The first punch landed before Jin could react.
His head snapped sideways as his body slammed into the lockers. The metallic clang echoed through the hallway, sharp and loud, yet completely ignored. Students walked past like it was normal. Like it was expected.
Because it was.
A hand grabbed his collar and yanked him forward, forcing him upright.
"Say it."
Jin's lips were already split. Blood ran down his chin in a thin line, dripping onto the floor. His eyes were dull, empty, like none of this mattered.
"My father… was a coward."
"Louder."
A kick slammed into his stomach. His body folded instantly as the air was knocked out of him.
"My father was a coward!"
Laughter erupted.
Not shocked laughter.
Not surprised laughter.
Routine laughter.
"Traitor's son."
"Runs in the blood."
"Don't let him near the gate, he might run back."
Another punch. Another kick. Jin didn't block. Didn't resist. His body hit the ground hard, palms scraping against the rough tiles, skin tearing slightly.
Pain spread through him.
He didn't react.
Didn't feel angry.
Didn't feel humiliated.
This was normal.
"Today's Awakening Day," one of them said, crouching beside him, grabbing his hair again just to force eye contact. "Big day for trash like you."
"Imagine if he actually awakens something good."
"Impossible."
"Common at best."
"No, even worse."
More laughter.
Jin slowly pushed himself up.
His movements were calm.
Controlled.
Like nothing had happened.
Because to him—
Nothing had.
The bell rang.
Long.
Loud.
Final.
Students flooded toward the central hall.
Jin followed.
Alone.
The central hall was massive, built to handle hundreds of students at once, and today it was full. Rows of students stood in formation, all facing the stage.
At the center of that stage sat the Awakening Stone.
Dark gray.
Smooth.
Faintly glowing from within.
Like something alive.
Teachers stood around it.
Behind them, several sharply dressed men and women observed everything carefully.
Guild recruiters.
Their eyes weren't on everyone.
Only the promising ones.
Names were called rapidly.
One after another.
"Ryan Cole — Uncommon Rank Skill: Strength Boost!"
Applause.
"Lena Frost — Rare Rank Skill: Ice Control!"
Cheers.
"Derek Hale — Epic Rank Skill: Lightning Strike!"
The entire hall exploded.
Students stared in awe. Recruiters leaned forward instantly, already calculating value, contracts, future profit.
Jin stood at the very back.
Ignored.
As always.
"Hey, traitor."
A whisper from behind him.
"Try not to faint when you get Inferior."
A few chuckles followed.
Jin didn't respond.
Didn't turn.
The line moved faster than expected.
Too fast.
Soon—
Only one name remained.
"Jin Vale."
The atmosphere shifted.
Just slightly.
Enough to notice.
Then—
Laughter.
"HAHAHAHA!"
"This is the best part."
"Watch him get nothing."
Jin stepped forward.
Each step steady.
No hesitation.
No emotion.
He climbed the stage.
Stopped in front of the Awakening Stone.
For a brief moment—
He looked at it.
Then placed his hand on it.
Cold.
Not physical cold.
Something deeper.
A voice echoed in his mind.
[Awakening Initiated]
[Scanning Individual…]
A screen appeared instantly.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[PRE-AWAKENING STATUS]
Strength: 3
Agility: 4
Vitality: 3
Mana: 1
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Evaluation in Progress…]
A pause.
Long enough to feel.
Then—
[Final Result: Inferior]
The hall burst into laughter.
"HAHAHAHA!"
"I KNEW IT!"
"Lowest trash possible!"
The system didn't stop.
[Inherent Skill Granted]
Skill: Inferior Extraction
Rank: Inferior
Another screen appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[STATUS WINDOW]
Name: Jin Vale
Level: 1
Rank: Inferior
Strength: 3
Agility: 4
Vitality: 3
Mana: 1
Free Stat Points: 0
Skills:
Inferior Extraction (Inferior)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
A third screen expanded immediately.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[SKILL — Inferior Extraction]
Rank: Inferior
Effect:
Absorb 1% of total stats from enemies killed
Convert into Free Stat Points
Upgrade Cost: 30 Stat Points
Next Rank: Common (3% Extraction)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Laughter continued in the background.
"Inferior skill AND Inferior rank!"
"He's worse than useless!"
Jin ignored all of it.
His eyes stayed on the system.
1%.
Low.
Weak.
Insignificant.
Unless—
The enemy wasn't.
Monsters.
Even weak monsters had stats far beyond humans.
Which meant—
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"Next."
The instructor waved him off without even looking.
Jin removed his hand.
Turned.
Walked down.
No one stopped him.
No one cared.
Perfect.
He walked out of the hall before the next awakening even started.
The administrative office was quieter.
Cleaner.
Organized.
A clerk sat behind the desk, flipping through documents lazily.
Jin stopped in front of him.
"Beginner weapon."
The clerk didn't respond immediately.
Then slowly looked up.
Recognition hit.
"Jin Vale."
His expression shifted instantly.
"We're low on equipment. Come back later."
Jin didn't move.
"Every awakened receives one."
The clerk scoffed.
"You? What for? Planning to die faster?"
Silence.
"Give it."
The clerk frowned, annoyed.
"Know your place."
Jin didn't blink.
Didn't look away.
Seconds passed.
Then the clerk clicked his tongue and stood up.
"Fine. Waste of resources anyway."
He walked to the back.
Returned with a sword.
Basic.
Standard issue.
Slightly worn.
He dropped it on the counter.
"Take it."
Jin picked it up.
The weight settled into his hand.
Balanced.
Functional.
Enough.
No words.
No thanks.
He turned and walked out.
The training gate behind the school was already open.
Students gathered in groups.
Talking.
Planning.
Laughing.
"Let's go together."
"Stay safe."
"Don't die, idiot."
Jin walked past all of them.
"Stop."
A guard blocked his path.
"First day. You need a team."
"No."
The guard frowned.
Looked closer.
Recognized him.
He scoffed.
"…Your choice."
The gate opened.
Darkness waited beyond.
Jin stepped through.
The world changed instantly.
The air grew heavier.
The sky darker.
The ground uneven and cracked.
A system message appeared.
[Entered: Beginner Zone]
A growl echoed nearby.
Jin turned his head slightly.
A goblin stepped out from behind broken ruins.
Small.
Thin.
Fast.
Its eyes locked onto him.
A grin spread across its face.
Then it charged.
Jin didn't move immediately.
He watched.
Measured.
Distance.
Speed.
Timing.
At the last second—
He stepped aside.
The goblin missed.
Jin raised the sword.
And swung.
Clean.
Precise.
The blade cut across the goblin's neck.
Blood sprayed.
The goblin staggered.
Collapsed.
Dead.
A system notification appeared instantly.
[Kill Confirmed]
[Calculating Target Stats…]
Target Stats:
Strength: 8
Agility: 6
Vitality: 7
Mana: 2
Total: 23
[Inferior Extraction Activated]
1% of 23 = 0.23 → Rounded = 1 Stat Point
[+1 Free Stat Point Acquired]
The status window updated.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[STATUS WINDOW]
Name: Jin Vale
Level: 1
Strength: 3
Agility: 4
Vitality: 3
Mana: 1
Free Stat Points: 1
Skills:
Inferior Extraction (Inferior)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Jin stared at the screen.
One point.
From something this weak.
Another growl echoed.
Then another.
More goblins.
Jin tightened his grip on the sword.
And stepped forward.
Kill.
Take.
Grow.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Because this time—
No one would ever stand above him again.