The first sign came at dawn.
Jiang Ming had woken early, the bite of winter already crawling through the thin glass of his apartment window. Snow dusted the rooftops of Nanhe City, but something about the light felt wrong—too sharp, too bright, as if the sun had been cut into shards and scattered across the sky.
He was pouring hot water over a packet of instant noodles when the air began to hum.
At first, it was so faint he thought it was a truck's engine idling somewhere far away. But the sound grew, deepened, until it became a bone-rattling vibration that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
The next moment, the sky split open.
A jagged wound of white light tore across the horizon, swallowing clouds, stretching from one end of the heavens to the other. Through it, Jiang Ming glimpsed impossible things—floating islands shrouded in mist, rivers of molten silver, and towers so tall they seemed to pierce infinity itself.
The noodles slipped from his hand.
What… is that?
Before he could take a step, a voice—not human, not mechanical, but something in between—spoke directly into his mind.
> [The Eternal Ascension begins.]
[All sapient beings will be transported to the Infinite Tower in 60 seconds.]
[Adapt, survive, ascend—or be erased.]
He stumbled back, clutching the table. The room shook violently, glasses rattling in the cupboard. Outside, car alarms screamed. Across the street, a woman collapsed to her knees, pressing her hands to her ears.
This can't be real. This has to be a dream.
> [Initializing individual parameters…]
[Special designation detected.]
[Primordial Ascension System bound successfully.]
A translucent screen, impossibly real, flared before his eyes. Lines of golden text burned into his vision:
> Tenfold Genesis: All training, crafting, and skill use begin at a 10–100x multiplier.
Sublimation Protocol: Upgrade any object, skill, or building by one tier. Restrictions: Can only be used once per target… unless loopholes are found.
Eternal Core: Infinite stamina. Immunity to extreme environmental hazards.
Dominion Architect: Construct and expand safe zones. Structures can be Sublimated.
Jiang Ming's breath hitched.
A system. A cheat. Just like in the webnovels he used to read late into the night.
The voice returned, now colder:
> [Transfer commencing.]
The walls around him shattered like glass, dissolving into shards of light. The floor vanished beneath his feet, and the freezing wind of another world slammed into his body. He landed hard in a bank of powdery snow, the taste of iron in his mouth.
The sky above was no longer familiar. It was a pale, frozen gray, the sun a dim disc behind swirling storm clouds. Black mountains rose in the distance, their jagged peaks dusted with frost. In the center of the horizon loomed a structure so vast it made his chest tighten—an obsidian tower, its peak lost in the clouds, radiating an ancient, suffocating pressure.
Around him, hundreds of dazed people were appearing in bursts of light, some screaming, some staring in shock. The temperature bit through clothing like knives. Already, a few had begun to shiver violently.
A new screen appeared before everyone's eyes:
> [Welcome to Floor One: The Ice Hell.]
[Survival time limit: 72 hours.]
[Objective: Construct a Level 1 Safe Zone before hypothermia sets in.]
Jiang Ming looked down to find that a small, flickering bonfire burned at his feet—a pathetic circle of warmth barely a meter wide. Beyond it, the snow seemed darker, hungrier, as if waiting to devour anyone who stepped too far.
He glanced at the Sublimation Protocol in his system panel.
Then at the bonfire.
A slow smile tugged at his lips.
"Let's see what happens."
> [You have chosen to Sublimate 'Bonfire'.]
[Bonfire → Great Bonfire.]
The flames roared to life, shooting skyward in a column of golden heat. Snow hissed into steam. People nearby stumbled closer, eyes wide. The warmth expanded outward, pushing the cold back.
Gasps echoed through the freezing air.
"How did you—?"
"His fire's huge!"
Jiang Ming didn't answer. His gaze had locked on the distant black tower.
Something inside him stirred—not fear, but hunger.
The first step had been taken.
And he intended to climb all the way to the top.