Morning arrived quietly. Sunlight slipped through the cracked window of the tiny apartment, catching dust floating lazily in the air. Lysander Vale sat on the edge of the bed, still and silent, letting the events of the previous night replay themselves until they settled into something he could work with.
Car crash. Reincarnation. System. The novel.
And most importantly — his death.
He exhaled slowly. "So today is the day."
In the original story, the Eclipse Hunter Academy Entrance Exam began today. Thousands of candidates. Only a few hundred would pass. But inside the exam was a training gate, and inside that gate were monsters — and somewhere among them, a background character named Lysander Vale died before the story had even properly begun.
He stood and crossed to the small mirror. The young man staring back had long black hair past his shoulders and dark hollow eyes that looked almost empty. A stranger's face. But his life now.
"...Lysander Vale."
The name still felt unfamiliar. He picked up the old coat hanging near the door. Today would determine whether he lived or died.
The city streets were alive with energy. Crowds gathered near the massive academy gates, and Eclipse Hunter Academy stood at the center of the capital like a fortress — massive towers, black stone walls, flags bearing the academy crest moving in the wind.
Hundreds of young candidates waited in the courtyard. Some wore expensive armor. Others carried polished weapons. Most of them looked confident.
Lysander looked ordinary. Simple clothes, no weapon, no armor. A poor orphan among future elites. That was simply what he was.
A loud voice echoed across the courtyard.
"Welcome to the Eclipse Hunter Academy Entrance Examination."
All conversations stopped. A tall man in a black academy uniform stood atop a stone platform — one of the examiners. Behind him stood several hunters whose presence alone felt heavy.
"Your exam is simple," the examiner continued. "You will enter a controlled F-Rank Gate. Survive for two hours, defeat monsters, collect their cores. The top candidates will pass."
Behind him, a massive circular portal began forming. Dark energy swirled slowly inside it. Gasps spread through the crowd. Through the portal was a forest — dense, quiet, and dangerous.
"Enter."
The candidates moved forward. Some excited, some terrified. Lysander stepped into the gate and the darkness swallowed him whole.
Then the forest appeared.
Tall trees. Cold air. The smell of damp soil. A monster's distant growl somewhere in the distance.
His heart beat steadily. The scene was exactly like the novel described, which meant one thing.
The death scene is coming.
He remembered it clearly. A group of candidates would wander into a ruin structure, accidentally awaken a monster pack, and in the chaos that followed — one unlucky background character would die first.
That character was Lysander Vale.
He looked toward the deeper forest.
That ruin.
He remembered it from the opening chapters — a ruined temple where one of the early characters had found a weapon. He didn't remember the details. Just that there had been a sword inside, and that the ruin was somewhere in this part of the forest.
He had no weapon. That made the decision simple.
He sighed quietly. "Of course it's in there."
The place where he was supposed to die was also the only place he might find something to fight with. He started walking toward it. The forest was quiet and full of monsters and he had no weapon. He moved carefully because he had no other option.
Ten minutes later the forest grew too quiet. Then he saw it — ancient stone walls, half-buried in the earth, a ruined temple structure hidden among the trees. The same one from the novel. His death location.
He stepped closer.
A scream cut through the silence.
"HELP!"
Another followed. Then the sound of monsters — multiple, close. His expression darkened.
Already?
In the original story this moment happened later. Something had changed.
He rushed forward, breaking through the trees. What he found made his stomach tighten. Five candidates were trapped near the ruins. Three wolf-like monsters circled them slowly, their red eyes glowing with hunger. One girl had already fallen. Another candidate was fighting but clearly losing.
Then Lysander recognized someone.
Silver hair. Elegant posture. Elara Moonveil — already fighting, already competent, but surrounded. Three wolves, two other candidates down, and her mana visibly running thin. She wasn't losing because she was weak. She was losing because she'd been fighting alone for too long.
One wolf lunged toward her. She raised her hand — ice gathering at her palm, but slow. Not enough left.
Lysander moved.
Not toward the wolves.
Toward the ruin entrance.
Because inside that ruin was the weapon he needed — and without it, everyone here would die. Including himself.
As he crossed the broken temple doorway the air changed instantly. Cold. Ancient. Waiting.
And deep inside the ruin, something responded to his presence.