Aron flushed with embarrassment for a second. He quickly cleared his mind and focused on activating the rainbow card.

The card flared with blinding rainbow light before shooting forward and sinking straight into the space between his eyebrows.

Suddenly his face twisted in pain. His expression went completely dark. His eyes began to shift colors one after another, deep red, vibrant green, sharp blue, golden white, and then pitch black.

He screamed in pure agony. The nerves connected to his brain felt like they were being burned alive. Clutching his head tightly, he collapsed to the floor and shrieked into the empty room.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Inside his body, a brutal reconstruction began. His meridians snapped one after another. His bones shattered into tiny pieces, only to violently knit back together a second later.

His blood boiled like lava in his veins. He completely lost control of his muscles, writhing on the cold floor in helpless pain.

After a few agonizing minutes, the torture finally stopped. His eyes flashed a brilliant, radiant gold before settling back to their normal color.

Aron lay there gasping for air. 

HUFF! HUFF!

His entire body was drenched in sweat, but his skin now had a faint, flawless sheen, clear as diamond. He forced himself up... While his chest is still heaving up and down.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations, Host! You have gained the world's first Legendary-rank skill: Abyssal Gaze.]

Aron stood frozen, completely dumbfounded. He knew the card would improve his ability, but he had to make sure he wasn't mishearing things.

His useless, basic F-rank skill, Real Eye, had just evolved into a Legendary skill? An ability that completely bypassed the SSS-rank elites?

His ears were still ringing from the intense pain, but a wave of raw excitement was already washing over his shock.

He murmured to himself, "I need to go to the Assistant at the Pillar of Light to check my skill details..."

[Ding!]

[Host, are you actually dumb, or are you just trying to test my patience?]

[You have this almighty system right beside you. Why do you need to go to a brainless idiot to check your status? Besides, do you really think that idiot could even detect a Legendary-rank skill?]

Aron was immediately corrected. Right, he hadn't even thought about using his own system. He grinned awkwardly, scratching his head.

"System, open my status window."

In this world, every hunter had a strict limit on attributes. To break through, they had to fight monsters and clear vortexes to gain stat points. Every rank had a fixed upper limit:

F-Rank: 100 total stats

E-Rank: 200 total stats

D-Rank: 350 total stats

C-Rank: 500 total stats

B-Rank: 1,000 total stats

A-Rank: 3,000 total stats

S-Rank: 5,000 total stats

SS-Rank: 10,000 total stats

SSS-Rank: 50,000 total stats

That was why from S-rank onward, the government gave massive rewards and even national recognition with countless benefits.

While he was thinking, a glowing blue screen materialized before his eyes.

[Status Window

Name: Aron Argentine

Identity: Unknown

Rank: (L)

Attributes:

Strength: 250

Stamina: 150

Agility: 150

Spirit: 200

Mana: 250

Free Points: 0

Upper Limit: Unknown

Note: These are base attributes of a Legendary class. Attribute points can be earned by performing face-slaps, completing missions, or clearing Vortexes.

Skills:

1. Abyssal Gaze (L) Description: The ultimate ocular skill of the universe. It possesses numerous locked functions that will awaken as the Host grows. The following functions are currently unlocked:

I. Gaze: Scan the status of any target. See through illusions, stealth, and hidden traits up to one full tier above the user's current level.

II. Enhance: Analyze any skill in existence below Legendary rank. Copy these skills regardless of their original restrictions and permanently improve them for personal use.]

Aron stood entirely frozen as he read through the description.

What the hell?!

Just what kind of god-tier ability had he landed on? Not only did his base stats completely shatter the F-rank limit of 100, but he could literally steal other people's hard-earned skills and upgrade them.

He was a walking, talking cheat code.

The realization of how much his life had just changed finally hit him. Alone in his cramped room, he stood completely frozen for a few seconds before a manic laugh ripped from his throat.

"Hahahhahahahh! At last! At last, the gods above heard my prayers... my pleas!"

