Arkweld breathed steam.
Pipes hummed beneath the metal pavements, pressure valves hissed from the rooftops, and the air shimmered with the oily scent of a world powered by iron and mana. Through the fog of machinery, the massive structure of the Resonance Hall loomed like a steel cathedral, its glass veins pulsing with pale light.
Inside, children whispered and trembled.
They were ten years old today.Old enough to awaken the System.
A row of instructors in reinforced coats stood watch, eyes sharp, expressions unreadable. Behind them rose the towering Resonance Obelisk—an ancient machine of runes and gears, humming with a rhythm that set teeth on edge.
One by one, the children approached it.
Names were called.Flickers of light.Gasps.Cheering.Crying.
Three options.Every child received three.
Some were useful.Some were mediocre.Others… disappointing.
But everyone accepted them with the same mix of terror and hope.
Everyone except the boy who stood near the back of the hall, silent and unreadable.
His name was Elias Ward.
He looked utterly ordinary—dark hair, calm eyes, slim frame. But his gaze was too steady for a child his age. Too quiet. Too controlled. Like someone who had seen far more than a decade of life should allow.
The instructors had already noticed him.
They whispered.
"Ward… middle-class family, nothing remarkable.""Scores are abnormal—analytical aptitude off the charts.""He's too calm."
Too calm.
The world had a way of noticing that.
"Elias Ward!"His turn.
He stepped forward, neither eager nor nervous. The other children watched him out of the corners of their eyes. Some with curiosity. Some with jealousy. Others with the instinctive dislike reserved for those who refused to show fear.
He placed his hand against the cold surface of the Resonance Obelisk.
The hall dimmed.
Mana surged.
The machine awakened.
Light crawled up his arm like liquid fire, and the metal beneath his palm vibrated as though responding to something buried deep inside him.
Then—
A chime.
A window emerged before his eyes, visible only to him.
Analyzing soul pattern…Scanning alignment…Generating Class Options…
The first option appeared.
Class Option 1: Paper Scribe.
A couple instructors blinked.One child snorted.
The second option.
Class Option 2: Moss Cleaner.
A few giggles broke out.
The third.
Class Option 3: Torch Bearer (Weak).
The hall was not loud.But the silence tasted like pity.
Three worthless classes.
Elias did not move.Did not blink.Did not frown.
Because something inside him stirred.
A flicker.A ripple.A fracture of memory.
A subway station.A gray sky.A tiny apartment.A buzzing computer screen filled with anime, manga, webnovels—worlds he devoured as an escape.Then—
A fall.
A pain.A breath that never finished.
His chest tightened.His vision warped.
And suddenly he remembered.
He had lived before.
A full life on Earth.A life wasted in quiet loneliness.A death no one witnessed.A world of stories he once consumed now spilling into his mind like broken glass.
He staggered.
One of the instructors took a step forward."Are you—"
Light exploded from the Obelisk.
The machine shrieked as runes flickered violently, gears locking and unlocking with metallic screams.
Anomaly detected.Soul pattern incompatible with standard options.Recalibrating.Reevaluating.Generating Fourth Option…
The hall went cold.
Elias lifted his eyes.
A new window appeared.
Hidden Class Option 4: Riftborne Sovereign.Warning: This Class is not registered in System Archives.Selection cannot be reversed.
His pulse slowed.
Not sped up—slowed.As though something ancient inside him had taken a breath.
No one else saw what he saw.To the instructors, nothing unusual glowed before him.
"Choose your class, boy," one of them said. "Don't be nervous."
Nervous?
If they could see what he saw, they would be terrified.
He mentally confirmed the hidden option.
The System responded instantly.
Class acquired: Riftborne Sovereign.Initializing Sovereign Path…Skill acquired: Echo Absorption.
Another window opened.
Echo Absorption:Upon defeating a target, you may absorb a fragment of its spiritual experience.This effect is permanent.Warning: Overuse may affect emotional stability.
Elias lowered his hand and stepped back.
The instructors recorded his class as Torch Bearer (Weak), because that was what the System displayed to everyone else.
A perfect disguise.
A perfect lie.
He left the hall silently, while steam hissed in the streets outside and iron carriages rumbled by. His breath fogged in the cold air, and for a moment he simply stood there, watching the world with new eyes.
A life gained.A world reborn.A power no one else possessed.
He felt no joy.No fear.No shock.
Just a slow, careful hunger unfurling inside him.
A hunger for strength.For knowledge.For the worlds beyond the rifts.
He walked into the fog, his footsteps steady.
Alone.Unknown.Unseen.
A child with a forgotten lifetime behind him…
…and the eyes of a sovereign.