In a majestic villa, a boy looked at the reflection of his figure in a luxurious room.
He remained observing his own image for a few minutes.
The mirror portrayed a boy of about sixteen years old.
He had light blue hair that seemed to reflect the sunlight coming from the large open windows.
His eyes were the same shade as his hair, his skin was pale, and his build was slender. He wore a precious white robe.
His gaze was furrowed, as if he had seen something wrong.
- POV Rain
A long sigh escaped my lips. "So it's not a dream..."
A face never seen before, familiar and unknown memories at the same time filled my head with a myriad of thoughts.
By now I was more than sure of it.
I have transmigrated into that novel, Heroes of the Academy.
The novel I hated most in my life.
The characters, the story, the settings in that book were perfect.
The ending, however, was disgusting.
A perfect story ruined by a pitiful ending. And at this moment, that story had become my reality.
My nightmare.
"Status." My voice sounded in the room.
In response, a translucent blue screen appeared before me.
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STATUS
Name: Rain Di Glaciel
Age: 16
Race: Human
Talent: B
Level: F-
Affinity: Ice, Water
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Strength: F-
Agility: F-
Constitution: G+
Mana: F+
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Skills: Water Magic lv.0, Ice Magic lv0
Body Condition: Malnourished body and under the effects of poisoning.
[Shop] [Quests] [Inventory]
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Every person in the world of Heroes of the Academy possessed a System, but mine was different because I had the Shop and Quest functions.
The only person to have the Shop in the System interface was me.
When my mind brushed against the Shop box, it wasn't just a list that appeared.
It was an invasion.
Hundreds of concepts, prices, and symbols flowed into my magic channels like ice-cold water.
My vision blurred and I had to grab the edge of the marble washbasin so as not to fall.
Fortunately, after a few breaths, I managed to recover.
Apparently, the Shop is a place that allows you to purchase items, talents, skills, and affinities thanks to SP, or System Points.
SP are obtained by completing Quests, random events issued by the System. Quests were part of everyone's System, but unlike the others, I received, in addition to the normal rewards, SP as well.
[SP: 0]
I know all this because, when I clicked on the box for Shop and Quests, various pieces of information were transmitted into my brain as if I had always known them.
The inventory, meaning a dimensional space where you can store items, was a tool connected to the system itself through our mana after the Awakening, in fact, it was something that all Exas had.
Its initial limit was three items, but my Inventory would grow as my rank increased.
My gaze no longer lingered on the mirror.
I moved toward the open windows.
Before me stretched a large garden full of flowers and, in the distance on the gate, a large crest was displayed.
Two blue wings joined, but broken by a large dark blue predator's eye placed in the middle between them.
The blue wings symbolized the protection of the heavens, the eye in the center represented the power of the masters of cold.
The Glaciel family.
That's what that logo represented: one of the most powerful families in the entire Empire of Areus.
And me?
I was the third son of the Glaciel Family.
Rain Di Glaciel, a character mentioned very few times in the novel.
His only task in the story was to help the protagonist and his companions.
After performing his duty, he died a few chapters later.
A nobody.
A weakling.
A trash character, used to be deleted soon after.
The statistics spoke for themselves.
[Level: F-]
A low level, too low for a sixteen-year-old boy.
Every person, between the ages of five and ten, awakens mana and with it the System.
Rain had awakened at seven, but unlike the others who managed to surpass F-rank, I had remained stuck.
I couldn't complain, since Rain almost never trained.
But that didn't make sense since his Talent was B-rank.
Despite his talent, he was unable to progress.
My gaze shifted to the Body Condition box.
[Malnourished body and under the effects of poisoning.]
Malnourished and poisoned.
That's why he didn't train.
He couldn't.
He was too weak and saw no progress.
I clicked on the box to understand more.
Poison Detected: Corporeal Curse.
[A poison that, if taken daily, slows down and leads to the degradation of the victim's body, until it makes movement impossible or causes death.]
