"Kill that piece of shit!"
A fist slammed into his gut, then a shoe drove into his ribs. After that another kick followed, harder this time.
"Yeah, make him half-dead so he never forgets about your homework!"
Thud.
It was non other than Zen - a tall, well-built high school boy with messy, bright yellow-dyed hair that stood up in sharp spikes like he had just rolled out of bed after a fight. His face was sharp and narrow, with small, cold eyes that always looked bored or annoyed. A thin gold chain hung around his neck, and he wore his school uniform loosely — tie hanging undone, shirt half-open at the collar, and an expensive silver watch shining on his wrist.
He was beating a guy with his crew in the academy corridor.
The whole corridor was packed with students. Boys were cheering loudly and pumping their fists, while the girls laughed behind their hands, eyes sparkling with excitement as they watched the show.
Everyone knew exactly who was getting beaten up — it was Hsuya, the quiet scholarship kid, curled up on the cold floor taking every single blow without fighting back.
The taste of iron filled his mouth while Zen's voice rang out above the laughter of his lackeys, sharp and bored, like he was ordering takeout instead of ordering pain.
Hsuya didn't fight back and he never did in the past. Even though he had self-trained himself in Kendo and jujutsu and could have easily crushed Zen and his entire group, he knew that fighting back would harm him in another way.
"Nexon" — one of the prestigious schools of Japan. But the word "prestigious" is not befitting to it. Because in Nexon money is the top priority after marks. And because of that "Zen," whose father was one of the richest men in the country, got away every time even after breaking academy rules.
Teachers looked the other way. Most students kept their heads down while Hsuya was just another scholarship kid from a broken home who came to Nexon to gain more knowledge and live a peaceful student life.
So why is he getting beaten,you say ? It is because Zen had asked Hsuya to do his homework for him but he wasn't able to do the task Zen gave him.
Again.
Hsuya let his body go limp, breathing shallow, eyes half-lidded. He had practiced this posture for years — how to look completely defeated while protecting the organs that actually mattered. One wrong move and he'd be in a hospital instead of the nurse's office.
Better to play the role they expected: the pathetic, helpless nerd. The beating ended the way it always did.
Zen spat on the floor near his face, muttered something about "useless trash," and walked off with his crew. Footsteps faded down the hall. Hsuya stayed down for another minute, just to be sure.
Same ceiling again, he thought when he finally opened his eyes in the nurse's office. The familiar white tiles stared back at him. The nurse hovered nearby, her expression a mix of pity and discomfort.
"How are you feeling, Hsuya?" she asked softly. "How many times do I have to tell you guys to watch your step on the stairs?"
Hsuya met her gaze for half a second, then looked away.
He didn't answer her question because there was no point. They both knew the truth, and they both knew nothing would change. By the time classes ended, he slipped out early and headed straight home because there was something more important waiting for him than another day of pretending to be weak.
Yesterday, while sorting through his father's old belongings, he had found his father's diary. Tucked between the pages was a single line that had changed everything:
"The attic holds more than dust — if you're ready to see it."
Hsuya had known about the hidden key inside his pendant which was a puzzle for years. The day he turned 15, his parents had given it to him with a strange smile and then vanished from his life forever. He had discovered the cube-shaped key inside the pendant on that very birthday, but he never knew what lock it was meant to open. Until yesterday he happened to find his father's old personal diary and found out that his house's attic, where he had never visited, contained more than just broken items.
When he went inside the attic, he found out that it was oddly clean — too clean for a place no one ever visited. He knelt in the center of the room and studied the circular platform built into the floor. Concentric rings etched with unfamiliar symbols.
Shallow grooves.
Deeper channels.
Some rings fixed, others clearly meant to rotate. It wasn't random. It was a lock meant to be opened.
Hsuya took the pendant from around his neck, removed the cube key, and slid it into the central slot.
Click.
Nothing happened, of course. Too simple. Then he remembered a line from the diary again: "Let the circle breathe. Move only what can move." After that he tested the outermost ring and it turned — only after he aligned a specific groove with the one beside it.
The next ring followed the same rule. Each successful alignment unlocked the next layer, the worn edges of the carvings guiding his hands like faint hints left by someone who had solved it long before him. He worked in silence, adjusting angles, testing resistance, noting which symbols lined up with the grooves. He didn't use brute force but just pattern recognition and logic.
When the final ring settled into place, the entire platform hummed. Then the center sank and a small platform rose, carrying a plain wooden box. Inside lay a ring — sleek, metallic, bearing a distinct crest of a sword wrapped in thorns, surrounded by intricate markings that Hsuya wasn't familiar with. Beside it were two books. One book was filled with completely alien script while the other one thankfully was in clear English.
Hsuya opened the book written in English first. It wasn't a manual but just some instructions about how to activate the ring, a handful of warnings, a short list of rules. But that much information was enough for him. He slipped the ring onto his finger, reinserted the cube key as directed, and held it over the center mark. After that a faint light traced the carvings. Then the symbols ignited one by one.
