Chapter 1| The Worst Kind of Charity

Chapter 1: Chapter 1| The Worst Kind of Charity

The bus smelled like engine oil and someone’s forgotten lunch.‌‌‍‍ ‌

Zane Calloway sat in the back row with his bag on his lap and watched Aldren Academy grow larger through the windows.

Twelve floors of reinforced concrete and tinted glass, rising above the treeline like it had decided gravity was optional. The NSA crest — National Sigil Authority was bolted above the main gate in polished steel. A fist inside a circle. The kind of symbol designed to make you feel small before you even walked through the door.

’Classic,’ he thought. ’Looks exactly like a building ripped out from a sci-fi light novel .’

Six months. That was how long he’d been in this body. Six months learning the rules, reading the dead boy’s memories, figuring out what Zane Calloway the original had left behind. The answer: not much. A rented apartment. A duffel bag. A folder of paperwork stamped Second Generation Initiative — Approved.

And a name that made people either go quiet or start talking too loud.

The original Zane Calloway couldn’t handle any of it. The pressure, the expectations, the shadow of a dead legend; The weakass had committed suicide himself over it.Somehow I transmigrated into this body without my major memories. All I knew was that it felt like mine now.

As far as the world knew, Zane Calloway had a rough patch and bounced back.

The bus pulled through the gate.

He stepped off last.

Nothing happened.

’Right,’ he thought. ’Maybe my powers are still loading.’

Unfortunately, considering the original Zane hadn’t manifested anything even at eighteen; The maximum age for a sigil awakening. The window had technically closed. But the academy had admitted him anyway, clinging to the slim hope that he was simply a late bloomer. A prodigy hiding behind a late awakening, just like his parents had been in their time. One last year to prove it.

If nothing manifested by graduation, that was that.

_ _

The opening assembly packed forty-two intake students into a hall that could fit three of his old apartment buildings. Zane sat in row seven, equidistant from every exit, and let the academy director’s speech wash over him.

Legacy. Potential. The weight of being part of the Sigil generation.

He spent the time studying the room instead.

He already knew most of these types. The girl near the front with perfect posture and an expression like she was grading everyone she looked at was probably admitted through legacy admission. The two guys near the side entrance laughing too loud — comfortable, unbothered, the kind of energy that came from never having to prove yourself in a room. The scattered ones checking their phones and looking anywhere but at other people where prolly scholarship kids still deciding if they belonged.

He’d read every one of these archetypes a hundred times.

He was the only sigilless student in the room. He didn’t need to count to confirm it.

He could feel it the same way you feel being the only person who doesn’t get the joke.

The director’s voice cut back through his thoughts.

"....and for some of you, this admission represents something more than personal achievement." The director paused. "It represents a debt to those who came before. Aldren does not forget its legends.

And we do not abandon their children."

A few people glanced his way. No more than that, but enough.

Zane kept his eyes forward.

’There it is,’ he thought. ’The charity speech. Right on schedule.’

He’d known this was coming. The NSA’s Second Generation Initiative existed for exactly one reason: optics. Take the children of fallen heroes, give them a shot, hope one of them turned out to be worth the investment.

Garrett Calloway had been S-rank. The NSA had spent fifteen years trying to forget what happened at Vance Harbor. Sponsoring his son was cheaper than another inquiry.

The unspoken agreement was simple: Zane was here because they were hoping his Sigil would manifest late. Some did, as late as eighteen. If it happened, the NSA looked visionary. If it didn’t, they’d quietly let his scholarship lapse and call it a development opportunity.

He had exactly one year to make himself impossible to remove.

The director finished speaking. Three returning students walked onto the stage for a demonstration. Zane straightened slightly.

The first bent light into four copies of himself. The second compressed air into a visible wall of force that Zane felt in his chest like a bass drop. The third, a second-year student, stepped forward and stood still with utmost concentration.

The metal railing at the edge of the stage began to bend. Slowly. As if an invisible hand were twisting it.

Zane committed that to memory.

Then warmth bloomed behind his eyes, sudden and unfamiliar, like a door opening somewhere deep inside him.

Words appeared.

