Class A-1.
The classroom hummed with lively conversation as students trickled in, slipping into their seats with the relaxed assurance of those who knew they were right where they belonged.
[Ding!]
A crisp mechanical chime rang sharply in Leon's mind, tearing through the haze of sleep like a blade.
Leon blinked awake, disoriented. His forty-minute pre-class nap,an unspoken routine at the back of the room had been cut short. Groggily, he looked around.
"What the…? Who's messing with me?"
No one responded. No one even looked at him. As usual.
He was the ghost of Class A-1. Invisible. Unacknowledged.
This was the most prestigious academy in the nation. A fortress of wealth, power, and lineage. He didn't belong. Unlike his classmates, he only had a scholarship, earned through getting a perfect score in the written exam.
But something was different today.
---
[Emergency Detected.]
[Binding to Life Simulator...]
[Binding Successful.]
[Host: Leonardo Gray]
[Detecting biological age...]
[Scanning for inherent abilities...]
[Analyzing physiological anomalies...]
[Unique Trait Detected: Zero-Attribute Body]
[Assessing internal energy reserves...]
[Welcome to Life Simulator 1.0]
[Simulation Host: Leonardo Gray]
[Age: 17 | Ability: None | Unique Physique: Zero-Attribute Body | Energy: 825 Units]
---
'Holy shit.' Leon's heart thudded.
'An Esper ability?'
He'd clawed his way into this academy only because the school administration thought he might have a chance at awakening . And yet two years later, he still hadn't awakened an Esper ability.
Some lucky bastards were born awakened. Others discovered their gifts over time. Most manifested powers by fifteen, the critical age. By eighteen, hope faded.
He had just one year left. One year before the academy deemed him a failure and tossed him out.
But now... this?
'Could this be a tech-type Esper ability?' Leon wondered, watching the glowing display float in midair.
'I've never heard of one like this.'
Esper abilities traditionally fell into five categories. However, rumors had begun to circulate about a new kind, one that didn't quite fit into any known category: Machine-type Espers, seemingly born from technological integration.
'If this really is one of those, then I'm going to become a completely unpredictable threat.'
---
[System Introduction: The Life Simulator enables the projection of realistic future paths based on your current state and circumstances. Upon completing a simulation, certain favorable outcomes may be translated into tangible rewards. Note: Each simulation consumes a set amount of energy.]
[Initiating Simulation of Original Life Trajectory…]
[Age 17: One day at 10 AM, the teacher entered, waking you up from your usual pre-class nap with her usual scolding. Everyone returned to their seats. Still half-asleep, you noticed a strange light on the floor,a glowing white circle, resembling a magical ritual.]
[The teacher yelled at whoever was using an ability in class to stop. But everyone looked just as confused. The light flared and everything went white.]
[You woke up in a dim stone room. Blurry vision. Flickering torchlight. Your classmates lay around you. In the distance, armored figures fought someone. It was your teacher, badly outnumbered and overwhelmed.]
[Students began waking. Some tried fighting. They were knocked out. When the armored men approached you, you lay back down.]
[You were spared from a beating and that's all that matters to you. Dignity is for the strong . Students were dragged away. You were locked in a cell with other classmates.]
[ There were 13 of you. In one prison cell . The walls were made of stone, the iron bars and walls had some sort of inscription. It wouldn't bend or break even with an Esper ability. You noticed that all the classmates in the cell were those who surrendered. You wonder where those who fought back had been away. ]
[ The guards in armour wouldn't speak. But when they talked among themselves they used a language none of you understood. ]
[ At dawn a group of people came to visit you. They were all armoured soldiers guarding a person wearing fancy clothes. The look in his eyes made it seem like he was inspecting some exotic animals at a zoo. ]
[ You were dragged out along with two classmates. They tried to resist, but failed. You lacked even that option. Shackled and silenced, you were taken away from the prison. ]
[ The three of you were dragged out. This was the first time you saw it clearly . A towering castle of black stone, ancient and foreign. This was what you had just exited . You understood with finality, this was not your world.]
