Forged by the Grave

Ignat was a violently loyal street rat who died protecting his crew. He wakes up at his own rain-soaked funeral - trapped in the frail body of Valdis, the despised aristocratic student blamed for Ignat's murder. Valdis possessed the lowest-ranked class at the Harrowing Atrium: a Mend-Smith, capable only of repairing broken gear, completely devoid of combat skills. But Ignat is too hot-tempered to suffer the academy's abuse quietly. When Valdis's former bullies try to finish him off, Ignat makes a suicidal bet with the eerie Crucible System. The revelation is earth-shattering: his supposedly trash class harbors a hidden mechanic guaranteeing absolute victory on any life-or-death wager. With every mortal bet, his repair skills infinitely scale into destructive force. Armed with nothing but a rusted frying pan from the academy kitchens, Ignat enters the brutal national survival tournament, betting his soul on every match to obliterate a sudden monster outbreak. Now, the aristocratic elites who tormented him are groveling on their knees for his favor. But Elder Vesna, the blind matriarch who knows his true identity, has dark designs for the boy who cannot lose. What happens when the System demands a wager he cannot afford?