Soobin stared blankly at the unfamiliar ceiling, his mind still racing to make sense of the whirlwind of memories flooding him. 'This... isn't a dream'. No matter how hard he tried to deny it, the truth was in front of him.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he sat up on the edge of the bed. It’s all real. "I’ve really been... transported into the novel?"

His thoughts flickered back to the life he left behind. Soobin’s life wasn’t exactly glamorous. He was just a regular college student in Seoul, scraping by with average grades, never really standing out. After his parents’ divorce when he was young, things had only gone downhill. His mother barely spoke to him after that—completely neglecting him as if he were just another burden to deal with. She focused on her own life, leaving Soobin to figure everything out on his own.

He had grown used to the silence in their small apartment, used to the feeling of being invisible. The lack of warmth and love was something he didn’t even long for anymore; he had given up hoping for it.

He got up from the bed and wandered aimlessly into what was now his room in this strange new world. Luminescent plants softly glowed on the shelves, casting an eerie yet beautiful light on the walls. This... really isn't the world I knew.

Soobin found a chair by the desk and collapsed into it. His mind felt like it was spinning, torn between disbelief and resignation. He closed his eyes and tried to settle his thoughts.

'Okay... let’s think.'

The world he was now in—it was a familiar one. Not because he’d been here before, but because it was the same world from Echoes of the Spiritbound, the novel he had been obsessively reading. A world of heroes, spirit energy, and mystical powers. Spirit energy was the core of everything here—an essential force, much like electricity had been in his world. Except here, spirit energy powered machines, transportation, and even household appliances.

There were traditional fuels like coal or oil but spirit energy was just exceptionally better than them. And it was unlimited. spirit energy ran everything. And it was drawn from the environment, through either nuclei cores, which were concentrated forms of corrupted spirit energy or usually called Shadow energy ,harvested from monsters or just pure spirit energy cores from spirit beasts. Everyone aspired to wield this energy, and most people had some level of connection to it. Spirit energy originated from living beings, the very existence of life and living beings created this.

And then, of course, there were the spirits. They were entities that humans could bond with, forming contracts that granted them extraordinary powers. These spirits lived off the spirit energy flowing through the world, and for the lucky ones who bonded with them, the possibilities were limitless.

Soobin leaned back, this heart beating faster as the reality of this world slowly sank in. This time it was not because of sadness or because of being scared, it was because he was excited. "This... is insane. I’m actually here". He felt a twinge of excitement build up in his chest. "I’m in the Echoes of the Spiritbound!". He didnt give a single second thought of the life he left behind, it was useless and boring anyways. Finally things are getting interesting, he can BE someone here.

He remembered the countless battles and adventures he had read in the novel. The thrill of mastering spirit energy, forming a bond with a spirit, unlocking unbelievable powers. His head buzzed with the sheer possibilities.

“This... could actually be amazing,” he muttered aloud, sitting up straighter. The thought of controlling spirit energy, of becoming a hero—how many times had he daydreamed about this while reading?

Soobin stood up, pacing in the small room. Okay, okay... first things first. Spirit energy. If he was here, in this body, that meant he had access to spirit energy too, right? In this world for humans, spirit energy could be manipulated through energy cores. Everyone born with energy cores would store spirit energy from when they are young, they practiced to increase the amount of spirit energy their cores can hold and also increase how much output they can provide. Children with parents having energy cores would be born with energy cores and children without will most probably not. If only one parent had an energy core then it's a 50/50 chance. People with energy cores , made contracts with spirts and after attending the academy, they could work as heroes. Heroes worked hard to defeat monsters, clear dungeons etc, just the usual stuff in most novels. There were also villains who used corrupted spirit energy that came from dead and decaying, but that was not something to think about now.

"According to the memory of this body, both my parents own a mid sized guild right? And they both own energy cores and are awakeners. Yesss... So i should have one too? Let's try using spirit energy"

He reached out with his mind, trying to feel for something inside of him, something that would indicate the presence of his own spirit core. 'This is it... this is how it all begins.'

But as the seconds ticked by, his excitement slowly drained away. He didn’t feel anything. There was no stirring of energy, no faint warmth in his chest, nothing that hinted at any kind of power inside him.

Panic started to creep in.

'No... no, this can’t be right. Of course i have a spirit core, don’t I?'

Then it hit him like a punch to the gut.

The memories that weren’t his suddenly came flooding back in vivid detail—the memories of the boy whose body he now inhabited. This boy... wasn’t like everyone else. In a world where spirit energy was everything, where people could command power and strength through it, even though his parents both had a spirt energy core ,this boy had been born without it. He had been ridiculed from when he was young due to it. His parents attended many doctors but with no avail. His parents had to suffer many humilating events due to his abnormality.

"Ah fuck, why this character of all"

A sinking feeling clawed at Soobin’s chest as the reality set in. The one thing that defined this world, the one thing that separated the weak from the strong, the powerful from the powerless... and he didn’t have it.

His breathing quickened, and he stumbled back to the bed, sitting down heavily. No... this can’t be happening. I’m stuck here... in this world... but without a spirit core?

All that excitement, all those dreams of using spirit energy—it felt like the ground had just been ripped out from under him.