The classroom was silent, in that typical way that only lasted for a short moment. At the front, a boy stood next to the whiteboard. Hovering over his right shoulder was a semi-transparent system window, clear and cleanly aligned. The teacher stood a few steps away, a tablet under her arm.
"Kai, you can begin," she said objectively.
The boy nodded once, visibly nervous, but also proud. "Um… yeah. So…." A few heads turned, and some students leaned forward slightly. He raised his hand, and the system window enlarged.
[System-Class: D]
[Role: Enhancer]
[STR: 312 / 3,000]
[AGI: 287 / 3,000]
[END: 401 / 3,000]
[VIT: 356 / 3,000]
[FOC: 298 / 3,000]
[AFF: 265 / 3,000]
For a moment, it was silent. Then someone clapped. Others followed. Not thunderous applause. No cheering. But enough that Kai exhaled with visible relief.
"D-Class, huh…," someone from the second row muttered. "Not bad." "At least it's not an F." "With a D, you'll at least get into a halfway decent school."
"Enhancer is not the coolest, but alright."
Noen sat a few rows further back and clapped as well, briefly and sincerely. He didn't know Kai particularly well, but it was the proper thing to do. Besides, D-Class was… okay. Not impressive, but solid. Nothing to be ashamed of.
A few students looked away. Others scrutinized the stats as if they were inwardly comparing them. The teacher waited until the applause died down, then she nodded. "Good. Have a seat."
Kai did so, with a barely concealed smile. The teacher turned back to the class. "As a reminder: next week, more students will receive their systems." She cast a quick glance at her list. "Among them, you Noen."
A few heads turned automatically. Noen blinked in surprise, then straightened up slightly. There was applause. This time it was a bit more disorganized. Some out of habit, others sincere.
"Finally," someone said quietly. "I'm curious to see what you get."
Noen smiled uncertainly and briefly raised his hand. No big deal. Really. Nevertheless, something tightened in his stomach.
During the break, they sat together as usual. Lian had put his legs up on a second chair. "I'm telling you, if I get a D-System aswell, I'll be satisfied."
"Easy for you to say," Mika said. "Your brother has a B-Class."
"Yeah, and? Doesn't mean anything."
Noen listened, not saying much. "And you?" Lian finally asked. "What are you hoping for, Noen?"
Noen shrugged. "No idea. Something normal."
"Everything below F would be pathetic," Mika grinned.
"Whoa, imagine," Kai chimed in, "that would be really embarrassing."
They laughed. Noen laughed along. Internally, he only thought: Please, not the very bottom.
A week passed faster than Noen would have liked. On the morning of his sixteenth birthday, everything felt… the same. Too much the same. As if the world were intentionally making nothing special out of it.
Again, the class stood at the front. Again, the teacher. Again, that calm, administrative tone.
"Noen," she said. "Please come forward."
He stood up. His footsteps sounded louder than they should have. He stopped in front of the whiteboard. He felt eyes on his back, curious, appraising, bored. It's just a system, he told himself. Everyone has one.
The teacher nodded to him. Noen raised his hand. A short flicker. Then the window appeared. Large. Clear. Unmistakable.
[System-Class: Noen]
[Role: 0]
[STR: -34 / 0]
[AGI: -22 / 0]
[END: -33 / 0]
[VIT: -17 / 0]
[FOC: -28 / 0]
[AFF: -44 / 0]
"W-What?"
For a moment, no one said a word. Then it started quietly.
"What is the Noen-Class?"
"Since when are classes named after the person?" one boy said.
"Why are his stats negative…?"
Noen heard the voices without really assigning them to anyone. They came from different directions, mingling, growing faster. "Is that below FFF?" A quiet giggle. Then another. Not loud laughter—more like that uncertain, nervous sound that arises when no one knows if they are allowed to laugh.
The teacher still stood by the whiteboard. For a brief moment, she seemed frozen. Her gaze flickered back and forth between the system window and Noen.
"Um…," she finally said and cleared her throat. "Students… we are going to take care of something briefly."
She lifted her tablet slightly, as if holding onto it for support. "Please open to page 211. Read the section silently to yourselves."
Chairs moved. Books were opened. The whispering slowly died down, but the stares remained. The teacher stepped closer to Noen and spoke more quietly.
"Please come with me."
Noen nodded automatically. She took him by the wrist, not hard, but firmly, and led him out of the classroom. As the door closed behind them, he heard one last murmur.
The hallway was empty. Their footsteps echoed softly as they walked toward the stairs. Neither of them said anything. Noen tried to focus on his feet, not on the window that still hovered before his mind's eye.
Outside, the daylight was blinding. Cars drove by. People walked along the street.
"We're going to the town hall to the System Registry for a moment," the teacher finally said, without looking at him. "We… will have this looked at."
Her voice sounded calm, but not convinced. Noen nodded again.
The office smelled of paper and coffee. The man behind the desk had a pen in the corner of his mouth and frowned as he stared at Noen's open system window.
"Very strange," he muttered. "I've never seen anything like this."
He took the pen out of his mouth, sat up straighter, and leaned forward. "A system-class that bears the same name as the owner…" he said slowly. "Negative values. A Role named zero. And a cap of zero."
He fell silent, leaned back, crossed his arms, and looked at the window once more, confused.
All of a sudden, a sharp knock echoed through the room—not the polite tap of a colleague, but a hard, impatient strike that rattled the wood in its frame.
The System Registrar sighed, his brow still furrowed from Noen's system. "Excuse me for a moment," he muttered, reaching up to adjust his tie and smooth his vest with practiced, bureaucratic precision.
He stood up, his chair scraping harshly against the floor. "I am busy right now, what is so urgen—"
He pulled the door open, but the words died in his throat.
In a blur of mottled green skin and rusted iron, a shadow lunged from the hallway. It wasn't a person. It was a snarl of jagged teeth and wide, bloodshot eyes.
A Goblin.
The creature's screech tore through the sterile silence of the office like a serrated blade. Before the System Registrar could even draw a breath to scream, the small, muscular beast launched itself off the floor, a jagged stone dagger clutched in its clawed hand, aiming straight for the man's throat.