"Hah?!"
Stark's eyes flew open as he jolted upright in bed, his breath catching in his throat as if he had just awakened from a nightmare.
For a moment, he remained frozen, his heart thundering in his chest as he scanned the room around him.
The familiar silence of a quiet apartment greeted him, one that shouldn't have existed anymore.
His gaze darted to the walls, the furniture, the posters he hadn't seen in years.
"…What the…"
Everything felt too real.
The creaking floorboards beneath him, the slightly open window letting in the night breeze, the dull hum of city life outside.
It all brought back memories long buried under years of war, survival, and tragedy.
And then it hit him, this was his old apartment.
The same one he'd lived in before the world fell apart, before Earth fused with [Eternal Soul], before monsters and guilds, powers and chaos became normal.
"But… when?"
He needed to know the exact date.
The logical thing to do would be to check his phone like anyone else.
But instead, some instinct told him not to.
His feet moved on their own as he crossed the room to the window and pulled back the curtain.
The city outside was… normal. Too normal.
No neon holograms lit up the sky. No flying beasts roamed overhead.
No players dashed between buildings. No colossal guild towers piercing the clouds.
It was the world before [Eternal Soul], quiet, mundane, painfully ordinary.
Stark's breath hitched as he looked up at the night sky.
Just the ordinary, star-speckled sky he hadn't seen in over a decade.
He slowly turned around and grabbed the phone from his desk.
The screen lit up, still using an outdated interface. He swiped up and opened the lock screen.
[August 17th, 2025 – 23:58:49]
His heart skipped a beat.
"…Oh, shit."
Only a minute remained. Exactly sixty seconds before it would all begin.
The first announcement from [Eternal Soul] would descend like a divine prophecy, and humanity's fate would twist irreversibly.
Stark collapsed back onto his bed, still gripping the phone tightly in his hand.
His eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.
So he really had gone back.
He remembered dying. There was no mistaking that part.
His final moments had been agonizingly vivid.
Yet here he was, alive again, and somehow transported ten years into the past.
"…It must've been the [Retry] option," he whispered.
It was the only explanation that made sense.
Right before his death, he'd seen it, a floating golden eye, vast and ancient, offering him one last chance.
Stark hadn't hesitated. He chose it without knowing what it meant.
Now, it all made sense. That eye… whatever it was, it had actually done it.
It had thrown him back to the beginning.
Back to the very night everything started.
But just then... a mechanical voice sounded in Stark's mind, and a panel appeared before him.
'Huh, but there's not supposed to be any panels before the game begins...'
Ding!
[The "Eyes of Oblivion" have chosen their host, and have activated.]
[You have obtained the "Authority of Oblivion"]
"Wait a minute..."
It didn't take Stark more than five seconds to understand what had happened.
And once he did... he laughed.
"THESE IDIOTS!"
Stark had been the first to touch the [Eyes of Oblivion].
And though they could be used by up to two people, it seemed like the very moment he touched them, they had been bound to him.
Meaning that even if he had been killed, the other two... wouldn't have been able to use them at all.
Stark closed his eyes, and in the darkness of his mind, he felt a strange presence.
Ding!
---
[Eyes of Oblivion]
[Rank: Unique]
[Unique Power: Authority of Oblivion]
[Authority of Oblivion: A power sealed by the gods as they feared that its wielder, the "God of Oblivion", was too strong, its power surpasses anything in the universe, though you are not capable of wielding it yet.]
[Passive: When entering "Eternal Soul", will grant the user the strongest class and talent.]
---
"Authority of Oblivion..." Stark muttered, "I guess I can't use it yet?"
Though Stark took notice of the passive, which was active.
'I'll... get the strongest class and talent when I enter the game?'
He was about to wonder just strong that could be, but his thoughts were abruptly interrupted as a sound echoed through his mind.
It was an ethereal chime, as if a system had booted up.
A faint green glow bathed his vision.
["Eternal Soul" has connected with Earth.]
A bitter smile curled Stark's lips.
"As expected," he murmured, his voice filled with a strange mixture of relief and dread, "Just like before…"
Ding!
[Congratulations, you have established a connection with "Eternal Soul".]
[The next time you fall asleep, you will be transported to this realm. Be wary of its dangers.]
The panel disappeared just as quickly as it had come, and silence fell over the room once again.
Stark exhaled deeply, his mind racing.
Once [Eternal Soul] connected with Earth, every teenager and adult that went to sleep would immediately be transported to this new world.
It was impossible to escape it, no matter how hard you tried.
Soon enough, it would be a global phenomenon.
But Stark knew he couldn't waste even a single second, from there on, he needed to make use of everything he had.
He opened his phone again, entering the old password without missing a beat.
Notifications buzzed to life.
The group chat from his past, his old friends, had already reacted.
---
[Seren: Did you also get that weird panel, Max?!]
[Max: Yeah, this is crazy, something big's coming! Let's go to sleep!]
---
Stark stared at their messages with cold eyes.
There was no spark of nostalgia, no warmth in his chest. Only a bitter chill.
It was almost funny, it was only upon betrayal that Stark remembered all the small moments where he could sense that they didn't truly consider him as a "friend".
One of them being that Seren only called out to Max instead of the both of them.
Also, the moments where their presence in the game had held him back came to mind.
Where their fears, hesitation, and lack of strength had cost them all dearly.
He wasn't going to repeat that mistake.
---
[Stark: Don't contact me again.]
[Stark has left the group chat.]
[Max: The hell's wrong with him? Dude got issues.]
[Seren: Whatever, maybe he figured out we don't like him. Let's just focus on this "Eternal" thing.]
[Max: Yeah, agreed.]
---
Stark didn't want to stay with them any longer.
He wouldn't waste his energy. Their chapter in his story was over.
Without another word, he set the phone aside, walked to his bed, and lay down.
The time had come. His eyes slowly closed, mind focused on what awaited him.
And soon, he felt it, that strange sensation of falling without movement.
A light pull, like gravity turning sideways.
A heartbeat later, he opened his eyes and landed softly on something unseen.
A void stretched in every direction, a formless realm of darkness and silence.
Ding!
[You have officially entered "Eternal Soul" for the first time— never mind.]
Usually, when first entering the game, you were asked to choose a class, then you would receive a talent.
In his past life, Stark chose warrior and received the A-Rank Berserker Talent, allowing him to become incredibly strong.
Talents ranged from F-Rank all the way to SSS-Rank, with F being the lowest, and SSS being the strongest.
They were spread out around several categories: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS.
As for classes, there were several at disposition: warrior, assassin, mage, summoner, archer and more that you could select.
You could also get lucky and receive a [Hidden Class], making you much stronger.
Stark would have surely hesitated like hell to choose a class, especially in this new life.
But...
Ding!
[The "Eyes of Oblivion" passive has activated.]
[You will be granted the strongest class possible.]