Rakna woke up and promptly propelled himself to his feet. His eyes looked right and left and his body tensed. His mouth was forming a flat line as he inspected his surroundings. He still had a headache but he completely ignored it.

“Shit,” he cursed as he confirmed some things. First of all, Flavia was nowhere to be seen. He was sure that he had managed to save her so he decided to put that in the back of his mind for now.

The next thing confused him to no end. He was back on the roof somehow and the school was totally undamaged. And lastly; Rakna neared the edge of the roof and looked forward. Trees. An immense forest extended around the school grounds and continued until a chain of mountains.

He was about to go down and check to see if there was someone else in the building when the headache suddenly returned full force. He grunted and rubbed his temple. Then, it happened.

|| Host has awakened. Finalizing download. ||

His expression twitched as he heard a mechanical voice speak in his head.

|| Assessing beginning. Host woke up thirty minutes after the dimensional transfer; noted. Host shows aptitude for several unique skills and traits; noted. Host displays status several times higher than the average human; noted. Host proves to have considerable self-control and mind fortitude; noted. Host possesses extended knowledge and experience; noted. Graded. ||

Rakna frowned and a whistling slowly crept into his ears. He did his best to ignore it to hear what the voice said afterward.

|| Host’s Potential Value: S+. Commencing necessary upgrades. ||

That’s the last thing the voice said before getting quiet.

Rakna combed his hair with his hand. “What the heck is going on?” He muttered and noticed something moving around under his scarf. He pulled on it and ended up looking at a certain snake in the eyes.

The human and reptilian stared at each other for a few seconds before Rakna grabbed the latter and put it on the ground. He crouched and mused. “Hey, little guy, did you also hear some voice speaking in your head?”

The snake tilted its head and nodded.

“I see. What rank did it give you?” The snake seemed to ponder for a moment before using its tail to draw a letter on the ground. Rakna hummed when he finished. “S, huh? What does this mean in the end?”

Right on cue, the infuriating whistling came back and a new voice echoed in his head. The same thing happened for the little snake apparently.

[The update has been successfully completed.]

A woman’s voice echoed.

Rakna’s eyes widened in surprise. It was no longer robotic and emotionless. While it still lacked the natural warmth of a human, this time it didn’t sound unnatural nor was it off-putting. In fact, it was a bit soothing.

[It’s an honor to meet you, Rakna Xiorra. I’m the S+ Class AI that has been chosen to guide you through the System.]

“AI…? Care to explain what you mean by ‘System’?”

[Certainly.]

And with that, a column of words abruptly filled Rakna’s vision.

❮ ◈ ❯

Host: Rakna Xiorra

Age: 17 | Level: 1

Race: Male Human | Title: Nil

Potential: S+

Attributes:

Strength: 1.9 | Endurance: 2.5

Speed: 2 | Dexterity: 4

Intelligence: 3.6 | Luck: 9

Available Points: 2

Statistics:

Stamina: 12.9/12.9 | MP: 36/36

Swiftness: 11.2 | Agility: 10

Senses: 24.20 | Atr Cap: 23

Attack: 14.9 | Defense: 9.4

Magic Attack: 10.8 | MP Regen: 0.25/min

Proficiencies:

- Polearm-Mastery (Lv.8): +16% Attack when wielding polearms.

- Taekwondo (Lv.7): +14% …

- Dagger-Mastery (Lv.7): +14% ...

- Cooking (Lv.6): +60% change to cook a dish with special effects.

- Karate (Lv.6): +12% …

- Throwing (Lv.6): +12%…

- Judo (Lv.6): +12%…

- Taijutsu (Lv.5): +10%…

- Marksmanship (Lv.5): +10%…

…

Magic Skills:

- Unawakened

Cognitive Skills (Passive):

- Pain-Resistance (Lv. Max)

- Fear-Resistance (Lv. Max)

- Eye of the Mind (Lv. Max)

- Fatigue Resistance (Lv. 7)

Spontaneous Skills (Active):

- None

Nirvana Skills:

- Unknown

Unique or Racial Traits:

- Eion Auto-Sustainable Nanomachines: Automatically kills foreign organisms and allows rapid improvement of body strength as well as the use of more muscle cells.

- ???

