After the Mirror Trial…
Three days.
Zane had spent three days inside the Mirror Trial… and walked out with two points.
Not two out of ten.
Two out of a hundred.
He hadn't just failed. He had insulted the trial, fractured a sacred mirror, and earned the rare title of "Mentally Unstable – Cosmic Level."
The professors didn't even bother to call his name when announcing the rankings. They simply stared at him like he was some kind of curse walking on two legs.
But Zane didn't care.
He hadn't come here to impress them.
He came here to break the world.
Or maybe... to survive it. He hadn't decided yet.
---
That Night – Obsidian Tower's Forgotten Depths
Zane sat alone under the dying moonlight, his back against a cracked stone wall behind the tower—an abandoned training ground overgrown with weeds and broken tiles. A place nobody visited anymore.
He was too sore to move. Too humiliated to return to the dorms.
Even his muscles hurt in places he didn't know existed.
His mana refused to flow. He could feel it—dormant, like a sealed spring deep within—but no matter how much he focused, it remained locked.
Useless.
His body wasn't trained. His core wasn't awakened. He was, in every possible way, a liability.
And yet…
> Ding!
> S.A.S.S. System Notification – Survival Protocol Activated
"Assessment: Current host is weaker than an underfed chicken. Morale is low. Muscles: decorative. Magic: comatose.
Initiating Beginner Survival Routine."
> New Mission Unlocked: Crawl Before You Bleed – Physical Reformation Tier 0
Objective: Complete the following within 7 days
– Walk 10 laps around the training ruins (no mana)
– 50 pushups (assisted allowed)
– Survive basic bodyweight squats
– Endurance: Carry 10kg stone for 1 minute
Penalty for Failure: Muscle tearing, extreme soreness, social humiliation (already underway)
Bonus if Completed: Muscle conditioning +1, Unlock Tier I training
Zane read the mission again.
Then laughed.
Not a joyful laugh. Not a mocking one.
A raw, broken chuckle that belonged more to someone watching their own funeral.
"This is what I've been reduced to?" he whispered, pushing himself to his feet. "Ten laps. Rocks. Pushups. Like a damn schoolboy. No glowing swords. No fireballs. No magical revelations?"
> "You can't even scratch your back properly without wheezing. So yes."
S.A.S.S. didn't miss a beat.
Zane looked up at the stars. They didn't answer.
"…Fine."
The early morning dew soaked into Zane's threadbare boots as he stepped onto the cracked stone ring at the edge of the ruins. The space was maybe fifty meters across, surrounded by broken training dummies and warped targets long abandoned.
No audience.
No applause.
Just him.
And the silence of dirt and time.
> "Begin: Objective One – 10 Laps. Warning: Host's cardiovascular system is a clown car on fire."
Zane started walking.
Lap 1: Each step burned. His thighs screamed. His breath came short. His back ached like he'd been stabbed by betrayal itself.
Lap 2: He tripped. Fell on his face. Lay there, face to stone, for five minutes.
Lap 3: Crawled half the way.
Lap 4: He hallucinated his own funeral. It was sparsely attended.
Lap 5: He swore the ground was slapping him on purpose.
Lap 6: "You call this a lap?" he muttered. "This is a death spiral."
> "Encouragement: You are now statistically tougher than a newborn squirrel."
Around lap 7, the air shifted. His vision blurred. The sky twisted just slightly, and from the corner of his eye—
A man stood watching him.
Muscular. Arms crossed. Flaming black hair defying gravity.
Zane blinked.
"...Vegeta?"
The hallucination sneered. "You can't even run a circle. And you think you're main character material? Pathetic."
Zane fell to his knees.
"You're not real," he wheezed. "You're a psychological malfunction caused by oxygen starvation and unresolved childhood trauma."
"Correct," Vegeta nodded, "and I still train harder than you."
Then vanished.
S.A.S.S. beeped.
> Objective Two: 50 Pushups. "Assisted allowed. Mental breakdowns optional."
Zane got down on all fours.
The first pushup? He couldn't even lower himself an inch.
By the fifth attempt, his arms trembled like spaghetti in an earthquake.
He began doing knee pushups. Then pushups against the wall.
He counted each one like a death sentence.
"Three…ugh…four… I think I'm bleeding dignity…"
> "That left long ago."
---
A jagged rock, carved out of broken floor. Maybe 10kg.
Zane tried to pick it up.
Nothing.
He groaned.
He crouched. Grabbed it again. Managed to lift it halfway.
His arms trembled. His core wobbled like jelly on a seesaw.
Thirty seconds.
"Don't drop it," he gasped. "Don't… drop it…"
He dropped it.
On his foot.
Screamed.
Collapsed backward.
---
As he lay there, sucking air through his teeth, the system dinged.
> New Trait Activated: Recovery by Consumption (Tier 0)
"Eat food. Heal minor injuries. Pain reduced. Bone still broken? Too bad."
He reached into his coat and pulled out a half-crushed stale sandwich.
He bit it.
The pain dulled. Barely.
He closed his eyes.
"…I'm going to die."
> "Correct. But slower."
---
That Night – Alone Under the Sky
He didn't return to his dorm.
He slept curled up on the training field like a dead man.
He didn't finish all the laps.
He didn't complete all the pushups.
He didn't hold the rock for a full minute.
But he started.
And the system didn't punish him.
Yet.
He looked at the stars again. The wind was cold. The grass was silent.
"Day One…" he whispered. "Still breathing…"
> "Barely."
His lips curled into a grin. Crooked. Wrong.
But it was a grin.
---
System Summary – End of Day One
Mission Progress:
– Laps: 6.5 / 10
– Pushups: 28 (wall-based) / 50
– Rock Lift: 30 seconds / 1 minute
Condition:
– Bloodied palms
– Bruised ribs
– Hairline fracture (left foot)
– Spirit: Unbroken
– Mana Status: Inactive, sealed
– Personality Status: Borderline Villainous
Note from S.A.S.S.:
> "You've accomplished nothing impressive. But for the first time… you didn't run."
"Tomorrow, we begin again. Chicken becomes corpse. Corpse becomes demon. Demon becomes king."