2026-09-02 11:25:46“You’re fired, Ryan.”
Ryan Volde stared at his manager for a few seconds, waiting for an explanation that would somehow make those words sound more reasonable.
The man in the gray suit sitting across from him simply slid a thin folder over the desk.
“The company is restructuring. Your division is cutting three positions, and since you’re the newest employee, your name ended up on the list.”
“So my performance was bad?”
“No.”
“Did I screw something up?”
“Not really.”
Ryan pulled the folder toward him and gave a dry smile.
“So I did my job well and still got fired. Good to know.”
Seven weeks.
It wasn’t long enough for him to think of the office as a second home, but it had been long enough to convince him that life was finally starting to go his way after university.
Twenty minutes later, Ryan walked out of the building carrying a cardboard box that wasn’t even half full.
That night, he did something he rarely ever did.
He drank alone.
Four glasses of bourbon were enough to take the edge off his frustration without completely ruining his senses. He could still walk in a straight line, and he was sober enough to curse when he discovered that the elevator in his apartment building was broken again.
“Perfect. Maybe the stairs can collapse next.”
Muttering under his breath, Ryan climbed three floors to Apartment 3B.
The moment he reached his door, he stopped.
A black envelope had been pinned directly to the center of it with a small silver nail.
The hallway was empty in both directions.
No footsteps.
No neighboring doors closing.
The only sound came from the rain tapping against the window at the far end of the corridor.
His name was written across the front of the envelope in gold ink.
RYAN VOLDE.
“If this is a bill, someone’s trying way too hard.”
Ryan pulled out the nail and hissed when its sharp tip scratched his index finger.
A bead of blood surfaced on his skin.
He sucked briefly on the cut, unlocked the door, and went inside.
The box from the office ended up beside the sofa while the strange envelope followed him to the dining table.
There was no return address.
No stamp.
No company logo.
The only thing on the back was a dark red wax seal bearing the image of a black tower surrounded by seven stars.
“Who has this much free time?”
Ryan was about to break the seal when a drop of blood slipped from his finger and landed on the wax.
He froze.
The blood sank into the seal.
Not smeared.
Not dried.
It was absorbed completely, disappearing without leaving a trace.
Ryan looked at his finger, then back at the envelope.
“Maybe four glasses really was too much.”
Crack.
The wax seal split open by itself.
Ryan straightened in his chair.
A sheet of pale parchment slid out of the envelope and settled on the table.
Its surface was blank at first.
Then black letters began to appear, rising from within the fibers of the parchment as though they had always been hidden there.
BLACKTHORN ARCANE ACADEMY.
A second line appeared moments later.
Mr. Ryan Volde,
You have been selected as a prospective student of Blackthorn Arcane Academy for the upcoming academic year. Attendance will become mandatory once the admission contract has been activated.
Ryan let out a quiet sigh.
“I just graduated from university. Whoever made this clearly didn’t do their homework.”
He reached out to fold the parchment.
Another sentence appeared before he could touch it.
Admission contract activated.
The smile vanished from Ryan’s face.
“What contract? I didn’t sign anything.”
The seven-star symbol on the parchment suddenly lit up red.
Glowing lines spread across the table, crawled down its legs, and raced over the floor before forming a circle directly beneath Ryan’s feet.
The apartment lights flickered.
An empty bottle in the kitchen began to rattle against the counter.
Ryan shot to his feet.
Before he could move away, a cold female voice echoed directly inside his head.
[Identity confirmed.]
[Transit to Blackthorn Arcane Academy initiated.]
