"How much is all this?" Pedro asks while putting the groceries on the counter.
"This is $25, sir. Do you have a savings card, sir?" she asks while standing behind the counter.
"No, I don’t," he says while putting $30 on the counter.
"Thank you for shopping," she says while smiling.
"Ding... Dong."
The door of the shop closes.
"Aah... Looks like this is my last bit of money."
Pedro stares at the few coins resting in his palm.
He sighs.
"I guess I’ll have to survive on this until the end of the month."
He puts the coins into his pocket and starts walking down the street.
Pedro reaches the crosswalk and sees a girl crossing while the light is green.
"Look out!"
He rushes toward the girl, shouting, and pushes the girl across the street.
Crash!
Pedro is hit by a car and falls onto the road.
People who are nearby rush toward him.
"Is he okay?"
"Someone call an ambulance!"
"Hey, check if he’s breathing!"
"Aah... So this is how it ends."
Pedro stares at the blue sky.
"A life without money...
Without a girlfriend...
Without a family to rely on or anyone waiting for me at home...
I really lived a terrible life."
Pedro can hear people’s voices becoming distant.
A weak smile appears on his face.
"At least... the girl is safe.
Then...
Everything goes black and silent.
"Mmm... Where am I?"
He says while looking around the room.
"Is this a hospital? No, there is no hospital like this."
He tries to get down from the bed.
"Mmm... What is going on? How did I become small?"
He looks around the room and sees a mirror.
"What? How did I become like this?"
He says while in shock.
"Aah... My head!"
The memories start flashing through his head.
"Aah... The owner of this body’s name is Zane," he says while holding his head.
"He was banished from his family because he failed to awaken his magical class when he was five. His mother died, and he was sent to the abandoned castle near Demon Mountain," he says while falling to the ground.
"So this is a magic world, huh? And the former owner of this body was the 15th prince. He is seven and has been staying alone in this big castle. It seems I am going to live another pathetic life."
He sighs.
"Dying at the age of 20 and then reincarnating into a trash prince... What is the point of reincarnation, then?" he says while lying on the bed.
[Ding!]
[ALMIGHTY SYSTEM AWAKENS.]
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO BIND?]
[YES.??NO]
"What’s the point when you’re just going to use me and give me stupid missions?"
[THIS SYSTEM DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT, MASTER. THIS SYSTEM ONLY GIVES YOU REWARDS FOR WHAT YOU DO.]
"What do you want from me? And who do you work for? Who made you?"
[I DON’T NEED ANYTHING FROM MASTER, AND I AM NOT WORKING FOR ANYONE. YOU ARE THE ONE WHO MADE ME, MASTER.]
"What do you mean by that?"
He says while standing up.
[MASTER, IN YOUR PAST LIFE, YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO BE STRONGER THAN ANYONE. YOU WANTED TO HAVE A LOT OF MONEY, AND YOU ALSO WANTED TO HAVE A HAPPY LIFE AND A FAMILY. BECAUSE OF THIS, THE SYSTEM WAS FORMED INSIDE YOUR SOUL.]
"So, is there anyone who has a system in this world too?"
[NO, MASTER.]
"Interesting."
He says while opening the door.
Zane started walking through the passage, opening the doors to see if there were still any maids around.
He walked through the whole castle alone, trying to find anyone, but all he saw was nothing.
"Well... I guess I am alone," he says while looking down.
[MASTER, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS ACCEPT ME, AND I WILL OFFER YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT.]
"Mmm... What do you mean by that?" he says while looking at the golden screen.
[MASTER, LIKE I SAID, I WILL ONLY BE AWARDING YOU WITH REWARDS AND NOT GIVING YOU ANY MISSIONS.]
"Is that true?" he says while smiling.
[YES, MASTER.]
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO BIND?]
[YES.??NO]
"Okay, you convinced me."
He says while pressing YES.
[DING!]
[SYSTEM BINDING SUCCESSFUL.]
[DING!]
[AWARDING MASTER WITH THE NEWBIE REWARD.]
[YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED TWO GOLDEN BOXES AND A MAGICAL CLASS: MASTER OF ALL CLASSES.]
"What is this huge reward?" he says while claiming the rewards.
And then, a huge amount of mana bursts out of him, blasting through the ceiling of the training ground.
"Wow... This is amazing," he says while smiling.
[MASTER, CONTINUE TO WORK HARD. CLAIM MORE REWARDS.]
"Oooh, there is more. So I have to work hard in this life."
Zane started walking toward the main door and then opened it.
