Aster Vale opened his eyes to a cracked, moldy stone ceiling. The air in the room smelled like old dust, burnt herbal potions, and the despair of a penniless student.
He groaned softly and massaged his throbbing temples. Memories that weren't his flooded his mind without mercy, colliding with his original consciousness until he nearly vomited.
Aster Vale. A first-year student at Aethelgard Magic Academy. Crafting and Potions. An orphan from a frontier village who had entered this prestigious academy only because of a charity scholarship.
More importantly, he was an extra. A nameless background character. Cannon fodder destined to die a ridiculous death in Chapter 3 of Aethelgard Chronicles, the novel he'd finished reading in his original world just last night.
Aster rose from his hard bed and stared at the cracked silver mirror in the corner of the room. Its reflection showed a young man with messy black hair and utterly ordinary brown eyes. A face no one would remember. A face easily forgotten after death.
"Tomorrow morning," Aster whispered to his reflection, his voice hoarse and trembling. "The Coffee Spill Incident in the cafeteria."
In the original novel, tomorrow morning was the academy's third day. The protagonist, Kaelen Drago, who still couldn't control his mana, would sit alone in the cafeteria. Aster—the unlucky extra—would slip, spill hot coffee all over Kaelen's expensive uniform, and the startled protagonist would reflexively release a defensive mana wave.
The result? Aster would burn to ash in the blink of an eye. A ridiculous death the author used solely to show how dangerous Kaelen's power was at the beginning of the story. No one would mourn him. No one would remember his name.
Aster swallowed, tasting metal on his tongue. He didn't want to become ash. He didn't want to die just to serve as a stepping stone for the protagonist's characterization.
However, avoiding the Coffee Spill Incident was only a temporary solution. Even if he managed to survive tomorrow morning, he would still die in Chapter 50.
"The Abyssal Wave," Aster muttered, his eyes narrowing sharply.
In Chapter 50 of the original novel, a dimensional rift would open beneath the academy, spewing out thousands of Abyss monsters that would massacre half the student body. The nobles with high-grade protective artifacts would survive. But ordinary students like Aster? They would become appetizers for those monsters.
Aster paced around his cramped room, his mind racing as he searched for a way out. He needed a protective artifact. Something capable of withstanding catastrophe-grade physical and magical attacks. And he knew exactly where that artifact was.
"The Cracked Stone," Aster whispered, stopping in front of the window and gazing at the academy clock tower in the distance. "The petrified Earth Dragon Heart Scale."
In the original plot, in Chapter 5—three days from now—a minor antagonist named Valerius would go to the academy's underground black market. He would buy a cracked black stone for a cheap price, mistaking it for decorative junk. However, in Chapter 80, the stone would be revealed as an absolute protective artifact capable of repelling every form of destructive mana. Valerius would use it to survive the Abyssal Wave, while hundreds of ordinary students would die horribly.
"If I want to live, I have to take that stone from Valerius before he goes to the black market," Aster thought coldly, staring at the reflection of his face in the window glass. "I have to get to the black market first, find the stone, and buy it."
However, there was one major problem.
Aster opened the drawer of his rickety wooden desk and took out a small cloth pouch. He opened it and poured its contents onto the table.
Three silver coins and several copper coins. His entire personal fortune in this world.
"The black market doesn't accept silver coins," Aster muttered in frustration, massaging his temples. "Even if Valerius considers the stone junk, antique dealers will still value it at a minimum of five gold coins. I need five gold coins, and I only have enough money to buy hard bread for two weeks."
He couldn't borrow money. His roommate, Toby, though he came from a merchant family, always spent his allowance on food and never had any savings. Aster couldn't sell anything valuable, either, because he didn't own anything valuable.
"I have to make something to sell," Aster thought, his eyes sweeping over the messy room. "Something I can sell for a high price on the black market."
The door suddenly swung open with a loud creak. A chubby young man with messy blond hair entered carrying two paper bags filled with sweet bread.
"You're up, Aster?" Toby asked with a broad smile, tossing one of the paper bags toward him. "I bought breakfast from the shop by the gate. Southern honey bread, fresh and warm."
