The bells of Aetheria tolled with a sound that didn't just echo; it judged.
They rang from the ivory towers of Aetheria Academy, spreading across marble courtyards and through stained-glass halls like a divine decree. It was the Day of Awakening, the sacred event where destinies were shaped and hierarchies established.
Above the ceremonial platform hovered the Crystal of Resonance, a massive prism of living mana, shimmering with changing hues of sapphire and gold. It did not just measure magic.
It defined worth.
Aris stood among the initiates in a robe too fine for his comfort and too plain for this occasion. His dark hair fell neatly over calculating eyes. Though his posture was composed, his mind raced with new thoughts.
Yesterday, he had been an engineering student.
Today, he was something else entirely.
He didn't know how he had entered this world, only that the air felt heavier, charged with unseen currents. The ground vibrated faintly beneath him, as if it were alive with a circuitry far greater than any motherboard he had ever known.
Aetheria was a realm where power flowed through the body in streams called Mana Veins. Those with broad, glowing veins rose to nobility. Those without faded away.
And Aris, while unaware of the political implications, sensed instinctively that he was on the edge of something irreversible.
One by one, students approached the platform.
A boy stepped forward, placed his hand on the Crystal, and it blazed emerald.
"High Affinity to Wind," announced the Arch-Magister in a deep voice. "Third Tier."
Applause followed.
Next, a girl came up; the prism flared crimson.
"Fire Adept. Second Tier."
More applause.
Each flare of light reshaped futures. Each glow determined alliances, marriages, military positions, and lifelong privileges.
Then Aris's name was called.
"Aris Valerian."
He stepped forward.
Murmurs began. His demeanor was unusual—not submissive, not arrogant. Simply… observant.
He placed his palm on the Crystal.
Silence.
No shine. No flicker.
The great prism remained dark.
A faint crackle passed through the air, but no light emerged.
The Arch-Magister frowned. Assistants adjusted their sigils. A scribe checked the registry twice.
"Mana output," stated the Array Master while adjusting a circular formation of floating glyphs, "reads… zero."
A ripple of laughter broke the sacred silence.
"Zero?"
"Impossible."
"He must be defective."
The word floated through the courtyard like a curse.
Defective.
In Aetheria, that label was worse than poverty. It was social death.
Aris slowly pulled back his hand.
Zero mana.
In another life, that phrase would have meant nothing.
Here, it meant everything.
A hush returned—but not one of respect. It was the silence saved for spectacle.
From the nobles' balcony came a figure wrapped in crimson silk and gold-thread embroidery.
Lady Seraphina D'Mirelle.
Even among the elite, her presence captured attention. Her hair flowed like liquid moonlight; her eyes sparkled with quiet, predatory confidence. A first-tier fire prodigy and heir to one of the High Houses.
She did not walk toward Aris.
She approached as if inspecting an artifact.
"So," she said softly, though her voice carried easily, "the Academy admits curiosities now."
Laughter followed her words like obedient servants.
Aris met her gaze calmly.
"I assure you," he responded, voice steady, "I am quite authentic."
A few students blinked at his tone. It lacked desperation.
Seraphina tilted her head.
"You do not tremble."
"Should I?"
She smiled faintly, a smile that lacked warmth.
"Let us see if you can at least endure."
She raised her hand.
Mana coiled around her fingers like liquid flame. The air heated instantly. Even experienced students stepped back.
"A minor spark," she declared. "Surely even a commoner can dodge."
A small fireball formed—compact but precise.
To those watching, it was harmless entertainment.
To Aris, it was physics.
Trajectory. Velocity. Combustion radius.
He had perhaps half a second to decide.
He didn't know magic.
He knew combustion equations.
The fireball launched.
And then—
A translucent blue panel flickered before his eyes.
> SYSTEM INTERFACE INITIALIZED.
Host: Aris
Mana: 0
Points: 0
Primary Stat: Charm — 95
He blinked.
What.
The fireball rushed toward him.
No time to think.
Zero points. No abilities. No items.
Only one stat glowing absurdly high.
Charm: 95.
His mind shifted instantly.
If power was out of reach—
Disruption was not.
Instead of diving aside, instead of panicking, Aris did something entirely illogical.
He stepped forward half a pace.
He lifted his chin.
And he smiled.
It was not a desperate smile.
It was not a foolish grin.
It was devastatingly controlled—measured to perfection. The kind of expression that suggested confidence drawn from certainty.
His eyes met Seraphina's.
"Is that all the warmth you can offer?"
The words were calm.
Almost bored.
For a fraction of a second—
She hesitated.
