Dinging!! đź¤
[Author Cha!... Jin!... Sung! Welcome~ to the World of Aether. The goddess of stories who read your amazing tale has listened to your prayers. Please do your best to complete your story without regrets.]
'Huh? Wait, what? Prayers? Who the fuck is the god of stories?' I thought, perplexed by my situation.
[Please, no further questions, dear author. The goddess of stories and the head of creation department has given you a chance not many can get. Since she loved your story so much, she created a world identical to it. So please, survive your own plot and make the best out of your situation.]
My mind raced with different questions. Just a moment ago, my reply to the weird email had been shining on the screen, but now some system window was telling me a goddess who loved my story had made it into a world that I had to survive. Did that even make sense?
Although I enjoyed reading transmigration novels really, really much and often fantasized about experiencing one, I never genuinely believed such a thing was possible.
'Damn it, I merely answered with "Yes" for the sake of it. Who would ever believe that another world exists out there?'
"And for it to be my own novel." As the whisper escaped my lips, a fist no mundane human could react to crashed into my cheek, completely disorienting me. The force of the punch made it clear… these kids were using mana.
"Oi, Roach, what the hell are you saying?" a boy with black hair asked, his brown eyes flickering with pent-up rage.
'How can they be so reckless?' I thought, struggling to hold in the feeling rising within me.
My body burned uncontrollably, and a throbbing sensation engulfed my face.
My arm was twisted, my bones ached, and worst of all, the pain struck all at once. The reason was simple. A soul could not just enter a new body and instantly become one with it. Only now had my soul fully merged with that of my predecessor. However, through everything, I found myself grinning.
The moment one of the boys, wearing a white tracksuit like everyone else visible beyond the spotless white alley, saw my expression, he hoisted me up and locked my arm behind my back.
"Do you want it like this, Joshua?"
"Yeah, perfect," the boy with the raging brown eyes answered, looking at me.
Wriggling, I struggled to break free from his iron grip, only to take another brutal blow to the gut. Pain surged through me, sharp and blinding, making it nearly impossible to stay conscious.
'Wow, that hurts. I knew a punch with mana would be different, but this could actually kill me?' I thought, trying to pull myself away from the river and the boat waiting in the mist.
You see, I loved my family, there was no doubt about it, and yeah, even though I found myself inside another world, I already had a goal in the back of my mind to find my way back to them, but still… I was in another world… in the world I created at that!
The barrage of the Joshua boy's attacks only intensified as my mind wandered, trying to make sense of whose body I now inhabited.
It was not any known main or side character I created, that much was obvious, and without a mirror to look at, there was no way of knowing who it was. It was not like I could tell them to stop and let me check.
However, as the attacks continued, a memory from a year ago jolted loose within me, back when Genius Swordsmaster first began. Back then, I was not quite in the right mind and used to bully people, even having an entire prefecture under my control.
That was when I witnessed a brutal act of bullying by a rival gang on my way home from school. That day, after saving the boy, I quit everything that had to do with gang fights and bullying.
But even that was not enough for me. I needed to show the world how brutal some high schoolers' lives were, so what did I do? Simply put, I rewrote that very scene into my novel, except for the fact that someone later saved him.
That meant I was in the body of… Kaiser Vanguard.
'Fuck. I just had to end up in the body of a character created out of pity.'
Joshua's face suddenly lit up. "So you can speak now, huh, pretty boy?"
I tilted my head up to stare at him. 'Well, this isn't entirely a bad thing.'
Because of how guilty I felt about that kid, I decided to give him a bit of an upgrade when writing him.
From average looks, I made him into a beauty that could topple nations, the type women would want to pet and do whatever he said. I also increased his other manly traits down there to the absolute max and made him have a secret talent that could make him overpowered, but he never realized it because he never wrote the entrance exam due to the bullying.
All of this had been on a whim, but never did I know that it would actually help me in the future.
'Well, for now, let's find a way to escape.'
Scanning the alleyway just as the bullies took what seemed like a short break, my blurring vision caught a glimpse of what looked like a professor. I knew it was just a parent walking by in a formal suit, but the three musketeers did not know that.
"Help! Mister, please help me!!"
"Oi, what do you think you are doing, Alabaster?"
"Josh, let's just leave first. I think he is calling a professor."
Upon seeing the direction of my gaze, the three boys bolted the other way without sparing a second glance at the figure beyond the alley.