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna swiftly analyzed the information in front of him. “Is this a joke? You’re not telling me I was pulled into a sort of game, are you?”

[Negative. You’re correct in thinking this is a game.]

Rakna scowled. “Whose?”

[I cannot answer this question.]

“You can’t? Or you won’t?”

[I do not know the answer, Host.]

Rakna rubbed his temples. “Fine, what is the purpose of this game then?”

[I do not know.]

“…really?”

[Yes. But I can tell you what you are going through as we speak.]

“Go ahead.”

[Please turn around and look at the gates of your school.]

Rakna silently complied and the small snake followed him. He squinted his eyes and stared at the gates that were nearly two hundred meters away. His eyes gradually widened as he spotted several shadows emerging from the woods.

“Those are…” He inspected their appearance and his eye twitched. “Kobolds?”

[Affirmative. They are commonly called as such. The Initiation will now begin, Host. I’m here if you have questions.]

❮ ◈ ❯

Initiation Mission: Survive.

Description: Monsters are invading your location, searching for anything to scavenge. If they find you, they’ll kill you.

Objective: Survive until the end of the day.

Note: You can hide but you also can strike back.

Tracker: 50/50 enemies alive.

Rewards: Will change according to the Host’s performance.

❮ ◈ ❯

“Well, damn…” Rakna pondered. “For now, give me a description of each attribute.”

[Certainly.]

❮ ◈ ❯

Attributes:

Strength: The representation of muscle potency. Increasing strength can make you go faster, strike harder, jump higher, and take hits a bit more easily.

Endurance: The representation of the gene’s evolution. Increasing endurance greatly boosts stamina, healing factors, and defense.

Speed: The representation of movement speed. Increasing speed acuminates the mind to allow a faster thought process to match the legs’ increased motor capabilities.

Dexterity: The representation of body control. Dexterity is the pillar of agility but also allows significant stamina consumption reduction and accuracy improvement.

Intelligence: The representation of one’s mental capacity. Increasing intelligence does not affect IQ but improves memory and minor comprehension abilities. It also reflects the base size of the mana pool and is the main focus of every mage.

Luck: The wild variable that cannot be predicted and increased by normal means. It has the power to bend Fate and Laws.

Statistics:

Stamina: Host’s ability to retain and regain energy (str + spd + 2*end + dex).

MP: Host’s Mana Pool (10*int).

Swiftness: Host’s thought processing speed (2*spd + 2*int).

Agility: Host’s ability to dodge and skillfully manipulate momentum (spd + 2*dex).

Senses: Host’s sensing ability, including the five senses and instinct (spd + end + int + dex).

Atr cap: Numeric value that represents the disposition to learn skills (Sum of all attributes).

Attack: Numeric value representing the power of the Host’s attack. (str*4+(end/2) + dex + spd)

Defense: Numeric value representing the defensive power of the Host. The difference between defense and attack varies the damage inflicted. (str + 3*end)

Magic Attack: Numeric value representing the power of the Host’s base magic attack (int*3)

MP Regeneration: The rate at which the Host’s Mana Points recover. It is calculated through a factor that is innate to the Host. Current factor: 0.7 (MP/100*0.7).

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna frowned as he looked over the descriptions. First of all, he realized that it would be quite complicated to make a ‘build’ since the way the stats were calculated was relatively complex and required a minimum of thought. But at the same time, everything was quite balanced. The paths were varied but very straightforward as well.

“Though, why does my ‘sense stat’ not match with the calculation method?”

Instead of answering, the AI showed him the box of his cognitive skills.

❮ ◈ ❯

Pain-Resistance (Lv. Max): Skill quantifying how much pain the host can ignore and move regardless of damage.

Fear-Resistance (Lv. Max): Skill quantifying resistance against any kind of intimidation.

Eye of the Mind (Lv. Max): A rare skill, even rarer to see reaching the higher levels, that sharpens the host’s instincts to inhuman levels. Those that are born with this skill are considered geniuses among geniuses. They can adapt and learn with nothing but instinct.

Additional Effect: Permanent 100% increase to senses.

