Scene 1
(Soft ambient hum. The sound of footsteps echo through a metallic corridor.)
The city of Aetherion Nexus shimmered beneath a fractured sky — a sprawl of steel towers and neon veins glowing against twilight. Hover trams whispered along magnetic rails, their reflections rippling across the rain-slick streets. Every window pulsed with the faint glow of Status Orbs, displaying numbers that decided fates.
Strength. Intelligence. Charisma. Luck.
In this world, everything could be measured — except the worth of a boy born without numbers.
Ren Arclight stood among a hundred other examinees, their eyes fixed on the holographic screen that floated before them. Each orb projected a column of light, scanning their bodies from head to toe.
SYSTEM ANALYSIS: PROCESSING...
STATUS CODE: 0000000000
RESULT: NULL — NO ASSIGNABLE CLASS.
A silence heavier than steel filled the hall.
Then came the laughter.
"Zero again? Hah! Guess the gods really ran out of data when they made you, Ren."
"Maybe he's just a background NPC."
"Don't stand too close, or his bad luck might glitch your stats!"
Ren forced a smile. It didn't reach his eyes.
He'd heard it all before — every mockery, every pitying look. But standing there, surrounded by golden-armored heirs and shining prodigies, the word Zero felt like a scar carved into his soul.
(Camera pans upward — the exam hall opens into a grand cathedral of technology and light. The Heart Protocol symbol glows at its apex, rotating like a divine eye.)
"Candidate Ren Arclight," intoned the examiner, an older man whose own orb blazed crimson with a Power Level of 9,870, "your record shows persistent null readings. You are hereby disqualified from the Academy and reassigned to Palace Labor Division."
Ren bowed mechanically. "Understood."
"Dismissed."
(Fade out. Fade in — outside the Academy gates.)
Rain began to fall — thin, silver lines tracing the city's holographic ads into blurred ghosts. Ren walked beneath the glow, hands deep in his worn coat pockets. His orb, dull and colorless, hovered beside him like a lifeless moon.
He whispered to it; voice barely audible over the rain.
"Maybe… maybe this is just how it's meant to be."
The orb flickered once — a faint pulse — then went dark again.
Scene 2
(Camera zoom: Palace exterior — a towering citadel of glass and gold rising from a sea of clouds.)
Working in the royal palace was supposed to be an honor. For Ren, it was a reminder of everything he lacked.
He scrubbed the marble floors of corridors lined with ancient statues — each depicting legendary Heartbearers, heroes whose kisses with the Seven Princesses once shaped eras. He'd heard the stories since childhood: how the Heart Protocol responded to emotional resonance, how love and courage could rewrite fate itself.
Fairy tales for children, he thought.
Not for someone born broken.
"Hey, Nullboy," a guard barked as he passed. "Don't forget the west wing. Princess Ignis's chamber needs polishing before sunset. And keep your head down — she hates eye contact."
Ren nodded silently and lifted his bucket.
Princess Ignis. The Flame Sovereign. First daughter of the Empire, wielder of the fire fragment of the Heart Protocol — a living symbol of courage and strength.
To him, she was a distant sun — bright, untouchable, and utterly beyond reach.
(Cut — corridor shot. Heat distortion shimmers along the marble walls.)
The temperature rose sharply as he entered the western wing. Warmth radiated from the air itself, tinged with a faint scent of smoke and roses.
"Strange," he muttered, dipping the mop. "Feels like the furnace is running wild again."
A flicker of crimson danced at the edge of his vision. Then — boom.
Flames erupted down the corridor. The shockwave hurled him backward. The bucket clanged across the tiles.
Screams echoed. Guards rushed past, shouting, "Fire in the royal chambers! Protect the princess!"
Ren coughed, dragging himself up. Smoke choked the hall.
His first instinct was to run — but another voice inside him whispered sharply:
If you don't move, she'll die.
He clenched his jaw and charged toward the blaze.
Scene 3
The doorway to the chamber was half-melted. Inside, heat warped the air like glass. Curtains blazed, pillars cracked, and at the center stood Princess Ignis, her scarlet dress fluttering in the inferno. Her Status Orb pulsed wildly — a malfunctioning sun.
She was fighting to control it. Her power — the flame fragment — had gone berserk.
Ren froze. She was magnificent, terrifying. Sparks danced around her like living comets, and for a second, he thought he saw wings of fire unfurling behind her.
"Stay back!" she cried. "The fragment's unstable—"
A column of flame surged toward him. He dove, rolling across scorched marble. His arm burned; the pain blurred his sight.
