Chapter Three – The Hidden System
When Aveline opened her eyes, sunlight was already spilling through the curtains.
For a moment, she thought everything from last night was a dream — the glowing forest, her summons, the system screen.
But then she saw it.
A faint blue icon floating at the corner of her vision.
It blinked softly, like a heartbeat.
> [System Online]
Welcome, Luminia.
Her breath caught.
It wasn't a dream.
She sat up quickly, looking around the room. Everything looked normal — her desk, her books, the soft curtains her mother picked. But the blue window stayed. It followed her gaze, always visible no matter where she looked.
> [User Status: Synced]
Energy Level: Stable]
Summons: Locked (Pending Awakening)]
Her pulse quickened. It was really her in-game system, now inside her real body.
Aveline got out of bed, moving carefully. "Okay… no freaking out," she whispered. "Just… think."
The last thing she wanted was for her parents to find out. If anyone saw this, if anyone even heard her talk about it, they'd think she'd gone crazy — or worse, that she was hiding forbidden magic.
She waved her hand in front of her face, testing if the system reacted. Nothing happened. Then she focused the way she used to when playing the game.
A soft sound — ping! — echoed in her mind.
> [Skill Menu Unlocked]
She almost smiled. "It really works…"
Small holographic icons appeared in front of her, just like in the game — Summoner, Combat Master, Support Tree.
But most of them were greyed out.
> [Summoner Class: Locked]
[Condition: Establish Mana Link]
"Mana link?" she murmured. "So… it needs magic from this world."
She thought for a moment. The ritual showed she had no element — no magic at all.
That meant she couldn't use mana.
But then again, she wasn't just Aveline anymore.
She was Luminia — and in her old world, she'd learned how to make impossible things work.
> [New Objective Added]
Find a way to connect to this world's mana source.
She nodded slowly. "Alright. Challenge accepted."
There was a knock on the door.
"Aveline, breakfast!" her mother's voice called.
Aveline quickly waved her hand, and the system blinked out of sight.
"Coming!" she replied, forcing her voice to sound normal.
As she left her room, the faint blue glow flickered one last time.
> [System Hidden Mode: Active]
And just like that, her double life quietly began — the duke's daughter with no magic… and the gamer who secretly carried a whole system inside her.