Heir to Nothing

Liana sat down gracefully, laying out the food on a cloth over the grass.

As always, simple and warm. A home-cooked comfort.

"What were you guys talking about?" she asked casually, not even looking at me as she unpacked the bowls.

I looked away, pretending to stretch my neck.

"Just... normal stuff," I muttered.

Those bastards. Stuffing my head with nonsense.

I'll punish them later. When I get stronger.

Liana glanced at me, brow raised.

"I see... So you don't want to tell me?"

"Hey—I didn't say that," I replied quickly, straightening up a little.

She gave a mock sigh, still eyeing me suspiciously.

"I bet you were talking about some girls."

"What? No, we weren't."

She leaned in slightly, smiling faintly.

"Yes, you were. I saw the way you were whispering and being all secretive. Mira says when boys act like that, they're always talking about... you know, perverted things."

I choked on my drink.

"W-What? No! We weren't talking about anything like that!"

I waved my hands in defense, flustered.

"And don't listen to Mira from now on. She doesn't know what she's talking about."

Liana tilted her head, her expression calm but clearly amused.

"Then tell me. What were you talking about?"

I hesitated.

Should I really tell her they were teasing me about her?

That they kept calling her my girlfriend, and went on about how 'lucky' I was?

Yeah... no.

I cleared my throat and smiled awkwardly.

"Nothing important. Just training stuff. Ranks, swords, bruises."

She squinted at me for a second, clearly not convinced.

But then she shrugged and picked up her spoon.

"Fine. Keep your secrets."

The silence between us settled, comfortable now, like it always did.

But as I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye—calm, confident, always composed—I couldn't help but wonder...

What would she say if she knew what they were really teasing me about?

No.

I shook the thought out of my head.

I wasn't Kael.

Whatever he felt for her… it wasn't mine to claim.

To me, Liana was a friend. A sister.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

Letting that thought fade, I turned to her and asked,

"So… how was your day?"

Her eyes lit up as she began talking—about chores, about Mira, and how Mira had burned the food again and got punished by her mother by being forced to eat it.

Liana was laughing as she spoke, her voice light and full of life.

I just listened.

Her presence was… grounding.

After we finished eating, she gathered the empty plates and stood.

"See you at dinner?" she asked.

I nodded.

And with that, she left for her duties.

---

Now it was time for aura training.

The part I dreaded most.

Despite all my effort, I had made no real progress. I still needed conscious focus just to circulate aura. I couldn't coat my sword. Couldn't even wrap it around my limbs properly. All I managed was a faint strengthening of my body—barely more than a warm-up.

And Instructor Gareth had made it clear.

"Two months. If you can't manifest weapon coating by then, you'll stop training in aura. Permanently. And take the path of a mage."

It wasn't said cruelly. Just cold. Honest.

That was the rule.

I sighed.

Maybe I really can't use aura.

And there it went—my dream of mastering both paths.

Aura and Magic.

Not everyone could do it.

Hell, even most geniuses failed at it.

And I… I wasn't the protagonist.

I was just a survivor.

And for someone like me, maybe that was enough.

Enough to live.

Enough to endure what's coming.

I tried to believe that.

---

Later that night, after dinner with Liana, I returned to my room. My body was sore, my head was heavy—but more than anything, my spirit was tired.

I collapsed onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for a while before muttering quietly—

"Status."

The faint shimmer of light appeared in the dark.

The screen greeted me like an old, silent friend.

I stared at the translucent panel hovering in the darkness.

---

🞂 Status Screen 🞀

Name: Kael Thorne

Title(s): None

Potential: B+ (Dormant / Sealed)

Current Rank: E-

Trait(s): None

---

Affinity

→ Status: Analyzing ( ??? )

 ↳ Affinity not recognized.

 ↳ Potential interference detected… [Analysis Incomplete]

---

Attributes

Strength: E

Agility: E-

Endurance: E

Intelligence: E-

Mana Capacity: E-

Luck: ?

