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2024-10-29 19:42:56"Fraser, h-help me."
A hand reached out while another hand tried to grip tightly at cliff’s edge, keeping himself from falling into the deep abyss below. The young man's eyes were filled with mix of hope and fear as he pleaded for help from his friend who sat on the cliff's edge after accidentally pushing him.
"Fraser, I can't hold on much longer. Quickly, help me up! Class is about to start in a moment!" The black-haired man repeated, this time with a somewhat loud voice. It was because his legs were starting to ache as he struggled to climb and step on the fragile rocks, he almost falling several times. He did not know how long he could endure this position.
However, Fraser, his one and only friend, did not respond to the young man's words and only stared at him in horror gaze.
"S-sorry, Ave."
"Fraser?"
Clap. Clap. Clap.
From behind Fraser, applause sound echoed, followed by the footsteps of many people approaching the edge of the cliff right behind their school, Neogen High School.
"Fraser, my friend! You did a great job!"
A familiar voice rang out, causing Ave to furrow his brow and bite his lower lip in frustration and anger.
'Of course, it’s him.'
"Claude," Fraser said with a hopeful smile.
The traitor immediately stood up and approached Claude with his gang, who were standing arrogantly there and staring at Ave still hanging on the edge of the cliff with a disdainful face. Although Ave struggled to see the faces of the bullies, he already knew it was them. They were the group that bullied Ave every day.
"Did you do as I instructed?" Claude asked, patting Fraser's cheek, making him nod enthusiastically.
"O-of course, Claude! I lied to him, saying that Lady Rosalind wanted to meet him at the cliff behind the school, then I pushed him into the cliff as you ordered." Fraser revealed his entire evil plan right in front of Avery, making him grimace at his friend’s betrayal.
"Hmmm, well done."
"N-now you and your group won't bully me again, just as you promised, right, Claude?"
"Hmmm, I'll think about it again later." Claude gave a sweet smile while patting Fraser's head quite forcefully, surprising the young man and leaving him speechless.
"B-but you promised that—"
"Promised what, huh?" The young man with blond hair and blue eyes cut off Fraser's words and stared at him sharply, followed by Claude's friends who give a threatening pose for Fraser not to cross the line, making Fraser instantly shrink like a dead mouse.
Claude rolled his eyes irritably at Fraser's nagging and walked towards the edge of the cliff. There, he locked eyes with Ave, who returned his gaze with a mix of anger and annoyance. He'd been harassed ever since he joined Neogen, but this had gone too far.
Ave's sharp stare offended Claude.
"Tch—stupid rat. I warned you not to cross the line if you didn't want to end up like this useless worm."
STOMP!
"AHKKKKK!"
Intentionally, Claude stepped on Ave's hand, making the unfortunate lad scream in pain and almost lose balance.
Not stopping there, Claude shifted his weight, intensifying the pain in Ave's hand.
"Now you get it? I don't like that look of yours, disgusting worm. You're never on my level, so don't try to gaze at me with those lowly eyes, or I'll pluck them out," Claude threatened with a wicked grin, squatting and staring at Ave who winced in pain.
"Why..." Ave whispered, struggling to continue due to the pain spreading through his body. Ave glared at Claude with a mixture of anger and suffering. "Why are you doing all this to me, bastard? What did I do to you? I never bothered you or wronged you, but... why do you torment me and make my life miserable like this? What did I do, damn it?!"
Claude raised an eyebrow, putting on an expression as if deep in thought.
"Why? Hmmm, I don't know. I also don't know why I'm tormenting you."
"Huh?" Ave couldn't comprehend.
What kind of answer was that? If he himself didn't know why he was bullying Ave, then why had Ave's life been a living hell every time he was at school?
"Oh! I know." A wide grin appeared again on Claude's typical Western face. He then explained his reason with enthusiasm. "It's because every time I see your face, I'm reminded of my servant's old dog. Ah... it was so filthy and disgusting, drooling and sleeping every day. I didn't like that dog, so I threw it off the fifth floor of my house. You look so much like that ugly dog, so I want to throw you off this cliff too."
"W...what?" Ave's pupils widened, could not believe that Claude had been tormenting him since he entered Neogen High School until now just because he resembled his servant's old dog.
A simmering anger took hold of Ave's chest. The young man could not contain his emotions any longer when he realized he was being bullied for such ridiculous reasons. Ave harbored an intense desire to retaliate against Claude and his cohorts, yet lacked the strength to do so.
