Prologue — The Roots of Blood
Three thousand years ago, the sky split open.
A burning meteorite tore through the heavens and crashed into the quiet village of Bible Church. Farmers and wanderers rushed to the crater, curious—but what they found wasn’t rock.
From the heart of the meteor seeped a dark substance.
Not smoke.
Not dust.
A living gas.
It wrapped around the villagers in seconds.
Screams.
Bodies collapsing to the ground, twisted by fever.
The sickness spread like wildfire, devouring the town in a single night.
The king of the neighboring kingdom, fearing a plague, surrounded Bible Church with his soldiers.
No one was allowed to leave.
Anyone who tried was shot down by arrows before reaching the gate.
It was a death sentence.
And yet… something happened.
Those who survived the contagion stood back up.
Not just healed—transformed.
Their hands could lift boulders.
Their bodies changed shape.
Even the skies seemed to obey their gestures.
A new power had been born.
Terrified, the king ordered the execution of the entire village.
But his army was wiped out… by farmers who now fought like gods.
The people split.
Some chose vengeance and marched on the kingdom.
Others, dreaming of peace, fled to distant lands.
The king escaped in secret, riding for days toward an allied nation—but news traveled faster than his horse.
The other rulers, alarmed, formed a council.
And from that alliance rose the greatest army the world had ever seen.
The war against the transformed—the first “Level Up”—lasted months.
In the end, the villagers were massacred.
The few survivors scattered across the world, hiding among common people or forming small clans.
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And so, the Empire was born—ruled by united royal families.
For the first time, the powerless felt safe.
That safety would last a thousand years.
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Episode 1 — The Wind of Freedom
The sun was sinking behind the golden fields of the Windmill Country when a boy sprinted through the dusty streets of the marketplace, laughing as if the whole world were chasing him.
In his hand, he clutched a small pendant.
“Stop him!” shouted Marco, a fat, sweating pawnbroker, red in the face with rage.
Two armed guards charged after the boy, pushing through the crowd.
The boy was Sky Light.
Sky ran with the wind at his back, as if it were an invisible friend urging him onward. The sunlight flashed on his dark sunglasses—the kind he never removed, not even when running or falling.
“Thief!!”
Sky just laughed, leaping over a fruit stand with the help of a sudden gust of wind.
“Too slow!”
People stared, half amused, half astonished.
A kid mocking guards while smiling like a troublemaker… and those sunglasses—always covering his eyes.
Since he could remember, his aunt Mia had always warned him:
> “Never take them off. Never.”
Sky didn’t know why.
But he obeyed.
The pendant wasn’t just a stolen trinket.
It was the only memory he had left of his mother, who died when he was still a child.
He’d sold it in a moment of desperation… and now he refused to lose it again.
Sky burst into the family farm, breathless but victorious.
But as soon as he crossed the doorway—rough hands grabbed him.
The guards were waiting.
“Got you!”
A punch slammed into Sky’s stomach. He coughed blood, dropping to his knees.
“Give back… my pendant!” he shouted, lifting his hand.
The air detonated around him in a violent blast, throwing one of the guards across the room.
The second one reacted instantly.
Black chains shot forward, wrapping around Sky’s body like steel serpents, locking his arms and legs.
“You idiot,” the guard growled. “You think you’re the only one with powers?”
He raised his spear, the sharp edge hovering over Sky’s arm.
“How about I cut this off? That’ll teach you.”
“No!”
A woman’s voice ripped through the air.
It was Mia, Sky’s aunt.
She threw herself between them.
“Marco, please! Let him go. I swear I’ll repay the pendant!”
Marco shook his head slowly.
“He stole from me. Someone has to pay.”
Then a cruel smile twisted his lips.
“One arm will do.”
The guard raised the spear.
Sky, chained, gritted his teeth helplessly.
And then—
Trumpets.
A sharp, piercing sound cut through the silence.
From the dusty road, a squad of soldiers approached, wearing green military uniforms and rifles across their backs.
Leading them was a man with a stern, unyielding gaze.
The Empire.
The chained guard froze in terror.
Using powers outside imperial service was a capital crime.
The commander stepped off his horse and took in the scene.
His eyes locked onto the still-glowing chains of energy.
“Kabir,” he said coldly.
“You are a Level 1 fugitive.”
“Wait, I—!”
Too late.
The commander raised his hand, and fire roared from his fingers.
The chains exploded into ash.
Kabir crashed to the ground, burned and defeated without even understanding what had happened.
The soldiers clamped shackles of Eolite onto him—the cursed stone forged from the meteorite of Bible Church, the only material able to suppress Level Up powers.
Sky gasped for air, still shaking from the chains.
The commander looked at him for a long, unreadable moment…
then turned toward Marco.
“Leave. Now.”
“But—he stole from me!” the merchant protested.
Flames danced between the commander’s fingers.
Marco swallowed hard, bowed, and fled without another word.
Silence fell over the farm.
The commander finally spoke to Mia.
“Tomorrow, I will return for your nephew.
He is sixteen.
The age to serve the Empire has come.”
Sky’s eyes widened. “What?!”
“All Level Up serve the Empire.
Those who refuse…”
He glanced at the burned body of Kabir.
“…become criminals.”
Mia lowered her head in defeat.
But Sky clenched his fists.
He didn’t want chains.
He didn’t want orders.
He wanted to travel, to form his own clan, to follow the wind wherever it led.
The next day, the soldiers returned.
They found only Mia.
“He didn’t run,” she said quietly.
“He just got ahead of you.”
And there, from the hill overlooking the village, Sky was already leaping beyond the treeline, carried by the wind.
The pendant gleamed against his chest.
He laughed, eyes set on the horizon.
It was the beginning of his adventure.
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Next Episode — The Fortress on the Sea
