The taste of blood was the only real thing left in the world.
It filled my mouth. It coated my teeth. It was hot, metallic, and familiar. I lay on my back, staring up at a sky that had cracked open like a broken egg. The Void stared back.
"Warning," the System whispered in my ear. It sounded glitchy. Broken. Like a recording played underwater. "Health critical. zero point one percent. Soul integrity failing."
I tried to laugh. It came out as a wet cough.
Fifty years.
I had fought for fifty hellish years. I started as a scared kid hiding in a dumpster and ended as the Commander of the Northern Front. I had seen cities burn and gods die. I had ground my level up from 1 to 950. I had sacrificed my humanity, my friends, and my sanity just to get here.
To the Final Room.
And I wasn't enough.
A shadow fell over me. The Entity. It didn't have a face, just a shifting mass of eyes and teeth that defied geometry. It looked at me with the boredom of a boot about to crush an ant.
"Player Kael," the Entity vibrated. The sound didn't come from the air. It vibrated directly into my skull. "The cycle ends. Humanity is deleted."
I tried to lift my sword. My arm didn't move. It was gone, severed at the shoulder.
"Screw you," I whispered.
The Entity raised a hand. A beam of pure, erasing light gathered in its palm.
"System," I croaked. "Initiate... final gambit."
"Error," the blue text flashed in my vision. "Item [Chrono-Heart] is unstable. Activation chance: 0.0001%."
"Do it."
The light descended. The heat stripped the skin from my face. In that fraction of a second, before the darkness took me, I saw the blue box fracture.
"Activation Confirmed."
Then there was nothing.
"Mr. Vance?"
The voice was annoying. Nasal. High-pitched.
"Mr. Vance, are you planning to rejoin us, or is the window more fascinating than Macroeconomics?"
I gasped, sucking in air so greedy and hard that my ribs popped. My hands flew to my chest. I clawed at my shirt. Heart. My heart was beating. Fast. Strong.
"Mr. Vance!"
I slammed my hands down on the desk. The sound echoed like a gunshot.
Silence rippled outward.
I looked around. I wasn't on the burning plains of the Final Room. I was in a tiered lecture hall. The air smelled of stale coffee, floor wax, and dry erase markers. Sunlight—real, unfiltered, yellow sunlight—streamed through the windows.
I looked down at my hands.
No scars. No calluses from gripping a greatsword for decades. Just smooth, pale skin. I was wearing a grey hoodie and jeans.
I looked up. Three hundred students were staring at me. In the front of the room, Professor Aris adjusted his glasses, looking irritated.
"Are you quite done having a panic attack, Kael?" Aris asked. "Sit down."
I ignored him. I reached into my pocket.
My hands were shaking. Not from fear. From adrenaline. I pulled out a phone. It was an old model. A rectangle of glass and metal. I tapped the screen.
September 12, 2024.
11:50 AM.
The numbers burned into my retinas.
September 12. The Day of Descent.
I knew this date better than my own birthday. I knew this exact minute.
"Ten minutes," I whispered.
"Excuse me?" the Professor asked.
I stood up. My chair scraped loudly against the linoleum.
"Sit down, Mr. Vance," the Professor snapped. "If you leave this room, don't bother coming back for the midterm."
I looked at him. Really looked at him. Professor Aris. He was a petty tyrant who loved failing students. In my first life, he died three hours into the apocalypse. He tried to reason with a Goblin Scavenger. It ate his face.
"You're right," I said. My voice was raspy. "I won't be coming back."
I grabbed my backpack and vaulted over the desk.
"Kael! What are you doing?"
I ignored the shouts. I sprinted up the aisle. I burst through the double doors and out into the hallway.
The university corridor was packed. Students walked slow, staring at phones, laughing, complaining about homework.
Sheep. They were all sheep.
In ten minutes, the sky would turn purple. The System would integrate Earth into the Galactic Server. Half of these people would die in the initial mana wave. The other half would be hunted by the Tutorial Mobs.
I needed a weapon.
I checked the time on my phone as I ran. 11:52 AM.
Eight minutes.
I shoulder-checked a linebacker from the football team.
"Watch it, freak!" he yelled.
I didn't stop. I turned a corner and sprinted toward the Student Union.
I needed to be fast. I remembered the spawn points. I had spent fifty years studying the history of the First Day. I knew exactly where the high-value targets appeared.
Most people panic when the System starts. They hide. That is a mistake.
The System rewards courage. The "First Blood" achievement gives a 500% experience boost. The "First Boss Kill" grants a Unique Item.
In my last life, a guy named Marcus got the First Boss Kill in this city. He became a Warlord. He ruled New York for ten years before a dungeon break killed him.
This time, Marcus wasn't getting anything.
I burst into the cafeteria. It was loud. The smell of grease and pizza hit me.
I scanned the room. The kitchen.
