The golden light was absolute.
It didn't just illuminate the whole bedroom. It seemed to pierce right through Rias's retinas, burning away the shadows of his despair.
He threw his arms over his face to lessen the intensity of the light.
[Ding!]
[First-Time Login Gift opened successfully.]
[Analyzing Host's current physiological limitations...]
[Targeting clogged mana veins, shattered foundation, and absent elemental affinities...]
[Generating the ultimate countermeasure...]
The golden light suddenly started to dim.
It shrank from a room-blinding flash into a form of a single, rotating orb of pure, divine energy. It hovered directly above Rias's lap, pulsing like a living, breathing star.
Rias lowered his arms, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"What... what is that?" His voice came out as a breathless whisper.
As if answering his question, the System window shattered and reformed into a blinding, celestial-gold text box.
[Reward Acquired: Celestial-Tier Talent — Infinity]
[Category: Passive / Growth]
[Description: The Heavens are bound by rules. The Overlord is not. There is no power, no magic, no martial art, and no divine authority in this world that the Host cannot master. The Host now possesses a flawless affinity for absolutely every power system in existence. Bottlenecks do not exist for you. Comprehension is absolute. Your talent is, inherently, Infinite.]
[Would you like to integrate the 'Celestial Tier Talent: Infinity' into your vessel?]
[ YES / NO ]
Rias stopped breathing.
His heart hammered against his bruised ribs so hard he thought it might crack them.
He stared at the glowing golden text. His mind raced through the lore of the novel he had written.
In this world, talents were fixed at birth.
You were born a swordsman, or a fire mage, or a healer. The Duke of Leonhart was feared because his bloodline possessed an incredibly rare A-Rank affinity for Destruction Aura.
'Celestial-Tier?' Rias thought, his hands actually trembling.
'The highest tier in the original novel was Mythic. Celestial shouldn't even exist! And an affinity for everything?'
If his siblings were considered monstrous geniuses... this made him a god in human skin.
He didn't hesitate. He didn't even bother to use his finger this time.
'Yes,' Rias commanded with his mind. 'Integrate it.'
[Acknowledged. Integrating Celestial-Tier Talent: Infinite.]
[Warning: The Host's mortal vessel is severely damaged. The integration process will forcibly reconstruct your foundation. Pain threshold will be bypassed.]
"Wait, what do you mean pain thres—"
AGONY—!
It hit him like a physical blow.
Rias's back arched off the mattress. A silent, strangled scream tore at his throat.
It felt as though liquid fire had been injected directly into his veins.
The clogged, pathetic mana circuits running through his frail body were violently torn open.
Expanded.
Rebuilt.
The painful heat swept through his muscles, his bones, and his mind. It purged fifteen years of accumulated weakness.
Black, foul-smelling impurities began to seep through his white bandages. They hissed as they evaporated into the air.
He bit down on his lip so hard it bled, refusing to make a sound.
If the guards or the butler heard him screaming, they would rush in. He couldn't let anyone see this.
After what felt like hours, but was likely only minutes, the painful heat finally receded.
A cool, refreshing sensation washed over him.
Rias collapsed back onto the pillows, gasping for air. His clothes were soaked in sweat, and he smelled like a burnt garbage pile.
But for the first time since waking up in this world... his body didn't ache.
The heavy, suffocating fatigue was completely gone.
[Integration Complete!]
[Host's mana veins have been purified and expanded by 10,000%!]
[Host's intelligence and comprehension have breached mortal limits!]
Slowly, testing the mana, Rias clenched his right fist.
Before, the simple action had sent stabbing pains up his arm. Now? He felt mana flowing smoothly in his hand through his core.
The amount of mana was small but it was enough to give him hope.
"Status," he rasped, a wild, unrestrained grin spreading across his face.
[STATUS WINDOW]
[Name: Rias von Leonhart]
[Title: The Duke's Disappointment]
[Rank: Bronze-tier Lv. 8]
[Talents: Infinity (Celestial-Tier)]
[Attributes]
[Strength: 12 (+8)]
[Agility: 15 (+9)]
[Vitality: 20 (+17)]
[Mana: 50 (+48)]
Rias let out a low, shaky laugh.
His stats had instantly multiplied just from his body being repaired. His mana had skyrocketed from a pathetic 2 all the way to 50!
'I'm still at Bronze Level 8,' Rias noted, his sharp red eyes scanning the screen.
'The talent gave me the potential to be a god, but I still need to grind EXP to actually level up and break through to the Silver Tier.'
But how was he supposed to get EXP? He was still stuck in this bed.
If he suddenly walked out and started swinging a sword, the Duke would be suspicious. He needed a way to grow stronger in secret.
As if reading his thoughts, the System chimed one last time.
[Ding!]
