The gold-plated throne room of the Aetherius World Core was silent, except for the heavy, wet sound of Ren Jian's breathing.
He was the "Great Sage." The man who had spent ten years leading the Vanguard Guild through the fires of the Abyssal War. His robes, once white and shimmering with holy enchantments, were now shredded and soaked in a deep, dark crimson. His legendary staff lay snapped in two, ten paces away.
Ren looked up, his vision blurring. Standing before him wasn't a demon lord or a god of chaos. It was Linna—his fiancé, the woman he had leveled up from a Level 1 Priestess to the Saintess of the Light. Behind her stood the executive council of his own guild, the people he called brothers.
"Why?" Ren managed to choke out. The word tasted like copper.
Linna stepped forward, her face devoid of the warmth he had loved for a decade. She held a glowing, crystalline orb in her hand—the Heart of Aetherius. It was the ultimate prize of the game, a tool said to grant the power of a Creator.
"You're too righteous, Ren," Linna said, her voice smooth and cold. "The world is changing. The game is merging with reality. We don't need a 'Great Sage' to lead us with honor and fair shares. We need gods. And there isn't enough divinity to go around if we keep sharing it with the masses like you want to."
"I built this guild... for all of us," Ren whispered.
"No," said Zhao, his former best friend and the guild's lead tank. Zhao stepped forward, his heavy boots echoing on the marble. "You built a charity. We want an empire. Goodbye, Ren. In the new world, there's no room for a hero who doesn't know how to be a king."
Linna raised the Heart of Aetherius. A beam of pure, blinding white light erupted from the orb. It didn't just kill Ren; it unmade him. He felt his level dropping—99... 80... 50... 10. He felt his skills, the ones he had spent years perfecting, being ripped out of his soul like teeth.
As his heart stopped, his last thought wasn't about forgiveness. It wasn't about peace.
If I could do it again... I would burn it all.
...
Ren Jian bolted upright, his lungs screaming for air. He wasn't in a throne room. He was in a cramped, messy apartment in the suburbs of Shanghai.
The air smelled of stale instant noodles and cheap cigarettes. Sunlight filtered through a grime-covered window, hitting a poster on the wall: AETHERIUS ONLINE – THE FUTURE STARTS TODAY.
Ren's hands were shaking. He looked down at them. They were smooth, unscarred, and lacked the glowing mana veins of a Level 99 Sage. He scrambled for his phone.
August 15, 2026. 11:45 AM.
"Ten years," he breathed, his voice cracking. "I'm back... four hours before the server launch."
Suddenly, a sound echoed in his mind—not the melodic, chime-like notification of the "Hero System" he remembered, but a deep, resonant tone that felt like a funeral bell.
[Initialization Complete.]
[Detection: Host Soul possesses extreme Malice and Regret.]
[Diverging from 'Path of the Sage'...]
[Binding Hidden Class: The Monarch of Sin.]
Ren froze. Monarch of Sin? That wasn't in the original game database. He had spent ten years studying every hidden class, every secret quest, and he had never heard of this.
[The System of Sin is now active.]
[Current Objective: Reclaim what was stolen. Subjugate those who betrayed. Rule the ruins.]
[Initial Reward: "Eye of the Betrayed" (Passive) – Allows the host to see the hidden 'Sin' and 'Value' of all living beings.]
Ren walked over to the bathroom mirror. He looked at his younger self—tired eyes, messy hair, but a burning, dark fire behind his pupils that hadn't been there before. He thought of Linna. He thought of Zhao.
In the old timeline, he had spent the four hours before launch helping new players on the forums, writing guides, and being a "pillar of the community."
He sat down at his computer. He didn't open the forums. Instead, he opened a private, encrypted trade site used by gold farmers and hackers.
"If the game is merging with reality," Ren muttered, his fingers flying across the keys, "then money is just a temporary resource. I need to convert every cent I have into 'Shadow Credits' before the market crashes."
He sold his car online within twenty minutes for a fraction of its value. He took out three high-interest payday loans. He emptied his meager savings. By 2:30 PM, he had amassed enough digital currency to buy a small starter estate in the game's capital—except he wasn't buying a house. He was buying the "Black Market Licensing" for the city's slums.
...
The clock hit 4:00 PM.
Ren pulled on his VR headset—the first-generation neural link. The familiar sensation of "the dive" took over, a feeling of falling through a tunnel of light. But this time, the light turned into a swirling vortex of purple and black.
[Welcome, Monarch.]
He appeared not in the bright, sunny "Valley of Beginnings" where every new player started. He appeared in a graveyard. The sky was a bruised violet, and the air was thick with the scent of ozone and decay.
"This is the Forsaken Outpost," Ren realized. It was a level 50 zone. A glitch? No, the System had placed him here.
