Darkness. Then pain. Then nothing.
Zeke's last memory on Earth was the blinding glare of headlights and the screech of tires. A truck came out of nowhere. He didn't even have time to react before everything went black.
When he opened his eyes again, the world had changed.
He couldn't move his limbs properly. Everything felt too big. He was lying in someone's arms—warm, fragile arms. Voices surrounded him, muffled and distant.
"He has no magic roots…"
"What a waste of lineage."
"We'll send him to the orphanage."
Zeke blinked. His vision was blurry, but he could see enough. A man with sharp eyes—his father—was holding him. A woman beside him, pale and cold, looked away as if she couldn't bear to watch.
So that's how it is, Zeke thought. Born again, and already thrown away.
He understood every word. His mind was that of a twenty-one-year-old, trapped in the body of a newborn.
The man placed him in a small basket. The woman didn't even glance down.
"Take him," his father ordered.
A servant nodded and carried the basket away.
Zeke couldn't cry. He didn't even feel like it. He had seen enough betrayal in his past life to know what abandonment looked like.
No magic roots, huh?
He had no idea what that meant yet, but it didn't matter.
That was when he heard it—
a calm, mechanical voice echoing directly in his mind.
[Initializing Passive System…]
[Welcome, Host.]
[Daily Growth Rate: +1%. All attributes, skills, techniques, and comprehension will permanently increase by 1% every 24 hours.]
Zeke froze. His tiny body couldn't move, but inside, he was wide awake.
A system? Just like the novels I used to read… but it's passive?
He didn't need to complete missions or fight monsters. He just had to exist. Every day, he would grow stronger—1% at a time.
[Calculating projected growth…]
[Host will experience realm breakthrough approximately every 100 days, depending on base stats.]
A small grin formed in his mind.
So even if I start at zero… time is all I need.
The servant placed him in front of a small building made of stone and wood. A worn sign hung on the door — "Gaia Orphanage."
Zeke stared up at the cloudy sky.
The world of Gaia, the system had called it. A world of magic, swords, and gods.
He was abandoned at birth, powerless, and alone.
But every second that passed, he was growing stronger.
And one day…
the people who threw him away would kneel before him.