Original Novel: Realm of Reckoning: Chapter 1

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Revenge is a dish best served cold. 


‘Bullshit,' Thought Zach, lying in a dimly lit cell with his eyes closed. 


The room was a mess of books and notes. Even the walls were densely scribbled with letters and numbers, giving it a bizarre appearance. Above those scribbles, were paintings. So perfectly drawn that they almost seemed real.

Another thing to notice was that there were no windows in the room. This was his prison cell, where Zach has been stuck for the past 3 years. 


And today…


‘I will finally escape.’ 


Zach’s eyes went to the corner of one of the walls, where a picture of a boy resembling Zach had been sketched. 

‘Brother, wait for me.’ His cold gaze softened by a few degrees.

Zach got up from the bed started stretching and exercising. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the new season of RoR is finally here! The Tutorial stage is going to start very soon, and we’re going to broadcast it live!” 


Zach’s eyes went to the small tv out of the cell, listening to the broadcast. 


RoR. Or the Realm of Reckoning. Also, his destination. 


It has been almost a 100 hundred years since Earth got connected to the system. And each year, the most talented prospects are chosen to venture in the RoR to represent Earth. 


“This time, the Association has once again guaranteed that none of the participants will need to go through the tutorial, so in order to see our new rising stars in action, you will have to wait for the tutorial to end.” Said the female presenter. 


If you are not strong enough, you have to first go through the tutorial stage. It is usually for the planets which are new to the system. 


“But that does not mean that the tutorial will not have any Earth representatives! There might be some who haven’t made their ticket public. And the random selection always brings surprises. Who knows? The chosen one might be you!” Said the male host. 


Oh, and even if it's extremely dangerous, everyone is crazy for getting a chance to enter. Why? Because you can get benefits from venturing into RoR that you cannot get from Dungeons and Gates. 


But there are limited slots. Each galactic civilization only gets a fixed amount of quotas based on their previous performances. Another way is getting it through High Rankers, who sometimes get it as a reward while Adventuring in the RoR. These high rankers either pass it to their family members or sell it for a high price. And the last option is random selection. The system always choses a few people at random. People dream of being this random person, since these people get the most attention. 


“While we wait for the countdown, let’s take a look at the top prospects this season. On number 20, we have Haruki Nakamura, from Japan!  At only 18 years of age, she has already reached an impressive level 38. She has the rare class of Combat Healer and her trait “Magic Burst” gives her a whopping +50 on mana at her level. Overall, I’m really looking forward to her development. 


“On number 19th, we have Gabriel da Silva! Also called the Hotstar! A Level 37 Magic Swordsman! Inheriting the Fire Trait and Swordsmanship of the Silva familia, he is a talented prospect who is good at strategies and frontal offense.” 


The broadcast continued, and soon, the list was at its end. The picture of a blond girl appeared on the tv. “And our top prospect! The most talented of all! The Daughter of Association chairman, Yulia Alexandrovna Ivanova. At the age of 18, she has already awakened two traits! With a Progression Factor of 9.2, she has already reached an unbelievable level 50! With this unseen talent and her angelic personality, she is expected to finally take Earth to the next level! She is….” 


‘Bitch…’ Looking at the picture, a look of hatred appeared in Zach’s eyes. The girl in the picture was the reason behind a majority of his suffering. Listening to the heaps of praise she was getting, Zach felt like gagging. 


Zach checked the time. 9:30. According to the universe time clock, the tutorial will start in exactly 1 hour, 47 minutes. 


‘It’s time.’ 


Everyday, Zach has to give a large amount of blood to the researchers. All for today, Zach has adjusted his timing of withdrawal to 9:30. If the guard comes before and after that, he refuses to cooperate even if beaten severely.


Beep—


That's why, as expected, while he was still exercising, the door opened, and a guard walked in, carrying handcuffs. When he saw Zach exercising, he smirked. “You’re trying to do useless things again.” 


Zach looked at the man. 