[ Your vision was covered with a black bag as they placed you into a horse-drawn carriage. Nearly a full day passed before they removed the blindfold. ]
[ When your sight returned, you were inside a chamber. Stone walls, copper instruments, glowing glyphs. It was unfamiliar, yet unmistakably a lab. ]
[ Your two classmates were restrained nearby. They wore shackles etched with dimly pulsing runes. You could not move. The bed you were strapped to accepted no struggle. ]
[ A thick, viscous fluid was injected into your veins. It moved slowly, unnaturally, like something alive. It clung to the inside of your vessels, writhing as it spread. Your limbs felt bloated and foreign. Breathing grew shallow. Your vision shimmered, darkening at the edges. Then everything vanished. ]
[ You woke to the wrong feeling. Something felt wrong inside you. Your head lifted instinctively , but only slightly. Restraints held your arms and legs in place. You were on a stone table, cold and wet beneath you. Your torso was open. You could see it. Flesh parted. The cavity was exposed. Organs pulsing in open air. ]
[ Hooded figures moved around you. Some familiar from before , others older, adorned with bone trinkets and stitched robes. One held something wet in his palm. A liver. ]
[ Their hands shimmered faintly as they worked ,not light, but something magical. Symbols drifted briefly across skin and disappeared. They reached inside you again. Pieces were lifted, turned, carved, returned. ]
[ Then darkness came again, sharp and complete. You lost consciousness. ]
[ When you awoke again, you were once again tied to the bed . Only now, your body was stitched shut. Movement returned partially, but nothing felt familiar. The sensation in your torso had changed. You would never be the same again. ]
[ Across from you, another classmate had taken your place beneath the full attention of the robed figures. You watched as they surrounded the body. Tubes, flasks, crystal vials , all prepared with care. They began the same way they had with you: an injection of something unnatural, thick and iridescent. But this time, it reacted. The classmate's body arched. The fluid pulsed beneath their skin. ]
[ They continued. Dozens of substances were tested, some made the subject scream, others made the skin glow. Each time the figures grew more focused, more animated. Their excitement was undeniable. Whatever they were looking for, they believed they had found it, in them. ]
[ Days passed. You stopped keeping track of time, not because you forgot it, but because the patterns became familiar. One morning, you watched as they removed a classmate's lungs. Strange lights curled around their hands as they manipulated the organs. Strange runes were inscribed. Then, just as precisely, they put everything back. ]
[ There were replacements too. Many organs were replaced with ones that didn't belong to the original body. One day, a classmate's heart was taken while they were still breathing. It continued to beat in the open air. Inscribed symbols burned across its surface like brands. They submerged the heart into a jar filled with the same liquid. And brought forth another larger, heavier, definitely not human heart as replacement. It connected with no rejection. It pulsed. It worked. ]
[ You kept watching. The changes became more visible. Their posture slumped. Movements slowed. Their expressions drained. Pain no longer registered. They no longer cried. One only blinked during a procedure where half of their torso had been opened and then simply looked away. ]
[ You stopped recognizing them. Whatever was human had eroded. Their eyes dulled. Thought was gone. Self was gone. ]
[ And then, one day, their beds were empty. You never saw them again. ]
[ You, however, were left alone. Unmodified. Forgotten. Whatever they were searching for, it wasn't in you. Your body remained largely untouched. ]
[ Eventually, you were moved again. A new cell. The others here were strangers , locals of this world . Gaunt, sluggish. Most were kept in a drugged stupor. Few spoke. When they did, the words were fragmented, hollow, and you couldn't understand them anyway. ]
[ Periodically, the door would open. They came for one at a time. Most did not return. The few that did came back quiet. Changed. Something in them had been emptied out. They no longer responded when spoken to. ]
[ In this place, the question was not if. Only when. ]
[You stopped waiting for your turn.]
[Then it arrived.]
[The hallway was familiar. The destination wasn't. A different chamber. A different lab. They were younger. Their robes clean. Their movements careful.]
[You were placed on the table again. Same shackles. Your body didn't resist.]
[Your eyes were removed first. Detached cleanly. Stored in matching crystal flasks. After that, you saw nothing. But you felt everything.]
[Then your limbs. One tank for each. Each joint was separated and stored.]
[Your chest was opened. Every organ was lifted out. The heart was held, then sealed in a black container. Lungs, stomach, intestines , all preserved.]
[Your brain came last. Extracted slowly. Suspended in golden liquid. Runes carved into the flask. Skull fragments stored separately.]
[The blood, tissue, waste was cleaned off the table. Disposed of quietly.]
[Nothing was left of you. Only parts. They were labeled and preserved.]
[ You died. ]
[ The simulation has ended . ]
[ You died at the age of 17. ]
"What the unholy son of a shit!" Leon couldn't help but curse .
A woman in her thirties appeared in the class. It was the class teacher. As soon as she entered she shouted,
"EVERYONE! AT YOUR SEAT!"
Leon realized the crisis. He jumped and ran towards the backdoor. A white circle appeared on the floor.
But Leon calculated that before the teleportation happens, he could definitely reach the door with his speed. And he did. He opened the door . One more step and he would be outside the circle. But suddenly something grabbed his leg .
Leon shouted in his head .
He turned back and saw a dark purple vine grabbing on his leg. He knew who this ability belongs to and looked at her .
"Where do you think you are going during the class?" The class teacher said. "And who is causing this light?"
"UGH! I need to pee. LET ME GO! " Leon growled as he dragged his body while holding onto the wall.
He somehow managed to fall outside the class but only his left leg was inside the circle with a vine gabbing on it.
'It doesn't matter. Only one leg is sacrificed .'
But Leon had calculated wrong.
That day the blinding light flashed and everyone from class A-1 disappeared from the face of the world.