Zack leaves the academy and heads home.
He finally reaches his house.
"Wow, what peace… No matter how many troubles you face, once you come home, everything seems to disappear.
This is what home truly means."
Zack says sadly,
"I wish my mother and father were here with me today. I lost my mother in childhood, and my father went missing when I was just ten years old.
I don't even know if he's alive or not..."
He enters his house, takes a bath, and sits on his bed.
"Status Window," he says.
A screen appears in front of him.
---
Status Window (A Gift from the King of the Abyss)
Level – 1
Name – Albert (?)
Talent – Swordsmanship. You can copy 50% of any dead human's or monster's skill, and with training, use it at 100%.
Potential – SSS+
Age – 20
---
"Hmm, it's showing my real name, but no surname… Well, I don't know that either.
According to the status window, I can copy someone's skill after killing them. That's insane—it's like cheating!
I need to try this power soon."
"Wait a minute… there's another column."
Daily Quest
Zack clicks on it.
---
Daily Quest:
Obtain a sword from the academy.
Reward – Level Up
---
"What?! I'll get rewards daily if I complete quests? Wow!"
"I'll check tomorrow whether this is real or not."
Zack eats dinner and goes to sleep.
---
Morning arrives.
Zack suddenly wakes up.
"Was all this a dream?"
He checks the date.
2010.
"Nope, it's all real… I have to accept this now."
He gets ready and goes to the academy.
There is a huge crowd.
Everyone is gathered inside a hall.
Names are being called out one by one.
Then enters Joshua, who has already formed a team.
He is the son of Hardy Sen, the Guild Leader of the Panther Guild.
Because of this, everyone naturally follows him. He had no trouble forming a team.
"Wow, that's Joshua Sen!
He's already formed a team.
Looks like he'll top today's rankings."
Then it's Zack's turn.
Some students standing nearby say:
"Oh, that's Zack! He also awakened a special talent – swordsmanship."
"Yeah, awakening a talent is no big deal. The rankings will show what potential he truly has."
"Haha, true."
Zack thinks to himself:
"You all are just kids in front of me. I don't want to waste time on you."
He walks inside.
Inside, two instructors ask Zack to place his hand on a glowing orb.
Zack places his hand.
"This is nothing new for me," he thinks.
On the screen, it shows:
Potential ?? , Rank E
"What?! E Rank? But why is it showing a question mark for potential?"
"Sometimes that happens," one instructor says.
"Some people don't even show any potential."
"Don't worry, Zack. Life is still ahead of you. You can try again later."
Zack thinks to himself:
"Fools… my potential is SSS+, which your technology can't even measure.
Anyway, it's better if people don't know what I truly am."
He leaves the hall.
"I'm not interested in this ranking.
I'm more interested in the Armory, where I can choose a weapon… and find out if I really level up or not."
Gradually, all the students complete their measurements.
Then, one of the instructors comes outside and announces:
> "Everyone, go to the armory and choose your weapon. After two hours, you will receive your ID cards."
All the students head to the armory.
They start choosing their weapons—some even begin fighting over the same one. But Zack is confused.
There are so many high-quality weapons around him that he doesn't know what to pick.
He wanders through the entire armory for almost half an hour.
Then suddenly, his eyes fall on a blue-colored sword.
"Huh? What's this… a blue sword?
I've never seen a sword like this before…"
Just then, a screen appears in front of him:
---
[System Notification]
> This weapon is extremely powerful. Take it—it will be very useful to you in the future.
---
"Oh really?
If you say so, I'll take it."
Zack picks up the sword.
Immediately, another notification pops up:
---
[Ding! Level Up!]
"What?! I really leveled up?"
He quickly opens his status window:
---
Status Window
Level – 2
---
"So I actually get rewards for completing daily quests?
Wow!"
To be continue...