My breath felt heavy, like I was inhaling liquid stone.
I wasn't on the road anymore. The screeching tires and the blinding glare of the truck were gone. In their place was a silence so absolute it made my ears ring.
Slowly, I forced my eyes open.
I was lying on a cold, obsidian altar. Above me, the cavern ceiling was jagged and high, but it wasn't the dark that caught my eye. It was the walls. They were covered in glowing, azure markings ancient runes that pulsed with a rhythmic, ghostly light.
No machines. No tubes. Just the stone, the light, and the suffocating pressure of some kind of energy in the air.
Where... what happened to the truck?
My mind was a chaotic mess of two different lives. Madagascar. The accident. And now... this. I tried to lift my arm, but it felt like lead. My fingers brushed the surface of the altar, and the blue runes beneath me flared in response.
Suddenly, light harsh and artificial cut through the cavern.
"Ici ! Il y a quelqu'un sur l'autel !" a voice boomed, echoing off the stone walls.
Flashlights blinded me. I heard the heavy thud of combat boots on stone. People were running toward me.
"C'est un gamin ?" another voice shouted, sounding completely stunned. "Comment a-t-il pu survivre ici ? Le Donjon est vide !"
I felt a hand press against my neck. It was warm, trembling slightly.
"Il est en vie ! Appelez l'équipe médicale, vite !"
The urgency in his voice was the last thing I heard before my vision blurred, the glowing runes fading into a deep, endless black.
_________
The next time I woke up, the air was different. It was sterile, smelling of bleach and cold air.
I stared at the ceiling. White. Clean.
I didn't look at the window. I didn't look at the city. I looked at my hands. They were thinner, younger, but I could feel a strange hum vibrating under my skin.
I died, I thought. The truck... there's no way I survived that. This is reincarnation. It has to be.
But why here? And what was that place? A cave? A tomb?
Ping!
A transparent blue screen snapped into existence, hovering inches from my nose.
[Initialization Complete.]
[The System has identified the 'Vessel'.]
[Current Status: Recovering.]
My heart skipped a beat. A System window. The floating text. The "Vessel" terminology.. It felt like a bolt of lightning hit my brain. I knew this window. I had read about it in a life that felt like a dream now.
Solo.. Solo Levelin ?!
"No way," I whispered. My voice was different. "Am I... a Player?"
I stared at the screen, a mix of dread and exhilaration bubbling in my chest. If this was that world, I wasn't just in danger I was in the middle of a global catastrophe waiting to happen.
The door clicked open. A nurse in blue scrubs walked in, carrying a tray. She froze when she saw me sitting up.
"Oh! Vous êtes réveillé !" she said, her voice high with surprise. She rushed to the bed, checking my vitals. "Comment vous sentez-vous ? On ne pensait pas que vous reprendriez connaissance si vite."
I stared at her, my mind blank. I recognized the sounds, but I couldn't grasp the meaning.
"I... I don't understand," I said.
She paused, looking at me with a confused expression. She spoke again, pointing to my IV bag, her tone questioning. "Est-ce que vous avez mal quelque part ?"
[Notice: Unknown language detected.]
[Activating 'Universal Translation' function…]
[Integration... 100%.]
The nurse started to turn toward the door. "Attendez, je vais chercher quelqu'un qui parle peut-être mieux..."
The words shifted in my head. Like a puzzle pieces clicking together, I understood her perfectly. "Wait, I'm going to find someone who speaks better..."
"That's useful," I muttered. A small smile crept onto my face.
Ten minutes later, the nurse returned, but she wasn't with a doctor. Two men in sharp, dark grey suits stepped in. They didn't have the soft look of doctors. They looked like predators.
One of them carried a tablet; the other held a folder. They stepped into the room, and the air suddenly felt heavy, as if the atmospheric pressure had dropped.
"He's awake" the first one said, his eyes scanning me like he was looking for a hidden weapon. "Good. We have questions."
The nurse scurried out, sensing the tension. The two agents stood at the foot of my bed.
"I am Agent Morel," the taller one said. "We are agents from the French Hunter Authority (FHA). We found you in a Gate. On an altar. A place that should have been crawling with monsters, yet it was empty. You have no ID. No fingerprints on file. Who are you?"
I kept my face neutral. I couldn't tell them I was from another world. "Andry," I said. "Just Andry."
"How did you get into that Gate, Andry?"
I shook my head, looking down at my hands. "I don't know. I remember a crash. Then I woke up on that stone table. I don't remember anything else."
Morel exchanged a look with his partner. "A 'Gate-Crasher'?" the other whispered. "Maybe he's a civilian who wandered into the flux before the perimeter was set? A drunken accident?"
It was a weak excuse, but they seemed to want to believe it. It was easier than the truth.
Morel pulled out a digital pad and a pen. "Listen, since we can't find you in any database, we need to run your DNA and prints officially. Sign this. It lets us process you legally so we can find out where you came from."
I took the pen.
I signed the name. Andry.
[Name: Andry registered.]
[Updating Status Window...]
"Thank you," Morel said, taking the pad. "Rest. Another agent will be here in a few days with a mana-assessment machine to see if you've Awakened. Until then, you stay here."
They left, the door locking with a heavy, electronic click.
I looked back at the blue screen.
[Name: Andry]
[Level: 1]
[Class: None (Mage Affinity)]
[Basic Skills: Search, Analyze]
I leaned back against the pillow, my eyes fixed on the empty air.
"I don't know whose body this was," I whispered. "But I'm going to make sure to use it well."
