Time stopped.
Literally.
The fan stilled mid-spin, its metal blades locked like frozen timepieces.
Papers rose off the floor, caught mid-air, unmoving—like memories trapped in space.
The shadows on the wall twisted unnaturally, longer, as if trying to escape his body.
Even the dust suspended itself in the golden light, each speck a glowing star.
The world wasn't just quiet.
The world… was listening.
Then—
A ripple.
A distortion of space and light right in the center of the room.
No sound, no thunder—just presence.
From the core of that rippling brilliance, a light burst forth.
Not a flash. Not a beam. But something deeper—sacred. The kind of light that didn't blind, but revealed.
It hovered in mid-air, humming softly like it remembered every pain this room had witnessed.
Then—
A panel formed.
Suspended in the middle of the room. No wires. No screen.
Just a floating interface, glowing softly in white and gold.
Letters began to burn into the air, forming lines one by one—
_____________________________
Life has rejected you.
The world has betrayed you.
Even your own soul cries for escape.
_____________________________
The words weren't heard.
They were felt.
'What is this…?'
_____________________________
But I ask you, mortal…
Do you wish to vanish…
…or evolve?
Choose now.
_____________________________
"Wha—Evolve?... Did i get something like System?.... Like in manhwas and mangas!?…"
The room responded instantly.
The walls around him turned into shadow.
The air buzzed with unseen electricity—like a machine powering on.
His body tingled, every nerve lit up like it was plugged into something beyond human.
Sid stepped back instinctively—then stopped.
_____________________________
INCORRECT COMPARISION YOU PLEB💢!! What you refer to as 'manhwas' or 'mangas'—fictional simulations of power fantasy—are but echoes of what I am.
I am not a game. Not a trope. Not wish-fulfillment.
You, are standing before the Most Advanced Self-Architecting Evolutionary System in existence. A relic of the forgotten layers of reality—built to forge kings or erase mistakes.
______________________________
He looked at his shaking hands. The same ones that failed every test.
The same ones that were about to end it all minutes ago.
He swallowed.
Then whispered—
'This is… this is really happening?'
'Wait... this is what I've always hoped for…A system.. A real one...'
The light in the room shimmered.
The air swirled—and the panel grew clearer.
More structured.
Breathing.
🌟 [SYSTEM INTERFACE INITIATING…] 🌟
A translucent window—faintly glowing gold and white, slightly floating, as if anchored to reality by nothing at all—unfolded before his eyes.
Its edges flickered with pixelated threads. A soft hum radiated from it, like a celestial heartbeat.
Below the header, lines of stylized glyphs shifted into readable script—
Ding–
______________________________
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
Welcome, User.
Emotional Status: Collapsing.
Despair Quotient: 91.4%
Life Value: Declining.
Potential: UNKNOWN.
Reason for Selection: Irrelevant.
Welcome, Initiator.
A new path has opened. A new destiny begins.
Register User Identity:
→ Use Real Name?
→ Use Custom Designation?
Please input your identity.
_______________________________
"Custom"
He stared at it.
The transparent letters hovered mid-air, breathing with faint light, each line appearing as if typed by the universe itself.His lips parted.
But the words came from deeper than that.
From years of rejection. From years of longing.
From the broken boy who once wanted to be anything else.
"It's like… my life has always been a game. And now… it actually became one."
"I used to dream about this. Getting a system. Getting power. Becoming more…"
"I gave up on that dream."
"But looks like… I got it anyways."
He let out a breath.
A tiny, shaky smile crept onto his face—like a crack in a cold mountain.
"Then I won't be Me anymore."
Letters automatically etched themselves in glowing gold:
_______________________
[USERNAME: ZERO]
_______________________
"Zero."
"It's nothing."
"And it's infinite."
'Unnoticed. Unimportant. But limitless—if given the chance.'
"It's the name I always used in my game IDs... uh- when I was in my...chunni syndrome....But how do you even know thaat?!"
_________________________________
I just know it....
Don't ask!
Designation 'Zero'... a chosen mask, born of fiction, wielded in retreat.Chuunibyou or not, it was the only world where you had control, was it not?
_________________________________
"...."
The system hummed.
Lines shifted.
Symbols rotated in his peripheral vision.
A new sound—like a divine chime—rang through the room.
__________________________________
✦ [IDENTITY CONFIRMED: ZERO] ✦
The System has accepted your soul.
Synchronization complete.
Let the evolution begin.
Welcome, Zero.
The number of nothing.
The root of infinity.
The symbol of reset, of void, of endless creation.
___________________________________
A ripple passed through space.
The system shimmered again—then began to speak.
____________________________________
You are not chosen because you are strong.
You are chosen because you are nothing.
You are… beneath the average failure.
Not worth saving. Not worth watching. Forgotten by fate.
A perfect vessel.
I am not like other systems you've heard of.
I am the Apex Protocol. The Supreme-Origin Core.
Where others assign you stats, I let you define law.
Where others give you quests, I offer dimensions.
Where others make you a player, I make you a variable in reality itself.
______________________________________
A tremor passed through space.
