**Where am I?**
My eyes fluttered open to a world scattered with cyan gems—glittering like starlight on alien soil. A strange sky loomed above, the air thick with unnatural weight.
I scanned the terrain, confused.
*This isn't my lab. This isn't any world I know.*
Then—
"I remember eating the World-Devouring Whale… and Inerous's notifications."
In—
A tidal wave of memories slammed into me. But they weren't mine.
*A doppelgänger?*
Panic coiled in my chest. The body I now inhabited had my face—but everything else… thoughts, emotions… they were foreign.
I sifted through the fragments.
This body belonged to an 18-year-old boy named Dax Godfall.
Cruel irony. Same name. Same face. But no strength. No talent. Not even a mana or aura core.
He was weaker than the weakest.
*The Weakest Man in Existence.*
His only companion? A tiny green lizard clinging loyally to his shoulder.
His father—the head of the Godfall clan—stood unshaken, undefeated. His siblings tried to usurp him, circling like wolves. But they failed. They were weaker. Always had been.
While the rest of the Godfall progeny carved power from the world, this Dax was the anomaly. A ghost in the bloodline.
He didn't run away to grow stronger.
He ran to escape the shame.
But the world wasn't done punishing him.
On the road to a neighboring town, his carriage was dragged into a grotesque realm. A dungeon? A prison? No one knew. Sky and soil alike birthed monsters.
One by one, his companions were slaughtered. The only survivor was a beautiful woman… who vanished the moment they arrived.
Alone. Hopeless. Weaponless. He clung to Tina—the tiny lizard—for sanity.
Then came the basilisk. A towering Dreadmaw with death in its eyes.
Cornered on a cliff's edge, trembling, he whispered—
> *"If I'm going to die, let it be on my terms."*
He jumped.
There was no flash of life before his eyes.
Only regret.
—
When the memory ended, I was left with something unexpected.
**Disgust.**
This was the shell I now occupied?
A boy who embraced weakness? Who welcomed death as mercy?
**Pathetic.**
A foreign despair clung to me—heavy and almost sentient.
Was this fusion… or punishment?
"You were weak. Unlucky. But I… I am Dax Godfall. The No.1 Gene Researcher. A Dual Trait Wielder. We may share the same name, but from now on—we walk a new path."
A figure formed in the air. A translucent version of myself, but otherworldly. Refined. Skin pale like stardust. Face sharp. Knowing.
He smiled like an old friend, then faded into drifting blue particles.
"I should be the one thanking you," I murmured, almost fondly.
Then came the chimes.
**Ding! Ding!**
Familiar.
Impossible.
> **\[SYSTEM BOOT COMPLETE]**
> **\[WELCOME TO EPOCH.]**
"Inerous?!"
> **"Welcome, Master."**
"How… how are you here?"
I designed Inerous myself—a digital construct bound to my neural net.
But transmigration was a soul-bound event.
She shouldn't be here.
> **\[This is thanks to your Traits.]**
My mind surged with data—fragments of downloaded knowledge.
I drifted into memory.
I saw myself floating in deep space, drenched in the blood of the World-Devouring Whale. Red mist shimmered with flecks of stars, wrapping me like a veil.
I was unrecognizable. A celestial abomination—part man, part void.
My stomach twisted.
Then came the black flames—my first Trait: **Insatiable Hunger**.
It granted infinite physical evolution… at a cost.
**Flesh.**
A cannibal's path.
I became a Galactic Demon. Feared. Endless.
But the hunger turned inward.
I began to devour myself.
I needed a fix.
So I chased the one being that could change everything: the World-Devouring Whale.
I planned to consume it—and use my second Trait, **Synthesis**, to bind its Absorption System to my own.
And it worked—
Until it didn't.
As I digested the whale, a spiral formed in my gut. A black hole.
Gravity snapped loose.
I drifted helplessly through space, watching a planet collapse into my core. Then a star. A moon. Then everything.
Only my face remained.
Then—
**Silver flames** erupted, engulfing me, cleansing the collapse.
Suddenly… the black hole halted.
**Poof.**
I exploded into stardust.
"That was Synthesis… but I never activated it."
> **\[Correct, Master. The Synth Flame triggered automatically. During this, I fused with your soul.]**
"I see..."
**Status.**
> **\[STATUS]**
> Name: Dax Godfall
> Race: Human
> Bloodline: None
> Traits: *Insatiable Hunger (Locked)*, *Synthesis*
>
> Attributes:
> Strength: 5
> Intelligence: 2
> Mana: 0
> Aura: 0
> Agility: 3
> Physique: 1
> Dexterity: 1
> Luck: -1
I stared at the screen, blinking.
**"Negative luck?"**
No wonder the original was cursed to misery.
I pushed myself to my feet—clothes torn, body aching, but alive.
"No one's coming. Time to move."
"Storage," I muttered.
The world collapsed.
I reappeared in a boundless space—10,000 cubic meters of perfect stillness.
The floor was a black mirror, endless and flawless. Every step sent echo-like ripples through the void.
At the far edge, I saw something—familiar.
A blade, resting gently on the glass.
Reality bent around it.
My heart skipped.
"You… followed me?"
The crimson katana hummed softly. Its glow—faint, but alive.
**Cil.**
My first creation. My greatest companion. A living weapon forged from my DNA and cosmic alloys.
I knelt, brushing its edge with my fingertips.
"You're drained… but you waited for me."
The steel quivered.
"We'll reach the pinnacle again," I whispered.
Cil pulsed—once. Like a heartbeat.
—
Back in reality, I locked onto my goal.
**Get stronger.**
No time to waste.
I found a quiet corner and sat cross-legged.
Then, I activated my Traits.
Instantly, black and silver flames burst from my body—spiraling in opposite directions, perfectly mirrored. A halo formed above my head, split down the middle. Half black. Half white.
A familiar sensation settled in.
I smiled.
**Good. I still have my mastery.**
That meant only one thing—
**My Traits remain at the level of a Trait Emperor.**