I opened my eyes, still in complete shock from the sudden revelation.
What made me regain my senses was the sight of a young man charging at me with fierce eyes. I had many questions, but no answers. Still, my polished battle instincts kicked in, and I was ready to dodge his strike.
His fist, now aimed at my face, moved with a speed far beyond what a human should be capable of. Yet, I remained calm, waiting for the perfect opportunity to dodge and possibly counter.
Bare moments before the strike landed, I tensed my muscles and—
[E̵͚͎̰̱̥͗̉̈́̐ȓ̴̭̔͒̽̇r̶̛̙̃̌͠͝ǒ̵̞̱͇́̓͠r̴̛̞̯͇͔̟̒͐͛]
[E̶͕̎̀r̷̨̻̊r̸͔̬͆̂o̸͍̔r̸̝̈́̂]
[S̷u̷d̷d̵e̴n̷ ̷i̷n̵t̵e̵r̵f̸i̵e̸r̸e̷n̶c̷e̵ ̵d̴e̵t̵e̸c̷t̵e̸d̵]
[S̴y̴s̵t̷e̶m̷ ̸c̸a̶l̷i̴b̶r̶a̷t̴i̸n̸g̸…̶]
[You have not been born in this world]
[Revoking talents]
Suddenly, I felt a part of me being forcibly torn out. It was as if I had lost a limb I never knew existed, yet its absence left a deep, unsettling void within me.
But that wasn't my biggest concern right now.
The disorienting sensation, paired with the sudden appearance of those cryptic messages, threw me off. In that split second, I missed my chance to dodge, and then—bam—a fist slammed into the side of my jaw.
If I hadn't known it was a fist, I would've thought I'd just smashed into a brick wall at full speed.
Something cracked. My vision blurred as I sailed through the air, landing several meters behind the point of impact.
While immeasurably lower than the pain I had been through before my death, it still hurt like hell, and I could already feel my consciousness slipping.
I was still able to recognize the young man looking down at me with visible confusion on his face. Then the confusion was replaced with disappointment. He shook his head, turned around, and left my field of vision.
The last thing I heard before passing out was a woman's voice announcing:
"Aiden Reed, rank 9378."
My last thought was, 'What a great start,' as after that, I slipped into the embrace of unconsciousness once again.
***
I woke from a dreamless sleep and realized I was lying in bed in an unknown room. The space was clean and white, filled with beds and strange machinery whose purpose I couldn't discern. To my surprise, my jaw, which I expected to be in terrible shape, felt perfectly fine.
I closed my eyes and lay back down, overwhelmed by the enormous number of things I needed to figure out. The first and most pressing matter was obvious: the system message popped up in my mind once again:
[Welcome to Arcane Chronicles. Please enjoy your stay.]
There was no doubt that this was the title of the book I had once read with my mother. Could it be that I had reincarnated into its world?
Just the thought felt like insanity, but really, has anything sane happened to me in the recent past?
First, I got shot by Gideon—curse that bastard! Where did that fool even get his hands on a gun?
Then there was the blue spark, the infinite darkness, the system interface, the blinding light, and now this not-so-long-lasting stay in a new world.
Even though my time here had been brief, I had already witnessed two miraculous feats: first, the incredible speed the man displayed, and second, the miraculous recovery from my injury.
If I remembered correctly, Arcane Chronicles was a book filled with supernatural shit like magic and superheroes, which definitely explained the last two crazy events.
'Does that mean I know the future? Am I some kind of prophet now?' My mind started spinning with scenarios where I could use this knowledge to create the best opportunities for myself. But then I realized the scary truth—I didn't remember a damn thing.
It had been a decade since I last read that book, and it hadn't been an easy one at that. As I struggled through my miserable life, I had bigger priorities than trying to remember a damn children's story.
I tried to dig up as much as I could, searching the dusty corners of my mind for forgotten memories. But all I could manage was the general setting and the name of the main character—mostly because it was the first profile I had seen in the character selection.
'So, to sum it up. I am currently in an entirely different world, which, by the way, I know absolutely nothing about. I have no idea who Aiden Reed is, where I live, or what I should currently be doing...'
A sudden realization hit me.
"I'm fucked."
***
My rain of thoughts was interrupted by the entrance of a woman dressed in clean white clothes, wearing a strange hat marked with a red cross.
Seeing an unfamiliar face made me tense up for a moment, but I quickly relaxed. Unlike in the slums, not everyone here seemed to be out to kill me. Of course, that thought was ridiculous—I had only met two people so far, and one had already tried to do exactly that.
Ignorant of my inner turmoil, the woman approached with a kind smile and asked, "Hello, Aiden, was it? Is everything alright? Your jaw should be all healed up now, so you can leave if you're feeling well enough."
I stared at her for a second, thinking:
'Trust me, lady, I'd love to leave, but I quite literally have no idea where to go.'
She must've misread my silence because she added, "Oh, and if you're upset about your ranking, don't worry! While it might be low now, you can still improve it at midterms, and again at the end of the school year."
I eagerly listened, not wanting to miss any crucial details, and began connecting the dots.
'First, the sudden fight, then the ranking announcement, and now talk of the school year... This definitely sounds like some kind of entrance exam. And judging by the fact that I got knocked out in a single punch, I must have done pretty poorly. Rank 9378 is a pretty high number, but who knows how many examinees there actually were.'
I finally gathered the courage and asked, "Excuse me, do you perhaps know how I can check my standing?"
She looked at me a bit confused but answered, "Sure, it should be written in your school ID."
"And where exactly can I check that?"
Her eyes widened slightly, and she muttered under her breath, "Could he have suffered memory loss? But the scans showed his brain was completely fine..."
For someone like her, the answer must have been as obvious as daylight. But for me, she was a goldmine of valuable information—even if I did sound crazy asking.
Noticing that I had overheard her, she quickly shut her mouth and gave me a resigned look before saying, "You just have to press here." She demonstrated by pressing a finger against the inside of her wrist, and instantly, a translucent window appeared—eerily similar to the system interface I'd seen before.
I mimicked her movements, pressing against my wrist as she had shown, and watched as a window hovered just above my arm. The first thing that caught my eye was a notification.
[You have 1 unread message]
I thought about opening it, but the window didn't respond to my mental command. A bit of a downgrade compared to the system interface I'd seen before. So, I went for the more primitive approach—touching it.
To my relief, the message unfolded.
[Congratulations, you have been accepted to the Astralis Academy!
A temporary ranking has been assigned to you based on the results of all the entrance tests.]
I glanced down at the next line and cursed under my breath. That damn system—if it hadn't interrupted me, I would have performed so much better.
[Your current ranking: 9378/10000]