She stood in front of me, trembling—not with anger, but something worse.
"Where… where were you?" my sister whispered, eyes glossy with tears. "Do you have any idea what Mom's been going through? What happened to us after you—"
I cut her off cold.
"You've got the wrong person," I said, eyes narrowed. "I don't have a mom."
Her face shattered like glass under a hammer. Then—SMACK.
Her palm collided with my cheek, but the pain didn't register. Her sobbing voice did.
"Why are you doing this?! Why are you pretending?! You're Ashen Crimson! You're—"
"I said," I growled, grabbing her wrists and peeling her fingers off my collar, "it's none of your business anymore."
Her tears fell harder, but I didn't stop.
"I'm done with this shit. I don't need your petty sympathy. I'm not the weak, naive, bullied Ashen Crimson you remember. That version of me is dead."
I stepped back, releasing a breath I didn't realize I was holding.
"I'm just Ashen now. A name I'll carve into the stones of this academy, this empire—no, the world."
I turned away, but not before saying one last thing that hit deeper than any slap.
"Tell your father this: he'll regret every single decision he made."
She opened her mouth, but I cut her off again.
"After the results are announced… then you'll understand what I mean. Tell your perfect little family and all those sycophant servants to sit close to their magical TVs and watch. Watch me reign. Watch me conquer. Because I will take the top spot in this academy. No one's stopping me."
With that, I walked out, leaving both my sister and Aurelia behind—speechless.
I collapsed onto my hotel bed, eyes on the ceiling.
"Maybe I got carried away," I muttered. "Rank 1? Yeah, sure… maybe in a different life."
DING!
[Quest Alert]
Written Exam: Rank in Top 10 → Reward: All Stats +10
Physical Exam: Rank in Top 10 → Reward: All Stats +20
Combined Rank #1 → Reward: ??? Affinity Unlocked
"System," I groaned. "You're doing this on purpose, right? Teasing me with your damn carrot-on-a-stick quests."
[Affirmative. Enjoy the psychological torment.]
"Well whatever. Written exam reward is mine. For the rest… I don't care."
DING!
[Quest Failed: Charm-based Influence]
Charm decreased to D
"WHAT?! No! My only damn weapon!" I grabbed the pillow and screamed into it. "I'm doomed! Who are you, system?! Show yourself! I need to curse you out properly!"
[System is a feature, not a friend.]
"…You smug little bastard."
I clenched my fists. No time to mope. I had less than two days. Time to train.
The next day, I woke up early. Well, early by my standards. 11:00 a.m.
I dragged myself to the academy's training grounds, determined to grind like never before.
My goal? Control. I had monstrous mana, sure, but every time I pushed past a certain threshold, my body turned traitor. Nausea, vomiting, even internal bleeding. I couldn't afford that in the Battle Royale.
I needed to be able to summon Volkin and keep him on the battlefield for at least thirty minutes without collapsing like wet noodles.
So I trained.
And trained.
And puked.
And bled.
And swore.
And puked again.
My arms felt like jelly. My head was pounding. But I didn't stop.
Even if it killed me, I wouldn't let charm be the only thing I was known for.
As the sun set and I finally collapsed against a cold boulder, the system pinged again.
DING!
[User Status Panel – Updated]
Name: Ashen
Rank: D
Level: 3 (Kill 20 more beings to reach Level 4)
Physical Strength: C
Mana: SS
Speed: D
Charm: D (recently decreased)
Luck: E
Affinity: Shadow, ????, ????, ????, ????
Skills:
Shadow Bind
Shadow Bomb
Shadow Creation
Shadow Army
Familiars:
Volkin – Silver-furred wolf (Combat level: C+, loyal and synced)
I looked up at the dark sky. "Top 10, huh… You better be worth it, system."
[Failure reduces charm further.]
"…I hate you."