Drip! Drip! Drip!
The sound of blood dripping could be heard throughout the arena, echoing off the stone walls like a slow and merciless countdown. It wasn't loud, yet every drop rang clear enough that anyone listening would feel the sting of it.
At the center of the exam grounds, kneeling on one knee and barely holding himself upright, a boy clutched the hilt of a sword lodged deep in his stomach. His fingers trembled, slick with blood. His breathing hitched. His face had long since drained of color.
His name was Voren Kaleid.
At least, that was the name the world gave him.
Standing over him was Aiden Hartwright, a tall youth draped in the azure coat that marked the main bloodline of the Hartwright Duchy. Aiden's gaze was fierce, as he stared down at Voren as if daring him to speak, daring him to beg, daring him to blame fate for putting him there.
But Voren didn't say anything. He couldn't.
The pressure in his lungs refused to let words out. His chest felt tight, as if something inside him had been crushed. He lowered his head a little, listening again to that same dripping sound. His blood. His life. Slipping away.
Aiden's voice cut through the air, low and cold.
"You should've stayed home, Kaleid. Garbage like you shouldn't dream of standing beside us."
Whispers rose from the crowd. They had been murmuring before, but now the noise was heavier, more frantic.
"Is Aiden serious?"
"He's going to kill him."
"If he does, what then? Nothing. He's a main bloodline heir. They'll cover for him."
"That Kaleid kid… what was his name again? Voren? He's done for."
Voren heard them all. Funny thing was, none of it shocked him. Not the sword, not the pain, not the hostility in their voices. Not even the fear creeping into their words.
What actually bothered him was how familiar this kind of moment felt.
Not because it had happened before, but because when he first opened his eyes in this world, he knew fate wasn't fond of him.
Back then, when he first woke up in this unfamiliar life, he remembered thinking something simple.
That this wasn't his home, this wasn't his body, and certainly, this wasn't his world.
He still remembered the night he died. At least, he assumed he died. One minute he was staring at a broken laptop screen in his old room, and the next he found himself in a child's body inside a house he didn't recognize. The Kaleid household. A fallen branch family with barely enough resources to survive, let alone thrive.
Then, the panic came first, followed by the denial, and the headache that nearly drove him insane as another life flooded his head.
Memories. There weren't dreams, not illusions, but real memories of the child whose body he occupied. A gentle boy with quiet ambitions, the type who dreamed of becoming a mage but never had the talent or backing for it. Voren spent days adapting to those memories, blending them with his own until he couldn't tell which were his and which belonged to the boy who came before.
He lived that life. Ate the meals the Kaleid family scraped together. Learned magic theory like every other aspiring mage. Laughed with the younger siblings he gained unexpectedly. Grew attached to the mother who cried when he awakened his first spark of mana.
That was the strangest part. The fact he adapted so easily to that strange setting.
Awakening day arrived a year later. The sky was bright blue, the church officials standing tall, and every child standing in line hoping to feel the rush of mana bloom within their chest. Voren remembered feeling terrified. He thought he'd be one of the failures, doomed to a life without magic.
But when he placed his hand on the awakening crystal, everything changed.
A translucent blue interface hovered before his eyes. A faint flicker of blue light. A system.
He wasn't the only one with a system—everyone awakened with their own interface, their own elemental affinities, their own mage class, their own skill, their own path to power.
Then he studied, trained, struggled, pushed forward, because that was the only real choice he had. After all, he was living inside a story he didn't recognize. It was a game he didn't know a thing about, A world he had never heard of. There were no guides, no walkthroughs, no spoilers. Only uncertainty.
And yet, he still chose the path to the Oakhaven Mage Academy entrance exam. It was something he wanted, not the original Voren, but him. The one who came from another world. The one who refused to live without purpose again.
But fate had other plans.
Aiden Hartwright, the talented heir of the Hartwright Duchy, had taken an interest in someone he shouldn't have. During the spell assessment portion, Voren displayed an affinity that shouldn't have existed in a common-born family. A rare trait belonging to ancient scholars in the old world myths. That made the examiners shocked, the judges began to whisper among themselves, and the crowd immediately turned hostile.
Jealousy. Curiosity. Fear.
It didn't matter what name it wore.
Then a spell detonated at his feet, sending him spiraling across the field. The exam instructors shouted at Aiden, but no one intervened. And when the dust settled, Aiden appeared in front of him with a sword drawn.
The crowd gasped, but none dared step forward.
Voren scraped together every ounce of will to stand, but his legs refused to get up. Everything swam in a blurry haze, pulsing in time with the frantic thudding of his heart. Even the system interface seemed to glitch, flickering uncertainly at the edge of his vision.
Then came the strike.
A clean, fluid thrust straight through his abdomen.
He didn't scream. He couldn't. His voice got stuck in the pain rising through him like a wave.
He then clutched the blade weakly, his breath coming out in shaky gasps. He wanted to say something smart or defiant, something that made the moment feel worth it. But all he felt was a dull ache, a sharp coldness eating through him from the wound outward, and an overwhelming sense of regret.
He thought he finally found a chance to start over.
To do things right.
To live without wasting time.
To protect the new family he'd grown attached to.
But here he was, bleeding out in an exam arena, listened to by hundreds yet ignored by all.
The whispers just kept growing.
"Someone stop Aiden!"
"No one will. He's a Hartwright."
"But isn't this too far?"
"He's proving a point. Bloodline superiority matters."
"That Kaleid kid is finished."
"His family's weak. No one will defend them."
Voren slowly raised his head. His bangs were plastered to his forehead with sweat and blood. His gaze trembled as he met Aiden's sneering face.
Why did it have to end like this?
His heartbeat slowed.
The world dimmed.
The arena shapes blurred into nothing but silhouettes.
The pain in his stomach spread through his entire body until he couldn't tell where the wound ended and where he began.
And in the quiet between breaths, a single thought echoed inside him.
I don't want to die here.
He tried to breathe once more, but only blood filled his mouth.
His fingers went limp.
His vision tunneled.
His thoughts scattered like dust.
Then—
Ping.
A single system sound echoed through his fading consciousness.
[Death Detected!]
A faint light flickered behind his eyes, gentle yet absolute.
[Condition for Re-Awakening Detected!]
.............
A/N: Welcome to my new book! If you like it, drop a comment, please give power stones and add to library.