I leaned back against the pillows, staring at the [Analyze] skill in my status window.
I focused on the skill icon. If this was a game, I needed to know the rules.
[Skill: Analyze (Active) - Max Level]
[Description: Allows the user to perceive the true nature of objects, entities, and mana flow for analyze. If a skill is analyzed to 100%, the user can replicate it, provided their stats meet the requirements.]
My heart nearly stopped.
Replicate? This wasn't just a basic info skill. It was a cheat. A blueprint for every power in this world.
Wait... if I have this, what else is different? Jinwoo's system was built around death necromancy and shadows. Mine seemed to be built around understanding and construction. A Mage's path.
I stared at the ceiling, my mind racing. I remembered my old life back in Madagascar. The red dust, the long hours of study, and then... that damn truck. Now I was here, in a world that was basically a ticking time bomb.
If the FHA agents were talking about Gates and Hunters, this is definitely Solo Leveling. But when? I needed a phone. A computer. Anything. I looked around the room, but it was empty except for a wall-mounted Smart TV.
"Worth a shot," I muttered.
I grabbed the remote and turned it on. It was all in French, but the Universal Translation kicked in like a subtitle track in my brain. I fumbled through the settings, my fingers trembling. I wasn't trying to watch Netflix. I was looking for the built-in web browser.
"Come on... where is the 'Internet' icon? Is it this one? No, that's the weather... damn it."
I spent five minutes aggressively clicking the remote, looking like a maniac trying to hack a toaster. I finally found it. A clunky, slow browser. Typing with a TV remote was a nightmare it was like trying to write a novel with a spoon.
I typed: Strongest Hunter.
The page loaded with agonizing slowness. A headline flashed across the screen:
[CRISIS IN THE USA: FIRST S-RANK GATE APPEARS ON AMERICAN SOIL. GLOBAL MOBILIZATION UNDERWAY.]
I froze. I knew that event. That was the Kamish incident. The Dragon.
"Ten years," I whispered. "I'm ten years before the main plot."
The realization hit me like a physical weight. Jinwoo was probably still a kid. The world was still figuring out how to survive. It was the Dark Ages of the Hunter era.
Is it the same world? I wondered. I wasn't in Korea. I was in France. But the monarchs didn't care about borders. They were coming for everyone.
I need skills. I need to get stronger now, or I'm just a humain waiting to be shattered.
The door clicked open. I quickly turned off the TV, feeling like a kid caught doing something wrong.
The nurse from before walked in, but she wasn't alone. Beside her was a woman wearing a light blue tunic with silver embroidery. She carried a quiet, calm aura. A Healer.
"Andry," the nurse said, smiling. "This is Madame Claire. She's an C-Rank Healer. She's going to check for any internal mana fractures."
Claire didn't waste time. She stepped up to my bed and raised her hands. A soft, golden glow began to pool in her palms.
[Hidden Quest: The First Insight] - [Condition: Successfully analyze a skill to 100%]
[Reward: Level Up]
This is it.
"[Analyze]," I thought, focusing every ounce of my will on the golden light.
[Analysis of Skill: 'Minor Heal' has begun…]
[10%... 22%... 35%...]
The warmth of the spell washed over me. It felt like a warm bath, soothing my aching muscles. But just as the progress bar hit 35%, Claire lowered her hands. The light died.
"The internal flow is stable," she said to the nurse. "He's lucky. No mana burns."
No! Wait!
"Wait!" I blurted out in English. "I... I feel a sharp pain. Right here." I pointed to my ribs, trying to look like I was in agony.
She frowned, confused. "Pain? My scan showed nothing."
"It's... deep," I insisted, gritting my teeth. "Please. It hurts to breathe."
She sighed, looking at the nurse. "Fine. One more time, but it's likely just muscular."
She raised her hands again. The gold light returned.
[48%... 61%... 70%...]
The bar stopped. She pulled away again, looking annoyed. "Still nothing, young man. You are perfectly healthy."
I started to panic. If she left now, I'd lose the skill.
"Wait! It moved! Now it's in my shoulder! Please, it's like a needle!"
The healer's expression shifted from concern to pure suspicion. She looked at me like I was a lunatic or a bored kid seeking attention.
"Listen," she said, her voice sharp. "I am a Hunter, not a massage therapist. My mana is valuable. Using it on a healthy civilian is a waste. This is the last time."
She practically slammed the golden light into my chest.
[85%... 94%... 100%!]
[Skill: 'Minor Heal' has been successfully analyzed and copied.]
"There," she huffed, turning on her heel. "If you still 'feel pain,' tell the doctor to give you an aspirin. What a waste of mana."
She stormed out of the room. The nurse looked at me, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, she's very busy... Do you feel better?"
"Oui," I said, the French word slipping out naturally. "Beaucoup mieux maintenant. Merci."
The nurse blinked, surprised. "Oh! You're learning fast!"
She smiled and followed the healer out. The door clicked shut.
I was alone. I immediately summoned the menu.
[New Skill Learned: Minor Heal (Level 1)]
[Level Up!][You have reached Level 2.]
A new window popped up, glowing with a more intense golden light than the others.
[Level Up Reward Menu detected.][
Would you like to claim your rewards?]
I stared at the screen, a grin spreading across my face. The "Level Up" rewards... the constant evolution.
"It's confirmed," I whispered. "I really am a Player."
PS: This is my first novel, so your feedback is incredibly valuable! Please feel free to comment with any advice, or let me know if you spot any errors or inconsistencies in the story. Thanks for reading!