Free Web NovelChapter 1: Chapter 1. Ashael
Volume 1 - A Beginning of a Prince
Chapter 1 - Reincarnation
"Wake up, Ashael." A woman’s voice echoed in the mind of a boy.
A 10-year-old boy suddenly woke up and opened his white eyes in his bed. A large, expensive one.
"...Huh?"
Ashael sat up abruptly, his breathing uneven. His white hair clung to his face from the sweat.
The room around him was enormous. Moonlight streamed through the tall glass windows and spread across the polished marble-tiled floor and the gold-and-white carpet embroidered with silver threads. Golden chandeliers. Velvet curtains.
Everything about the room screamed luxury, like something from the home of the super rich.
Ashael looked at his hands, a child’s hands, not an adult’s.
"What... who... where am I?"
Then suddenly, memories started flooding into his mind.
He remembered his previous life.
He remembered being an orphan, a college dropout, a gamer.
The last thing he remembered was playing the game called Sacred Online.
"Wait... Sacred Online, white hair, white eyes, Ashael. And from this kid’s body memories..."
"Fuck, I got reincarnated into Sacred Online as Ashael Valeria Dratharis."
The crown prince of the Dratharis Empire and the one who had a system but couldn’t use it because he hadn’t fulfilled some condition, except in the hidden route where he did activate it.
But no matter the route, Ashael always went mad and slaughtered his whole empire before continuing to do the same to the entire world. He would have succeeded in some of the routes, especially the hidden one, if not for the game’s protagonist getting outside help.
But even without the system, the dude was a genius.
His background was also interesting. His mother died giving birth to his younger sister.
The only family left in his life besides his father, the Emperor.
The only warmth left in his life.
But even that was taken away from him.
She was assassinated when he was 9 years old. His sister wanted to go see some ancient ruins in another city, but his father was busy with the affairs of the empire, so she couldn’t ask him. Ashael gave the order to let her go and went with her. They were attacked during the journey. And of course, the target was him, the crown prince, but she was killed as a result.
But the thing was, it was a secret that they had gone on the trip, yet someone had leaked the information.
I know who it was from the game knowledge.
After the incident, Ashael was devastated. So, he isolated himself and kept some distance from his father too. Ashael only went outside his chambers for training or when the Emperor summoned him.
And as for the Emperor’s concubines and their children...
He didn’t even consider them family, and neither did they.
They were jealous of his position as crown prince.
They hated him because of his arrogant and egoistic attitude.
They envied him for his talent.
Except for the elder daughter of one concubine. She was the only one who had ever been honest with him, but Ashael never softened much toward her.
Ashael leaned back against the headboard and let out a long sigh while trying to sort out his thoughts.
He had reincarnated into one of the most tragic characters in the entire game world.
Not because Ashael was a villain.
But because he was fucked up.
"No wonder this guy lost his mind," he muttered quietly.
Then suddenly, a cold mechanical voice echoed inside his head.
[Condition fulfilled.]
[The host Ashael Valeria Dratharis’ soul is fully integrated.]
[The Supremacy Path System is activated.]
[Welcome, host.]
"Wait, system, how did you activate? Wasn’t there some hidden condition to complete?"
[Yes. The system is activated because the condition has been fulfilled.]
"What was the condition?"
[The condition was the full integration of the soul, which is now fulfilled.]
"The integration of the soul? Wait, don’t tell me-"
[Yes. It is your soul fully fusing with Ashael and remembering all the memories.]
"Are you saying that I was always supposed to get reincarnated as Ashael?"
[Yes. In the game you played, Ashael’s soul was never complete, so the system was never activated.]
Ashael stared silently at the translucent blue screen floating before his eyes while trying to process what he had just heard.
"So you’re saying I was always supposed to be Ashael?"
[Correct.]
For a moment, Ashael did not know what to say. He originally thought he had simply died and reincarnated into the body of a game character by coincidence. But if the system was telling the truth, then this was never reincarnation.
He was not some outsider possessing another person’s body.
He had always been Ashael Valeria Dratharis.
His memories from Earth and the memories of this world were both his own. They had simply existed separately until now.
Ashael slowly lowered his gaze toward his hands again.
The strange feeling of disconnect he had after waking up earlier suddenly made more sense. The memories of Earth no longer felt foreign to him, but neither did the memories of growing up inside the imperial palace. Both felt equally real.
The pain after his sister’s death.
The swordsmanship training with the Imperial Knights Commander.
The resentment toward the nobles.
The warmth of his sister smiling at him.
None of it felt fake.
"...That’s honestly worse," he muttered under his breath.
He leaned back against the bed and rubbed his eyes slowly. If this was true, then his future was not just some game story anymore. Everything that happened to Ashael in Sacred Online was something that would happen to him personally if he failed to change things.
The madness.
The massacres of the empire.
All of it.
Ashael let out a tired sigh before looking back at the floating screen.
"Fine. Then explain something else first. What are you?"
[The Supremacy Path System is a system created by the person who reincarnated you. And before you ask who that is, I cannot say, but you can find some answers by asking the Valeria lineage patron goddess when you take the trial.]
