Ace sat there, lonely in the empty room. His fists clenched, his arms shaking. "Damn it," he growled as he glanced up. To him, nothing could be worse than what he was in now. Inside this house, inside this world, inside this BODY.
The reason why he was so shocked when he heard his name, "Skysher," was because he knew it. He knew it too well. After all, of all the novels Ace had ever read in his life on earth, there was one where he hated its villain the most, and he liked many villains.
Martial World, was a very popular novel back on the earth. It had many good reviews and all the readers and some big-time authors loved it. It was famous for its rich world-building, its characters, and character development.
The story followed the main character, Mist, and his journey to ruling a broken world, A world of pain, A world controlled by the strong, A world that slaved the weak, A world that was CRUEL
In this world, There were very many different species, and each had their own abilities. Some explosive and some useless. Their power source was free energy that was everywhere, which they referred to as Martial Energy.
Martial Energy was the core of The Martial Arts. Otherwise known as the Martial Techniques. The Construction of a Martial Art often included the use of Martial Energy. That was the main difference between Artisans and normal people; they could use martial energy.
Before an Artisan could ascend from normal people, they had to form their Martial Core. Forming the Martial Core was the first and most crucial step in an Artisan's life.
Forming the Martial Core allowed them to absorb and utilize Martial energy. Once they were able to utilize Martial energy, They would start to practice a Martial Art.
There were many many categories of Martial Arts. For example, The elemental arts, the sword arts, and even the illusionary arts.
Martial Arts were also categorized by their respective races; for the demons, there were the demonic arts; for the elves, there were the elf arts; and for the orcs, there were the orc arts.
Humans as a race practiced many arts; thus, there was no such thing as Humanic arts. Instead, there were the Universal Arts. In the Universal Arts, you could find arts that were easy to practice and technically suitable for a human being.
That was all it took to become an artisan,
Martial Core - Martial Energy - Martial Art.
However, there was more to the Martial world. After all, in every world, there is a difference between the weak and strong. What described strength? What defined a strong Artisan from a weak one?
There were 2 Factors to deciding an Artisan's strength. One was the Martial Art/ Technique they practiced. Second came the rank of their Core. The two completely stayed dependent on each other, without one, the other did not exist. Whilst there was a 3rd factor, it was almost impossible to come by, due to its rarity.
An Artisan's art was mainly decided by the strength of the Martial Core they formed. There were 6 main rankings for the Martial cores. They were A, B, C, D, E, and the strongest of them, the S-rank Arts. An artisan with an S-Rank Martial Core would go on to Practice The S-Rank universal arts and vice versa.
The Rank of a Martial Core also determined the potential of an Artisan. If an artisan has an S-Rank Martial Core, he or she has a higher chance of reaching a higher level than the one with an E-Rank Martial Core.
This way, An artisan would determine his or her position in the Martial world, thus making him a true Artisan. After being born, Artisans would be introduced to the Levels of the Martial World.
While Martial Cores and Martial Arts were truly important, they only remained in the first stage of an Artisan's true life. In the second stage, Artisans learn what is truly important. The MARTIAL LEVELS.
The Martial levels were what determined true POWER in the Martial World. Sure, an Artisan's potential and the Arts they practiced were determined by their core, but they weren't strong enough; all of those would mean nothing. The Martial World was cruel, and it knew only Power; that was the harsh truth for all Artisans.
The Martial levels were divided into 10 Phases;
1. Martial apprentice.
2. Martial student.
3. Martial Warrior.
4. Martial Master.
5. Martial General.
6. Martial Commander.
7. Martial lord.
8. Martial King.
9. Martial Emperor.
10. Martial God.
These 10 levels were further divided into phases. Each stage had 3 stages; There was the beginner phase, the intermediate phase, and finally, the Advanced phase.
These phases were to determine one's standing inside a level. For example, a beginner phase Martial apprentice being the weakest level and further up the ladder.
Presumably, there were also rare talents in the Martial world. The so-called CHOSEN ONES. People who develop MARTIAL TALENTS. Talents were a very, very rare thing, only a few might develop it.
A Martial Talent is a very powerful aspect that is very different than a Martial Technique. It can give the user the ability to use a move that even a Martial lord might have trouble dealing with.
So far, those who get a Martial Talent, Mainly get born with it. No one can get a Talent, even extraction is impossible. If an artisan with a Martial Talent is dead, their Talent naturally fades and disappears.
This created a loop. However, the loop was only available to those who were lucky enough to be born with a Talent or lucky enough to inherit it from a bloodline. No path else was available to get a Martial Talent, and due to its rarity, only a few hundred people would be born with it in a Century.
Ace stared at his blanket, cursing at his destiny. "People reincarnate as their favorite characters; heck, some even reincarnate as fridges and end up happy. And me?" He snarled as he looked at himself.
"I END UP COMING BACK AS THE CHARACTER I HATE THE MOST?!!"
Ace recognized Skysher because he never needed further digging up. Skysher was a name he despised, a name he hated, a name that he was disgusted by.
Skysher was the most useless villain Ace ever knew. He was absolutely useless. To Ace, he put the name villain to shame, not because he became a hero, not because he became an anti-hero. No, it was because he remained one and didn't achieve anything. A villain by name and an extra by reputation.
His whole story as a villain only lasted the first arc of the story, and he was one to die in the stupidest possible way in the whole novel. After all, it would make sense for him to die off like that; he had No Talent, No Luck, and No Purpose.
He was the weakest in the Martial World, his energy core was an F-rank, and the only Art he ever Practiced was the art of cutting oranges; as if those weren't worse enough, he never even surpassed the beginner Stage Martial Apprentice.
The only reason he had survived that long in the story was only because he was rich, and all the money was never his; it was from his family, Which died out very soon after his death. He was a jerk who depended on his father's money rather than his power.
The reason he was even lying on this bed at the moment was because he tried framing the MC of the novel, Mist. And why would a weak loser like him ever go after such a broken person?
He was jealous that the MC had a higher chance with the FMC of the novel, and she wrote him down as a freak. The whole logic behind the union of the MC and her was because of him.
Ace was nothing but doomed. His whole character screamed tragedy for him. Skysher was weak, a jerk, a simp, an ugly freak, and worst of all, he was stuck in his body.
Ace put his hand on his head, thinking about his situation. How in hell would he ever change what was in store for him. His second throw at chance wasn't even what you'd call a second chance; it was a game life chose for him to lose, and he wasn't feeling happy about it.
Ace was done, he was angry, hopeless, and annoyed all at the same time. His pulse quickened as his head crumbled under all his thoughts, his fist tightened, and he felt breathless.
He grinned as he felt overwhelming pressure rising and rising, and suddenly, out of nowhere, he heard something. Something familiar.
[Ding]
A sound snapped in Ace's head, like lightning. Ace's head flashed searching where it came from, and there it was, in front of him, the hope he was waiting for.
Ace was face-to-face with a game-like UI, the screen transparent and square.
"A system?!"
[SYSTEM ALERT]
>CONGRATS, SYSTEM CHOSEN ONE HAS BEEN LOCATED.
>THE SYSTEM WILL BEGIN SYSTEM ASSESSMENT IN;
3
2
1
>Good Luck, Make sure to survive!!
"Huh, what assessment?" Ace said as he looked at the countdown finish, feeling confused and sarcastic. Little did he know, what he had in store.
Suddenly the air around him started crackling, and his body started to feel compressed, "Whoaaa," Ace yelled as his body got sucked into the system. Leaving nothing but a quiet room.