Fatigue Resistance (Lv. 7): Skill quantifying resistance against any sort of tiredness; physical fatigue, mental fatigue, mana fatigue, etc…

❮ ◈ ❯

“I see,” Rakna muttered. He decided to ignore the skills listed as ‘Unknown’ or ‘Unawakened’ for now. He then thought about the two attribute points he had. He had no idea how he would develop in the future, so he held onto them for now.

He mused and settled down on the roof to observe the Kobolds entering the school grounds. For some reason, he felt like he could see better than he ever had.

“Hey, AI… how should I call you?”

[I’m AI-00000056-LTS.]

“Too many zeros. I’ll just call you Alexa.”

[…]

“Now, tell me, did the download of this System somehow correct my attributes?”

[Affirmative. To quantify an individual’s abilities and translate them into numbers, it is imperative to round them up. Your Eye of the Mind is a special case as well since its effects have been activated the moment the System was downloaded. So, you are correct to assume to be stronger now. Albeit it’s only by a relatively small amount.]

“Got it,” he replied impassively and started analyzing the enemies he was going to fight. Because, yes, he was going to kill them. ‘I’m not going to hide after all that training I was put through by the old man,’ he thought.

“Kobolds. Weredogs in a sense,” Rakna mumbled while staring at them. ‘Considering their armor and weaponry, I’d say they have decent intellect. They seemingly have four fingers. Probably making their dexterity lower than the average human and more akin to lose their weapons. From what I can see, they have a basic military pyramid. Most of them wear gray leather armor while some of them have metal parts along with it. And if they’re not dogs just for show, they should have a pretty high sense of smell. Troublesome…’

Ding!

He was suddenly thrown out of his thoughts by a sound and a window appearing in front of him.

❮ ◈ ❯

Thanks to your remarkable insight and through meeting several conditions, you have learned a new skill; Appraisal!

Appraisal (Lv.1): A skill sought by many but hard to attain because of its harsh requirements.

Allows the Host to inspect a living being’s status and learn about their characteristics. At the initial levels, the displayed information depends on the caster’s Wisdom.

Cost: None.

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna snorted. “Useful thing… Wisdom, huh? An attribute that can’t be modified by the System? I guess this means that Appraisal will show me what I would’ve roughly been capable of finding out by myself, but instantly. At least at level 1... Am I right, Alexa?”

[…Indeed, Host.]

“Call me Rakna. Host feels weird.”

[Noted, Rakna.]

“Good, now let’s try this,” he looked at the Kobolds. “Appraisal.”

❮ ◈ ❯

Name: None

Age: 5 | Level: 3

Race: Kobold

Attributes:

Strength: 1.5 | Endurance: 2

Speed: 2 | Dexterity: 0.8

Intelligence: 0.6 | Luck: 1

Weapon:

- Crude Short Spear: +10 Attack

Armor:

- Leather Armor: +5 Defense

Statistics:

Stamina: 8.3/8.3 | MP: 6/6

Swiftness: 5.2 | Agility: 3.6

Senses: 10.4 | Atr Cap: 7.9

Attack: 20 (10 + 10) | Defense: 12.5 (7.5 +5)

Magic Attack: 1.8 | MP Regen: 0.01/min

Proficiencies:

- Polearm-Mastery (Lv.1)

Unique or Racial Traits:

- Dog Nose: +5 Senses

❮ ◈ ❯

“As expected, higher senses, lower dexterity. I outclass them in everything but speed…” Rakna muttered then felt something pulling on his pants. He looked down and saw the little snake slithering around his feet.

“What’s wrong, little guy?” He crouched and his answer came to him under the form of a notification box.

❮ ◈ ❯

Eion Snake Lv.1 wishes to be your contracted pet.

Do you accept?

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna’s eyes widened a bit. “Eion Snake… So, you really are a survivor of the Zeera project. But why do you want to make a contract with me? Are you sure that you can trust me?”

The snake lowered its head and hissed weakly. Rakna swore he could hear an ‘I’m not good enough?’ invading his mind while looking at the little snake. He ultimately accepted the request.

❮ ◈ ❯

You have taken Eion Snake Lv.1 as your pet. Please give him a name to finalize the contract.

❮ ◈ ❯

“Hm,” Rakna gazed at the little snake before deciding on a name. “Pronos. Your name will be Pronos. You’re okay with it?” He asked and the snake perked up before nodding several times.

