Nick was an otaku. He loved reading novels and a particular novel had gained his particular obsession and devotion. The novel was one of the current top novels, a modern fantasy world novel with various heroes with different tropes.
It was the current blockbuster in the web novel world, with millions of readers and fans from around the world. Nick too was deeply engrossed in the theory making and lore of the world.
However, as the years passed, Nick could feel that the author was making up random stuff for the views. Nick felt like the novel was straying away from the true intentions, as the romance subplots all ended up in flames, the heroes actually ended up becoming villains and destroying the very world they inhabited due to infighting and many other dramatic reasons.
In the end the book ended on a tragic note that left a bitter and ugly taste in the readers mouth. Nick, in particular, began spamming 1 star reviews all over the review sites as well as bitching about the novel in the forums, writing his own theories about how the plot should have been realized.
One day, Nick received an email from the Author of the novel.
"You don't like my novel? Then change it yourself!"
That is all the mail said. In the mail was an attachment with the story. Nick was surprised at the Author mailing him and suspected that it might be an email hacking scam.
But curiosity got the better of him and clicked the download button. Suddenly, his eyes went dark. He couldn't feel his body anymore. He felt real, but also unreal. Like the life he had read until now had all been a dream.
Suddenly, like a movie, all details, backstories, histories and the core story of Heroes Rising was burned into his consciousness and he remembered every bit of it. Nick was scared as he didn't understand what was going on.
The inability to feel his body or see anything but darkness made him extremely uneasy, however, as if this too were a dream. It passed and he finally felt like he had woken up and could feel his body.
He opened his eyes and found himself standing with several other kids dressed in a weird combat uniform. Everyone looked straight ahead and he did too, to find a beautiful red haired woman with a glowing face, but a heroic air, looking at the students.
"Freshmen students, welcome to the Hexagon! I, Alena, as the student council president, welcomes you to this paragon institution training the next group of the world's heroes!"
In the crowd, Nick was dumbfounded. Alena? Hexagon? Isn't this from the beginning of Heroes Rising?
Then a simple middle aged man with green hair, green beard and green eyes walked onto the podium. "Children, today you will take a step into the real world. To become heroes. To protect our world. As the principal, I look forward to seeing your rapid growth within Hexagon!"
Nick was stunned again. "Didn't this guy match the exact descriptions of principal Ruian from the novel? Could I entered the novel of Heroes Rising?" He wondered.
In panic, Nick began searching his body and found a card within his trouser pocket. He took the card out to see the details.
Nick Caritt, 18, Freshman Hexagon. Along with these details, there was a photograph attached. Nick looked at the photo and was a little surprised.
"Is this who I am? Nick Caritt... I actually don't look half bad, but this name was never mentioned in the novel. Looks like I was reborn as a fodder character." He thought to himself.
After the introductory assembly got over, the people slowly followed their lines to the class. Nick blindly followed the queue and ended up in the classroom.
Heroes Rising began in the hero university Hexagon. This arc had several important characters who would all go on to become one of the top heroes in the world.
Drake Snow was one of the main characters and had the biggest potential as the hero. He had a strong superpower dormant within his body, just like the other heroes. He had brown hair and looked very confident smile. He was also very handsome and girls would all flock to him. He was the perfect Hero Template character.
Then there was Hailey Bloom who was a female main character. With dark black long hair and a tall and strong personality, her attractive appearance made her the pick of the heroines. In the story, she had feelings for Drake but eventually the Author messed the situation up by having Drake fall in love with someone else.
John Crow was a main character with anti hero like tendencies. He had a rivalry with Drake and actually would like Hailey who always snubbed him. He was a powerful hero family scion who looked down on Drake.
Elly Still was the fourth main character in Nick's class. She was also the daughter of a super rich hero family and had feelings for John. She was also a powerful person in the future.
When Nick recollected these four and their complex relationships, he shook his head at the clusterf**k of a mess the Author had created off of these people's relationships.
Nick didn't have much time to think, today the students would be measured for talents. The talent measuring device was a machine that analyzed the abilities and strengths of the testers and displayed them in digital terms.
The talent would be rated on a scale of 0 - 10. Nick was well aware of this scene. This was when the heroes would end up distinguishing themselves.
The teacher of Nick's class, a beautiful woman of the name Shu Qi, led the students to the talent testing room.
She looked at the students and spoke. "Today we will be testing the students for talent. No matter what talent the machine shows, remember that your hard world will lead you forward to success.