Marcus Kane died choking on a dumpling.
Not his finest moment, admittedly. One second he was demolishing his fifth basket of xiaolongbao at his
favorite dim sum restaurant, the next he was floating in an endless void, staring at a translucent blue screen that
read: TRANSMIGRATION IN PROGRESS.
"What the—" His words echoed in the nothingness.
WELCOME, MARCUS KANE. YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED FOR REINCARNATION IN THE
WORLD OF AETHERMOOR. CALCULATING COMPENSATION FOR PREMATURE DEATH...
Marcus blinked. Or tried to. He wasn't sure if he still had eyes. "Is this because of the dumpling? Because I have
several complaints about quality control—"
COMPENSATION CALCULATED. ANALYZING SOUL COMPOSITION... GLUTTONY: 87%.
GREED: 12%. SLOTH: 1%.
"Hey! I'm not that lazy—"
ABILITIES GRANTED BASED ON SOUL AFFINITY: - MIDAS TOUCH (DUALASPECT) ** RIGHT
HAND: TRANSMUTATION TO MANA CRYSTALS** ** LEFT HAND: TRANSMUTATION TO GOLD**
Before Marcus could process this, reality twisted. Colors exploded around him like a kaleidoscope, and
suddenly he was falling—
He hit the ground with a thunderous crash that sent tremors through the earth. Groaning, Marcus pushed himself
up and immediately noticed three things:
First, he was in a medieval-looking forest clearing, surrounded by ancient trees that stretched toward a sky with
two moons.
Second, he was still fat. Very fat. His considerable belly remained gloriously intact, straining against clothes
that had materialized on his body—simple linen that was already uncomfortable.
Third, his hands were glowing. The right one pulsed with crystalline blue light, the left with molten gold
radiance. The glow illuminated the forest around him in flickering colors.
"You have got to be kidding me," Marcus muttered, examining his new body. Same weight, same proportions,
just... younger? He looked down at his massive frame, patting his stomach experimentally. "I transmigrate to a
fantasy world and I don't even get the protagonist washboard abs? What kind of cosmic joke is this?"
SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE.
The blue screen appeared again, hovering in his vision like some kind of augmented reality display.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING: 1. MIDAS TOUCH (DUAL
ASPECT) - PERMANENT ABILITY ** - RIGHT HAND: TRANSMUTATION TO MANA CRYSTALS**
** - LEFT HAND: TRANSMUTATION TO GOLD**
2. SUPPORT TALENT: 100X EFFECT - CAN
MULTIPLY ANY ABILITY (INCLUDING YOUR OWN) BY 100 FOR 30 MINUTES. COOLDOWN: 24 HOURS.
3. MASK OF METAMORPHOSIS - ALTERS PERCEIVED WEIGHT AND BUILD
An ornate silver mask materialized in his hands, its surface rippling like liquid mercury. Strange symbols were etched along its edges, glowing faintly with their own internal light.
Marcus stared at it, turning it over in his hands. The metal was cool to the touch, impossibly smooth. "Okay, so let me get this straight. I can turn things into mana crystals and gold, I can make abilities stupidly overpowered
for half an hour, and this mask makes me look skinny?"
AFFIRMATIVE. THE MASK DOES NOT CHANGE YOUR ACTUAL WEIGHT, ONLY HOW
OTHERS PERCEIVE IT. YOUR TRUE IDENTITY WILL REMAIN HIDDEN AS LONG AS YOU
WEAR IT. VOICE, MANNERISMS, AND MAGICAL SIGNATURE WILLALSO BE ALTERED.
"So I'm still going to feel every pound when I run? Every step, every climb, every time I try to do anything
athletic?"
AFFIRMATIVE.
"Perfect. Just perfect." Marcus sighed, then looked at his glowing hands with more interest. Curiosity getting the better of him, he picked up a rock with his right hand. The moment his fingers closed around it, the stone shimmered and transformed into a brilliant blue mana crystal that pulsed with raw magical energy.
It was beautiful, faceted like a gem, and he could feel power radiating from it.
His eyes widened. "Holy—"
He grabbed another rock with his left hand. Gold. Pure, gleaming gold in the exact shape of the stone, heavy
and valuable. He hefted it, feeling the weight. This was real gold, not some illusion or conjuration.
A slow grin spread across Marcus's face. "Okay. Okay, I can work with this. This is actually incredible."
QUEST GENERATED: SURVIVE YOUR FIRST WEEK IN AETHERMOOR. REWARD:
BEGINNER'S SKILL PACKAGE + STRENGTH REALM INFORMATION FAILURE: DEATH
The smile faded instantly. "Right. Fantasy world. Probably has monsters and stuff that want to eat me." He
looked down at his body, then at the darkening forest around him. "And I'm still built like a walking buffet.
Great. Just great."
