Bloodline suppression? Who could have a higher bloodline than me?!" he shouted in disbelief.
Then he saw it, the servant that had spoken earlier. The broken horn on his head had already regrown, shining more majesty than his own.
"How laughable…" Rei shook his head and opened his Player Panel to see if he had awakened a talent.
A transparent panel popped up:
Name: Rei
Status: Active
Location: Astral Nexus
Level: one
XP: 0 / 100
Talent: Infinite Embodiment
- Grade: { Error, Error, Error...}
Attributes:
- Strength: 1
- Agility: 1
- Constitution: 1
- Perception: 1
- Willpower: 1
- Luck (Droprate/Critical hits): 50%
Skills: None
Inventory:
- [Basic dagger]
Quests / Directives:
- {None}
Kill Count: {0}
Survivors Remaining: {Will be updated after the first objective}
VP(Value Points) {0}
…
Rei stared at his talent tier display, his brow furrowing as the screen flashed a single word: "Error."
It wasn't just one error, it was a relentless cascade, overwhelming the entire screen like a dam bursting, with "Error" repeating endlessly.
"Error… does that mean I'm talentless?" he murmured, heart skipped a beat.
He was so shaken, he had to check again.
This time, the display shifted, revealing something new:
Talent: Catastrophe Stacker
– {Talent unclassifiable. Designation: OVER-ERROR}
"What the hell!" Rei's face twisted. His talent couldn't even be ranked. Did that mean… he was trash?
Rei felt despair , but before he could sink further, the majestic voice resounded again:
[The Talent Awakening is complete. Players will now be scattered at random into various Novice Areas.]
[This will also serve as your first test]
[Your first directive: Survive the Descent.]
[Survive, conquer, and ascend… or vanish into nothingness.]
As the words faded, the same golden lights that had carried them here fell once more, wrapping around every figure before pulling them away.