Why would they? They certainly did not want a teacher to identify them before the exam commenced.
A crooked grin crept across my lips. "Damn fools, look what you've done to little ol' me."
Collapsing to the ground, I inhaled deeply, attempting to regulate my erratic breathing. "Getting my ass kicked the moment I get transmigrated? Dad would definitely laugh his ass off."
Ding!
[User has survived the first stage of bullying. Because of this, you can successfully write the entrance exams.]
[User has diverged greatly from your original storyline.]
"That's right, I'm in my novel now." Bracing my back against the wall, I asked, "System, do I have a stat window?"
[...Yes, user, you have a stat window. Do you wish to view it?]
Thinking up a strategy took priority, but knowing my current self was more important. "Yes."
'Ding'
[SYSTEM]
Name: Kaiser Vanguard
Age: 17
Class: None
Affiliation: None
Rank: D-Rank
Core: Red
—
Archetypes: Manipulator
Affinity (Singular Affinity): Shadows
Mana Pool Grade: Bronze (Upgradeable)
—
Strength (STR): E+
Speed (SPE): D
Agility (AGI): D
Dexterity (DEX): D+
Intelligence (INT): ???
Charm (CHA): ???
Endurance (END): F
Stamina (STA): E
Luck (LUK): ???
—
[Talents & Techniques]
[Talent] — Shadow of Dominion: Allows the user to extract and command Saints formed from a target's essence.
Description: In your branch, two types of shadows exist. Shadow Saints, which are fragments of a target's true form created when 'conditions' are met, and Shadow Devils, who are real individuals that willingly swear loyalty to the user. Unlike Shadow Saints, Shadow Devils retain their human appearance, original soul, form, and free will.
Conditions: The user must either overpower the target, disgrace them directly or indirectly, compel their loyalty, force surrender, or instill self-doubt.
[Current Shadow Devils: 0...]
[Current Shadow Saints: 1...]
[Saint Skills]
Alabaster Ice [Gobo]: A talent acquired from a Sequence Nine drifter, Goblin. Enables the user to reduce surrounding thermal energy. This ability grows stronger as you grow.
[VESTIGES]
Hunting Dagger [Weapon]
Description: Spirit. Just a normal dagger.
—
'Hmm... So I'm a D-Rank. Not too bad, considering the main cast are mostly C-Rank, and the highest rank in our year is B-Rank, but…'
My focus shifted elsewhere, toward my base stats and my talent.
Even among D-Ranks, I was positioned at the lower end of the spectrum. Except for charm, luck, and intelligence, my other stats were shit, especially stamina, endurance, and strength, which were far behind what an academy prospect should have.
My talent, however, was something else entirely.
"Shadow Dominion," I whispered to myself.
It was not an overpowered, straightforward ability that would catapult me to the top. Its conditions were stringent. But once fulfilled, it could bypass the fundamental limitation of my novel's power system.
'Gaining multiple abilities.'
The only thing I did not find too compelling about it was that, to even get close to fulfilling the conditions, I had to constantly interact with people, though I could not deny the fact that I wanted to see my novel's characters in real life.
I was about to say something to the system when my next words were cut off by a loud announcement.
'It's already starting, huh.'
The academy entrance exam and the start of the main story.
"Well, let's rest for a moment."
[Attention. If user fails his entrance exam: instant death. If, by an almost impossible chance, the user survives, my processing unit shall be upgraded.]
'I know already. You said it like twenty times while I was getting my ass handed to me. But isn't it unfair for you to get my rewards?'
[User, I'm more useful than a hundred of you.]
I shut my eyes, squeezing my face as if to hold in a laugh. Even I could not argue with what the system said. I was so weak that even the academy's small fries could harm me.
Sighing heavily, I waved away the status window. "It's just an entrance test. How hard could it be?"
I shut my eyes, partly to check if it was all a crazy dream and partly because I was simply too tired, and my body hurt.
Though I was tired, my mind was still racing about what to do next. 'Before I officially entered the academy, I need to get that thing.'
Blood still smeared my knuckles as I eyed the plasters left behind by one of the three musketeers. I could not tell if it was an act of kindness or if he simply did not want to get in trouble. Either way, it was good for me.
Picking them up, I placed them over some of my bruises, then let mana flow through me.
It was better to get a feel for mana so I would not fumble on stage.
Because no matter what, I was going to pass the entrance exam and enter the academy.