Rain hammered against the window of my dorm room at New York University, each drop striking the glass with the steady rhythm of a ticking clock.
"This weather is killing me."
I muttered those words under my breath as I looked out over Manhattan. The Hudson churned beneath an iron-colored sky, as if the river had risen into the clouds only to pour back down over the city. The sound should have been calming.
It wasn't.
For the past year, the climate had unraveled like a frayed thread. Sandstorms had swallowed parts of Nevada. Alaska had thawed and refrozen within days. January had burned with suffocating heat; July had drowned under snow. Scientists filled the news with theories. Washington blamed pollution. Other nations nodded.
No one understood.
Even when the sun shone over New York, people carried umbrellas.
No one trusted the sky anymore.
And today I had to go to work in the middle of this damned storm.
My name is Andrew Walker. I'm twenty years old. I'm five foot eleven. Brown hair. Green eyes. Lean build. I work out when I can. My father is a municipal employee in Queens. My mother teaches math at a public school in Brooklyn. Normal people.
When I was eleven, my parents brought home an eight-year-old girl named Anna. She had lost her parents in a car accident. She became my sister. We became four. Now she attends a good high school in Manhattan. Next year she'll apply to college.
I was rummaging through my closet looking for a heavier hoodie when—
A powerful earthquake.
The tremor struck without warning. The building lurched violently. I staggered and grabbed onto the closet to keep from falling. My desk overturned, sending my computer crashing to the floor. A framed family photo slid off and shattered against the tiles.
Something hit me like a punch to the stomach. My insides twisted violently, forcing me to double over as a sharp pain shot through my body.
Five seconds later—
Silence.
As if nothing had happened.
Cold air filtered through the now-broken window. I pulled myself upright, breathing hard.
"What the hell just happened?" I muttered, not addressing anyone in particular.
Then—
A screen of text materialized in front of my eyes.
[The Sovereign Core has arrived on Planet Earth. You may now access your personalized Core System at any time.]
"What the hell…?"
Another screen opened.
Andrew Walker
Level: 0
Race: Human
Occupation: None
Title: None
Strength: 15 (10)
Agility: 12 (10)
Vitality: 10 (10)
Endurance: 10 (10)
Mana: 120 (0)
Magic Affinity: 120 (10)
The numbers remained suspended in midair.
What are these? Human stats?
Like those Japanese light novels I read when I have nothing better to do.
If this were real, then the world had gone insane—
—or maybe I had.
Ignoring the panic threatening to creep in, I focused on the stats. If they worked like in the novels, then physically I was slightly above average.
I guess that gym membership was worth it.
But Mana… and Magic Affinity…
They weren't just above average.
They were absurdly high for someone who had never used magic.
I took a deep breath and forced my mind to calm down. I had read enough web novels and fanfiction to recognize the format. A system. Levels. Stats. Skills.
But this wasn't fiction.
This was reality.
I refused to believe that what I had always considered just stories could actually be real.
Then—
A seductive voice spoke behind me.
"Interesting. I didn't expect to find so soon a human who has already surpassed the threshold and been accepted by the Sovereign Core."
"And even more surprising… you possess considerable magical potential."
I spun around.
She was there. As if she had always been in the room.
A beautiful girl. About five foot seven. Long silver hair falling smoothly over her shoulders. Deep blue eyes, clear as ice. Flawless skin, almost doll-like. Too perfect. She didn't seem human.
And her hair—silver. I didn't even know that existed naturally.
She wore a tight white-and-gold bodysuit decorated with lines resembling ancient symbols. Black combat boots on her feet.
Before I could ask who she was, screams erupted from outside.
I rushed to the shattered window.
What I saw made my blood run cold.
New York was no longer New York.
People were running in panic through the streets. Some slipped. Others lunged at them—biting, tearing, devouring.
I saw a girl—maybe sixteen—fall onto the asphalt. One of the attackers threw itself on top of her and sank its teeth into her neck. She screamed.
Seconds later, she stopped moving.
Fifteen seconds later—
She stood back up.
Her skin had turned gray. Her eyes were dull. Lifeless.
I processed everything I had ever read, watched, imagined.
There was only one conclusion.
A zombie.
"Holy hell…"
A sharp buzzing sound shattered my focus.
Something hovered in the air.
If you could still call it an insect.
It looked like a mosquito—but enormous. The size of a basketball. It darted forward with brutal precision, its proboscis piercing the skull of the undead girl and tearing her head off in a single strike.
Then it grabbed the head.
And fed.
My stomach churned, but I forced myself to watch.
After finishing, the creature began to grow. Its body expanded rapidly until it reached the size of a large dog.
Then it turned.
Its compound eyes locked onto mine.
It launched toward the building.
It burst through the window in a flash.
I acted on instinct. I grabbed the wooden chair beside my overturned desk and swung with all my strength, like a baseball bat. The impact shattered the chair. The mosquito slammed against the wall, writhing.
I picked up a jagged piece of wood and lunged forward.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
On the final blow, it stopped moving.
I stood there, panting.
Blue particles rose from the corpse and flowed into my chest.
[Sovereign Core: Absorption in Progress…]
[Blue Essence Fragments Detected: Level 2 Creature – Mutated Giant Mosquito]
[Core Status: Synchronization 100%]
[CORE EVOLUTION COMPLETED!]
[Current Level: 1]
[Sovereign Stat Points Gained: 2]
Agility +2
Strength +2
A strange warmth spread through my muscles and bones.
I felt lighter.
Stronger.
Beneath the insect's corpse lay a crimson crystal.
Confused, I picked it up.
[Skill Acquired: Pyrokinesis – Base Protocol]
Level: 1 | Maximum: 5
Effect: immediate conversion of Mana into thermal energy. Allows control of heat flow within a 5-meter radius.
Scaling Parameters:
Power: based on Magic Affinity (x1.2 multiplier applied)
Duration: based on Mana Reserve
"A rare ability for a human at the beginning."
I had almost forgotten she was there.
I turned again, gripping the splintered piece of wood defensively.
She didn't move. She simply watched me, as if evaluating a rare specimen.
Forcing myself not to stare at her enormous breasts, which I estimated to be around a J cup, I asked, "Who are you?"
I didn't expect an answer.
But she smiled.
"My name is Brunilde."
She stepped closer, calm and composed, as if she knew something I didn't. I struggled to focus on her words instead of her overwhelming presence.
"I am a demigoddess of the Norse Pantheon. In the language of your new System, I would be classified as Level 5. High Level."
There was no trace of irony in her tone.
And after fighting a mutated giant mosquito, I wasn't in a position to call her crazy.
If she was telling the truth, then the gods existed.
Other supernatural beings existed.
Yet I kept my expression steady, focusing on the silver-haired girl standing before me.
Because something told me—
This was only the beginning.