Chapter 4: Status

"It is never too late to be what you might have been." — George Eliot

One month later

Rael sat on the edge of the narrow bed in his small apartment on the outskirts of Bloomingdale. The room was quiet except for the low hum of the cheap climate unit that struggled against the evening heat. A month had passed since the gates of the Blackthorn mansion closed behind him, and the days had blurred together until they felt like a single long stretch of gray. His body had simply moved through the motions. Buy the apartment. Order the basic furniture. Set up the television. Stock the small kitchen with whatever required the least effort.

He had paid ten thousand credits for the place. More than nine million remained in the account his father had transferred as compensation. The number sat there like an accusation. He did not want to touch it. Every time he considered spending more than the absolute minimum, the memory of Leon’s smirk returned, and the money felt dirty. Yet ordinary work refused him. Interview after interview ended the same way. The moment his background appeared on the screen—former top student of the capital university, former Blackthorn—the expressions across the table changed. No one wanted a classless heir who had been publicly discarded. The rejections piled up until he stopped applying.

Most nights he ate instant noodles because he had never learned to cook properly. The packets stacked in the cupboard were the same brand he had once ignored in the palace kitchens. Now they were dinner. Friends had vanished. His siblings had never called. The silence confirmed what the stone had already declared: he was of no use.

Tonight was different. If he had awakened, this would have been the night his body transferred into the Dream Realm. Classless people stayed behind. The Dream Realm was a separate dimension from Titan, so vast that no one had ever mapped its edges. Some claimed it had no limit at all. Monsters held more than ninety-five percent of the land. Dungeons dotted the safer regions and offered high rewards to those strong enough to clear them. Titan itself was home to more than humans. Other species lived across its continents, some stronger in raw power, yet humans remained among the smartest. Knowledge, however, meant little when a person could not even leave the city walls. Outside the guarded districts the climate turned harsh and the roads unpatrolled. Only awakeners traveled freely between cities. Both Titan and the Dream Realm were so large that the thought of crossing them still gave Rael a faint shiver of longing. He had once planned to see every culture, every landscape. That plan had died with his class.

He lay down at eleven and closed his eyes, letting the familiar fantasy of the Dream Realm carry him under.

The text appeared in front of him while he still believed he was dreaming.

[Host consciousness detected.]

[Welcome, Rael.]

[Welcome to the Dream Realm.]

[A world where strength determines destiny. A world where the weak are prey and the strong become legends. Your journey begins now. May you survive long enough to discover the truth.]

He had read those words a thousand times on public networks when newly awakened people posted their first screenshots. Seeing them float in the dark felt unreal. He opened his eyes.

Grass pressed against his cheek. Tall trees rose on every side, their canopies blocking most of the strange sky. His mind stayed hazy for several seconds. Other figures his own age lay scattered across the clearing, stirring slowly. An insect landed on his ankle and bit hard. The sharp sting cut through the fog. Red welled on the skin. This was real.

Joy hit him so suddenly that for a moment he wanted to slam his forehead into the ground just to prove the sensation belonged to a living body. He was inside the Dream Realm. The impossible had happened. Confusion followed at once. He had no class. The stone had said so twice. Why was he here?

Around him the others sat up, rubbing their eyes, staring at the trees with the same mixture of awe and fear. A woman descended from the open sky on golden wings. White hair moved around her shoulders. She looked like an angel from the old stories, yet her face was human, practical, used to this work. She was a guide. Rael scanned the clearing quickly. No one he recognized from the university or the capital families had appeared near him. Whatever force had brought him here had dropped him among strangers.

When the last of the new arrivals stood, the winged woman spoke. Her voice carried easily across the grass.

"Newly awakened, welcome to the Dream Realm. I am Miranda, your guide. First I would like you to check your status on the system. Say the word ’Status’ and the screen will appear. It will show your abilities and your power level."

Everyone already knew the command. The instruction was tradition more than necessity, part of the official welcome. Rael still obeyed. The word left his mouth almost without sound.

"Status."

The window opened in front of him.

╔═════════════════════╗

SYSTEM

╚═════════════════════╝

[System initiating...]

[Scanning host...]

[Identity confirmed.]

[Name: Rael]

[Race: Human]

[Class detected.]

[Unique Class detected.]

[Class: Copy]

[Initializing Status Window...]

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STATUS

Name: Rael

Race: Human

Class: Copy (F-Rank)

Level: 1

Souls: 0

Bloodline: Abyssal Sovereign (+100% Multiplier) (Dormant)

Strength: 10 (+10)

Agility: 10 (+10)

Mana: 10 (+10)

Vitality: 10 (+10)

Skills: None

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[Unique Class: Copy]

F-Rank Copy

Description:

A class that allows the user to temporarily copy and wield the abilities associated with another person’s class. The copied class functions as if it were the user’s own, allowing the user to access its basic class abilities and powers.

A copied class remains active for one month before disappearing. Once the duration expires, the copied class is automatically removed unless it has been copied again.

Number of Classes: 0/3

[Class acquisition function unlocked.]

[Class slots detected: 3]

[Maximum simultaneous copied classes: 3]

[Further evolution of the Copy class may increase its capabilities.]

[System initialization complete.]

Current Copies: None

[Welcome, Rael.]

He read every line twice. The stone at the university could not detect anything below E-Rank. An F-Rank class was almost unheard of, something the official records treated as theoretical. Yet the window was clear. He had a class. Unique. Copy. Three empty slots waiting. A bloodline that doubled every base stat. He was not classless.

The knowledge settled slowly, then all at once. Tears came without warning. He turned his face toward the grass so the others would not see. The crying was quiet and complete. For a month he had lived as discarded weight, useful to no one, locked inside city walls while the rest of his generation stepped into legend. Now the path existed again. He was not strong. The rank was the lowest possible. But he was no longer useless. He could walk the roads of the Dream Realm. He could chase the dream he had carried since childhood.

Miranda’s voice continued in the background, explaining the first rules of survival, the nearest safe zones, the way the night transfers would work from this point forward. Rael barely heard her. He stayed on the ground a little longer, letting the tears finish their work, then pushed himself upright and wiped his face with the back of one hand. The trees of the Dream Realm stood around him, vast and unknown. Somewhere beyond them the dungeons waited, and the monsters, and the truths the system had promised he might live long enough to find.

He was still here. That was enough for the first night.

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