With teacher Ana watching like a hawk, the group of students started walking along the road quietly and obediently. For most students, this was also the first time they were seeing a void gate in person so no one dared to even breathe loudly. But unlike them, the road was actually quite lively.

Many military men and individual teams were walking back and forth from the gate area. Some of these people had numerous wounds on their bodies. They looked tired and exhausted and yet gave a violent, powerful vibe. When crossing these people everyone made sure to step aside politely. Other than that, there were hawkers lined up on both sides of the road.

"Are you looking for a top-grade equipment repair shop? Look no more, I am right here. My smithing skills were praised by the beast god himself! Come here! Come here!"

"Healing Salve for all wounds is available! Discounts this month!"

"Mana cores can be exchanged here!"

"Buying all the available meat parcels!"

All sorts of wares were being sold. Items were also being exchanged in a barter system. The other students glanced at these things and kept walking but for Noah everything was new. He had never even seen many of these things in his life. There were hideous-looking monstrous beast parts for sale. There were some beasts captured and caged, also for sale.

At one point, there was a basket full of roasted fish and each fish was the size of a dog! It was eye-opening for Noah! "I need to visit the library soon or figure out how to access the internet here." He silently absorbed everything he saw and continued walking around.

But suddenly one voice loudly shouted in his ears. "What? Are you busy taking notes? You should be. With your trash status and empty brain, this will most likely be your job in the future. Ba ha ha ha!" It was Blake. He and a few other students had purposefully hung back so that they would be in the same part of the group.

Noah sighed inwardly and ignored the bunch. He already had too much to deal with and didn't want to waste his time responding to a bunch of bullies. "Oh! Would you look at that? Boss Noah is too busy to talk to us plebs." The group loudly cackled. Since they were now in the market area, they were able to behave a lot more freely and did not hold back.

It was getting a bit much so Noah decided to head to the front and stay away from this group, but just as he stepped forward, another leg came in between and Noah tripped and fell. The road itself was quite wide. However, he was already on the side and when he tripped, he fell towards one of the beast vendors.

More specifically, he fell toward one of the cages the beast vendors had. CLANG!

Noah's body hit the cage, and the impact made a loud noise that woke up the sedated creature inside. Unfortunately for Noah, the beast was not properly sedated, to begin with. Otherwise, this much noise wouldn't be enough for it to become alert.

But his bad luck, a pair of red eyes flashed open, the moment Noah's body hit the cage and before he could react or do anything, something huge and furry grabbed him. Noah's heart almost stopped. Huge claws were digging into his body. Pain rippled across, and blood seeped out.

His entire life flashed past his eyes for a second time. A mountain of weight pushed him down. He felt as if he was going to get torn apart into shreds and disintegrate into nothingness. But just like that, suddenly, all of that disappeared. Noah found himself on the road once again. In front of him, the shapely ass of the new homeroom teacher stood.

Everything happened in a fraction of a second. The loud roar of the beast quieted down, it was subdued and once again put back to sleep. Noah's injuries as well were healed. His bleeding had completely stopped.

"How are you feeling now?" Ana turned back and asked.

"B… Blood.." He stammered. Her voice snapped Noah out of his trance and he hurriedly checked his body.

His shoulders that were punctured into, almost tearing out the flesh to reveal his bones now looked almost completely healed. In a second, everything could have ended for him, but now he was saved? This was magic. This was the same thing he had been excited about, and it was no joke. Noah's heart pounded loudly against his chest, beating out of his heart.

Seeing him sitting on the road, completely scared out of his wits, all the students standing around loudly burst into laughter. A few other passersby also laughed at his plight as they crossed him. "This is what happens when idiots visit dangerous places." Someone said.

"Ha Ha Ha! I bet he peed his pants." Blake's voice loudly resounded. Everyone laughed again, and before things could get worse, the teacher interfered. "That's enough." Ana sternly said, lifting his gold-rimmed glasses. She gave another strict glance at the group and then proceeded to walk forward. Everyone else as well did the same as they continued the rest of the tour.

Only Noah walked along with a dazed look on his face. However, unlike what the others assumed, he was no longer scared. Instead, he was feeling something else. After the initial fright and the absurdity of the situation dawned on him, there was something else that he realized.

In his entire life or rather his previous life, this single second was more exciting, euphoric, and enjoyable than anything else. He had touched death and played ball with him. It was thrilling beyond his imagination. This was a life-altering experience for someone like him who only knew studying and part-time jobs.

He was just another undergraduate student when he died unexpectedly, but now he was in this whole new world, a dangerous world. At this moment, Noah really wanted to learn magic. He wanted to be as strong as the teacher who was walking ahead of them, maybe even stronger than her.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

He wanted to see just how far would he be able to go in this world! "Can I really not learn any magic?" Noah clenched his fists thinking about his complete lack of mana affinity. He did not want to be weak and useless, relying on others to live his life. In this dangerous world, that was simply not going to cut it.

He also did not want to live like that. What if he did not have mana affinity? There definitely had to be some other way. "It's fine. I just got here. I will do whatever it takes and become stronger." Right at that second, something loudly chimed in his mind.

[Ding. System Activated]

[Ding. Divine Chaos System is now initializing…]

The field trip ended soon, and before long, the students were back on the bus and headed back to their school. On their way, everyone was excitedly discussing the void gate they had just visited, except for one person who remained silent. Noah kept staring at the message in front of him.

