The night didn't begin with thunder, destiny, or any omen grand enough to warn me. It began with a quiet sigh — mine — exhaled in a dim, cramped room as I scrolled to the newest chapter of One Punch Man. I never imagined a single breath could split the world in half.
But the moment my eyes closed, a white crack tore across the air — not light from any bulb, but a fracture slicing straight through reality. Sound vanished. My room disintegrated like dust swept away by a cosmic wind.
And I fell.
Not from the sky.
I fell out of my own world.
When I opened my eyes, I stood in a city being ripped apart. Sirens. Screams. People running in every direction. A giant monster hurled a block of concrete as if tossing a pebble.
I knew this place.
Even though I'd never been here, I knew.
City Z.
The world of One Punch Man.
On the ground lay a battered cyborg, half-destroyed, pushing himself up with trembling arms.
Genos.
My breath caught in my throat.
"He… he's real."
Then a cold notification appeared in front of my eyes:
---
[REALITY LINK SYSTEM BOOTING]
Chosen Host: YOU
Authority: Copy 5% total power of any being you view directly.
Status: WEAK ENTITY – UNSUITED FOR THIS REALITY
Solution: Evolve by observing powerful beings.
---
My whole body shook.
A system.
Power.
The OPM world.
All of it slammed into me like destiny's fist.
The monster charged. Genos braced for death.
I didn't know why my legs moved on their own. I wasn't a hero. I wasn't strong. But my heart was pounding so violently it drowned out fear.
And the moment my eyes locked onto Genos—
the system erupted.
---
[COPIED 5% OF GENOS]
– Speed: +5%
– Reflex: +5%
– Heat Output: +5%
– Energy Core: 0.05%
---
Fire surged through my veins.
I grabbed Genos and threw us out of the monster's strike. The hand slammed down, crushing an entire street into dust.
Genos stared at me — not shocked, but shaken to the core.
"A human like you… saved me?"
I couldn't speak.
Because a crushing pressure swept across the sky.
A figure appeared in front of me in the next instant.
A punch.
A breeze.
A soft pop like someone swatting a mosquito.
The monster ceased to exist.
And Saitama stood there, hand extended mid-punch, expression bored:
"Done."
My soul nearly left my body.
The system glitched violently:
---
[WARNING: BEING BEYOND ALL MEASUREMENT DETECTED]
Entity classified as: ABSOLUTE
Copying 5% of Saitama: IMPOSSIBLE
Attempting minimal extraction of fundamental essence…
Success: 0.000000000000001% of 'Limitless Nature' acquired
Stabilizing… fragment granted: 0.00000001% 'Infinity Core'
---
Cold terror crawled up my spine.
I didn't receive Saitama's strength…
But I received a fragment of the concept of infinity.
I didn't understand it — not yet — but someday the entire multiverse would tremble because of it.
Saitama looked at me, tilting his head:
"Who're you? Pretty gutsy for someone that fragile."
Genos supported me with one broken arm, voice trembling:
"Sensei… this man saved my life."
Saitama scratched his cheek.
"Oh. Nice."
Those simple words…
were the beginning of everything.
That night I sat alone on a rooftop in City Z, lights glittering below, listening as the system whispered in my mind:
---
[FUTURE PROJECTION]
– You will face monsters beyond rank.
– You will encounter beings not of this universe.
– You will lose pain, memory, and pieces of your soul.
– And in the end…
you must choose: return home or stay.
---
I asked, "Why me?"
The system spoke with a voice that felt like someone long dead:
[Because you are the last person who still believes this world is worth saving.]
My chest tightened.
For the first time in my life, I didn't think of myself.
I thought of them — Genos, Saitama, the ordinary citizens — and understood:
If I had to lose everything to save them,
I would.
SS1 ends with me standing on that rooftop, wind cold against my skin, hands still trembling — but my eyes no longer the same.
I was no longer a stranger dropped into an anime.
No longer a victim.
No longer weak.
I became the Traveler Without Tomorrow — carrying the stolen 5% of this world's power to rewrite the fate of all worlds.