A tall, handsome young man with white hair sat by the seaside in the early hours of the morning, gazing at the calm sea and daydreaming. He dreamed of a life where his family was still with him.

It all began when he was just an 8-year-old boy.

Humanity had started to face trials caused by monsters that appeared on Earth and a phenomenon called "mind magic," which took control of people.

When Kael was 8 years old, his parents fell under the influence of mind magic. However, they never told him about it and tried their best to raise him well.

One of the happiest moments he had with his family suddenly turned into fear and horror. Watching his family disappear before his eyes left a trauma that etched itself onto his mind like a dark stain. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't erase the memory.

But all of that was in the past now. Nine years had passed, and he had lived a life he could call relatively happy. He had friends he considered family and even a girlfriend.

He reflected on these happy memories once more while gazing at the tranquil sea. Soon, everything would come to an end because the mind magic that had caused the death of his family and thousands of others had now taken hold of him as well.

Kael diagnosed himself with this condition after experiencing a sudden countdown in his mind one night.

Thanks to the stories told by those who returned, he learned that this was a common phenomenon experienced by all users of mind magic.

'I wonder how much time given to them.' he thought to himself.

The time given to each person varied. The magic had only granted him two days to prepare, and that time was almost up.

[Time Remaining For Your First Trial: 9 Hours, 27 Minutes.]

Survival rates for the first generation of mind magic users were only 0.5% since they had little time to prepare. However, later generations managed to increase this rate by learning from the experiences and advice of their predecessors, though the survival rate still remained low—just 5%.

Kael had heard some of these stories and, as a child, believed that one day his parents would return victorious from their trials and become heroes. As he grew older, he realized that this was impossible.

His father had been a hunter and often took him on hunting trips, teaching him the tricks of the trade, even if Kael resisted. This became even more frequent three months before his 9th birthday. Perhaps his father, influenced by mind magic, had been preparing him for the future with such rigorous training. Of course, these were just Kael's theories; he could never know the truth.

After all these events, the few survivors were called the "Awakened." Their struggle wasn't over; they now had to fight the monsters that had begun invading the world in parallel with the rise of mind magic.

While many theories circulated about these events, no definitive explanation existed. The source of the monsters and the magic remained unknown.

The most popular theory suggested that similar phenomena might have caused events in ancient mythology. Who knows—maybe the giants mentioned in Norse myths had invaded the world, and Thor was simply a human awakened by magic with an affinity for lightning. There was no way to know for sure.

Kael stood up from where he was sitting. He wanted to see the world he lived in one last time, perhaps for the final time.

He swam in the sea, played with children in the park, ate as much food as he could, climbed a tree, and finally, the time had come.

None of it mattered anymore. He had lived good days. He had also lived bad ones, but everything would change today. If he failed in his trial, he would be erased from the world like his family. If he succeeded, he would become one of the elite few remaining in the world.

In either case, things would never be the same again.

[Time Remaining For Your First Trial: 0 Hour 1 Minute.]

[Your First Trial Is Starting. Good Luck, Warrior.]