Morning light felt like sandpaper against his eyelids.
Vell groaned, though it came out more like a dry croak, and slowly pried his eyes open. The world was a blurry mess of pavement and disgusted faces as people walked by, their expressions twisting when they looked down at the bloody, ragged heap lying on the bridge.
This was normal, he was used to being looked at like something to be scraped off the bottom of a shoe. He ignored them and tried to push himself up.
Pain shot through his entire body, so intense it nearly made him scream. His legs, his arms, his chest, everything was pure agony as he glanced down and saw his limbs were swollen, bruised, and covered in dried blood. Some of it had pooled underneath him, leaving a dark stain on the concrete.
'Kugh! Yep, definitely overdid it.'
He took a few deep breaths, the cool air doing nothing to soothe the fire in his muscles, but at least he'd done it, he'd completed the mission, so where was his reward?
His heart started pounding again, but this time with cold fear. The screen, the mission timer, all of it was gone and the world was just the world again with its judgmental stares and dirty concrete.
A broken laugh escaped his lips as he stared up at the pale sky.
"So it was all for nothing, huh?"
The disappointment hit harder than any physical blow, a cold, empty feeling that settled deep in his gut and killed the tiny spark of hope he'd been protecting for the last nine hours. All that pain, all that suffering, for what? A hallucination brought on by getting his ass kicked?
"FUCKING HELL, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" His voice ripped through the quiet morning, raw and full of betrayal. "HOW DARE YOU LIE TO ME? I WENT THROUGH HELL TO COMPLETE THAT STUPID MISSION! I KNOW YOU HEAR ME, YOU FUCKER! GIVE ME WHAT I'VE EARNED, DAMMIT!"
People stopped and stared while some pulled out their phones to record the crazy homeless man shouting at the sky. A mother covered her kid's ears and hurried past, shooting him a look of pure disgust.
His ragged appearance didn't help since his clothes were torn and bloody, his face was a mess of bruises and dried blood, and he probably smelled like death. This was it, this was his life now, just another crazy person yelling at nothing.
The tears came before he could stop them, hot and shameful, running down his face and mixing with the dried blood.
"Why is life so cruel?" he whispered, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "Maybe I should just let go and jump off this bridge and end it."
The railing was right there, just a few feet away. The water below was deep enough and no one would miss him, no one would even know he was gone except maybe the guy who ran the shelter when he didn't show up for the weekly meal.
But before he could seriously consider that dark thought, the black screen flickered back into existence right in front of his face and his heart leaped with relief so intense it almost made him dizzy.
"You little piece of shit," he muttered, a wide, tired grin spreading across his face. "Do you have any idea what I almost did because of you?"
A new message glowed on the screen.
[Upgrade complete. System fully activated.]
[Glad you're awake, master.]
[Shall I give you your reward now?]
He blinked a few times. 'Did it just talk to me? And it called me master?'
"Huh, did you just talk?"
[Yes. I am the Beast Forge system, your skill from now on. My purpose is to help you achieve your goals, to the best of my abilities.]
The text appeared instantly, not like before when it had been typing itself out, and there was something different about it, like it had personality now instead of being just mechanical responses.
He stared at the screen while a slow smile grew on his face. "Well thanks, I have a million questions but honestly, my brain hurts too much to deal with them right now, so about that reward, how does it work?"
[...I will merge with you. Once that is done, your body will start absorbing mana from the surroundings. This means your body will now be 'open.' After that, I'll guide you on how to store mana in what's called a core, then you'll need to do another cleansing to remove any impurities. I tried before, but there was so much. Then, you must open up your pathways and let mana flow through your body as blood does. After that, you will be awakened. Note: this method is different from the natural awakening; it's an ancient technique.]
Vell's head spun from all the information, it sounded way too complicated, like something out of those cultivation novels Rynn used to read, always going on about cores and meridians and whatever.
"But if it means turning my life around, I'll do anything, so let's begin."
[You might want to find somewhere isolated and safe. This is a delicate process. If you're disturbed, you could die.]
He looked at the busy street where people were still staring at him, then at the murky water below the bridge, and realized he needed to get out of here fast before someone called the cops or worse, someone recognized him from the old news stories.
"You know what, on second thought, maybe being on the streets isn't so bad after all."
He pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the protests from every muscle in his body, and started limping away from the bridge. People gave him a wide berth, probably thinking he was diseased or dangerous or both.
---
Three hours later, after the swelling in his legs had gone down enough for him to walk properly, he was deep in the industrial district where nobody went unless they had to.
He wandered through the city's forgotten corners like a ghost, checking abandoned buildings and empty lots, searching for the perfect place to either die or be reborn. Most places were either too exposed or already occupied by other homeless people who'd claimed them as territory.
He finally found it behind a derelict warehouse that had been closed for years, a massive, rusted dumpster that looked like it hadn't been touched since the place shut down. The paint was peeling off in sheets and rust had eaten holes through parts of the metal, but the lid still looked solid.
Perfect, it was secluded, private, and no one would bother looking inside since who the hell would voluntarily climb into a dumpster?
He grabbed the lid with both hands and pulled, his newly awakened strength making it easier than expected, though the hinges screamed in protest. The stench that hit him was breathtakingly awful, like something had died in there and then died again.
"Ugh, I am not going in there, it stinks."
But he had no choice unless he wanted to risk being interrupted during whatever the system was planning to do to him. He propped the lid open and waited twenty minutes for the worst of the smell to air out, though it didn't help much.
