Daejin's body jerked as if his bones had been shifted in place by an unseen hand.
His breath shook.
His eyes widened complete disbelief washing over him at how real the pain was.
Then the pressure released, clean and sudden.
"Ahh, all done now," the god said lightly.
Everyone was in shock.
Daejin was staring at Iskael in resentment, naturally blaming him for the situation, even though he could not prove a single thing.
The god smiled like it was entertainment.
"Now, properly all the chosen ones have had their values adjusted," he continued, then waved his hand as if that topic was boring.
"Though that is not what matters most right now."
He turned, eyes bright, and spoke as if he were announcing a casual rule for a game.
"Each and every one of you has history, a story, and a weight to your existence. Even if you never considered your life had value. That weight was always meant to be calculated, but your dimension has been manaless up until now."
His smile widened slightly.
"Now that mana has entered, the Akashic Record will recognize you properly."
He lifted his hand, palm up, and the air in front of every student shimmered.
"Each of you has karma," the god said.
"A measure of your value within equivalent exchange. The Akashic Record does not care for your morality. It's measured by the weight of your existence, and survivability."
"Just as the Akashic is a record, a record must collect stories, and you are the tales forever entrusted in assigned karma within the near limitless boundaries of the Akashic Record."
He paused, then spoke with the same casual cruelty he had carried since the moment he appeared.
"Anyways, I think that's enough giveaways. How about you all figure out the rest, though I'll tell you other important details if I feel like it..." a mischievous smile leaving the old man's face.
Serene's body stiffened slightly, still pressed against Iskael.
Daejin's gaze darted around as if he expected something to jump out at him.
Iskael, however, felt his attention sharpen so intensely it almost hurt.
A system, governed by equivalent exchange, and the narrative value of every life?
That sounded very interesting to Kael.
The god's eyes swept over them.
"Open it," he said. "Or do not. You will return to your homes once you are finished. After that, you will begin the tutorial."
Someone near the back inhaled sharply, about to ask a question.
The god's gaze slid toward them.
The student froze.
The god smiled.
"I told you already," he spoke as if he read the student's mind, but replied vaguely. "I do not care to answer everything. I gave you the basic truths, so figure out the rest."
Then the screens appeared.
╭━━━「 STATUS BOARD 」━━━╮
「Name: Iskael Vidar」
「Race: Human」
「Title: Glassveil」
〔press for more information〕
「Rank: Unawakened」「Class: Unavailable」
「Health: 100/100」「Mana: 100/100」
「Hidden」
〔Awaken for more information〕
「Skills: Compounding Interest (F)」
(Press skill for more information)
「Status: A 16 year old boy with an eccentric personality, and hidden past. Viewed by the world as the dog of the one whom he sees as the fairest presence. 」
「How pitiful... 」
「Alignment: Chaotic Neutral」
╰━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╯
Iskael stared, fascinated. What was this before him, he wondered. How could such a screen appear? How could it exist?
A random screen, floating in front of him.
His eyes moved across the Status Board, resting on his title.
'Glassveil?'
A cold recognition crawled through him.
'Wow? It knows about that? Only nine other people, including Daejin, know about this alias.'
'How?'
A strange thrill followed immediately after, one that did not match the fear of a normal person whose secret was unveiled so easily.
'Could this be all a dream?'
His attention dropped to the skill line.
Compounding Interest.
His brow twitched slightly.
F rank.
He almost laughed.
Of course.
He could already imagine what it meant, even without pressing it's extra information.
Another memory floated to his consciousness, the remembrance of being "trash," being tossed out and sold by the orphanage that practiced human trafficking, to that woman who taught him and took everything from him.
He was abandoned then for being trash, not worth anything.
And he was given a skill rated "unique," just for its starting rank to also be trash.
'A slow growth mechanic, with delayed payoff. That's clearly what this skill is. A skill that demands time and survival to become valuable.'
In other words, a skill that would be utterly useless at the beginning of this world facing an invasion.
Bitterness rose, his deep remembrance of failure and weakness barging into his existence once more.
Iskael's lips parted slightly, then closed again.
His gaze slid to his status, and even the "How pitiful" line.
' This omniscient thing even seems to know some feelings I didn't know I had.'
He felt fascinated.
'But it thinks I'm pitiful?'
For the first time in a while, Iskael seemed irritated. He disliked being weak, being a failure, and now this new existence, the greatest novelty of his life, had looked down on him.
He didn't want to let it go, but he had no other choice.
But a random beef with a system?
That, in itself, did seem entertaining.
As Iskael lay stuck in his thoughts, another window suddenly appeared.
╭━━━「 SYSTEM NOTICE 」━━━╮
「Do you wish to open the Akashic Karma Shop?」
「No」 / 「Yes」
╰━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╯
Interesting.
It was necessary to be cautious. That was how he was raised.
But he immediately pushed it aside, because something else was louder.
This novelty of mana.
This novelty of a system.
He quickly pressed "Yes."
╭━「AKASHIC KARMA SHOP」━╮
「Please Select A Category Of Interest」
「 Current Karma: 3,445,111」
「Items?」「Classes?」
「Class Traits?」「Skills?」
「Sell?」
「Close Shop」
╰━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╯
Iskael's eyes widened minutely.
Three million.
He felt a brief flash of satisfaction, then immediately questioned it.
Was that high? Low? Or average?