[Gunther Smith]

[Lv 31]


This was a high level guard hired especially for Zach. Since the man is extremely dissatisfied with his job, he tries to take it out on Zach. 


Gunther came over, stepping over his books. “You know, it's really fun. Seeing you living in delusion,” he said, looking at the numerous books and notes piled up mountain high. 


Zach ignored the man’s taunts and laid down on the bed. This was just a game. Gunther hates the indifference in Zach’s eyes. That’s why, he tries to get a rise out of him, or scare him. 


“What do you hope to achieve by cramming all this knowledge? Do you think you will get chosen? Come to think of it, you’re actually 18 now, aren’t you? You might actually have a shot.” He said, coming over as he took out a blood extractor. 


He was just mocking him. The probability of getting chosen is less than 1 in a billion. Of course it is impossible. 


“In fact, I hope you do get chosen.” The guard stabbed the needle into his arm. “Because it would be fun to see you die within a minute of spawning. You definitely have a chance at the quickest death record.”  


As annoying as the man’s words were, there was some truth to them. Compared to all the geniuses, Zach was indeed pitifully weak. 


“Oops, didn’t get it right.” Taking it out, he stabbed it again. “You must really curse your crazy regeneration, huh? I can hit you as much as I want, and it will all heal anyway.”


Gunther chuckled, but his amusement did not last long. “You got nothing to say?” He asked, casually slapping Zach. 


Zach still did not respond.


Now the man definitely knew something was up. Because, Zach is never passive. Even without violence, he has ways of making him stop. 


“What are you trying to pull this time?” He asked, his vigilance increasing. 


Zach shook his head. “Nothing. I’m just… giving up.” 


“What?” 


Zach finally looked at the Gunther, and the hatred was enough to make the man flinch. “You heard right. I’m going to die. I’m fed up with all the pain, experiments, and blood loss. I hate it all.” 


“What… what the hell are you talking about? I’m not falling for this trick again.”


“But you know what I hate more?... You.” Continued Zach, ignoring Gunther. “So, I’ve decided to die on your watch, as thanks for all the time you’ve spent trying to annoy the hell out of me." Saying so, Zach closed his eyes. 


[Trait “Inhuman Adaptation” Deactivated]


“You little— Hey! Stop!” 


As soon as Zach deactivated the trait, a violent cough escaped his lip. Red lines appeared all over his body as his mana went out of control. The second cough had droplets of blood flying out of his mouth. 


“Bloody hell!” Gunther freaked out. Zach’s was an extremely high priority subject. That’s why he had such a luxurious cell with all the things he wanted and a high level guard. If something happened to him on his watch, Gunther’s life is as good as over. 


Alarms were sounded as Zach was quickly taken to the Emergency room. All the researchers were quickly summoned in order to save subject 010385. 


Finally, the chief Researcher arrived in slippers and pajamas. Along with him came his guard, whose level was even higher than Gunther.


"What happened?!" Asked the Chief Researcher.


"Sir, the mana cancer subject is in a critical state."


"What?! How did this happen?" 


"Sir, we also don't know. He was brought here like this." 


The Researchers quickly ran tests on Zach in order to determine the cause of instability. 


"His vitals are dropping very fast."


"We need to operate right now. All unqualified people, out. Why is the subject still in handcuffs?!" 

With his hands bound to his chest, it would indeed be difficult to operate.

"Sir, actually the handcuffs are—" Gunther, who had put the handcuffs on, tried to explain but the Chief Researcher was having none of it. 


"Out!" 


“He’s the only survivor of Mana Cancer. We can’t let such a valuable test subject die.” 

Soon, on those who were specialized in surgery and healing were left. And the door to the OR closed, making it a soudproof place.

Usually, dangerous subjects are bound by the mana suppressing cuff installed in the bed, but doing that with Zach, who is only level 7 and dying would be idiotic.


Lying on the bed, Zach checked the identities of the researchers. As he has expected, all of them were in non combat classes. Zach had already confirmed this beforehand.


