Inside the small, rotting room, the sudden force of him snatching her hand threw Rosalina into absolute shock.
She tried with all her physical strength to pull back, but her limbs refused to obey.
It was far more than a physical grip anchoring her—it was as if an invisible, primordial bond had snapped into place between their very souls, binding her in place like an iron clamp.
”Arghhh…!”
A strangled gasp ripped from her throat.
Her eyes dilated in sheer terror as her body instinctively recoiled, yet she remained completely paralyzed.
It felt as though a roaring, endless ocean of pure, concentrated energy was being forced directly into her spiritual channels.
It was not a hostile invasion—it was an overwhelming tide of primordial Mana and refined Soul Energy.
The moment Barn’s power entered her system, her innate Earth and Nature affinities reacted violently, flaring to life like dry tinder caught in a raging tempest.
The faint blue glow of her soundproofing artifact flickered wildly, its protective barrier shuddering and threatening to shatter under the static pressure radiating from Barn’s skin.
Inside her core, the invisible boundaries of her spiritual limit—the rigid ceiling that had kept her anchored as a Mid-Tier Mage—began to creak, groan, and break apart.
Barn was not doing this recklessly.
He remembered her tragic end from the novel—how, at the very end of her life, cornered by a surging horde of monsters, Rosalina had awakened as a High-Rank Mage under extreme trauma.
Even with that late awakening, she had been ruthlessly overwhelmed by the sudden swarm.
He wasn’t breaking the fundamental laws of existence; he was simply pulling her future forward.
He was awakening her latent potential ahead of time so she would have the strength to stand against a hostile world.
After all, she was one of the few people in this life he could truly place his trust in.
’She’s not bad,’ Barn thought quietly as the energy flowed.
‘She deserves better than a tragic death in the gutter.’
Together, Barn and Rosalina felt the golden stream of energy sink into her core essence, merging with her own mana matrix and fortifying her body beyond mortal limits.
She felt light, overflowing with power, as if ancient spiritual chains binding her potential had been shattered into dust.
Outside in the shadowy alleyways, the hidden stealth operatives monitoring the dilapidated house felt their scrying sensors flare violently.
The ambient temperature dropped several degrees in an instant, and the air around the Gozel Market turned so thick with spiritual pressure that several elite knights sank to their knees, clutching their chests in quiet, breathless agony.
Inside the room, the surge of energy reached its absolute peak.
A brilliant, soft emerald-and-ochre light burst from Rosalina’s skin as her dual affinities resonated in perfect harmony, washing over the rotting wooden walls before settling deep into her core.
When Barn finally released her hand, Rosalina collapsed forward onto the bed, her breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps.
She clutched her chest, her mind spinning wildly as she processed the radical, impossible transformation within her frame.
Her senses were suddenly ten times sharper; her connection to the earth beneath the creaking floorboards felt absolute.
She raised her trembling, pale hands, staring at Barn in absolute terror and profound awe.
”You…” her voice cracked, her green eyes wide with horror.
“What…
what kind of monster are you?”
Barn looked down at her, his expression calm and unbothered.
“The kind who helps the ones he likes.”
The words struck Rosalina like a physical force, leaving her speechless.
She sat frozen, unable to conjure a single counterargument, overwhelmed by the surging tide of magic now humming inside her body.
While she tried to process the miracle, Barn’s awareness shifted inward as a crisp, ethereal chime echoed exclusively in his mind.
Ting!
[NOTIFICATION]
Event: You have assisted Rosalina in breaking through her bottleneck from Mid-Rank Mage to High-Rank Mage.
Result: Through deep spiritual resonance, you have gained a fundamental understanding of Nature Magic and Earth Magic.
Primary Class Update: Mage Level 18 rightarrow Mage Level 23
New Class Unlocked: Earth Mage (Level 5)
New Class Unlocked: Nature Mage (Level 5)
[NEW SKILLS ACQUIRED]
Nature’s Friend: Grants control over local flora and minor beasts based on overall power and Nature Mage Level.
Passively reduces damage taken from natural elements or organic entities by 20% (Scalable).
Earth Manipulation: Allows active, fluid control over soil, stone, and minerals for offensive, defensive, or restraining purposes.
