The Moon rose upon the Martial Academy. Its light, glowing in the dead of night. The stars shimmered as they lit up the beautiful night sky.
Fireflies hovered over the green blades of grass, bringing together a wonderful utopia of beauty. Silence cracked open on the Academy, not even a single whisper.
Everyone had been tucked in. Taking a small night rest, before awakening back to their harsh Academic life.
All souls in the Academy drifted into slumber, All except some. Some that Ace somehow managed to be one of!!
He sat on his bed, His legs crossed and his head heavy, looking down on a map on his lap.
'Achoooo.'
Ace sneezed looking at the mess of a dorm he was in. The roof was still broken, and Dust and dirt covered every corner of the place.
Everything was turned upside down and his clothes were filthy. All for the sake of finding a stupid map.
But those were the least of his worries.
"Grrrrrrr" his stomach growled. He hadn't eaten or drunk anything ever since he got to his new body. The only food available to him was smeared on the floor, way beyond recovery.
'Damn it, Fuck this stupid system,'
Ace put his hand over his stomach, trying to comfort the pain. In his opinion, if it wasn't for the system he'd be better off.
Thinking back, he thought of the system as his hope. But who would've ever guessed, the thing he thought as hope, to break him.
[Yes] [No]
Ace rushed to hit the [Yes] option, not thinking whether it would bring him consequences. A moment after that, his status window showed up.
[Status Window]
>Name: [Skysher]
>Title: Whining Crow(Whines more than a baby)
>Rank: F- (Lower than trash)
>Infamy Points: 0 (Not even a street rat fears you)
>Villain Class: None (You're not even qualified to be a villain yet!)
[Stats]
>Strength: 1 (You struggle to open a pickle jar)
>Agility: 2 (A toddler could outrun you)
>Intelligence: 5 (At least you know how to breathe)
>Charisma: 1 (Even beggars ignore you)
>Deception: 0 (You're too pathetic to lie properly)
>Luck: ??? (The system refuses to calculate this)
[Arts]
>Sword Arts{Slice and dice}– At least you can distinguish a hand from a knife!
>Potential Unlocked: 0% (At this rate, you'll die a side character)
Ace's ego was shattered into a million pieces. Never in his life, had he ever been insulted like that. 'Whining Crow!' Ace's eyes went white.
His rank was F-!! That wasn't even a proper rank in the Martial World. Last time he checked, it ended with E, Or did the world change?
However on the stats, Ace didn't have much to complain about. He knew he was weak, but now reading it out loud, along with the insults. It didn't feel right anymore!
'Maybe I broke the Martial Core?'
If an Artisan broke their core by overexerting it, that would be their journey's end. Maybe, He broke his core during the assessment. For all he knew, his journey ended long before it began.
[Ding]
Ace dashed to see the transparent panel beside him. Insult or solution, he frankly didn't care anymore.
It was taking advantage of the smallest opportunity that would come to his rescue. Getting a glance at the panel, a wide smirk spread across his face.
[New Quest Available]
>Gather 50 zephyroots
[Rewards]
>+30 Healing!
>+20 Resistance!
>+10 IP{infamy points}
>Speed boost.
[ Accept ]
"Zephyroots!," Ace knew it was a kind of herb, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it what it did exactly. What use did it have?
Ace sighed; why would it matter to him anyway? The rewards were too high to let go. Without hesitation, he bolted his finger to accept the Quest.
[Quest instructions]
>Player must gather all roots within 12 hours!
>Failing to complete the quest will be met with punishment!
[Zephyroots Collected]
>0/50
[Time left]
>11:59:59
The timer continued to tick down on him. However, Ace wasn't rushed in the slightest. He needed to take things slowly, rushing them would only make them worse. Most importantly, he needed to come up with a plan.
Ace started to look around. If he was going to formulate a plan that would work, he first needed to view things differently.
The first thing he needed to consider was where to find the zephyroots, and what better tool than a map? He needed a map that gave him a general view of the Academy and its surroundings.