---

Skills

Intermediate Swordsmanship — Mastery: 90%

Intermediate Mana Control — Mastery: 30%

Perfect Insight (Passive) — F Rank

 ↳ Allows flawless memorization and replication of any technique or spell observed.

Stoic Resolve (Passive) — F Rank

 ↳ Suppresses emotions, maintains calm, and masks vulnerability under pressure.

---

Imperial Fang of Thorne (Spear Style)

→ [I] Fang Unleashed – Mastery: 75% (Basic)

→ [II] Fang Guard – Mastery: 15% (Basic)

Forms Mastered: 2/8

---

I let out a quiet breath.

Barely any changes.

Four months in this world. Five since Kael was exiled to this fortress.

And my progress?

Minimal.

Sure, my swordsmanship had jumped to 90%—but that last 20% had taken everything I had. Every repetition. Every drop of focus. The higher your mastery climbs, the more the wall tightens around you.

Even mana control had only moved from 10% to 30%. I'd thought mastering the basics would make things easier.

It didn't.

Every improvement past a threshold felt like crawling through broken glass. The system—whatever it was—didn't hand out strength easily.

Still… I had made progress.

I wasn't the same broken, exiled noble who came here limping and half-starved.

But I wasn't strong either.

Not yet.

My stats were just a hair above rock bottom. E rank in body, sure—but that meant nothing when even C-ranks were walking around like seasoned monsters. I couldn't even coat my blade with aura, and I still struggled to keep up with knights who had trained since childhood.

And then… there was the Affinity.

Still unknown.

Still incomplete.

Still hidden behind some kind of interference.

What the hell was interfering? My soul? My past?

Was it part of Kael's sealed potential—or something else entirely?

I didn't know.

And that scared me more than I liked to admit.

leaned against the wall of my room, sweat still clinging to my skin from the day's brutal training.

six months. That's how long I'd been here. Enough time to survive, adapt… maybe even grow.

But now?

Now I had to start planning ahead.

The fortress—this place—it wasn't going to last.

In the original story, the Thorne Fortress was destroyed before the main plot ever began. Barely a footnote. Just a brief mention of how it was wiped out in a dungeon-related accident. Something about an "explosion."

But that's the thing. Dungeons don't explode.

At worst, they go into overload. Leak toxic mana. Cause monster breakouts.

But an outright explosion? That's not just rare—it's unheard of.

Even then, the author never explained how it happened. No details. No aftermath. Just one sentence in passing:

"Thorne Fortress was already gone by then, destroyed by a dungeon explosion that shocked the entire Federation."

That was it. No one ever investigated. No characters looked back. Just brushed under the rug as if it didn't matter.

But now? It mattered to me.

Because I'm here.

And if I don't do something, I'll be here when it all goes to hell.

The Aetherion Academy arc begins when the protagonist and his party turn 17. They were all the same age. Meaning the destruction of this fortress happened around when they were 16… maybe 15.

Right now, I'm 14 years and six months old.

So I have—what—six months, maybe less, before this place is destroyed?

Maybe more, maybe less.

But I'm not stupid enough to think I'll get lucky and it'll happen on the last day.

No. That's not how this world works.

The story blamed a dungeon for the destruction. But here's the real problem: there is no dungeon anywhere near this place.

If there were one nearby, it would've been discovered already.

Dungeons can't hide. The moment one spawns, it starts leaking corrupted mana into the environment. Even the weakest awakened can sense it—smell it, feel it.

But there's nothing.

No monster activity. No signs of corrosion. Not even a blip on the detection arrays.

And yet… something still caused the fortress to explode.

Which means either

A dungeon is hidden here in a way that shouldn't be possible…

Or one will appear soon—something new. Something unprecedented.

Either way, I can't trust anyone here to believe me if I just say "Hey, I think the fortress is going to explode in six months."

They'd call me insane.

So I have to find proof. Hard evidence. Something real.

And that means I need to start investigating the surroundings myself—quietly. No allies. No questions. No suspicions.