Barn stared at the mental interface, a flicker of confusion crossing his thoughts.
The classes and skills were undeniably potent, but they felt distinctly practical compared to his raw, law-bending soul energy.
’Hey…
this is your doing, isn’t it?’ he directed his thoughts toward the mysterious presence tied to his soul.
’Yes,’ the quiet, echoing voice responded within his mind.
’Why?’ Barn inquired, though a part of him already suspected the reason.
’Because you require practical classes and structured paths to expand your baseline limits,’ the voice explained smoothly.
‘In this world, raw skills alone will not suffice to raise your fundamental existence rank.
Classes structure the soul.
Entities in this realm are judged and empowered by their class matrix first and foremost.’
’Then…
can my classes exceed Level 100?’ Barn asked mentally.
’Yes.’
’How?’
’Through resonance and assimilation.
You possess the unique capacity to acquire any skill and unlock any class through deep connection.
You do not merely possess an ancient soul; your spiritual density is easily a hundred times greater than ordinary mortals.
As time passes, your growth will compound exponentially.
In true essence…
you are akin to a World Being.’
The answer carried a weight of quiet reverence.
Barn understood what World Beings were—immortal entities that served as the physical personification of reality’s fundamental laws, unkillable so long as the law they embodied endured.
”Hey…
how did you do that?” Rosalina’s voice broke through his internal dialogue, pulling his attention back to the physical world.
She had finally gathered her composure, though her brown eyes still searched his face for answers.
Barn looked at her, his tone perfectly even as he offered a plausible cover story.
“Today I turned twenty-four.
Upon reaching this age, I unlocked the authority to use my family’s ancient hereditary skill—Master.
It allows me to guide, awaken, and forcefully draw out the hidden potential of another person.”
Rosalina listened intently.
The explanation sounded extraordinary, yet given the mind-boggling leap in power she had just experienced, she did not doubt his words for a second.
”Can you…
help anyone grow stronger like this?” she asked, her voice hushed.
”Yes,” Barn replied simply.
Silence descended upon the room once more as Rosalina sank deep into thought.
The air within the cramped, decaying room hung heavy with the electric hum of newly awakened magic.
Rosalina sat frozen upon the edge of the frayed mattress, her chest rising and falling in shallow, rapid breaths as she stared down at her pale, trembling hands.
Beneath her skin, her mana veins felt altered—thicker, purer, and humming with a vibrant, rhythmic pulse that echoed deep within the soles of her feet.
The invisible boundary that had locked her into the Mid-Tier for years had not merely been cracked; it had been pulverized into dust.
She could feel the ambient moisture in the wooden floorboards, the subtle shifting of dirt beneath the foundation, and the distant rustle of dead leaves clinging to the alley walls.
Her connection to Earth and Nature magic was no longer a structured formula she had to recite—it was an organic extension of her very breath.
Slowly, her green eyes rose to meet Barn’s calm, unreadable gaze.
For the first time since she had been adopted into House Artecus, her sharp, calculating mind faltered under the weight of sheer awe.
In the cutthroat world of the high nobility, power was bought with decades of grueling training, secret elixir consumption, or high-level political backing.
Yet, the man standing before her in a faded, threadbare tunic had just casually rewritten her soul’s matrix in a matter of seconds—as if bestowing a High-Rank breakthrough were nothing more than passing a cup of water.
’If he possesses such unfathomable capability…’ Rosalina thought, her pulse spiking as her natural survival instincts and fierce ambition reignited in tandem.
‘Standing by his side isn’t just a nostalgic comfort—it’s the single most important choice of my life.
With a power like his behind me, no one in House Artecus…
A fierce, possessive resolve hardened the soft contours of her face.
She reached out, her fingers closing tightly around Barn’s hand—not as a helpless girl seeking protection, but as a strategist laying claim to a sovereign power.
”Come with me,” she repeated, her voice dropping an octave, rich with an immovable authority that belied her young age.
“I am taking you to a bigger stage.”
Barn looked down at her small, trembling hand wrapping around his knuckles.
A subtle, knowing smirk curved the edge of his mouth.
”You should be careful, Luna,” he murmured, his voice smooth and laced with quiet amusement.
“I am a young, capable man now.
