“Kids! Kids! Group up!” Yelled Miss Yahera. Outside of the orphanage, in a grass-filled backyard, standing beside the door, she waited for her kids to come out. Slowly, the kids came out of the small house toward the backyard. “Line up based on height! Girls on my right, and boys on my left!” She ordered the kids.

There were 20 kids, 12 boys and 8 girls. The girls easily lined themselves up, with some mess up, that was caused by formed friend groups and lone outcasts. Miss Yahera sighed seeing her efforts had once again failed.

The boys, on the other hand, were in full chaos, not knowing where to go, and some just pushed others with the same thought of outcasts. Unlike the girls, that were more of a quiet bunch, but sadly the boys were the opposite.

“Boys… what did I tell you… now go on a single line or punishment for you.” It was a childish comment, but they were kids, it was only normal. Hearing what Miss Yahera had said, everyone stood straight in a single line. Though they still lack the height order, she really can’t do much about it anymore.

“Today, we would have an appraising ceremony.” Some of the kids knew what Miss Yahera said, making them excited, and the others who didn’t were still happy as it was what everyone was already doing.

“Mister Appraiser will be arriving any second now, so behave well if you don’t want to get in trouble… with a stranger… ok…” Miss Yahera said, with a calm tone and a caring aura.

“Yes, Miss Yahera!” Everyone yelled in unison.

Soon, a man appeared outside of the fenced backyard. He wore a black robe, glasses, and a wizard hat. He jumped over the fence and walked towards Miss Yahera. “Sorry, I was kind of late, had some things to take care of.” He said with his hand on the back of his head and a blush on his face.

“Well… kids, are you ready to find out your classes?” He said to the kids playfully.

“Ok, stand straight everyone, step forward when I call your name.” Miss Yahera looked at the children’s happy faces. They were full of joy, excited to maybe become one of those heroes they admired. But deep inside Miss Yahera’s heart, as she had experienced herself, not everyone is lucky, and she’s there for them.

Miss Yahera swallowed her saliva and readied herself. “Micheal, you’re first.” A male kid excitedly came forward, being pushed by his friends and laughing at him. “Hello, mister appraiser.” Said Micheal.

“Hello Micheal, now, just stand straight okay, I will do my magic and a screen will pop up in front of your face, so don’t get too surprised.” Said the appraiser. Micheal nodded twice and then smiled.

Appraisal Ceremony is a process of forcibly awakening a child at the age of 5 and above. Using a class that was made through selective breeding, or what the public knows as a miracle by the number one family of healers.

By injecting mana carefully into children, using the pathway of said mana, the system is transferred directly into the soul. Through this, a simple awakening occurs, the child will be able to see the system, and with a short use of the [Appraisal] skill upon said children, its records would be placed in the System Almanac.

Micheal’s body started to glow, it wasn’t reacting, but pain was surging in his body, being blocked by the appraiser. After a few seconds, a screen popped up in front of Micheal; he had awakened.

[Micheal Sanderson]

[Profession: Production]

[Class: Blacksmith]

[Level: 1]

[Strength: 5]

[Agility: 3]

[Endurance: 6]

[Magic: 1]

[Dexterity: 10]

[Free Stat: 0]

[Skills]

[Metallurgy][Lvl. 1]

[Hammer Proficiency][Lvl. 1]

[Heat Recistance][Lvl. 1]

[Titles]

[N/A]

“What’s a blacksmith?” Micheal asked filled with confusion and worry.

“It’s a class that makes weapons.” Said the appraiser.

Miss Yahera was already on the lookout. Spending years with the children in front of her, she knew every single one of their dreams; Micheal, having the dream to be a dungeon raider and a warrior was what he needed.

“So can I still fight monsters?” The appraiser; being experienced at seeing disappointing faces and multiple tear-filled moments, looked at Miss Yahera. Without needing any communication through words, Miss Yahera nodded her head and the appraiser understood what he had to do.

“Yes you can, you just have to work hard.” The appraiser said enthusiastically. He always felt bad lying to children, but he just used the excuse that it was possible, it was just so out of the realm of reality, that even with a three-hundred-year history, only a single blacksmith had ever become a dungeon raider, even he only became a B-Rank Player.

“Ok, you can go back now Micheal.” Said Miss Yahera. Hearing the words of the appraiser, Micheal was happy, he clenched his hand and thrust it down in front of his friends with a bright smile on his face.

“Wait, do you know how to close your status window?” The appraiser asked Micheal. “Oh, I forgot to teach them.” Said Miss Yahera. “Okay, everyone, listen, to turn off your status screen, just think of it disappearing and it will disappear. If you want it back you just have to say “Status Screen”, got that?” She asked everyone.