He found himself burdened with a condition known as talentless—a rare state where genetic mutation failed to manifest, made him incapable of accessing any special abilities. In an era where the ratio of non-mutated humans to mutants was 1:100,000, Ave felt akin t a useless worm with no advantages except for his brain.
"Ugh, I'm getting bored of you,” Claude sighed, treating Ave as if he were a worn-out plaything nearing its end.
"Wait a moment, I can entertain you—”
"Farewell, stupid worm." Claude's smirk widened as he callously pushed Ave's shoulders, sending him plummeting into the abyss below.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!"
"A-Ave!" Fraser's eyes widened in shock, could not believe if Claude had actually pushed someone into the abyss. He thought it was just a joke, but watching Ave's descent into a pit over 50 meters deep left Fraser's legs feeble, collapsing onto the ground with a blank stare.
"No… this can't be happening." As Fraser sank into the abyss of guilt and despair for becoming an murderer, Claude, the main culprit, casually whistled his way out of the scene.
"Let's go. Class is about to start. Miss Lenora is teaching now. She’s hot as shit, you know." Claude let out a lascivious grin, earning laughter from his friends. They left without a trace of guilt after taking the life of one of their classmates.
After Claude and his gang left, Fraser crawled quickly to the edge of the cliff and looked down, but all he saw was darkness waiting below. His brother had once said that if you fell into the abyss, you would not survive because there were many monsters and other dangerous things down there.
"No... Ave! Avery! Can you hear me? Ave!" Fraser shouted in desperation, but there was no response except for his echoing voice.
"No... I'm sorry, Ave... forgive me... forgive me..." Fraser's cries broke, and the ginger-haired youth with freckles on his face sobbed at the edge of the cliff, blaming himself for betraying his only friend in school, Avery.
Fraser had betrayed his friend just for Claude's false promise that he would stop bothering him and his sister who only got enrolled at Neogen High School.
In the abyss, Ave fell and died.
He must be dead.
However, the figure who Fraser was looking now lying limp while fresh blood started flowing from his head. Almost his entire body twisted and broken, however he still breathed slowly while staring at a faint light above, which now appearing blurry as blood flooded his corneas.
‘Yeah, maybe this is the best path for someone talentless like me. Dying alone in a dark and lonely place like this.’
Ave monologued in his heart, his jaw broken and bent sideways from hitting the rocks of the cliff.
Ah, his whole body felt so painful.
He just wanted to die quickly and end all this pain
[Ding!]
[All conditions for activating the 'Underdog System' have been met. Avery Blythe has been chosen as the host system.]
[Underdog System will be activated.]
[… 99%]
[Underdog System activated. Complete all quests and climb the social ladder. Don't let the bullies win. Show that an underdog can beat them all!]
"... huh?"
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Rise With Underdog System 02. Ave Had Died
A strange sound appeared out of nowhere, making Ave tried his hardest to look around, but he found nothing except red mist in his bloody eyes and a growing pain in his body.[Undergo System has been activated][The host 'Avery Blythe' has earned 100 points of resilience from facing bullies, and the points will be converted into the special effect 'Extreme Healing Effect'][The 'Extreme Healing Effect' will begin]'...huh? What's happening?'Ave did not know anything about the monotonous voice and gold-colored notifications that kept popping up right in front of him. Those notifications contained the exact words that the strange voice said in Ave's head.Is Ave going crazy?Or does everyone who dies falling into this abyss see crazy things like this?However, Ave pushed aside all his questions when a bright light suddenly appeared from his chest area, spreading throughout his body like vines wrapping around him.'W-what kind of light is this?'Ave wanted to move and run away from the p
Rise With Underdog System 03. Dark Cave
Throughout Ave's life, he never ate beef or pork. At most, he would have chicken head stew or discarded chicken wings from the butchers that were not sell well.Also, he never had his own room.Ave slept with his old and blind grandmother. Every day, Ave had to change his grandma's diaper using old cloth and wash the soiled cloth diaper with water before heading to school.Ave never changed his school uniform either. He only had one black bag with various stitches all around, and who knows how many times the zipper broke, he just replaced it with safety pins to keep it closed.However, Ave never complained. He thought it was normal in New Orleans. In this dystopian country, poverty was a common thing, and almost 75% of New Orleans' population were poor, with a high crime rate.The gap between the poor and the rich was huge, from everyday clothes to shopping places, to their residential living areas. New Orleans truly classified and differentiated their citizens based on money and clas
