The Strongest Cadet
1302 Words
'Totem Ascension:
Daily Quest
Defeat 200 Gremlins to level up.
Gremlins defeated: 0/200
1/200
8/200
22/200…'
The numbers climbed in a relentless cascade.
Karl became a storm.
He tore through the swarm of gremlins that encircled him, his dagger flashing like silver lightning. Each swing carved through flesh and bone as though the creatures were made of mist, their shrieks swallowed by the glowing forest. Blood sprayed across cyan-lit leaves. Corpses collapsed into the luminous grass.
The Totem’s inner world, so serene and beautiful, had become his battlefield.
“Come on!” Karl roared, spinning through another pair of enemies. “There’s plenty of me for all of you!”
A whistling sound cut through the air.
Instinct took over.
Karl twisted on his heel and slashed, cleaving an incoming arrow in half mid-flight. He locked eyes with the trembling gremlin that had fired it. The creature screeched and sprouted crude wings, desperately trying to escape.
Too slow.
Karl hurled his dagger.
The blade pierced straight through its chest. The gremlin crashed to the glowing ground, writhing, its pitiful cries echoing briefly before fading into silence.
Karl stood still, chest heaving.
“…Why did that feel so wrong?” he murmured. “Why do I feel bad for it?”
The system answered instead.
'Mission Complete:
Defeat 200 Gremlins
Gremlins defeated: 200/200
Check Mission Rewards?'
“Yes,” Karl said softly.
New Stat Unlocked: Perception
New Feature Unlocked: Hidden Inventory
“Hidden Inventory?” Karl echoed. “How do I use it?”
Claim the equipment of fallen enemies and add it to Totem Arsenal.
Karl glanced around. The battlefield was littered with crude weapons, rusted daggers, chipped swords, blunt pickaxes. Useless.
Then he saw it.
The bow.
It lay beside the last gremlin’s corpse, its polished marine-blue wood gleaming beneath the ethereal starlight. Sharp green and blue crystals crowned its ends, humming faintly with contained magic.
The status window unfolded.
Gremlin King’s Bow
Damage Output: 150
Abilities: Perfect Aim : Shots are impossible to miss
Karl’s eyes widened.
“This thing is insane,” he said. “Why was something like this in the hands of a weak gremlin? Its damage output is even higher than my mana coefficient…”
He straightened.
“System. Claim equipment.”
Gremlin King’s Bow saved.
Stat Increase Granted:
Level: 1
Title: Serpent Slayer
Health Points: 170 (+70)
Mana Coefficient: 200 (+100)
Special Points Gained: 200
Special Points: 300
Strength: 45 (+20)
Speed: 50 (+20)
Agility: 50 (+20)
Intelligence: 50 (+20)
New Stat : Perception: 20
Special Abilities: Nil
Inventory: One Dagger, One Healing Potion, Gremlin King’s Bow
Karl flexed his fingers, then casually spun his dagger between them, marveling at how natural it felt.
“The Intelligence stat must be why I’m suddenly good at fighting,” he muttered. “Even though I’ve never held a weapon before…”
The system chimed again.
Daily Quest refreshes in 32 hours.
“Thirty-two?!” Karl blurted. “Okay… I’m definitely not on Earth anymore. Time probably doesn’t work the same here. Makes sense.”
He wandered through the glowing forest, shoes brushing luminous grass. Above him, countless stars burned in an endless night sky.
“Azareal!” Karl called out. “Hey, can we talk? I need to see you again!”
Only insects answered, their soft chirps drifting through the trees.
He sighed.
“Great. Ghost mentor vanishes again.”
He glanced around. “And what about that desert where I fought the serpent? Is that another realm inside this place or-”
“You’re standing in it.”
Karl jumped and spun.
Azareal stood behind him, his spectral form flickering, his face hidden beneath the hood.
“You need to stop doing that!” Karl groaned, clutching his chest.
Azareal’s voice was calm, distant. “This inner world is a mental space given physical form. The forest and the wasteland are not separate realms. They are two aspects of your soul.”
Karl frowned.
“They are the twin sources of your power,” Azareal continued. “Life… and death.”
The words clicked into place like grinding gears.
Karl remembered Daegan’s lectures about mana and anti-mana. He remembered the Underworld. The red desert. Malachar.
“Wait,” Karl said slowly. “Anti-mana. The demon lord. Malachar. Are you saying I’m connected to all of this?”
“You will understand in time,” Azareal replied. “For now, grow stronger my vessel. Prepare this world for my arrival.”
“Wait-!”
Reality collapsed inward. Light vanished. Darkness swallowed everything.
Karl jolted awake.
He lay in a dormitory, surrounded by sleeping boy elves.
“…Right,” he muttered. “Cadet camp.”
Morning came quickly.
The cadets assembled under the rising sun, all dressed in loose black robes with white belts.
“Hey! Pink ears!”
Karl turned to see Olenna striding toward him.
“Pink ears?” he asked.
“Yours are unusually red,” she said with a grin. “Even for a human.”
Karl smirked. “And yours are unusually long. Even for an elf.”
She scowled for a second, then laughed, grabbing his robe and dragging him toward the assembly ground.
General Cedar stood before them, flanked by two towering armored guards. His white spiked hair and uniform made him stand out sharply against the sea of black-robed students.
The cadets sat. The general remained standing.
“I have been informed that you all completed your pioneer missions,” Cedar began. “With varying results. Unfortunately, not everyone returned.”
A hush fell.
“As sorcerers, and future Guardians of the realm, you must learn to accept death. Your own, and that of those close to you.”
Karl noticed a girl beside him silently crying, her long ears drooping.
Probably lost her boyfriend, he thought.
Cedar continued, “The first phase of Cadet Camp is now complete. From this point forward, you will be entering the real world.”
A pause.
“You will all participate in dungeon raids.”
A collective gasp rippled through the students.
Karl stiffened.
Olenna leaned over and patted his thigh. “Relax. We’ll be fine.”
Cedar went on. “After this briefing, report to the Citadel Academy towers. The balloting system will determine your assignments across the various regiments.”
He clasped his hands behind his back.
“The top three performers have already received honorary placements.”
Karl’s stomach tightened.
“First, Rocco Hyano. Step forward.”
Rocco rose. Karl immediately recognized the tall dark elf with braided hair, the same one who had bullied him on his first day before handing him over to Tywin.
Karl clenched his fists.
“Rocco Hyano will join Brogan’s Regiment, General Gideon's Lieutenant.”
Applause followed. Karl didn’t join in.
“Our second-best student, Olenna Rivera.”
She stood up, flashing Karl a confident smirk as she stepped out.
“Olenna will serve in my personal regiment, directly under a General of the Celestial Order.”
The applause grew louder.
Karl wanted to clap but couldn’t.
A sense of dread crept up his spine.
“And finally,” Cedar announced, “the top-performing cadet of Phase One…”
Karl’s blood turned to ice.
“Tywin Regalis.”
The cheers were thunderous, but Karl barely heard them.
“Tywin Regalis has been assigned to General Rodric’s regiment, the second-highest ranking General of the Celestial Order.”
The world seemed to narrow around Karl.
His hands trembled.
He didn’t understand why the fear still had such power over him. He didn’t understand why memories of that first humiliation burned so deeply.
His fear twisted into rage.
A silent vow ignited in his chest.
"I’ll get stronger."
"Stronger than Tywin, stronger than everyone."
And one day
No one would ever look down on me again.
- Writer
