The midday sun beat down on the courtyard of the Royal Academy, a sprawling compound of ancient stone and buzzing energy. For most of the students, this was a place of destiny. For Archelius, it was a daily torment.
Archelius was nineteen, yet looked fifteen. He was tall, but thin—all sharp angles and nervous energy. His uniform, a crisp white jacket and dark trousers, only served to emphasize his lack of muscle. He didn't carry the proud swagger of the other students, the inheritors of powerful bloodlines and elemental mastery. Archelius carried textbooks, and often, the scent of fear.
Today's torment was physical training.
"Again! Faster, Archelius!" Sensei Kai roared.
Sensei Kai was a mountain of muscle, his skin tanned like leather and his voice like grinding stone. He stood in the center of the dusty training grounds, watching the dozen students struggle through a basic combat circuit.
Archelius was last. Always last. His lungs burned, his legs felt like lead, and his vision was blurring from exhaustion. He tripped over a simple hurdle, sprawling into the dust.
A wave of snickers rippled through the rest of the class.
"Archelius, you move like a drunken river snail!" a loud voice mocked. It was Klaus, a student from a wealthy clan known for their mastery of Stone Magic. Klaus was broad, arrogant, and hated Archelius with an easy intensity.
"Leave him alone, Klaus," a quiet, firm voice cut in. Bethany, a striking young woman known for her keen intelligence and powerful, if subtle, Wind Magic, stepped forward. She always defended Archelius, which only seemed to enrage Klaus more.
"Defending the weak link again, Bethany?" Klaus sneered. "He's been here four years and can't even cycle his Mana Core! He's a waste of the Academy's resources."
Archelius pushed himself up, wiping the grit from his eyes. Klaus's words didn't sting because they were cruel; they stung because they were true. He was a "Core Zero." In a world where every noble child awakened their Mana Core by age sixteen, Archelius was a failure. He could not absorb energy, he could not use magic, and he could not fight.
"The Core is irrelevant to determination, Klaus," Sensei Kai cut in sharply, silencing the yard instantly. "But physical weakness is not. Archelius, you will run the circuit ten more times, alone. Maybe exhaustion will activate that useless Core of yours."
As Senseus Kai turned to focus on the other students—Theodore, quiet but quick with Earth spikes; Raji, fast and fiery; and Lisa, already mastering illusions—Archelius began his solitary, crushing run. He pushed himself past pain, fueled only by the hollow desire to prove them all wrong.
The Vision and the Collapse
Archelius finished the tenth circuit, collapsing onto his back, gasping for breath, the dust sticking to his sweat. The world spun. He stared up at the relentless sun.
I am a failure. I am worthless.
It was the thought that always haunted him, the core of his misery. He had worked harder than anyone, studied deeper, but the universe simply refused to grant him power.
Suddenly, the familiar sun overhead seemed to distort. The sky, usually a pure blue, twisted into a violent kaleidoscope of red, black, and electric green. A sound that was both a roar and a whisper thundered in his mind.
[...Initializing Subject Connection...]
Archelius clamped his hands over his ears, but the sound was internal. His head felt like it was splitting open. He saw a flash of imagery—vast, alien landscapes, skies filled with colliding gods, and swords made of pure light.
[...Subject Archelius identified. Mana Core Failure detected. Compensatory Protocol: Engaging Translocation...]
A crushing weight descended. Archelius felt his very being—his consciousness, his body, everything—being ripped from the mundane reality of the training yard. He felt the cold, infinite void close around him. He heard one final, high-pitched scream, which might have been his own.
He didn't see the startled faces of his classmates, the alarmed shouts of Sensei Kai, or the concerned rush of Bethany toward his collapsed, rapidly fading body.
The World of Aethelgard
Archelius woke up with a gasp, the taste of dust replaced by the cold, metallic tang of blood and sulfur. He was lying on hard, unfamiliar ground—a cracked, obsidian-black stone that radiated a faint heat.
He slowly sat up. His head still throbbed, but the weakness was gone, replaced by a strange, tingling energy that filled his limbs.
