After leaving the academy, Kyle didn’t stay outside for long and headed straight home.
The house was as quiet as ever when he opened the door.
No one came to greet him, and there was no familiar voice asking what class he had awakened today.
Kyle stood by the door for a moment before setting his things down.
He changed his shoes, went into the kitchen, and made himself a simple dinner.
He had lived alone long enough that he was used to doing everything himself.
The house was sparsely furnished, with little beyond what he needed for everyday life.
That made the framed photograph sitting on one of the cabinets particularly noticeable.
There were three people in it.
Kyle stood beside a young woman and an elderly lady with graying hair.
All three of them were smiling beneath the sunlight.
Kyle had been much younger when the picture was taken, and the easy smile on his face made him look almost like a different person from the quiet boy everyone knew at the academy.
He sat down with his food, and when his eyes happened to fall on the photograph, his movements slowed.
The picture had been taken three years ago.
When Kyle came to this world, he had inherited more than the identity of the body’s original owner.
The memories and emotions that came with that life had become part of him as well.
Because of that, the two people in the photograph had never felt like strangers.
They were his family.
In his previous life, Kyle had grown up as an orphan and had never really known what it felt like to have a family.
After coming here, he had a grandmother who cared for him and an older sister who always put him first.
Those had probably been the easiest years of his life since arriving in this world.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t lasted long.
His grandmother passed away from illness two years ago.
Then, a year ago, his sister Lia earned admission to Aetherlan Royal Academy in the imperial capital with outstanding results.
Since then, Kyle had been the only person living in the house.
He hadn’t always been this quiet.
But after spending so much time alone, with no one around to talk to whenever he wanted, he had gradually gotten used to keeping most things to himself.
He ate alone, took care of the house alone, went to school alone, and came home alone.
Over time, he simply stopped talking as much.
To the other students at the academy, that eventually turned him into someone who seemed distant and difficult to approach.
Kyle finished eating and cleaned the dishes.
As he passed the cabinet again, he glanced at Lia in the photograph.
His goal had never changed.
Aetherlan Royal Academy.
He intended to get in as well.
Not only because it was one of the best academies for awakened professionals in the empire, but also because Lia was there.
Getting accepted, however, wouldn’t be easy.
Plenty of students from Westport City had taken the advancement assessment last year, but Lia had been the only one to earn a place at the Royal Academy.
She had also ranked first in the entire city.
If Kyle wanted to follow her, he would need an excellent result in the advancement assessment seven days from now.
That reminded him of Erin stopping him after school.
“This time, I’m going to beat you.” Kyle was quiet for a moment before continuing to clear the table.
Their competition was one thing.
But when it came to the Royal Academy, he had no intention of giving way either.
A knock suddenly came from the front door.
Kyle put down what he was holding and went to answer it.
Edmund Hall was standing outside.
“Principal Hall.” Edmund was carrying a bag of groceries.
He looked Kyle over first, apparently making sure there was nothing wrong with him, before holding out the bag.
“Take this.” Kyle accepted it.
Inside were bread, meat, and several other ingredients that would keep for a few days.
“Thank you.” “You don’t need to thank me for this.” Edmund smiled, then seemed to remember something.
“You just completed your awakening today.
Feeling all right?
Nothing unusual?” Kyle shook his head.
“I’m fine.” “Good.” Edmund nodded.
The phenomenon caused by Kyle’s awakening had been unusually large.
Although the professionals responsible for the ceremony had confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the formation, Edmund had still been a little concerned.
Seeing Kyle perfectly fine in front of him finally put those concerns to rest.
“You’re going to the beginner trial zone tomorrow?” “Yeah.” “By yourself?” Kyle nodded again.
Edmund didn’t try to stop him.
Judging from what Kyle’s class had shown so far, the beginner trial zone shouldn’t be particularly dangerous for him.
Besides, both the academy and the Adventurers’ Guild had people stationed there.
Still, there were things that needed to be said.
“Fighting real monsters isn’t the same as academy training.
Don’t get careless just because you awakened a Hidden Class.” “If you run into something you can’t handle, get out immediately.” Kyle nodded seriously.
“I know.” Edmund studied him for a moment before smiling.
“All right.
I won’t keep lecturing you.” He turned to leave, but after taking a couple of steps, he stopped.
“One more thing.” Kyle looked at him.
“If Lia knew you’d awakened a Hidden Class, she’d probably be even happier than I am.” Kyle paused.
Edmund only smiled and waved.
“Get some rest.” Kyle watched him leave and waited until Edmund disappeared around the corner before closing the door.
Over the past year, Edmund had visited every few days.
Sometimes he brought food.
Other times he simply stopped by to see how Kyle was doing.
It all went back to a promise he had made to Lia.
When Lia earned admission to Aetherlan Royal Academy the year before, she hadn’t immediately accepted.
She had been worried about Kyle.
The Royal Academy was in the imperial capital, far from Westport City.
Once she enrolled, coming home whenever she wanted would no longer be possible.
Kyle hadn’t graduated yet, and after their grandmother’s death, the two siblings were the only family left in the house.
Lia had even considered giving up her place at the academy so she could stay with Kyle for a few more years.
In the end, Edmund had spoken to her personally.
It took a long conversation, along with his promise that he would look after Kyle once she left, before Lia finally agreed to go.
Edmund had kept that promise.
For the past year, he had never forgotten about Kyle.
