Free Web NovelChapter 1: The Outcast and the Unholy Interface
"Just stay there and hold the torch, trash. If you drop it, I’ll break your legs before the Goblins do."
Vince gritted his teeth, the cold, damp air of the F-rank Subterranean Grotto biting through his tattered tunic. He held the heavy brass torch with trembling hands, illuminating the path ahead for the five elite students of the Royal Oakhaven Academy.
They were his classmates. But in a world where mana capacity dictated human worth, Vince was a biological zero. He was a "Blank", a rare, pathetic anomaly born completely devoid of magical talent. His family had sold him to the Academy as a subsidized manual laborer and dungeon bait.
Up ahead, leading the vanguard, was Professor Elena Vance.
She was a certified B-Rank Battle Mage, a woman whose icy beauty was as legendary as her destructive crimson flame magic. Her silver hair cascaded down her back in a sharp contrast to her dark crimson robes, which clung tightly to an hourglass figure that had filled the dreams of every male student in the academy. But right now, she wasn’t a fantasy. She was pissed.
"Form up!" Elena’s voice rang out like a whip crack. "The mana fluctuations in this cave are unstable. The Goblin Shaman has masked its presence. Do not let your guard down."
"Don’t worry, Professor!" Brad, a pompous noble heir with a golden sword, smirked, throwing a glance back at Vince. "Even if we get ambushed, we have our meat shield to buy us time."
The other students chuckled. Vince kept his mouth shut, staring at the floor. In a dungeon, a no talent had no rights.
Suddenly, the shadows along the cavern walls writhed.
*Skreeth!*
A piercing screech echoed through the tunnel. From the darkness, a swarm of green, gnarly figures leaped forward. Goblins. But these weren’t the standard, starved scavengers. Their eyes glowed with a feral, corrupted purple light.
"Ambush! It’s a mutated swarm!" Elena roared, her palms instantly erupting into brilliant, searing fireballs. "Back line, cast defensive barriers! Brad, hold the choke point!"
Chaos erupted. The smell of burning flesh and copper blood filled the air. Elena was a tempest of flame, her movements graceful yet lethal. But something was wrong. Every time she cast a spell, a violent tremor rippled through her body. Her silver hair began to glow with an erratic, volatile blue light.
Mana backflow
Vince realized with a sinking heart. She was over-channeling to protect the incompetent students.
"Professor, behind you!" Vince screamed.
A massive, eight-foot-tall Hobgoblin, wielding a rusted iron club, lunged from a hidden crevice directly toward Elena’s blind spot.
Brad, who was supposed to be holding the flank, shrieked, dropped his golden sword, and turned tail to run. "Retreat! The dungeon is collapsing!" The other students panicked, fleeing back toward the entrance, leaving Elena and Vince trapped.
Elena tried to pivot, her hand igniting with fire, but her mana snapped. A geyser of pure, unrefined magical energy backfired through her veins, forcing her to her knees. She coughed up a splash of crimson blood, her stunning violet eyes wide with rare, vulnerable terror as the Hobgoblin raised its club.
Vince didn’t think. He knew he was trash. He knew he was weak. But watching a woman get slaughtered while her "elite" students ran like rats made something click in his chest.
With a roar, Vince sprinted forward and hurled the heavy brass torch straight at the Hobgoblin’s face.
The flaming oil exploded across the monster’s eyes. The creature shrieked, flailing wildly, its club swinging blindly and clipping Vince hard across the chest.
Vince flew backward, crashing against the cavern wall. The impact shattered his ribs, the taste of iron filling his mouth. He slid down to the stone floor, his vision blurring. Elena lay just three feet away from him, her body convulsing from the mana poison, completely paralyzed. The blinded Hobgoblin was already recovering, sniffing the air, its bloodshot eyes locking onto them.
So this is it, Vince thought bitterly. Dying as bait. A useless life, a useless death.
Suddenly, time froze. The falling dust motes stopped in mid-air. The Hobgoblin’s roar was muted into absolute silence.
A sharp, digital chime echoed directly inside Vince’s skull. freewēbnoveℓ.com
[Ding! Host’s soul has reached the absolute threshold of mortal despair.]
[Scanning soul frequency... Compatibility: 100%.]
[The Astral Sovereign Taming System has awakened!]
Vince’s eyes widened. A system? A no talent like him got a system?
[Warning: Host is currently in a fatal state. Standard combat sub-routines are unavailable due to Zero Mana Capacity.]
[Alternative Route Initialized: Divine Taming Interface Online.]
A glowing, translucent screen materialized before his eyes, shimmering in a deep, seductive purple hue.
[Current Target Detected: Elena Vance (B-Rank Human Battle Mage).]
[Condition: Target is suffering from Level 4 Crimson Mana Overload. Her core is highly volatile. If left unmanaged, she will detonate, killing everything within a 50-meter radius.]
[System Solution: Direct Physical Sync. Host must act as a ’Conduit’ to drain the excess mana. Due to Host’s ’Blank’ constitution, your body can absorb and convert her raw mana into pure System EXP.]
Vince blinked, coughing up more blood. "How... how do I sync with her?"
The system prompt updated instantly, bold and unapologetic.
[Mission Parameter: Initiate skin-to-skin contact with the Target’s primary mana nodes. Recommended Method: Intense, explicit physical intimacy. The deeper the connection, the higher the absorption rate.]
[First Milestone Quest: The Tutor’s Submission.]
[Objective: Touch, claim, and stabilize Elena Vance before the Hobgoblin breaks through the freeze-frame (Time remaining: 60 seconds).]
[First-Time Clear Reward: Absolute Fire Magic Immunity, Unlocked Class: Celestial Beastmaster, +500 Strength, Full Body Restoration.]
[Failure: Death by explosion (and getting eaten by a Goblin).]
The time-freeze began to crack. The Hobgoblin’s club slowly started to descend again.
Vince looked at the screen, then at the panting, hyperventilating body of the beautiful professor beside him. Her robes were torn at the collar from the blast, exposing the smooth, pale skin of her collarbone, which was pulsing with dangerous, glowing blue veins.
A desperate, primal grin broke through Vince’s bloody lips.
"Well," Vince muttered, dragging his broken body across the dirt, his hand reaching out toward the exposed, burning skin of the proudest woman in the Academy. "If I’m going to die anyway... I might as well go out as a sinner."
