Pain came first. Death followed.
Rafe Hendrix felt his own heart fail as if someone had flipped a switch. One second of absolute silence—just enough to understand he was dying.
And then… darkness.
When he opened his eyes again, there were no hospital lights, no machines, no paramedics shouting.There was a cracked, moldy ceiling dripping with moisture—and a smell so foul it made him cough.
He blinked. Twice. Three times.
The voice that came out of his mouth startled him.
"…Why do I sound like a kid?"
He tried to sit up, but tiny, weak arms obeyed instead of the adult ones he remembered. Too small. Too light.
He froze.
He touched his own chest.His body.His face.
He was a child. A child of about six years old.
"No. No… this is a joke…"
Something worse hit him:a flood of memories, like torn pages being shoved into his mind.
A decrepit orphanage.Sick children.Neglectful supervision.Cold.Hunger.And a name.
Rafael "Rafe" Hendrix.A troublesome orphan destined to die at fifteen, during a beast invasion in the slums of New Zenith.
A name he recognized.
Because this boy… this "Rafe"… was from a novel he used to read.Or rather, an extra.A background character.Someone mentioned once, only to add tragedy to chapter three.
Rafe shut his eyes.
"This… can't be real…"
The room stank of dust and despair.Rusty metal beds, torn mattresses.Weak daylight filtered through a dirty window, revealing a world far too cruel for a fragile child.
And then, while he was still trying to process everything—
A metallic chime echoed inside his mind.
DING!Initializing Bloodline Expansion System…
Rafe's eyes widened.
"What? Wait. A system?"
System successfully bound to host.Primary Directive:"The more children you father, the stronger you become."
He slapped a hand over his face.
"…Of all the things that could happen in an isekai, I had to get this ridiculous system?"
But before he could curse the universe, more lines appeared.
Warning:Original host destined to die at age 15.Strength: 0.Talent: 0.Background: None.Social Value: None.
Reincarnator detected. Fate unlocked.Good luck, Extra.
Rafe let out a dry laugh.
"'Good luck,' huh?How adorable. I'm screwed."
But beneath the sarcasm, something sparked inside him—a heat he knew well.
Determination.
He had no talent.No power.No family.Barely ten years left to live.
But he had something no one else here had:
the mind of an experienced adult, sharp, strategic—and a broken system, ridiculous yet powerful.
He inhaled deeply and looked around the miserable orphanage.
"Okay… let's recap.I reincarnated as a background character doomed to die.I have a system that only grows by… having children.And this world is a battleground full of monsters, magic, and people with way too much ego."
He paused.
"Alright.First step: survive childhood.Second: get into Zenith Academy.Third…" — a slow, mischievous smile formed —"…carve my place in this world. By any means necessary."
The dorm door creaked open.A harsh-looking caretaker stared at him.
"Hendrix! Move it! Breakfast!"
Rafe jumped off the bed—or tried to.His body was weak, but his mind wasn't.
He fixed his messy hair, patted the dust off his clothes, and gave her a polite smile.
A smile far too mature for a child from this place.
"I'm coming, ma'am."
Her eyes narrowed.
"What's with that attitude? Planning something?"
He shook his head, innocent.
"No. I just woke up… feeling good."
Suspicious, she left.
Rafe looked up at the ceiling as he clenched his tiny fists.
"This world thinks I'm a doomed extra.But I… I'm rewriting everything."
And for the first time since awakening in that tiny body, he felt a promise forming:
If fate tried to erase him, he would learn to write fate.With blood.With power.And with every step he took from now on.
The Extra would ascend.