Arius stood before the wide mirror table in his chamber, his reflection staring back at him with quiet intensity. Two hours had passed since he had awakened from the strange incident that morning, yet the lingering weight of it still pressed heavily on his mind.
The boy in the mirror was tall for his age eighteen, with jet-black hair that fell across his brow and eyes as deep and striking as sapphires. He studied himself closely, running a hand along his arms and shoulders where wounds had once been carved into his flesh.
"It feels like I've regressed ten days… because of that agreement," Arius muttered, his thoughts heavy. He had already cleared most of his doubts, yet one pressing question still remained.
A translucent screen flickered before his eyes and vanished again. Curious, Arius experimented, trying to summon and dismiss it at will and soon confirmed his suspicion. The screen obeyed him.
[THREE NEW QUESTS HAVE APPEARED]
The sudden message caught him off guard. He instinctively reached out to tap it, but the display dissolved into nothingness.
Taking a steady breath, Arius focused deliberately, summoning the screen once more. This time, a new section had been added.
[New Quests]
[Ongoing Quests]
[Unclaimed Rewards]
[Status]
He selected New Quests, and the interface shifted, revealing three quests, each marked with its own unique sign.
[QUEST 1: The Lair of Ulthogar]
[QUEST 2: Joining the Avalar]
[QUEST 3: ????]
Arius's eyes narrowed as the glowing words hovered in the air. The system hadn't explained whether quests were mandatory or optional, and for a moment, he wondered if he could reject them altogether.
Do I even have a choice?
Hesitating, he reached out and tapped [Quest 1 – The Lair of Ulthogar]. The screen shifted with a low hum, unfolding into more details.
---
[QUEST 1: The Lair of Ulthogar]
Objective: Clear Block 1 of the lair and defeat Ulthogar.
Rank: B
Reward: ???
Failure: Hidden Penalty.
[Accept]
---
Arius clenched his fists. His jaw tightened as memories surged blood, the suffocating darkness of the Labyrinths, and the grotesque shadow of the beast that had ended his life before.
Ulthogar.
The name alone was enough to make his heartbeat quicken. He had fought it once, and died for it. To face it again felt like madness.
And yet… there was no reject button. Only [Accept].
His eyes flicked over the glowing words again and again, but the result remained the same. A grim realization settled in his mind.
This isn't a request. It's an order.
The quest was cruel, but unlike last time, Arius wasn't helpless. If he prepared properly, he could win. He had regressed for a reason, and perhaps this was the first step to proving it.
Taking a steady breath, he extended his hand and tapped [Accept].
The screen pulsed with light, sealing his choice.
A new message flashed before his eyes.
[Your Quest has begun.]
Arius exhaled slowly, steadying himself, before tapping on the second quest.
---
[QUEST 2: Joining the Avalar]
Objective: Enroll in the Imperial Avalar Academy.
Rank: S
Reward: New stories and memories with new friends.
Failure: Death.
[Accept]
---
His breath caught. Rank S?
The reward seemed almost trivial compared to the penalty. Death.
Arius frowned, then instinctively tried to back out of the page. But the screen didn't respond. He dismissed the system, reopened it, yet the quest remained unchanged, mocking his resistance with its glowing acceptance option.
His expression darkened. "Imperial Avalar Academy? No… I won't."
There were other academies, countless paths he could take yet this one was being forced onto him. He closed the screen firmly, refusing to make the choice.
But the system had other plans.
---
[Your Second Quest has begun.]
[Time limit – 30 days remaining to complete Quests 1 & 2.]
---
Arius froze. "What…?"
Snapping the screen open again, he tapped New Quests. To his confusion, the list was empty. Then, with a sharp breath, he switched to Ongoing Quests.
There they were.
[Quest 1: The Lair of Ulthogar] – Ongoing
[Quest 2: Joining the Avalar] – Ongoing
Time Limit: 30 Days
The glowing timer beneath each quest pulsed faintly, as if counting down the very seconds of his life.