Rise With Underdog System 04. Golden Pool
"Sigh … is still far away?" Ave pouted a bit as he kept following the floating holographic map in front of him towards the big circle, but he had not reached it yet. The narrow path was getting even narrower, so Ave had to tilt his body to squeeze through the gaps.However, all of Ave's questions were answered when he saw a tiny bright light at the end of this narrow path. The young man blinked his hopeful shining eyes and quickened his pace."Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold," Ave repeated continuously as if he were chanting a spell to make sure he found a mountain of gold behind that light.Just a little more, and Ave would arrive there. He did not even care how many times he bumped into rocks on the cave wall because he was too focused on getting there quickly."Gold—!"The young man was about to leap forward before he hurriedly grabbed onto one of the rocks, and then stepped back with a terrified yet amazed expression. Ave's eyes widened.Right below Ave was a pool filled with thousan
Rise With Underdog System 05. Come Back Home
"I've told you many times, I don't want to give you anything anymore! You dirty beggar!"A half-old man with a tall figure glared fiercely at a hunched elderly woman standing in front of his shop. The old woman wore a worn-out pink dress and both of her shoes had holes in various places."P-please, Sir. Tomorrow, my grandson will have an exam, and I want to give him bone soup to keep him motivated to study—""I don't care if your grandson has an exam or not. Old lady, just go away from my store! Your terrible appearance is scaring away my customers!" scolded the meat shop owner. He wore a blood-stained apron, and underneath it, his belly bulged due to his stingy and calculating nature."B-but...""Tch, go away!" Running out of patience, the meat shop owner stepped out of the store and pushed the old woman hard."Ahhh!"The old woman fell onto the street and winced in pain as her entire aged body ached. The shop owner then spat to the side."Go away and never come back here!" The butch
Rise With Underdog System 06. Elite Class
"Welcome home, Lady Rosalind."A tall and lean butler bowed after opening the car door and greeted a beautiful girl who was stepping out of the car with a calm expression, there was almost no expression on her face."Is Father home?" the girl asked coldly."The Master is busy at the president's office. He'll be back when dinner time comes."Upon hearing the butler's answer, the girl showed no reaction and walked up the stairs to her house. Although called a house, her place looked more like a giant mansion with Greek architecture and a touch of futuristic style, adapting to the surroundings in their Apocalypse world—in which Earth had been destroyed by the emergence of monsters, and the surviving human groups built a new civilization by adapting to a world full of monsters and dangerous territories."How was your day at school, Lady Rosalind?" The male butler took Rosalind's blazer and walked beside her.Rosalind sighed. "You're so noisy, Armand. I don't want to be bothered today."Ar
Rise With Underdog System 07. New Face, New Life
"He's quite handsome too."Ave had been in the bathroom for quite a while, staring at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror—or Elias's face, the guy whose face was duplicated and turned into Ave's new face. Luckily, Ave's grandma was blind, otherwise, she would have had a heart attack seeing her grandson's face change like that.The young man then turned on the tap at the sink and washed his face using soap—he was too poor to buy special face soap, so he used regular soap for both shampooing and washing his everyday clothes.Ave rinsed his face with water until it was clean before drying it with a towel and gazing again at his new face in the mirror.Again and again, Ave was amazed by this new face.He thought he would get a plain face or even worse, a face older than his own.Ave’s new face is much smaller than his old face. His hair is still the same black color, but Ave's black pupils have now changed to a golden color like a marble. Moreover, his chin looks slimmer, making Ave
Rise With Underdog System 08. Averson Blythe
"So, you are … Avery Blythe's distant cousin?"A middle-aged man with glasses stared at Ave suspiciously, examining the young man's registration file. The man's glasses were almost slipping off his long, crooked nose as he continued to scrutinize Ave’s figure from top to bottom. Well, everything did feel so sudden, Ave admitted to himself. Luckily, having been an assistant and frequently visiting the teacher's room, he understood a little about how the school's registration process works.Facing the young man was Dotoevsky Swerzen, commonly known as Mr. Swerzen, the Economics and Business teacher at Neogen High School and the person in charge of sorting through the students applying to the school. One could imagine how stingy and calculating the balding man in front of Ave was.However, Ave was not worried because he already had an answer to this problem."Yes, Mr. Swerzen. We come from the same grandma, but my family lived in Rivera and only recently decided to return to New Orleans
