This was not my idea of freedom.
I had woken up to face black. Pitch black.
I was aimlessly floating around in the darkness. At first, I was excited at the thought of going to heaven and doing whatever I wished, unbound, unrestricted, unfettered but I was here floating in a void of black.
I began to reminisce about my life and sighed. Some might wonder why I didn't just stop to rest or stop training.
The simplicity of it was that deep inside perhaps I liked the attention.
From number 1 in all martial arts, smashing records in sprinting, best chef, and even most gifted century pianist. I had it all.
I enjoyed taking the No. 1 places seeing despair as they tried to catch up. Watching their faces contort in envy and jealousy was priceless.
But when they gave up, my interest waned moving on to the next sport, music, anything with competition that I could find.
I could only feel joy at those moments but soon their faces became so.. so normal as I began to feel less and less, realizing everyone was the same; made from the same flesh and if conditions were met, they also acted the same.
That was when my body became a vessel and I watched and watched yearning for a relief that never came.
Staring into the darkness, I was tired. Really tired.
Not so long after this, an eerie premonition washed over me.
A sharp pain suddenly coursed throughout me, a pain I couldn't describe.
I couldn't scream in my current state and only stayed there enduring the soul-crushing torment.
Unable to hold on, I completely blanked out, not before hearing a murmur,
"There is no freedo-"
Feeling groggy I sat up. Wait, I just sat up. No way.
My heart rate spiked as I could already guess what had happened.
My jaw tensed and a faint feeling of bitterness filled me.
Another chance?
Or was it another life chained by expectations?
My demeanor grew colder, hands fisting as a faint feeling of anger seeped into me.
Why me? Others would revere and cheer at another chance. But all I could think about was the shackles that would once again restrict me.
The same faces that would haunt me.
Why? Just why?
I bit my lips holding back tears that threatened to fall down my trembling cheeks. A faint taste of blood trickled onto my tongue.
My head began to spin and my throat became parched. Struggling to breathe, I searched for the toilet and bent over releasing the unknown contents from my body.
I kneeled there. Hair dangling as I struggled to find my breath. After an unknown time, I stood up slowly leaning against the toilet for support.
Taking a deep breath, I gradually took in my surroundings.
I was in some kind of cyber-fashioned restroom with buttons and different lights for their functions. Confused I stared into the mirror in front of me, examining my face.
I had the same face as the 14-year-old me.
A face of 'perfection' with grey eyes and black hair stared right back at me. I was the same but where was I?
I walked out of the restroom and once again faced the bedroom which looked advanced and clean, void of any useless items.
A sudden ring of the doorbell resounded through the room.
I tensed before asking,
"Who is it?"
There was nothing but silence that greeted me.
Raising my guard, I approached the door with caution. Picking up a book as my weapon, I looked through the gap under the door and saw a dark shadow blocking the light from the corridor. I still had no idea where I was and didn't have the time to find out. There were no windows or exits I could find to escape through.
'Do I pretend I am not here?'
I stood there in silence before another ring resounded.
Picking up my resolve with fist clenched hard around the book I gradually opened the door and found a...a robot with a box.
"Here is your delivery. Have a nice day." It said emotionlessly
The robot left the package on the floor before speeding down the corridor. Making sure noone was watching I grabbed the package and locked the door before opening its contents.
~Hello Mr Grey,
Let us get the the main point
In this life, you are known as Aeron Araxys.
I see you want freedom. I now give you the chance to earn it.
Yes, I have sent you inside 'that' novel and hope you can do something about the incoming situation.
Or situations, I suppose.
If the world dies you die and the freedom your soul desires also dies. Yes, this time you will die. And the liberation you desire will not happen.
And if you feel death is your path to freedom, only more torment awaits you.
I assure you of that.
As someone who has failed himself but never failed another's expectation, I chose to place an expectation on you, Aeron, to save this world.
Why? You may ask but I ask back, Why not?
True Freedom is a choice that comes with consequences that must be shouldered.
I hope you don't let me down Aeron Araxys.
It would be amusing,
You, the Noah Grey, actually failing a challenge.
Well, you are Aeron now I suppose.
Yours Sincerely
The ▊▊▊▊▊~
I frowned, my brows furrowing, contemplating the information I had received.
Yet I did not feel anger or irritation.
I was eerily calm as I began planning my next steps.
The words disappeared after I read them not that I could forget them with my eidetic memory.
My face still remained blank pondering and processing the words of The ▊▊▊▊▊.
If I am in 'that' novel then it must currently be just before the start of the first year in Lionize Academy. I had not heard of an Aeron when reading the novel.
Was I a completely new person added to the novel or a character with no special mentions?
There were 3 cataclysmic events. The first calamity and only one I knew of was the invasion of the demon army, 7 sins, and Cain the overlord resulting in the death of this world.
It was the only one I knew as the protagonist couldn't even stop the first calamity, dying fighting Cain.
It was rather pathetic but perhaps the author stopped or got sick. I would never know.
Each calamity threatens the world which was known as Ashyn.
The demons carried a miasma that poisoned Ashyn. They had to travel from another dimension mentioned in the novel called Vexham through portals or infiltrate the minds of humans through temptation.
The miasma could turn gravely injured or weak-willed humans into demons or the dead ones into undead under a magic circle they had to prepare.
I pursed my lips and frowned as my thoughts raced and summed up,
'It's looking long'
Humans were the weakest of the races: Elves, Dwarves, Dragons, Werewolves, and the strongest, Celestials, which resulted in the demons choosing to invade the humans first.
'It's looking really long'
In this world mana and aura were used. Everyone had to train either in one or both depending on the chosen class.
