**Chapter 2: Echoes and Comparisons**
The scent of simmering root stew and drying herbs filled the small, sturdy home just inside the West Quarter residential blocks. It was a familiar, comforting smell, one Sarah associated with safety within City D's walls. She pushed open the heavy wooden door, the familiar creak echoing in the sudden silence of the entryway. Her mother was likely still at the market guild, haggling over medicinal plants.
Sarah took a step inside, ready to drop her satchel filled with apprentice healer supplies onto the worn bench by the door. It was an ordinary end to an ordinary day.
Then the world tilted.
A gasp tore from her throat as she stumbled, bracing herself against the cool stone wall. It wasn't dizziness. It was… memory. Not the fleeting *déjà vu* kind, but a torrential flood, overwhelming and absolute.
*Flashes assaulted her mind: Blazing energy crackling around her hands, the roar of colossal beasts falling silent under her command, strategizing with stern-faced commanders under flickering gaslight maps, the slow, painstaking reclaiming of land outside the walls. Sector by sector, city by struggling city reconnecting across the Changed Lands. Herself, standing tall, respected, powerful – on the cusp of true ascension, ready to push humanity further than it had dared dream since the Rifts tore the sky.*
*Then, betrayal. A sharp pain, not physical, but deeper. A trusted face twisting into a mask of greed. A stunning blow she never saw coming. Darkness.*
*Death.*
She squeezed her eyes shut, knuckles white against the stone. This wasn't a dream. This wasn't madness. She remembered this exact moment – returning home, the smell of stew, the worn bench. She remembered *living* far, far beyond this day. She remembered dying.
*I'm back,* she realized, the thought a thunderclap in her mind. *Reborn. Sent back.*
A fierce resolve ignited in her chest, burning away the shock. They had torn her down at the height of her power, just as she was about to solidify humanity's resurgence. They thought they had won. They were wrong. She knew the paths now, the pitfalls, the hidden opportunities. She would climb again, faster, stronger, and this time, she would be ready for the vipers in the grass.
Suddenly, a faint, familiar chime echoed only in her mind.
*Ding!*
A translucent blue screen shimmered into existence before her eyes, invisible to anyone else. Lines of glowing text scrolled into view:
**[Comparison System Activated]**
**[Host Soul Integrity Confirmed]**
**[Timeline Anomaly Detected - Recalibrating...]**
**[Welcome back, User Sarah.]**
A shaky smile touched Sarah's lips. Yes. *This*. This was the inexplicable edge she'd had, the strange system that had appeared years later in her previous life, guiding her, pushing her, comparing her growth against rivals and benchmarks, rewarding progress. It had been her secret weapon, the catalyst that propelled her rise.
*And it's here now,* she thought, a thrill running through her. *So much earlier than before.* With her future knowledge and the system activating from the very beginning? Her ascent wouldn't just be repeated; it would be perfected.
**[System Initializing First Comparison...]**
**[Scanning Immediate Vicinity for Potential Comparison Targets...]**
**[Target Selection Criteria: Proximity, Recent Affinity Fluctuation, Growth Potential...]**
Sarah watched, holding her breath slightly. Who would it be this time? Last time, her first comparison had been against a minor bully with a middling Fire Affinity, an easy first step. Who was nearby now?
**[Ding! First Comparison Target Acquired: Sav]**
**[Target Affinity: Undead (Anomalous Signature Detected)]**
**[Current Rank: E-Rank Hunter (Provisional)]**
**[Initiate Comparison? Y/N]**
Sarah blinked. *Sav?*
The name stunned her. Sav? The quiet, dusty boy her mother had taken in maybe a year or so ago? The one who spent all his time hunched over books or staring at the Hunters returning through the East Gate? His parents, old friends of her mother's from before the Rifts, had perished on a scavenging trip deep in the Changed Lands. Her mother, always too kind for her own good sometimes, hadn't hesitated to offer him shelter. He was… just Sav. Polite, kept to himself, obsessed with that supposedly useless Undead Affinity.
In her previous life, Sav had barely registered. He'd probably faded into the background, maybe failed the Hunter test entirely, or worse. He certainly hadn't been her first comparison target.
*But the system is here early,* she realized, connecting the dots. *It activated now because *I* came back now.* And Sav… he must have just done *something*. That E-Rank… he must have somehow passed the test, right now, today. His affinity must have shown some kind of fluctuation the system deemed significant. Because the system appeared *now*, Sav, being physically close and having just achieved a minimal threshold, was the closest qualifying candidate.
The world felt subtly different already. The timeline wasn't just reset; it was altered by her very presence and the system's premature arrival. Sav, the unremarkable Bone-Picker, was now her first official step on the path back to the pinnacle.
Sarah stared at the shimmering blue text, a thoughtful, almost predatory glint entering her eyes.
*Interesting.*
She mentally selected 'Y'.
**[Comparison Initiated: Sarah vs. Sav]**
**[Displaying Initial Stats...]**
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