Kyle put away the groceries Edmund had brought and returned to his room.
It was already dark outside, but he wasn’t ready to sleep yet.
Tomorrow would be his first time entering the beginner trial zone, and there were still several things he wanted to understand before then.
Most importantly, his class.
Kyle sat on the edge of his bed and opened his status panel.
[Name: Kyle Gray] [Class: Necromancer (Hidden Class)] [Level: 1 (0.00%)] [Strength: 10] [Agility: 10] [Spirit: 20] [Vitality: 10] [Equipment: None] [Summoning Space: 1/10] [Skeleton Warriors: 1] [Talent: Total Enhancement] [Skills: Soul Flame (Level 1), Summon Skeleton Warrior (Level 1)] After several hours of rest, the Spirit he had spent summoning his first Skeleton Warrior at the academy had fully recovered.
Kyle went over his two active skills again.
He still hadn’t properly tested Soul Flame.
Summon Skeleton Warrior, on the other hand, was already fairly clear.
An ordinary Iron-rank Skeleton Warrior didn’t have especially impressive attributes, but under the effect of his Divine Talent, its combat ability increased dramatically.
His Summoning Space currently had ten slots.
Only one was occupied.
That meant there was no reason he couldn’t fill the remaining slots before entering the beginner trial zone.
Ten enhanced Skeleton Warriors.
Kyle was already looking forward to seeing what they could do against actual monsters.
He raised his right hand, preparing to summon another one.
Then a faint red glow caught his eye.
Kyle stopped.
At some point, a small crimson gemstone had appeared in his left hand.
It was no larger than a fingernail, with a smooth surface that reflected a faint red glow beneath the dim light of his room.
Kyle stared at it for several seconds.
This gemstone didn’t belong to this world.
More precisely, it was the only object that had come with him when he arrived here.
Over the years, Kyle had tried all kinds of ways to figure out what it was, but nothing had worked.
It never glowed or released any kind of energy.
Even professional examinations had only identified it as an ordinary stone made from unknown material.
Eventually, Kyle had stopped expecting anything from it.
He had only kept it because it was the one thing that remained from his previous life.
But when he opened his status panel just now, the gemstone had reacted for the first time in years.
Kyle held it in his palm.
The red glow gradually became brighter.
Then a message appeared directly in his mind.
[Class Awakening detected.] Kyle’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Another message followed.
[Class trait confirmed: Undead.] [Activation requirements met.] [Origin Fusion initiated.] The crimson gemstone suddenly dissolved into a thin stream of light and sank directly into Kyle’s palm.
His hand instinctively closed around it.
When he opened his fingers again, the gemstone that had followed him for years was gone.
There wasn’t even a mark left behind.
At the same time, unfamiliar information entered his mind.
Kyle immediately opened his status panel.
His class hadn’t changed.
His Divine Talent, Total Enhancement, was still there.
But beneath his skill list, a new ability had appeared.
[Special Passive: Undying Substitute] Kyle focused on it, and a more detailed description appeared.
[Undying Substitute: When the user takes damage, the damage can be transferred to an undead summon under the user’s command.
As long as an undead summon capable of bearing the damage remains, the user’s main body will not directly suffer fatal damage.] The room fell silent.
Kyle stared at the description without moving.
After several seconds, he read it again.
Damage transfer.
And it didn’t appear to apply only to ordinary attacks.
The description placed no restriction on the type of damage.
That meant physical attacks, magical attacks, and potentially other forms of damage could all be transferred to his undead summons instead.
Kyle looked toward his Summoning Space.
[1/10] Right now, he had only one Skeleton Warrior.
That meant the protection provided by the passive was still limited.
But what if he had ten?
A hundred?
A thousand?
Or even more?
As his level increased, the number of undead he could control would inevitably grow.
Eventually, anyone who wanted to truly harm him would first have to get through every undead creature under his command.
And if one day he really possessed an entire undead army…
Kyle finally understood what made this passive so frightening.
For other summoners, summoned creatures were primarily a means of fighting.
For Kyle, every undead creature under his command wasn’t only another source of combat power.
It was another layer between him and death.
As long as his undead remained, bringing him down would be extremely difficult.
Kyle lowered his eyes to his empty left hand.
The crimson gemstone that had followed him for years had finally disappeared.
Only today had it revealed what it had been waiting for.
“So it was waiting for me to awaken.” His quiet voice was the only sound in the room.
After a moment, Kyle raised his hand again.
He would be entering the beginner trial zone tomorrow.
Since there were empty slots in his Summoning Space, there was no reason to leave them unused.
[Summon Skeleton Warrior.] His Spirit began to drain.
A dark vortex slowly opened in the middle of the room.
The familiar sound of bones scraping together came from within it, and a gray-white skeletal hand emerged first.
A moment later, a second Skeleton Warrior stepped out of the darkness.
It looked just as battered as the first.
Tiny cracks covered its gray-white bones, and it held another damaged sword that looked as though it had been picked up from a pile of junk.
Blue soul flames burned quietly inside its empty eye sockets.
Kyle looked at it.
This time, he didn’t think it looked pathetic at all.
From this moment onward, every additional Skeleton Warrior meant more than just another fighter.
It also meant another layer of protection.
A faint smile appeared on Kyle’s face.
The more undead he commanded, the harder he would be to kill.
And if the day came when his undead truly formed an army, anyone who wanted his life would have to wipe out the entire legion first.