The ceiling above him was the color of old paper.
Faded.
Uneven.
Marked by a long crack that branched out like a dried riverbed.
He blinked at it for a long time, unsure whether he was dreaming.He tried closing his eyes again… then opened them.
The same ceiling.
The same crack.
He inhaled slowly, and the air tasted different—stale, dusty, with a faint hint of cleaning chemicals that had done their best but given up halfway. He pushed himself upright, the thin mattress creaking beneath him.
The room that greeted him was small, almost too small.
A narrow single bed shoved against the wall.A desk covered with old notebooks and half-used pens.A rattling fan hooked on the corner.A window that barely let in light through the stained glass.And on the floor, a backpack sitting like an abandoned pet.
Nothing in this room belonged to him.
His heart beat harder as realization coursed through him.He stood up, feeling strangely taller yet lighter. He crossed the room in two steps and stopped in front of a mirror with rusted edges.
The reflection staring back at him wasn't his.
A boy—eighteen, maybe—looked at him with tired, deep-set eyes.Black hair messy but strangely fitting the face.Lean shoulders, no sign of athletic build.Just a regular kid.
But the eyes…They felt familiar in a strange way.
He leaned closer. "So this is me now?"
His voice sounded younger.
Smoother.
Different.
He looked around again, this time more carefully. The desk drawers weren't fully closed, and he tugged one open.
Inside was a wallet.
Light.
Too light.
He opened it.
A student ID lay inside.
MIDTOWN SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Name: Ethan Vale
Age: 15
He whispered the name under his breath.It didn't fit him yet.
Still, it was his now.
He searched the room for more clues—papers, notes, anything.A small sheet pinned to the wall caught his attention.
Rent Due: 3 Days
His stomach dropped.
He checked the cracked phone lying on the nightstand.It barely responded, screen flickering.
He pressed the power button repeatedly until it turned on long enough for him to tap into the banking app.
Balance: $1,043
He let out an exhale that was half laugh, half misery.
Broke.He was broke in two worlds.
The phone shut off again on its own.He turned it over and saw the back panel held together with cheap tape.
"Perfect. Just perfect."
He opened the drawers again, searching deeper, until he finally found a worn toolkit—barely hanging together—and a note listing specific electronic parts. Ethan looked at the broken phone again.
"…Fine. First things first."
He pocketed the phone and left the apartment, heading down the narrow stairway into the noise of Queens. Cars honked in the distance, morning chatter filled the air, and shopkeepers were pulling up metal shutters as sunlight crept between the buildings.
He found a tiny electronics shop squeezed between a laundromat and a deli.Inside, shelves were packed with cables, batteries, screws, and more dust than products.
The shopkeeper didn't even look up when Ethan picked out a handful of parts—charging port, flex cables, adhesive strips, cleaning alcohol, and a cheap brush.
"That'll be fifty," the shopkeeper muttered.
Ethan hesitated before handing over the bills.It hurt—more than it should.Money was precious now.
Back in the small apartment, he sat cross-legged on the floor and gently opened the phone.Piece by piece, it came apart—like a puzzle he'd solved before.
Loose battery connection.
Damaged flex cable.
Corroded charging port.
Dust everywhere.
He cleaned it carefully, hands steady despite everything.Time slipped away while he worked, the world narrowing to tiny screws and fragile wires.
When he pressed the power button again, the phone lit up smoothly.
Stable.
Responsive.
Alive.
A small, relieved smile formed on his lips.
"Good."
He set the phone aside to charge and took another look around the room.
No posters.
No decorations.
No warmth.
Just bare essentials.
A life lived alone.
His gaze drifted to the school uniform hanging neatly over the chair.
Midtown School of Science and Technology.
A school that existed in a universe where heroes walked the streets.
Where danger lurked behind every block.
Where the extraordinary overshadowed the ordinary.
He reached out and lifted the uniform.
The fabric smelled faintly of detergent—cheap but fresh.
He changed into it slowly, studying his reflection again afterward.The uniform fit well enough, though he looked like someone who kept to himself—quiet, alert, not easily pushed around.
He tied his shoes, slung the old backpack onto his shoulder, and checked the time.If he didn't leave now, he would be late.
He stepped toward the apartment door but hesitated.
A new world.
A new name.
A new life that came with no guidance, no resources, no safety net.
He took a deep breath.
"Alright… Let's see what happens next."
He locked the door behind him, descended the stairs, and stepped into the morning light.
Queens in the morning was loud in a strangely comforting way.
Buses rumbled down the street.Vendors pulled open their carts.People complained about being late before the day had even begun.
Ethan blended into the flow of pedestrians, adjusting the strap of his old backpack. The school wasn't too far—ten, maybe fifteen minutes of walking—but every step felt heavier than the one before it.
Not out of fear.Not even confusion.
Just… reality settling in.
New world.New life.New identity.
And absolutely no idea what came next.
As he turned the corner, passing a bakery that smelled way too good for someone with barely a thousand dollars to his name, his phone vibrated in his pocket.
"That's odd… I didn't open anything."
He pulled the phone out.
The screen flickered once.
Then again.
Then—FLASH
A faint, smooth chime echoed from the device.
A black interface slid onto the screen, clean and minimalistic—like something that shouldn't exist on any normal phone.
Ethan stopped walking.
People brushed past him, but he didn't move.
On the screen, simple lines of text appeared.
[System Boot Complete]
User: Ethan ValeAge: 18
Skills:• [Detect]• [Alternative]
Ethan blinked.
Once.Twice.
"…Well, that explains a few things."
He wasn't shocked.Not really.Nothing about this day had been normal so far.
But seeing the word System made something click deep inside him—like a puzzle piece sliding neatly into place.
He tapped the second skill.
A brief description shimmered beneath it.
[Alternative] — Creates or reveals a different option, path, or solution for any object or situation within a limited radius.
Ethan's lips tugged upward into the first real smile he'd had since waking up in this world.
"So I'm not completely helpless."
Detect — useful for understanding things.But Alternative… that was interesting.
It didn't make him superhuman.It didn't give him powers.
But it gave him something arguably more important for someone without money, status, or connections:
Options.
He slid the phone back into his pocket, still smiling faintly as he resumed walking.
The city looked the same—old brick buildings, cluttered storefronts, fire escapes climbing the sides like metal vines—but something felt different.
Not the world.
Him.
He passed a broken parking meter; the screen was cracked beyond reading.His fingers twitched.
Just a test.
He activated Detect.
His eyes focused sharply, almost instinctively—and a mental layout of the device flashed through his thoughts.
Loose internal connector.Corroded contact.Jammed spring mechanism.
He blinked the vision away.
Then tried Alternative.
A second thought-thread appeared beside the first—an alternate solution.
He would've needed tools to fix it normally…But the skill formed a workaround.
"Kick the lower left corner to unjam the spring?"
He stared at the meter.
"…Really?"
He glanced around—no one was watching.He aimed, tapped the meter lightly with his shoe—
CLICK.
The stuck spring reset.
Ethan's eyebrows lifted slowly.
"That's… not bad at all."
No alarms.No explosions.Just a small, clean confirmation.
Alternative wasn't power.It wasn't magic.
It was possibility.
He continued down the street, the weight on his shoulders a little lighter than before. Midtown High was visible now—students gathering at the entrance, some chatting, some rushing, some clearly half-asleep.
Ethan adjusted his backpack again.
New world.
New life.
New name.
And now…A system with two skills that fit him more perfectly than any superpower could.
He took a deep breath.
"Well… let's see how far this goes."