Rise With Underdog System 09. Old Class, Old Friend
"Knock. Knock."Without waiting for a response from inside the room, Mr. Swenzer quickly opened the door and stepped in. Outside the door, Ave could see Mrs. Lenora, the local history teacher, standing and explaining the material as usual when Mr. Swenzer entered and whispered something in Lenora's ear. This made her turn towards the door, locking eyes with Ave.Mrs. Lenora widened her eyes for a moment before nodding briefly. It seemed like Mr. Swenzer had also informed her that Avery was resigning and giving up his achievement scholarship. Mrs. Lenora was one of the few honest teachers at Neogen High School and liked Ave – in an educational context, because Ave always got perfect grades and excelled in mastering subjects."You can come in now," said Mr. Swenzer as the balding man came out again. "If you have any problems, you can come directly to my room, don't be afraid, understand?"Tap. Tap.Mr. Swenzer gave Ave a quick pat on the should
Latest Chapter
- Rise With Underdog System
11. The Power Within
At Neogen High School, there are two kinds of classes provided for their students: the regular one and the special class. Of course, there were some differences between those two classes. The regular class was a class with common school subjects like math, language, or art subjects that were also being taught at other common schools. However, what made Neogen so special was its special class. In this class, students with talents were being trained and developed according to each of their talents.Their unique talents led to their future careers.Students with combat talents might become rangers and fight monsters on the war zone, meanwhile, students with supporting talents like healing, mapping, or strategy become a support role for the students with combat talents.Yeah, even in Neogen, a student’s social status was determined by their talent. Sometimes a student with combat talents felt so superior to other students because teachers considered them the best and strongest talent. It
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10. A Sign of Enemies
"Hey, hey, are you really the distant cousin of that dork—I mean Avery?" The first lesson had ended, and break time had arrived. Ave was sitting on a bench when a group of girls from the class approached him, trying to interrogate him and simultaneously capture the attention of the handsome new student in their class. Ave closed his book, put it in his bag, and responded with a tone that seemed annoyed. "If it's true, then what?" The girls were immediately surprised by Ave's sour expression and shook their heads quickly. "Ah, that's not what I meant. We're just a little curious...." "Really, we're just wondering why Avery never told us he had a cousin as handsome as you, right?" "Yeah, yeah, that's right." "You should have joined this school from the beginning." "True... you'd be famous in no time." Ave let out a short laugh and stared sharply at the four fox-wicked girls. He had been in the same class with them for a year, and he knew all too well their hypocritical nature. N
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09. Old Class, Old Friend
"Knock. Knock."Without waiting for a response from inside the room, Mr. Swenzer quickly opened the door and stepped in. Outside the door, Ave could see Mrs. Lenora, the local history teacher, standing and explaining the material as usual when Mr. Swenzer entered and whispered something in Lenora's ear. This made her turn towards the door, locking eyes with Ave.Mrs. Lenora widened her eyes for a moment before nodding briefly. It seemed like Mr. Swenzer had also informed her that Avery was resigning and giving up his achievement scholarship. Mrs. Lenora was one of the few honest teachers at Neogen High School and liked Ave – in an educational context, because Ave always got perfect grades and excelled in mastering subjects."You can come in now," said Mr. Swenzer as the balding man came out again. "If you have any problems, you can come directly to my room, don't be afraid, understand?"Tap. Tap.Mr. Swenzer gave Ave a quick pat on the should
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08. Averson Blythe
"So, you are … Avery Blythe's distant cousin?"A middle-aged man with glasses stared at Ave suspiciously, examining the young man's registration file. The man's glasses were almost slipping off his long, crooked nose as he continued to scrutinize Ave’s figure from top to bottom. Well, everything did feel so sudden, Ave admitted to himself. Luckily, having been an assistant and frequently visiting the teacher's room, he understood a little about how the school's registration process works.Facing the young man was Dotoevsky Swerzen, commonly known as Mr. Swerzen, the Economics and Business teacher at Neogen High School and the person in charge of sorting through the students applying to the school. One could imagine how stingy and calculating the balding man in front of Ave was.However, Ave was not worried because he already had an answer to this problem."Yes, Mr. Swerzen. We come from the same grandma, but my family lived in Rivera and only recently decided to return to New Orleans
