2025-07-03 10:28:34Chapter 5: Goddamn Year
One fucking year. Twelve moons, four seasons, a hundred and fifty-two tantrums from The System, and more sweat than a cursed gladiator's jockstrap. And yet, here he was: Kael, age nine, sitting behind a cracked desk in Emergency Room 3, staring into a mirror that knew him better than most priests knew sin. He whispered the familiar invocation. “Status.” The interface unfolded like a holy tapestry woven from glass and lightning. Name: Kael Age: 9 Race: Human Class: Healer [Common] Level: 9 [9000/9000 EXP] (+) Titles: - Born Anew [Unique] [Temporary] > Increases experience gain by 50% until level 10 Stats: HP: 340/340 | Regen: 48 HP per hour MP: 520/545 | Regen: 89 MP per hour STR: 40 END: 48 AGI: 37 INT: 89 CHA: 6 Skills: Hand-to-Hand Combat [Lv.5 | 0/2500 EXP] [Common] [Passive] > +5% STR when unarmed Discipline [Lv.7 | 250/3500 EXP] [Uncommon] [Passive] > 7% resistance to mental magic Shooting Mastery [Lv.6 | 0/3000 EXP] [Uncommon] [Passive] > +6% projectile velocity Heal [Lv.10 | MAX] [Common] [Active] > Restore 150 HP > MP Cost: 25 Focus Heal [Lv.10 | MAX] [Common] [Active] > Restore 150 HP to a focused area > MP Cost: 15 Kael leaned back, fingers steepled like a smug little archbishop of arcane healing. He’d earned this. Every stat point, every drop of mana, every aching muscle forged from dragging his gangly body through a thousand laps and twice as many squats. His magic was maxed. His bones were steel. His fists were harder than some low-tier mercenaries’ swords. “You finally hit Level 10. Now, click the damn button,” The System said, voice sweet as poison-tipped sugar. Kael gave it a sidelong glance, then tapped the shimmering [+]. The heavens rang with a tone that felt like digital choirboys screaming. Level Up! [9 → 10] EXP reset to 0/10000 HP/MP fully restored +5 Unassigned Stat Points Milestone Reached! +10 to All Stats HP/MP Ratio Adjusted: 1:5 → 1:6 New System Functions Unlocked And then the world tilted again. Random Healer Skill Generated: Purify [Lv.0 | 0/100] [Rare] [Active] > Purify the target, curing all diseases and illnesses > MP Cost: 100 Kael blinked. Does it cure all diseases? That is right, it is overpowered, The System replied, smug as a cat in a fish market. “...Wait. Do you hear what I am thinking now?” “That's one of the new perks, brother.” Kael flinched. His inner dialogue was no longer holy land. Nothing was secretive, including his sarcasm. He cringed as did a man who knew that the village gossip demon had read his diary. And that is not the best new feature either, The System cooed. “Try [Skill Merging].” Kael brightened. Wait... is it possible to combine Hand-to-Hand Combat with Shooting Mastery? That would be hardcore.” “No. They’re passive. Only active skills are valid. They must also be of the same rarity. And level max.” “Of course. Why don t you fuck me sideways with a rusty wand, Kael growled. Nevertheless, he opened the new menu. There were two of the skills that shone like twin stars in a sky of progress. [Heal] [Focus Heal] He rapped them together. There was a large glittering button. Confirm Merge? Yes. A deeper, older, sacred DING. Skill Merged: Greater Heal [Lv.0 | 0/100] [Uncommon] [Active] > Restore 500 HP > MP Cost: 20 Kael was nearly knocked off his feet. “Five hundred HP?!” That is more Rare-level. Technically Uncommon. But holy as fvck anyway.” Kael did not even argue. He was too occupied with thoughts of breaking bones and clamping arteries with a mere flick of mana. Oh, The System said, and I already allocated your stat points. Kael hissed, Have you put them all in INT again? “Yes. You’re welcome.” I despise you. No, you do not. He sighed. “Status.” Level: 10 HP: 448/448 | Regen: 58/hr MP: 724/724 | Regen: 104/hr STR: 50 END: 58 AGI: 47 INT: 104 CHA: 16 Skills: Hand-to-Hand Combat [Lv.5] Discipline [Lv.7] Shooting Mastery [Lv.6] Greater Heal [Lv.0] Purify [Lv.0] He was stacked. Dangerous. A nine-year-old divine battery wrapped in flesh and sarcasm. Time to train. But as he stood to leave the Recovery Center, the world bent again. A woman with no name and no soul stepped into his path. “Elira wishes to see you.” No emotion. No blink. Just those words like ice cracked on stone. “She’s brainwashed,” The System whispered. Kael flinched so hard his spine nearly rebooted. “Couldn’t you warn me before she shows up?” “My bad.” “Your bad? You waited on purpose, didn’t you.” The System went