"Well, it seems he was sent here to die, not to train, but this is good for my training," he says while going back inside.
"Let’s check the rewards," he says while opening the first box.
[DING!]
[YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED AN INNER ABILITY: INFINITE GROWTH.]
"What? Having this means there is no end to my growth. Let’s open another one."
[YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED A 10,000× MULTIPLIER.]
"System, what do you mean by this?"
[IT MEANS YOU CAN USE IT TO MULTIPLY ANY OBJECT, AND YOU CAN ONLY USE IT FIVE TIMES.]
"Mmm... So that’s it, huh? Then use it two times to multiply my status window."
[ROGER THAT, MASTER.]
[STATUS WINDOW]
NAME: ZANE
AGE: 7
MAGIC CLASS: MASTER OF ALL CLASSES
INNER TALENT: INFINITE GROWTH
ATTACK: 20,010
DEFENSE: 20,010
MANA: 200,020
STAMINA: 20,000
FATIGUE: 0/2,000,020
[DING! DING!]
[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!]
[MASTER’S BODY CANNOT WITHSTAND THE POWER.]
[SYSTEM HAS SEALED MASTER’S ABILITIES.]
[MASTER’S NEW STATUS]
ATTACK: 50
DEFENSE: 50
MANA: 100
STAMINA: 100
FATIGUE: 0/200
"Mmm... So my body could not withstand that much power. I need to train hard so that I can protect myself."
Zane looked around the castle.
There was nothing for him to do, and he knew almost nothing about this new world.
"If I’m going to survive here, I need to learn more about this place."
He began exploring the castle, looking through the different rooms.
After walking downstairs, he noticed a large wooden door covered in dust.
"Hmm... What’s inside?"
Zane opened the door and discovered a huge library.
His eyes widened as he looked at the countless books filling the shelves.
"There’s so much..."
He walked inside and looked around.
However, the entire library was covered in dust, and many of the books were buried beneath it.
"Looks like no one has been here for a long time."
Zane rolled up his sleeves.
"If I want to learn about this world, I should probably start with this place."
He started cleaning the library so that he could read the books and learn more about this world.
While cleaning under the shelves, Zane noticed something.
"Hmm?"
He reached under the shelf and pulled out an old diary covered in dust but was hand written .
"A diary? Who could have kept a diary in a place like this?"
He wiped the dust from the cover.
Then, a memory suddenly appeared in his mind.
"Mmm... I think I saw this book in my memories."
He looked at the name written on the diary.
"Ah... Yeah. This is the diary Zane’s mother used to write before she died from a disease."
Zane looked at the diary for a moment.
"Well, how about I read it?"
He placed the diary on the table.
One was titled The Fundamentals of Magic.
The other was titled The Demon Mountain.
"Mmm... It seems there is no need to look for the books."
He said while sitting on the chair.
Zane opened the first book.
"Mmm... How come I can read this language?"
[IT’S BECAUSE OF ME AND ZANE’S MEMORIES, MASTER.]
"Ah, I see. That’s good."
Zane began reading.
He spent the next two weeks reading the books he had found in the library.
After two weeks of reading , Zane finally closed the last book.
"So that’s how this world works huh."
He leaned back in the chair.
"So the William family has seven princesses and eight princes."
He looked at the family records again.
"Fourteen of them have amazing abilities, and I’m the only one who doesn’t have magical powers."
He smiled slightly.
"And my mother was the youngest wife..."
Zane paused.
"This is interesting."
He picked up The Fundamentals of Magic again.
According to the book, there were seven categories of inner abilities.
Fire Magic.
Water Magic.
Earth Magic.
Wind Magic.
Lightning Magic.
Light Magic.
Dark Magic.
There were also different magic classes.
Mage.
Swordsman.
Archer.
Assassin.
Healer.
Spearmanship.
Zane’s eyes lit up.
"Which means I can use all of these because of my magic class and inner talent."
He smiled.
"Master of All Classes... and Infinite Growth."
Zane stood up and walked toward the window.
He looked toward the massive mountain in the distance.
"And then there is this mountain."
His eyes narrowed.
"Demon Mountain."
He remembered what he had read.
"There are many monsters and demons there, and it’s said that only a few people can survive."
Zane smiled.
"Well, as for me..."
He looked at his small hands.
"This is a good place for my training and my growth."
He looked toward the distant mountain again.
"I want to become stronger."
Then he clenched his fist.
"Because I want to enter the Magical Academy."
The abandoned castle became silent again.
But for the first time since his reincarnation...
Zane finally had a goal.