The light didn't fade this time. It burned—bright enough to make him squeeze his eyes shut. When he opened them again, the white wasn't empty anymore.
Symbols floated in front of him. Glowing letters. Strange runes that twisted and reshaped themselves until they formed words he could actually read.
[System Reboot Complete.][Welcome, Sora Hayate.][Initializing Status Interface.]
He just stood there.His brain flatlined."...I've lost it," he muttered. "This is what happens when you pull four all-nighters in a row."
The words in front of him flickered like a glitchy hologram. Then—another window blinked open.
[Race: ???][Level: 1][HP: —][MP: —][Skills: Error Detected][System Remark: User soul not fully stabilized.]
He tilted his head. "Soul? Stabilized? What kind of messed up RPG intro is this?"
No response. Just the faint hum of the air—or whatever counted as air here.
He tried to swipe the screen away. His fingers passed right through it. The letters rippled like water before reforming.
[Attempted interference detected.]
That one made him flinch. "Hey, chill. I was just—"
[Warning: Mental link incomplete.][Cognitive sync required.]
Then the pain hit.Sharp, deep, and everywhere.
It wasn't just in his head—it was like every nerve in his body was being rewired, torn apart and rebuilt in one go. He screamed, dropping to his knees, hands digging into the white floor that wasn't really there.
[Syncing… 42%...][68%...][91%...]
The voice stayed calm while he wasn't. His breath came out ragged, his body trembling. And then, all at once—silence.
He gasped, staring at his reflection in the white. But the thing staring back wasn't exactly him.
His hair was longer now—messy, darker at the ends, almost ink-black. His eyes… they glowed faintly. Like static blue light trapped behind glass.
He reached up to touch his face. "...That's not me."
The system didn't care.
[Status updated.]
A new window opened in front of him—clear, crisp, and terrifyingly real.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Sora HayateRace: ??? (Unregistered Entity)Level: 1HP: 250 / 250MP: 500 / 500Title:The Reader Who Crossed the PageSkills:
[Passive] Memory Absorb: Retains knowledge from any written or visual source.
[Active] Rewrite (Locked): Allows manipulation of information or reality constructs.
[Hidden] Keeper's Mark: ???
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
He stared at it for a long minute. "...Reader? Keeper? What does that even—"
Then the ground beneath him cracked. Or maybe it was the world itself splitting open.A surge of black ink-like liquid began to drip from above, staining the white around him.
The voice spoke one last time.
[Tutorial... commencing.]
And before he could react, the floor vanished—pulling him straight into the dark.