He was no longer in the Royal Academy.
He was in a world of impossible scale and overwhelming hostile beauty. The sky was perpetually shrouded in angry, bruise-colored clouds, slashed by veins of toxic green lightning. The ground was a jagged, volcanic wasteland, stretching to a horizon dominated by colossal, needle-thin mountains that pierced the storm clouds.
The air was heavy and magical, charged with raw, violent energy.
[Welcome to Aethelgard. World of Eternal Conflict.]
The words didn't come from his ears; they appeared as glowing, ethereal text floating directly in his vision, shimmering with impossible geometry.
[System Integration Complete. War God System: Active.]
Archelius stared at the floating text, too stunned to be afraid. A system? Like the legends from old fantasy novels?
He tentatively raised his hand. The words followed his gaze, superimposed over the hostile landscape.
[User: Archelius]
[Title: Core Zero (Initial)]
[Rank: F (Weakest Mortal)]
[Mana Core: ERROR (System Bypass Active)]
[Core Power: 0]
[Health: 100/100 (Normal)]
[Primary System Goal: Ascend to Godhood.]
[Secondary System Goal: Survive.]
[Current Status: Critical Danger. Environment Hostile. Target Locked.]
The First Enemy
Before Archelius could fully process the impossible floating menu, the ground nearby shuddered. A sound like grinding teeth echoed from behind a fractured spire of black rock.
A creature emerged. It was hideous—a six-legged reptilian beast with oily, purple scales, three glowing red eyes, and a mouth filled with dagger-like teeth. It was about the size of a large bear, and it moved with swift, unsettling purpose.
[Threat Detected: Low-Rank Void Lurker]
[Level: 5]
[Warning: User is unarmed and severely under-leveled for combat.]
The Void Lurker let out a high-pitched hiss, its three eyes focusing on Archelius—a small, soft target in this desolate world. It began to slither toward him, its jaws dripping venomous drool.
Panic, cold and absolute, seized Archelius. This wasn't training. This was real. This thing wanted to tear him apart. He tried to run, but his legs were still shaking from the translocation and the sheer terror.
The Lurker covered the distance in two swift, terrifying bounds. It opened its mouth, ready to consume the weakest mortal in Aethelgard.
[Executing Core Power Transfer. Warning: Unstable.]
A sudden, searing heat erupted from Archelius's chest, right where his useless Mana Core should have been. It wasn't pain; it was a pure, explosive feeling of power.
[New Skill Acquired: War God's Fist (Rank F)]
[Skill Description: Channels System Energy into a single, devastating punch. Range: Melee. Cost: 5 Core Power.]
The floating text was instantaneous. Before his mind could catch up, his body reacted, driven by the System's primal surge.
A moment ago, he was a Core Zero. Now, he was a vessel.
The Lurker was upon him. Instinctively, Archelius lashed out with his right arm, channeling the strange, explosive energy into his fist.
The energy—a brilliant, silver-white light wrapped around his hand. It felt heavy, electric, and utterly real.
His punch connected not with the Lurker's scales, but with the exposed flesh beneath its jaw.
CRACK!
The sound was shockingly loud. The punch, delivered by the thin, weak boy, carried the force of a battering ram. The Void Lurker's head snapped back with unnatural velocity.
[Void Lurker (Level 5) Defeated.]
The monstrous creature collapsed onto the black stone, its life snuffed out instantly. It didn't even twitch.
Archelius stared, his silver-white fist smoking faintly. He felt no weakness, only the receding echo of raw, channeled power.
[XP Gained: 50. Level Up: User Level 1.]
[Current Stats:]
[User: Archelius]
[Level: 1]
[Core Power: 95/100 (Remaining)]
[Strength: 10 (+5)]
[Endurance: 8 (+5)]
[Dexterity: 9 (+5)]
[Available Skill Points: 1]
The terror had been replaced by a dizzying, intoxicating shock. Archelius was no longer a Core Zero. He was a Level 1 warrior in the world of Aethelgard, and he had just executed a Level 5 monster with a single punch.
The game had begun.