It was microscopic. Nearly unnoticeable to most.
But hesitation alters vectors.
The fireball wavered.
Its path shifted slightly.
Instead of hitting Aris, it brushed past him—
And slammed into a marble pillar behind.
The explosion shattered stone. Fragments rained down across the courtyard.
Gasps erupted.
Silence followed.
Aris stood, untouched.
Smoke curled behind him like stage mist.
The image was cinematic.
The System flickered again.
> Envy Generated: 14 individuals
+140 EP
Heart Rate Spike Detected (Target: Seraphina)
Minor Composure Disruption
Aris stifled the impulse to look surprised.
Fourteen envious? Already?
He had done nothing but smile.
Across the platform, the Mana Detection Array began to shriek.
Runes spun wildly. Glyphs misaligned. Crystalline nodes flared black.
"Impossible—!" shouted the Array Master.
The Crystal of Resonance, which moments ago had stayed dark, now pulsed with a deep, consuming hue—not light, but absence of it.
Void.
The air thickened.
"Detection anomaly!" cried a faculty member. "Energy signature unregistered!"
The Arch-Magister stepped closer, eyes widening.
"It is not mana," he whispered.
The Array spun faster.
"Density readings… off scale…"
A junior instructor gasped. "Forbidden Tier?"
Murmurs exploded into chaos.
"Ancient Void Element?"
"Such density… it bends the Array itself—!"
Aris stood very still.
He felt nothing.
No power. No surge.
Just the faint hum of the System.
> Public Perception Shift Detected.
Title Assigned: Potential Forbidden Mage.
Envy Generation Increased.
+230 EP
He now had 370 points.
For smiling.
He resisted the urge to laugh.
The Arch-Magister descended from the dais and bowed slightly.
Bowed.
Before him.
"Forgive our ignorance," the old mage said carefully. "It appears your power is beyond conventional measurement."
Aris calculated quickly.
If they believed he was powerful—
He must never contradict them.
"I prefer," Aris said softly, "to avoid unnecessary displays."
A murmur of awe spread across the courtyard.
Restraint. Control. Mystery.
Every noble instinctively respected those qualities.
Lady Seraphina stared at him.
Not with mockery now.
With analysis.
"You redirected my spell," she said quietly.
He met her gaze.
"Did I?"
Another flicker in her composure.
The System chimed again.
> Heartthrob Bonus Pending Condition Fulfillment.
Interesting.
The Arch-Magister straightened.
"Aris Valerian," he proclaimed, voice echoing across marble and sky, "you shall be granted provisional Noble Standing until further classification."
Shock rippled outward.
A mana-less student elevated?
Unheard of.
But if he was truly a Void Mage…
Aris inclined his head with perfect grace.
"I accept the Academy's hospitality."
His voice carried easily. Calm. Controlled.
As the ceremony ended, students moved aside instinctively to let him pass.
Whispers followed.
"Void Element…"
"Forbidden lineage…"
"Did you see how he stood?"
He walked through them like a king through mist.
Inside his mind, however, thoughts raced.
He had no mana.
But he had something better.
A System.
And a currency built on perception.
Later, in the solitude of his assigned chamber, far more impressive than expected, he summoned the Interface.
> Current EP: 612
Shop Unlocked
A list unfolded before him.
Spell: Fireball — 300 EP
Spell: Shield — 250 EP
Spell: Flight — 500 EP
He selected Fireball.
Instead of arcane spells, a schematic appeared.
Magnesium-Alloy Flare Grenade.
He stared.
"So," he murmured, "we are lying through science."
A small metal cylinder materialized in his hand, sleek and compact.
Disguised as magic.
Ingenious.
He began to smile again.
In this world, they worshipped mana.
They understood energy in mystical terms.
He understood it in equations.
If the Academy thought he wielded ancient void power—
Then he would give them something far more dangerous.
Engineering.
Outside his window, the towers of Aetheria sparkled beneath twin moons.
Within its halls, nobles whispered of the mysterious prodigy who shattered pillars without casting spells.
Within faculty chambers, theories spiraled toward forbidden archives.
And within his room, Aris Valerian—zero mana, infinite potential—examined a grenade masked as sorcery.
The bells had tolled judgment that morning.
But judgment, he realized, depended entirely on interpretation.
He leaned back in his chair, his eyes reflecting distant moonlight.
"Ego Points," he said quietly.
A currency built from envy, awe, and disrupted composure.
He could work with that.
Far below, Lady Seraphina stood alone in a colonnade, staring at the fractured pillar.
Her cheeks warmed slightly at the memory of his gaze.