"Status Window."
The moment I muttered the words quietly—
A translucent blue screen materialized before my eyes.
It floated silently in the air like a hologram straight out of a sci-fi movie.
Honestly, no matter how many times I saw it, the Status Window still felt absurdly convenient.
No medical checkups.
No complicated evaluations.
Just one command and suddenly your entire existence became readable like a game character sheet.
People began to see their strengths, abilities, and skills when this screen appears before them nearly five hundred years ago, when mana was descended upon the work.
Since then till now, everyone depends on this screen.
=== Status ===
Name : Damian Valtor
Rank : D
Strength : E+
Agility : E-
Stamina : E
Intelligence : C
Mana Capacity : D
Luck : E
Charm: A-
--> Talent :
[Gunmanship Lv.3]
[Swordsmanship Lv.1]
[Cooking Lv1]
--> Skills:
==========
I stared at the screen for several long seconds.
Then sighed deeply.
"…Yeah."
Damian's stats were awful.
No—
Awful was being generous.
This was a complete disaster.
The only reason his physical stats even reached the [E] range now was because of the seventy-one days of forced labor at Saint Marianne Orphanage.
Before that?
Strength : F+
Agility : F-
Stamina : F
For someone possessing a [D-Rank Mana Core], that was embarrassingly low.
Even average academy students would laugh at this build if they know about it.
And honestly?
They'd be right.
Mana Rank and physical capability were closely connected in this world.
A stronger Mana Core naturally enhanced the body over time.
Which meant Damian somehow managed to waste even passive growth.
That took talent.
Negative talent.
I rubbed my forehead tiredly.
"With [SS-Rank Potential], too…"
That was the truly horrifying part.
An [SS-Rank Potential] individual should've been a monster already.
A prodigy.
The kind of existence noble families fought wars over.
Yet Damian somehow trained so little that his body barely surpassed normal humans physically.
It was almost impressive.
Like watching someone buy a legendary weapon just to use it as a coat hanger.
My gaze shifted downward again.
[Gunmanship Lv.3]
That part at least made sense.
The Valtor family specialized heavily in firearms.
Not ordinary firearms, either.
Mana Weapons.
Shotguns.
Sniper rifles.
Revolvers infused with mana engineering.
The Valtors were infamous throughout the empire for overwhelming firepower and long-range combat dominance.
Even now I still vividly remembered the Patriarch casually pointing a shotgun at my chest during our "father-son bonding session."
Wonderful family memories.
That family was insane.
Even their combat philosophy felt aggressive.
Why swing swords honorably when you could simply erase someone from existence from two hundred meters away?
Truly inspirational values.
"And apparently Damian inherited the family hobby of armed violence," I muttered.
Though judging by his Gunmanship level…
Barely.
Level 3 was considered Peak Novice territory.
Enough to handle firearms properly.
Not enough to impress anyone.
Meaning Damian likely relied more on status and intimidation than actual combat skill.
Typical spoiled noble behavior.
Still…
My eyes narrowed slightly at the second talent.
[Swordsmanship Lv.1]
Now that part was strange.
Very strange.
Because according to the original story, House Valtor didn't teach swordsmanship at all.
They focused almost exclusively on ranged combat disciplines.
Firearms.
Sniping.
Bow variants.
Precision-based killing techniques.
So why did Damian possess Swordsmanship?
Even at Level 1, talents didn't appear randomly.
A skill had to be learned intentionally first.
"…Did he practice secretly?"
The idea felt odd.
Damian didn't exactly strike me as someone dedicated enough to train quietly.
Maybe he thought it would Looks cool him with sword? Who knows? With Damian personality anything is possible.
Oh, and I also have a Level 1 Cooking Talent. It must have come from my time at the orphanage, where I cooked food for the children over the past two months.
Anyways, Aside from that one thing that I liked about me was that I was handsome, insanely level of that too.
I had Charm of A-, which was one nice thing for me.
Aside from that, my Luck was just at E rank.
Yup, I had terrible Luck for sure.
But one thing that stood up to me was that I didn't have any skills related combat.
It was empty.
I stared at the empty Skills section for a while.
Then sighed.
"…Right."
No combat skills.
Not even one.
That was honestly worse than the low stats.
Talents and Skills sounded similar, but they were completely different things.
Talents represented proficiency.
Potential.
Things you learned naturally over time through practice.
But Skills?
Skills were special abilities.
Techniques that used mana directly.
Things capable of turning an ordinary fighter into a dangerous one.
For example—
A Gunner-type Skill could temporarily accelerate bullets with mana.
A Sword-type Skill might increase cutting power or movement speed.
Even low-level combat skills drastically improved a person's fighting ability.
And me?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Which meant if I fought someone right now, I'd basically just be waving expensive weapons around while hoping for the best.
There's is also ranking for skills from F rank to SSS rank.
Skills are very rare, there are only three ways you can get skills.
First, Buy directly depending on rank and what type of skills you are buying the price could change drstracticaly.
For example—
An ordinary [F-Rank] combat skill could already cost several hundreds thousends of credits depending on rarity and compatibility.
Meanwhile, higher-ranked skills?
Those things were insane.
A decent [B-Rank] Skill could bankrupt small noble families.
[A-Rank] Skills were auction-level treasures fought over by major organizations.
And anything above that—
National assets.
The kind kingdoms and empire hide inside vaults.
The second method of obtaining Skills was inheritance.
