[Please choose an affinity.]
• Ti
• Shadow
• Lightning
• Light
'…These are all overpowered. But there's only one real choice here.'
'I choose ti.'
The mont he made his choice, a flood of information rushed into his brain. It was so overwhelming that his body reacted instinctively—he smacked himself in the face.
Right at that mont, the door opened.
Victoria stood frozen in the doorway.
"…"
"…Pfft—"
She tried to hold it in. She really did. But within seconds, she burst out laughing, slamming the door shut behind her as she doubled over.
'Of course, this is my luck…'
rlin sighed, rubbing his face as he got up from the couch.
"They already delivered the pizza. I waited for you."
He forced an unnatural smile, which only made Victoria raise an eyebrow.
"Alright then." She sat down and opened the box, releasing the heavenly scent of otherworldly pepperoni into the room.
The mont the sll hit rlin's nose, his eyes widened.
'Is this… heaven?'
He sat down, grabbed a slice, and so did Victoria.
"Bon appétit."
They said it at the sa ti.
The pizza was perfectly balanced—not soggy, but crispy enough to crack slightly under his bite. It was the ideal texture.
And the taste? Unreal.
'The food here is practically divine…'
rlin savored every bite like it was his first ti ever tasting pizza.
Slice after slice disappeared into his stomach until he had eaten the entire thing—not a single crumb left.
'No food waste on my watch.'
Just as he was about to relax, a beeping sound ca from the bathroom—the washing machine's cycle was done.
"Hold on a second."
Victoria, half-asleep on the couch with the TV still playing, gave a lazy nod—or at least, rlin thought she did. She might've just twitched in her sleep.
He grabbed his clothes, now freshly washed, and spun the air around them in tight, controlled motions. Within monts, they were completely dry.
'Perfect.'
Satisfied, he stepped back into the living room—where Victoria was now softly snoring.
'Rough day at work?'
Shaking his head, rlin grabbed a blanket and gently draped it over her.
'Guess it's ti for to sleep too.'
He stretched and quietly made his way to his room.
Lying in bed, rlin stared at the ceiling, thinking about his new ti affinity.
Nathan, the protagonist in the original novel, had also gained ti affinity—but only at the very end of the story.
Which ant that rlin, right now, had no idea how to use it.
'I can't even kick a rock compared to late-ga Nathan…'
Sighing, he rolled onto his side.
Tomorrow was an important day.
A specific event would take place—one that had changed Nathan, even if he never showed it on the outside.
'And that ans…tomorrow is going to fucking suck so damn much.'
Tomorrow, Nathan will have his first training session with the system.
—
The Next Morning
rlin got up, completed his usual morning routine, and stepped out of the apartnt. Victoria was already gone—probably at work.
Taking a deep breath, he stretched.
'Everything feels… oddly perfect today.'
As soon as he stepped onto the street, a taxi pulled up right in front of him.
'What kind of luck is this?'
Skeptically, he got in. The ride to the academy was flawless—no delays, no traffic, no issues getting through security.
'Okay… this is definitely a prank.'
Opening his phone, he checked his schedule for the day.
[Tactical Blade Application]
His hands started trembling. His eyes twitched.
'Never mind. My luck is officially over.'
With a heavy sigh, he made his way toward the open training ground, where a few students were already waiting.
Nathan wasn't here yet. Neither was Reinhardt. But Dorian was.
'This is awkward.'
Silently, rlin walked up and stood beside him.
Dorian did the sa.
Neither of them said a word.
It was like watching two mute birds trying to out-silence each other.
Eventually, Reinhardt entered the training ground.
Nathan was still nowhere to be seen.
'So he's still going through system training, huh? That's… unfortunate.'
Reinhardt crossed his arms and swept his gaze across the students. His eyes landed on rlin.
"Everyone, grab your weapons."
rlin picked up his rapier—the sa one he always used.
"I'll be demonstrating a basic technique."
'Please, please, please don't—'
"rlin Everhart, step forward."
A chill ran down his spine. Reinhardt's smile was terrifying.
"Sir, I think there might be soone more qualified—"
"rlin Everhart."
There was no escape.
Letting out a slow, defeated exhale, he stepped forward.
He and Reinhardt faced each other, weapons drawn, while the students watched in anticipation.
'Please, gods, if you exist—just don't let break any ribs. Or limbs. Or my spine. Or my—'
"rlin, attack ."
