"I am Riku, or perhaps..."
In a dim room, a white-haired, golden-eyed boy muttered blankly to himself. The deep, melancholic gold in his eyes now seemed lost and confused.
After a few minutes, the boy snapped back to reality, his golden eyes filled with complex shock and disbelief. He had transmigrated, seizing this body for himself. To be precise, his soul had devoured the soul of the boy called Riku, who had collapsed under the weight of guilt, regret, despair, and every kind of negative emotion.
This world was in chaos.
On this planet called Disboard, there existed gods and all manner of fantasy races created by them. Led by the god races, these fantasy creatures waged endless war for supremacy, using powers beyond human imagination to turn this beautiful planet into a ravaged, wounded wasteland.
Everywhere were massive craters, rifts, and scorch marks. The once-blue sky was obscured by dust, shrouding the world in darkness.
Human civilization, once vast, was destroyed by these mighty races as easily as squashing a bug.
In the eyes of the other races, humans weren't even as valuable as livestock—pathetically weak.
Humans could do nothing but run, endlessly searching for somewhere safer to live. Even then, a careless mistake could mean being wiped out by the collateral damage of the battles between other races.
Yes, just the aftershocks. To the other races, humans were no different than monkeys. Maybe some mindless fiends that ate people would hunt them, but there was no race that bothered to deliberately hunt humans. To these beings, humans were like monkeys or ants: if you saw them, you might crush them, but going out of your way to hunt them down would be a waste of precious time.
That was the place of humanity on Disboard—weak and insignificant.
Yet, in order to survive, humans could only bury all their negative emotions deep inside and keep running, doing whatever it took to live.
If two people needed to survive, one would be abandoned.
If four people could be saved, two would be sacrificed.
When encountering other races, humans could only use tactics where a companion would intentionally draw attention to themselves and die, so the majority could escape.
As the one giving those orders, the boy called Riku had accumulated too much psychological pressure. In the end, his soul completely collapsed.
"Never thought I'd come to this world like this," the boy said with a faint, bitter smile.
He was very familiar with this world and with Riku, after all, he'd watched the anime No Game No Life and its movie.
"Reality is harsher than anime," he muttered. In the anime, Riku was under immense pressure, but he didn't collapse. Instead, he ended the war with his wits.
But this world's Riku did break down.
"From now on, I am Riku. I'll try to fulfill your last wishes as best as I can," the boy murmured in his heart.
In his previous life, he was like a ghost—no family, no friends. If he disappeared or died suddenly, probably no one would care. Maybe some people would even be happy; after all, he was always treated as a monster.
Ordinary people often fear geniuses they cannot understand.
Riku shook his head mockingly. Riku's circumstances reminded him of the siblings who would arrive in this world six thousand years later. Also misunderstood, also treated like monsters.
So, whatever he was before, whatever his name was, it didn't matter anymore. From now on, his name was Riku.
Ding!
[Supreme Treasure Chest System: User accepted. Loading...]
At that moment, a mechanical voice echoed in Riku's mind, making him narrow his golden eyes.
Even though he immediately thought of the legendary "cheat" ability, he was pleased but didn't show any excitement. This preternatural calmness was one reason he'd always been called a monster.
[Supreme Treasure Chest System loading... 1%... 10%... 78%... 99%... 100%.]
[Loading complete.]
[Respected master, the Supreme Treasure Chest System is now at your service.]
[The system divides treasure chests into Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. These are just the basic types; other varieties await your discovery.]
[Reminder: Even Bronze chests can yield powerful items. The chances are just lower.]
After the emotionless mechanical voice finished, a map appeared before Riku's eyes.
"So basic, but it'll do," Riku muttered, glancing at the map, the red dots above it, and the various chests marked by those dots.
"This is the world map, right?" he asked, though his tone was certain—he already knew. "And those red dots must be the randomly distributed chest locations."
[Correct.]
"Can you make a more detailed map? For example, showing the distribution of the different factions?" Riku asked seriously.