The last thing I remember was the screech of tires, the blinding glare of headlights, and the sickening crunch of metal. Then, nothing. A void of silence and cold.
I awoke not to a sterile hospital room or the pearly gates, but to the overwhelming stench of hay, damp earth, and unwashed humanity. My body ached with a deep, unfamiliar soreness. I tried to sit up, my hands pushing against a rough, straw-stuffed mattress. The light was dim, filtering through a small, grimy window set in a wall of wattle and daub. I was in a one-room hovel, with a packed dirt floor and a smoking hearth in the corner.
What… where is this? An accident… I must be in a hospital… a very bad one.
Panic, cold and sharp, began to claw at my throat. This wasn't right. I looked down at my hands. They were smaller, paler, covered in faint scars and calluses I didn't recognize. I was wearing a coarse, homespun tunic that smelled of woodsmoke and sweat.
Memories that were not my own flickered at the edges of my mind. A boy named Elric. A village called Oakhaven. Plowing fields, tending sheep, a life of relentless, backbreaking toil. And a fever. A burning sickness that had taken him in the night.
Him. Not me.
The realization hit me like a physical blow, stealing the air from my lungs. I had died. On that rain-slicked modern highway, in my compact car, listening to a podcast about investment strategies—I had died. And I had been reborn… here. In what looked like the set of a brutally realistic medieval documentary.
"No," I whispered, the word sounding strange in the thick, quiet air. "This can't be happening. This is a dream. A coma-induced hallucination."
I pinched the skin on my arm, hard. The pain was immediate and vivid. The rough texture of the wool blanket, the chill seeping through the walls, the distant sound of a rooster crowing—it was all terrifyingly, undeniably real. I had been reborn in a medieval era. A wave of despair washed over me. No electricity, no medicine, no internet, no law. Just superstition, filth, and an early grave, which, apparently, I'd already experienced once in this lifetime.
I buried my face in the rough-spun sheets, a groan of utter hopelessness escaping me. I'd traded a quick, modern death for a long, hard, primitive life. What was the point?
Ding.
The sound was crisp, clear, and profoundly out of place. It was the sound of a smartphone notification, a sound from my old world. My head snapped up.
A semi-transparent blue rectangle materialized in the center of my vision, hovering in the air like a hologram. Words began to scroll across it in a clean, modern font.
[System Initialization Complete.]
[Welcome, User: Elric (Soul Designation: Park Min-Jun).]
[Integration of Disparate Consciousnesses: Successful.]
[Current World Designation: Terra Antigua, Late Feudal Era.]
[Primary Objective: Survive. Thrive. Evolve.]
[Loading Basic Interface…]
I stared, my jaw slack. The blue screen glowed steadily, unaffected by the dim light of the hovel. At the bottom were simple, familiar tabs: [Status], [Skills], [Inventory], [Quest Log].
A hysterical laugh bubbled up in my chest, part shock, part unadulterated elation. It died in my throat as I heard heavy footsteps outside and the grumble of a man's voice—the memory-Elric identified him as Borin, the village blacksmith and my current guardian.
But the fear was now edged with a wild, blazing spark of hope. I wasn't just a peasant boy in a brutal time. I was a Reborn. And I had a System.
"Okay," I breathed, my eyes fixed on the glowing [Status] button. My heart hammered against my ribs, not just with terror now, but with a frantic, desperate curiosity. "Okay. Let's see what we're working with."
With a thought that felt both instinctive and learned, I focused on the [Status] tab. The screen changed.
Name: Elric (Park Min-Jun)
Age: 14
Title: The Reborn
Health: 41/100 (Recovering from Ague)
Stamina: 23/100
Mana: 0/100 (Locked)
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 5
Constitution: 3
Intelligence: 11
Wisdom: 9
Charisma: 6
[Unique Trait: Dual Consciousness -] Grants minor resistance to mental afflictions. Provides knowledge base from a prior, advanced technological era. Effects on Skill acquisition: Pending.
The door to the hovel began to creak open, letting in a sliver of gray morning light. Borin's shadow fell across the floor.
But I didn't look away from the screen. A slow, genuine smile spread across my face for the first time since I'd opened my eyes in this world. The stats were pitiful, the health was alarming, but it was data. It was a start. I had died, been reborn into a harsh, unforgiving past, and just as despair had threatened to swallow me whole, I had been thrown a lifeline.
The System had opened with a ding. And with it, the entire game had changed.
"Elric?" Borin's voice was a gravelly rumble. "You're awake. The fever broke."
I finally turned my head, meeting the blacksmith's concerned, weathered face. The fear was still there, a cold knot in my stomach. But layered over it now was a thrilling, electric sense of possibility.
"Yes," I said, my voice stronger than I expected. "I'm awake." And in my mind, I added, And I'm just getting started.
[New Quest Received: Recovery.]
[Objective: Regain full health (100/100).]
[Reward: 50 XP. Unlock: [Mana Pool].]
The door closed, and I was left in the dimness, the blue screen my only companion. The shock of death and rebirth was fading, replaced by the fierce, happy shock of a player who has just discovered the menu screen in a game he never asked to play, but now desperately intends to win.
Episode 1: End.