Chapter 0: Variable Zero
The sensation of death was not a blinding light or a tunnel of warmth. It was a sterile, bureaucratic silence. It was the feeling of being unplugged, a sudden cessation of data, followed by the terrifying lurch of a hard reboot.
Silas gasped, his lungs inflating with a violence that cracked his ribs. He shot up, his hands clawing at sheets that felt too synthetic, too smooth. The air smelled of ozone and recycled lemon scent—artificial, cloying, and utterly unfamiliar.
He wasn't in the hospital bed where he had closed his eyes moments ago. The crushing weight of the terminal illness that had wasted his body in 2026 was gone. In its place was a dull, throbbing ache in his temples and a body that felt wire-taut, energetic, and completely alien.
Silas looked at his hands. They were calloused on the fingertips, paler than he remembered, and trembling. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, his feet touching a cold, metallic floor that rippled with a faint blue luminescence upon contact.
"Where..." his voice was raspy, unused.
He stood up, stumbling toward a pane of glass that dominated the far wall. He expected to see the brick facade of the hospital wing or the gray skyline of his hometown. Instead, his eyes widened, reflecting a neon nightmare.
The city outside was a vertical labyrinth. Towers of glass and black steel pierced the clouds, connected by translucent sky-bridges where maglev pods zipped like fireflies. Holographic advertisements the size of football fields floated in the mid-air, advertising neural implants and synthetic organs.
'Drink Veridian Pure. 99% Water. 1% Soul.'
Silas gripped the window frame. A holographic calendar projected onto the glass in the corner of his vision.
[Date: August 14, 2046]
[Time: 11:42 PM]
[Location: Sector 4, New Mumbai Sprawl]
"Twenty years," Silas whispered, the math clicking instantly in his mind. "I didn't die. I skipped."
He turned away from the window, his analytical mind kicking into overdrive. Panic was inefficient; panic got you killed. He needed data. He scanned the room. It was a 'coffin-apartment'—efficient, cramped, brutalist. A single bed, a nutrient paste dispenser, a terminal desk, and a mirror.
He moved to the mirror. The face staring back was his, but sharper. The jaw was more defined, the eyes a piercing, icy gray instead of his original brown. He looked to be about twenty-two.
Suddenly, a headache split his skull. Memories that weren't his flooded in, overlapping with his old life like corrupted files merging.
This body was Silas Vane. An orphan of the Corporate Wars. A freelance data-miner. Low credit score. No family. No affiliations. A ghost in the machine of 2046 society. A nobody.
"Perfect," Silas muttered, rubbing his temples as the pain subsided. "I'm a blank slate."
He sat at the terminal desk, his fingers hovering over a haptic keyboard. He needed to understand the geopolitical landscape. If he was going to survive in the future, he needed to know who held the leash.
But before he could press a key, the hum of the city outside changed.
It wasn't a sound. It was a pressure.
The air in the small apartment grew heavy, as if gravity had suddenly doubled. The maglev pods outside stopped moving, suspended in mid-air. The holographic ads flickered and died, plunging the room into darkness.
Then, the sky cracked.
It didn't shatter like glass; it tore like wet paper. A massive, jagged fissure of violet light ripped through the atmosphere, dwarfing the mega-towers. The silence of the city was replaced by a sound that defied description—a mixture of a choir screaming and the grinding of tectonic plates.
Silas rushed back to the window. People were spilling out of the buildings below, ants scattering before a boot. But they weren't looking at the fissure. They were looking at the spheres descending from it.
Billions of them. Tiny, glowing orbs of white light raining down like a localized meteor shower. They passed through buildings, through the ground, through vehicles.
One of the orbs drifted toward Silas's window. It passed through the reinforced glass as if it were smoke and hovered inches from his face.
'What is this? Nanotech? Bioluminescence?' Silas analyzed, forcing himself not to flinch.
The orb expanded, enveloping him. The world turned white.
[Initializing Planetary Integration...]
A voice spoke directly into his auditory cortex. It was genderless, emotionless, and absolute.
[Target World: Earth-442 (Beta Timeline)]
[Mana Density: Negligible -> Adjusted to Tier 1]
[Laws of Physics: Rewritten]
[The Omniverse Council welcomes you to The Game.]
Silas fell to his knees. The pain was excruciating now. It felt like molten lead was being poured into his veins. It wasn't just him; he could hear the screams from the apartments above and below him. The integration wasn't gentle. It was an invasion of the soul.
[Scanning Individual Potential...]
[Calculated Survival Rate of Species: 14.2%]
[Initiating Awakening Protocol.]
Text boxes, blue and translucent, began to pop up in his vision, floating in the air.
[System Notice: The Veil has fallen. Monsters, Dungeons, and Ruins from the Infinite Dimensions have been anchored to your reality.]
[System Notice: 99.9% of humanity has been designated as 'Player'.]
[System Notice: 0.1% of humanity has triggered the 'Awakening' sequence due to high soul compatibility.]
Silas grit his teeth, blood dripping from his nose. His body felt like it was being torn apart and stitched back together on a molecular level.
[Subject: Silas Vane]
[Compatibility: Abnormal.]
