Free Web NovelChapter 1: The Anomaly Awakens
Morning arrived in the world of Elderia. The sun shined over the massive buildings of the Arcane Academy. All across the campus, students woke up in their dorms and hurried to get ready for the opening ceremony of the new academic year.
Thousands of kids walked from every direction toward the Grand Hall. The air was filled with nervous chatter, loud voices, and excitement.
But the Arcane Academy was not just a normal school. It was a meat grinder.
This was a place where nobles, geniuses, and rare talents were heavily trained to become human weapons for the nation. Every student who actually managed to graduate was guaranteed power and money.
But many of them would just end up dead before graduation day.
In a small, quiet room on the second floor of the boys’ dormitory, a boy lay flat on the cold floor.
His eyes were wide open.
But there was no life in them.
His thin, starved body didn’t move an inch. He looked like an empty shell left behind to rot.
Suddenly—
A cold, invisible spark appeared out of thin air. It rushed straight into the boy’s chest, like a lost existence crossing dimensions to force its way into a new vessel.
The boy’s fingers twitched.
Color slowly returned to his pale face. His chest moved up and down as his lungs sucked in air, finally remembering their rhythm.
A few seconds later, the dead body moved.
The boy blinked his heavy eyelids. His mind was foggy, weighed down by insane hunger and complete exhaustion. He tried to move his arms, but his muscles shook violently under the strain.
Groaning in pain, he pushed himself up and leaned his back against the side of the bed. He stared at the unfamiliar room with a completely dazed look.
His throat was dry. He opened his mouth and muttered in a hoarse voice.
"Where the f*ck am I...?"
***
Alden’s POV:
’Where the f*ck am I?!’
Alden looked around the room in total confusion. He couldn’t understand what was going on.
The whole place was entirely foreign to him. There was expensive-looking wooden furniture, a small bedside table near the wall, and a window looking out over the back of the building.
Right above him, a glowing sphere floated in the air, lighting up the entire room brightly. Alden could easily tell that the floating light bulb didn’t run on electricity. This place looked nothing like his old world.
Even the air itself felt strange.
It was dense and heavy.
It felt like an invisible weight was constantly pressing down against his skin.
Alden looked at his hands, feeling a strange energy all around him. That same energy was rushing rapidly through his own veins.
It was Mana. Though he didn’t realize exactly what it was yet, it flowed freely everywhere in this world.
Alden stood up. He stumbled, completely stunned as he tried to comprehend what was wrong with this place.
’Am I dreaming? Or did I just lose my mind?’
Whatever the answer was, his life was about to drastically change.
Suddenly, a sharp, agonizing pain exploded inside his skull.
"Ahhh—!"
Alden’s vision went dark, and he crashed onto his knees. The pain felt like someone was stabbing a million needles directly into his brain, his veins, and his very soul.
Tears rolled down his face uncontrollably as completely foreign memories forced their way into his mind.
He saw unfamiliar scenes. Faces. Names. He felt intense emotions that didn’t even belong to him.
His brain couldn’t process all that sudden information at first, but as a few minutes passed, he slowly started to calm down.
The massive headache faded away.
The new memories naturally sorted themselves out in his head.
He remembered the sneering faces of the rich nobles who treated him like absolute garbage.
He saw the past of the boy who owned this body. The boy was an exiled noble whose parents threw him out just because he awakened a trash-tier talent. To make matters worse, his older brother framed him for a crime, leading to his total exile.
This kid trained until his body literally broke down, but even after training himself to death, he still couldn’t push past his low limits.
Alden grabbed the bed frame, pulled himself up unsteadily, and walked over to the mirror hanging on the wall.
A complete stranger stared back at him.
He had messy, windblown black hair that framed a sharp, angular face. His long bangs partially covered his eyes.
His irises were glowing a bright, predatory red. He looked incredibly handsome... but highly dangerous.
He literally looked like a villain.
Despite the total storm of emotions going on inside his chest, his expression remained perfectly calm and deadpan.
A small smirk appeared on his lips.
"So... it looks like I really got transmigrated into a fantasy world."
Before he could process his next move—
*BEEP!* *BEEP!*
A loud, annoying alarm broke the silence.
"Sigh..."
Alden reached over and clicked the alarm off. He stretched his stiff body, but his joints popped painfully.
"What a pain. This body feels like it’s going to fall apart just by walking a few steps. At this rate, my new life is going to end before it even starts..."
He grabbed his clothes.
"Let’s see how my first day in this world goes."
***
The Grand Hall was packed to the brim with students. Thousands of voices bounced off the massive stone walls, filling the giant chamber with loud chatter.
Every student wore an academy uniform with a specific colored crest pinned to their chest. The color of the crest subtly showed their exact rank from the entrance exams.
Bronze. Silver. Gold. Platinum. Diamond. And a few unfortunate ones with no visible color at all.
The bronze tier badge meant the student ranked anywhere from 500 to 1000.
The silver tier badge was for students ranked from 200 to 500.
The gold tier badge belonged to the elites ranked from 100 to 200.
The platinum tier badge was handed out to the geniuses in the top 100.
And finally, the diamond tier badge. This special badge was only given to the absolute monsters who managed to secure a spot in the top 10.
Alden sat completely alone in the back row, hiding in a secluded corner. He had absolutely zero interest in sitting at the front and listening to all the students bicker. He preferred to stay hidden in the back and remain entirely out of the social network.
Just by looking through the original owner’s memories, Alden could easily tell the guy was a complete loner. It suited him just fine.
’I swear, my ears are about to burst at this rate...’
’It feels like a swarm of giant mosquitoes buzzing right next to my head.’
Despite his massive internal annoyance, Alden’s face remained completely expressionless.
Suddenly, the entire hall went dead silent.
It wasn’t because the students suddenly decided to mature and behave.
It was because she walked onto the stage.
A breathtakingly gorgeous woman stepped up to the center. Her sheer presence alone was enough to silence thousands of loud teenagers. Even Alden’s blank expression cracked for a split second when he saw her.
But no one else in the room noticed the truth.
A complete monster was hiding behind that beautiful smile.
"Hello, everyone," she spoke. Her voice was calm but echoed clearly.
"Welcome to the Arcane Academy."
"I am Alexa von Veldora, the principal of this academy. I am also one of the five SS-rank humans in our entire nation. It is a pleasure to meet you, little ones."
Power levels in this world were ranked using alphabetical letters.
The weakest was F-rank, going all the way up to S-rank. Anyone who managed to surpass that and reach SS-rank was basically a walking calamity. There were currently zero records of an SSS-ranker existing in human history.
Her voice sounded incredibly smooth, but it carried a heavy, terrifying authority.
"This academy is the most prestigious institution in our nation. Only those with actual talent may enter. You all passed numerous brutal trials just to stand here today. For that, we acknowledge your hard work."
Then a dark, mischievous smile curved her lips.
"But don’t think you’re all going to survive here."
In the very next instant, she released her aura.
An invisible, crushing pressure slammed into the entire hall like a massive tidal wave.
More than half of the students instantly collapsed to the floor, passing out completely before they even realized what hit them.