❮ ◈ ❯

Contract sealed. You have now access to Pronos’ status.

Name: Pronos

Master: Rakna Xiorra

Age: 3 | Level: 1

Race: Eion Snake | Title: Nil

Potential: S

Attributes:

Strength: 1 | Endurance: 5

Speed: 1.2 | Dexterity: 0.6

Intelligence: 2.7 | Luck: 3

Available points: 2

Statistics:

Stamina: 19.2/19.2 | MP: 40.5/40.5

Swiftness: 7.8 | Agility: 2.4

Senses: 9.5 | Atr Cap: 13.5

Attack: 8.3 | Defense: 19.2

Magic Attack: 8.1 | MP Regen: 0.2/min

Proficiencies:

- Bite (Lv. Max): +100% Attack when biting.

- Grapple & Strangle (Lv. Max): +20% Attack

Magic Skills:

- Unawakened.

Cognitive Skills (Passive):

- Poison Resistance (Lv. Ex)

- Pain-resistance (Lv. Max)

- Fear-Resistance (Lv. 5)

- Fatigue Resistance (Lv. 3)

Spontaneous Skills (Active):

- Poison-Secretion (Lv.7): Allows the Host to produce poison from their fangs.

- Camouflage (Lv.8): Once activated, changes the skin and scales’ color of the Host to match the surroundings.

Unique or Racial Traits:

- Eion Scales: +20% Defense.

- Eion Poison: Poison Secretion can produce Eion Poison.

- Eion Blood: 50% increase to MP and Stamina.

- Night Vision: Light Amplified Sight.

- Thermal Vision: Infrared Sight.

- Echo Vision: Sight acquired through sound feedback.

❮ ◈ ❯

“That’s a lot of traits... You’re one hell of a snake. You have attributes on par with a grown human. You can also take hits like a tank and you’re an incredible threat as an assassin too,” Rakna exclaimed, honestly impressed.

Pronos straightened his body and pulled the corner of his lips, effectively making him look smug. Rakna snorted and grabbed him before putting him on his shoulder. Pronos circled his neck once before snuggling inside his scarf, with just his head sticking out.

Rakna looked down at the kobolds again before walking toward the door on the roof.

“Alexa, do I get a beginner kit or something?”

[You have the permission to choose a weapon of your liking, Rakna.]

Before he could ask her to clarify, dozens of white shapes formed around him, floating and spinning. Each shape represented a weapon and there were all kinds. Swords, bows, guns, spears, chains, scythes, gauntlets, brass knuckles, etc.

“Hmm,” Rakna mused. “I’m certainly most proficient with the glaive but I don’t really need it since I already have one…” He muttered vaguely. “But it’s not practical to use a polearm if I ever have to fight indoors. Plus, I can’t possibly fight all fifty at the same time…”

Having made his decision, Rakna reached for a serrated dagger. The shapes immediately disappeared and the dagger he chose fell in his hands. The blade was thick and entirely red. A window popped up the moment he touched it.

❮ ◈ ❯

Designation: Blade/Dagger

Name: Blood Fang (Imitation)

Rarity: Green

Attack power: +20

Durability: Infinite

Description:

A low-grade imitation of a legendary dagger supposedly crafted with a fang of Ambrogio, the First Vampire.

Note: This weapon is exclusive to the Initiation and will disappear upon exit.

❮ ◈ ❯

“I see. At least, they’re not petty with the starting weapons,” Rakna commented. “The attack power correlates to one’s defense, right? If it’s not high enough, no damage would be done or it would just be very weak… By the way, Alexa, there’s no HP in your System?”

[Health Points are an aberration and are not included in the system. No matter what, if a Host suffers a deadly blow, they will die unless they have a skill or a racial trait to counter it. The same rule applies to monsters generated by the system. The defense attribute merely represents one’s body resistance, it has nothing to do with health. Similarly, defense granted by armor, unless magical, will only apply to the body part covered by said equipment.]

Rakna hummed and whirled the dagger in his hand.

“Good to know,” he said and opened the door leading to the floor below. “It means that this game is fair play. I stab, they die. I like it,” he quipped but his look sharpened and turned cold. “Let’s see how these puppies fare.”