He was so utterly consumed by the sheer brokenness of his new skill that he completely overlooked the section in his status window where his identity was listed as Unknown.

He simply brushed it off, assuming it was because he was an orphan in this world.

Tears welled in his eyes, but his face was split into a massive, triumphant grin. For ten long, agonizing years in his past life, he had suffered at the very bottom of society, mocked and cast aside because of his trash F-rank skill.

He had prayed to every god he knew, begging for a chance, a cheat, a break from reality. Nothing ever happened...

Until today, all it took to change his fate was one moment of pure defiance, spitting right in the face of a world-ending Calamity as he embraced death.

After laughing so long his throat felt raw, his mind suddenly snapped back to reality. He suddenly froze, remembering something important.

"What day is it today?"

He checked the calendar on his desk and his heart skipped a beat. If his memory was right, today was his graduation from Archeon Academy.

In this world he had studied at the academy for three years, starting at nineteen. Now he was twenty-two.

But graduation wasn't the final step. It was just the gateway to the National Sire Exam, the NSE, which was scheduled in exactly two days.

In his past life, Aron had failed that exam miserably. With a useless F-rank skill, he didn't stand a chance against those monstrous prodigies at all. To even pass the exam, a Sire needed to possess at least an B-rank skill...

The elites who passed would be sent to a prestigious, year-long special training program at the Military Institute, virtually guaranteeing a high-ranking position in the national army or other powerful forces later on.

Back then, it was an impossible dream. But now?

Aron looked down at his diamond-clear skin, feeling the raw power coursing through his veins, at least B-rank equivalent, and the ungodly potential of the Abyssal Gaze locked in his eyes. A cold, confident smile crept onto his face.

He quickly gathered what he needed for the graduation ceremony and headed out in a simple black t-shirt and pants.

But today he looked more handsome than ever. There was no trace of a penniless orphan on his face.

This was Archeon City, a designated B-rank city. In this entire region, there wasn't a single powerhouse above B-rank.

When the Vortexes first appeared across the globe, it wasn't just humans who changed. Normal animals mutated as well. They developed their own deadly skills, evolving into terrifying monsters.

During the Calamity, those mutated beasts also allied with the Vortex monsters, catching mankind in a hopeless pincer attack.

That betrayal was the sole reason humanity ultimately lost the great war.

To maintain order, the government ranked every city based on its defenses and powerhouse population. In Dragon Country, there was only one SSS-rank city, the Dragon Capital, where the nation's SSS-rank peak powerhouses resided.

As for Archeon City, it was a backwater that hadn't produced a single A-rank Sire in many years...

If he remembered correctly, shortly after the National Exam ended, Archeon City would be struck by a catastrophic beast tide containing thousands of B-rank monsters.

The city's defensive array would be utterly shattered, and every single soul left inside would perish.

In his past life, Aron had only survived because he left the city immediately after failing his exam, heading toward an A-rank city to try his luck as a low-level mercenary.

But this time, things would be different. This time he would definitely pass.

In this world, every Awakened was required to register with the Sire Association, a massive organization established by the government to monitor and control superhumans.

Aron had already registered years ago as a trash F-rank. If he wanted to participate in the upcoming events with his true power, he needed to head back to the association and update his rank to B-rank.

He reached the academy and saw everyone was already standing in their designated positions. Moving quietly through the crowd, he found his spot and stood still.

Suddenly a loud, mocking voice echoed from nearby.

"Look, the trash actually showed up. I thought he'd at least have the decency to skip graduation. Hahahaha! He's only good at written exams. When it comes to real combat, he's completely useless."

Aron shifted his gaze. His eyes locked onto the person standing with a group of friends, all laughing at his expense.

The guy practically radiated generic side-character energy. It was Dravis Soberto, someone who had always looked down on Aron. Dravis was the heir of the Soberto family, a prominent B-rank family in Archeon City.

He possessed a B-rank skill called Sword Dance, making him one of the top contenders in the academy to secure a spot in the military's special training program.