Not projected. Not floating in the air.

They were simply there, etched into his vision.

[System initializing 10%... 30%... 70%... 100%]

『 PARASITE SYSTEM — INITIALIZATION COMPLETE 』

『 Host: Calloway, Zane 』

『 Sigil Status: SIGILLESS 』

『 Classification: PARASITE-TYPE [UNIQUE] 』

『 Absorbed Sigils: 0 / 2 』

『 Active Hosts: 0 』

『 Bound Targets: 0 』

『 Parasite Aura Range: 3.2 meters 』

『 System Notice: You possess no innate Sigil. You have, however, been granted the ability to take everyone else’s. Try not to abuse it. 』

’That’s it?’ he thought. ’Six months of nothing and that’s the opener?’

『 You were expecting a monologue. This is not that kind of system. 』

A laugh almost escaped him. He smothered it with a cough instead.

The student beside him shot him a curious glance.

"Dust," Zane said quietly.

The student turned back to the stage.

Zane looked at the notifications still hovering in his vision and thought, ’Parasite-type. I absorb abilities. Two slots. I can already guess what active host means but what are bounded targets?’

『 These are females you’ve bonded with. Once a specific bond percentage is achieved you unlock various benefits. You’ll get accustomed to it as you use this system. 』

’You are quite helpful,’ he thought.

『 You’re welcome. 』

_ _

Registration was held in the training wing after lunch.

Students lined up to log their abilities — name, classification, age. One by one they stepped up, demonstrated something, and got logged. Intake numbers were alphabetical.

Calloway came early.

The instructor looked up from his tablet when Zane reached the table. Tired man, forties, the expression of someone who had seen every possible thing and stopped reacting to any of them.

"Sigil classification?" the instructor said.

"Sigilless," Zane replied.

The instructor wrote it down without so much as a flicker of surprise. He’d clearly been briefed.

"Ability type?"

Zane met his gaze."Still loading," he said.

The room fell quiet. Not all at once, but in that subtle way people did when everyone was pretending not to listen.

The instructor studied him for a long moment. Then he wrote something on his tablet, angled it away, and said, "Step aside."

Zane stepped aside.

Four students back in line, arms crossed, expression unreadable —the girl from the stage. Dark hair. Pale. Still. The kind of stillness that wasn’t calm, it was controlled.

She was watching him the way you watch something you haven’t categorized yet.

Their eyes met for half a second.

She looked away first.

Nyx Hale, he recalled from the original Zane’s memories.Top-ranked in the intake.She was B-ranked and the daughter of an active A-rank hero.

Raised with expectations most people would never understand.

Probably the hardest-working person in the building.

Then Nyx stepped up to the table and raised one hand toward the demonstration stand. The steel post began to vibrate.

Three seconds in, her hand dipped by half an inch.The vibration stopped.For two full seconds, nothing happened.Then she recovered and finished the demonstration without another mistake.

Zane felt the pull in his chest at the same moment. Something reaching and missing.

『 PROMINENT TARGET DETECTED: NYX HALE [B-RANK — KINETIC FORCE] 』

『 Initiating test acquisition sequence. 』

『 Acquisition: FAILED 』

『 Drain Effect: Target output reduced by 4% for 2.1 seconds. 』

『 System Notice: Test run complete. This was an automated calibration.

Future acquisitions will require host confirmation before activation.

Awaiting acknowledgment. 』

’Wait,’ Zane thought. ’You ran that without telling me first?’

『 It was a test. Results were satisfactory. 』

『 Going forward, you will be notified before each acquisition attempt. You may approve or decline. 』

’Good,’ he thought. ’Because I’d like to know when you’re pickpocketing people on my behalf.’

『 Noted. Awaiting acknowledgment of new protocol. 』

’Acknowledged,’ he thought.

『 Thank you. She is going to blame that stutter on nerves, by the way.This is might be a first and bother her all night. 』

Nyx walked away from the table like the two seconds hadn’t happened. But her eyes said otherwise.

’Yeah,’ Zane thought. ’I figured.’

’And for the record,’ he added mentally. ’Your jokes are not funny.’