’Valeria lineage trial, huh.’
The trial every member of the Valeria lineage had to take. Only those who passed the trial were allowed to use the Valeria name, except for the main family, but even they had to pass the trial if they wanted to keep the name and receive its benefits. And by no means were those benefits small.
Focusing on the system matter-
"Can’t answer, huh."
[The host can ask something else.]
"Alright then." Ashael leaned forward slightly, but so did the screen. "What exactly can you do?"
[The question is what you can do.]
"What’s that supposed t-"
Before Ashael could complete his sentence, the system showed him this.
[Choose Any 5 Functions.]
[The chosen functions become permanently integrated into the system.]
[Please choose carefully cuz you can only get others by buying them with System Points [SP].]
[Combat & Power]
[Growth Type]
[Quest Function]
[Shops]
[Kingdom Building]
[Harem]
[Dark Type]
[Utility]
[Social]
Ashael looked at all the system functions and clicked on Combat & Power Function.
[Combat & Power Functions]
[Skill Fusion]
[Infinite Weapon Forge]
[Absolute Swordsmanship]
[Combat Simulation]
[Supreme Analysis Eyes]
[Adaptive Regeneration]
[Bloodline Evolution]
[Aura Domination]
[Elemental Control]
[Berserker Transformation]
[Army Summon]
[Clone Legion]
[Instant Mastery]
[Titan Body]
[Perfect Reflexes]
[Absolute Barrier]
[Critical Strike Authority]
[Ability Copy]
[Infinite Engine Core]
[Apocalypse Authority]
"Seeing a system in a novel and in real life is really different, huh."
"This system is clearly powerful."
"But I should be really careful. The system said I can only select 5 functions."
"Can’t make any mistakes."
But before that, I should see this.
"System, show me my status screen. You do have that, right? Or do I have to buy that too? Hahaha."
[Very funny. Ashael never joked in the game.]
"I may be Ashael, but I’m also David."
Oh yeah.
David was my previous life’s name.
[STATUS SCREEN]
⸻
Name: - Ashael Valeria Dratharis
Soul Age: - 31
Race: - Human (Mid-level rank due to Valeria lineage)
Lifeform Rank: - Mortal (Unawakened)
Existence Level: - 99
Stats:
Physique: - 6
Spirit: - 10
Vitality: - 7
Intelligence: - 5
Will: - 7
Perception: - 5
Essence: - 1
Charm: - 8
Bloodline: - Valeria Dratharis Lineage
Traits: - [Unawakened]
Abilities: - Nil
Skills: - Nil
System Functions: - Yet to be selected
⸻
"Tsk, it looks so common. I got excited for no reason."
"It literally has nothing."
[What did you expect, host? You haven’t awakened yet.]
"You are right."
"I haven’t."
In the game, Ashael awakened between the ages of 12 and 13. Which was not too late, but not too early either because-
"System, what was Ashael’s Aetheric Affinity again?"
[It’s B-rank.]
B-rank.
If we counted this among commoners, then it was high, but not among high-ranking nobles or especially royalty. And as the crown prince of the Dratharis Empire, it was unacceptable.
Well, not that it mattered much. Only my father knows my affinity rank, and he didn’t say much because Ashael is talented in other aspects.
In this world, there existed three methods of awakening.
The first and purest was known as the True Awakening, where the body naturally awakened according to its Aether Affinity. The higher the affinity, the earlier the awakening.
The second method used Aetheric Awakening Orbs, artifacts that forcibly injected Aether into the body to trigger awakening prematurely, though failure often resulted in death if the body was not mature enough. That’s why age was considered important.
The final and dangerous method was Rift Awakening, where one had to survive inside a dimensional Rift for over twenty-four hours as the Rift forced the body to awaken.
The awakening ages according to Aetheric Affinity were:
Aether Affinity Rank | Natural True Awakening | Safe Orb Awakening Age
E-rank | 18 - 30 | 18+
D-rank | 15 - 18 | 16+
C-rank | 13 - 15 | 15+
B-rank | 10 - 12 | 14+
A-rank | 8 - 10 | 9+
S-rank | 6 - 8 | 7+
SS-rank | 4 - 5 | Not necessary
SSS-rank | 1 - 2 | Fuck no
EX-rank | Since birth | Is it April Fools or what
This was for True Awakening or artificial awakening. As for Rift Awakening... well, if you can survive inside it alone, then good luck.
And even with someone helping you, the body still can’t handle it easily. It especially depended on race too, but affinity and age mattered for everyone.
Aetheric Affinity affected not only awakening but other aspects too.
But that’s not important for now.
Well, there was a fourth method, which was rarer than rare. It was called an Awakening Stone.
It was like a mix of both True Awakening and Aetheric Orb Awakening. By crushing the stone, it started flowing Aether energy into the body and the surroundings and awakened the person. The process was very smooth.
Smoother than natural awakening.
But Awakening Stones were very rare.
Very limited numbers existed on a single planet.
But I could probably buy one from the system shop.
It does have the [Shops] function.
So, I should start looking through the functions and begin building my system.
"Alright, system. Show me what you got."
[Sure, host.]
[Be careful while selecting.]
