The last thing I remembered was closing my laptop after binge-reading Chronicles of the Celestial Blade until 4 AM. Trashy plot, overpowered protagonist named Ace Reinhardt, seven heroines who all fell for him despite his personality being as bland as cardboard. I'd read worse.
Then I fell asleep.
When I opened my eyes, everything was wrong.
The ceiling was too high. The bed was too soft. My hands looked different, pale, slender, younger. A sharp pain shot through my skull as foreign memories flooded in.
Lukas Grant.
That was my name now. And I knew exactly who Lukas Grant was supposed to be.
He wasn't even a side character. He was an extra, the kind that gets mentioned once when the protagonist enters the Royal Academy. "The Grant family's third son also attended the entrance ceremony." That was it. One sentence in a 500-chapter novel.
Except something was very, very wrong.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING...]
[WELCOME, HOST]
[IDLE GROWTH SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
Golden text materialized in front of my eyes, floating in mid-air like some kind of video game interface. My heart raced.
"What the hell?"
[You have been idle for 8 hours]
[+8 Strength]
[+8 Agility]
[+8 Mana]
[Daily Skill Lottery Available]
[Skill Acquired: Basic Sword Mastery (C-Rank)]
I stared at the notifications. This... this wasn't in the novel. Ace Reinhardt had a system, the Celestial Blade System that grew stronger through combat and heroic deeds. But this? This was completely different.
An idle system. I got stronger by doing literally nothing.
I pulled up what looked like a status window with a thought.
[STATUS]
Name: Lukas Grant
Level: 1
Strength: 18 (Average Human: 10)
Agility: 18
Mana: 18
Endurance: 18
Skills: Basic Sword Mastery (C)
It wasn't much, but for someone who just woke up? In the novel, Ace started with stats around 15 after years of training. I'd gotten this in one night of sleep.
The real kicker? Every hour I did nothing, I'd get stronger. Every day, I'd gain a new skill. Give me a week and I'd be comparable to trained knights. A month? I'd surpass most academy students.
A knock interrupted my thoughts.
"Young Master Lukas, the carriage is ready. We depart for the Royal Academy in an hour."
Right. The entrance ceremony. The moment where Ace Reinhardt would make his grand debut, humiliate some arrogant nobles, and catch the attention of the first heroine, Princess Seraphina.
I was supposed to be background decoration for that scene.
But with this system?
I wasn't going to hide it. Why would I? In my old life, I spent years being average, being overlooked, being nobody special. Now I had a literal cheat code. If someone wanted to start trouble with me, I'd handle it. If someone challenged me, I'd accept.
I wasn't going to go looking for Ace's spotlight, that sounded exhausting and pointless. But I also wasn't going to pretend to be weak just to keep the story on track.
This was my life now. I'd live it on my terms.
---
The carriage ride to the Royal Academy took an hour. I spent it staring out the window, doing absolutely nothing.
[You have been idle for 1 hour]
[+1 to all stats]
My stats were now at 19 each. Still not enough to break the world, but definitely above average for a new student. The original Lukas Grant had stats around 12, barely better than a civilian who'd never held a sword.
The academy's entrance plaza was exactly as the novel described, massive marble pillars, floating magical platforms, hundreds of noble brats showing off their family crests like peacocks.
I stepped out of the carriage and immediately heard shouting.
"Know your place, Reinhardt!"
There, in the center of the plaza, three nobles were surrounding someone. Ace Reinhardt stood there, hand on his sword hilt, facing them down with that determined protagonist glare.
This was the scene. Chapter 3 of the novel. Ace would defeat all three in a quick draw, proving his worth and catching Princess Seraphina's attention.
I walked past without a second glance.
Not my problem. Ace was the protagonist, he'd be fine. I had my own entrance exam to worry about.
"Hey! You there!"
I stopped. One of the nobles had turned away from Ace to point at me. A tall guy with slicked-back blonde hair and a sneer that probably took practice to perfect.
"You're Lukas Grant, aren't you? The Grant family's failure?"
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Ah. So the original Lukas had a reputation. Made sense, in a world where power was everything, being the weak third son of a prestigious marquis family would make you an easy target.
