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Chapter 1: Useless Among the Chosen
Rain drizzled down the cracked window of a cramped, dim apartment.
The steady rhythm of rain rapped against the windows like a judgment, indifferent and constant. Ethan Cross sat hunched over on his unmade bed, phone screen glowing in his trembling hand. Her last message echoed louder than the rain.
"You're disgusting, Ethan. I can't believe you hid this from me. We're done."
She had found it—the secret folder. Femboy doujin, lewd comics, soft, feminine men being taken, loving it. It wasn't something he ever talked about. Hell, he barely even accepted it himself...but it was undeniable, he had a fetish for feminine looking men. But she saw it, judged it, and walked away. She was supposed to be a LGBTQIA+ advocate. Hell, she was bicurious at a point and dated girls,before dating guys... but when it was him, he got shunned. Digust.Ridicule.
It was not like he would cheat on her for a femboy. It was painfully obvious why it happened. That support? It was a facade to get brownie points and popularity.
Now all he had left was silence. And shame.
"I didn't… mean to be like this," he mumbled to the empty room. "I just… I don't know."
He wanted to scream. Or vanish. Maybe both.
But instead, the world answered.
A blinding light exploded in the room. The floor cracked like glass, air collapsing inward. Ethan shouted in panic, stumbling backward—
And the world swallowed him whole.
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He crashed onto cold, polished marble with a thud that rattled his bones. Gasping, blinking through the light, Ethan found himself in a towering hall of crystal and gold. Around him were others—young men and women, equally disoriented.
"What the hell—!?"
"Where are we!?"
A procession of robed figures and armored knights stood before them like statues. One woman, glowing faintly, stepped forward and raised a scroll.
"Behold the Chosen Ones, summoned from the dying world! Heroes blessed by the gods to save Valmirea!"
The words felt unreal—like a bad dream. Ethan's heart thundered. Why me? What is this? I'm no hero!
The scrollbearer began to read names, and with each one, a new power was declared. Fire-bearer. Healer of the Divine. Beast King. Cheers followed, gasps of awe.
Then she paused.
"…Ethan Cross."
The hall went silent. Her brow furrowed.
"…No blessing detected. No magical signature. No Etherium. A fluke."
The silence broke into laughter.
"A dud?"
"He's not even good-looking."
"Throw him with the others."
"No use keeping trash."
Ethan's face burned. He didn't speak. He didn't even know what's going on. His legs trembled as guards stepped forward, grabbing his arms.
He was being dragged—like garbage. Not even allowed to understand what was happening.
Why… why is this happening to me again?Am I really that unworthy?
Then, as despair began to claw at him, something stirred in his mind.
> [SYSTEM INITIALIZED.]
[Femboy Ascension Protocol online.]
[Target compatibility: 3 nearby candidates detected.]
[Welcome, Master.]
Ethan froze. "W…what?"
The guards didn't hear it.
But in the quiet chaos of shame and confusion, something buried deep inside him had just awakened.
And it called him Master.
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