Eric’s closed eye twitched as his mind stirred. It was the first sign of movement, other than breathing, since he had passed out. Deep within his mind, scenes from his past began to unfold.
He was running. Twice around the block, three times around the park. He winced as his sweat dripped down his back, making his fresh wounds flare up.
“Fuckers get a free weekend, and this is how they decide to spend it,” a teenage Eric muttered through clenched teeth, his hands on his knees as he spat at the ground, quickly getting used to the burning of his wounds. “What the fuck am I going to need this for anyway.”
Eric began to run once more. His surroundings began to slowly darken, then, another scene began.
He and a young Stella were being cautiously pushed from behind. Fury was building within his young chest. The scene suddenly changed. Stella stood frozen; her eyes full of fear as a grinning Eric spat out something from his bloody mouth—blood that wasn’t his.
The surroundings darkened and another scene began. On his way to the dungeon, barghests pinned him to the ground, snarling, their teeth digging into his flesh. However, what he was hearing didn’t belong to this memory.
“Pain is not only a way for others to get what they want from you,” a woman's voice spoke calmly. She sat nearby, watching Eric from a few steps away. “You can also use pain to get what you want from yourself.” The woman stood and walked toward Eric. “Focus on the pain, Eric. Not the hunger, not the thirst. Pick one and use it to center yourself.”
Eric winced in pain as he tried his best to focus on the sharp pain of something digging into his shoulder. The woman's voice cut through the haze of his thoughts.
“Good,” the woman said. “Now answer the following…”
The scene faded, darkness taking over his dream once more.
“—ook, his eye is moving,” one smooth but deep voice said. “It’s been what? Almost a year since his galaxy was integrated, and he’s spent most of it unconscious.”
“Calm down. It’s a miracle he’s even alive to begin with,” another voice said, this one just as deep, but also more booming. “But be honest, you’re curious to know how he’s alive, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” the speaker with the smooth voice said, agreeing with the other. “The sheer gravity should have crushed him.”
Eric blinked as the world came into view. The air felt thick, and his limbs were impossibly heavy, as though gravity itself had been dialed up beyond his limits.
At first, he only saw blurry figures looming over him. After a moment of adjustment and a few rubs of his eyes, the figures came into focus. He tried to sit up, but the overwhelming weight pressed down on him. Even so, he pushed through and got a better look at the men who watched him.
One was a tall man with shimmering golden hair and golden eyes that flowed heavily like molten gold, with pupils like those of a serpent. His long golden hair was tied up in a simple ponytail, clashing with its natural splendor.
He wore a robe that seemed to be woven from actual threads of gold, with intricate patterns of light moving like a wave across its surface, as though it were alive.
Beside him stood another figure that was much taller, towering over the first man. While the first was about as tall as Alex, this one seemed to be an Alex and a half, maybe two.
He wore a blue robe, but its simplicity was an illusion—faint glowing circuits could be seen, connecting to glowing ethereal sigils. The top half hung loosely from his waist, leaving his broad torso bare.
He had short blue hair and eyes reminiscent of the ocean; the blue in his eyes even seemed to move like water—no, it was moving like water, swirling and shifting as if his gaze held the very currents of the sea.
Blinking to clear his grogginess, Eric got an even better look, realizing that the blond man not only had serpent-like eyes, but also faint, shimmering golden scales on his skin that only became visible when the light hit him at just the right angle.
With his brow furrowed, as he still felt somewhat groggy, Eric spoke. “Where am I?” he asked, his voice hoarse and dry. “And who are you?”
“Before we get into questions, you should eat something,” the golden-eyed man said smoothly. “Can you walk, or do you need help?”
Eric shifted his body, swinging his legs off the bed, and as soon as his feet touched the floor, he tried to stand, but his legs immediately buckled under him.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” the golden-eyed man said, shaking his head. “Help him, would you?” he said, gesturing at the blue-haired man.
The blue-haired giant nodded in acceptance and grabbed Eric by the arm, lifting him up, helping walk. They slowly walked behind the blonde man, leaving the small room they had been in.