[Analyzing Life Trajectory... Previous Life detected. Soul Anomaly detected.]
[Rerouting Karmic Energy...]
"Just... give me... the damn... status," Silas wheezed, clutching his chest.
[Awakening Successful.]
[You are one of the 1 in 1000.]
[Generating Profession Options...]
Three cards materialized in front of him, spinning slowly.
1. Cyber-Mage (Rare): A fusion of technology and mana.
2. Shadow Stalker (Rare): An assassin class utilizing the darkness.
3. Skill Master (Epic): A master of mechanics and versatility.
Silas's eyes narrowed. In his previous life, he was a strategist. He didn't fight on the front lines; he managed variables. He won by having more options than his opponent. Cyber-Mage was dependent on tech, which might fail. Shadow Stalker was limited to stealth.
But Skill Master? That sounded like limitless potential.
"I choose... Skill Master."
The other two cards shattered. The third card dissolved into gold dust and rushed into his chest.
[Profession Acquired: Skill Master (Epic Grade)]
[Motto: "Jack of all trades, Master of All."]
[Generating Profession Trait...]
[Trait Generated: Tri-Path Evolution (S-Rank)]
Description: Every 10 levels, the user may select one of three upgrade paths for every skill they possess:
1. Chaotic Mutation: Add a random positive buff/effect to the skill.
2. Overclock: Upgrade the skill by one Tier (e.g., F -> E), but Mana Cost increases by 50%.
3. Fusion Protocol: Fuse two active or passive skills to create a new, higher-tier skill. Success depends on compatibility and Luck.
[Generating Profession Talent...]
[Talent Generated: Mana-less Echo (SS-Rank)]
Description: The user understands the structure of skills so deeply they can bypass the laws of equivalent exchange temporarily.
Effect: You can use any skill for 0 Mana Cost.
Cooldown: This effect refreshes every 1 minute.
Constraint: The same skill cannot be used with a Free Charge again for 5 minutes.
Bonus: This free use ignores the skill's natural cooldown.
Scaling: +1 Free Use charge gained every 10 levels.
[Generating Profession Passive...]
[Passive Generated: Kinetic Immunity (A-Rank)]
Description: The Skill Master is one with their own power. You are immune to all damage and negative status effects caused by your own skills.
Silas stared at the screens, his breathing heavy. The pain faded, replaced by a surge of power that made the air around him crackle.
He understood the implications immediately. Tri-Path Evolution meant his scaling potential was infinite. Mana-less Echo meant he had a trump card in every fight—a way to fire off an ultimate attack even when drained of energy. And the Passive... that meant he could use Area of Effect (AoE) nukes at point-blank range without suicide.
"Epic Grade," Silas whispered. "One in a thousand."
[System Announcement to World Earth-442:]
[Tutorial Period: Skipped.]
[Reason: Humanity is deemed too arrogant. Direct Integration initiated.]
[First Wave of Monsters will materialize in 10 Minutes.]
[Advice: There are no trash professions, only trash players. Surviving is the only quest that matters.]
Silas stood up. He walked to the kitchen area, grabbed a serrated synth-steel knife, and then moved back to the window.
Below, the chaos was beginning. The first portals were opening on the streets. Green-skinned goblins the size of children were pouring out of a rift near a maglev station, their jagged daggers glinting under the broken neon lights. A massive wolf, wreathed in flame, crashed through the glass of a skyscraper opposite him.
The world hadn't just changed; it had ended. And the new one had just begun.
Silas looked at his reflection one last time. The fear was gone. The confusion of the time skip was gone. All that remained was the cold, calculating gaze of a man who had been given a second chance, and a loaded gun.
"Open Status," Silas commanded.
[Name: Silas Vane]
[Level: 1 (0/100 EXP)]
[Class: Skill Master (Epic)]
[HP: 100/100]
[MP: 50/50]
[Stats: Strength 10 | Agility 12 | Intelligence 18 | Vitality 10 | Luck 15]
[Skills: None]
"No skills yet," Silas noted. "I need to acquire one before they get up here."
He looked at the knife in his hand. It wasn't a skill, but it was a start. The creatures of this world—the Goblins, the Orcs, the things yet to come—they had brains. They wouldn't just be mindless coding. They would strategize.
He needed to be smarter.
A scream echoed from the hallway outside his apartment door. Then, the sound of wood splintering.
Silas turned toward the door, his grip on the knife tightening until his knuckles turned white. The first test wasn't in ten minutes. It was now.
"Let's see what this game is made of."
End of Chapter 0
Author's Note:
This is the beginning of the legend of the Skill Master. The mechanics of the "Tri-Path Evolution" will be key to Silas's growth. Notice that he starts with high Intelligence—this will scale well with his mana pool later, though his Talent allows him to bypass mana constraints early on. The setting of 2046 provides a mix of tech and magic, but as the system said, physics have been rewritten. Tech might not work the same way anymore.
Next Chapter Preview: Silas faces his first enemy in the hallway. We see the first drop, the first skill acquisition, and the first use of the "Mana-less Echo" to turn a desperate situation into a massacre.