“Yes, Miss Yahera!” Said everyone including Micheal. “I did it!” Yelled Micheal. “Well, you can go back now.” Miss Yahera repeated. He jumped his way to the house and peeked through the window.

Miss Yahera called out a name alternate to a boy and then a girl. Every single one of them got appraised until it was left with the 20th child, the last boy, and also the child Miss Yahera cared for the most.

He was the youngest child that Miss Yahera had taken care of. Ever since he was just a baby, unknown of his age, coming from a knock on her door, it was an old-fashioned way of a child coming to an orphanage, actually, it was the first time it had happened to her.

The rest of the children at the orphanage were from poor families that couldn’t take care of their children or people who never wanted a child to begin with; accidental ones, to be specific.

And so, this child, being there ever since it was a baby, was the one true child that could call Miss Yahera her parent. She didn’t even know who left him, nor who even was his parents. She had tried many times to look, but to no avail, it was impossible.

The child also lacked many things. Taking a 2 years to even walk, and 3, to speak its first word. He was… in the basic term, the outcast. But thankfully his social ability was able to allow him to not get bullied. He even had many friends among the children. Miss Yahera was really happy about that.

There had already been a case of crying from the past appraising, and so she was even more worried about this child’s future. And so, he was called, as the last to be appraised.

“Isaac, you’re last.” Said Miss Yahera.

Isaac walked with no expression. He was quiet and barely talked. “Hello, Isaac, just close your eyes and relaxed.” Said the appraiser. Isaac nodded and he closed his eyes.

“Ok, done.” Said the appraiser. He used his skill to look at Isaac’s class and everything, What? How? What? The appraiser was surprised. He was so shocked at what he saw that he hurriedly walked towards Miss Yahera and whispered into her ears; shocking her.

Isaac was still quiet, not knowing what the two in front of him were doing, he just slowly walked inside the house. The two were so distracted that they didn’t even notice Isaac walking inside.

“So what did you get Isaac!” One of the kids asked. “Summoner Specialist.” He said quietly and nonchalantly. “That sounds so cool!”. Everyone yelled.

While the kids had fun inside the small house, outside was a huge ruckus of uncertain emotions and overwhelming curiosity. “Are you sure you’re not blind?” Asked Miss Yahera.

“What are you saying, I saw what I saw.” The appraiser backed with a wrinkled face.

“But that can’t be, there had only ever been one summoner in the entire history of humanity. And a specialist at that? Is he perhaps that man’s child?” Miss Yahera questioned. She was in deep thought. Miss Yahera was worried about Isaac’s future, his chosen class was something totally unexpected, and quite frankly, useless.

It is a harsh use of words, but in reality, classes with the word “Specialist” are one of the worst classes in history. They lack any actual combat power and are over-reliant on a partner that has a class of their specialist.

Specialists are classes that enhance a specific class. It is explanatory. They are useless if they are alone, and even if they are critical to many professionals, they have been reported to abuse and slave-like treatment.

But Miss Yahera couldn’t even be worried about that. A “Summoner Specialist” was it, that was just useless. A class that had absolutely no purpose. There had been no reported “Summoner” in the current times, making his job nothing. Of course, he could still work himself up in some other jobs. But in the world of the Catalyst, classes were of utmost importance.

“So… his class is useless.” Said the appraisal. “Then, what are we gonna do?” He continued.

“I’ll have to do something about it, I'll have to help him allocate his stats in a useful way, and bring him to a path he could actually do. It’ll be hard, but you know this, Isaac is basically my own son.” Miss Yahera said. With her face down, she said goodbye to the appraiser. Waving at him, she walked to her home with a masked smile.

***In An Investigation Room***

“And so, that was how… I got the actual worst class… in human history.” Said Isaac to the man.

The man was frozen still, he couldn’t process what he just heard. A specialist that he had never heard of. A class more useless than “Nurse”. It was unheard of. “So you were a Summoner Specialist… wait, what? Then how! How are you this! How can such a useless class become the most notorious criminal in history!” He yelled.

“Well, I’m a criminal, that doesn’t mean I’m a murderer,” Isaac replied.

“But there had been many cases of you escaping from dungeons where everyone had already been killed!” The man yelled once more. His confusion kept piling and piling up. The government had caught many criminals, all putting them on death row or their most secure prison.

“They were already killed by the boss, you know you don’t have to kill a boss monster to gain access to the treasury.” Answered Isaac.

“Well… but, still, how.” The more Isaac talked, the more the man got confused. They had always known everything about their Client. A criminal is not someone hidden from the world, simply because the system existed. “Okay, complete your story, I have to find out how you tricked the system… mister Isaac Mardell.”