Once we step out of these slums, there will be many prominent figures—noble matriarchs, court mages, and highborn ladies—who will take an interest in someone like me.
You might just lose your hold on me if you aren’t careful.”
Rosalina’s eyes flashed with a sudden, competitive spark, her red lips curving into a sharp, defiant line.
“Let them try.
They won’t take what’s mine.”
Beneath his unbothered exterior, Barn’s internal thoughts burned with a deep, unyielding fire.
He knew what lay ahead in the pages of the story—the arrogant Crown Prince, the protagonist scaling in power through his cheat-like System, the tragic downfall of the villainess, and the eventual arrival of House Artecus’s biological daughter that would cast Rosalina out into the mud to die.
’I dropped that trash novel because I couldn’t stand the forced drama and mindless slaughter,’ Barn thought, his gaze darkening slightly as his soul energy settled deep within his core.
‘Now that I’m here, I won’t watch her bleed in the dark just to satisfy some cliché plot point.
I’ll tear this entire story apart and rewrite it from scratch…
no matter who stands in my way.’
”Fine,” Barn said softly, breaking the lingering silence.
“I’ll go with you.
But if I’m stepping onto your grand noble stage, I’m going to need proper clothes.
I doubt your high-society friends will appreciate a slum dweller in a frayed tunic.”
”Don’t worry about the clothes,” Rosalina replied instantly, stepping back and pulling her heavy traveling cloak over her shoulders.
She raised her silk half-mask, carefully concealing her striking features, green hair, and red lips beneath the shadowy cowl once more.
“I have everything prepared.”
She reached out, her gloved fingers locking onto his wrist, and led him toward the creaking wooden door.
As Barn stepped across the threshold, the cool, damp morning air of the Gozel Market hit his face.
The sky above was a bruised shade of grey and violet, the sun barely peeking over the distant, towering stone walls of the Upper City.
The alleyways surrounding his dilapidated house were dead silent.
Normally, by six in the morning, street vendors would be hauling wooden carts and desperate laborers would be shuffling through the mud.
But today, the street was entirely abandoned.
High above, perched on the rotting rooftops and crouching beneath the shadow of broken rafters, the cadre of elite royal stealth operatives, master assassins, and high-tier scrying mages remained entirely frozen.
Not a single blade was drawn; not a single spell construct flared.
Sweat continued to pour down their pale faces, dripping off their dark leather collars and onto the damp stone below.
Having felt the staggering surge of primordial mana and spatial pressure that had radiated from Barn’s home just minutes prior, every single operative was gripped by a instinctual, paralyzing terror.
In their eyes, the young man stepping out into the street was an ancient, slumbering calamity walking among mortal sheep.
They held their breath in collective, breathless agony, praying to every god they knew that the monster wouldn’t raise his head and erase them from existence before he left.
Barn didn’t even bother looking up at the rooftops.
He simply walked alongside Rosalina, his footsteps light and relaxed against the cobblestones.
They navigated the twisting, narrow alleyways, moving quickly away from the heart of the slums toward the outer perimeter.
At the shadowed corner of a four-way intersection—where the rotting wood of the Gozel Market met the paved carriage roads of the merchant district—a sleek, dark carriage sat waiting in the shade of a towering brick archway.
It was completely unmarked, devoid of any noble crests or family banners to prevent political rivals or family spies from tracking Rosalina’s movements.
Two large, midnight-black horses stomped their hooves against the dirt, their nostrils flaring in the crisp morning air.
Rosalina pulled open the heavy wooden door of the carriage and gestured for Barn to step inside first.
Barn climbed up, sinking into the plush, crimson velvet seating that smelled faintly of expensive lavender polish—a stark, jarring contrast to the damp wood and mold he had grown accustomed to.
Rosalina darted in right behind him, pulling the heavy velvet curtains tight over the glass windows to block out the morning light.
”Drive,” Rosalina commanded through the small wooden partition separating the cabin from the driver’s seat.
The driver snapped the leather reins, and with a soft groan of iron wheels turning against stone, the unmarked carriage lurked forward.
It rolled smoothly away from the dark, silent shadows of the Gozel Market, carrying them out of the slums and straight toward the glittering, treacherous heart of the Capital.