In a quiet suburban neighborhood, a room sat bathed in the dim glow of a lone lamp resting on a small table beside the bed. Silence filled the space, broken only by the soft rustling of curtains stirred by the late-night breeze and the gentle exhale of a teenager lying motionless on his bed.
His eyes were wide open, fixed on the ceiling, lost in deep contemplation.
Noah lay there, adrift in thought, until a sudden heavy exhale brought him back to reality—if only for a moment. His mind was clearly burdened, his focus slipping again into the heavy fog of memories and what-ifs.
His gaze shifted toward the window. The cool night air drifted in, parting the curtains and revealing a clear view of the starlit sky. For a brief moment, he admired the peaceful beauty of it all. But peace was fleeting. The thoughts he'd been trying to escape resurfaced once more.
With another weary sigh, his eyes returned to the ceiling. His thoughts wandered again—this time to the beginning.
Noah remembered everything clearly. Too clearly.
He wasn't from this world—or more precisely, he wasn't originally from this world. He'd once lived a different life, a different existence. A life he lost in an act of selflessness—saving a child from being hit by a truck. Yeah, the cliché.
In those final seconds, he believed it was truly the end. He hadn't believed in heaven or hell, or even reincarnation. He thought he would simply cease to exist, his body returning to the earth, fading into the vastness of the universe.
But as he took his final breath, regret consumed him. Regret for the goals he never reached. For the loved ones he left behind. And maybe even for the reckless decision to save a stranger's life at the cost of his own.
He remembered lying there, broken and bleeding, barely able to breathe. His vision blurred from blood loss, his body screaming in pain. He could just barely make out the boy he'd saved—unconscious, bruised, but alive. At least that much had gone right.
And then… darkness.
He remembered the silence. The numbness. The slow, reluctant pull of death as memories of his life rushed past in one final, painful montage. Tears filled his eyes as he felt it all slipping away. A single tear fell—and then everything faded to black.
But it wasn't the end.
To his shock, his eyes opened again.
At first, he thought he'd been saved—rescued in the nick of time. But when his vision cleared, he saw two unfamiliar faces staring down at him with warmth and affection.
It didn't take long for him to piece it together.
He had been reincarnated.
No matter how hard he tried to deny it, the truth stood in front of him. New parents. A new life. A second chance.
That day had changed everything. It shattered his beliefs, rewrote his understanding of reality, and left him questioning the nature of fate itself.
Years passed. Five, to be exact.
And then came that day.
It had started like any other. Just him, his mom, and dad on the way home. No warnings. No signs. Just a sudden, tragic accident that claimed both of their lives.
Miraculously, Noah had survived. From that day forward, he was taken in by his mother's sister, Aunt Debbie, and her husband, Nolan.
And now, here he was—years later—staring at the ceiling once again, trapped in thought, weighed down by a past that refused to let him go.
Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Noah felt something wriggle under his sheets, struggling to climb towards him.
A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he reached under the sheets, hands grabbing onto the culprit. He managed to pull it out. It was a lizard—his lizard—one of his few successful experiments.
The lizard lifted into the air, shook excitedly, its long tongue reaching for Noah, who quickly moved his head out of the way. "Toothless, don't even think about it. I just took a shower," he quickly reprimanded.
Reluctantly, the lizard retracted its tongue. "That's much better," Noah said with a smile, laying the lizard beside him. He patted the lizard's head gently. Almost purring, it curled up beside him, cuddling into his arms.
This action made Noah's smile deepen. His companion's actions were simply too endearing and cute; it sparked memories of his actions over the years and of his current dilemma.
He was undeniably aware of the world he had been reborn into. This world was the world of an animation come to reality. It was the world of Invincible—a world that he had once regarded as fiction. Now he was living it.
And not only that, the people heavily involved in the plot were his relatives. He was at the center of it all.
Noah was all too familiar with the dangers this world posed. Not only were villains rampant, Kaiju attacks were the norm, and alien invasions were just another annual event.
Casualties were always at an all-time high. The world was in a constant, perpetual state of chaos, and it was all about to skyrocket.
Today was Mark's seventeenth birthday. This meant that Mark was soon to awaken his Viltrumite powers—a turning point in the plot of this world. The world was about to be thrown into chaos.
The Viltrumites' attempt to conquer Earth was about to begin, and his Uncle Nolan, Aunt Debbie, and cousin Mark were at the front of it all.
Noah had long since realized the incoming danger the future brought, and he had long since been trying to prepare to the best of his abilities. In his past life, he had just begun to step into his career as a geneticist—a good one at that. In his past life, he had been regarded as a genius among geniuses.
Luckily, he still had this trait in this life. Utilizing his intellect, he had already begun to prepare for the chaotic future ahead. With his past life as an advantage, he had already covered much ground.
With more on his plate, aside from his extensive knowledge of biology and life, he had also undertaken other fields like engineering, delving deep into it.
But it was still mostly supplementary. His main focus was still biology. With his past life's memory intact, he had a great head start. At a young age, he had already begun experimenting, exploring theories, and trying his best to prepare for the future.
But it all truly began two years ago. His uncle, Nolan, had taken an interest in his intelligence and, having noticed Noah's interest in taking samples of any organism he could to study extensively, brought back a fresh sample from a Kaiju he had just defeated—a reptilian, dragon-like Kaiju.
Just some scales with some tissue on them. It was then that he truly saw a possible way forward. Toothless was one of the results of his experiments—a highly intelligent lizard, dangerous but controllable.
His thoughts drifted further—he had something prepared. After two long, grueling years of relentless effort, he had finally completed his creation—a super serum, synthesized from Kaiju blood and refined through sleepless nights of research.
Noah reached for the drawer and slowly pulled it open, revealing a compact, black box nestled inside. He glanced around, as if expecting someone to be watching, then carefully opened the lid.
A dim green glow escaped as the box parted. Inside was a single vial—small, delicate, and filled with a luminous green liquid. It pulsed faintly, as though alive. This was the culmination of his work. A product of obsession and innovation, blending Kaiju and reptilian DNA into something entirely new.
Yet he hesitated.
It wasn't ready—not completely. The formula remained unperfected. By his calculations, there was a seventy-percent chance the serum would grant him extraordinary powers. The very kind he had dreamed of. But the other thirty percent? Unpredictable. Dangerous. Possibly fatal.
As much as he craved power, he couldn't bring himself to risk it. Not yet.
And even if it worked—he frowned—what then? What good were powers that couldn't rival a Viltrumite? Without their resilience, without their raw strength and speed, any enhancement would still leave him leagues below the monsters he feared. Gaining powers wasn't enough. He needed to survive.
The thought sank heavy in his chest, feeding a familiar dread. Anxiety swirled in his mind, wrapping around every doubt and whispering the same truth: it wasn't enough.
He sighed and gently placed the vial back into the box, locking it away once more.
Sleep refused to come. He reached for his phone on the table beside him and powered it on. The screen glowed to life.
11:59 p.m.
Seconds from a new day.
He was about to set the phone down and force himself to sleep when the second hand completed its rotation, ushering in midnight. As his eyes closed and his body relaxed—
A sound erupted inside his head. Sudden and out of place.
*Ding*
[System activating]
————————
[Name: Noah Silver
[Age: 17
[Gender: Male
[Height: 185 cm / 6'1"
──────────────
[Abilities
— Telekinesis — Lv.1 (New!)
→ Status: Awakened | 1% XP to Lv.2.....