A translucent screen materialized in the air before him with a click sound.
[YOU FINALLY DID IT HSUYA]
The message hovered in perfect English. Then another window appeared.
[DO YOU WANT TO ACCEPT OWNERSHIP OF THE NOXFORD SYSTEM?]
[CANCEL CONTINUE]
[DISCLAIMER: ONLY MEMBERS OF THE NOXFORD BLOODLINE MAY BECOME OWNERS. UNKNOWN DNA WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE TERMINATION. AND ONCE THE CONTINUE BUTTON IS PRESSED THE RING CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM THE USER'S BODY UNTIL DEATH]
In the top-right corner : [CREATOR: LEVI NOXFORD]
"Levi Noxford?" he muttered in his mind. It was his father's other name — the one he had only glimpsed in the margins of his father's diary. Hsuya smiled, faint and tired.
"So that's how it is."
Without hesitation, he pressed continue.
[USER VERIFIED. INITIATING DORMANT MEMORY TRANSFER]
A splitting headache exploded behind his eyes.
The world tilted and he staggered toward the attic door, vision blurring, but the pain dragged him under before he could reach the stairs. When he woke up, he was lying midway to his bedroom while a new window was floating in the air above him.
[INITIAL INTEGRATION COMPLETE. CORE DATA WILL UNLOCK UPON EXPOSURE TO MANA]
[WELCOME, MASTER]
[PLEASE ENTER YOUR NAME AND ASSIGN A NICKNAME TO THE SYSTEM. IT WILL RESPOND WHENEVER YOU SPEAK IT]
Hsuya entered his name and for the nickname, he chose Nox.
[THANK YOU MASTER HSUYA]
The text vanished and then suddenly he realized he could read the second book — the one written in that impossible script — as easily as his native tongue. The symbols rearranged themselves in his mind, fluid and natural.
Hsuya stood up and went back in the secret room. There he opened the second book and started reading it. After reading a few pages, he realized that it wasn't just an instruction manual but a diary — his father's final record, written in the language he called Zellish.
It explained that his parents had come from another world called Alexia and they belonged to a noble family of the kingdom of Dian. Levi was an alchemist of considerable skill. Twenty years was all the time Levi and his wife had been allowed in this world before the portal would pull them back. Mana did not exist here, so they had to learn about this world and how it works. After 5 years, they had him. But they knew that their time was limited on Earth. So Levi used everything he knew — alchemy from Alexia, chemistry from Earth and modern technology — and created the Noxford System. A bridge, a legacy and a way to bring him (Hsuya) to a world where they could live with their son too.
The puzzle had been his final test: If you can solve it, you can control it.
On the final page, one line was underlined. If you are reading this, never forget one thing son: 2 days in Alexia pass in the same time as twenty-four hours on Earth and thanks to mana, you will age the same in 2 days as you do on earth in 24 hours.
After that Hsuya closed the book.
"Nox," he said quietly.
"Open my status window."
Then a new panel appeared.
[STATUS]
STRENGTH – 43
CHARM – 39
MP – (No mana detected in host body)
INTELLIGENCE – 98
SKILLS:
Martial Arts (C)
Poker Face (C)
Master of Self-Defense (B)
[Normal skills could only be improved through physical training]
[SPECIAL SKILLS: N/A
[Special skills require mana to activate or obtain]
He realized that magic was impossible without MP (Mana Power). After that Hsuya studied the numbers for a long moment, committing every detail to memory.
"Nox!"
"Open the portal to Alexia."
[WARNING: The portal to Alexia may only be opened twice per day due to insufficient mana in the current world.]
[Would you like to CONTINUE?]
[CONTINUE] [CANCEL]
He stared at the warning and thought:
"Hmm… twice a day? Well at least I should see what happens next."
Then he pressed continue and then suddenly the air in front of him began to ripple, faint blue light gathered from thin air and created a door-like shape.
Before going through that door he wanted to make sure that he could easily come back to Earth, so he asked Nox if he could come back again or not.
After gaining the confirmation, he stepped through without hesitation but the moment he crossed the threshold, the portal disappeared like it never existed and then suddenly the forest air hit him first — thick, alive, humming with something he had no name for yet. Then the warning exploded across his vision.
[WARNING]
[Excessive mana influx detected. System stabilizing consumption. To survive hold for sixty seconds.]
Hsuya's lungs seized and he felt like he'd been plunged underwater and forced to breathe liquid fire. His throat burned, his chest tightened, and black spots danced at the edges of his sight. He dropped to one knee, clawing at the mossy ground, but he held on.
One minute. Just one minute.
[STABILIZATION COMPLETE]
[User now possesses infinite mana]
[Dormant memory integration fully unlocked via mana presence.]
