Chapter Three: Dying To Activate A System
Kael didn't know how long he had been walking. The Academy had long disappeared behind him, its towering walls and echoing voices now nothing more than a distant memory.
The streets stretched endlessly ahead, filled with people moving about their lives, yet none of it truly registered in his mind. His thoughts were too loud, too heavy, drowning out everything else.
The events of the day replayed over and over again. The whispers in the hall. The confusion at his awakening. The way the system had failed to define him. And then… Diel's words.
"Pathetic."
Kael clenched his fists as the word echoed again in his mind. It wasn't just the insult, it was the truth behind it that hurt the most.
All his life, he had struggled to keep up. While others awakened talents early, while others showed promise, he had remained at the bottom, barely holding on to the belief that one day things would change.
But today had proven otherwise.
He let out a shaky breath, his lips curling into a bitter smile.
"So that's it, huh?" he muttered quietly. "That's all I am.
He stopped walking, staring blankly at the road ahead. For years, he had held onto a single dream to fight monsters. To stand on the battlefield, to push back the darkness that still lingered in the world. The stories of the Eternals, of powerful mages and warriors standing against vampires and creatures of the night, had filled him with purpose.
But now that dream felt like something that had never belonged to him.
"What am I supposed to become now?" he whispered. His voice cracked slightly, the frustration slipping through.
"Someone like me… I can't even fight. I can't even awaken properly." His thoughts darkened.
Without strength, without a clear affinity, there was only one path left for someone like him. The lowest ranks. The forgotten roles. The ones no one spoke about with pride.
"Probably a cleaner will do." He muttered laughing hysterically to himself.
Someone who followed behind real fighters, clearing bodies, scrubbing blood from the streets, doing the work no one else wanted to do. Or worse labor, servitude, living a life so insignificant that it barely mattered whether he existed or not.
Kael's breathing grew heavier.
"No…" he muttered, shaking his head. "No… that's not what I wanted…"
The frustration surged violently, twisting into anger. His steps quickened, turning uneven as he moved forward without thinking. The world around him blurred, his vision clouded by the storm raging inside his chest.
"I trained… I tried…" he said under his breath, his voice rising slightly. "I did everything I could… so why...why am I still like this?!"
A sharp horn blasted through the air.
Kael didn't notice. His mind was too far gone, consumed by his thoughts, his anger, his despair. The sound grew louder, closer.
Then everything happened at once. A massive truck came speeding down the road with a momentum that was unstoppable. By the time Kael's senses caught up, it was already there.
His eyes widened.
Impact.
Pain exploded through his body as he was struck and thrown violently to the ground. The force ripped the air from his lungs, his vision flashing white as the world spun uncontrollably. The sound of metal, the screech of tires, distant voices shouting it all blurred together into a single, chaotic moment.
Then...
Nothing.
Silence.
Kael's thoughts faded, slipping into darkness as the pain swallowed everything whole.
******
"…Huh?"
His eyes snapped open. He was standing. Right in the middle of the road. Unharmed.
Kael froze, his breath catching in his throat as he looked down at himself. No pain. No injuries. Not even a scratch. His body felt… completely fine.
"What… just happened?" he whispered.
He turned his head slowly, scanning his surroundings. The same street. The same buildings. Even the faint sounds of the city remained unchanged. It was as if the accident had never happened.
But that wasn't possible. He had felt it. The impact. The pain. The certainty that he had been hit. He wasn't hallucinating or was he? His heart began to pound.
Then a faint glow appeared in front of him.
Kael stiffened as thin lines of light formed in the air, weaving together like threads being pulled by an invisible force. The glow intensified, shaping itself into a familiar interface but unlike anything he had seen before.
It wasn't the Academy's system. This felt… different.
[Initializing System…]
Kael's eyes widened as the words formed clearly before him.
[Compatibility Check: Complete]
[Host Confirmed]
[Synchronization in Progress…]
"What… is this…?" His voice was barely audible now, filled with disbelief. The light pulsed once more.
[Unique System Acquired]
A brief pause followed, as if the system itself was settling into place.
Then...
[Mage System Activated]
Kael's breath hitched.
A Mage? System?
More text appeared rapidly, each line striking deeper than the last.
[Host: Kael Veyar]
[Status: Active]
[Primary Pathway: Mage]
[System Authority: Nil]
His mind raced, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. This wasn't normal. This wasn't how awakenings worked. His affinity had shown nothing no rank, no class, no future.
So where had this come from?
His fingers trembled slightly as he reached out toward the glowing interface. For a moment, he hesitated, as though afraid it would disappear the second he touched it.
But it didn't. The system remained, steady and waiting. It was real.
Kael swallowed hard, his heart still pounding, but now for a different reason. The despair that had consumed him moments ago hadn't vanished completely but something had changed.
Something had shifted. Because for the first time since leaving the Academy…
The future didn't feel completely empty.
And as he stared at the glowing words before him, one thought echoed quietly in his mind,
"Maybe…Just maybe…This wasn't the end for me after all."