This explained everything.
Rain had probably died because of this Corporeal Curse.
I heard noises coming from the door.
"Come in," I said.
A man of about thirty entered in an elegant black and white suit.
Lester Croul, the butler of the Glaciel family. His deep black eyes stared at me for a few seconds before he lowered his head.
"Young Master, the Patriarch requests your presence in his office," he said with an indifferent tone.
"Let's go." I nodded in agreement and followed him.
The corridor was very austere, with few decorations and several windows that illuminated the villa.
The sound of Lester's footsteps stopped in front of a dark wood door.
I raised my hand and knocked three times.
"Come in."
In the center of the room, behind a large desk, sat Edward Di Glaciel, the Patriarch of the family, one of the few S-rank Exas in the Empire.
The aura of my father was not just cold, it was sharp.
It was as if thousands of ice needles were pricking my skin at once.
S-rank mana was not something that could be ignored. In that moment, I understood the difference between me and a true monster of this world.
I was an F-, while he was a natural disaster in human form.
His voice was not a sound, it was a command that vibrated in my bones.
The air around him seemed to freeze.
I felt an immense pressure weighing on my body and the temperature dropped instantly.
I lowered my head, not daring to look at him.
"Father, did you call me for some reason?" I asked with a voice that almost trembled.
I was trying with all my strength not to kneel. My hands were numb from the cold.
"Because of what you have done, you will be sent into isolation," Edward's cold voice echoed in the room. "The isolation will last one week. The place is the Frost Forest. Any objections?"
"No, father," I said, trying to keep my tone as normal as possible.
His gaze lingered on me for a moment. "Perfect. You will leave in two hours. I hope next time you will reflect on your actions. You may leave."
I left the room and finally managed to breathe.
Lester interrupted the silence. "Young Master, I will begin preparing the things for your isolation." His voice might have seemed indifferent, but I perceived a trace of contempt in it.
I nodded slowly and headed toward my room.
As I followed Lester, we passed some maids.
They bowed their heads, but I could feel the weight of their whispers as soon as I passed them.
To them, I wasn't the Young Master to be respected, but the shame to be hidden.
The luxury of the carpets that muffled the steps felt suffocating.
The blue wings of the Glaciel crest appeared on the windows, on the decorative armor, even on the door handles.
Seeing that symbol on every door of the villa was a constant reminder of my failure.
I was the only Glaciel in three hundred years unable to manifest the Frost Aura, the innate ability of the family.
This villa was a golden cage woven of ice.
I lay down on the large bed, staring at the ceiling. "Because of what you've done, huh..."
I whispered those words as fragments of blurred memories tormented me.
Dim lights, the bitter taste of a drink, and then chaos. I remembered the screams and the accusatory looks.
Especially that of Elizabeth Crane and her friends.
Everyone said it was me.
Everyone had seen my "madness."
Yet, in that memory, I felt a void.
As if a piece of the puzzle was missing, as if the truth had been buried under layers of lies accepted too quickly.
My father hadn't even investigated.
The scandal was enough for him to decide my fate.
In my head, however, a question arose: Who was I before?
The name I had on Earth slipped through my fingers like sand.
Every time I tried to grasp it, the memories of Rain, the metallic taste of blood after a failed training session, the scent of the flowers in his mother's garden, pressed to take over.
I wasn't just a guest in this body.
I was an invader being assimilated, or maybe I was something completely different.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a screen before my eyes.
________________________________________
[MISSION GENERATED]
-Survive the Frost Forest.
[Time Limit]: One week.
[Reward]: Casual Skill, 500 SP.
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The Frost Forest.
Everyone thought it was a punishment. Perhaps they hoped I wouldn't come out at all.
But as I looked at the horizon, a shiver of anticipation ran through my weak body.
I knew what was hidden in that forest. Something that the author had inserted by mistake and that was now there, waiting for me.
If the world wanted me to be the culprit, I would become something much worse.