***Isaac’s Recap Of His Past***

Well, the rest of the story ain’t gonna be as detailed. You don’t really need to know much about my life or, there really isn’t much to hear about.

When I was a kid, I was really quiet, but I had good ears. After getting appraised, as the other kids celebrated their awakenings, I was able to hear the short conversation of the Appraiser and Miss Yahera.

Because of this, I was able to act upon it myself. I didn’t know at the time what a specialist was, but I didn’t need to know. I was given a status screen much different than anyone. Others had stats that were four or five at most. But unbeknownst to them, I had much more stats.

I was given every stat known possibly known. Of course, at the time I thought I was just special. But in reality that was just how every specialists were. Gaining every possible stat wasn’t a good thing though. Having more options with just a total of the same amount of stat points as everyone else, I was put in quite pressure.

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Due to this, I had to be smart. I didn’t allocate any free stats that I had. I realized that I was the only one who had free stat points. It was a total of 20 and the rest of my stats were placed at one. I didn’t do anything until I learned more of what I needed.

And so, an actual few years had passed. It was a surprise, but I actually never got bullied. Still living at the orphanage with some of my old friends and some that were new children. When I was at the age of needing to actually work, at that time I needed to actually allocate my stats.

I never leveled up, that was normal, my job was not a production occupation, so the only thing that could make me level up was actually being a support to a summoner, which was impossible, or to level up through hunting.

And that is what I did. Of course, it is impossible for someone without the right class to actually properly fight monsters. So, when I raided my first-ever dungeon, that was when the second thing that changed my life happened.

***Inside A Public Dungeon***

A bow packed, 100 arrows, a single healing potion for critical situations, and enough food to last me till I get enough. Isaac ran through his head.

Isaac was inside a public dungeon. An infinite dungeon that never closes, they are the type that players use to level up. They don’t offer any rewards other than monster corpses that you could sell.

Well, I’m finally inside a dungeon. Took me longer because of that guard that didn’t want to let me in because he said my class was not combatant. Well, fuck him! I’ll show everyone that I could still be a player even if my class is useless.

The dungeon was a beginner dungeon. It was the place players in the range of level 1-20 go to. It was a tower-type dungeon where the higher you go, the stronger the monsters become.

Isaac wore a green hooded robe and brown clothes. He raised the hood and walked straight into the forest to blend in. He was on the first floor of the tower, a forest that had goblins as its first monsters.

Isaac had researched monsters many times. It was the course he took in his class just for the sole purpose of today. But covering his entire body with green-colored clothes wasn’t to hide from monsters.

Instead, it was to hide from other players. The player industry is very competitive. It lacked many free dungeon spaces and was infested with new players who were too drunk to have imposter syndrome.

Isaac was also one of them, but he knew that and he accepted it. He was a pushover, someone who could die because he so wanted to prove that he wasn’t worthless. He studied monsters and dungeons every single day, took a master's degree in monster biology, and even became a scholar.

But of course, he wasn’t going to be a monster biologist or a scholar. The only reason he ever made such an effort was to one day become a player, and that dream was going to be decided by this one day of him inside a dungeon.

Isaac walked through the forest; spotting many players grouping up against goblins and arguing who would kill it. And that entire situation was why he even had the same colored clothing as the forest. To be an adventurer, he wasn’t going to be nice.

Being a specialist, he wasn’t restricted to a weapon. It was actually a really nice feature of his class. Isaac climbed up a tree and brought out his bow and a single arrow from his inventory. He aimed it at the goblin and…

“I told you I will kill it!” Said one man.

“You already killed the last one!” Replied another.

“But I dealt the most damage!” The other man argued.

An arrow came flying from an unknown direction and hit the goblin. Without the two noticing, the goblin turned to particles and was killed.

“A kill stealer!” Yelled one man.

“If I had just killed it this wouldn’t have happened! Come on let’s go and find that man!” Yelled another.

Isaac placed his bow back in his inventory and started to run. That was easy. “Kill Stealing” it was considered illegal by some people, but in reality, a dungeon was a lawless place, doing so was of course morally disrespectful, but if a man has to eat, he will eat no matter what.

Isaac lacked the skills to be able to kill anything, and so his plan to level up was simple. Put 10 stats into perception and the other 10 to dexterity. Fuck the rest. And steal every single kill! It was a perfect plan. Quite literally. Being beginner players, the tactic for raiding a dungeon was always to have a teammate. That was why the common problem of beginner players was the decision on who would kill their prey. And who better to take candy from, but bickering children who had too much pride than to have a simple sharing system? Answer, no one.

