As Nicholas blinks away the last remnants of the white flash from his eyes, he remains still, pondering everything he has learned.

  I didn’t even ask what this system is… Ah, gods help me! This is too much… But that woman—her face captivates me even now. I’ve never seen anyone like her.

  Nicholas lets out a heavy sigh.

  “I’m really all alone… Not a single other survivor. This achievement proves it—if it can be believed.”

  With that thought, Nicholas resigns himself to his fate.

  “I suppose there’s nothing I can do except keep moving forward,” he mutters. I wonder if these spells are like the fiction books I read in the royal library—those tales of mystical folk who could conjure flames at will. I guess I should check that first.

  With that thought, Nicholas brings up his spell menu.

  Spells

  Raise dead (lvl1): You can summon a corpse of a once living being, using a moderate amount of mana.

  Control dead (lvl1): This spell tethers the undead you create to you and you can use this spell to give commands to your undead uses a varied amount of mana depending on how much control you use, the amount of undead you can control is dependent on willpower.

  Necrotic bolt (lvl1): Fires a bolt of necrotic force, uses a moderate amount of mana, power is dependent on intelligence and distance is dependent on willpower.

  Hmm… At least this system clearly explains what the spells do, but I still don’t know how to use them.

  As he focuses on the descriptions, Nicholas suddenly realizes that simply thinking about the spells grants him an understanding of how to activate them.

  “Aha!” he exclaims excitedly. “Well, I can’t use Raise Dead or Control Dead without a corpse, so I’ll try Necrotic Bolt first.”

  Raising his palm toward the wall, Nicholas attempts the spell.

  “Necrotic Bolt?” he says hesitantly. A black orb forms at his palm… and then plops uselessly to the floor.

  Hmm… What did I do wrong? he wonders. Then, it dawns on him—he needs to will the spell to travel forward.

  Let me try this again, but this time, I will actually will it to go further.

  Nicholas concentrates. The black orb forms once more, but this time, it shoots from his palm, striking the wall before dissolving into a liquid, then a gas, and finally dissipating.

  “Yes! I did it!” Nicholas grins, marveling at his achievement. Then, he notices a strange sensation—an emptiness in his stomach.

  That must be my mana.

  Somehow, he instinctively knows that casting those two spells had drained around a quarter of his mana.

  What a strange thing this system is…

  Then, he remembers the skill he received as a system reward and pulls up the skills menu.

  Skills

  Regeneration-Passive (lvl1): upon taking damage regeneration uses stamina to heal most wounds. Regeneration speed is determined by endurance and vitality

  That will definitely be useful, but the fact that it says most wounds is quite intriguing. I hope I don’t have to find out exactly what it can’t heal.

  Satisfied, Nicholas turns to the door and grabs the handle.

  Market

  Training area

  Enter Trial

  He thinks about accessing the market, and the familiar white light fills his eyes.

  As the light fades, he finds himself standing at the far end of a familiar-style hall, lined with plenty of tables and chairs. On the other side of the hall, a small-statured creature is waving at him excitedly.

  “Hello, hello! Welcome, finally!” the creature shouts, jumping up and down.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Nicholas instinctively reaches for the missing sword at his hip as he cautiously approaches the ugliest thing he has ever seen.

  “Are you speaking to me… creature?” Nicholas asks as he nears.

  “Yes, yes! But I not creature, I Gurgle. Creature my brother,” Gurgle says, still jumping excitedly.

  “Ah, yes. Gurgle… what a nice name. Would it be rude to ask… what exactly are you?” Nicholas asks, slight disgust on his face as he takes in the thing’s appearance. It wears well-tailored clothes suited for its small frame, but it stands at half Nicholas’s height, with bright green skin covered in warts and a long, pointed nose.

  “I Gurgle, silly human.”

  “Yes, yes, I know, but what are you?” Nicholas gestures toward Gurgle.

  “Oh! I goblin. Mother goblin, father goblin—make Gurgle goblin,” he says, smiling expectantly as if Nicholas is slow.

  “Okay… goblin.”

  “Name Gurgle,” he interrupts.

  Nicholas sighs. “Okay… Gurgle,” he says, frustration in his voice. “What are you doing here? Do you have information for me?”

  “Information? Yes! Information for sale! Also, I buy and sell stuff.”