[New special skills acquired:]
[MANA SHARER (S)
Description: The user can transfer their mana to any object or living being. (The distance is up to infinity due to presence of infinite mana)]
[Penalty: N/A (Due to presence of infinite Mana)]
Hsuya blinked hard, breathing in the rich air. With the system fully powered by the environment, the dormant knowledge his father had planted in his brain finally unspooled. The instincts hit him all at once — how to shape mana, how to breathe it, the names of the dangerous beasts that roamed these woods, and the etiquette of the races that called Alexia home. It filled the gaps the diary couldn't explain.
"Wait… my special skill is ranked S?! Aren't those supposed to be the rarest ranks?" — he thought.
"Nox! Could you give me the information about how I obtained my new special skill?"
[INFO: The skill was pre-equipped within the Noxford System. The presence of ambient mana simply activated them.]
"Ah…"
That made sense. His father really had thought of everything.
"But… infinite mana?"
"Nox," he said, voice steadying.
[Yes, Master?]
"Is infinite mana normal in Alexia?"
[No, Master. The Noxford system was created that way so it can consume and also provide infinite mana to the user. Although creating a system like mine is impossible in Alexia but using Earth's unique materials and modern technology it was possible.]
He let out a slow breath and looked around and saw ancient trees towered overhead, their leaves glowing faintly with veins of silver light. The forest floor pulsed with quiet energy.
"Nox!"
"Where exactly am I?"
"And… do my parents — or the system developer — still exist in this world?"
[Analyzing coordinates…]
[We are currently inside the Forest of faeries which belongs to the Kingdom of Dian]
[Locating a person is beyond the System's capability. However, a unique signal is emanating from the northeast sector of the kingdom]
[Would you like to proceed in that direction?]
In this world Hsuya had no other destination.
"Might as well."
But first, he needed to test what he could actually do.
He raised his right hand and focused. He felt the presence of mana around him but he couldn't just seem to control it. But then he decided to use his genius brain and found out that the mana particle's properties are similar to vapour or H₂O. Then he focused more, mixed nitrogen with mana particles. A sphere of mana coalesced above his palm — shimmering, dark, the consistency of thick slime which was not too runny, not too firm. Then he willed it harder; the surface hardened until it gleamed like polished steel. Then he softened it again until it flowed like mercury. After that he concentrated once more and then the metallic orb melted, then boiled and jumped in his hand like living liquid.
**Ding!**
[Due to your high understanding of Mana, you have earned a new special skill — MANA MATTER (RANK — EX)]
"So it can be called Mana matter huh…? Well… Whatever, I can think about it later."
After that he pictured a sword — long, straight, perfectly balanced. The mana obeyed instantly, stretching and solidifying into the exact blade he had imagined. After that to test it, he swung at the nearest tree.
Thud…
The sword bounced off without leaving a scratch. Then he suddenly realized that he'd forgotten to sharpen the edges. Then he narrowed his focus, sharpening the blade until its cutting surface was so fine it would be invisible even under an atomic microscope. Then he swung again and the sword passed through the trunk like it was slicing warm butter.
For half a second nothing happened but then the entire tree slid sideways with a soft, clean shhhk and toppled to the forest floor, the cut surface mirror-smooth.
A chill ran down his spine. The power he now held was absolutely terrifying. After that he started toward the signal on foot, but after only a few strides the thought hit him: "Why he was running barefoot when he had infinite mana?
"Nox!"
"Do I have any abilities for flight or enhanced speed?"
[No, Master]
[You do not currently possess any skills specifically designed for flight or rapid travel]
Hsuya scanned the descriptions of his new skills again.
"Hmm… Mana Matter for shaping and Mana Sharer for transfer. Simple."
"Then why not coat his entire body in mana and move himself with it? I can probably reach good speeds without tiring."
But the only problem was balance. Then a second idea clicked inside his mind.
"If I use Mana Sharer on my clothes and let them act as stabilizers then it might work."
He poured mana over his skin, then extended it into the fabric of his uniform and started moving his entire body with Mana. The first few meters were difficult. But he quickly found his center of gravity, adjusted the flow, and suddenly he was moving.
He shot forward like a shadow, feet barely touching the ground. From forest floor to low branch to higher branch, he bounded through the canopy at blurring speed.
Air resistance slid off the thin outer layer of mana like water off glass.
Trees blurred into streaks of green and silver.
Twenty minutes later he slowed to a stop at the edge of a sprawling town nestled against the northern hills of Dian.
'Zutopia'
Even from a distance, he could see the banners — deep crimson and black, bearing the exact same sword-and-thorn crest that had been etched into his father's ring. He realized that the town was under the direct control of the Noxfords. After that Hsuya took one step toward the open gates.
Then suddenly with a ding sound Nox said:
[Master…!
The unique signal has locked onto a single individual inside the town and he is moving directly toward you.]
Because of Noxford's DNA tracking ability Nox was able to find information about the person's gender.
Hsuya's blood ran cold.
Someone here already knew he had arrived.
******
A/N : I hope you guys like it . If you are liking the story then don't forget to give me one Power stone or two :)