As if the universe had been waiting for that exact thought, a howl echoed through the forest. Then another. And
another. The sound was wrong—deeper than any wolf Marcus had ever heard, with an otherworldly quality that
made his skin crawl.
Marcus's face paled. "Oh, come on! I've been here for five minutes!"
Three wolf-like creatures emerged from the underbrush, moving with predatory grace. Each was the size of a
small car with fur that seemed to be made of shadow itself, constantly shifting and flowing. Their eyes glowed
like hot coals, leaving trails of red light in the darkening air. They were called Void Wolves, according to the
helpful labels that appeared above their heads along with their threat level: IRON RANK - PEAK STAGE.
"Nice doggies?" Marcus tried, backing up slowly, his heart hammering in his chest. "Good... shadow... demon
wolves? I'm sure we can work something out here. I'm very fatty, probably taste terrible, lots of cholesterol—"
NOTICE: YOU ARE CURRENTLY UNRANKED. STRENGTH REALMS IN AETHERMOOR
PROGRESS AS FOLLOWS: IRON → BRONZE → SILVER → GOLD → PLATINUM → DIAMOND
→ MASTER → GRANDMASTER → SAINT → DEMIGOD ADVANCEMENT REQUIRES
ABSORBING MANA CRYSTALS OR CULTIVATING AMBIENT MANA. NO EXPERIENCE
SYSTEM EXISTS.
The wolves snarled, muscles tensing to pounce. Saliva dripped from their fangs, sizzling where it hit the
ground.
Marcus did the only thing his instincts screamed at him to do. He activated his 100x Effect talent, praying it
would work.
100X EFFECT ACTIVATED. DURATION: 30 MINUTES. ALLABILITIES MULTIPLIED BY 100.
Power exploded through his body like liquid fire in his veins. His Midas Touch, already potent, became something else entirely. The very air around his hands began to crystallize and transform, reality itself bending to his will.
Marcus felt his strength surge—from unranked to what felt like beyond Gold Rank in an instant, his body flooding with power he'd never imagined possible.
The first wolf lunged, covering the distance between them in a single bound.
Marcus thrust out his right hand on pure instinct, terror and power mixing in his chest.
He didn't even need to touch the creature. The moment it entered within ten feet of his palm, the wolf's entire body turned to mana crystal, frozen mid-leap with its jaws open and claws extended. The statue crashed to the ground and shattered into a thousand glittering pieces that scattered across the forest floor like stars.
The other two wolves skidded to a halt, suddenly wary. They could sense the overwhelming power radiating from him—power that made no sense from an unranked human.
Their red eyes flickered with something that might have been fear.
Marcus looked at his hand in shock, then at the crystalline remains of the first wolf. "Oh. Oh, that's useful.
That's very useful."
The second wolf tried to circle around him, more cautious now, looking for an opening. Marcus pointed with his
left hand, putting intention behind the gesture. A wave of golden energy washed over the creature like a tsunami
of precious metal. In an instant, the Void Wolf became a perfect golden statue, every detail preserved—every
hair, every muscle, the snarl frozen on its face.
The third wolf, showing more intelligence than its pack mates, turned and fled into the forest with its tail
between its legs, leaving its companions behind.
Marcus let it go, his heart hammering in his chest like a drum. The power coursing through him was
intoxicating, overwhelming, terrifying. He felt like he could transmute a mountain if he wanted to, reshape
reality itself with a thought. His hands tingled with barely contained energy.
Then the 30 minutes ended.
The power cut off like someone had flipped a switch, and Marcus was left panting, sweating, and very much
aware of his own weight again. His legs wobbled. The sudden absence of power was almost physically painful.
"Note to self," he gasped, bending over with his hands on his knees. "Don't use the 100x thing unless absolutely
necessary. Also, cardio. Definitely need to work on cardio. And maybe... maybe figure out how to actually rank up in this world."
He looked at the two wolf remains—one a pile of crystal shards, one a golden statue worth probably a fortune.
Then he looked at his still-glowing hands.
Marcus picked up one of the larger mana crystal shards from the first wolf. It pulsed in his palm, warm and
alive with energy. According to the system notification, he needed these to rank up.
"Well," he said to the empty forest, "at least I can make my own cultivation resources. That's got to count for
something."
He picked up the Mask of Metamorphosis and examined it more carefully. If he was going to survive in this
world, he'd need to be smart. The mask could be his secret weapon—literally keeping two identities completely
separate. Nobody would ever know that the person behind the mask was the same person without it.
An idea began to form in his mind. A dangerous, possibly insane idea about living two lives, building two separate personas that would never, could never intersect.
But then again, he'd just turned wolves into gold and crystals. Insane seemed to be his new normal.
Marcus looked at the golden wolf statue, then at his hands. "First things first. I need to figure out how to
survive, how to make money, and how to not die a horrible death." He patted his stomach. "And maybe find some food. I'm starving."