The river dragged him.
He no longer had the strength to flop or resist. His body, still smoking from the meteor crash, drifted on the broken current. Pieces of ice and dragon scale floated past, clinking like shattered glass. The taste of ash clung to the water.
Slowly, the current pulled him downward.
Down. Down. Into the dark.
His last memory was of a tamer's greedy laughter, echoing somewhere above. Then the world narrowed to silence, and he sank into blackness.
Maybe this is it, he thought dimly. Finally dead for real.
But death didn't come.
Instead, a strange warmth filled his mind.
A light—distant at first, then closer—blinked inside the darkness. It wasn't sight in the usual sense. It was words seared directly into his skull.
[System initializing…]
His sluggish thoughts stumbled. "What… what is this?"
The light pulsed again, answering without mercy.
[Host detected. Species: Koi. Status: Alive. Condition: Critical.]
"Alive?" he thought weakly. His body felt limp, broken. "Barely."
[System Awakening… Reason: Host has slain a Legendary Creature: White Dragon.]
The words rang with mechanical certainty, like truth carved into the world itself.
The koi's little brain froze. Wait. I killed that dragon?
Images flickered—roar, storm, the insane leap skyward, then falling like a meteor. The crash. The silence afterward. Somehow, impossibly, his ridiculous bounce had brought down that monster.
[Because Host has accomplished the impossible, System has been partially awakened.]
"Partially?"
[Yes. System requires immense power to activate fully. Killing the White Dragon provided sufficient energy to initialize.]
He floated in stunned silence, as if being lectured after class.
Then another line appeared, brighter than the rest.
[Announcement: Host is the only being in this world with a Negative Level System.]
He blinked. His brain lagged. "…Negative?"
[Affirmative. While most creatures begin at Level 1, the Host has been judged the weakest in existence. Therefore, starting Level: -100.]
A pause.
Then, as if to twist the knife:
[No other being is so pitiful as to begin below zero. You are the exception. The anomaly. The lowest of the low.]
"…You didn't have to say it like that," he muttered. Only bubbles escaped his mouth.
[Host is currently Level -100. Available skill: Bounce.]
He stared into the void. "…Bounce?"
[Skill: Bounce]
Type: Passive/Active
Description: Instinctive dodge maneuver.
Effect: Increases chance of avoiding attacks. Efficiency rises with desperation.
"So that's why I kept flopping around like a maniac…"
[Correct. Host's survival was due to Bounce activating under lethal conditions.]
A bitter laugh shook him. He was dead weight, a useless carp, and yet his only gift was bouncing. Dodge or die. That was his destiny.
"What's the point?" he thought dully. "Even if I survived one dragon, I'll just get eaten by the next. I'm just a fish."
The System's reply came colder, like steel pressing against his brain.
[Death is not applicable.]
His thoughts stumbled. "…What?"
[As the sole koi in the Dragon World, Host is classified as a mystical anomaly. Permanent death is impossible.]
His fins twitched. "…That doesn't make sense."
[Correction: When Host's body is destroyed, consciousness will enter long sleep until revival condition is met.]
"Long sleep?"
[Yes. Host will drift in timeless slumber. Upon revival, Host will resume at current level and progress.]
"So… I can't die?"
[Affirmative. However, weakness remains. Host is still at Level -100. Skills: Bounce. Strength: Minimal. Offense: None. Probability of immediate suffering upon revival: 99.9%.]
He groaned in his head. "…So basically, I'll just get beaten down, wake up again, and repeat forever?"
[Correct.]
"Great. Fantastic. Eternal suffering. What a prize."
Yet even as sarcasm rose, something heavier turned inside him.
Eternal suffering. Eternal revival. Eternal bouncing.
It was better than permanent nothingness… wasn't it?
Still, the absurdity bit deep. His classmates, his bullies—if they saw him now, would they laugh harder than ever? A boy reborn not as a hero, not as a dragon, not even as a worm—but as a koi doomed to flop forever.
"System," he asked quietly, "why me?"
[No data.]
The blunt answer cut deeper than cruelty. No reason. No destiny. Just cosmic mockery.
He let silence settle. The current tugged him deeper.
Then, just as his thoughts drifted, another faint line appeared—so faint he almost thought he imagined it.
[Note: While Host begins with only one skill, Bounce, potential exists for new skills to emerge under extreme conditions.]
He froze. "…New skills?"
[Possibility detected. Probability: Extremely low. Requirements: Unknown.]
"So you're saying… maybe?"
[Affirmative. Maybe.]
He laughed weakly in his mind. Maybe. That was all he got. Not a promise, not a guarantee. Just a cruel dangling carrot. Yet even that single spark stirred something inside.
Maybe he wasn't doomed to flop forever.
Maybe there was more.
The System's glow dimmed, receding like a tide.
[Do not worry, Host. You will not feel death. You will only sleep. And sleep. And sleep.]
He shivered, though fish cannot sweat.
A koi that couldn't die, doomed to bounce through an endless world of dragons. But maybe… just maybe… something else could come of it.
"Fine," he whispered into the void. "Then I'll bounce."
And deeper he sank, into darkness, into sleep.