I jumped over the turnstile. The cashier shrieked. "Hey! You can't go back there!"
I pushed past a confused lunch lady and scanned the counters.
There.
A magnetic strip on the wall.
I grabbed a chef's knife. Eight inches of stainless steel. Black handle. It wasn't a sword, but it would do.
"Police!" someone shouted from the dining area. "Someone call campus security!"
I checked the clock. 11:55 AM.
Five minutes.
I ran out the back exit of the kitchen. The heavy metal door slammed behind me. I was in the loading dock area.
Perfect.
This was it. The hidden spawn.
In the history books, nobody found this spot until day three. A Rare Elite mob spawns here. A "Scavenger Alpha."
In my last life, I hid in a bathroom stall for six hours. I was a level 1 coward.
I stood in the center of the loading dock. I gripped the knife. My knuckles turned white.
"Come on," I hissed.
The air began to feel heavy. Static electricity prickled my skin. The birds stopped singing. The traffic noise from the nearby highway faded out.
It was the Silence. The breath before the plunge.
I looked at the sky.
A hairline fracture appeared in the blue. It looked like a crack in a windshield. Purple light bled through.
11:59 AM.
I shifted my stance. Feet shoulder-width apart. Knife held in a reverse grip.
I closed my eyes and counted down.
Sixty.
The ground trembled.
Forty.
Screams started coming from the campus. The initial Mana Wave was hitting the weaker people. Their hearts were stopping.
Twenty.
I opened my eyes.
The crack in the sky shattered.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION]
The text appeared in front of my eyes. A translucent blue box. The font was crisp and clean.
[Welcome, Planet #8492 (Earth).]
[Mana Integration: 100%]
[Tutorial Mode: ON.]
[Good luck, Players.]
A sound like tearing canvas ripped through the air.
Five feet in front of me, the space distorted. Black particles swirled, coalescing into a shape.
It was three feet tall. Green skin. Pointed ears. It wore ragged leather armor and held a jagged, rusty dagger.
A Goblin. The fodder of the multiverse.
But this wasn't a normal goblin. The name floating above its head was gold.
[Goblin Scout Leader - Lvl 5 (Elite)]
The goblin shook its head, looking confused. It had just been teleported across the galaxy. It was disoriented. It was blinking.
That was my window.
I didn't hesitate. I didn't wait for it to roar or attack.
I lunged.
I covered the five feet in a single heartbeat. The goblin's eyes widened. It tried to raise its dagger.
Too late.
I drove the chef's knife down. I aimed for the soft spot between the collarbone and the neck. The artery.
The blade sank in. Black blood sprayed across my face.
The goblin screeched a high, wet sound. It thrashed, clawing at my arm. Its nails dug into my skin, drawing blood.
Pain.
It felt good. It felt real.
I twisted the knife and ripped it out. The goblin gurgled and collapsed. It twitched once, twice, and then dissolved into motes of white light.
A small pile of coins and a glowing orb dropped to the concrete.
A chime rang in my head. A sound I hadn't heard in fifty years.
[First Blood Achieved!]
[Reward: +500 XP]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
I stood over the fading light, breathing hard. The blood on my face was hot.
"Status," I said.
The blue screen flickered into existence.
Name: Kael Vance
Level: 3
Class: None
Strength: 12
Agility: 11
Intelligence: 14
Mana: 10/10
I grinned. The numbers were low. Pathetic, really. But they were mine.
But that wasn't what I was waiting for.
The System text flickered. It turned from blue to a jagged, static red.
[detecting_anomaly...]
[Player_Soul_Age: 50 years]
[Player_Body_Age: 20 years]
[Sync_Error.]
[Calculating compensation...]
I held my breath. This was the gamble. The Chrono-Heart item I used to travel back wasn't just a time machine. It was a virus.
[Compensation Approved.]
[Hidden Trait Unlocked: The Glitch.]
[Trait Effect: You may see the probability of all outcomes. You may override one System Requirement per day.]
I looked at the text.
Override one requirement.
Did that mean what I thought it meant?
I looked at the glowing orb the goblin had dropped. It was a Skill Book. A standard drop for an Elite.
[Skill Book: Fireball (Rank F)]
[Requirement: Mage Class]
[Requirement: 20 Intelligence]
I didn't have a class. I had 14 Intelligence. I couldn't learn this.
I focused on the requirements. I pushed my will against the text, using the mental discipline I'd built over decades.
Override.
The text static-buzzed.
[Requirement: 20 Intelligence] →→ [Requirement: None]
The book dissolved into light and shot into my chest.
[Skill Learned: Fireball]
I opened my hand. A ball of flame, hot and bright, roared into existence.
I laughed.
In the distance, the screams were getting louder. The massacre had begun. The campus was turning into a slaughterhouse.
Let them scream.
I closed my fist, extinguishing the fire.
I had work to do.