Certain bloodlines passed techniques down generation after generation through Mana Imprints or specialized training methods.
That was how noble houses maintained power.
The Valtors themselves possessed several famous firearm techniques.
Though unfortunately…
Those belonged to the family.
Meaning I had exactly zero access to them now since I was kicked out of the family.
Then there was the third method.
The rarest one.
The dangerous one.
Sometimes Skills appeared naturally inside Dungeon gates, or monster territories.
Still chance of getting skills from gate is almost zero.
Not zero but almost zero.
You can also gained the skills by killing a monster, but not every monster or beast can give you a skill.
The chances are one in one hundred and even then you might not receive it.
That's why skills are rare and everyone wants to them.
Anyways, it's not as if I will getting one soon.
I should changed and go to Imperial Academy, I don't want to late since it's my first day going back to the academy since transmigrating here.
---
[The Astral Empire's Fallen Crown Prince Will Rise Again]
That was the novel I was transmerigated was.
The plot of the novel itself was actually pretty straightforward.
A fallen empire.
A hidden prince.
Revenge.
Politics.
War.
The Astral Empire had been destroyed five years before the story began after losing a brutal continental war against the Solhaven Empire.
The royal family was supposedly exterminated entirely.
Every prince.
Every princess.
Every direct blood relative.
Public executions were even broadcast through mana screens across the continent as a warning to anyone foolish enough to oppose Solhaven.
A complete massacre.
At least…
That was what the world believed.
In reality—
One person survived.
The Crown Prince of the Astral Empire.
The protagonist himself.
He escaped during the final collapse of the capital and disappeared completely afterward.
For five years, he lived under a false identity while hiding among commoners.
And eventually—
He enrolled into Imperial Academy.
Honestly, when I first wrote the story, I thought the setup was pretty cool.
A hidden royal surviving among enemies while slowly reclaiming his power?
Classic.
Readers loved that kind of thing.
Unfortunately…
Living inside the story was significantly less cool.
Right now, the crown prince is planning his revenge while pretending to be commoner.
The only reason he enrolled in the Imperial Academy was to get stronger and get powerfull people children of the noble on his side.
...And while he was doing that Damian stumbled upon him thinking him as commoner and got his ass kicked by the his so called friends.
And the rest of the story you know it.
Anyways, forgot about that depressing stuff.
Let's talk about this world for that I am currently in.
Currently Solhaven Empire is strongest in the world after over taking it's rival empire, Astral Empire.
Nearby kingdom's didn't come close to it's might.
The world is set off as medieval period with spark of futuristic technology.
Like for example, there are mana train's and super cars.
There is also VR simulator in the Imperial Academy, it's not everywhere, only very wealthy one has it but with this you can tell that —this world wasn't exactly "primitive" despite the medieval aesthetic.
Mana had accelerated civilization in strange directions.
People still wore noble uniforms and carried swords at their waists…
…but they also used holographic communication devices.
Even firearms capable of piercing reinforced monster hide.
Honestly, the technology tree in this world looked like someone threw fantasy and cyberpunk into a blender.
And somehow—
It worked.
At least most of the time.
I adjusted the collar of my academy uniform while staring at myself in the mirror.
Black coat with Silver lining and white shirt underneath and black pants.
And imperial Academy crest stitched across my chest.
Even after everything Damian had done…
The uniform still looked ridiculously expensive.
Probably because it was.
Imperial Academy only accepted elites.
Nobles.
Prodigies.
Rarely commoners with monstrous talent.
Which meant the students inside were either absurdly rich, absurdly gifted—
—or both.
Unfortunately for me…
Most of them also hated Damian Valtor.
Wonderful social environment.
I grabbed my bag from the couch before glancing toward Fenrir.
The giant shepherd immediately lifted his head hopefully.
"…No."
Fenrir tilted his head innocently.
"You are absolutely not following me to the academy."
His tail wagged once.
"That emotional manipulation won't work."
It almost worked.
Meanwhile, Lena walked out from the kitchenette holding a cup of tea.
"You're leaving already?"
"Mhm."
She studied me quietly for a moment.
"…Nervous?"
I scoffed immediately.
"Please."
Then paused.
"…Okay maybe slightly."
Lena nodded as if that answer was expected.
Honestly, this would technically be my first real interaction with the main story cast since transmigrating here.
And that was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Because unlike background characters—
The protagonists mattered.
Every major character inside this novel was basically a walking natural disaster disguised as a teenager.
Especially the Crown Prince.
That bastard was terrifying.
Not immediately.
At first glance, he just looked like a talented commoner student.
Calm.
Polite.
Hardworking.
The type readers loved instantly.
Then later the story slowly revealed—
This man was genuinely willing to burn entire nations for revenge.
Classic protagonist behavior.
And somehow…
I had written him that way proudly.
Past me really was problematic.
"Try not to get expelled again," Lena said calmly while sipping tea.
"…You say that like it already happened once."
She stared at me silently.
"…Right."
Fair point.
I awkwardly cleared my throat before heading toward the apartment exit.
But just before opening the door—
"Young Master."
I paused slightly.
I glanced back.
Her expression looked unusually serious.
"…Be careful today."
The room became slightly quieter.
For some reason…
Those words felt heavier than they should've.
Maybe because she knew something felt different about me now.
Or maybe because Damian's reputation at the academy was genuinely that terrible.
"…Yeah," I answered quietly.
Then I left.