Stigma Effect - Chapter 26

Crimson Vale Academy—where reputation is currency, and failure is a stain you wear on your sleeve.Behind gothic walls and spotless uniforms, students aren't just educated—they're measured, ranked, and pitted against each other in a brutal meritocracy. Privileges are earned, not given. The strong rise. The weak vanish.Enter Kairon Vale, a transfer student marked Rank D—the bottom of the bottom. No badge. Just a stitched black fang, branding him as “Obsidian”—a warning to others.In a system where points dictate your value, Obsidian-ranked students claw for every opportunity to ascend into the prestigious Golden or Platinum ranks—where comfort, power, and influence await. But for most, it’s a losing battle.Yet Kairon isn’t here to fit in, impress, or play by their rules. Cold, calculating, and impossible to read, he watches the system… and waits. Because while the academy judges worth by numbers and names—he understands something deeper:Everyone wears a mask. And every mask can be cracked.Let the games begin.

They said they came from out of nowhere. There were no signs of their arrival nor there were any loud sounds.

One day, Humanity woke up and was forced to accept their existence...along with the destruction they brought with them.

Ashton West, a orphan and a transmigrator from Earth. He woke up in this near-apocalyptic world without anyone else to rely on aside from himself.

Thankfully, he was blessed with a golden finger that came with his transmigration package!

Ashton: This world needs a Hero...sadly, I can't be bothered to be one.

Ashton: Surely there's someone out there who can fulfill that role. As for me? Well...

"Being 'Humanity's Strongest Backer' doesn't sound so bad."

***

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I had transmigrated into my favorite game, as an extra who died before the story even began.In a world where Sigils dictate power, I found myself in the body of a boy who had already died on the battlefield.Yet, as I drew breath in his place, his Sigil changed. A power never meant for him, never meant for me.Kidnapped by a shadow organization that didn't exist in the game, I spent three years in the dark, forced to learn under a so-called teacher.I move forward, not as the extra I was meant to be, but as one who chooses their own path. A path to supremacy.Yet the deeper I walk, the more I realize… this world holds secrets that game had never shown.-----------------Additional tags:[Sword Companion], [Hidden Identity], [Artifact Power], [Slow Reveal], [Secret Society], [Survival]

I, Zhang San, am absolutely a good person!I swear by the eight generations of my ancestors!What!? My ancestral grave just exploded!?