"Impossible"
That was the first, bitter thought that seared Kai's mind as the sky spun violently above him.
He was falling.
For the first time in his life he hadn't predicted this. No calculations. No simulations. He just fell.
How?
Kai is a noble heir of the most powerful family in this perfect and secure world.
The Valerius Family
In the vast expanse of Terra's interconnected megacities and orbital colonies, their name whispered fear into every council chamber, corporate vault, and military command post.
They were not Kings. Kings could be dethroned.
They were architects of systems, of laws, of futures. Their reach extended beyond nations, beyond planets. Every power grid, every data stream, every orbital defense satellite bore the silent seal of House Valerius—a perfect silver scale set within a dark blue circle.
No votes passed without their approval. No weapon fired without their code. No secret stayed hidden from their archives.
On Terra, there was law. Above law, there was the government. And above the government—there was House Valerius.
House Valerius was responsible for this utopia.
At the pinnacle of Terra, or any other planet in the Orion Star System stood Terra Energy, the corporation credited with revolutionizing civilization into a model of safety, efficiency, and seamless order. A utopia.
Every problem, from resource allocation to urban stability, was resolved by impartial algorithms, leaving only the gentle dance of soft politics among noble elite in the council.
Terra Energy provided everything—or nearly everything—its reach was vast and was never questioned. After all, to challenge the system that served as the world's very heartbeat was both illogical and unnecessary.
House Valerius is the name behind Terra Energy and also the cause of all of Kai's problems.
Kai had only one problem.
Boredom
From the moment he could think, his life had been perfect. Secure. Predictable. A flawless existence engineered by generations of power and control. No danger. No risk. No surprises. What else could he want?
He craved stakes—real stakes.
Not the hollow thrill of Terra's virtual arenas where simulated monsters fell to scripted battles. Not the carefully balanced duels of data warriors and AI-controlled foes.
He wanted reality. Danger. Uncertainty. Something that could break the system's perfect glass walls.
But in a world designed to be safe, where every outcome was calculated and every threat erased before it could form...
Where could true risk exist?
Worse still, every person Kai ever met wore a mask of pretense—carefully crafted smiles and cautious words, all born from fear of his family name.
Kai saw it plainly whenever nobles or common Terrans came to visit his father, Zane Valerius. Their backs straightened, their voices softened, their eyes filled with polite terror.
From a really young age, Kai had been too intelligent for his years. He noticed things no child should understand.
The whispers behind closed doors, the stiff postures of bodyguards, the unease in the laughter of guests.
And he realized something simple, undeniable:
People rarely showed their real faces in front of existential threats.
Even though House Valerius had ensured peace and security for all, they remained a constant silent threat in the minds of the people. After all, what if the guardians betrayed their duty?
What if the protectors became tyrants? And so, everyone sought favor. Everyone lied.
Kai hated it.
So he made a decision.
He would wear a mask of his own—a dull-witted, empty smile, a harmless fool, an embarrassing heir too weak-minded to matter. An eyesore no one took seriously.
It worked.
Children, unlike adults, were honest and cruel.
Though adults showered him in respect and adoration with hints of fear, his peers didn't bother pretending.
They mocked him, laughed at him, treated him like the harmless idiot he pretended to be.
Not serious bullying—no real violence or lasting harm—just the cruel habit of young nobles too proud and too bold when they thought the great House Valerius wasn't watching.
Even as they grew older, even when they became teenagers, this habit never changed. After all, Kai never stopped them, he never resisted.
He wanted to see who they were.
Because only when people thought they held no fear... did they show their true selves.
***
Kai never imagined that this soft bullying would lead to him falling or his death.
They were only joking, pushing his head out of the open door to see his fearful reaction, laughter following... after disabling the flying vehicle's security protocols.
To Kai, this was actually fun, unreal, divine.
Until.
Until they let him go. He slipped.
He watched as their shocked faces disappeared with every distance apart. As the car rushed forward past him, leaving only the neon-chrome lights of the buildings behind the orbital transport lane.
He looked and only saw his family's crest everywhere—from Terra Energy's headquarters in Nexus Megacity to Terra virtual worlds.
Emotions started emerging. Emotions he always felt. Even understood. But his mind simply didn't register them nor acknowledge them—simply ignored them.
It wasn't that he didn't understand emotions, actually he felt them, understood them. But he simply never saw their use in real life. Or so he thought.
He felt emotions of regret... of having lived a life of a weak brat now losing it.
Emotions of proving to his father that he wasn't weak.
Kai's brain just put them aside.
Isn't this what he wanted? This sort of experience? Stakes?
As the winds sliced painfully at his skin, the wind's pressure pushing him up from below while gravity squeezed his upper side...
It was actually mesmerizing.
Kai could be said to have beauty so exaggerated it felt unreal, divine.
At seventeen, only 5'9", his frail and lean body held an imperial appearance. Hidden in his ever-baggy tunics was a well-sculpted body that had strength nobody could guess he possessed.
His... face holding his azure eyes that anybody could drown in just by looking in them. In sync with his dark blue fluffy hair that always dangled across his face, covering his left eye—always the left.
Kai never noticed. He wasn't aware of these looks that could kill—literally, kingdoms could fight just to see him. It attracted awe and jealousy wherever he went. Just like his mother.
It was a sight to behold—this utopia's prince falling—like an angel falling from heaven.
Kai laughed.
Then he realized it wasn't funny.
He felt fear.
As his eyes blurred, a coppery-green panel flickered in front of him. He couldn't see it clearly but attributed it to fear—he had finally acknowledged the first emotion he ever acknowledged.
He felt as his body approached the ground, his hands instinctively trying to grasp the air... illogical movements.
The only logical possibility was falling to death.
He finally decided to look at the panel—his brain's final lie.
Then he saw it—the words:
---
[Congratulations...]
[You have awakened the Aura Farming System]
[Swap Initiated]
---
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