Light flickered in Caelus's vision before blanking out. For a brief moment, there was nothing. There was no sound, and he had no sense of direction.
Then, something appeared.
A symbol formed within his vision. It was unaffected by blinking or focus, as if it existed far beyond his physical eyes. It resembled a world wrapped in several concentric rings, with each one rotating around a luminous core.
The instant Caelus perceived it, understanding surfaced in his mind without the need for words.
This was the Mark of Origin.
It was the qualification to step beyond the ordinary world.
It was the entry pass to the Origin Ascension Domain!
[Ding!]
[System: Welcome to the Origin Ascension Domain, Player!]
[System: The Origin Ascension Domain is filled with limitless possibilities. In this world, the impossible becomes possible.]
[System: The Origin Network congratulates the Player on joining the Origin Network.]
As the prerecorded system notifications rang out in Caelus's ears, another system screen flickered to life.
[System: You are undergoing Awakening.]
[System: You have been branded with the Mark of Origin.]
[System: You are now part of the Origin Network.]
[System: Player Status has been unlocked.]
[System: Player limitation has been unleashed.]
[Ding!]
[System: It has been detected that the Player failed to form a required affinity with Mana.]
[System: Due to this, the Player failed to reach the Combat Score requirement of One.]
[System: Gift has been allocated.]
[System: The Origin Network has recalibrated the body to meet the Combat Score requirement of One.]
Seeing this, Caelus sighed.
A bad mana affinity.
It was so abysmal that the Origin Network itself had to step in to drag his combat score up to 1 out of sheer pity.
Back in the real world, people strengthened their bodies using mana. Even within the Origin Ascension Domain, mana was a crucial energy. It was the core fuel that increased one's combat strength while leveling up in this game-like world.
The higher your affinity, the easier it was to get stronger. If your affinity was poor it would handicap the potency of your skills.
Of course, most people never encountered this issue.
The majority of beings in this world were born with a D-Grade Mana Affinity. This was considered average but could go a long way in the Origin Ascension Domain.
In fact, across the entire Fortis-01 Academy, just three people possessed an E-Grade Mana affinity, and he was one of them.
"I have a protagonist template and a cliché backstory, yet I have no cheat. This has to be some sort of sick joke," Caelus muttered.
Having an E-Grade Affinity was a death sentence in both the Origin Ascension Domain and the real world.
A person's powers were more important in reality than one might think.
In the current era, combat score defined your job placement, your university admission, and everything else imaginable. Even the basic requirement for a mundane construction job was having a Combat Score of 20. And that standard had been increasing as the years went by.
Having an E-Grade affinity was equivalent to being a future homeless person in this society.
"I do not want to become homeless." Caelus clicked his tongue, a dark look crossing his face.
It was certain that the Ashborn family would ditch him the moment he turned eighteen, which he would in a few months. With his state benefits cut off, there would no longer be any use for him in their eyes.
"But it is not like there is no remedy for it."
"There are affinity-increasing Mana Fruits available deep within the Origin Ascension Domain."
He had seen plenty of high-level players listing these fruits on the trade forums before. It was just that these items cost an absolute fortune. It was a fortune that he could never hope to afford, even with the benefits he used to receive from the Solaris Kingdom.
Then there was another option. He could find it inside the Origin Ascension Domain himself. But that required more sheer luck than becoming a billionaire overnight via day trading.
Of course, Caelus was confident that he would never be that lucky!
With his terrible luck, he needed to forget about finding a miraculous fruit. He should be more concerned about not getting eaten alive by a Level 1 fierce beast the moment he stepped outside.
Just then, the system notifications flickered to life once again.
[System: You will now undergo Talent Awakening.]
[System: Whether you unlock a Talent or not depends on your luck.]
Caelus's lips twitched when he read the part about luck.
Speak of the devil.
He sighed and waited for the grueling process to begin.
Just then, Caelus's vision began to flicker.
Tzz... krrrk...
His sight glitched. Distorted static noises echoed inside his head, overlapping and grinding against one another like scraping metal.
For a split second, Caelus was confused.
What the hell was happening?
He had read countless articles about Talent Awakening in Fortis-01 high, yet he had never heard of anyone experiencing constant visual distortion or hearing deafening static during the process.
As far as he knew, the procedure was supposed to be simple.
The system would reveal the awakened talent, and a warm beam of light would descend from the Origin Network, merging with the individual's Mark of Origin to finalize the awakening.
And if one had no talent, the system would display a clean error message.
Nothing more.
Nothing like this chaos.
Almost as if responding to his thoughts, amid the flickering vision and unbearable static, a familiar blue panel formed before his eyes.
A system message appeared.
[System Error! Talent Awakening Failed.]
Caelus's lips twitched at the sight.
Normally, this was the exact moment people broke down, cried, or fell into endless despair. But he felt a faint, lingering sense of disappointment.
Being from Earth and living as a former professional gamer, he had learned long ago not to cling to closed doors.
If he didn't awaken, then that was that.
Without awakening a golden finger, he was nothing more than cannon fodder in the grand scheme of things.
Reality was cruel.
He did not even have a basic talent.
He, Caelus Kross, was destined to be nothing more than a disposable existence. He was meant to be a stepping stone for the true geniuses.
What a depressing life.
Just as that cynical thought settled, his vision flickered even more.
The faint shimmer turned violent.
Static flooded his sight, tearing through his consciousness as a low, oppressive hum echoed in his head. It was a frequency so heavy it felt like it transcended the fabric of space itself.
It rang against his soul.
It was like being struck point-blank by a sledgehammer.
Caelus staggered as intense dizziness overwhelmed him.
Bzzt! Bzzt!
The dark space surrounding the Mark of Origin began to distort. Its form flickered as if something deep within its core architecture was malfunctioning.
At the same time, the system notification panel changed.
The familiar, calming blue vanished.
It turned blood red!
Caelus clutched his head in agonizing pain. The words flashing before his eyes were warped and fragmented. They were unreadable, but the intent behind them was unmistakable.
Something had gone wrong.
Not with his body.
But with the almighty system itself!
Before he could even react, his vision shattered like glass. In the next instant, he found himself standing beneath a vast, pitch-black sky pierced by countless brilliant beams of light.
Each beam pulsed. They were unstable, looking as though they were struggling to remain intact.
"Where the hell is this?" Caelus shouted, his voice echoing into the endless emptiness.
The very moment the words left his mouth, the sky ignited.
Boom!
Light erupted from every direction, blinding his vision as an overwhelming suction force formed at the direct center of the space.
It twisted the world itself.
It acted like a colossal, cosmic whirlpool.
The beams of light were dragged toward it one by one. They collapsed, shattered, and vanished as they were swallowed whole by the anomaly.
The space trembled.
Then, an eerie silence fell over everything.
At that exact moment, a crisp sound drilled into Caelus's mind.
[System: Origin Network Synchronization: Failed.]
[System: Irregularity Detected.]
[System: ....?]
The bright red color of the system panel vanished, returning to normal as if the glitch had never existed. In the following moment, another notification rang out, clear and crisp.
[System: Talent Awakening Successful.]
[System: You have awakened the SSS-Rank Skill: Endless Extraction.]