Then—
CRACK!
The world around Zero shattered like glass.
He didn't fall.
He didn't rise.
He was simply… taken.
The fragments of his room scattered into stardust—ceiling, walls, floor, all dissolving into weightless splinters of memory.
He clenched his fists, but there was nothing to hold.
No ground.
No sky.
Only a blinding, endless white void.
He floated.
Or stood.
Or maybe both.
There was no wind, no surface, no gravity—yet he wasn't falling. As if his presence alone dictated balance.
'Where… am I?'
The space was impossibly vast.
Silent.
Timeless.
Unreal.
White.
Then—
The emptiness began to vibrate.
Tiny lights—hundreds, then thousands—began forming around him like falling stars rising in reverse.
From the horizonless void, floating cards began to emerge.
Some small. Some massive. Each carried an aura—color-coded, glowing, breathing.
They did not follow any order..
They were scattered chaotically across the infinite white void—as if fate had thrown a cosmic deck of divine tarot into the sky and let them fall where they may.
Some were low to the floor.
Others hung miles high above.
Many pulsed in clusters—others drifted alone, shimmering like predators in hiding.
Each card, regardless of position, gave off a unique pressure. A gravity of desire—pulling him closer. Tempting him.
The pressure in the air changed instantly.
Even in this formless white realm… Zero could feel it.
Then—a golden shimmer danced into existence in front of him.
The system panel appeared again, floating as naturally as a thought—
_____________________________________
[INTERSPACE DETECTED]
You have entered the Selection Void.
A formless domain created to stabilize awakening protocols.
This is where your path is forged.
Depending on your choices, your class will form, your system will stabilize, and your fate… will crystallize.
By base design, you may only claim and bind five cards to form your Core System Identity. That limit is absolute—for now.
Each card shapes your core abilities. The synergy between them defines your evolution route
Be warned: higher-ranked cards require immense mental strength, spiritual tolerance, and soul endurance.
The higher the potential… the greater the cost.
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
These are not templates. These are truths. Each card is a path. A world. A prison or a kingdom. Choose wrong… and you may lose yourself.
Step forward, Zero. You may now design your fate.
_________________________________________
A small blink.
Then—another box unfolded, filled with glowing script:
__________________________________________
🟫 F-RANK – The Dustborn Tier
Size: Half the height of a human (waist-level)
Description: These cards float low to the ground, their light faint and unstable. They're meant for small conveniences—minor skills, weak passive abilities, or entry-level crafts.
Examples: Basic cooking boost, minor health regen, improved typing speed.
🟦 E-RANK – The Initiate Tier
Size: Human-sized (roughly 6 feet tall)
Description: These cards shine gently with stable energy. Common among low-tier system holders, E-rank powers are practical but unimpressive. Useful for survival.
Examples: Fireball (low heat), parkour boost, minor healing, simple illusions.
🟩 D-RANK – The Adept Tier
Size: As tall as a delivery truck
Description: The first level where combat and offensive/defensive capability take real shape. These cards glow with runes and release a faint hum of energy.
Examples: Martial weapon mastery, elemental shielding, body reinforcement, low-tier summons.
🟪 C-RANK – The Breaker Tier
Size: Comparable to a two-story building.
Description: Cards of war and control. They hover higher than others and give off visible heat or frost, often radiating with active force fields.
Examples: Wind domain, bloodline awakening, short-range teleportation, minor time delay.
🟧 B-RANK – The Warborn Tier
Size: Mid-rise building (4–5 stories tall)
Description: These cards distort nearby space just by existing. Touching them directly without a stable core can injure the soul.
Examples: Beast fusion, pocket dimension storage, high-tier summoning, body reconstruction.
🟥 A-RANK – The Authority Tier
Size: Small skyscraper
Description: Legendary-class cards. They release divine sounds, shifting light patterns, and gravitational pull. Often sealed behind puzzle glyphs.
Examples: Authority over an element, time skipping, controlling fear, genetic rewriting, spiritual cloning.
⬛🟨⬜ S-RANK – The Crowned Tier
Size: Towering skyscrapers
Description: These cards don't look like cards anymore—they're massive, monolithic, wrapped in golden chains or orbiting rings. Each holds a law of reality.
Examples: Rewrite cause and effect, create economic control zones, reshape mental realms, absorb concepts like 'luck' or 'death'.
⚠️ WARNING: Higher tier cards require compatible mental strength, soul stability, and class synergy.
Choose recklessly, and the card may consume you.
________________________________________
________________________________________
Choose wisely… and become more than mortal.
To seek what lies beyond… you must explore.
Observe and comprehend.The card's size reflects its cosmic weight. The further you go, the closer to godhood you tread.
Only five cards will bind to your soul.
Choose… and become.
__________________________________________
Cards
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Each glowing with its own aura, its own promise, its own temptation.
"Five… I can only take five."
__________________________________________
Begin.Touch no card lightly. This void records all. And once bound, the path will brand your soul.
__________________________________________
He stood in the holy void.
The weight of fate pressing against his back.
The future floating before him.
And so—
He took his first step.