Arius's chest tightened the moment the second quest was forcefully accepted. His hands trembled slightly as the screen pulsed with the new countdown.
"I… don't want to join the Imperial Avalar Academy." His voice cracked with frustration, the words escaping almost like a confession.
A heavy gloom settled over him. The academy was hailed as the greatest institution in the entire nation, a place where the most talented young men and women trained to shape the future of the empire. Countless families dreamed of sending their children there, and for many, it was an honor beyond measure.
But for Arius, it was a prison.
The academy was directly under the control of the royal family. Those who graduated were bound by oath to serve the empire and its monarch without question. Loyalty wasn't earned there—it was demanded, carved into the bones of every student who walked its halls.
That was the problem.
Arius had no desire to bow to the royal family. He didn't want to become another pawn in their endless game of power. It was the very reason he had rejected their invitation in his past life, even though almost everyone in his family had chosen to join. His siblings, his cousins—practically all of them walked the shining path of Avalar.
But not him.
He remembered the cold looks he had received, the silent judgment, the whispers behind his back. Even so, he had stood by his decision. He would not bend his knee to the royals.
Now, however, the system itself was dragging him back toward the very fate he despised.
Arius instantly sank into a depressed mood. "I don't want to join the Imperial Avalar Academy…" he muttered under his breath.
He had deep-rooted problems with the academy. Though it was the most prestigious institution in the nation, its greatest flaw lay in its allegiance it served the king directly, and was owned entirely by the royal family.
Graduating from the Imperial Avalar Academy meant one thing: lifelong service to the crown and the empire. That was a fate Arius had no intention of accepting. He despised the idea of being bound to the royal family.
It was for that very reason that, in his past life, he had refused to join the academy, even while the rest of his family enrolled proudly.
Arius burned with anger at the system. It felt as though it was deliberately trying to torment him first forcing a quest to defeat Ulthogar, the very monster that had killed him before, and now demanding that he join the Imperial Avalar Academy, the institution tied to the royal family he despised.
Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to calm down and began frantically testing the interface, tapping at the glowing panels, trying to alter or reject the quests. But no matter what he did, the system refused to bend. It was unshakable.
At last, he exhaled sharply and muttered under his breath, "Fine. Whoever created this cursed thing—I swear, I'll punish them."
Still unsettled, Arius turned his attention to the final mystery. With a flick of his hand, he selected the third quest.
The screen flickered but remained blank. No details appeared, no objectives, no rewards. He tapped again, harder this time, but it was the same—an unresponsive void.
"System failure?" he wondered aloud, though a deeper unease gnawed at him. Perhaps it wasn't broken at all. Perhaps it was something else—something waiting.
Forcing his thoughts into order, he dismissed the glowing panel. The room dimmed as the screen vanished completely. Arius leaned back, forcing calm into his breathing, but his mind continued to race.
If the system won't give me a way out, then I'll find one myself. There has to be another method.
Arius continued staring at the screen, searching for anything he hadn't yet explored. His eyes settled on the final option he had overlooked until now.
[Status]
The moment he tapped it, a warning message appeared across the display.
[You can only select this once.]
The words pulsed with a faint crimson glow, as though urging him to reconsider. But Arius's curiosity outweighed his caution. Ignoring the warning, he pressed forward.
The screen shifted instantly, expanding to a much larger size as if unfolding a hidden layer of the system.
---
[STATUS]
Name: Arius Von Korvis
Age: 18 (Alive)
Race: ??
Title: [??]
Health: 100/100
---
Traits:
[Ice Vein] (Tier 3): Enhances the precision of ice-based attacks and increases movement speed.
[Eternal Sleet] (Tier 1): Creates a protective barrier with a 2-meter radius, slightly reducing efficiency but adding an additional frost effect.
[???] (Tier 1)
[???] (Tier 1)
---