When I closed my eyes in that alleyway in Shang City, the last thing I felt was the bite of lead and the cold dampness of the pavement. I expected nothingness. I expected the end. Instead, my eyes snapped open to a blinding, fluorescent glare.
I gasped, my hand flying to my chest, searching for the hole Logan's bullet had torn through me. My fingers met fabric—soft, high-quality cotton—but no blood. No wound. No pain.
"Patient 404 is awake!" a voice chirped.
I bolted upright, my head spinning. I wasn't in an alley. I was in a sleek, high-tech medical bay. The walls were a matte silver, and translucent holographic screens floated at the foot of my bed. A nurse hurried over, but she didn't walk; she hovered a few inches off the floor, her feet glowing with a soft blue hue.
"Take it easy, Oliver," she said, checking a floating chart. "You had a severe mana-rejection. It's a miracle your core didn't shatter."
Mana? Core? Patient 404?
"Where am I?" I croaked. "And wait,did she just called me Oliver? Did I get reincarnated or what?"I muttered . My voice sounded like mine, but... clearer. Stronger. I strongly believed that reincarnation was just a mere fantasy story only possible in the novels I read and something one can day dream of but it was actually real I got reincarnated.
"St. Jude's Ability Center," she replied as if I were stupid. "You're in Central District. You've been out for three days." I was still puzzled in where I was and wondered if this was still earth.
I pushed past her, ignoring her protests, and stumbled toward the window. My jaw hit the floor. This was Shang City, but not the one I knew. The skyline was dominated by massive, floating spires connected by bridges of light. People weren't just walking below, some were leaping from building to building, while others rode shimmering platforms through the air.
This was Earth, but an Earth where the laws of physics had been rewritten by something else.
I looked at my reflection in the window. It was me—eighteen-year-old Tom Anderson—but my skin was more clearer, my eyes a more vibrant shade of hazel. And then, it happened.
A sharp, digital ping echoed inside my skull.
[INITIALIZING SOUL-SYNC...]
[NEW WORLD DATA LOADED: EARTH-B7]
[HOST STATUS: OLIVER VEYRON(RANK: E-)]
[SYSTEM AWAKENING... CALCULATING ABSURDITY TRAIT...]
I froze. A system? I've read about these in the novels I used to hide under my bed to escape Logan's bullying. But the text on this screen was flickering, turning from blue to a violent, chaotic red.
[ERROR: Host's resentment level exceeds standard parameters.]
[ERROR: Soul has crossed the Dimensional Veil with a 'Death-Wish' modifier.]
[ABSURDITY DETECTED: Recalibrating Power Set...]
"What is this?" I muttered, clutching my head.
"Oliver? Are you okay?" the nurse asked, reaching for my shoulder.
The moment her hand touched me, the red screens exploded in my vision.
[UNIQUE SKILL ACTIVATED: THE PRICE OF PRIDE]
[ You were killed for your pride. Now, your pride is your power. The more you are insulted, suppressed, or looked down upon, the more your stats multiply exponentially.]
[CURRENT MULTIPLIER: 1.0x]
[PASSIVE EFFECT: MONSTER'S COLD VEINS — You no longer feel fear or hesitation when facing those who consider themselves 'Superior'.]
Before I could process what was happening, the door to the room hissed open. Three teenagers walked in, wearing uniforms that looked like military-grade versions of my old school clothes.
The boy in the lead was tall, his hair slicked back with an arrogant shimmer. He looked exactly like Logan, but his name tag read "Caleb Cinandra."
My blood ran cold, then turned into ice-water. It was him. Or a version of him.
"Look who's finally awake," Caleb sneered. He didn't have tattoos here, but his hands were sparking with actual electricity. "The E-Rank trash actually survived. I told you, Oliver, guys like you shouldn't even try to awaken. You're just a waste of medical and healing resources."
His friends laughed—the same sycophantic laugh I'd heard in that alleyway.
In my old life, I would have trembled. I would have looked at the floor. But the "Monster's Cold Veins" kicked in. I felt... nothing. No fear. Only a dark, predatory curiosity.
[NOTIFICATION: You are being looked down upon by a Superior Rank (C-Rank).]
[MULTIPLIER INCREASING: 2.0x... 5.0x... 10.0x!]
I felt a surge of raw, violent energy swell in my muscles. My vision sharpened. I could see the flow of the electricity around Caleb's fingers—it looked slow. Sluggish. Pathetic.
"You're talking too much, Caleb," I said, my voice steady and terrifyingly cold. I stood up from the bed, the hospital gown fluttering. "But all I hear is a dog barking."
The room went silent. The nurse gasped. Caleb's eyes widened, his sparks turning into small bolts of lightning.
"What did you say to me, trash?" Caleb stepped forward, his hand crackling. "I'll put you back in a coma."
[NOTIFICATION: Intent to harm host detected.]
[MULTIPLIER: 50.0x]
[Warning: At 100x, physical reality around the Host may begin to fracture.]
I smiled. It wasn't a friendly smile. It was the smile of the monster I had promised to become.
"Go ahead," I whispered, taking a step toward him. "Try it. I want to see if you're as tough as the guy you claimed to be."
Caleb didn't wait. To him, I was just a bug that had finally decided to bite back. He lunged, his hand cloaked in a jagged web of blue electricity. "Die, you unranked rat!"
