Two Days Later.
Kia stood shirtless in a room, staring at the small mirror nailed crookedly above the washbasin.
He turned his head left, then right.
"…I guess I don't look that different," he muttered, raising a hand to push his bangs out of his face.
This was his third day in this world—and though that number felt small, Kia knew it meant more than it seemed.
Two days ago, he hadn't known what mana was. He thought adventurers were just fantasy tropes. He'd thought gods were either myth or omnipotent. Now he knew better.
The world was called Evaris.
It was vast, spanning three great continents: Aralon in the west, Zyereth in the far east, and the one he currently stood on—Valdren.
The kingdom they were in was called Thalor, a modest territory nestled in the northeastern reach of Valdren. It wasn't wealthy, but it was stable.
Thalor was one of several vassal states under the Drakhein Empire, a towering presence in eastern Valdren. Though Thalor had its own monarch and local traditions, it paid tribute, followed imperial trade laws, and was protected by Drakhein's military might when needed.
Kia had never heard of any of those names before his summoning.
Now, they rolled off his tongue as naturally as his own.
The god Pantheon was also real—with each deity competing for believers like corporations for market share.
But most gods in Evaris weren't born divine. They had once been mortal—heroes, sages, tyrants, saints—who surpassed every known limit until the world itself acknowledged their ascension. That didn't mean everyone revered them. But they were respected.
Because gods, in a very literal sense, were proof that transcendence was real.
Gods were like mountains on the horizon. Distant. Massive. Unshakable.
They were what came after the highest tiers of class progression.
In the Drakhein Empire, the nobles worshiped two of the major gods.
Vareth, God of Flame and Order.
Once a warlord who unified a continent through merciless law, Vareth's doctrine emphasized discipline, control, and centralized power. His followers served as judges, enforcers, and bureaucratic elites across the Empire. Knights, governors, soldiers, and law mages followed him in droves. His symbol is a burning chain.
And—
Thoros, the Iron Spear.
A general who never lost a battle, Thoros ascended through sheer martial supremacy. Now worshipped by war academies and army camps, his code demanded constant improvement and decisive conquest. His symbol was a set of weapons embedded into stone. His presence dominated the Empire's military culture. Officers often invoked him before campaign.
These two were called the Duomivirate, and most nobles of the Empire followed at least one of them.
But in Thalor, things were less rigid.
Though under Drakhein rule, the kingdom retained its own customs—and its gods.
Serenna, Goddess of Hearth and Harvest.
A once-mortal healer who saved villages from famine through enchanted agriculture, Serenna's worship was embedded in daily life. Farmers, healers, cooks, and midwives called on her name. Offerings of fruit, bread, or herbs were left on household shrines. Her clergy were beloved, not feared.
Ilren, God of Moons and Madness.
A mystery even among gods, Ilren's followers were rare but fiercely loyal. He was said to protect dreamers, orphans, and the mentally unstable. Poets and seers, those cursed with visions, worshipped him.
Aeros, the Wandering God.
A legendary adventurer who walked the world until the world itself bent to him. He ascended not through war or faith, but by understanding every land he crossed. Travelers, scouts, cartographers, and of course, adventurers like Kaela worshipped him in scattered shrines.
Then there were dozens of lesser gods—local river spirits who'd once been powerful mages, or minor gods of trade, storms, love, and death. Their worship varied from village to village. But they were still gods, and their power still existed.
Despite how casually the girls sometimes spoke about gods, they were believers too.
Rei followed Zavelle, the Goddess of Magic and Stars.
Every mage academy had a shrine to her.
Then there was how people gained power.
In Evaris, cultivating strength didn't mean sitting cross-legged under a waterfall or absorbing mystical Qi. Power was gained through Classes. And classes weren't handed out like candy—they had to be earned.
To awaken—to be considered a proper supernatural being—one needed to train three distinct skills alongside a corresponding Mana Art. These weren't just any skills. They had to form a cohesive foundation for a particular class.
Think of it as building a house. The skills were the structure—walls, roof, foundation. The mana art was the power source—fueling the house with light, heat, and purpose.
Once all four aligned, and the person's stats reached the requirements, something clicked.
The class was born.
They would undergo a change—a visceral, tangible shift.
The status panel would recognize their existence as an Awakened, and a class would be assigned.
And what class could be gain can sometimes be unpredictable. In fact, the same set of skills could produce different classes depending on physical condition, stats, and so on.
Kaela had given a classic example: the Knight class.
To obtain the Knight class, one would typically need:
A Weapon Skill – usually swordsmanship or spearmanship.
A Defense or Endurance Skill – like Shield Mastery or Body Fortification.
A Support Skill – such as Riding.
And finally, a Mana Art that reinforced physical attributes.
Get those aligned. Train hard. Push your stats. Then awaken.
But… the Knight wasn't the only result.
If your stats leaned toward agility and you practiced movement arts instead of defense, you might awaken as a Lancer.
Include stealth or poison application, and you might veer into the realm of Assassin.
It was a branching tree—with thousands of possible combinations.
And once that branch settled into a class, everything changed.
The moment a person awakened, they were no longer ordinary.
Their status panel updated to reflect their new reality:
[Class: Knight] or [Class: Mage] or [Class: Shadowblade]—whatever it was, the label alone signified transformation. But it wasn't just a label.
They would gain a skill, directly tied to the identity of the class.
The skill wasn't learned.
It was granted—as if the world itself acknowledged the class and rewarded it with power.
More than that, something in the person's body would change.
Knights often radiated a faint aura of pressure—Knight's Presence, they called it. It wasn't visible, but those nearby felt it like a shift in gravity.
Mages developed heightened mana sensitivity.
Assassins learned to still their breathing to the point they vanished from perception.
And with each Rank Advancement, that power only grew stronger.
The first Rank was Awakened.
This was the foundation—when the class was born
The second was Adept, followed by Expert, Master, Grandmaster, Champion, and finally Transcendent.
Beyond these, the ranks above were said to be connected to the divine path.
The girls didn't know what they were and as it was currently too far for him, Kia wasn't bothered.
Just the named seven, especially transcendent, sounded powerful enough.
Of course, not everyone reached that point.
Hell, most didn't even make it to Expert.
But even from the very start, a class gave a massive boost to one's physical and magical stats. All of them surged upward during the Awakening—sometimes doubling on the spot.
Still, not all classes were made equal.
Every class gave something. None were truly weak.
But some gave more—a lot more.
Certain classes seemed engineered to dominate.
And many of them belonged to Chosen Ones—individuals selected, touched, or even created by gods.
Take the Bladeborn of Thoros.
Their class not only boosted their speed and reflexes, but their blades could cut mana itself.
Or the Starcaller of Zavelle.
Their spells weren't limited by element, and at their peak, their mana pool rivaled entire mage academies.
Even the other Awakened feared them.
Because no matter how skilled you were… if your class didn't match, you simply wouldn't win.
Kia had really learnt a lot in the past few days.
However, today was the most important day for him.
Because today, he would officially register as an adventurer.