(Quick message, I dropped my other book because I've been working on this. It's far bigger and better, and I actually feel passionate about it because I believe at least it's pretty original. Well, cliche troupes of course, because at the end of the day I'm just a Webnovel author, but trust me, this shit's about to blow your mind. Welcome, to Vale's Chronicles.)
Chapter 1:
He awoke in chains.
Not metaphorical ones. Real, iron shackles biting into flesh not his own—but now, somehow, his. The air was thick, and reeked with the scent of urine and degeneracy. A damp stone cell surrounded him and shrouded his feeble body in darkness. No windows were in sight to light up the hallways lined with similar cells. Just mana-lit torches, barely holding back the dark. Flickering in and out of distance, almost as if they were trying to tease the prisoners into hoping they could finally get some light, before snatching it back from under them like a rug.
He tried to move.
Pain. Immediate, sharp, visceral pain. His body was starved—muscle barely clinging to bone. He looked down.
He could see his rib cage as his malnourished skin clung to his bones. He couldn't help but sigh as he stared at the pitiful state he was in.
'I tried to stay optimistic' Kendrick thought to himself, 'Even given me awaking in the middle of butt fuck nowhere, but looking at the state of whoever I'm in right now, pause, I ain't got a chance in hell of making it out of here ali-' I began to think pessimistically before my eyes suddenly rolled to the back of my head.
Memories of a life I had never lived, but also had lived.
I was Kendrick Harvey, a 24 year old, milk chocolate colored young man from the country of what was now known as Ralgora, that's for later though. I was captured and turned into a prisoner five years ago while on my way to my internship from college. It happened out of nowhere when the sky split apart and the ground cracked open and began to swallow people. Monsters began to swarm the skies, oceans, and lands in the world above, the world transformed, expanding tremendously. Dungeons with resources unimaginable appeared. All hell reigned loose, and it was just when everyone was struck with despair, with no hope for survival. The system appeared.
The system turned life into a game-like modification for humans who were blessed to be able to sense mana in their surroundings and awaken as awakeners. However, before it did anything else, it stopped time, and allowed all natives of Earth, no, Eleanor, the opportunity to wish for anything to aid them, if the wish was too strong however it would be limited to the strongest it could possibly be under certain restrictions.
But for some reason, when Kendrick Harvey fell into the Underground during the 'Great Awakening', his soul suffered damage and he was turned into a…watered down version of himself, for a lack of better words.
'How do I know all of that if I've been in a coma this entire time?' Kendrick suddenly though to himself.
Before Kendrick could begin to further ponder and assimilate the new knowledge flooding his head, he looked at the system panel flashing in his eyes.
[SYSTEM ERROR]
Soul Sync: COMPLETE
Host Vessel: Prisoner #431A
Class: [None]
Level: 1
Stat Allocation: Depleted
Mana: 0
HP: Critically Low
Status: Cursed | Starved | Chained | Forgotten
Warning: This soul is unregistered.
Warning: Avatar System cannot map known class structure.
Warning: Potential exceeds limit. Engaging failsafe…
Assigning placeholder designation: [Glitch]
Somewhere down the hall, metal scraped against stone.
"…Another prisoner died last night."
"Good. Less mouths to feed. If you can call gruel 'food'."
"No name, just a number. Think this one's new."
"New? Ain't no new arrivals unless the Lich sends them. And if it's his, we don't touch it."
Footsteps. Then silence.
When Eleanor was born, it gave everyone a wish.
One chance.
Some wished for wings. Others for power. A few for immortality. Most got death.
One poor soul had no wish at all.
And now he was here. Buried under a continent. Forgotten by the world. Or so everyone thought. He was indeed forgotten by them all.
But not by the System.
Kendrick blinked.
His mind was his own but he also felt like it was split into two. He remembered a different life, the same face, but different name, different family, and a gigantic flash and suction before-
'AAHK'
A sharp pain split Kendrick's head as he tried to remember the…what was he trying to remember?
'Shit! Something is playing with my head.'
In Another Space
"You'll be the exception," a mysterious figure said. "A blank slate with every color."
Back to Kendrick
As he accustomed himself to the fact he was now a shackled corpse in another universe, he suddenly saw the system panel, that had disappeared until now, reappear.
The System screamed again.
[AVATAR SYSTEM UNLOCKED]
Class 1: Paladin – God of Light
Class 2: Researcher – Primordial Engineer
Class 3: Warrior – Titan of Combat
Class 4: ??? – ???
Class 5: ??? – ???
Class 6: ??? – ???
Class 7: ??? – ???
Class 8: ??? – ???
Class 9: ??? – ???
Class 10: ??? – ???
{Further Class Unlocks After Tutorial Completion}
Bloodline Detected: [Blank] – Tier: ???
Race Evolution: Pending
Blessing: [???'s Mark] Active
Kendrick gritted his teeth. His body felt like paper—but inside, something was shifting. Waking. Burning.
He let forward a guttural roar, or at least, he tried to.
CLANK
His chains clattered against the wall as his currently rebuilding body snatched them out of the walls due to his jerking. His back arched and his fingernails began to claw crimson art into his chest as he tried to excavate the fire from within his body.
Then black.
14 hours later
Rustle
Kendrick's pants rustled as he slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes in his process of stirring awake. He looked around and blinked twice, before closing his eyes and sighing.
'Guess it wasn't just a nightmare.' he thought downcasted. Before his expression suddenly shifted to one of great remembrance.
'The system's message! That burning sensation. What happened?' he exclaimed in his mind as he looked down. His eyes widened as he stared at the now lean and athletic hands before him, starks away from the malnourished twigs he had once called hands.
Kendrick stared at his chained hands. Flexed them. Felt the ache of weakness—but the spark of limitless potential behind it and he knew his fate was changing. And he knew something else.
This wasn't a prison.
This was a tutorial.
And the System didn't know what to do with him.
Because sometimes, the glitch isn't the error.
It's the beginning of something greater.