Aster caught the paper bag on reflex. "Thanks, Toby."
Toby sat on his messy bed and wolfed down his bread. "You look really pale. Are you sick? The academy cafeteria is serving a special menu tomorrow morning to welcome the new students. Black coffee made from southern beans and meat toast. We should go early so we don't run out of seats."
At the words “cafeteria” and “coffee,” Aster choked on his own bread. He coughed violently, pounding his chest again and again to force the food down.
I was just thinking about how to avoid that coffee, and now you're reminding me! Aster thought in panic.
"I'm... fine," Aster replied after taking a sip of water, his eyes watering from choking. "Toby, I'm not going to the cafeteria tomorrow morning."
Toby furrowed his brow in confusion. "Why? You always say you're looking forward to the academy's free food because our allowances are so limited."
"I'm... fasting. Yes, it's a sacred tradition from my village. I won't eat or drink outside my room tomorrow morning until the sun is directly overhead," Aster lied with a blank expression.
"What a weird tradition," Toby muttered, shrugging indifferently as he went back to eating. "All right, then. I'll wrap up some bread for you in case you change your mind."
After Toby finished eating and went to the bathroom to get ready for theory class, Aster let his back fall against the wooden chair. He closed his eyes, trying to calm his wildly spinning thoughts.
His survival plan was set: 1. Tomorrow morning: Avoid the cafeteria and destroy the death flag of the Coffee Spill Incident. 2. The night after tomorrow: Go to the black market, find the Cracked Stone, and buy it before Valerius arrives. 3. Problem: How was he supposed to get five gold coins in two days?
Aster opened his eyes and stared at the pile of junk in the corner of the room. Pieces of scrap metal, rotten wood, cracked glass bottles, and scraps of cloth he'd collected from the trash bins behind the crafting workshop. He had originally planned to use these free materials for his academy assignments so he wouldn't have to buy expensive supplies.
"Maybe I can make something from this trash and sell it as... handicrafts?" Aster muttered doubtfully. "Or simple household tools? Nail clippers, combs, or coasters?"
He didn't expect to sell those items for a high price. However, if he could sell a few dozen cheaply, maybe he could gather five gold coins in two days.
Yet, as though the universe had heard his plea and decided to give him a far crazier solution, a cold, emotionless mechanical voice suddenly echoed inside his head.
[Soul initialization complete.]
[Dimensional anomaly detected... Connecting to the World Law Network...]
[Connection failed. World Law has detected an unregistered entity. Classifying entity as a Destiny-Destroying Virus.]
[Activating emergency concealment protocol. Encrypting system to avoid scanning...]
Aster froze in place. His eyes widened as he stared at the empty space in front of him, his breath catching for a moment.
[Crafting & Potions System (Error Version) has been successfully activated.]
[Welcome, User. Please craft your first piece of junk to begin the tutorial.]
A pale blue, semitransparent screen appeared in front of his eyes, flickering unstably like a broken old television screen. Red and green static crawled across its surface, accompanied by an ear-piercing buzzing sound.
Aster stared at the screen with a tangled mixture of soaring hope and deep suspicion.
He had a system. That was good news. With this system, he might be able to make high-quality goods to sell and earn the five gold coins he needed.
However, his system was malfunctioning. Worse, it was hiding from the “World Law,” which considered it a virus. That was very, very bad news.
"I don't need a perfect system," Aster whispered, staring sharply at the wildly flickering screen like a merchant betting his last bit of capital. "I just need something I can sell for a high price on the black market. Give me anything you can make from the junk in this room."
He turned toward the pile of junk in the corner, an idea beginning to take shape in his mind.
"I'll make nail clippers," Aster muttered, picking up a piece of scrap metal and a small spring from his desk drawer. "A simple tool everyone is sure to need. If I can make it with high quality, I should be able to sell it for a decent price."
Aster didn't know that his decision to make “simple nail clippers” would mark the beginning of a series of misunderstandings that would shake the entire Aethelgard Magic Academy and turn him into a feared legend in the underworld.