Rohan had been kneeling above the altar for days with both his hands bound by chains connected to an ancient ceiling above him.
His surroundings were dark, lit only by four torches with blue flames at each corner of the chamber.
It had been days since he was captured, and he still didn't know why. Was it simply bad luck? Or had he been targeted by someone? He had been asking the same questions for countless times, but there was no answer.
After he was captured, the cultists immediately tied him inside the chamber and left quickly without returning.
Ever since then, he had been left alone with hunger, thirst, and fear.
'How much longer?'
'Why not just kill me already?'
He had passed the stage of expecting help. Deep down, he knew no one would come to his aid.
Why would anyone bother to look for someone as insignificant as him?
'Is this it?'
'Is this how it all ends?'
He then slowly lifted his head and stared at the ceiling.
'Ah... I want to die.'
At that moment, a bright light suddenly flashed from above. Blinded by the light, he quickly closed his eyes.
Then, slowly, he opened them again.
What he saw was no longer the dimly lit chamber, but a blue sky in every direction. It was as if he were floating in the morning sky.
And suddenly, he heard a magnificent voice inside his mind.
"Your wish has been granted."
Rohan's eyes widened, then slowly returned to normal as a faint smile formed on his face.
"It's sad that I won't be able to fulfill my dream. But at least, I won't have to suffer anymore," he said as he lowered his gaze.
"Well… actually, you're going to suffer even more."
After hearing those words, his smile slowly turned into a frown. He also felt slightly annoyed with that specific 'actually' for some reason.
"What does that mean? And who are you?"
For a while, there was no response. Just when Rohan was about to speak again, he finally heard an answer.
"I'm going to die soon, so my identity doesn't matter."
After a brief pause, the voice continued to echo inside his mind.
"As your senior, I'll give you one piece of advice: use the system, but don't ever let yourself be controlled by it."
Before he could understand or respond, his eyes were once again forced shut as a bright light flashed across him.
And then, everything went still.
Inside the chamber, a lifeless body knelt above the altar, with two chains binding both his hands, preventing the corpse from collapsing to the floor.
A moment later, two hooded figures entered the chamber. They walked over to the corpse and began whispering among themselves.
They then removed the chains and dragged the corpse out of the chamber, through a dark hall, until they eventually left the building and arrived at the edge of a cliff.
Below, a raging sea crashed against the rocks, each wave striking the cliff with immense power.
The two hooded figures didn't stay idle for long. After exchanging a glance, they immediately threw the corpse over the edge, sending it down into the sea.
After confirming that the corpse had disappeared into the raging sea below, the two hooded figures turned and walked away from the cliff.
Unknown to them, deep below the sea, the sound of a heartbeat slowly echoed through the water.
The corpse slowly opened his eyes.
With a frown, Rohan gasped for air. However, after a moment of struggle, he realized he was able to breathe despite being deep underwater.
Then, he saw something unfamiliar in front of him.
—
[Storm God System: Activated]
[A fragment of the Storm God's authority has entered your body.]
[A Lightbringer has been added to your inventory]
[A Ring of Storm has been added to your inventory]
[Storm God Authority: 1 Fragment]
[Number of Followers: 0]
●
[Primary Quest: Convert 10 followers]
[Time Limit: 10 days]
[Reward: Soul Essence Upgrade]
[Failure: Paralyzed for 10 days]
●
[Quest: Create your honorific name]
[Time Limit: 3 days]
[Reward: 10x Ring of Storms]
[Failure: Lose your hearing for 3 days]
—
For a moment, Rohan couldn't understand what had just happened.
However, he was not an idiot. If he were slow to think, he wouldn't have been able to enter the Rivia Academy despite his lack of innate talent as a mage.
He quickly connected the dots—about how he had died, about the voice he heard in the blue sky, about the warning about the system, and how he was able to breathe underwater.
'Makes sense… how could a god of storms struggle to breathe underwater?'
After seeing the floating text and realizing he could breathe underwater, he had already accepted that the system was real—and so were its benefits.
He knew the situation he was in right now was ridiculous. However, in a world where mages and evil gods exist, nothing was impossible.
But despite the benefits he gained from the system right away, Rohan was not happy at all. In fact, his face was filled with horror, because at that exact moment, new letters formed in front of him.
—
[Emergency Quest: Kill 5 members of the Cult of the Shadow God]
[Time Limit: 24 hours]
[Reward: Armor of Asgard]
[Failure: Death]
[Divine Decree: How could a Storm God not exact vengeance upon its enemies?]
—
Still floating underwater, Rohan covered his face with both hands.
'Kill? I've never killed anyone before!'
'I was angry about what they did to me, but I'm not a psycho who would kill just for vengeance!'
Rohan went silence, still floating beneath the sea as he was not sure on what to do.
But after nearly a minute of hesitation, his expression gradually became stern.
'I don't want to die. Not again.'
He then focused on the word "inventory," and suddenly, information about two items flowed into his mind, including their uses and purposes.
Lightbringer was a glove that looked like it was covered in blue serpent scales. It could summon a lightning strike at a target, with an output that could rival an Indigo-level mage. However, it has one limitation: it can only summon 14 lightning strikes per day.
For Rohan, that was mind-blowing. He had been stuck at the very bottom level of mages—a Violet mage—with very little hope of advancing to Blue Mage, let alone Indigo, which was one level above Blue. He was still impressed, despite its limitation.
The other item he possessed was the Ring of Storms, which he could give to a loyal follower. Once they swore an oath to keep their faith in the Storm God, they could use the ring and immediately possess the power of an Indigo-level mage.
Rohan was slightly disappointed that he couldn't use the ring himself, but with the Lightbringer, killing ten cultists was not impossible—still risky, but definitely doable.
After that thought, he then forced a smile.
'Doable or not, it has to be done.'
'Either I die trying… or die by the system.'
With complete resolve, Rohan started to swim to the surface with ease.
'Not only I could breath underwater, it seemed like I could move more freely despite the strong waves.'
Rohan was slightly baffled by the fact that each wave that hit his body seemed to dissolved instantly, like ripples fading into still water.
Once he was close to the surface, he slowly raised his head above the surface to see whether any cult was nearby.
Once he saw nobody was around, he then started to swim to the shore.
'Those cultists must've thrown my body from above the cliff.'
Once he reached the shore and sat on a large rock, he began to breathe heavily. Even after his revival, he was not in his best condition. He hadn't eaten or drunk anything for days.
"At this point, I'll die from thirst and hunger before any cult or system can kill me," he muttered.
Just as he was about to move, he spotted a large crab between the rocks nearby.
His mouth began to water as he muttered, "I'm sorry, Mr. Crab."
He summoned the Lightbringer from his inventory and wore it on his right hand.
Immediately after that, he unleashed a lightning strike on the crab.
BOOM!
A thunderous sound echoed across the shore.
He knew the lightning strike would cause a huge commotion, but that was exactly what he wanted.
'This is what you call killing two birds with one stone.'
He immediately walked over to the crab and began eating.
Not long after, he heard footsteps above him, coming from the edge of the cliff. He looked up and saw two hooded figures peering down at him.
Rohan hesitated for a moment. However, a few seconds later, he raised his hand, pointing with the Lightbringer.
The two hooded figures were puzzled. The boy they had thrown into the sea was now alive, eating a crab and pointing at them.
But their confusion lasted only a heartbeat when they saw his glove started to glow.
When a blinding bolt of lightning suddenly descended from above them.
BOOM!
—
[Emergency Quest Progress: 2/5]