Ace looked at the system panel In front of him and smiled. A bright idea lit up in his empty bucket of a head.
"Open System shop!" he commanded, his voice full of confidence. However, if Ace hadn't learned anything till now, it was the capability of the system breaking his ego.
[System Warning!]
>You have no access to the system shop.
"What the. Why?"
>You're too weak, reach level 100 first, and then you might just get a peek!
Ace was speechless, first, his ego got demolished, and now his dignity was shitted on as well! He wasn't about to let that go.
"Stupid system, I should've guessed that you would be of no help!" he taunted, looking at the screen, but the next thing he knew, his mouth was glued together shut. Literally.
"Mmmmmm," he barked, and barked yet his mouth refused to open no matter what.
[Alert]
>You have been muted for talking against the system. Good luck talking for the next 6 hours.
Ace could mummer all he wanted, but nothing was going to come out of his mouth. Eventually, he stopped trying. Cursing the scum-bag of a system through his thoughts.
Ace sighed. His plan failed, if he wasn't going to purchase a map from the system shop, he just had to go through the whole of his dorm and hope to find one.
'No biggie at all'
Like a house maiden, Ace took off. Searching every corner of the house. Behind the shelves, under the bed, above the cardboard, and inside the drawers, he left no object to its peace. Ruined it and left it worse than it was.
Finally, after 2 hours of endless searching, he found one.
It was inside of his pocket!
He found it while trying to lie down, and something crunched in his trousers. Curious to see what it was, he put in his hand. Only to come out with a perfectly drawn map of the academy.
While a normal person would slap their head and laugh, Ace, was nothing of the ordinary.
Abruptly out of anger, Ace threw his leg into the air, oblivious to the fact that he was sitting In front of a cabinet.
Without warning, his foot collided with the wood, and his eyes teared up. Screaming was off the table since he was still under the mute of the system. He could only suffer in silence as he bit his lips.
Back in the present, the sun had set. In its place, taken by the glorious moon. Ace lay in bed, looking at the untidy condition of his humble abode.
On the bright side, his foot was good to go, and it was only a minute away till he got his mouth back. Looking down at the map on his lap, Ace smirked.
'Clever!' he thought looking closely at the map on hand.
The terrain that the Martial Academy sat on, was covered in mountain ranges. Four in particular obstructed its paths. Surrounding their every corner.
It was also a strategic position, due to it lying exactly in the Centre of the Empire. This was so that, No matter which kingdom was under attack, the academy could provide backup.
It was very cunning indeed, but Ace's interest was piqued by the four huge mountains that blocked the academy.
They served as the first defense line of the academy and provided a hiding place for the academy as well. However, their biggest use had to be the resources they held.
Each of these mountains were covered with valuable minerals and herbs. Including the zephyroots that Ace needed to complete his quest.
However, he could only choose one. Fortunately, Ace still had his knowledge of the Martial World. He knew that his best option out of the four was Yunshan Mountain.
In the original plot, The peak of Yunshan Mountain was most abundant in herbs; better yet, It was the safest as well. This enabled Ace to kill two birds with one stone. Saving both time and effort.
Ace's plan was simple and easy.
Step 1: Starting the break of dawn the next day, he was going to go check out if there was a mission available on Yunshan Mountain.
Since Yunshan Mountain was the safest out of the bunch, there was sure to be a mission on his rank[E-Rank]
Then, after taking on the Mission, he would go on directly to step 2, Finishing both the mission and the system quest.
Which led him to the third and final step. Happily celebrate with the rewards he got.
The plan was foolproof, and in his mind, there was absolutely nothing that could go wrong. But destiny always thought otherwise.
Looking at the clock, Ace had about 5 more hours to go, till his quest was over and only 2 more minutes to go till the sun rose again.
Ace smirked. Standing up, he took a final glance at the ticking clock. Stretching out his bones and body, he folded his fist. Bringing to his front, his face painted with excitement. 'Finally,' he thought throwing his fist.
"Time for Action!"