I could walk away. Ignore him. Keep my head down.
But why?
"Yeah, that's me," I said flatly. "What about it?"
The noble's sneer widened. "I heard your family's been trying to hide you away. Too embarrassed to let anyone see how pathetic their third son turned out."
More murmurs. Some laughs. Ace was watching now too, probably grateful for the distraction.
The noble continued. "How about this, spar with me. Show everyone what the Grant family is really made of. Unless you're too scared?"
Classic provocation. In the novel, the original Lukas would've backed down, humiliated.
But I wasn't the original Lukas.
"Sure," I said, my hand moving to the sword at my hip. "Let's get this over with."
The plaza went quiet. Even the noble looked surprised, he'd clearly expected me to refuse.
A sparring circle formed as students backed away to give us space. Ace stepped out as well, his earlier confrontation forgotten. All eyes were on me now.
The noble drew his sword, a fancy thing with an ornate hilt. Probably cost more than a house. He settled into a proper stance, his stats likely around 22-23 based on his confident posture.
I drew my plain academy-issued blade and stood casually, letting Basic Sword Mastery guide my body into a decent stance.
[Combat Detected]
[Idle Growth Paused]
[Current Skill: Basic Sword Mastery (C) - Activated]
"Begin!" someone shouted.
The noble lunged immediately, his blade coming in fast and heavy. My body moved on instinct, Basic Sword Mastery read the angle, calculated the timing, and guided my parry. Steel clashed against steel.
He was stronger than me. I felt it in the impact that rattled up my arms. But my skill compensated, redirecting his force rather than meeting it head-on.
He attacked again. A downward slash. I sidestepped, letting his blade hit empty air, then countered with a quick thrust toward his shoulder. He barely blocked it, his eyes widening slightly.
We exchanged blows for maybe thirty seconds. He had raw power and training. I had a C-rank skill doing most of the thinking for me.
It was close. Too close. But I'd learned something important, my stats were almost even with trained nobles now. And the system would only make that gap wider with time.
The noble overextended on a wide slash. I ducked under it, swept his legs, and pressed my blade to his throat before he could recover.
The plaza was silent.
I stood up and sheathed my sword. "Good match."
The noble's face was red with humiliation as he scrambled to his feet. Whispers exploded around us.
"The Grant failure just won?"
"How is that possible?"
"Did you see that technique?"
I walked away without another word, heading toward the academy entrance. My heart was pounding, but I kept my expression neutral.
[Combat Ended]
[Idle Growth Resumed]
[Achievement Unlocked: First Victory]
[Bonus: +3 to all stats]
Not bad. I wasn't trying to steal anyone's spotlight, I was just defending myself. But apparently, that was enough to cause a stir.
As I walked, I caught sight of Princess Seraphina watching from a second-floor balcony. Her golden eyes were fixed on me with an expression of curiosity. Behind her, other nobles were whispering and pointing.
Great. Exactly what I didn't need, attention from the first heroine.
And then I noticed Ace, still standing in the plaza, staring at me with an unreadable expression. Not anger. Not jealousy. Something closer to... evaluation.
A cold feeling ran down my spine.
In the novel, Ace was supposed to be humble and hardworking, slowly earning respect through determination. But he was also fiercely competitive. And I'd just made him look ordinary by comparison.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
[Timeline Divergence Detected: +8%]
[Original Plot Stability: Minimal Change]
[Warning: Continued divergence may lead to unexpected character developments]
I dismissed the notification. Whatever. I defended myself when challenged. That was it. I wasn't going to follow Ace around stealing his moments, I had my own life to live.
If the plot changed because I refused to be a punching bag, that wasn't my problem.
What I didn't know was that my little display had already set things in motion.
Princess Seraphina made a mental note to learn more about the Grant family's "failure" who fought like a trained swordsman.
The noble I'd defeated reported back to his father, a duke with connections to the darker side of the kingdom's politics.
And Ace Reinhardt, for the first time since receiving his system, felt something he'd never experienced before.
The fear of being left behind.
The entrance exam was tomorrow. And somehow, I had a feeling things were going to get a lot more complicated.