The spirits keep working—gentle and methodical. But the pain refuses to fade. It lingers like a blade lodged behind my eyes, pulsing with every heartbeat. Relief dances just out of reach.
Around me, I hear them—whispers, gasps, scattered murmurs. Students shifting in their seats, trying not to stare but failing miserably. So much for keeping a low profile.
Now I'll be remembered as the kid who broke down before dessert was even served.
.
.
.
[ Progress: 100% ]
[ Temporal Anchor → Temporal Anchor (Version 2) ]
At last—air. I inhale, shaky but steady, like surfacing from deep underwater. The agony dulls to a throb, distant now, manageable. I Don't dare open my eyes yet. But with a trembling hand, I raise a finger—just enough to signal Professor Aldrick Voss.
"Thank you... Professor," I whisper, voice frayed but sincere.
He understands. The healing stops. The spirits retreat in silence.
"Head to the infirmary, Mr…?"
"Isaac. Will do Sir"
My chair screeches across marble as I lurch upright, suddenly insulated by a wall of professors forming a protective cordon around me. They hustle me toward the arched exit. But before crossing the threshold, I hesitate - just for a heartbeat.
Against their protests, I turn back. My eyelids flutter open one final time, fixing on the last place I saw Kael.
The world fractures.
Emerald static floods my vision. The banquet hall dissolves into a cascading nightmare of binary - a living, breathing matrix of ones and zeroes. The digits just overlay reality; they consume it.
Students become walking skeletons of binomial code, their laughter translated into pulsing green algorithms. The vaulted ceiling drips with streaming data, every stone block demarcated by glowing partitions like some grotesque chess board made of light.
[ Successfully obtained Inhabitant ID Kael Veldt's statistics. Displaying... ]
Name: Kael Veldt
Class: ???
Title: Archon of the Element's Accord
Stats:
- Strength: 2-Star
- Vitality: 2-Star
- Agility: 2-Star
- Intellect: Unreadable, your difference is too great
- Stamina: 100%
Attributes:
The Chosen One: The protagonist of the game, whether he realizes it or not, this attribute grants him all the 4 Main Elements and receives a 15% boost in magical power.
Artificial Spiritual Sensitivity: The one attuned with building blocks of nature. He is extremely sensitive to mana, being almost one with it, therefore spirits will be more easily perceived by him.
The Second Blessing of the World: The world has taken favor to Kael, his spells consume less mana than the average individual. An additional boost of 30% in magical power is too gained.
The Phylogenetic Root: An individual possessing the necessary genomes to be the pinnacle of humanity. Grants an increase of all physical stats by 1-Star. Alongside the opportunity to learn multiple sources of powers.
Element Affinity:
Earth (Main Element): 1-Star
Wind (Main Element): 1-Star
Water (Main Element): 1-Star
Fire (Main Element): 1-Star
Mana Remaining: 250/250 MP
This can't be right.
The data streams warp and flicker like malfunctioning code as I frantically recheck the parameters. His statistics should be pristine - flawless 5-Star ratings across every category except intellect, which is always a respectable 3. But what I'm seeing... what the system insists is reality...
It's the exact inverse.
My hands begin trembling uncontrollably. His intellect is unreadable, its value towering at least three full stars above my own. The numbers pulse mockingly, each oscillation sending fresh needles of ice down my spine.
All his physical stats are 2-Stars…
Attributes are unchanged. Except...
"The Phylogenetic Root."
The words hang in my vision like a death sentence. That classification wasn't in his EAA profile. Wasn't in any profile. My mouth goes dry. Ancient survival instincts scream at me that something is fundamentally wrong, the fear similar to the uncanny valley .
But the true horror comes into focus last.
His elemental affinities.
All.
One.
Star.
Each pathetic rating blinks accusingly at me, their implications more terrifying than any battlefield. This isn't just lack of practice. This is something far worse.
Something impossible.
The system isn't showing an untrained mage.
It's showing someone who's never touched his magic in his life.
But...but that would mean… huh? What? Screw the entire main story if the MC himself is screwed
The professors' hands guide me forward, but my body moves on autopilot. My shoes scuff against the flagstones in arrhythmic stutters, each step mechanical. The corridor walls blur into a tunnel of flickering green torchlight, yet all I see are those numbers burned in front of my vision like afterimages from a lightning strike.
One-star ratings.
Phylogenetic Root.
Three stars beyond my cognition.
The facts circle like vultures. Every instinct screams that I've just witnessed something that shouldn't exist - like seeing a corpse stand up and recite poetry. My fingers dig crescent moons into my palms.
"Almost there,"
Professor Adlrick murmurs, but his voice comes muffled, as if heard through layers of wool.
The infirmary door looms ahead, its carved runes glowing with diagnostic magic. Normally, their soft light would be comforting. Now they pulse in time with the numbers on the interface
If the system isn't wrong...
If those readings reflect reality...
Then what exactly did I just have dinner with?
A sudden vertigo grips me. The torch flames stretch into binary tendrils for one nauseating second before snapping back to normal. My knees nearly buckle.
"Easy now," Professor Vayne's steadying grip lands on my shoulder, but I barely feel it.
Because the terrible truth settles over me like a burial shroud:
This isn't a mage who forgot his training.
This isn't even a beginner.
It's not Kael, if not it's the worst version of him to date.
And it's sitting in our dining hall right now, expressionless
But that isn't even the end of my issues.
"Mr Isaac, were your eyes always green?"