[Dear Candidate Damien Evra]
[Thank you for your application to the MSc in Molecular Biology programme at the University of Oxford for the 2025–2026 academic year.]
[We appreciate the time and effort you invested in preparing your application and supporting documents. After careful consideration by the admissions committee, we regret to inform you that your application has not been successful.]
[As you may understand, competition for admission to this programme is extremely strong, with a large number of highly qualified candidates applying each year. Unfortunately, we are only able to offer a limited number of places and are unable to provide individual feedback on admissions decisions.]
[Please note that this decision does not reflect on your academic abilities or potential for graduate study, but rather the extraordinarily competitive nature of this year's admissions cycle.]
[We thank you again for your interest in Oxford, and we wish you all the best in your academic and professional future.]
[Yours sincerely,
Graduate Admissions Office
University of Oxford]
"Bullshit..."
In a garage, a man was reading a notification in his email while frowning.
He is Damien Evra.
An average student who has... great ambition.
Unfortunately, he doesn't have broad enough shoulders to carry the weight of them.
"What number is this? 12th?"
After getting his undergraduate degree in biology, he wanted to continue his studies for a Master's in Molecular Biology.
Unfortunately... he overestimated himself.
"Sigh, what should I do? Enter the job market?"
A simple idea, but not one he wanted.
Currently, the job market is clogged for people in his situation.
A simple bachelor's degree holder like him would have trouble finding a good position and, even if he succeeded, he'd have a pitiful salary.
Worse...
'I'd have to start at the bottom of the food chain, and potentially work even harder than if I came in directly with a master's.'
A path full of obstacles.
After managing to stop himself from throwing his phone in frustration,
He returned to his personal research equipment.
Despite his repeated failures academically, Damien was passionate about science and a self-taught experimenter.
He liked to try out certain theories that he observed in fictional stories or online in forums.
Of course, he even tried to open an online YouTube channel about it.
But he had to shut it down.
Why?
The content of his channel was too dangerous or deemed inappropriate, according to the platform.
"If I remember correctly, I just need to add... *cough*"
Damien had slightly overdone the final dosage of his concoction, and this caused him trouble.
At the moment of mixing, he hadn't put his protective mask on his face.
A serious beginner's mistake.
However, he wasn't in the mood because of the university notification, and he forgot he was using dangerous elements.
This chain of coincidences led to a tragic situation, which was Damien's inadvertent inhalation of an unlisted toxic gas.
The gas penetrated his body.
Chronic coughs, mixed with an aftertaste of blood in Damien's mouth, were just the beginning.
He ended up having vertigo and extreme fever, finally fainting and dying shortly after.
Why didn't he call an ambulance?
He did, but they had been victims of repeated prank calls recently.
They just identified Damien as another... joker.
Later, the grandmother would learn this crucial element during the investigation into the young man's death.
She would file a complaint against the hospital that received the urgent call, and win reasonable compensation.
Good news?
Yes, but only for the grandmother and not Damien.
The two had a very bad relationship.
She raised Damien out of religious obligation and not out of love.
Damien's personality didn't help forge a bond between the two people.
...
Darkness.
Damien didn't know how much time had passed since the incident with the toxic gas.
A day? Maybe a year?
It didn't matter, because he felt at peace.
He didn't want to leave this calm and pleasant place.
'Yeah, I tried enough... this world doesn't deserve my genius'
Unfortunately, the world had other plans for him.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
For the first time since what felt like an eternity...
Heartbeats began to resonate in his chest.
The logic or explanation behind this phenomenon was temporarily unknown to him, but one thing was certain for Damien:
'I... I'm suffocating.'
He was no longer at peace in this place.
No, it was worse.
His paradise wanted to suffocate him, or eliminate him by asphyxiation.
Despite his reluctance, he had to leave quickly.
But a new problem appeared from the start of this initiative — a problem both funny and tragic for Damien.
He had no body.
At least, he thought so.
When trying to move, he felt his fingers twitch slightly.
'Fingers? No... I have a body?!'
He started digging.
Toward where?
He didn't know, but he decided to go upward.
Sure, Damien was in complete darkness, without the slightest light on the horizon.
But he managed to determine up from down thanks to his bodily fluids still obeying gravity.
Crack.
"Hah... Haa..."
The moment he finally emerged from the "ground," Damien was flooded with knowledge, as if it had always been there, buried deep within him.
While he struggled to maintain some semblance of concentration... or rationality
He felt arms wrap around him.
"H... Hunter, that's your name."
At that moment, the chaotic river of artificial memories in his mind had found logic, and it calmed down.
Damien assimilated his new identity.
He is Hunter, the Golden Guard and nephew of Emperor Belos.
'All this is supposed to be fictional!! Is this a dream or...?!'
Apart from Belos in front of him, he was supposed to be dead from gas poisoning.
"Uncle? Why are we here? And where's dad?"
Even if all this is absurd, Damien decided to play along temporarily.
If it's a dream, then he would wake up.
Otherwise...
'I should just adapt, but...'
The idea of living in a cartoon made him uncomfortable.
[ Beginning system installation... ]
[ Success... ]
[ Activating model system... ]
[ Success... ]
[ Searching for a model 'compatible' with the host's soul... ]
[ Selected model: Shou Tucker... ]
[ You have too high compatibility!!! ]
[ You have the model at 100% from the start. ]
Before he could rejoice at having a system, Hunter fainted in Belos's arms due to a large amount of new information added to his mind.
He had to process the artificial information from the newly born Hunter's mind and that of the alchemist Shou Tucker.
Two lives in an immature skull.
The teenager needed time to assimilate everything.
"Hmm... he didn't turn to dust, so he's functional..."
Belos questioned the fragile health of his new Golden Guard, but ended up shrugging.
Even if he wanted to create a new one, it wouldn't be easy.
Each material in the composition of a Golden Guard is rare and difficult to obtain through... normal means.
This situation pushes him to choose to observe Hunter longer, to decide on elimination or not.
"I just hope he won't betray me again like the others."
Thus, Belos, also known as Philip Wittebane, carried away with him the clone of his older brother.
A Grimwalker.
(Image)