Eric glanced around, trying to get an idea of where he was, but it didn’t make sense. It looked like a normal, albeit small, house. The walls appeared to be made from some hard material, maybe bricks or cinder blocks, and the floor was covered in clean, white tiles.
What was strange wasn’t the structure of the house but the furniture, it was all over the place. wooden furniture lined one wall, while on the other, high-tech, floating displays flickered, projecting data streams into the air.
A desk that looked like it had been carved by hand centuries ago mixed with an ultra-modern, high-tech chair that looked more advanced than anything on Earth.
However, there was harmony in the arrangement, and it was like that everywhere he looked. But that wasn’t all. If Eric focused a bit, he could feel mana subtly pulsing not just from the furniture but from the walls and floor themselves.
They entered a wider space—perhaps a living room—and Eric was handed a bowl of steaming broth. The vegetables, or at least what he assumed were the vegetables, were too bright and sweet. The meat was far too chewy, to the point where it felt more like rubber.
He lifted a spoonful to his mouth, and while the solids were difficult to chew, the broth was rich and savory. Giving up on the solids, Eric slurped it down in one go.
The golden-eyed man sat across from him, pointing toward the empty bowl. “I looked for what fit the standards of your world the best. It might not be the same, but it should be close.”
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“Think you messed up fruits and vegetables,” Eric said as he used his tongue and nails to remove chunks of tough meat that got stuck in between his teeth.
“My bad,” the man said with a soft laugh. He clapped his hands. “I guess we should get to it then.” He adjusted himself in his chair, making himself comfortable. “First, I think you should check your messages, you should have a backlog.”
“You really should,” the blue-haired man added with a grin, standing near the door of the room where Eric had woken up.
Eric, his face now carrying an expression of confusion, hesitated but did what they asked, carefully gauging their reactions.
As he opened his system messages, he was bombarded by a barrage of them. Even through the rush, he could see that some messages were repeated, while others stood out as unique. Was that a title? he asked himself with surprise.
Endurance +1
Endurance +1
Endurance +1
Strength +1
Strength +1
Constitution +1
Constitution +1
Eric skimmed through the messages, his brow furrowing in concentration. The flood of notifications was overwhelming. First was a sea of messages notifying him that his physical stats had increased. He quickly dismissed them since he would check his status at some point, he didn’t have to manually count the increased points.
Eric glanced at the two men; their expressions remained unchanged. He then returned his focus to the system messages, continuing to sift through them. With a mental command, he filtered them to only show titles.
Congratulations! You are the first one from Galaxy N24-895 to reach the Frontier.
You have earned the title: Frontrunner.
Congratulations! You have placed within the top five hundred on the rankings.
You have earned the title: Contender.
Frontrunner (A): As the first from your galaxy to reach the Frontier, you stand above the rest with unparalleled potential. Portal costs within your home galaxy are modestly reduced.
Contender (E): While not at the pinnacle, you’ve still earned respect for your place in the rankings. You gain an aura visible only to those who are also in the rankings.
“That’s…something, I guess,” Eric muttered to himself. “But what rankings?”
Curious, he focused on the remaining unopened messages and filtered them for anything related to the "Ranking.” It didn’t take long for him to find what he was looking for.
The Rankings have officially commenced!
After six months of preparation and exploration, the Rankings System is now live. Your performance will be measured across all trials, battles, and achievements. Your rank will be determined by your actions, achievements, and, above all, your level.
The race for glory has begun! Continue to strive for power, protect what’s yours, and remember: the Frontier awaits.
Current Rank: 488
Warning! Your rank has fallen, be careful not to fall too low or you’ll lose your title.
Please choose an alias.
Eric nodded, easily accepting his rank without hesitation. Even if he did have some good achievements under him, like being the first to clear a dungeon, the incursion, the area bosses, and who knows how many dungeon clears, he was still only level ten.
He didn’t have to check his status to know that; it was right there in the message: “above all, your level.” If level determined rank, he was lucky to even still be in the rankings.
Now, he pondered what alias to use. He considered picking something personal—a name only he and his close friends would recognize—so they would know he was okay.
