After seeing his stats.
His first instinct was to reach out for his pocket–his phone rather.
Grabbing it, he tapped the screen.
[5:00 AM]
[Monday]
[June 1, 2148]
[Notifications: 1]
[From: Imperial Academy]
Congratlations, Mr Ashbourne
We are thrilled to inform you that your application to Imperial Academy has been successful. You have been accepted for the upcoming academic year, and we look forward to welcoming you into our school community.
We hope to see you on our campus on Monday, June 15, 2150.
'Imperial Academy? Isn't this...'
The boy finally realized what had just happened.
Imperial Academy was none other than the top of all academies in the Path to havoc novel.
With the familiar system interface, and the name of the academy, there was only one answer to the strange events.
'But... this doesn't make any sense.'
He'd finally realized that he was inside the novel, Path to havoc
But as a teenager who had no aspirations in life, this was too good to be true.
The boy read the message again, and what caught his attention was the name of the recipient.
Ashbourne
He had already deduced that he had transmigrated inside the Path to havoc novel.
But...
'Doesn't ring any bell.'
This was a character he was unfamiliar with–or rather–Ashbourne had never shown up in any scenes of the novel, as far as he could remember.
No, he could definitely remember the characters.
So if this was an unfamiliar character...
'Then doesn't that mean I'm... an extra?'
"Haa..."
He could only let out an exasperated sigh, as this was all too much for him at the moment.
Gazing back on to the system, he took a close good look.
"So the name's match..."
As far as he knew, the protagonist also had a system, but his initial skill wasn't this powerful.
"He was supposed to be the only one with a system."
But not anymore.
Whoever Ashbourne was, must've been hiding his abilities for some reason.
And this Ashbourne was now him.
"I guess I'm him now."
He decided to put the dungeon taming skill on hold for now.
After checking the system, Brandon muttered to himself,
"How do you close this again?"
It was never really explained how the protagonist did it in the novel.
"System Close? System Exit? Close?"
Frustrated, the boy scratched his head.
"Hmm... what about, Clear."
After muttering those words, the system closed itself.
After checking the system, Brandon muttered to himself,
"Haha, I'm a genius."
After finally getting the hang of using the system, Ash stood up from his bed.
Scanning his room, his gaze landed on the mirror, just beside the bookshelf.
He then approached the mirror to take a look at what Ashbourne looked like.
What met his sight was a man with pale-white hair, ice-blue eyes, and a physique that was decent enough for him.
Since in his old life, Ashbourne was a skinny teenager, any physique that had a bit of muscle would easily satisfy him.
Plus...
"Am I a six-footer?!"
This indeed shocked Ashborne, as he could be considered a bit too short for average height in his old life.
But then, he suddenly remembered something.
In his final moments before he died, he never got to send his father a message.
Realizing this, his eyes started to strain, and tear beads started forming.
"dad... I'm sorry for leaving you behind..."
After all, it was only the two of them in their family.
Now, because he died, he was left all alone.
Ash crouched down, covering his face, as he continued to sob.
Despite living a humble life in the rural parts of the city, ash's father had never failed to raise him.
For Ash, he was the perfect father
They didn't have a lot of things, but the love he'd receive from his father was enough for him.
Ash continued to break down into tears.
"I want to go back..."
A Father's love is special, and now that Ash was in an unfamiliar place, with having no way to go back, he was undoubtedly homesick.
.
After crying for what seemed to be hours, Ash decided to get up, wiping his tears away.
Sobbing, Ash muttered to himself,
"If I'm stuck here, I have to make the most of this second life given to me."
After deciding, Ash retrieved his phone from his pocket.
Tap-
[6:47 AM]
[MONDAY]
[JUNE 1, 2148]
"Wait, wasn't the Academy supposed to start in two weeks?"
After taking a shower, Ash got dressed with whatever outfit he had inside the closet.