quiet. Guilty silence. Glorious bastard. Kael headed to Elira’s office. As he approached, Maren — tight-lipped and always watching — opened the door and followed him inside. “She’s also brainwashed,” The System said casually. Kael did not scream. He merely clenched his jaw like a saint swallowing a fireball. Inside, Elira stood behind a fortress made of paper. She moved a stack with her magic and gestured. “Sit.” Kael sat, carefully, as though the floor might vanish if he breathed wrong. “Place your hand on this,” she said, revealing the Level Stone. He did. Name: Kael Age: 9 Class: Healer Level: 10 Elira blinked. Her mask slipped for a heartbeat. Then she smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “There’s been a situation,” she began. “A few monsters escaped a dungeon. Not dangerous. The government’s using them as target practice.” Kael tilted his head. “So?” “I want you to join the party. Get some real experience.” Kael hesitated. He’d trained like a mad monk for a year, but he'd never fought. Not here in this body. Since the war. Not since the first life. Not since the blood and dust and screams. The System said, You should go. Kael froze. You are really promoting this? You deserve it. You are much more powerful than you think. Most children wake up at ten. You are ahead of the game. Such will be thy probing ground. Kael sighed slowly. He gazed into Elira's eyes. "I'll go." Her fake smile faded away. "Wonderful. In a week I will come to get you. Oh, here you are." She gave him a silver keycard. Your new room. I would have handed it over to you on your birthday, but... I was occupied. Kael gazed at it. It was a real room. No bunk beds. No other kids. Just space. Quiet. Relief. He said: Thank you. Elira sent him away, and said, send Maren to me. Kael strode off and, with the key still in his hand, closed his heart with a curse of steel, a blessing. Walking low and sharp round the desk, Maren spoke. Why did you do that? Elira made no reply. Was that all he could have done to see Drennov? It was said that if you were here, what would it mean? Maren looked, frosty-eyed. What was the boy's level? "Level 10. Within a year. He's terrifying." Have you told him about the monsters? "Yes." Maren swung round with a cloak of shadow behind her. Never question authority. Silently she slipped away into the dark. Elira gazed at the wall and tightened her lips. She thought, "Drennov. The jerk manipulates people as a means to an end. He had also confessed publicly to brainwashing her, cocksure, and he did not mind that she remembered. She was merely a chess piece. And now he desired Kael. He had plans. She could feel it. Whenever he smiled the world was colder. But she would stop him. She swore it. It would burn down the gods to do it.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
chapter 19
Chapter 19: Benefits Kael leaned against the cold metal wall outside the imposing chamber, the faint hum of machinery vibrating through the floor beneath his feet. He had been waiting for nearly an hour, a single minute stretching into a lifetime, the silence beyond the thick door pressing against his eardrums like liquid lead. He glanced at the golden nameplate affixed to the door, reading it again and again, almost expecting the letters to change, to give him some clue as to what was happening inside. ‘I am a bit curious,’ Kael murmured, voice barely above a whisper, his breath fogging in the sterile air. ‘Why did they react like that when all I did was cure some sort of ailment? Can’t the other healers do that?’ The System’s voice resonated softly in his mind, precise, clinical, yet with a hint of amusement. Your Purify skill cures all diseases and ailments, without exception. The closest others can achieve is a partial cure, or at bes
chapter 18
Chapter 18: SaintThe battlefield stank of ozone and burnt mana. Smoke curled lazily through the air, the aftermath of a hundred clashing skills.One of the armored tanks jogged up to Kael, his massive boots crunching debris. “That was insane! I didn’t know healers could just… erase damage like that!”Kael blinked. The man’s awe felt foreign to him. Compliments were something he’d never learned to digest properly.In the military, all he ever got was a cold nod and a curt good job. That used to be enough. Efficiency had been his only love back then.Now, surrounded by teammates whose grins were almost worshipful, Kael felt something unfamiliar tug at his lips — a smile. Small. Reluctant. Real.Then his communicator rang.A flat, piercing tone.His expression instantly curdled. “Seriously?”Everyone else saw his irritation and winced with sympathy. They knew what that ring meant.“Good luck, man