Just four more to go and I’ll level up. Isaac jumped down from the tree and ran. He didn’t change his plan, whenever he came across a loud bicker of people, he would always chase it and then climb a tree. He then took out his bow and fired.

Watching the panicked faces of the players was enjoyable, but he couldn’t waste time or he would be caught. Way too much time wasted on monster biology and archery classes that were far too expensive? Sorry, but Miss Yahera, you were wrong.

It didn’t take long till Isaac was able to go through his first level up.

[You Have Leveled Up]

[You Have 5 Free Stat Points]

And as a normal sane person would do, he placed all 5 of his free stats into perception. I feel my senses tingling already.

Now, you may be curious about one thing. 5 free stat points? That sounds wrong, a level should just give 2 points. That’s what makes the job specialist far more useless, but there was actually a really useful trick about that.

Isaac had studied not only monsters and dungeons, but he had also studied history. And the funny thing about history is that it is filled with a lot of stories about greedy people and their success and downfall.

Humans, as the normal source of greed on the planet, were hungry for more. In history, unlike the fantasy novels that existed, were actually much more dire than they expected. The Cataclysm wasn’t some tragic experience that killed half of humanity and gave people superpowers.

It was an event that killed half of humanity… and half of the entire world and gave people greed. Humans, despite some existing, actually don’t care about mass death. Once humanity was able to stand up from the event of the Cataclysm and find more and more about what the System had to offer in terms of power.

Countries started to get hungry for players. In reality, less than half of people could actually awaken, but the politicians didn’t like that. And so through the process of human testing, they were able to awaken people at just the age of 5.

And so after that very long explanation of humanity's greed showing once more, humans had forgotten the times when people awakened at the normal age of above 20… where everyone actually gained 5 free stat points instead of 2.

Why is that you ask? Simple, by being able to level up at such an early age, the System made a patch to only give 2 stat points as a way to weaken humans. But the System is just, as its name applies… a System. And Systems could always be broken.

By not distributing his stat points for over 20 years, Isaac had simulated the past, making the System think of him as someone who naturally awakened. Of course, that bug wouldn’t last long, and at the same time, Isaac was given a huge opportunity that he didn’t even know of.

2 Goblins… good. Isaac stole more and more goblins from players until almost half of the people from the first floor had either left or gone chasing for him. Because of this, Isaac had to stop his stealing for now.

Isaac dropped off the top of a tree and started to just wander around. He was now level 3 with a perception stat of 21. “21 stat for perception… it looks so wrong… my entire stats screen looks so wrong.”

[Stats]

[Strength: 1]

[Agility: 1]

[Endurance: 1]

[Magic: 1]

[Stealth: 1]

[Perception: 21]

[Intelligence: 1]

[Dexterity: 11]

[Free Stat: 0]

Isaac rested in front of a small pond beside a cliff with a waterfall. He felt the itch of swimming but didn’t want to risk himself being caught. Of course, the others didn’t know that he was the kill stealer, but on the off chance that a person with a [Appraisal] skill is among them, Isaac would look like a really suspicious person.

But his resting was about to be stopped, with his eyes closed trying to rest, he started to hear steps and voices a few meters away from him. I’m surrounded! The voices were coming from all directions, not every single one of them was together, but coincidentally they were all heading to the waterfall.

Isaac had no choice but to go underwater. With a still immature mind, he wasn’t perfect. Thinking of plans right in the scene of a situation wasn’t one of his trained skills. Panicking, Isaac immediately jumped into the water.

He thought of something stupid about a cave behind the waterfall and ran straight at it. Reached the waterfall, as expected there was nowhere to hide. Isaac couldn’t hold his breath long and swimming had already tired him as he didn't even have any stat on endurance.

Having no options, Isaac just kept on randomly swimming like a fish out of water. And like it was a grace from the System, Isaac was met with something that would change his life forever. It was quite a cliche… but Isaac couldn’t care.

He phased through some part of the pond and entered a mysterious cave. “Where am I? Wait… did I just find a hidden area? I mean this dungeon has only been here for a year and a few months… but still… I have never heard of there being a hidden area in an infinite dungeon… that means there’s a boss here.”

Isaac wanted to go out immediately, he had a pride of his own but he wasn’t stupid. Even if finding some hidden mystery had him feel a sense of impostor syndrome of being a main character, he wasn’t the type to just risk dying. His class wasn’t even special, it wasn’t a hack, he was just cheating the System.

But luck would befall Isaac as the cave suddenly lit up with candles on the walls. The cave was small and just had a single long path. There was no entrance nor exit, neither from above, below, nor the sides.