Reinhardt didn't even move.
rlin just stared at him.
'It doesn't matter how I attack—he's going to absolutely wreck .'
Resigning himself to fate, he took a step forward and executed a simple, speed-boosted slash.
At the very last second, Reinhardt slid his sword along rlin's blade and—
WHAM.
—slamd the hilt of his sword straight into rlin's stomach.
rlin doubled over in pain, clutching his abdon.
'This… this is torture…'
Reinhardt turned back to the students.
"As you can see, this is how you properly execute a parry. Of course, I didn't want to hurt Mr. Everhart, so I only used the hilt."
'Yeah, sure. Totally didn't want to hurt . Not at all.'
rlin groaned.
Today was not his day.
"Mr. Everhart, attack again—"
Before Reinhardt could finish his sentence, rlin warped forward, using his space affinity to instantly close the gap.
'Screw you, you sadistic bastard!'
He swung his sword down, aiming straight for Reinhardt's head.
Reinhardt moved to parry, but just as he was about to counter—
[Trickster's Reflex]
rlin's body twisted unnaturally, avoiding the counter at the last second.
Reinhardt's brow twitched.
'Yeah, what now, you—'
BAM!
A well-placed kick to the stomach sent rlin flying back several ters, like a ragdoll tossed into the void.
Lying on the ground, rlin gasped for air.
'Alright. Now this is personal.'
Ignoring the pain, he leaped back to his feet and charged again.
Reinhardt, anwhile, casually scratched his ear.
The students just stared, blinking in confusion.
"…Has he lost his mind?"
"Did he finally snap?"
rlin lunged forward, executing a sharp forward slash.
Reinhardt blocked it effortlessly.
"When slashing, make sure to use your waist properly. Rotating your core adds more speed and power."
rlin's eyes twitched.
'He's actually giving a lesson while I'm attacking him?!'
He resisted the urge to throw in his other affinities, limiting himself to just space—not that he could do much with it yet.
Still, he tried applying pressure with spatial distortions.
It felt like an ant trying to push over a boulder.
rlin gritted his teeth and slashed again.
Reinhardt countered with a powerful downward swing—
And for a split second—
Everything slowed down.
'…What the hell?'
Reinhardt's movents turned sluggish, his blade creeping toward rlin at a snail's pace.
Acting on instinct, rlin jumped back—
And suddenly, ti resud as normal.
Reinhardt's eyes widened.
From the students' perspective, it just looked like rlin had dodged at the last second.
rlin, standing there in shock, blinked.
'Was that… my ti affinity?'
Reinhardt's expression remained unreadable.
But his raised eyebrows and stunned stare spoke volus.
'Ti…'
Reinhardt's thoughts churned.
It wasn't just the dodge—it was how rlin dodged. His movent wasn't natural.
His eyes had flickered, scanning everything at an unnatural speed mid-evade.
'…She's the only one who could have this.'
Ti affinity.
The rarest affinity in the world. The only known user was the Academy's Headmaster.
No one else.
rlin stood motionless, staring at Reinhardt.
'The old man knows sothing.'
rlin already knew that nobody besides the Headmaster possessed ti affinity—except for Nathan at the end of the novel.
Which was precisely why he chose it when the system offered.
'It's broken. That's why I took it.'
He narrowed his eyes.
'Now, what's this old man planning—'
"Well done, rlin. That was a good demonstration. Return to your spot."
rlin's eyebrow twitched.
'…What? That's all? Seriously?'
His forced smile trembled as he wordlessly nodded and walked back to the group.
As rlin walked back, the students around him stared.
So with confusion.
So with amusent.
And so… with pure disbelief.
"…That's it?"
"That's the whole demonstration?"
A few students were already snickering among themselves.
"Oh no, rlin's just too powerful to keep fighting! Reinhardt must've gotten scared!"
"Clearly, he's a hidden monster!"
rlin ignored them. He literally couldn't care less about them.
Mostly because he was too busy gritting his teeth whilst thinking about the consequences of his ti affinity.
'Now that I think about it..maybe ti is too good..I also wanted to get back at the old man.'
And even though his brain told him it was good news—that Reinhardt wasn't going to publicly annihilate him in front of all the students present, his pride felt like it had just been drop-kicked.
He sat down with an exaggerated sigh, arms crossed. As he looked at the rapier in front of him.
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