"Damn it," he hissed, crawling closer. "You'll burn the whole wing down!"
"Get out!" Her voice cracked — anger laced with fear. "You're a null! You'll die!"
He ignored her. His body moved before his mind could. He grabbed the fallen drape, drenched it in what remained of the cleaning water, and threw it around her shoulders.
For a moment, the fire receded — just long enough for him to reach her.
Then the ceiling cracked. A beam collapsed.
Instinct took over. He pulled her close and shielded her. The beam struck the floor inches away — the shock flung them both backward. Her lips brushed his in the chaos — a fleeting, accidental contact.
And the world shattered.
Scene 4
(White-out. Heartbeat sound echoing. The screen fills with data streams.)
SYSTEM ERROR...
UNAUTHORIZED SYNC DETECTED.
EMOTIONAL RESONANCE MATCH: IGNIS ARCLIGHT (FLAME FRAGMENT).
STATUS REWRITE IN PROGRESS.
Ren gasped as molten light flooded his veins. His Status Orb — once blank — flared into color, symbols spiraling across it like fire glyphs. His vision filled with numbers surging beyond comprehension.
STRENGTH +9000
RESISTANCE +8700
FLAME AFFINITY: UNLOCKED.
Ignis's eyes widened in shock. "Wh-what did you—?!"
The flames around them spiraled into a vortex, then collapsed inward, extinguishing themselves in a single heartbeat.
Ren stumbled forward, still holding her hand. The air smelled of smoke and ozone.
"I… I don't know," he said, voice trembling. "I think— I synced with you."
(Camera rotates slowly — the two framed in the wreckage, embers floating like dying stars.)
Ignis's orb glowed faintly beside his, synchronizing pulses. For the first time in history, a Nullborn shared resonance with royalty.
Then she fainted.
Ren caught her just before she hit the floor.
(Fade to black.)
Scene 5
When he awoke, sunlight streamed through an unfamiliar window. His arm was bandaged. He was lying on a silk-lined couch in the palace infirmary.
"Good. You're awake," said a voice — calm, scholarly.
A man in white robes approached, adjusting his monocle. His Status Orb glimmered with golden sigils. "I'm Magister Elrion, Chief Analyst of the Heart Protocol Division."
Ren sat up groggily. "Where's the princess?"
"Safe. Thanks to you." Elrion smiled faintly. "Though the council is… confused. A null syncing with a royal fragment is theoretically impossible."
Ren blinked. "Then what happened?"
"You happened, my boy. Or rather, something in you. Your blank code — it reacted to her resonance. Instead of rejecting the data, it absorbed it. You didn't just survive her flames — you rewrote your status."
Elrion's tone grew grave. "The Heart Protocol has existed for millennia. It cannot be hacked, altered, or broken. But you… you've done the impossible."
Ren stared at his hands. Faint red sigils pulsed beneath his skin — the echo of fire still alive in his veins.
"So, what now?" he asked quietly.
"That depends on her." Elrion glanced at the door. "Princess Ignis has requested your presence."
Scene 6
(Door slides open with a hiss of heat. Camera tilt — Ignis sits near the window, wrapped in light armor. Her red hair glows in the sunlight like living flame.)
She turned as he entered. "You saved me."
Ren bowed clumsily. "Anyone would've—"
"Don't," she interrupted. "No one else could've. My flames destroy everything they touch. Yet you stood there… and lived."
He said nothing.
Ignis rose, her gaze steady. "When our lips touched, the fire stopped. The Heart Protocol… reacted. My orb shows your signature inside my resonance pattern."
"So, I've… broken your system?"
A faint smile touched her lips. "Or maybe you've awakened it."
She stepped closer, eyes gleaming. "Ren Arclight. The council calls you an anomaly. The people will call you a miracle. I—"
She paused, as if the words burned her tongue. "I call you my savior."
The title hung heavy between them.
(Camera zoom — her hand lifts, touching his chest lightly.)
"You carry part of my flame now. Whether you like it or not, our fates are linked."
Ren swallowed hard. "Then… what am I supposed to do?"
Ignis looked toward the horizon — the city's spires burning in the sunset.
"Live. Train. Survive. Because what you awakened today… will change Aetherion forever."
(Soft piano music begins. The wind carries embers through the window.)
She turned back with a half-smile — proud, fierce, and strangely vulnerable.
"Welcome to the fire, Ren Arclight."
(Camera pans upward — the city lights ignite one by one below. The theme crescendos.)
[Next on I Can Upgrade My Status by Kissing the Seven Princesses of the World — Chapter 2: The First Kiss – Princess Ignis]