[Trait “Inhuman Adaptation” Activated]


As soon as he reactivated the trait, he could breathe properly once again and his vitality stopped decreasing. 


[Trait “Uncanny Insight” Activated]


Zach’s focus and thought process suddenly went through an upgrade. Opening his eyes, he took in his surroundings. 4 people, lv 40 healing class, lv30 Alchemist, lv15, and lv 20. His own level? A pitiful lv 7. His eyes went to the operating tools sitting not far away. His brain quickly calculated the actions he would have to take based on the huge amount of data he had crammed in his mind while studying all those books. 


“What? His condition is stabilizing!”


[Trait “Obsessive Control” Activated]


He activated his third and last trait. A feeling of complete control enveloped him. That included his body and mana. He could temporarily control it like high level combat class individuals.


Then he took action. First thing he did was to snatch the Scalpel out of the Chief Researcher’s hand, cover it in mana, and stabbed it into the man’s heart and pulled it down, completely ripping it.

At the same time, his other hand grabbed the anesthetic syringe from alchemist researcher’s hand and emptied it into the man’s neck. These two were the highest level. Zach had to take care of them first.


Zach retracted the bloody scalpel and threw the scalpel and it pierced the throat of one of the researchers who was backing away. His hand went to the tool table. This time he picked up a saw. Covering it with mana, he sliced the Chief Researcher’s neck, who was still disoriented after receiving a fatal wound to the heart. This man was Lv 40. So this much was important to kill him. Then he lunged for the last researcher who was trying to sound the alarm. 


“Help!” The saw was thrown, and the communicator fell out of his hands before he could activate it. In the next second, Zach was onto the man. “Wait! Zach, w-we’re friends, aren’t we?” 


‘Friends?’ Even as he killed the man, Zach had to scoff at the man’s words. The things these guys have done to him to satisfy their curiosity are inhumanely horrible. 

[You have Reached Level 9]

Soon, Zach had 4 bodies and a lab full of dangerous chemicals and oxygen tanks at his disposal.

And now, he was on the floor, writhing in pain. Through [Obsessive Control], he had pushed his body to perform beyond its capabilities, ignoring the consequences. He had also used up all the mana.

Though, he had calculated that much. He knew the level up would refill his mana.

[Inhuman Adaptability]

Soon, his trait slowly brought his back to normal condition and Zach slowly got up.

The first thing he did was to take out a picture of the OR that he had painted from his clothes and stick it front of the Camera. There are too many cameras in the research facility. The attention is focused mainly on the cell of prisoners. So it is almost a certainty that no one would notice anything.


Then, Zach checked the time. ‘Looks like I have some time to kill.’


1 hour later… 


The Researchers gathered outside were waiting on pins and needles. Subject 010385 was extremely important. His blood is used for making Special potions which are directly commissioned by the association and VIPs. 


“Will they be able to save him?” 


“Who knows? We still haven’t figured out how he’s still alive in the first place.”


“Yeah, with all that he put him through, if it were me, I would have killed myself long.”


A laugh followed. 


The researchers had taken the subject's tenacity for granted, having the illusion that he wouldn’t die no matter what they did to him. That’s why, now that he was actually dying, they had a lot of regrets. 


“Man, I still had a few experiments I wanted to do.” 


“No shit. Me too.” 


At this moment, the light above the operating lab turned green, and all rearchers walked in, along with Gunther and the Chief Researcher’s guard. 


“What the—” 


“Christ!” 


What they saw was the bodies of three researchers and someone lying in the bed, covered with sheets. Surprised, they all rushed in. 


Immediately after they went in, a researcher wearing glasses and a surgical mask who had been hiding behind the door walked out of the room. 


‘Ignite.’ 


BOOOOOOOMMM


An explosion took place, waking up the whole facility. The Guards flocked in droves to investigate. 


Dressed as a researcher from head to toe, Zach calmly walked in the opposite direction, passing the guards without an issue. 


‘Step 1, complete.’



….