CHAPTER 1: ACTIVATING THE DAILY SIGN-IN SYSTEM!

The stench of blood hung thick in the air. Shattered wood and torn carts lay scattered across the ground, mixing with the dead bodies of men and horses alike. The once lively caravan was nothing more than wreckage now, as silence enveloped the surroundings except for the distant call of crows circling above.

Amidst the ruin, a young man’s blue eyes fluttered open. His head spun as he looked around at his surroundings and noticed the shattered wood, torn carts, and lifeless faces staring up at the sky.

Just as he was thinking of his current situation, countless memories that didn’t belong to him suddenly crashed into his mind.

Names he didn’t know, faces he had never seen, battles and roads traveled by someone else. It was as if he was watching a movie about someone else’s life experience in detail.

As it seemed a long time had passed by in James’ mind, only a few seconds had passed in the outside world.

His heart raced. ’This... wasn’t his world.’

He assumed that he was transmigrated to someone else’s body like the things that happened in novels and manhwas he had read in his previous life.

This world used to be similar to those novels that took place in a medieval era before a catastrophe happened out of nowhere. The world transformed into a post-apocalyptic wasteland at first but gradually became better as the time passed by.

Naturally there were still a lot of places that stayed barren for some reason that James hadn’t understood yet. Nevertheless, the barren wasteland still took a big part of the world, as it occupied a third of the world.

’Steelheart family, Grimwald Kingdom, Drakensreich Empire?’ James thought to himself while recalling the things that he needed to know about this world.

Apparently, he was now in someone’s body, which belonged to the oldest son of the Steelheart family, James Steelheart.

The Steelheart family was a ducal house in the Grimwald Kingdom. It was also known as the Guardian of the Grimwald Pass and has always been at war with the Veylmar Kingdom.

Even though technically the Steelheart family was a duchy of the Grimwald Kingdom, it actually held a neutral stance.

The reason why the Steelheart family was assigned to this place was to actually act as a pawn since they didn’t actually belong to the Grimwald Kingdom.

However, just as the Steelheart family followed their motto, ’Steel Does Not Bend,’ they remained strong and even went beyond the kingdom’s imagination as they kept getting stronger from the pressure of the war and invasion of monsters coming from the Blackfang Mountains.

Just as James was doing a recap of what he needed to take a note on, a mechanical voice echoed in his mind, and a translucent display of data appeared before him.

[Ding! Activating the Daily Sign-in System...]

[Ding! It’s detected that the host is a pathetic loser as he has no talent and would die again sooner or later...]

[Ding! Finding a solution...]

[Ding! Giving the host a welcome gift pack.]

[Ding! Automatically opening the welcome gift pack...]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a Special Rank Summoning Card.]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a 1x chance of duplicate chance.]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a week’s worth of Daily Sign-in.]

"Huh? Daily sign-in system?" James mumbled to himself softly as he checked the first notification.

The moment he checked the second notification, he frowned and was about to crash out but immediately calmed himself because the system must have talked about the previous James anyway.

He then shifted his focus to the rewards he had received from the welcome gift pack.

’A Special Rank Summoning Card? Duplicate chance? A week’s worth of daily sign-in? What are these rewards?’

While James was trying to figure out what rewards he had received, he heard a notification sound, followed by an unfamiliar female robotic voice resounding within his head.

[Ding!]

[The Special Rank Summoning Card is a reward where you will be granted five different options of knights and magicians, each with different potential and rank to summon.]

Just before James could respond, the voice continued.

[Duplicate Chance is a reward where you can freely choose any trait from your subordinates. As for the 1x daily sign-in chance, it’s a reward that you will get daily from now on in which you can receive anything from mere trash to something that could make a koi turn into a dragon.]

James knitted his eyebrows as he digested the new information that he believed these were from the system based on the robotic voice he just heard.

’Trait? What does the system mean by it?’ James looked at the sky, putting his fingers on his chin.

[Basically, you can get any skills, talents, and other things from your subordinates, including the people that you will summon in the future.]

’Interesting...’ James nodded, thinking that he must choose the summoned person carefully since this would also affect the reward, where he could duplicate something from them.

He then looked at his surroundings for a moment and ordered the system to use his Special Rank Summoning Card.

Not even a second later, ten options appeared as ten purple cards with intricate patterns floated in front of him.

Looking at the five options of knights and magicians, James was shocked, as he hadn’t expected the system to be so generous.

These five knight and magician options were essentially equivalent. From the weakest, but with the greatest potential, to the strongest, who is a Transcendent Knight or an equivalent-ranking magician.

Mind you, the king of the Grimwald Kingdom was at the Transcendent Knight Rank, and he was already the strongest within the kingdom.

Not only that, but even the family head of the Steelheart family has only reached Epic Knight. But, in James’ memory, he actually found that her little sister once mentioned that their dad has broken through to Legendary Knight Rank.

At that time, ’James’ didn’t think too much of it, but now it might be true since he noticed some strange things that he noticed only after paying attention to details in some things.

Naturally, even though he could directly summon a knight or magician at the transcendent level, the disadvantage was so big that he didn’t think it would be worth summoning.

The disadvantage of summoning someone at the Transcendent Rank was that they would be dead in one year. James actually didn’t understand but decided to not do anything stupid because he didn’t want to fuck around and find out since this was related to his future.

The second summoned option was at the Legendary Rank. But the downside at this rank was that the summoned people had reached their limits and won’t be able to improve their strength anymore.

The third summoned option was at the Epic Rank. There was actually no downside, and their potential could even be said to be good because they can reach Transcendent Rank.

The fourth summoned option was at the Platinum Rank. However, this time was a little bit different because James wasn’t too clear himself, as their potential was shown as the above Transcendent Rank without being explained specifically.

The weakest summoned option was at Gold Rank. Not only that, the potential shown was also the same as the fourth option.

Nevertheless, James knew that from the potential alone, the weakest summoned option was definitely the best.

After thinking about it for a few moments, James nodded to himself with a firm attitude and reached out to touch the fourth summoned knight option as he said. "System, I choose this option."

[Ding! Congratulations! You have summoned a Platinum Knight Rank, Nyxrael, the Abyssal Knight.]

Just as James wondered how the summoned knight would make his entrance, the purple card in his hand began to stir.

The intricate runes etched upon its surface shimmered with an ominous light before the card tore free from his grasp.

It hovered in the air, expanding rapidly until it stretched at a fast speed until it reached 2 meters tall.

Then, a low hum filled the surroundings as the card twisted upon itself and unraveled into a spatial gate. Its surface spilled a storm of violet-black flames.

The air grew heavy, and James felt his heartbeat stutter under the oppressive weight pressing down out of the spatial gate.

From within the spatial gate, a figure emerged—Nyxrael, the Abyssal Knight.

The figure was clad in a dark, tattered robe with shades of deep purple energy around him. Pieces of blackened armor cover his shoulders, arms, thighs, and chest, giving him both protection and an intimidating presence.

His face was hidden behind a demonic mask with two menacing horns protruding upward. A pair of glowing eyes blazed beneath the mask, radiating with power and malice.

He rested his longsword on his shoulder, its hilt was long to resemble a katana’s design, wrapped in black leather for a tight grip. The blade itself seemed to be devouring the surrounding light, seeping with dark-purple energy that crackled and flowed into the air like living fire.