The air smells wrong.
No—it's smells somewhat familiar.
W-w-what!!!
It smells like fresh, Like nature itself was wrapping around him in something warm and gentle.
Ethan quickly woke up and looked around.
He found himself surrounded by people of similar age in a place seems like a playground.
That is the problem.
I had almost forgotten what that felt like.
In my previous existence, even the wind carried a metallic taste. We adapted to breathe shallowly, forcing our lungs to filter out the toxins until they could no longer.
Every morning, I would cough up dark residue, just like everyone else.
But now…
This air—it feels warm, gentle, slightly sweet. And most importantly it's clean. As if someone had
washed the sky with water and cleansed the clouds with soap.
Where am I?
Suddenly, the memories hit him like a truck.
"Wait… what is this…?"
"…These memories—"
"…they're not mine."
He rubbed his temples to soothe the pain.
A dull ache still throbbed in his head. "…So, apparently I'm Ethan Moore now."
He gave a dry laugh.
As he gradually inspect his hands, he notice they were younger. Smooth, devoid of calluses, like they'd never lifted anything harder than a cup.
"What's going on?" he mutter, trying to make sense of everything.
"Hey, Ethan! Are you alright?" a voice interrupts.
He flinched.
A boy standing beside him wearing grey coat, silver emblem, his hair perfectly combed, and wide eyes full of concern.
"Sorry," Ethan said. "Just… a bit dizzy."
He holds out his hand. "Don't tell me you're freaking out already."
Ethan took his hand, allowing the boy to help him up. "…Not exactly."
He snorts. "Man, if you pass out now, I'm not carrying you."
He doesn't seem convinced, but he lets it go.
Ethan sat beside the boy-David and looked around analyzing the surrounding.
At first glance, it looked like a playground: open space, groups of students and marked ground underfoot.
…Or at least, that's what it looked like.
Just with glowing pillars, floating drones, and a giant altar in the sky.
Above us, a floating hexagon shaped platform hums softly with faint lines glowing across its surface.
The Awakening Altar.
That is where our awakening ceremony will be held.
Basically, once you hit eighteen, you can claim a fragment—a corner of existence that becomes your realm. At first, it's empty. Mountains, rivers, forests… everything depends on how you grow it.
The realm doesn't turn into a planet overnight. Over time, it develops twelve card slots—one per month, twelve in total. Each card you integrate into the realm forms a part of its foundation, what we call the "laws." Every integration makes the realm grow a little, adds something new, shapes its rules. By the twelfth card, the fragment finally solidifies into a full-fledged planet. That's when you officially become a beginner-god.
Additionally, the demi-god can also integrate Race Cards alongside the law cards. A Race Card can be added every six months, meaning a fledgling demigod has the chance to integrate two races before the planet is fully formed.
And every single card matters. Each one decides the strength of your world's foundation and the potential of the god.
"Attention students," a calm voice echoed from the speaker tower.
"The Awakening Ceremony will begin shortly. Please gather in front of the platform in your assigned order."
David tapped my shoulder. "We're Group B, right? Let's go."
"Sure," Ethan said, following him. His chest was tight, stomach buzzing with a hint of antipation. The air around us crackled with tension.
A girl walks past us. Her eyes are sharp, her uniform crisp. She moves with the aura of confidence.
"That's Claire," David whispers. "She is Top of the class, knows everyone, practically untouchable. Her family is well-off."
Ethan blinked, glancing after her.
"…Yeah. Untouchable," he muttered.
David shrugged. "Yeah, that's Claire for you. Perfect grades, perfect reputation, perfect at making the rest of us look sloppy just by existing."
The line moved quickly.
One by one, students stepped onto the altar.
Light wrapped around them. Their eyes closed.
A few minutes passed, then they reopened.
Some smiling, some with tears in their eyes, some just nodding and walking away.
Then it was Ethan's turn.
His legs felt impossibly heavy, as if the ground itself were holding him back. Each step toward the altar made his stomach tighten.
When he finally stepped onto the platform, it felt like plunging into a shimmering sea of light. The warmth pressed against his chest, heavy and suffocating, as if trying to squeeze out a thousand unshed tears.