chapter 17
Chapter 17: Dungeon Collapse“Is this report true?”“Yes,” Gareth said, posture rigid, tone ironed flat. The man looked like he’d swallowed a steel rod and decided to digest it out of duty. His eyes didn’t move, not even when the elders started murmuring among themselves, whispering as if they feared the walls might be listening.The room was one of those administrative tombs: high ceiling, sterile light, a crucifix of bureaucracy on every desk. Vivum City’s Justice Committee sat like statues in their chairs, eyes flicking from screen to screen, each image showing the same impossible thing — Kael, alive, dust-covered, and leading survivors out of a collapsed building as if the world had politely waited for him to be done.“After the explosion,” Gareth continued, “Kael emerged with all the hostages intact. Only one casualty — the bomber himself.”The elders didn’t blink. It was rare to impress people whose souls had been replaced by protocol, but even they weren’t immune to miracles.O
chapter 16
Chapter 16: EmergencyThe phone sang like a guillotine bell.A single shrill ring, slicing through Kael’s half-hearted peace.“Seriously?” he muttered, glaring at the glowing screen like it had personally declared war on his downtime.He’d barely owned the damn phone for two hours. Two. Hours. And already, the universe—or more specifically, the System’s endless appetite for drama—decided to drag him back to work.Kael groaned, paused the movie streaming across his holographic projector, and thumbed the call open.“Yeah?”“There’s an emergency. We need your healing immediately.”The voice was female, clipped, the kind that had long since stopped saying “please.”Kael blinked, then frowned. “Okay… where?”“A driver should already be waiting. Step outside.”Click.No goodbye. No “thank you, chosen healer of fate.” Just the cold efficiency of authority too used to being obeyed.“Well, fuck you too,” Kael muttered, dragging himself out of his chair. He threw on a coat, snagged his boots, a
15
Chapter 15: PoliceKael was running again.Not jogging. Not training.Running like the earth itself was mocking his lungs for daring to breathe. The slums of BB City were nothing but a blur of rust, sweat, and the ghostly shimmer of holographic graffiti flickering between languages no one spoke anymore. His boots slammed the pavement in a rhythm that felt less like exercise and more like a punishment carved into muscle memory.A faint blue hologram blinked beside him.[+1 AGI]It hovered there like an annoying angel who refused to clap when he broke his own record. Kael slowed, stumbling to a halt, bent double with his hands on his knees. His breath sawed through his chest, lungs dragging air like broken machinery.The System’s voice dripped with smug amusement.“That only took ninety laps around the city. Not too bad.”Kael snorted, voice hoarse and sharp. “Yeah, right. I can barely feel my fucking legs.”
14
Chapter 14: Awakened IDA few weeks had crawled by since Kael hit Level 22 and buried himself in the filth and faith of the slums. The air down here always smelled like rusted prayers and damp stone, yet somehow, he’d made it home.Every day felt the same: he woke to the sound of dripping roofs, ate what could barely be called breakfast, opened the cracked doors of the church, healed whoever stumbled in bleeding or broken, blessed the ones too far gone to be saved, then closed up again when the night rats started singing. Rinse, repeat, suffer, survive.There wasn’t anywhere else to go. The moment he’d tried to walk outside the church, every gaze turned sharp, suspicious, reverent, or hungry. People didn’t just look at him; they watched him, like he was some holy artifact that might explode.So he stayed.He made himself a chair—a miserable little throne of scrap wood—and placed it beside the Statue of Gabriel that towered in the center o
You may also like
I Shall Eat The Heavens
Daoist Of Lies29.2K viewsWelcome back Transmigrator
MaryahLu18.9K viewsI AM DESTINY'S MISTAKE
Dere_Isaac16.4K viewsMon'Ter
ReinStriver27.2K viewsIMMORTALS INFINITE PATHS
Sleeping titan263 viewsSupreme Monarch: VoidBorn
Roth Raven 729 viewsPoko’s Rise To The Top
josh cifelli2.2K viewsSWORD OF FLAME
Mamanda2.6K views