In the old world, that punch would have ended me. But now?
As his fist moved, time seemed to decelerate. A translucent blue window flickered in the corner of my eye, scanning the energy moving through his arm.
[SKILL ANALYSIS TRIGGERED...]
[OPPONENT TECHNIQUE: "LIGHTNING BOLT STRIKE" (RANK: C)]
[ANALYZING MANA FLOW... 10%... 45%... 100%]
[LEARNING COMPLETE: You have mastered "Lightning Bolt Strike".]
[UPGRADING... Due to Host's 'Absurd' Tier, Skill has evolved to: HEAVEN'S JUDGMENT THUNDER (RANK: S)]
It took less than a second. I didn't just see his move, I understood the molecular structure of his power better than he did. I saw the flaws in his stance, the waste of energy in his swing, and the pathetic output of his C-Rank mana.
I didn't dodge. I simply reached out and caught his wrist.
The electricity hissed against my skin, but with my Multiplier at 50.0x, it felt like a mild tickle. Caleb's smug expression shattered into one of pure horror.
"W-what? How are you touching me?!" he shrieked, trying to pull away. "My lightning should have fried your nervous system!"
"Your lightning?" I leaned in, my eyes glowing with a faint, predatory silver light. "That's not lightning, Caleb. This... is lightning."
I didn't even have to try. I mimicked the flow I had just stolen, but I amplified it with my own distorted power. My hand didn't just spark; it roared. A pillar of white-hot, blinding thunder erupted from my palm, leaping onto Caleb's arm.
CRACK-BOOM!
The hospital room's windows shattered outward. Caleb was launched across the ward, slamming into the far wall with enough force to crack the reinforced steel. He fell to the floor, smoking and unconscious, his "C-Rank" pride charred black.
[NOTIFICATION: Opponent Dominated.]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 5,000 EXP]
[LEVEL UP! LEVEL UP! LEVEL UP!...]
The nurse was huddled in the corner, staring at me as if I were a demon. I ignored her completely not even and looked at my hands. They were steady. No trembling. No guilt. Just a cold, satisfying void where my heart used to be.
I walked over to the floating holographic terminal Caleb had been using. It was locked with a complex biometric and encrypted password system.
[SKILL ANALYSIS: "HYPER-ENCRYPTION DECODING"]
[LEARNING... 100% COMPLETE.]
I didn't even need to type. My mind interfaced with the machine. In five seconds, I had learned the entire history of this "Earth-B7," the ranking system of the Global Awakened Association, and the location of the Shang City Vanguard Academy—the place where the elites, the "Logans" of this world, were trained.
I also noticed something else. In this world, my parents hadn't died in a car accident neither were they business people they were high rankers as in demi-god teir.They were "Missing in Action" after a high-ranked dungeon raid went wrong.
"So," I whispered, a dark grin spreading across my face. "Even here, the world tried to take everything from me." I strolled back home only to discover that it was a sophisticated mansion duplex which got me really pleased to see that my parents were wealthy people in this world. The mansion wasn't just a house, it was a fortress of glass and white stone, perched on a hill that overlooked the Central District. It screamed power. My parents—the business people who died in a rainy car crash back on my Earth—were legends here. Demi-Gods.
As the gates recognized my retinal scan and hissed open, the maids lined up in the foyer. They bowed in a perfect, synchronized motion. "Welcome home, Young Master Oliver."
I didn't tremble. I didn't stammer. I just nodded, the Monster's Cold Veins turning my social anxiety into a sharp, regal indifference.
I headed straight to my room for private study. If I was going to conquer the Vanguard Academy, I needed more than just one stolen lightning move. I needed to know everything.
The study was filled with Skill Books—glowing cubes of data that usually took Awakened individuals months to absorb. I picked one up: [Basic Mana Circulation - Tier 8].
[SKILL ANALYSIS TRIGGERED...]
[LEARNING... 100% COMPLETE.]
[UPGRADING... Unique Skill (price of pride)evolved to: HEART OF THE NEBULA (GOD-TIER).]
I picked up another: [Advanced Hand-to-Hand Combat,LEARNING... 100% COMPLETE.]
[UPGRADING... Skill evolved to: ZERO-POINT MARTIAL ARTS.]
I was a sponge. In thirty minutes, I had mastered what it took most students twelve years to learn. My brain felt like a supercomputer, processing combat flows and mana trajectories at light speed.
I walked over to a massive portrait on the wall. It showed a man and a woman—my parents—standing atop a defeated mountain-sized beast. They looked strong. Happy.
"Missing in action?" I whispered, touching the frame. "Or were you taken because you were too powerful?"
I walked to the closet, found a black hoodie and combat trousers, and ditched the hospital gown. As I stepped over to the living room, the System chimed one last time.
[NEW QUEST: THE ASCENSION OF THE MONSTER]
[OBJECTIVE: Enroll in the Vanguard Academy and reach Rank SSS.]
[REWARD: Information on your parents' disappearance]
I stepped out onto the mansion balcony, looking out at the neon-lit spires of the city. I wasn't the boy who cleaned boots anymore. I was an anomaly. I was the Absurd Outlier. And this world was about to learn that when you push a loser too far, he doesn't just break—he becomes the hammer.