The wind was cold this morning.
Kael stood alone in the field behind the Magic Academy walls, a lopsided stretch of dry weeds and half-buried training dummies. Nobody came here. Not anymore. It had been abandoned for years since mana beasts were spotted near the southern forests. And yet, this was the only place Kael could think of to clear his mind.
He walked for a while, dragging his boots through broken grass, until he reached a crooked tree just off the edge of the broken fence. Its bark had grown warped, like it had witnessed things it shouldn't have. Kael sat beneath it and stared out across the expanse.
Quiet.
Too quiet.
The thoughts screamed louder in his head because of it.
> What was that ability back in the infirmary?
That screen? That... aura?
Why did no one else see it?
Or was it more like I didn't want them to see it..
He rubbed his eyes and pulled open his UI again. His fingers hovered over the button. There it was—Prestige. Still glowing. Still waiting. Still tempting.
No guides. No explanation. No confirmation that anyone else had ever seen this button before. It didn't even show up when he was with others. Only alone.
> Am i the only one with this…?
Maybe it was a bug.
Maybe it was a curse.
Maybe it was meant for him.
He tapped it.
A warning appeared in bright red letters, almost angry:
"PRESTIGING WILL RESET ALL STATS TO ZERO. ARE YOU SURE?"
A pause.
His thumb hovered.
Then—
Confirm.
---
For a moment, Kael felt nothing.
Then—
Everything.
Like the marrow in his bones was being wrung dry. His breath hitched. His knees slammed the dirt. His arms spasmed like live wires.
Every inch of him felt like it was unraveling, like he was being erased from the world pixel by pixel.
He gasped, hands clawing into the soil. He looked up.
And he saw it.
His UI flickered like a glitching lightbulb.
His stats?
> 0
0...
0?
Every single one.
0.
> What…
Happened...?
Kael's mouth hung open.
> Nineteen years.
I spent nineteen years building those numbers.
Gone. Just like that?
He stared, heart thundering. Until—
He noticed something.
To the right of each stat... in smaller golden font...
> [1.5x Boost]
Kael blinked. Once. Twice.
Then it clicked.
He wasn't stupid—not the book-smart kind—but he had something better. Common sense. Grit. Instinct.
> This wasn't a nerf.
> It was an upgrade.
Prestige didn't mean power.
It meant potential.
It meant rebuilding everything from the bottom with the chance to go further than he ever could before.
---
It had taken him three months to reach level 20 the first time.
Years to crawl to 27 due to his lack of motivation.
He had the skill. The work ethic. But no motivation.
Now?
Now he had a purpose.
---
Kael walked back to the Academy lobby, his steps a little slower, a little less stable, like someone recovering from illness.
He stepped up to the front desk.
The same old woman was there—Elna. Been there for decades. Ran everything from A-rank clearance to cafeteria maintenance.
She looked up.
"…Kael Xeef?" she blinked, confused.
"No party today huh"
Silence.
"Nope."
> Did she not hear about what happened?
He tapped the terminal.
"Requesting entry to an F-rank dungeon."
Silence.
She leaned forward.
"…You mean to say F? As in… beginner dungeon? For freshmen?"
He nodded. "Yep."
"But your team just cleared a B+ zone last week. You were scheduled for an A soon."
He waited for her to accept his request then said calmly.
"I'm going solo."
She hesitated.
"Even if it's a F rank, the number 1 rule is to never enter a dungeon solo...You good, kid?"
Kael smiled weakly. "Never better."
---
The dungeon was pathetic.
Dead leaves. Rotting logs. A damp cave opening with zero threat level.
It was the kind of place kids went to lose their first tooth fighting overgrown bugs.
Kael walked in.
His muscles screamed with every movement. His body was…human. Regular. Weak. His punches hit like slaps. His stamina dropped like a leaky faucet.
And worst of all—
He was level 0.
The monsters in this cave were level 1.
Kael tried to land a slash on a goblin.
It parried.
He swung again.
It laughed.
He tripped trying to dodge and scraped his elbow, the pain very real. His breath was ragged. His mana pool empty. His body was slower, his reactions dulled.
A rusted arrow flew through the air and nearly clipped his neck.
> A week ago, I would've dodged that and killed the bastard before he could even blink.
> Now?
He ran.
I can't win against them like this..
—-----
He spent three hours hiking through a muddy ravine, pushing past thickets and moss-covered boulders, until he finally reached a place no one bothered to farm anymore:
The Jelly Swamps.
Jellies weren't even classified as monsters.
They were proto-slimes. Slimes that hadn't evolved yet. Their only threat was boredom.
Kael stepped into the marsh, shoes sinking into the muck. A jelly wobbled toward him like a sad blob of jellyfish soup.
He smiled then said,"Let the slaughter commence!"
...
It took him two hours to kill it.
Two. Whole. Hours.
He swung his sword in the wrong direction, it broke. He punched. He kicked. He threw rocks. The thing wouldn't die.
"What the hell is this creature?" He muttered, bruised and battered from trying to punch the blob to death.
But when it did finally die?
~ DING.
> Level : 1
He almost cried.
He actually laughed.
---
By the time the moon was up, he had massacred every jelly in the swamp. Every punch hurt. Every breath was a victory. His hands bled. His pants were soaked in swamp water and jelly goo.
But when he walked out?
He was Level 8.
---
The sun was rising by the time he reached the cave entrance again.
Kael stood still, staring into the darkness of the dungeon.
His fists clenched.
His teeth grit.
> You took everything from me.
> Now I'm taking it all back.
"I declare war on this dungeon," He screamed out in a comedic tone.