The teacher's office.
Ken stood before a striking redhead with a voluptuous figure.
She was dressed in a tailored blouse and a pencil skirt that accentuated her shapely hips.
She had a hourglass figure and her red-painted toenails peeked out from beneath the straps of her heels
This absolute bombshell of a woman was Hannah Schneider.
The homeroom teacher who had made Ken's day worse.
After he flunked the mock test she had carefully prepared.
She told him to meet her in the teacher's office once school ended.
"Ken, I'm going to be honest with you. Your performance on the mock test was far below the passing mark. At this rate, you passing the graduation exam tomorrow is… unlikely. I recommend that you sit out this year or you'll only be setting yourself up for disappointment."
"I understand I am lacking, but I still want to give it a try. So, Miss Hannah, please don't cut my name out of the list," Ken shot her a pleading look.
He needed to become a Force Master this year.
Only then would he have the opportunity to grow before the disaster struck.
If he missed this opportunity, all will be doomed.
Hannah sighed.
But seeing the resolute look in his eyes, she couldn't bring herself to say no to him.
In the end, she decided to respect his choice.
"I won't."
"Thank you, Miss," Ken said, expressing his gratitude.
Then he asked, "Can I go now?"
"You can." Hannah nodded.
"Goodbye, miss." Ken gave a short wave.
"Goodbye." She returned the gesture and watched as he turned around and walked out of the office, closing the door behind him.
He stepped into the hallway.
The smile on his face faded.
And a worried look appeared on his face.
He felt worried for his future.
The sun had started to set.
Dusk was fast approaching.
The graduation exam would take place early in the morning.
He had less than twelve hours to push his strength into an acceptable range.
Otherwise, he'd have to look for another way to become a Force Master.
"As far as I know, there's no easy way."
In his previous life, after years of struggle, his living condition rapidly improved when his masterpiece of a novel took off and money started rolling in.
With all that happening, he allowed himself one luxury he'd never had time for before.
Gaming.
The first game he ever played was Immortal Demons and Warring Gods.
It was the hottest title at the time, praised for delivering an unprecedented gaming experience.
For first-time gamers, playing this game lit every dopamine receptor in their brain like fireworks.
He fell in love with it instantly.
His love for it was so immense, he started carving time out of his busy work just to explore its vast, immersive world and dive deeper into its mechanics.
Six months later, he was killed saving a child from a dog of a person who didn't know how to drive responsibly!
But before that, he'd spent hours exploring the world of Immortal Demons and Warring Gods, and even more time watching videos about it.
Thus, he wasn't clueless about it at all.
In fact, he knew about it a lot.
He knew where he could find hidden treasures that could turn a worthless cannon fodder like him into a Force Master!
The only thing stopping him from making use of all that knowledge was his pitiful strength.
Every treasure he could recall was hidden in deadly locations swarming with beasts and monsters. Only a trained Force Master had a chance of surviving in those areas, and even they had to be cautious or else they could risk getting injured or losing their lives. If he, a mere weakling, dared to step foot in those places, he'd die before realizing what killed him!
As for hiring a Force Master to retrieve those treasures?
Such a thought had indeed crossed his mind, but after a while of pondering, he decided against it as it came with its own set of problems.
For one, he lacked any personal connections.
Finding a Force Master who'd agree to help him in exchange for his gale coins would take days if not weeks.
And even if he found one, there was no guarantee they wouldn't double-cross him once they had what he wanted!
"The acceptable range should be somewhere around the mid rank of the Mortal Realm," he muttered under his breath.
Force Masters were divided into six major realms of power.
Extraordinary Level, Unbridled Stage, Grandmaster, Warlord, War Chief, and The Sovereign Supreme.
Those not yet qualified as Force Masters belonged to what was known as the Mortal Realm.
This realm was further broken down into four ranks.
Low, Mid, High, and Peak.
Those in the Low-rank Mortal Realm possessed strength equivalent to that of an average citizen of the Heavenly Moon Empire. Those in the Mid-rank were twice as strong. It multiplied from there. People in the Peak rank Mortal Realm were eight times stronger than people in the Low rank Mortal Realm!
Mid rank Mortal Realm!
That was the bare minimum needed to pass the graduation exam.
The Elite Four were all above the mid rank of the Mortal Realm. That alone guaranteed their success in the graduation exam. Their strength was easily four times that of an average citizen of the Heavenly Moon Empire.
Ken was at the low rank.
He needed to reach mid rank before morning… or he'd have no choice but to play with fire and try to find a Force Master willing to help him retrieve the treasures he had in mind. Treasures capable of propelling a mere mortal into the ranks of Force Masters!
Rumble!
He was walking down the hallway when the floor beneath his feet trembled.
Was it an earthquake?
No.
It was just Betty, a 600-pound fatty whose eyes were buried beneath folds of flesh, and whose chin had long since declared independence from her face. There were at least three of them holding diplomatic meetings on her neck.
Betty placed a fat, meaty hand onto Ken's shoulder.
"Ken, now that it's come to this, isn't it in your best interest to accept my proposal? The greatest achievement you can hope for in this life is to become the kept man of a Force Master."
Disgust flashed in Ken's eyes.
"Lady, you're built like a truck. Even Terror Lords from Abyssal Burrows, with their rotting flesh and hollow eye sockets, look better than you. Instead of throwing yourself at guys and traumatizing them for life with your heinous proposals, you should be focusing on exercising to slim down and becoming a better way. Because the way you are now, anyone would find you disgusting."
A hurt look flickered across Betty's face.
"Am I really that ugly…?"
Without giving a damn about her feelings, Ken nodded.
"You're fucking ugly. I'd rather die than be with you."
Why should he care about the feelings of someone who saw him not as a person, but as a toy to be owned and fucked?
"Wah!"
Betty broke down into sobs and ran away while crying.
Watching her big back disappear around the corner, Ken threw his head back and smiled.
It was a wide, uncontrolled grin that contorted his face.
"This feeling that emerges from teaching a lesson to mongrols who think they can prey on you just because you're a little down on luck… it's so exhilarating," he murmured before leaving the martial institute.
As soon as he stepped outside, he became the target of a fly.
It buzzed around him, circling his head and ears, annoying him to no end.
"Ah, I'm going to kill you."
Pa!
Ken clapped once, crushing it to death.
As soon as he did that, a chime rang in his head.
[Ding! By bullying a bad person to tears and killing the member of a universally hated race, you have met all the necessary conditions to unlock the Slaughter Point System.]
[Congratulations. You have been bestowed the Slaughter Point System.]
[You've ruthlessly killed a fly. You get +1 Slaughter Point.]
"My golden finger..."
A smile crept onto Ken's face.
"... Is finally here!"