The Noah Empire, Eastern Border, Starshine City, Spiritual Energy Academy.
Ren Kuro stood in the academy plaza, watching the crowds passing by. His heart was far from calm—if anything, he felt a creeping sense of panic.
Just earlier, he clearly remembered being on the subway, dressed in strange cosplay clothing on his way to attend an anime convention.
A youth without a little chuunibyou spirit is a wasted youth.
Ren Kuro had always believed that. As a veteran cosplayer, he never missed events like that.
This time, he had been cosplaying his favorite anime character—the God of Shinobi from Naruto, Hashirama Senju.
Then something unpleasant happened.
He got into a fight with a massive man nearly two meters tall.
The tension had been thick. In one smooth motion, Ren Kuro formed hand seals with both hands, attempting to unleash Hashirama's signature technique—Wood Release.
But in a battle between experts, victory or defeat can be decided in a single second.
Before he could even finish forming the seals, a fist the size of a sandbag came crashing down.
Bang.
Everything went dark.
And when he woke up—
he was here.
Ren Kuro turned around and glanced at the towering building behind him, swallowing hard.
He swore to heaven he had never seen a building this tall in his life.
This was definitely not a dream.
Where the hell am I?
He had no idea.
And he didn't dare ask anyone.
He was seriously panicking.
"Whatever," Ren Kuro muttered. "Since I'm already here, I might as well deal with it. Who am I afraid of?"
Once a young man who dreamed of becoming a ninja, Ren Kuro decided to bravely take his first step in this strange world.
Suddenly—
A large hand slapped heavily onto his shoulder.
The force was so strong his body staggered forward, nearly dropping him to his knees.
Ren Kuro spun around and saw a burly figure staring down at him.
His pupils shrank instantly, and his first instinct was to run.
That sandbag-sized fist from the subway had left a deep psychological shadow on his fragile heart.
"President, so this is where you were," the big guy said.
Ren Kuro blinked in confusion.
"Pre… President? What president? Who are you?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Ren Kuro regretted them.
Right now, he should speak as little as possible.
Drawing suspicion would be bad.
"President, it's me—Yuki Amehara. Has your illness flared up again?"
Yuki Amehara paused, looking slightly puzzled. He pulled out a bottle of medicine from his pocket and handed it over.
"Your medicine…"
I'm sick?
Bullshit.
You're the one who's sick. Your whole family's sick.
Ren Kuro almost snapped back immediately, but the moment he heard the name Yuki Amehara, he nearly burst out laughing.
A towering, two-meter-tall giant… named Yuki Amehara.
He seriously wondered what the guy's parents had been thinking.
Ren Kuro accepted the medicine and cleared his throat.
This big guy looked pretty easy to fool.
Since Yuki Amehara claimed he was the club president, he might as well act like one—and extract some useful information while he was at it.
"Do you know what we're supposed to do next?"
Yuki Amehara grew even more confused. Hadn't the club's task already been assigned?
But then he remembered that the president had been sick recently. His behavior had become strange, and he often said things that no one could understand.
"President," Yuki Amehara replied respectfully, "our task today is to recruit two new club members."
Ren Kuro asked again,
"Do you know who I am?"
Yuki Amehara sighed softly.
It seemed the president's illness had worsened.
"You are a second-year student in the Logistics Department at Starshine City Spiritual Energy Academy," Yuki Amehara said. "And a future Super S-class Psionic Warrior…"
Ren Kuro secretly felt delighted.
Just as I thought. Big guy, simple brain. Strong body, weak mind.
He was cooperating perfectly.
Little did Ren Kuro know that, in Yuki Amehara's eyes, he was already terminally ill.
Thanks to Yuki Amehara's cooperation, Ren Kuro finally figured out the three ultimate questions troubling him.
Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I supposed to do?
In this world, Ren Kuro had always dreamed of becoming the strongest Psionic Warrior since childhood.
To become a Psionic Warrior, one must first open a Spiritual Sea and absorb spiritual energy.
Ren Kuro had already opened his Spiritual Sea.
However—
his spiritual growth value was only 3.
Generally speaking, anything below 5 was considered poor.
Values of 6 or 7 were normal.
And 8 or 9 were considered genius level.
Ren Kuro's growth value of 3 had set the lowest record in the history of Starshine City Spiritual Energy Academy.
As a result, he had been directly thrown into the Logistics Department.
To put it bluntly—
the Logistics Department was the academy's garbage department.
Ren Kuro rested his chin on his hand.
"Hm."
"A classic useless protagonist start. The standard setup for transmigrators."
That's how it always worked in web novels—starting from the bottom before making an epic comeback.
But…
Where's the cheat?
Without a cheat ability, how was he supposed to turn things around?
Beside him, Yuki Amehara noticed Ren Kuro staring blankly into space and reminded him,
"President, shouldn't we go recruit members? The Student Council has already said that if we don't gather enough members by tomorrow, the Dawn Society will be disbanded."
At present, the Dawn Society had only three members.
According to academy rules, the minimum number required for a club was five.
Yuki Amehara knew perfectly well that recruiting two members before tomorrow was basically impossible.
With Ren Kuro's reputation in the academy, no one would willingly join the Dawn Society.
Unless they managed to trick two newly admitted freshmen.
Unfortunately, those freshmen were far harder to fool than they expected.
Ren Kuro waved his hand casually.
"Isn't there still a whole day left? What's the rush…"
Then he suddenly remembered something.
"Oh right—earlier you said I've been saying strange things lately. What exactly have I been saying?"
Yuki Amehara answered,
"Something about a Naruto System… and something called Wood Release…"
Ren Kuro's eyes widened instantly.
"What!? A System!?"