The grand hall of the Valdric Empire stood in absolute silence, its towering marble pillars carved with the legacy of kings who had ruled through strength alone. Nobles, knights, and mages filled the chamber, their gazes fixed upon the glowing crystal placed at the center. It pulsed faintly, as if alive, waiting to judge the worth of the next in line. Today was not just another ceremony—it was the moment that would decide whether a prince was worthy of his bloodline.
At the very front, seated upon a throne of gold and authority, the Emperor watched with cold, unmoving eyes. His presence alone weighed heavily on the hall, suffocating even the bravest of men. Before him stood a boy—Auren Valdric, the youngest prince. His black hair shifted gently as he stepped forward, his expression calm, almost detached. His deep eyes held no visible fear, no hope, only a quiet stillness that made him seem out of place among the anxious murmurs around him.
"Such a handsome face… what a pity," one noble whispered behind a fan.
"I heard he has no talent," another added quietly.
"A disgrace to the royal name if that's true."
Auren ignored them all. Words like these had followed him for as long as he could remember. They no longer reached him.
A royal mage stepped forward, raising his staff as the crystal began to glow brighter in response to Auren's presence. "Prince Auren Valdric. Place your hand upon the Awakening Crystal."
Auren did not hesitate. He extended his hand and touched the surface.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then suddenly, light burst forth, flooding the hall with brilliance so intense that several nobles shielded their eyes. Gasps echoed through the chamber. The crystal shone brighter… brighter… as if something immense had awakened within it.
And then—
It flickered.
Once.
Twice.
The light trembled, unstable, before dimming into an eerie stillness.
Confusion spread across the faces of those watching. The royal mage's confident expression faltered as a translucent screen appeared before him.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Auren Valdric
Rank: F
Element Affinity:
Fire: 0
Water: 0
Wind: 0
Earth: 0
Mana Capacity: Unable to Measure
Status: Invalid
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Silence gripped the hall for a single breath.
Then it shattered.
Laughter erupted, sharp and merciless, echoing against the stone walls. "All zeros? That's impossible!" someone shouted. "Even peasants have at least one affinity!" another mocked. "Invalid? What kind of useless result is that?" Voices overlapped, growing louder, crueler, as the nobles indulged in the humiliation of a prince.
The Emperor's expression darkened slightly. His gaze turned toward the mage. "Explain."
The mage hesitated, sweat forming along his brow. "Your Majesty… I have never seen such a result. It is as though… he possesses no elemental affinity whatsoever."
No affinity. No power. No worth.
Auren stood silently, unaffected on the surface. But deep within, something shifted. A faint distortion, like a ripple spreading through unseen water. Something was there—quiet, hidden, waiting.
The Emperor rose from his throne, his voice cutting through the noise like a blade. "A prince of Valdric who holds no power is no prince at all."
The laughter ceased instantly.
"From this moment onward, Auren Valdric is stripped of his title."
The words fell like a final judgment.
"Exile him beyond the outer forest. Let fate decide the rest."
Not a single voice spoke in protest. Not a single soul stepped forward. To them, he had already ceased to exist.
Auren did not resist as the guards seized him. He did not look back as he was dragged from the hall. He did not speak. The doors closed behind him with a heavy echo, sealing his fate.
For just a brief moment, the Awakening Crystal flickered again.
But no one noticed.
Hours later, the world had changed.
The forest beyond the empire's borders stretched endlessly, its towering trees blocking out most of the light. The air was thick, heavy with danger. This was a place where the weak did not survive.
The guards shoved Auren forward, and he fell to the ground.
"Be grateful," one of them muttered. "At least you weren't executed."
Without another word, they turned and left, their figures disappearing into the distance.
Auren remained still for a while, lying on the cold earth. The silence of the forest pressed in around him, broken only by the distant cries of unseen creatures. Slowly, he pushed himself up and sat there, staring into the fading light.
"So this is how it ends," he murmured quietly.
But the world did not answer.
Instead, something else did.
The air trembled faintly. A ripple passed through space itself, subtle yet undeniable. Auren's eyes narrowed slightly as something appeared before him—another screen, unlike the one in the hall.
[System Error]
Reanalyzing Subject…
…
Hidden Authority Detected
Auren's gaze sharpened, interest flickering within his otherwise calm expression.
Another display formed, clearer this time.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Authority: Umbral Space Authority
Level: 1
Sub-Powers:
Space Distortion (Locked)
Shadow Manifestation (Locked)
Status: Unrecognized
Warning: System unable to fully analyze
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
For the first time since the ceremony, Auren's expression changed.
Not to shock. Not to fear.
But to understanding.
"I see…"
The world had declared him powerless. Yet the system itself… could not comprehend him. A faint smile touched his lips, small and almost imperceptible.
A low growl broke the silence.
Auren turned his gaze toward the darkness between the trees. A creature stepped forward—a forest wolf, its body tense, eyes glowing with hunger. It had sensed weakness.
Another screen appeared instinctively.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Forest Wolf
Rank: E
Element:
Earth: D
Mana Capacity: Low
Skills:
Bite
Claw Swipe
Condition: Hostile
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The wolf lunged without hesitation.
Auren did not move.
Yet the space around him shifted.
For a fraction of a second, everything seemed to slow—not the world, but the space within it, bending slightly out of alignment. The wolf's movement faltered, its body dragged by an unseen distortion.
That moment was enough.
Auren stepped aside calmly. The wolf crashed past him, skidding across the ground in confusion.
He looked down at his hand, as if observing something invisible.
"So this is my power…"
There was no excitement in his voice. No fear. Only quiet curiosity.
A faint darkness gathered at his feet, thin like mist, stretching unnaturally along the ground. It was not elemental magic. It did not belong to fire, water, wind, or earth.
It was something else entirely.
Something the world did not understand.
Auren lifted his gaze toward the deeper parts of the forest, where shadows thickened and danger waited.
Then he spoke softly, as if declaring something only he could hear.
"Let's begin."
Far away, within the royal palace, the Awakening Crystal trembled violently.
Without warning—
It shattered.
Fragments scattered across the floor as the royal mage stumbled back in horror, his face pale.
"This… this shouldn't be possible…"
His voice trembled as realization slowly took hold.
"…We made a mistake."