[To assist the Host in utilizing their new Talent, a Daily Quest has been generated.]
[Daily Quest: The Foundation of an Overlord]
[Objective 1: Complete 100 Push-ups (0/100)]
[Objective 2: Complete 100 Sit-ups (0/100)]
[Objective 3: Read one book related to magic or swordplay (0/1)]
[Reward: +50 EXP, 1x Minor Healing Potion]
[Failure: -10 to all Stats for 24 hours.]
Rias stared at the floating blue box, his grin widening until it actually hurt his cheeks.
He was the weakest, most ignored trash of the Leonhart family. No one paid attention to him. No one cared what he did in his room.
It was the perfect cover.
"Alright," Rias whispered, throwing the heavy blankets off his legs and stepping onto the cold marble floor.
"Let's get to work."
He immediately dropped to his hands and knees.
His bandaged palms pressed flat against the stone. He lowered himself, bracing for the agonizing, muscle-tearing failure he had experienced during morning training.
He pushed up.
One.
It wasn't effortless—his body was still fundamentally weak with a meager Strength—but his muscles didn't snap. His joints didn't scream.
Two... Three... Four...
A breathless chuckle escaped his lips as he hit twenty.
He kept his pace, his Body sweated by the exercise.
By fifty, his arms were shaking.
By eighty, his lungs were burning. But the expanded mana veins pulsed with a faint, cooling energy that kept him from collapsing.
"Ninety-nine..." Rias gasped, his arms feeling like lead. "...One hundred!"
He collapsed flat on his stomach, panting heavily.
[Ding!]
[Objective 1 Complete: 100 Push-ups (100/100)]
He didn't stop.
He flipped over, ignoring the foul stench radiating from his own skin of Seats and impurities, and immediately began the sit-ups.
He used the agonizing burn in his core to ground himself, to prove that this wasn't just a lingering, feverish dream.
Ten minutes later, he lay spread-eagled on the floor, staring up at the runic ceiling.
[Objective 2 Complete: 100 Sit-ups (100/100)]
"Just the book left," Rias muttered, forcing his trembling legs to hold his weight as he stood up.
He walked over to the modest oak desk in the corner of his room.
As the Duke's disappointment, he wasn't allowed access to the family's grand library. The only books he owned were discarded, basic manuals given to the estate's foot soldiers.
He rummaged through the bottom drawer and pulled out a frayed, leather-bound book.
The Imperial Standard Breathing Technique.
It was the most basic, uninspired mana-gathering method in the kingdom. Slow, inefficient, and practically useless for reaching higher tiers.
"Well, a book is a book," Rias sighed, wiping a drop of black sweat from his brow.
He opened the cover and began to read the first page.
And then, the world tilted.
[Ding!]
[Passive Talent: Infinity has been triggered!]
The mundane, boring words on the page suddenly seemed to lift off the parchment.
Rias's crimson eyes widened as the basic diagrams of mana circulation burned themselves into his mind.
But his brain didn't just memorize them. It instantly dissected them.
He saw the flaws. He saw the inefficiencies. He saw how the breathing rhythm wasted exactly 42% of the gathered ambient mana upon exhaling.
His mind, supercharged by the Celestial-Tier talent, automatically corrected the centuries-old mistakes of the Imperial Army.
[Analyzing: Imperial Standard Breathing Technique...]
[Detecting 1,402 structural flaws in the mana circulation path.]
[Applying Talent: Infinity...]
[Reconstructing Technique...]
[Ding!]
[You have comprehended and perfectly evolved a basic skill!]
[New Skill Acquired: Celestial Void Breathing Art (Passive - Lv. 1)]
[Description: A flawless, continuous breathing technique that automatically draws in pure ambient mana with every breath the Host takes, sleeping or waking. Increases MP regeneration by 500%!]
The frayed book slipped from Rias's fingers, hitting the floor with a dull thud.
He took a breath.
Instantly, a rush of cool, dense energy flooded into his lungs. It spiraled through his newly purified veins with the force of a rushing river.
He didn't even have to meditate. Just by standing there and breathing, he was actively cultivating mana.
"This..." Rias whispered, looking at his trembling hands. "This is completely broken."
[Ding!]
[Objective 3 Complete: Read one book related to magic or swordplay (1/1)]
[Daily Quest: The Foundation of an Overlord - COMPLETED!]
[Rewards Distributed: +50 EXP, 1x Minor Healing Potion.]
[EXP: 50 / 1,000]
A small, glowing vial containing a red liquid materialized in the air and dropped neatly into his hand.
He was filthy, exhausted, and isolated in a household that despised him.
'I desperately need a bath before someone smells this sludge,' he thought wryly.
But as he felt the perfect flow of mana circulating through his chest, Rias smiled.
The weakest piece on the board had just changed the rules of the game.