One of the men that was observing him had mentioned something about it almost being a year since the integration began, which meant that his friends might not have known about him for more than six months.
He began to go through options in his head. Quickly realizing that he had never really had a nickname in his life. Those who didn’t call him by his first name usually referred to him by his last name.
“Wait, that’s not entirely true,” Eric muttered. “What about ‘Little Light’?”
He remembered his little sister, who he nicknamed “Little Light” because her name meant light in Spanish and because she was, well, little. In turn, she and she alone, would call him “Littler Light,” convinced that adding “-er” to a word meant it was bigger.
He was about to choose it as an alias when a question popped into his head. What are the others using as their alias? he thought to himself.
Having chosen an alias, but still hesitant, he moved the window to the side, and the entire rankings appeared, centering on his position. He quickly scrolled to the top, searching for the top ranks.
1. Blade of Solace.
2. The General.
3. Wall of Solace.
4. Riches.
5. Ashar-Al’va.
6. Husband.
7. Broken dreams.
8. Asura lightning.
9. Flame of Solace.
10. Demon god LOL.
11. SUPAH
12. 43rd Regiment of-
13. Krisk chosen.
14. Spark of Solace.
“Anna is first, Alex is third, Stella is ninth, and Marcus is fourteenth. They’ve really kept at it—staying at the top,” Eric said, a small smile appearing on his face. He selected the first rank, a new window opening.
Blade of Solace Level 20.
Affiliation: Solace.
Eric made a frown and quickly opened the others.
Wall of Solace Level 20.
Affiliation: Solace.
Flame of Solace Level 20.
Affiliation: Solace.
Spark of Solace Level 21.
Affiliation: Solace.
His questions only increased, and to clarify one point in his mind, he opened one more.
The General Level 20.
Affiliation: The hounds.
“Fuck!” Eric exclaimed. The two men lifted their brows but otherwise remained unfazed. The General? No…mom? Really? At least change the name of your group. Eric had literally nothing to base his belief that it was his mom other than her affiliation, but he also had no doubts about it.
But with that, he had confirmed it. Something happened at level 20, or perhaps it’s related to the class evolution. Regardless, it seemed something had made leveling incredibly hard.
“Alex and Anna were near the end of level 19 the last time I saw them, so why are they only level 20? The only explanation is that something changes.”
Then, a window flashed, urging his attention. It was the window requesting his alias.
Following the naming convention used by his friends, he began to ponder on a possible alias, combining it with something unique to him. Considering that he didn't have a distinctive feature like they did, other than his eye, he struggled a bit. A smile spread across his face as an idea popped in to his mind.
Littler Light of Solace
Rank: 488
“Are you done?” the golden-eyed asked.
“Mostly,” Eric replied, still processing the whirlwind of information he had just encountered.
“Good, let’s go.” With that, the man stood and left through the only other door in the small house.
The giant blue-haired man offered his hand, but Eric was able to walk with greater ease this time around. His body seemingly only needing time to awaken. Using the wall for support, Eric made his way out.
Eric didn’t know what to expect when he exited the living room. He could have understood if it was a small yard, a busy street, or even a desolate wasteland, but what he saw was far more extraordinary.
A giant library with shelves that stretched forever toward a ceiling that he couldn’t see. Each shelf was full of books of different colors, shapes and sizes. Some clearly had magic inscribed upon their binding, others were sealed in chains.
Other than the three people who had just entered, the library was completely empty. However, it was full of movement. Drones that reminded him of those robotic vacuum cleaners flew from one the top of one regular bookshelf to another.
Another drone, that was exactly like the one in his memory, glided slightly above the floor, paused for a moment, then emitted a small circle of light before moving to another spot and repeating the process.
The golden-eyed man walked to a giant wooden counter near a massive set of double glass doors their frames intricately engraved with symbols that pulsed with energy. They were clearly the main entrance.
With a smile that hadn’t wavered since it appeared on his face, he turned to Eric and tapped on the counter. “Any questions at the desk, please,” he announced as if there were more people in the library.