A weak sense of exhilaration flowed within me, wanting to know more about these things. Excitement, a feeling I had not felt for a long time.
The Rank caps EX, SSS, SS, S, A-E showed each person's potential for growth- the rank they could grow to.
EX caps were at the level of the celestials who could use 3 types of energy; mana, aura, and Astreals (know more later)
Whereas elves could only use mana but always retained caps above A grade from the moment they were born resulting in a low birth rate but a strong adversity for its foes.
Werewolves specialised in aura being the aggressive beings they were often soughting after conflicts, but the rare few could use mana.
Only celestials had access to Astreals. Humans had the widest range of talents most living with either E grade or talentless resulting in them gaining the scorn of all the races. Where dwarves made powerful weapons and armour, humans could only survive thus far due to technology and a contract millenniums ago with the celestials: stating that no harm to fall on humans. (Mainly due to the latter)
Sighing, my body trembled, whether in fear or determination, feeling the manacles of expectations that had already begun to pile down on me.
My soul felt restless as freedom seemed to get further and further away.
Information on our stats was given by thinking of the word 'status'. It was unknown who gave the system to us but many guessed it was the celestials.
Thinking 'status', a blue screen with white letters revealed itself.
As it flickered into existence my eyes blurred as a familiar pain once again shuddered my soul. Biting my pillow, muffled screams and cries rung as my eyes leaked blood.
I fainted.
I woke up to a red screen:
___________________________________
_Aeron Araxys _
Bloodline: Araxys (chained)
Description: A yearning for freedom
Rank cap: B ( reach a max of 40 in all stats)
(Every grade -----E~10. D~20. C~30 B~40. A~50 S~60. SS~70. SSS~80. EX~100)
5 of the 7 categories must be in grade before that rank is reached
Rank E-
Strength (Str): 2 {E-}
Agility (Agi): 3 {E-}
Intelligence (Int): 1 {E-}
Luck (Luc): 0 {E-}
Dexterity (Dex): 2 {E-}
Perception (Per):5 {E}
Charisma (Cha): 10 {E+}
Charm: A+~S [growing]
(5 is the adult average)
Skills: All language,
Pain endurance {73%} upgradeable (Upgrades are done by buying skill points in Fate shop or experience the action)
Battle art: None
(Battle arts are graded by I II III IV V X: X being rarest and I being common)
Talent: None
Fate points: 0 (gained by increasing Ashyn's life expectancy, changing fate, or defying destiny)
Fate shop
(talents weapons armour items)
[No skills can be purchased]
Ashyn : 4y 360d 23hr before C1
(Calamity 1)
___________________________________
The ▊▊▊▊▊ must have added the fate shop. It sounded interesting perhaps working similarly to the Mc's system shop.
'But what were these fate points' I wondered. 'Changing fate and destiny. If I killed the mc would that give me points?'
Silence greeted me.
'Not interactive it seems '
The mc's shop ran on points given by quests completed in the system where he could buy pretty much anything except skills like mine.
I had a lot to do before the academy started and my main goal was to strengthen the mc and his group to allow them to face the demons and win.
As I closed my status I noticed something else in the box labeled; A starter boost if you will.
It was a completely clear bottle with a drop of blue liquid.
'Do I drink this?'
My eyes narrowed searching for any other pieces of information before shrugging and swallowing the shimmering blue liquid as I thought,
'The ▊▊▊▊▊ could most likely kill me if he wished to at any time if he caused that pain before putting me into this accursed world'
I was really behind anyway and anything free that helped me would be appreciated as the protagonist started off the academy with stats at 8 {E+} rank and the rest of the talents that accompanied him at around 7 {E}.
I felt no difference until I saw a change in my talents
___________________________________
Talent: A Gambler's Luck [SSS]
Description: 'You are only one draw away from the win. Don't stop!'
Luck increases by 1 every 30 days until the talent cap is reached.
77% chance of negating curses but if curse, the effect is twice as effective.
Successful gambling increases luck by 0.1.
If fate changes significantly due to your actions a random increase of a stat will be given from 0.5-2 stat points
You have gained the Skills:
Poker's Gaze{B} Upgradable: An unreadable straight face that stops emotions from breaking through keeping you unaffected by pressure.
Gamblers Instinct {A} Passive: A sixth sense that may save you and help find treasures.
___________________________________
The package completely vanished as if it was never there.
It seemed God may be on my side as Luck happened to be the hardest stat to upgrade as it could not be trained.
I smirked with faint satisfaction at the new skills but quickly removed it after remembering my predicament.
There were 2 weeks until the academy began and according to the novel the protagonist would fight his first low-ranked {D-} demon with his childhood friend gaining power up and new skill but would recklessly use all his saved-up points to buy a life elixir to heal the girl.
The mc had an interesting talent: {Strength through Adversity} {SS} allowing him to grow stronger with every defeat as well as giving him the
{S} skill: Overtime increasing his stats by certain percentages depending on consequences he was willing to suffer.
Back to myself though. If I wanted to help them I had to quickly increase my stats and talent cap.
The closer you grew towards the cap the slower the speed of growth so I needed a high one to be able to keep up with the heroes and heroines, who had SS and SSS ones.
Gathering my little belongings and 6666 credits I headed out to West Kony, a town situated west of human-owned lands on the outskirts of the Konfé Forest. The forest was clear and had little to no danger. During a mission later on in the story one of the heroines would find a useless item that could not increase her {SS} cap so she sold it for 2.8 billion credits.
Not leaving any traces of myself I put on my hood to hide my charm and left the hotel in the morning under the guise of the dark.