A young handsome boy sat outside a small house looking at anything that passed.
"How many years has it been," William mumbled to himself, with a weak smile.
It had been twelve years since William woke up in this world, the world of Asteria. A world where magical creatures and races existed—a world straight out of fantasy.
It was the same world as the novel he read, *Limitless Ascension*, a novel about a boy who came from nothing and rose to the peak in this cruel apocalyptic world. A world where demons roamed freely, beasts the size of mountains terrorized villages, and humans fought desperately to survive using magic and combat classes bestowed upon them at the age of twelve.
William remembered reading that novel late at night, binge-reading chapter after chapter, fascinated by the intricate power system and the protagonist's journey from a weak, classless orphan to the strongest being in existence.
And now? He was living in it.
Except instead of being some chosen hero, William had reincarnated as an orphan in a backwater village called Relvon—a place so insignificant it wasn't even mentioned in the novel. A place where nothing ever happened. A place where people lived, worked, and died without ever making a mark on the world.
For the first few years, William had been excited. He thought reincarnating into a fantasy world meant adventure, power, and maybe—just maybe—finally getting laid. But reality hit him hard.
He'd been reborn into the body of a baby, which meant he had to go through the whole humiliating process of learning to walk and talk again. His new parents? Dead. Killed by a beast raid when he was only three years old. He barely remembered their faces now.
After that, he'd been taken in by the village orphanage—a rundown shack managed by an old woman named Marta who did her best but could barely feed the dozen kids under her care. Life was hard. Food was scarce. And the village itself was poor, surrounded by forests filled with low-level beasts that occasionally wandered too close.
Most of the kids in the orphanage didn't make it past ten. Disease, starvation, or beast attacks took them one by one. William had survived purely out of spite and the faint hope that when he turned twelve, he'd awaken a class and change his fate.
In Asteria, everyone awakened a class at twelve. Warrior, Mage, Archer, Rogue—the system granted you a path based on your talent and potential. Once you had a class, you could level up, gain skills, and become strong enough to protect yourself. Strong enough to matter.
William had spent years preparing for this moment. He'd trained his body as best as he could with the limited resources available. He'd studied the village's small collection of books about classes and skills. He'd even tried to recall everything he could from the novel, hoping to gain some advantage.
And today was the day. His twelfth birthday.
He'd woken up early, filled with excitement and anxiety. All the other kids his age in the village had already gathered at the town square for the Awakening Ceremony, where the village elder would use a magical crystal to help them connect with the system and awaken their classes.
But William hadn't gone.
Why? Because he'd been waiting for *this*.
In every reincarnation story he'd ever read, the protagonist always had some kind of cheat—a system, a special ability, a hidden bloodline. Something that made them different. Something that made them special.
William had been waiting twelve years for his cheat to arrive.
And he'd gotten nothing. Not a single notification. Not a whisper from the system. Nothing.
He'd started to think maybe he didn't have a cheat. Maybe he was just a normal kid in this world, destined to awaken some mediocre class and live a mediocre life. Or worse—die in some mediocre way during the apocalypse that was supposed to start in a few years.
But he'd decided to wait one more day. Just one more day before giving up and heading to the ceremony.
And now, sitting outside the orphanage as the sun climbed higher in the sky, something finally happened.
---
[Ding! System has successfully synced!]
William's heart nearly exploded out of his chest.
"YES!" he shouted, jumping to his feet and punching the air. A few of the younger orphans peeked out from the windows, staring at him like he'd lost his mind, but he didn't care.
Finally! This was the moment he'd been waiting for. When he first reincarnated as a child, he'd expected to see this message immediately, but he got nothing. Totally nothing. He'd spent twelve years wondering if he'd been scammed by whatever god or cosmic force had dumped him into this world.
But now? Now he had a system.
He could feel it—a presence in the back of his mind, like a second consciousness that had just woken up. Information flooded his vision, translucent blue screens appearing in front of him.
[Ding! Synchronization complete. Welcome, User.]
[Analyzing host...]
[Analysis complete.]
[You have awakened Class: Classless]
William blinked.
Then blinked again.
"Huh?!"
He stared at the glowing blue text floating in front of him, his brain refusing to process what he was seeing.
Classless.
'Classless.'
The word echoed in his mind like a death sentence.
"No... no, no, no," William muttered, his voice rising in panic. He waved his hands frantically, trying to dismiss the screen and bring up something else—anything else. "This has to be wrong. This is a mistake!"
But the screen stayed exactly where it was.
[Class: Classless]
"CLASSLESS?!" William shouted, his voice cracking. "What the hell kind of joke is this?!"
His legs gave out and he collapsed back onto the wooden step, staring blankly at the notification.
Classless. The worst possible outcome. The thing every kid in Asteria feared most.
In this world, being classless meant you were worthless. It meant the system had looked at you and decided you had zero potential. No talent. No future. Nothing.
People who failed to awaken a class were called the Forsaken. They couldn't level up. They couldn't learn skills. They were weaker than even the lowest-ranked classes. Most of them didn't survive past their teenage years—either killed by beasts or left to starve because no one wanted to waste resources on someone who couldn't contribute.
William had read about them in the novel. The protagonist had started as classless too, but that was different. He was *special*. He had hidden potential that awakened later. He was the main character.
But William? He was just some random guy who'd died to goblins and got reincarnated. He wasn't special. He wasn't the protagonist.
He was just... classless.
"Twelve years," William whispered, his voice hollow. "I waited twelve years for this?"
All the hope he'd been carrying—all the dreams of becoming strong, of surviving the apocalypse, of finally living a life that mattered—it all crumbled in an instant.
He'd thought reincarnating would give him a second chance. A chance to be something more than the pathetic virgin who died with his pants down.
But apparently, the universe had other plans.
"Of course," William laughed bitterly, running his hands through his hair. "Of course this would happen to me. Even in another world, I can't catch a break."
He sat there for a long moment, staring at nothing.
The other kids from the village would be coming back from the ceremony soon, excited and chattering about their new classes. They'd talk about their skills, their stats, their futures.
And William? He'd have to tell them he was classless. He'd have to watch as they looked at him with pity—or worse, disgust.
Marta would probably kick him out of the orphanage. Why waste food on someone who'd never amount to anything?
He'd be alone. Again.
"Damn it," William muttered, clenching his fists. "Damn it all."
But even as despair threatened to swallow him whole, a tiny spark of stubbornness flickered in his chest.
He'd survived twelve years in this world. Twelve years of poverty, hunger, and loss.
He wasn't going to give up now.
"Fine," William said quietly, forcing himself to stand. His legs were shaky, but he managed. "If the system won't help me, I'll figure it out myself."
He didn't know how. He didn't know if it was even possible.
But he'd find a way.
He had to.
Because the alternative—dying alone and forgotten in this backwater village—was something he refused to accept.
William took a deep breath, dismissed the screen with a thought, and started walking toward the village square.
If he was going to be classless, he'd at least face it head-on.