It was most likely high compared to a lot of people given his past, and that karma seemed to be assigned points of the value of your life, as the god hinted.
He turned his head slightly.
Serene still stood close, but her attention had shifted to her own screen. Her eyes moved quickly, absorbing the information that stood before her too.
Daejin was staring at his as if it might bite him.
Iskael spoke quietly.
"How much karma do you guys have?"
Serene's eyes flicked up, then down again.
"Around seven hundred thousand," she admitted after a moment, voice controlled but faintly irritated by the idea.
Daejin laughed awkwardly.
"Wow, duke lady, you don't even have the notoriety of my name, yet you're pretty close to mine? Crazy… But mine's nearly a million, so I'm sure I can bet I've got the highest amount here."
Daejin wasn't just talking about his school identity. He was clearly hinting at something far more notorious.
Iskael nodded once. "So mine's the lowest between all of us, just three hundred thousand? That's not fair." A pretend droopy face appeared on his face.
Daejin turned to him with interest, while Serene patted him lovingly, telling him it was okay.
Everyone clearly seemed to have lied quickly.
Even Serene, sweet as she could be when she forgot herself, understood the value of withholding information.
It was common sense.
Iskael understood completely. He did not believe either of them fully.
Judging by their deeds, and the notoriety and status of both Daejin and Serene, their numbers should have been far higher.
That was, of course, if karma were points truly valued by one's actions in life.
He stopped caring about it almost immediately.
He tapped "Classes."
╭━━━「 AKASHIC KARMA SHOP 」━━━╮
「Selected Category: Classes」
「 Current Karma: 3,445,111」
「Please enjoy your time and quality purchase!」
「Search ⌕」
「 S Rank Classes: 」 「 A Rank Classes: 」
「 B Rank Classes: 」 「 C Rank Classes: 」
「 D Rank Classes: 」 「 F Rank Classes: 」
「Return?」 / 「Close Shop?」
╰━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╯
He clicked to check B Rank Classes.
The weight of the cost hit him immediately, like a fault.
Millions?
His eyes narrowed, irritation rising in a way he did not bother to hide from himself.
So this was how it would be.
A system that offered power, in equivalent exchange.
Even my life filled with such conspiracy only managed to garner three million? Is it due to fame?
He backed out, then skimmed categories rapidly, fascinated by the structure.
Especially the search function, as he searched for stupid class names he heard in novels, finding all sorts of fantasy classes like "Monster Tamer," "Dragon Knight," and more, and the other tabs with their interesting items of every type, and all sorts of skill rarities.
Not only that, but the idea that "Sell" existed meant the system recognized ownership as value.
Items. Skills. Traits. Classes.
It was clearly a game.
The god spoke again while students murmured around their screens, voices overlapping with excitement, fear, envy, greed.
"As members of the Hero's Requiem," the god said, tone careless, "each of you has been gifted a Unique skill, though some of your story's value may pre choose your assigned Unique skill, or even influence and ease the acquirement of legendary constitutions."
He paused, smile widening.
"Ah, but as there is opportunity for success, there is more opportunity for failure. Unique does not inherently mean useful. There are more Unique skills than any other variant of skill, and most of them are worthless."
A ripple of discomfort moved through the hall.
"The probability is unfortunate," the god continued. "Ninety nine useless skills to one useful one, and when a useful one appears, it is exceptional."
Iskael stared at his own skill line again.
Compounding Interest.
F rank.
He almost smiled.
It was clearly something useless, just based on its description alone, but maybe the higher the proficiency, the more its authority could be applied.
A skill that worked on interest seemed annoying in a world where you might die at any moment, and not only that, it even had a proficiency rank, with probable requirements to rank it up.
You would likely need years to earn enough for the skill to become useful.
It sounded like something that would get him killed if he relied on it.
Annoyingly, everything else would need to be built around that weakness, or he would die before it ever mattered.
He scrolled again, eyes sharp.
He thought of defense. Mobility. Escape. Survival. Foundations for living.
After deciding to read the description of the skill again, he realized it could certainly be a cheat under the perfect conditions.
"Is this how all Unique skills are? Even the most useless have uses?"
Being powerless was unforgivable. It was necessary to invest in the future, in survivability, because there was never a promise you would continue living.
And with that acknowledgment, without warning, the memory of Serene drowning flashed through him again.
The uncomfortable feeling rose fast, heavy, because he knew that if this world was real, there would be no room for failure like there had been in the illusion of the Leviathan's attack.
It was both a reminder and a curse, forcing him toward success in the world he intended to create.
Their first death.
He turned his head slightly and looked at her.
She was focused on her shop screen, lips parted in concentration, brows drawn tight, an intuitive look of interest appearing on her face as she scrolled.
The memory of their deaths annoyed him for some reason.
All because he had been weak.
His fingers curled slowly.
If any of this is actually real, then it's illogical to allow failure to repeat. I am not allowed to be weak, he told himself.
The thought settled like a vow.
Around them, students continued purchasing, panicking, arguing, comparing karma, laughing, crying, celebrating their screens as if they had been handed a miracle.
Iskael did not celebrate.
The last thing he saw before he moved to confirm his choices was Serene's outline beside him, close enough to touch, and the faint thread of mana curling around her fingers like it still wanted to stay.
Then he pressed onward, and the world began to shift toward whatever came next.