On a cold day, a man was running, screaming in a way that made it clear he was in danger. He hid behind some bushes as ice covered the area. Holding his phone with shaking hands, he called the police. When they answered, he said in a trembling voice that the war had begun, the war that would turn their world into hell. Just as he tried to continue, silence filled the line.
"Sir? Sir?" the police officer said.
"What happened?" the man replied, but the call suddenly disconnected.
The officer ordered the people with supernatural abilities to be sent to investigate what had happened at the man's location. That was twenty years ago.
I remember that day as if it were today.
Inside a house, a mother's voice echoed as she called her son. She told him to wake up or he would be late for training. He replied lazily that he would wake up in a little while. She scolded him, saying that even though he was eighteen years old, he still could not wake up early. She told him she had prepared breakfast so he could go to training.
As he sat down to eat, he told his mother that he had a strange dream. She asked him what it was about. Gori explained that he dreamed of a man in the snow who called the police twenty years ago, repeating the same words about the Great War beginning. He said the dream had occurred more than once and that he did not understand it.
His mother told him it was just a normal dream and asked if he was not going to training to gain Seal Energy and make them proud. Gori agreed and left for training.
Gori trained in a village known as the Third Seal Village. In this village, humans were divided into four classes. The first class had no power and was called FCF. The second class had weak power and was called SLF. The third class had medium power and was called TPL. The fourth class possessed great power and was called FLP.
Beyond these classes existed an extremely rare level of power that only four people had ever reached. They were considered the greatest users of Seal Power. Any class could evolve into the next. Gori belonged to the FCF class.
While walking through the street, Gori was bullied by children who had already mastered seals at a young age. They mocked him, saying that even though his seal was special, he was still weak. The seals consisted of ten letters: A, C, E, G, I, K, M, O, Q, and S. The strongest letter was S, while the weakest was A. The closer a seal was to A, the weaker it became. Collecting all the letters would bring victory to a village and make it the strongest of all.
There were two types of seals: seals within humans and seals embedded in the land. Each village possessed a seal. There were five villages and ten letters in total. Each village owned one letter, while the remaining five letters were unknown. These villages were the First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Seal Villages, with the Third being Gori's home.
Gori's seal letter was A, and even at the age of eighteen, he still possessed only that letter. The children laughed and said that they already had the A and B seals at the age of ten. Hearing this, Gori felt sadness grow inside him and thought that even children bullied him.
Gori began with only ten percent of his seal power, which evolved gradually after reaching one hundred percent at each stage. He trained under a teacher named Hora, who taught him how to develop his power and reach an average level.
Teacher Hora explained that every human had a seal and a type, and that to develop one's type, one had to fight creatures called Holga. The Holga were beings that fed on humans and invaded cities and villages. They were divided into ranks, starting from the weakest first rank, then medium, high, very high, and finally the fifth rank, led by a powerful leader named Horaid and his elite followers. These creatures attacked at unexpected times, most often early in the morning or at midnight.
Gori asked whether there were weapons to defeat the Holga. Teacher Hora told him that there were indeed weapons, the first being called DATR. It resembled a dagger and could be formed by anyone who possessed a seal letter. He explained that Gori would need to release his primary physical energy, known as SLF, in order to summon it.
Hora told him that constant training was necessary. Gori would have to complete a mission to find spiritual physical energy by climbing Mount Akura, retrieving the Purple Akura Flower, and merging it with his physical power, along with continuous physical training such as climbing. He told Gori that he must begin immediately.
Gori asked how he could accomplish all of this. Hora replied that he would learn on his own by following his advice and witnessing the results. Gori agreed and asked how long it would take. Hora said it had taken him a full year, but Gori might take more or less time depending on his focus, patience, and effort. Confidently, Gori declared that he would master it faster and thanked his teacher before leaving.
Gori trained in a forest, and during his training, he noticed something strange moving at an incredible speed. Feeling uneasy, he called out, asking if anyone was there. The movement appeared again, and suddenly a strange creature attacked him.
Remembering his teacher's words, Gori realized it was a Holga. He focused intensely and released the power of his A seal, even though he had not yet mastered physical energy. He attacked the creature repeatedly and quickly. Normally, Holga did not die so easily, but because Gori relied only on seal power without physical energy, his body suffered severe damage.
At the last moment, someone appeared and saved him. The man asked who Gori was and what he was doing in such a dangerous forest. Gori introduced himself and explained that he trained under Teacher Hora.
The man asked if he was from the Third Seal Village, then introduced himself as Kari from the Fourth Seal Village. Kari told Gori about rare abilities known as skills, explaining that there were ten in total, though he only knew three. He described the Water Skill, which merged water with physical energy, as well as Fire and Wind skills, all of which consumed and regenerated physical energy.
Thanking Kari for the advice, Gori returned home, where he met his parents, Hanar and Hakaya. After explaining that he had been training, he went to sleep.
After one month of intense training, Gori finally mastered his primary physical energy and eagerly went to inform Teacher Hora. When he demonstrated his power, his speed and movements shocked his teacher, who realized that Gori possessed remarkable potential.
Teacher Hora recommended that Gori join the Seal School of the Third Village Region. Overjoyed, Gori accepted and prepared to begin his first day the next morning.
At school, Gori was placed in the second class due to his SLF level. During team selection tests, he was grouped with a determined young man named Naxo and a calm, attractive girl named Lonia, who shyly greeted him.
The announcer explained the test: teams would enter a dangerous forest and survive for thirty days while fighting Holga. Vouchers would be awarded based on the level of each Holga defeated, and the team with the highest number of vouchers would win.
The test was set to begin the next day.
That night, after training, Gori heard a scream and rushed to find out what was happening.