Summoning to Wageah wasn't simple.
In my last life, I had been summoned at eighteen. One moment I was in college, and the next, I was standing under a sky filled with three moons and a sun that never set.
That was a random summoning.
Random summonings didn't care about age or identity.
They simply activated in targeted areas—parks, cities, schools—and pulled in anyone nearby.
Those caught in the zone would vanish from Earth and appear in Wageah without warning. Most of them didn't survive long.
But there was another method.
[Special Summoning].
Unlike random summonings, this one was deliberate. It was designed to pull in specific people.
The ones who created it were inhabitants of Earth, but they were not 'normal' people.
They were the legendary names etched into myth and folklore—Zeus, Odin, the Monkey King, Dracula, and others.
None of them were born gods.
They were people—just like me—who had been summoned to Wageah in the ancient past and returned after forging names that the world couldn't forget.
When they came back to Earth, they didn't sit still.
They formed hidden Clans, passed down their techniques, and built underground empires of wealth and power, completely unknown to the ordinary people living on the surface.
Their goal wasn't peace.
It was strength.
They trained their descendants and servants in secret.
And when a child reached sixteen and proved themselves talented enough, they were sent to Wageah through [Special Summoning].
The weak were left behind on Earth.
Only the best were allowed through.
To them, being summoned—even as a slave—was a privilege.
They believed that their strength would define their status.
Many of them had even reached the Legendary Rank 4 or the near-mythical Rank 5, and they saw themselves as more than slaves. As nobles. As chosen ones worthy of standing alongside the natives of Wageah.
But I knew better.
'Idiots. No matter how strong they get, the people of Wageah still see them as tools, and slaves.'
That world never saw Earthlings, or any otherworlder as equals.
We were seen as weapons to be discarded once they stopped being useful.
Still, [Special Summoning] could be useful to me.
I could hijack one and return to Wageah instead of searching for a random summoning.
The only problem was the restriction.
Minimum age for being summoned was sixteen, whether random summoning or special summoning.
'I have sixteen years to prepare.'
Sixteen years to grow strong enough to change everything, and get my revenge.
I stared up at the mobile hanging above my crib. The toys spun slowly, meaningless, but my mind was working faster than it ever had.
What path should I take?
In my last life, I had a Supreme Treasure—[Shadow].
It had chosen me after I found in an ancient ruin.
But it hadn't come with me to the past.
I searched for it immediately after waking. It was missing. I couldn't feel the [Shadow], or its power.
It was gone.
Which meant I had to start from zero.
Should I become a mage?
Magic existed on Earth, but it was so faint it might as well not be there. The ambient mana was too weak.
I could train for years and barely become a 1st star Mage.
Mage profession, while useful to unlock rare and hidden classes, was a waste of time on Earth.
Alchemy?
It was useful.
As the strongest assassin, I had deep knowledge of poisons created through alchemy. I knew how to craft pills and potions, even using low-grade materials.
But Earth didn't have what I needed. The herbs were ordinary. The Catalysts didn't exist here.
I would be stuck making garbage elixirs that barely helped.
Was there anything left?
Warrior? No. I would have to wait until my body grew before I started training my physical body.
'Maybe I should look for sponsorship from a Clan—'
A voice echoed in my head, cutting off my thoughts.
[Connection to Host Reformed.]
My eyes widened.
[Awakening Shadow.]
I felt it immediately. A thread of power linked to me was being revealed. I could feel my heartbeat pick up. This wasn't an illusion. This was real.
'How…?'
Shadow was a Supreme Treasure. One of the few that were said to transcend timelines and dimensions. But it hadn't come with me when I woke. I was sure of it.
Had it… followed me later?
Or maybe… it was dormant. And only reconnected once my spirit fully stabilized in this infant body.
I didn't care.
It was here.
I took a breath—an automatic reflex even though I couldn't control it fully in this body—and tried to reach deeper. To reconnect with the Shadow.
Nothing happened immediately.
Then—
[System Reboot: Failed.]
[Reattempting.]
[Rebooting again. Failed.]
[Rebooting again. Failed.]
[Rebooting again. Successful.]
I exhaled a sigh of relief.
Then, without warning, a faint glow flickered in front of my eyes. It was unstable at first, like a dying flame struggling to stay lit, and then—
A translucent screen snapped into place.
…
Name: @!$!@#$@
Rank 0
…
Species: Human [Rank 1]
…
Stats:
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 0
Endurance: 0
Intelligence: 99
Spirit: 0
…
Class: Shadow
Class Skills: Shadow Summon - Level 1
…
I stared at the screen, stunned.
'The System? But how?'
I wasn't supposed to have access yet.
In my last life, I had only unlocked the System after I arrived in Wageah.
System was one of the thirteen great treasures left behind by the Supreme God, hidden across the layers of that world.
Only those who stepped foot in Wageah could access System.
And yet, it was here. Active, and connected to me.
'This doesn't make sense.'
I blinked, just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. The screen didn't disappear. If anything, it stabilized further.
The flickers stopped, and the data locked in place.
My fists clenched in excitement.
The System was one of the most powerful tools in existence.
It recorded stats in real time, tracked growth, and more importantly, served as the gateway to special class evolution.
If you fulfilled the right conditions—mastered a normal class to peak, collected rare achievements, completed secret tasks, gained unique insights—it would trigger a rare or hidden class awakening.
That's how Earthlings who were once slaves had been able to reach Rank 4 in Wageah.
[Shadow] was much stronger than [System] but I wouldn't refuse getting both.
My eyes wandered over the status screen.
'It's not showing my name.'
Instead of my name it showed a garbled text.