Inside the Warps of Golems, a blue-eyed, black-haired boy—around seventeen years old—was seen sprinting through the forest, dodging stones being thrown at him.
Cael shouted, "Fck! How can I be so fcking stupid?!"
He kept running while cursing himself.
He had forgotten something extremely important—
This wasn't a game anymore.
In the game, the inventory always gave the player a sword at the start.
But in the real world… he needed to buy a weapon before entering a dungeon.
And Cael, being Cael, had rushed in without thinking.
A silly mistake.
One that could've easily cost him his life.
He kept running until he found a body of water.
When he turned around, he noticed the golems weren't coming any closer.
Cael finally relaxed.
For some reason, the golems never approached water—maybe they didn't want to get soaked, or maybe it interfered with their bodies. Whatever the reason was, he didn't care.
He stepped into the water, splashing his face to calm down.
After resting for a few minutes, Cael began walking again.
Luckily, this water source was close to the place he needed to reach.
A few minutes later, he arrived.
A waterfall.
Many adventurers had come here before, thinking it hid treasure. Some searched behind it, some dove beneath it…
But they always found nothing.
However, much later in the game—near the endgame—a player had posted something shocking online.
There was a hidden skill here.
A skill most people ignored because it seemed useless…
But for a body like Cael's, it was the best treasure possible.
Magic Storage.
As the name suggested, it allowed the user to store mana inside their body.
For normal people, it was trash.
They already stored mana naturally, so the skill didn't help much.
Worse, it had a limit—once the body's capacity was full, you couldn't store more.
But Cael was different.
His body constantly leaked mana.
So what if…
He used this skill to store mana that would've otherwise escaped?
And unlike others, this skill could grow.
At higher levels, it could become a massive reserve.
Cael slowly stepped behind the waterfall and reached an ordinary-looking stone.
This stone contained the skill that could change his miserable life.
The method to obtain it was simple.
Hit the stone with as much mana as possible.
If it reached a certain threshold, the skill would activate.
But there was a problem.
With Cael's pathetic mana pool, he would never reach the required threshold.
So he had to use another method.
Cael grinned.
Then he turned around and ran back into the forest.
A while later…
Cael was sprinting again—this time with ten golems behind him, throwing stones nonstop.
He rushed toward the waterfall and positioned himself behind the skill stone.
The golems kept firing.
Their stones slammed into the stone repeatedly.
And because the golems' attacks were infused with mana, the stone slowly began charging.
Cael watched carefully.
When the stone was almost filled—
He stepped out and delivered the final hit with his own mana.
Crack.
The stone shattered.
And without even looking at the screen that appeared, Cael jumped straight into the water.
Because he knew one thing very clearly:
If he stayed out for even a second longer…
He would die.
Minutes passed.
The golems eventually retreated.
Cael climbed out of the water, breathing heavily.
That was when he saw the message floating in front of him.
----------------
[System]
Skill Obtained: Mana Storage
Description: Allows the user to accumulate mana.
Error... Error...
Detected User Condition: Mana Flow Defect Constitution detected.
Skill merging with Constitution.
Processing 1%... 2%... 3%...
----------------
Cael's eyes widened.
"…What the f*ck? This never happened in the game."
Before he could think further—
Pain erupted throughout his entire body.
It felt like his bones were shattering.
Like his blood vessels were tearing.
Like his lungs were being crushed from the inside.
Cael collapsed, groaning.
The pain was so intense he couldn't even scream properly.
And soon…
He lost consciousness.
His last thought was filled with dread.
Fck… was this a bad choice?*
Hours passed.
Cael woke up with a painful groan.
His body still ached, but the worst of it was gone.
He looked up.
It was almost evening.
Then his eyes shifted to the blue screen still floating in front of him.
---------------
[System]
Congratulations, User. You have obtained a Legendary Constitution.
Constitution: Mana Blessed Body [Bronze Rank]
Requirement: A Mana Defect Body + Mana Storage Skill
Description: A blessed constitution that cannot reveal its true potential unless paired with a body suffering from mana defect.
---------------
Cael stared at the screen… then burst into laughter.
"Damn… I'm lucky after all."
"To think this miserable body helped me unlock one of the best constitutions…"
"…Cael was really unlucky to die without ever realizing what he could become."
After celebrating, Cael decided to hunt a few golems before leaving.
Not for mana cores…
But to test his new body.
He searched until he found a single golem.
He didn't want to fight a group yet—not until he knew how strong he had become.
As he walked, Cael recalled something important.
In this world, mages were separated by affinity.
There were many types, but the main ones were:
Water, Fire, Wind, Dark, Light, Space, Time…
And each had sub-affinities—like Ice under Water, for example.
Cael decided to test his own.
From what he remembered, Cael originally had a weak Water affinity—so weak he was almost considered affinity-less.
He raised his hand and tried a basic spell.
"Water Cannon."
A beam of water shot forward and struck a rock ahead.
Cael grinned.
"So I do have it."
At the same time, a system message appeared.
-----------------------
[System]
New Affinity Detected
Water Affinity added.
-----------------------
Cael froze.
"…What?"
His affinity hadn't shown up in his status window before.
He had assumed he didn't have one.
But it got registered the moment he used it.
Cael's mind raced.
So it only registers when the user can actually use it… not when they're born with it?
That was strange.
In this world, affinity was supposed to be decided at birth.
But if the system could "add" it…
Then what did that mean?
Cael's excitement exploded.
If I can learn other affinities… can I master them all?
Maybe my affinity isn't fixed…
Maybe it's because my soul isn't from this world—so I don't have the same restrictions.
Grinning ear to ear, Cael exited the dungeon.
Outside, the guard stopped him.
"Any mana cores?"
Cael froze.
Only then did he remember—
Because he was so focused on affinity, he didn't collect a single golem core.
He gave the guard a business-like smile.
"I… forgot my sword, so I couldn't gather any mana cores."
The guard's face turned serious.
"Kid. Don't forget something like that again."
"In dungeons, your weapon is part of your life. Leaving it behind is the same as saying you want to die."
"You're lucky you survived. Many die even with weapons."
Cael nodded seriously.
"Yes, sir. I won't make the same mistake twice."
The guard softened and smiled.
"Good. I hope you have safe dungeon adventures from now on."
Cael smiled back.
"Thank you for looking out for me."
With that, he turned and left.
As he walked away, Cael took one last glance at the dungeon.
There was nothing left for him to farm here now.
He headed back toward Claser Village, hoping to find a cart back to the orphanage.
He needed to train hard during the next few days…
Because the academy awaited.
And so did death.
Far away…
Deep within the universe…
The wheels of fate began to turn in a direction no one had expected.
And soon…
The world would realize that something had changed.