Isaac was stuck, he looked at both ends of the caving and saw something at the end of one of them. “Is that a… what is that?” It was a weird blob, his perception was high and he could definitely see something that far, but for some odd reason, with the stone being clear around that weird blob, a blur was sitting on the floor.

Having no other options, Isaac walked straight to the blob and just picked it up with no care.

[You Have Acquired A Hidden Piece Of The System]

Isa-

***In An Investigation Room***

“I have to go.” The man stood up fast. “And why is that?” Asked Isaac with a smirk on his face. “Just to make a quick call.” The man said. He wanted to go fast but Isaac’s words had him tied.

“It’s because of the “Piece” isn’t it,” Isaac said.

“Where did you learn about the Hidden Pieces?” The man’s eyes were wide open and his stare was sharp and heavy. He stood straight staring at Isaac. His eyes showed malice and pierced Isaac’s chest.

“I got one… so I had to search for more.” Said Isaac, still smiling despite the noticeable pain in his body.

“How much do you have…” The man breathed heavily. “Oh… I wonder how much.” Isaac smiled. He then laughed mocking the man.

It was a weird situation, Isaac was suffering from just the stare of the man. If it wasn’t already obvious, Isaac’s stat was still in chaos. It wasn’t normal and he lacked a lot of strength. With just the stare of the man, he could die.

“Isaac… no, Shadow Wolf… I am not kidding here. How much of the system do you have.” The man asked once more.

Isaac wanted to play more, but he didn’t have any option. He was already pushing the button further than necessary. “Well, let me think about it… hmm… if I count… I think it’s around… 38 and 10 is in your possession… if I remember correctly.” Isaac replied.

The man immediately grabbed Isaac’s neck and raised him from his chair. He slowly tightened his grip and Isaac was losing breath. “Don’t do this Cerlon! I’ll give it to you! I’ll give it!” Isaac yelled.

Cerlon tightened his grip further until Isaac was about to lose consciousness. He then dropped him to his chair; leaving a red mark of his hand on Isaac’s neck. “What’s your price?” Cerlon asked.

“I haven’t even finished my story yet… can we do this for later?” Isaac smiled.

“I do not care about your story anymore, knowing that you have 38 fucking pieces of the System is enough for me to know everything. It just makes me feel embarrassed, that a man who didn’t even have a combat class was able to gather more than the government. It hurts my pride… you see, Isaac.” Cerlon said. His neck twitched and his eyes turned red.

“Fine… I don’t ask for anything really, I never cared about the Hidden Pieces, just take off these cuffs and I’ll give it to you.” Said Isaac, he sighed and rested his back on his chair. He placed his head on top of the chair rails and looked at the ceiling.

“How do I know you won’t just escape.” Said Cerlon. “You can kill me anytime, you know that, and if you don’t believe me, I can even show my status screen,” Isaac replied. He sighed once more looking up, he felt a sense of freedom after everything. It was outside of Cerlon’s attention, but Isaac was actually happy.

Cerlon sighed heavily. “Well, now I’m just curious about one last thing.” He took his chair and sat down. “Why did you not do more,” Cerlon asked. His anger had disappeared and his heart was slowly beating back to normal. “With your abilities, you could have definitely stolen the 10 that we have, and I know you know where the other 2 are already.” He continued.

“I told you… I never cared… that’s why… I will give you all~ the pieces that I have, in exchange for being exempted from the death sentence.” Isaac offered to Cerlon.

“You have a deal, we’re done here Isaac, I will take those pieces in a few hours and you will be thrown to “The Vault”. Is that clear?” Cerlon said. He stood up from his chair and raised his hands to the lamp.

“Deal…” Replied Isaac. Cerlon turned the lamp off and everything turned black. Slowly, Isaac’s consciousness… disappeared.

***The Vault***

[All Inmates To Their Cells]

An echoing robotic voice filled the giant room. Coming from all directions; it was well off annoying.

[I Repeat! All Inmates To Their Cell]

In the middle of nowhere, a place hidden from the public; the most secure prison in the entire world “The Vault”. Housing the most dangerous criminals on the planet, from serial murderers at the minimum kill count of one thousand to the most vile Villains wrecking to world.

[We Have A New Inmate Today!]

A prison with a large open area in the middle and cells at the walls. The door to the prison opened, with 20 guards behind him. Wearing an encased metal helmet, a handcuff on his back, and a metal brace on his right leg.

[Welcome The Shadow Wolf!]

Isaac was kicked inside and the door closed completely. He lay face down on the floor. His helmet slowly broke down and his handcuff came off. He raised his head from the ground and sat in a crossed position. “Huh, it wasn’t how I pictured it.”

[Welcome To The Vault!]