- Rise With Underdog System
07. New Face, New Life
"He's quite handsome too."Ave had been in the bathroom for quite a while, staring at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror—or Elias's face, the guy whose face was duplicated and turned into Ave's new face. Luckily, Ave's grandma was blind, otherwise, she would have had a heart attack seeing her grandson's face change like that.The young man then turned on the tap at the sink and washed his face using soap—he was too poor to buy special face soap, so he used regular soap for both shampooing and washing his everyday clothes.Ave rinsed his face with water until it was clean before drying it with a towel and gazing again at his new face in the mirror.Again and again, Ave was amazed by this new face.He thought he would get a plain face or even worse, a face older than his own.Ave’s new face is much smaller than his old face. His hair is still the same black color, but Ave's black pupils have now changed to a golden color like a marble. Moreover, his chin looks slimmer, making Ave
- Rise With Underdog System
06. Elite Class
"Welcome home, Lady Rosalind."A tall and lean butler bowed after opening the car door and greeted a beautiful girl who was stepping out of the car with a calm expression, there was almost no expression on her face."Is Father home?" the girl asked coldly."The Master is busy at the president's office. He'll be back when dinner time comes."Upon hearing the butler's answer, the girl showed no reaction and walked up the stairs to her house. Although called a house, her place looked more like a giant mansion with Greek architecture and a touch of futuristic style, adapting to the surroundings in their Apocalypse world—in which Earth had been destroyed by the emergence of monsters, and the surviving human groups built a new civilization by adapting to a world full of monsters and dangerous territories."How was your day at school, Lady Rosalind?" The male butler took Rosalind's blazer and walked beside her.Rosalind sighed. "You're so noisy, Armand. I don't want to be bothered today."Ar
- Rise With Underdog System
05. Come Back Home
"I've told you many times, I don't want to give you anything anymore! You dirty beggar!"A half-old man with a tall figure glared fiercely at a hunched elderly woman standing in front of his shop. The old woman wore a worn-out pink dress and both of her shoes had holes in various places."P-please, Sir. Tomorrow, my grandson will have an exam, and I want to give him bone soup to keep him motivated to study—""I don't care if your grandson has an exam or not. Old lady, just go away from my store! Your terrible appearance is scaring away my customers!" scolded the meat shop owner. He wore a blood-stained apron, and underneath it, his belly bulged due to his stingy and calculating nature."B-but...""Tch, go away!" Running out of patience, the meat shop owner stepped out of the store and pushed the old woman hard."Ahhh!"The old woman fell onto the street and winced in pain as her entire aged body ached. The shop owner then spat to the side."Go away and never come back here!" The butch
- Rise With Underdog System
04. Golden Pool
"Sigh … is still far away?" Ave pouted a bit as he kept following the floating holographic map in front of him towards the big circle, but he had not reached it yet. The narrow path was getting even narrower, so Ave had to tilt his body to squeeze through the gaps.However, all of Ave's questions were answered when he saw a tiny bright light at the end of this narrow path. The young man blinked his hopeful shining eyes and quickened his pace."Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold," Ave repeated continuously as if he were chanting a spell to make sure he found a mountain of gold behind that light.Just a little more, and Ave would arrive there. He did not even care how many times he bumped into rocks on the cave wall because he was too focused on getting there quickly."Gold—!"The young man was about to leap forward before he hurriedly grabbed onto one of the rocks, and then stepped back with a terrified yet amazed expression. Ave's eyes widened.Right below Ave was a pool filled with thousan
- Rise With Underdog System
03. Dark Cave
Throughout Ave's life, he never ate beef or pork. At most, he would have chicken head stew or discarded chicken wings from the butchers that were not sell well.Also, he never had his own room.Ave slept with his old and blind grandmother. Every day, Ave had to change his grandma's diaper using old cloth and wash the soiled cloth diaper with water before heading to school.Ave never changed his school uniform either. He only had one black bag with various stitches all around, and who knows how many times the zipper broke, he just replaced it with safety pins to keep it closed.However, Ave never complained. He thought it was normal in New Orleans. In this dystopian country, poverty was a common thing, and almost 75% of New Orleans' population were poor, with a high crime rate.The gap between the poor and the rich was huge, from everyday clothes to shopping places, to their residential living areas. New Orleans truly classified and differentiated their citizens based on money and clas