A notification popped up in front of him.
[Regional Quest: The First Sin.]
[Task: A group of 'Righteous' players has entered the graveyard to cleanse the spirits. They are currently Level 1. You are Level 1.]
[Objective: Massacre the 'Heroes'.]
[Reward: Skill - 'Soul Devour'.]
Ren looked toward the entrance of the graveyard. A group of five players, wearing basic linen clothes and carrying rusted iron swords, were laughing as they walked in. They were "Protagonists"—the type of players who would go on to join the big guilds.
In his past life, Ren would have offered to party up and help them. He would have shared his knowledge.
Ren picked up a jagged piece of obsidian from a broken tombstone. His new passive skill, Eye of the Betrayed, kicked in. Above the leader's head, a floating text appeared:
[Name: IronWill | Value: Low | Potential: Pawn]
Ren felt a cold, sharp thrill in his chest. He didn't feel guilt. He felt a terrifying sense of clarity.
He slipped into the shadows of a large mausoleum. He knew the pathing of the monsters in this zone perfectly. He knew that if he threw that stone at the skeletal guardian nearby, it would trigger an aggro chain that would trap the five players in a bottleneck.
Clack.
The stone hit the skeleton's ribcage. The undead creature let out a raspy shriek, its eyes glowing with green fire.
"Hey, what was that?" one of the players asked, his voice shaking.
"Just a mob, chill out," the leader, IronWill, said. "Let's get the XP and get out."
They didn't see Ren. They didn't see the man who knew the future standing just behind the crumbling pillar. As the skeletons swarmed the panicked players, Ren waited until IronWill was at 5% health.
Ren stepped out of the dark. He didn't use a spell. He used his bare hands to grip the rusted sword that had fallen from the leader's hand and drove it through the man's throat.
[Kill Confirmed.]
[Sin Points Gained: +50]
[Level Up: 1 -> 3]
[Skill Obtained: Soul Devour (Rank F)]
Ren stood over the dissipating digital remains of the player. He looked at his hands, which were now glowing with a faint, dark aura.
"Efficiency," Ren whispered to the empty graveyard. "No more heroes."
...
Three hours into the game's launch, the global forums were exploding.
"Why is the Forsaken Outpost locked?"
"Has anyone seen the 'Great Sage' Ren Jian? He's not on the leaderboards."
"There's a player named 'Sovereign' who just took over the entire Black Market in the first city. How is that possible?"
Ren ignored the notifications. He was standing deep within the crypts of the graveyard, facing a sealed iron door. In his previous life, this door wasn't opened until Year 3 of the game. It required a "Holy Key" held by the Church of Light.
Ren didn't have a key. He had the "Soul Devour" skill and the blood of the players he had just hunted.
He placed his hand on the door. The dark energy of his class seeped into the iron, corrupting the holy seal. The metal began to moan and twist, turning from silver to a rusted, demonic black.
[Warning: You are attempting to bypass a World Quest.]
[Warning: The Goddess of Light will notice your transgression.]
"Let her watch," Ren said, a cruel smile finally touching his lips.
The door shattered. Inside, resting on a pedestal of bone, was a dark, pulsing heart—the Core of the Abyssal General. In the original timeline, this item was used to start a world war that killed millions.
Ren didn't hesitate. He reached out and grabbed it.
[Item: Heart of the Abyss consumed.]
[Your 'Monarch of Sin' class is evolving...]
[Hidden Stat Unlocked: Corruption.]
A shockwave of dark energy erupted from the graveyard, sent out across the entire world of Aetherius. Every player felt a momentary chill. Every NPC stopped what they were doing and looked toward the horizon.
In the Capital City, Linna, who had just finished her first quest, felt a sudden, sharp pain in her chest. She looked around, confused.
"Did the wind just get colder?" she asked Zhao.
"Probably just a server event," Zhao laughed, swinging his axe. "Come on, we need to hit Level 10 before tonight."
They had no idea.
Ren Jian stood in the center of the shattered crypt, his Level jumping from 3 to 15 in a single burst. His eyes were no longer human; they were flecked with gold and shadow.
The "Great Sage" was dead. He had been a boring, predictable hero who played by the rules and died for it.
The Sovereign had arrived. And he knew exactly where every legendary item, every secret dungeon, and every future "heroine" was hidden. He wouldn't just play the game. He would own the board.
"One thousand chapters," Ren murmured, looking at the interface that displayed the vast, unexplored map of Aetherius. "I'll make sure every single one is written in your blood."
[System Notification: The 'Merging' has accelerated.]
[Time until Reality Collapse: 364 Days.]
Ren turned and walked back into the shadows of the graveyard. He had a world to conquer, and the "Saintess" Linna was first on his list for a very special kind of "recruitment."