Stay on the plot line, huh? It wasn't my fault that the story went haywire. Romance difficulty lowered? Boss difficulty increased?
What mode was I playing on?
What was this supposed to mean?
Axel stared at the familiar ceiling of his dormitory, the warmth of his small bed making it hard to get up. Regardless, he had to.
Dragging himself to the edge of the bed, he caught his reflection in the mirror hanging crookedly on the far wall. The face that stared back was the same as before, Axel Lycan's face. Sixteen years old. Sharp jawline, pale skin, messy black hair that somehow always fell into place. And those golden eyes. They glowed faintly, vibrant, beautiful, and yet so painfully hollow.
People used to describe Axel as dazzling. The kind of protagonist who naturally pulled others in.
Funny. Even with these looks, he'd still been ignored. Still been hated.
Pathetic.
Status Screen
==================
Strength: G+
Agility: G+
Stamina: G+
Mana Capacity: G+ Dexterity: G+
==================
He was back to the start, how annoying. What got him into the academy wasn't strength, it was potential. Axel's rank couldn't be measured. It went beyond S-rank, an unknown, indiscernible potential. But that alone was enough to get him into the academy. As a reader though, Kai knew that Axel's talent was unlimited.
Getting his stats up were the least of his concerns. He had a lot more experience now compared to before. His memories were intact, but his heart wasn't. He picked up his cheap, slightly cracked phone from the desk. It buzzed to life.
August 29, 20XX
Okay, he still had about 3 days before the induction ceremony.
He unlocked his phone. The password was his birthday.
His bank account had 10,000 G which was his scholarship money. When first arriving, he had used it for books and living expenses, but he was now going to use some of it to unlock his first cheat item.
Glowell's Guide to Enlightenment
He was supposed to pick it up a few months later during a class expedition after accidently separating from the group. However on his first run, Kai wasn't accidentally separated, he was pushed away with purpose.
Whatever, getting it a few months in advance would allow him to defend himself better.
With a firm push, Axel got himself out of bed. Jacket, shoes, ID card, done. He left his dormitory without a second glance.
"Rank 3221, Axel Lycan, you're free to go," the receptionist droned, not bothering to look up.
Axel swiped his card and walked out.
The manual was located on the outskirts of Loraine. Before heading there, he made a quick stop at a drugstore and bought a basic healing potion for 1000 G. He pulled up the subway map on his cracked phone and set off.
The subway ride was quiet. It always was. When the train screeched to a halt at the final stop, Axel stepped onto cracked sidewalks, heading toward the city's forgotten edge.
The air here was different. It was damp, laced with the faint rot of abandoned buildings and creeping vines. This place would eventually be overrun by monsters from a malfunctioning dungeon, his class would be sent here, and they would leave him behind. That first time, he had run for his life, desperate, stumbling into a half-collapsed bookstore.
This time, he walked.
The store's sign was unreadable now, long eroded by time and rain. Half the building had caved in, the wooden beams tilting like they might collapse if he so much as breathed on them.
The manual wasn't inside the shop itself, it was buried beneath it.
Axel made his way through the rubble, stepping over broken shelves and mold-eaten books until his foot struck something solid. A trapdoor, half-buried under debris. Last time, it had taken him over half an hour to find. This time, his hand brushed the debris aside without thinking.
The rusted handle groaned as he pulled it open. A narrow rope disappeared into darkness.
He could climb down, sure. But that would take too long.
Instead, he let himself fall.
In the story, Axel Lycan had climbed down, hands blistering and bleeding, his determination burning bright.
However, Kai got tired too quickly.
He slipped.
He fell.
His back slammed against the ground with a dull thud, but there was no fall damage.
Axel pulled out his phone, casually playing Flappy Bird as he descended through the void. He timed each game, estimating how long he'd been falling. In this pocket space, time didn't flow properly. The only clock he trusted was in his head.
His phone, once at 70%, eventually flickered and shut off.
Not long after, he hit the soft ground.
The underground chamber was exactly as he remembered. A stone pedestal, cracked but standing, waited at the center. Resting atop it was a simple, leather-bound book: Glowell's Guide to Enlightenment.
It didn't shine. It didn't pulse with magical energy.
It just waited.
Axel approached, brushing his fingers over the worn leather. The book responded immediately, flipping its pages at a blinding speed before disintegrating into glowing particles that rushed straight into him.
The pain was immediate and vicious. His skull felt like it was splitting open, his mind forced wider, stretched far beyond its limits.
If he could see himself, he probably looked like Megamind right now.
He grit his teeth and bore it.
Eventually, the searing pain dulled. His mind settled.
The book's effects were simple. His memorization, comprehension, and processing speed, everything was sharper. He could absorb information, analyze battle patterns, and master environments at an inhuman rate. His meridians had been refined, mana flowing along the most efficient pathways possible.
A through and through cheat item.
However, he wasn't done yet. There was one final nuisance.
The climb back up.
Axel grabbed the rope and began hauling himself up. The rough fibers bit into his hands, skin tearing open, palms rubbed raw. It didn't matter.
Pain was familiar. Pain meant progress.
His body was numb, but the sting was still there, a distant reminder that he was alive.
When he reached the top, his hands were dripping blood. A minor inconvenience.
He pulled out the healing potion he bought earlier, downed it in one go. His wounds sealed, though the soreness lingered.
He wiped his palms on his jacket and walked away.
No one was waiting for him at the top.
No one ever was.