He still did not know what this was but he understood one thing. It was not simple magic and it wasn't something that everybody had. For example, others couldn't even see it. So perhaps no one in this world had something like this. And the question was why was it popping up in front of him?

There was a nagging suspicion in his mind. The previous resident of his body was mysteriously gone. What happened to the real Noah? How did he get here? Ian did not believe in coincidences so he couldn't help but jump to the obvious conclusion. This strange system had something to do with the previous Noah's disappearance or perhaps even death! Sure, this was a straightforward conclusion but sometimes the simplest explanation was the correct one.

Noah absentmindedly stared ahead for a while before he sighed and shook his head. There was no point in thinking about all these now. He had a feeling that this thing should soon finish 'initializing' and then he would probably, hopefully, get more answers. The school bus soon arrived at the destination and all the students started pouring out. It was the last class after all so everyone was excited to head back to their dorms and check out their room arrangement.

Noah was one of the last to get out and before he could decide what to do next, he found himself being dragged by a pair of strong yet slender hands. "Ahem. Ella? Where are we going?" Noah tried to ask the girl but she shushed him and then dragged the both of them to the first years building's terrace. Unfortunately, it looks like the terrace was a popular destination these days and two groups of delinquent-looking students were already there.

"Ahem. Why don't we go to the library?" Noah suggested instead.

Ella gave him a look and then the two of them arrived at the library which was on the third floor. There were not many students there so it was an ideal spot to have a conversation.

"Let's go there." She dragged Noah into one of the study rooms and only then let go of his hand.

"What happened, Noah? Now tell me everything." She asked, her eyebrows knitted together in worry.

Ummm… Noah blinked. What am I supposed to tell this girl? As if answering his question, Ella sighed and spoke again, "You haven't even called your mom and dad for the past year. Do you know how worried they are?"

"So what if you don't have any magic talent? They don't care about that. I don't care about that. Why do you care so much? It really is not that big of a deal. You should already just transfer to the engineering division. How is being an engineer any worse than being a mage? They are equally important to our world. You know that. So why are you adamantly staying here and torturing yourself? Before leaving, your mother asked me to tell you to call her. You should do that. She is very worried about you."

Noah remained silent. There was actually an engineering division in this same school? This was new information to him. Damn. I really need to put an effort and learning more about this place. He silently made a mental note.

"Why are you silent? Won't you say something?" The clear blue eyes looked at Noah both angrily and worriedly.

Noah smiled. The girl was a bit bossy but he did not mind it. This was already more warmth and affection than he had ever received in his previous life. His dad was a distant bastard who only knew how to work or drink and he had never seen his mom. Even if he went three days without eating there was no one to ask him about it.

"I will look into the engineering division," Noah replied without blowing the girl off completely.

"You will? Really?" Ella's eyes immediately brightened up.

"Yes." Noah nodded and he was not bluffing. He would first check out what this system thing was and if it didn't work out then the engineering division it was.

"Noah. This is great! Aunty and uncle will be so happy to hear about this. It's not like you are taking a step down. I have complete faith in you. You will become a great engineer and discover some amazing magic device-" While Ella continued saying a few words of encouragement, unexpectedly once again the same flashing translucent screen appeared in front of Noah.

[Ding. Divine Chaos System is now online]

He suddenly felt a strange pull and the entire world around him darkened. It was pitch black everywhere.

"What? What happened?" He tried to see where he was and once again he found himself in the same spot in the library near the same girl.

"Huh? What happened, Noah? Are you okay?" Ella worriedly looked at him.

Noah stared at her for a second and then nodded. "Yes. I am fine." While he was still talking with her, now another screen popped up in front of him and flashed brightly.

…

Name: Noah

Affinity: Chaos Element

Rank: N/A

Level: 0

Experience points: 0/500

Health: 100

Mana: N/A

Chaos: 0

Vitality: 5

Stamina: 5

Intellect: 5

Strength: 5

Defense: 5

Agility: 5

…

...

What the hell… Noah was completely dumbfounded at this game-like script. What was all of this? His name was there so all of these descriptions were about him? More importantly, his eyes landed on the affinity section and it was not empty. He actually had an affinity to an element?

"Chaos element," Noah muttered in deep thought.

"Huh? What did you say?" Ella asked as she was still busy consoling him and hadn't heard this part properly.

"Have you heard about something called chaos?" Noah asked again. He absolutely had no idea what this was and hadn't seen anyone from his class as well testing for this affinity. Even in his archived memories, there was nothing about this. It seemed weird since he was in this person's body, so how could he not know about this affinity? Unless… perhaps it was rare?

Noah looked at Ella who seemed equally clueless. It was a good thing they were in a library. They could simply go and look around to find answers. "Eh? Why do we need to go and search in the books? Everything is online." Ella took out a phone from her pocket. For god's sake!

There was a phone in this world! Noah received another shock. It turns out that his luck was so bad. The guy's body he had accidentally possessed had nothing on him. Not even a phone! "I think I must have lost mine. Can you look up 'chaos element'?"

Ella nodded and typed in. She tried it a few different times but found absolutely nothing useful. "Wait, I will try on the school's server. They might have more information." She mumbled and typed in her name and enrollment number to access that. A minute later, she excitedly shouted. "Noah! I got something!"