  “So, are you in charge of this market, Gurgle?”

  “Yes, yes! I pay lots of family money to be here. My mother, father, and most of family think it was a bad idea, but I tell them—Gurgle will make lots more money from new, stupid integrated And here Gurgle is.”

  After some thought, Nicholas decides it's best to inform Gurgle right away that he will be arriving alone.

  “Gurgle…?”

  “Yes, human?”

  “Nicholas.”

  “What?”

  “My name is Nicholas, but that’s… Anyway, Gurgle, I am the only one coming from my world—or so I’ve been told.”

  Gurgle begins to laugh.

  “Silly human, that's a good joke! I can tell a joke too—A goblin and a Gurblesnap walk into a tavern—”

  “Gurgle, everyone from my home is dead,” Nicholas cuts him off.

  “You… you kill them?” Gurgle asks, shock on his face.

  “No! No, Gurgle. There was an undead plague, and only I managed to survive—just by luck really.” Nicholas looks away, sadness evident on his face.

  “No! No! No! You lie! Gurgle smart to come here! Go! Leave now!”

  Nicholas slowly backs away, his arms raised in the universal sign of non-aggression. He turns toward the door but glances back to see Gurgle pacing back and forth, muttering to himself.

  What a strange interaction. He’s taking this far worse than I did… Does that make me a bad person?

  Nicholas wondered whether he should scream, shout—anything to rebel against the situation he was in. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. He had always known their lives were on a timer. From a young age, his training as a crown prince—a king in waiting—had been centered on one purpose: to hold back the dead for as long as possible. It was the least they could do for the citizens who believed in them.

  Nicholas sighs heavily before steeling himself. Gripping the door handle and stepping into the first trial.

  Interlude.

  A man hurriedly strides across an enormous chamber strewn with corpses and bones, making his way toward two figures—one seated upon an endless throne of skulls, the other standing rigidly at its side. He addresses the one seated.

  “Sir… we did as you asked, flooding that planet with death mana just before it was to be integrated into the system. It was a success, sir, really, but… there have been reports…”

  “What reports are those?” The sitting figure bellows, his voice carrying throughout the chamber.

  “Well… we have reports that at least one instance of the tutorial tower for that planet is still running.” General Yow answers with fear, his head staring directly at the floor.

  All General Yow hears is the strumming of bony fingers on top of the skulls that make up the chair. Then a crack as the figure crushes it with his hand.

  “Si– Sir… please, we did as you asked, bu–”

  “Did as I asked?” The voice cuts through, silencing him.

  “Sir! I beg yo–” General Yow’s head rolls to the floor in front of his body, and then his body falls after it.

  “What a shame. It was such an easy task, and yet here we are, adding to my collection instead. All they had to do was flood enough death mana to avoid detection by the system, so low-level undead would emerge and destroy the world.”

  “King Morvain, if it would please you, I will deal with this matter personally.” The rigid man speaks to his master.

  “Yes, Varros, please see to it.” Morvain replies as he levitates the newly added head to his throne.

  Varros vanishes to heed his master’s words, and a large figure appears shortly after.

  “Morvain, still plotting and up to no good, are we?” The man walks into view of the throne, wearing full metal plate armor with a red cape, wielding a large two-handed hammer on his back.

  “Thorin!” Morvain spits. “What are you doing here?”

  “I know what you’ve been up to, and I don’t like it.” Thorin answers.

  “We both know that there would be no winner if we fought, so just run along and do whatever it is you do, Thorin the Gallant.”

  Thorin chuckles. “Haha, I haven’t heard that name in a while. I think people are calling me Thorin the Brave these days.”

  “What are you doing here, Thorin?”

  “Oh, just a little warning. I know what the Seer told you about someone coming from that planet to destroy what you’ve built. But what you did… tut-tut, that was going too far, Morvain.”

  “And what are you going to do about it?” Morvain asks with a smile.

  “Me? Nothing. I don’t have to do a thing. Your downfall has already been prophesied, and when it happens, the universe will hold a celebration.” Thorin laughs, then teleports out, leaving Morvain alone in the room.

  Me? Downfall? Don’t make me laugh. How could anyone from a newly integrated world challenge me? I only set out to destroy the world on the off chance whoever it is becomes a nuisance.