"Ethan Moore," the announcer calls. "Begin your awakening."
As the light swirled around him, a strange mix of hope and dread flooded his senses, consuming everything in its embrace.
Then, in an instant, everything fade away.
Ethan found himself standing alone.
In an abyss of darkness.
At first, he wondered if this was just the void before the realm formed. But then the smell hit him.
Smoke. Pungent, acrid smoke mixed with the stench of burnt oil.
The sky above was gray-black, thick clouds blotting out the horizon. The ground beneath him was cracked, dry, and blackened. In the distance, dead trees stood like skeletal sentinels. Pools of thick, dark liquid lay motionless in the shadows.
Ethan swallowed hard. This wasn't empty or new.
It was broken.
Every step he took felt heavier, the weight of decay pressing down on him. He had expected a blank canvas.
Instead, what he got was ruin.
"Is this some kind of twisted joke?" he gasped, heart hammering, fear gripping him tight.
"No," he whispered to himself.
This world… it reflected him.
It mirrored his origin.
Just then,
The [System] pinged in his vision, polite and utterly indifferent:
----------------------------------------------
[Divine Realm Awakened]
Realm Name: [Undecided]
Starting Size: [1.00 km²]
Status: [Unstable - High Pollution Detected]
Resource Index: [Low]
Environmental Modifier: [-70% Growth Efficiency]
**Recommended: Fire/Metal/Decay Type Race Cards]
**Warning: Other Races types may suffer extreme penalties.]
----------------------------------------------
Ethan dropped to his knees.
This… this wasn't a coincidence.
The devastation around him was real, tangible. Smoke choked the air, trees stood as blackened skeletons, and the ground was cracked and lifeless. It was as if this place were a fragment of his previous world.
already destroyed, tattered on the edge of collapse.
Now… he was standing at the center of it all, a fledgling demigod confronting a realm that carried the weight of his past in every inch.
He looked out across the wasteland. It wasn't beautiful. Instead it was broken.
But so was his past.
The screen shifted again:
----------------------------------------------
[Returning to the real world.]
----------------------------------------------
And then I was back.
I stumbled off the platform. A few students clapped automatically, not even noticing my expression. I probably looked like everyone else to them—shocked, breathless, overwhelmed.
They had no idea.
I'm not here to save a world. I'm here to build one… from its wreckage.
Ethan's lips barely moved as he muttered to himself.
Back at the benches, the others were buzzing with excitement.
"I got a volcanic realm!"
"Mine's all crystal and caves!"
"There were glowing lakes in mine!"
Ethan stayed quiet, watching.
Beside him, a boy with spiky hair mimed an explosion with his hands. "Boom! Lava everywhere! Definitely going Flamekin."
A girl scribbled furiously in her journal, brow furrowed. "Does anyone know if sand-type realms favor insectoid creatures? mine was desert all around."
"Hey," someone asked me. What did your looked like?
Ethan gave a small smile.
"Smelled like home."
They blinked. "Cool...?"
He let the words hang.
Yeah. Real cool.
----------------------------------------------
Ethan's wristwatch beeped sharply, a notification flashing in bright letters.
"You have 24 hours to select your first Tier 1 Race Card. Proceed to your assigned classroom immediately."
The list of available cards scrolled briefly across the screen:
1. Slime (a basic, gelatinous creature made mostly of fluid)
2. Goblin (small, mischievous humanoid that can breed quickly)
3. Stone Golem (tiny rock-bodied monster)
4. Mushroomling (a small, mushroom creature that has somehow gained a sentinel)
5. Azureleaf seedling (a blue-tinged plant found all over the place)
6. Bunnykin (cute, small humanoid animal, that has high mobility)
7. Fenhopper (little frog-like creature)
8. Bonekin (a fragile but eerie undead creature)
…
The message vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving a quiet tension in its wake. Students around him began murmuring and hurrying toward their classrooms, each one eager to claim their first card.
He glanced down at the list again, the options scrolling faintly across his vision.
Ethan's stomach tightened.
His first choice… would shape everything.
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Author Notes: all chapter will be edited properly before formally starting.