Finally, holding his breath, he climbed inside and pulled the heavy lid shut, plunging himself into smelly darkness. The bottom was covered in some kind of sludge that he didn't want to think about, but at least it was soft enough to sit on.
He crossed his legs in what he hoped was a decent meditation pose, trying not to think about what was soaking through his pants, and took a deep, steadying breath that he immediately regretted.
'Okay system, let's do this.'
[Before we start, no matter how great the pain, do not lose concentration or pass out. I will now initiate Stage 1.]
He braced himself, tensing every muscle and waiting for the pain to hit. For the first few minutes, nothing happened and he just sat there in the dark, listening to the faint sounds of the city outside and wondering if this was another cruel joke.
Then he felt it.
It wasn't physical pain since his body was fine, but his mind, his soul, it felt like they were being torn apart and shredded into a million pieces as the system merged with his very essence. The agony was so complete that he wanted to scream, to thrash around in the disgusting sludge, to do anything to make it stop, but he knew if he did, it would all be for nothing.
His mind started to crack under the pressure as bad memories flooded in, a relentless torrent of every failure, every humiliation, every betrayal he'd ever experienced. He saw Kana's lying face in the courtroom, tears streaming down as she pointed at him.
He saw his parents turning their backs, unable to look at their "murderer" son. He saw the sneers of the kids who'd beaten him just yesterday, their laughter echoing in his skull.
'Loser. Pervert. Monster. Disgusting thing. Murderer.'
The names people had called him hammered against his sanity, each one threatening to break him completely. He was on the brink of passing out, his consciousness starting to fade into merciful blackness where the pain couldn't reach him.
The system wanted to help but couldn't interfere, this was something he had to endure alone.
Just as he was about to give in, one thought cut through the pain like a blade.
'I can't let this go, people I cared for, people I trusted, they threw me away without a second thought, and I have to confront them, all of them, and if I don't like their answers, they'll pay.'
The thought anchored him and he regained control, his mind clearing despite the ongoing agony. The pain was still there, raw and unforgiving, but he breathed through it with absolute focus because he knew if he lost concentration again, it would be the end.
Time became meaningless as minutes bled into hours, hours into what felt like days. He just sat there in that reeking darkness, enduring the torture, until finally the pain began to recede like a tide going out.
He slowly opened his eyes and the dumpster was still dark, but he could see a faint glow in front of him from the system screen.
[Congratulations. You have completed Stage 1. While your mind is in top condition, let's proceed with Stage 2. This stage is more complicated, so you'll need to control the mana entering your body, gather it in a specific location, and then condense it until it begins spinning inward. This will create a—]
He wasn't really listening anymore because the moment the system mentioned controlling mana, he understood. It was instinctive, like his body had been waiting for this his whole life. He could feel the energy in the air around him, invisible but definitely there, waiting to be used.
He pulled it in through his newly opened pathways, but instead of gathering it in one spot like the system was explaining, he guided it to three different locations. One near his heart where it felt natural, a second on the right side of his chest for balance, and a third just below his stomach where his gut told him it belonged.
He condensed the mana at each point, spinning it faster and faster, compressing it until it formed three stable, humming cores that pulsed with power.
[...You shouldn't be able to do that yet...]
He tried to create a fourth core near his throat, but his body protested with sharp pain that made him gasp, reminding him of his limits. So he stopped at three and focused on what he had, feeling the raw power inside him but also sensing something wrong, something thick and sticky blocking the flow.
Impurities, that's what the system had mentioned, and they were everywhere in his pathways like old grease in pipes.
He shaped his new mana like a drill and pushed, forcing his pathways open and clearing them out, pushing all the gunk out through his pores. Black sludge started seeping from his skin, mixing with the filth already in the dumpster, but he didn't care because he could feel himself getting stronger with every bit of corruption he expelled.
It felt like it happened in an instant, but when he looked at the timer that was now permanently in his vision, he realized an entire month had passed. Thirty days in that dumpster, lost in a trance of power and transformation.
[Wow… Congratulations. You have fully awakened. The system is now fully integrated. You can use me as an interface to perform various tasks.]
He exhaled slowly, a deep, satisfying breath that filled his lungs completely without any pain or struggle. He wasn't really paying attention to the system's words, he was too focused on his own body and how different everything felt.
He looked down at his hands and arms where his muscles looked refined and dense, not bulky but clearly powerful. His skin was clear and healthy, almost glowing with vitality, and all the nagging aches from old injuries, the constant hunger, the bone-deep fatigue, it was all gone.
'So this is what power feels like, I see why people get drunk on it, it's amazing.'
He pushed open the heavy dumpster lid with one hand, something that would have taken both hands and serious effort before, and for the first time in what felt like forever, he stepped out into the sunlight not as a victim but as something new.
He landed on his feet with perfect balance, not even wobbling despite jumping down from the tall dumpster.
"So," he said, a real smile spreading across his face, "now that I'm fully awakened, what's next?"
[I should first explain what type of system I am.]
He looked around the alley and noticed a woman hanging clothes on a line behind one of the nearby buildings. His own clothes, now several sizes too big for his leaner frame, were practically falling off and he smelled even worse than before thanks to whatever had been in that dumpster plus a month of his own impurities.
'First things first, I need some new clothes and a shower.'
"Let me guess," he said, already eyeing a shirt on the clothesline that looked like it would fit, "you're some cheat system that will let me grow stronger faster than other players?"
[No… I can only tame beasts.]
He froze mid-step toward the clothesline, one hand still reaching out, and a dumbfounded look crossed his face.
"What?"