A young teengaer who was seventeen and terminally ill lying in bed with long unkept hair and dirty clothes. Weak and tired most days, he spent his last moments hooked up to machines in a sterile hospital room, waiting for a future that might never come.
But today, Nicolas smiled with excitement as he finally reached the final boss of a game thought unbeatable. Hero's Academy a game released nearly two years ago that no one had managed to conquer was the only thing that kept him going through the endless days in the hospital.
Playing this game was my escape from the pain and monotony of my life. If I had one wish, it was to beat the game before I died.
And today was the day I was going to do just that. I had prepared everything for this final boss fight.
My eyes burned with exhaustion, but I forced myself to stay focused. The game's screen flickered as the towering Demon King emerged, dark flames licking the edges of the arena. My heart pounded this was it, the moment I'd waited for.
Suddenly, the screen stuttered, glitches rippling like static across the display. "What the ?" I slammed my hand on the controller, irritation flaring despite the pain in my chest. The game froze, then the world around me blurred and twisted.
A crushing wave of dizziness swept over me. Darkness swallowed my vision, and my last thought was, I'm so close... I can't lose now.
When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in my hospital bed. Instead, I lay sprawled on a cold bed my entire body filled with an odd sensation.
When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in my boring hospital bed. Instead, I lay sprawled on a cold, hard surface. My body felt heavy not as weak like before, but strange. I tried to move my arms, but they didn't respond the way I expected. Instead of uselessly flopping around two skinny but healthy looking arms touched my face.
Panic rose as I glanced down. The hands staring back at me were not my own leaner, longer, and less pale. My heart pounded in my chest. Whose body is this? Where am I?
I scrambled to a nearby mirror hanging crooked on the wall. The reflection was unfamiliar a young man with sharp features, messy dark hair, and tired eyes that didn't belong to me.
Breathing heavily, I pressed my hands to my face again. The cold skin, the unfamiliar weight it was real. I was inside someone else's body. It had to be a dream, I couldnt imagine how much I wished for something like this to happen to me before. The last thing I remember was the game glitching when I tried to fight the final boss.
This couldnt be just a dream though it felt to real all of it the rough floor and cold air.
Then could it be? Am I inside the game?
Trembling nervously I managed to say one word that could determine my fate if I really did transmigrate into the world of Hero's academy.
"System."
I held my breath praying to whatever god was responsible for this.
- Swish
System:
User: Lucian Valric
Rank: E-
Potential: B+
Unique Skill: Death Flag collector
Skills: None
Stats: Click to see indivual Stats.
System shop: Unlocks for 1 Death point
"I see I really did transmigrate into the game but which character was this? Im sure I played as all of them to try and beat the game."
My stomach dropped. Lucian Valric. Of all the characters…
I remembered now. Even after dozens of playthroughs, Lucian always died. A background NPC cursed by fate itself. No matter what you did random accidents, angry nobles, stray arrows he always ended up dead. The devs thought it was hilarious. A running joke.
"AND OF COURSE I ENDED UP IN HIS BODY! CURSE THESE SHITTY DEVS AND WHATEVER GOD PUT ME HERE I WANT TO GO BACK!"
I drew a calm collected breath, cursing wouldnt get my anywhere, not yet. First lets see what my unqiue skill does.
Unique Skill: Death Flag Collector
Description: You are marked by death. Fated to die in every timeline, your life constantly attracts deadly encounters, tragic events, and catastrophic misunderstandings. However, each time you trigger and survive a death flag, you gain a Death Point to spend in the system shop allowing you to struggle even more against your pathetic fate.
I drew a sharp breath, this skill doesnt just attract death its pratically begging for me to go and die! Id have to continuously walk straight into danger, trigger it, and somehow survive just for whatever a death point does.
Still... Depending on what's inside the system shop, I might actually have a shot at surviving. It was worth checking at least.
System shop: Unlocks for 1 Death point.
"This SHITTY system," I groaned.
Of course I have to spend points to even unlock it not even purchase anything."
Fine. Stats, then. Maybe Lucian is secretly a powerhouse, one can only hope.
Stats:
Strength: E-
Agility: E
Endurance: E-
Intelligence: C
Mana capacity: E+
Mana control: E
"So I have nothing going for me, these shitty stats might as well belong to an ordinary cilivian much less an awakened."
How did someone like this even get into Hero's academy?
Whatever, I needed a plan. The first thing to do was remember everything I could about the game's plot anything could be useful. Who knew how long I'd be stuck like this?
"So lets see... 300 Years ago the demons invaded which caused humans to awaken where the only human called the Hero reached SSS rank and sealed the demon king and then founded the academy to train future hero's. And is what the games plot and main character is focused on."
That academy… its called Hero's Academy. And the Main Character the one I originally played as he's supposed to grow stronger there and eventually defeat the demons that return. He posseses the bloodline of the orginally hero, as well as having SSS rank potential and two affinities. The devs gave him so many damn cheats but beating the game was still near impossible...
But now?
Now that no one's controlling him... dying at the first boss wouldn't even be uncommon.
Fuck...
I stared at the ceiling.
Guess I gotta babysit the Main Character until he becomes strong enough to repel the demons targetting him.
Which means I have to survive first. I need power more than anything else in this world.
But no one's just going to hand it to over to an extra like me.
I glanced around the small, dusty dorm room a cramped space that looked like it hadn't seen sunlight in weeks.
Time to get stronger. Before the academy starts and before the first death flags rise.