“Wait. Transit wha—”
Red light swallowed the entire room.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 16 - Final Attack
“Two shots...” Ryan repeated quietly as he stared at the Goblin Warlord still standing in front of them. “That means we can’t afford to miss again.”Evelyn didn’t answer. Her face had gone pale, and the hand gripping her wand was trembling slightly, but her eyes remained fixed on the Warlord’s half-destroyed head.Two other candidates who had somehow survived on the far side of the courtyard exchanged glances.They could have taken advantage of the weakened Warlord and escaped toward the Sanctuary Zone.Instead, after seeing how close the monster was to falling, they raised their weapons and charged.“Now! Hold it down!”The fi
Chapter 15 - Shockwave
[Universal Prodigy activated.][Target: Goblin Warlord.][Copyable ability detected.][Shockwave - Rank F.][Copy successful.][Ability duration: 3 minutes.]Ryan read the notifications once before immediately turning to Evelyn. “Three minutes. That’s all the time we have. No matter what happens, aim for its head.”Evelyn frowned slightly, clearly not understanding where Ryan’s confidence was coming from, but she didn’t waste time asking questions. Her wand was already raised as Ryan tightened his grip on the dagger and ran toward the Goblin Warlord.One of the remaining candidates had just failed to escape.The Warlord grabbed him from behind and slammed him into the ground before his body shattered into light. The sight still made Ryan’s stomach turn, even though he knew everything happening here was only part of the exam.The moment Ryan entered its attack range, the Warlord’s red eyes shifted toward him.The creature swung its arm.Ryan had already estimated its reach and stepped
Chapter 14 - Trump Card
Evelyn had already turned toward the Sanctuary Zone, but after only a few steps, the difference in their speed became obvious.The Warlord was much faster.Evelyn, meanwhile, clearly wasn’t built around physical attributes.“Not toward the Sanctuary!” Ryan pointed toward the ruins of the building that had collapsed when the Warlord appeared. “Go toward the candidates who were hiding!”Evelyn glanced over and immediately understood.The fourteen candidates who had refused to fight from the beginning were now gathered near the ruins.They still hadn’t crossed the courtyard toward the Sanctuary Zone because they were too afraid, but the collapsed building had destroyed their hiding place.Evelyn changed direction and ran straight toward them.Several candidates immediately panicked.“Hey! Don’t come over here!”“Take that thing somewhere else!”Evelyn didn’t slow down.The Warlord kept gaining on her, but she still had a lead of roughly twenty meters.The moment she passed the group near
Chapter 13 - Under Pressure
“Don’t fight it head-on! Fall back!”Ryan was already moving away before he even finished shouting.Marcus had just been sent flying with a single blow, and that was more than enough to kill any desire Ryan had to test his strength against the Goblin Warlord.With his attributes, one hit might be enough to end his exam.Not everyone thought the same way.The ten candidates who had been heading toward the Sanctuary Zone immediately turned back when the boss appeared.They had already completed the five-goblin mission, which meant the only major reward left was standing right in front of them.“Attack together!”“Don’t give it a chance to move!”Several swords and axes struck the Goblin Warlord almost at the same time.Two arrows followed from behind.The result was disappointing.Its thick, muscular body suffered only shallow wounds, while the arrows barely managed to penetrate its skin.Ryan chose to observe from a safe distance.All the ordinary Blight Goblins had collapsed the momen
Chapter 12 - Triggering the Warlord
No one laughed this time.Too many coincidences had happened for it to still look like luck.Marcus was the angriest of them all.“You’re doing this on purpose!”Ryan turned toward him.“Doing what?”“Four!”Marcus raised four fingers, his face turning red.“You stole four kills from me!”Ryan was actually a little surprised by the number.He had deliberately targeted Marcus more often because his high attributes allowed him to weaken goblins quickly.But Ryan hadn’t realized he had taken that many.He checked his skill progress.[Power Slash Lv.1: 80/100.]What a shame.A little more and the skill might have leveled up.Then again, if Ryan kept doing the same thing, Marcus might decide to stab him before stabbing another Blight Goblin.“Fine. I’ll stop.”Marcus snorted loudly.The others looked more curious than genuinely angry.They all knew Ryan only had nine total attribute points.That made his ability to time his finishing blows so precisely even stranger.Ryan, of course, had n
Chapter 11 - Kill Steal
Ryan’s satisfaction after getting his first kill lasted only a few seconds.The moment he tried to raise his dagger again, the muscles in his arm felt heavy and sore, as though all the strength he had gathered earlier had been squeezed out in a single attack.Power Slash was strong, but Ryan only had three points in Vitality.If he forced himself to use the skill twice in quick succession, there was no guarantee his arm would still be able to hold a weapon afterward.So Ryan didn’t rush to look for another target.He continued moving with the formation while watching how the others fought.Some needed three strikes to bring down a Blight Goblin.Others needed four or five.Ryan began memorizing how strong each person was and estimating when a goblin had been weakened enough for him to finish it with a single attack.About a minute later, the heaviness in his arm started to fade.A candidate beside him was fighting a Blight Goblin that had already taken three sword strikes.The moment
You may also like
Saintess’s Worthless Husband Turned Dragon Commander
Universeleap83.6K viewsThe Ultimate Devourer
Daoist Of Lies16.4K viewsGlad He Hate All ~Gladiator~
Zuxian17.2K viewsCHEAT IN STONE AGE
Shame_less00716.8K viewsShadow Sight
Dhea Putri51 viewsThe daily struggle of a spider
Untamed man159 viewsThe Secret of the Violet Mark
Rie282 viewsThe Inverted Realm
padmavati9 views