In the world of Arkanis, strength is not earned—it is assigned. The day a child turns ten, they are taken to the Sanctum of Awakening, where a magical rite determines their Power Rank. The ritual does not lie. It sees into your soul and measures your potential—your mana capacity, talent affinity, bloodline strength, and even your fate.
Rank 80 and above? You're destined for greatness. Rank 50? A life of comfort awaits. Anything below Rank 20? Struggle, bor, or worse.
But no one had ever received what Kai Arclight did.
Rank Zero.
Not weak. Not fwed. Nothing. A reading that shouldn’t exist. A bck void where a light should be.
> "Subject: Kai Arclight. Power Rank: 0. Cssification: Null-type. Potential: None."
When the crystal pulsed dark instead of glowing white like the others, silence fell over the hall.
First, disbelief. Then, ughter.
Then came the whispers.
> “He’s cursed.”
“What kind of freak gets Rank Zero?”
“Even beggars score higher than that.”
Kai stood frozen on the ceremony ptform, ten years old, his hands trembling. Not because he was afraid.
But because he didn’t understand. He had felt something stir in him when he touched the crystal. A flicker of energy, of resonance.
It was there… but the system rejected him.
His father, a former Rank 40 guard, clenched his jaw in shame. His mother wouldn’t even meet his eyes. By sunset, he was disowned. Thrown out with nothing but rags and a half-eaten meal.
No home. No family. No future.
---
Seven Years Later — Outskirts of the Low District
Kai walked through the ruins of an abandoned training ground, moonlight casting pale shadows on broken pilrs and overgrown roots. His cloak, stitched from scraps, fluttered lightly behind him. He was taller now. Hardened. Lean. Quiet.
But still, the world called him Zero.
Beggar. Filth. Leech.
They didn’t know what he truly was.
Not powerless. Not empty.
His gift just didn’t fit into their neat little boxes. The Sanctum's ranking system couldn’t measure it. Couldn’t cssify it.
> “Copy and evolve.”
That was the nature of the Mimic Crest etched deep into his soul. Whenever he witnessed a power firsthand—spell, technique, aura—his body learned it. Slowly. Imperfectly at first. But if he focused, if he trained, he could bend it, sharpen it, and improve upon it.
And now, after years of silent growth, Kai could do more than mimic.
He could surpass.
---
He stopped before a crumbling statue of a fallen hero, cracked in half and swallowed by vines.
This is where the Rank 68 warrior Eran Dovarn had trained. Kai had watched him secretly years ago, absorbing every fme-infused strike, every breathing technique.
> "He’s dead now,” Kai murmured, his voice low. “But your legacy lives on... through me.”
He clenched his fist, and fire flickered across his skin. But it wasn’t Eran’s fire.
It was cleaner. Colder. Sharper.
> "I won't stay hidden much longer.”
---
The Next Day – Vanguard Academy Selection Grounds
A crowd had gathered in front of the academy gates—students, nobles, mercenaries. All between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. All eager to be selected into one of the four prestigious combat csses: Knights, Elementalists, Reapers, and Support Casters.
Kai stood among them, wearing a torn badge that barely dispyed his rank.
The recruiter sneered. “Rank Zero? You’re in Css Z. Remedial unit. Trash tier. Don’t die.”
Whispers again. Laughter.
> “They’re even letting Zeros in now?”
“Must be charity work.”
“He won’t st a week.”
Kai didn’t react. Not even a blink.
But inside?
He was already memorizing faces. Watching mana signatures. Analyzing movement. Cataloguing arrogance.
> “Let them ugh,” he thought. “It only makes it easier when I take everything from them.”
---
Css Z Dorms – Midnight
Kai sat on his bunk, the only light coming from the enchanted stone in his hand. It wasn’t much, but he had stolen it from a Rank 12 who tried to humiliate him during the entrance evaluations. He’d copied the boy’s lightning spell. Added a flow reducer. Converted the static charge to a focused arc.
Now it shot clean and silent.
> “Electric Vein.” He named it silently.
> “Every power they use... becomes mine. And when I’ve learned enough...”
He looked out the cracked window at the towering silhouette of the Prime Tower, where the top 10 ranked students resided in luxury.
> “...I’ll climb to the top of this rotten system—one stolen power at a time.”
And so began the legend of the Rank Zero Hero.
The weakest student in history.
The one no one saw coming.
---
