Vesh pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and reached for his fourth coffee of the day. His hand trembled slightly—not from caffeine, but from the simple exhaustion of holding his arm extended. At twenty-eight, he had the cardiovascular fitness of a man thrice his age.
A single flight of stairs left him winded.
Heck, carrying groceries required strategic planning.
The doctors had given it a name that meant his muscles refused to play by the usual rules. Mitochondrial dysfunction, they'd said.
What it meant practically was that while his mind could solve complex logistics puzzles that made his colleagues' heads spin, his body betrayed him in a thousand small ways every day.
"Vesh, you're still here?"
Vesh glanced up. Sarah Chen stood by his cubicle, designer bag already slung over her shoulder, and perfect makeup somehow still pristine after nine hours.
"Just finishing the quarterly reconciliation," Vesh replied, his head turning back to the monitors.
Hearing him, Sarah made a face. "That's not due until Friday."
"I know. But if I finish it tonight, I can start the procurement analysis tomorrow, which means—"
"Which means you'll have finished both by Wednesday and make the rest of us look bad." Sarah's tone was light, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "You know, Manager Stevens already promoted you over people who've been here twice as long."
"I just—"
"Work hard. Yeah, we know." She turned away, then paused. "You should get a life, Vesh. All this effort, and for what? You'll still be too tired to enjoy the money you're making."
Vesh watched her go and heard her laughing with someone by the elevators. He looked back at his screens and felt the familiar weight of it all pressing down on him. She wasn't wrong. Most of his salary went to medical bills and supplements that barely helped. The rest accumulated in a bank account he was too exhausted to spend.
But work was something he could control. Problems had solutions. Effort yielded results. In spreadsheets and logistics chains, his body's limitations didn't matter.
Finishing his work, Vesh left.
The April evening wrapped around him, cool and damp with the smell of salt water and coffee from a dozen nearby shops. His apartment was only six blocks away—he'd specifically chosen it for the short commute. On good days, he could walk it in fifteen minutes. Today had been a long day, though. Twenty minutes, probably. Maybe twenty-five.
He made it three blocks before he had to stop and catch his breath. A group of college students brushed past him, loud with the careless energy of healthy bodies.
Vesh waited, breathed, and continued.
The big intersection was always chaos at this hour. Vesh waited at the crosswalk, watching the light. A convenience store glowed on the opposite corner, its bright interior promising air conditioning and somewhere to sit for a moment before the final stretch home.
That's when he saw it.
A small shape, grey and white, barely visible against the asphalt. A kitten, no more than a few weeks old, was wobbling on unsteady legs directly in the center of the turning lane.
Vesh's stomach dropped.
The traffic light was red, but in ten seconds it would change. The truck idling at the intersection, a massive Amazon delivery vehicle, would lurch forward without ever seeing something so small.
He looked around. The other pedestrians were absorbed in their phones, their conversations, their own worlds. No one else had noticed.
The kitten mewed, but the tiny sound was swallowed by the city's roar.
Vesh's rational mind knew the odds. The distance. His body's limitations. The traffic light countdown.
He stepped off the curb.
His legs protested immediately, the familiar burn spreading through his thighs.
Vesh ran.
He ran in the way someone with his condition should never run—fully, desperately, without reservation. His muscles screamed. His lungs burned. His vision tunnelled.
Each step felt like pushing through mud, while his body screamed in pain, but he kept going as if this was his last stretch of life.
He wanted to save it.
His mind had no conflict about this decision.
There was no fear or wavering in his eyes.
'I've lived long enough.'
With his level of Mitochondrial Dysfunction, it was a miracle and a half that he had lived this long.
It was because of his brains that he managed to take care of his body despite growing up in an orphanage. He was smart in creative areas and absorbed knowledge of many fields, though his body only allowed him to do desk jobs.
Still, most of those with this genetic disorder at this potency don't survive their teenage years.
Vesh reached the middle of the road and grabbed the kitten.
Light filled his peripheral vision while the kitten squirmed against his chest. He could feel its tiny, fast heartbeat.
'You'll be safe. As for me, I'll…go somewhere, I guess.'
The driver pressed the brakes, but the intersection was long, and the truck driver saw Vesh too late.
Some people had noticed, so their mouths opened to shout.
But even if people had noticed him a few seconds earlier, there was no way to tell it to the faraway truck driver.
The truck came impossibly close to him as it pressed the brake and dragged forward, about to hit him.
And then…the world stopped.
[ People of Earth. It is time to exit this farce of a world and enter the horizons beyond. ]
[ Kingdom Wars is live starting now. All of you will enter a new world and build your kingdoms from scratch. Progress, Develop, Fight, and Win! ]
Vesh blinked.
A new screen appeared before him.
[You have a family. Do you wish to be together with your family and build the kingdom together?]
'What?' Vesh's eyes trembled. 'Family?'
[Your family, as in, direct blood relatives. A father and two siblings are detected. Do you wish to enter your territory and build the kingdom together?]
Vesh was dazed.
'Wait, I am not dreaming about all this right before my death, right?'
He couldn't move his head.
Not even his eyes.
But everything felt…real.
If he got a question like this from whatever this was, the other family members must have gotten the same question.
If they are together, then they would definitely choose to go together.
Most families would make that choice.
People with small kids and babies couldn't abandon them, after all.
Moreover, people didn't seem to have a choice in this. Living in this new world was final, either together with family or solo.
'My family…Can I know their names and…how they look?' Vesh asked mentally, hoping whatever this was would answer him.
[Your father's name is Byokesh Auris. Your siblings are Nezari Auris and Doran Auris. They look like this.]
Vesh's pupils expanded as he looked at their full body appearance in lifelike imagery on a hologram screen.
The siblings looked like they were in their early-mid twenties. The girl had long crimson hair, and the boy had black hair.
Both had seemingly perfect physiques and looked bright.
As for his father, he had dark grey hair and a thick beard, wearing a grey suit with a red tie.
'What do I do?'
Vesh asked himself.
And the first answer to this question that came to his mind was…screw it.
Vesh's eyes displayed unwavering resolve.
He didn't want a family now, as in, not this family that may or may not have abandoned him.
He didn't want to know.
He…couldn't trust them with this new chance at life, even if it was in this absurd world of Kingdom Wars.
Vesh looked at the screen as he answered.
[You will start your journey to build your Kingdom alone, but fret not, everyone gains free 3 normal summon tickets to help in the journey.]
[ As your body has some defects, your lifeform has been cleansed, and you have been cured of all biological problems for fair play, starting at Life Rank: Seed, like all other Earthlings.]
'T-This…' Vesh was dumbfounded and exhilarated. 'For real?!'
[Vesh Auris]
[Life Rank: Seed]
[Combat Power: 73]
[Territory: Unnamed]
— Titles —
— Talents —
— Inventory —
[ Good luck and all the best. ]
[3]
[2]
[1]
As the countdown hit zero, Vesh suddenly found himself in an empty ground slightly bigger than the size of a football field, surrounded by a canopy of giant trees and thin bushes.
He looked around. Suddenly, his vision turned bird's-eye view as he could see from above a faint barrier surrounding the empty space that was his territory.
"Wow."
A screen popped up in his mind.
[Main Quest: Beginning]
—Explore the surroundings and use the tools in the Inventory.
—1 x Awakening Stone.
—1 x Karma Summon Ticket.
[ You have 24 hours of protection from external threats within your territory. Summon your subjects, build your defences, and prepare your forces. After 24 hours, monsters and people may come to your territory.]
[ Protection countdown starts now. ]