The darkness wasn't silent. It was filled with a mechanical hum, the steady beeping of machines, and the quiet breaths of a world that had left Jack Bernard behind.
He couldn't move, not even a twitch of his fingers. But he could think.
And he could see.
The glowing blue screen hovered in his vision like a god's whisper.
[Would You Like to Make a Wager?]
He focused. One thought. One word.
Yes.
The screen pulsed.
[WAGER ACCEPTED]
[Challenger: Jack Bernard]
[Battle Format: You Choose the Game]
[Your Stake: Your Life]
[Opponent's Stake: Full Physical Recovery + Trait Unlock: Analytical Eye (F-Rank)]
[Do You Accept These Terms?]
His life? He was already paralyzed, helpless. What was left to lose? He had no strength, no power, no way to protect the people who mattered. Just a head full of thoughts and the memory of fists raining down.
Jack focused again.
Yes.
The darkness peeled away like wet cloth. The ceiling above shattered into glass shards. Gravity fell out from under him. He plunged into void.
Through color, through memory, through static. Through echoes of Mia's screams, his mother's sobs. A lifetime of desperation folded into seconds.
It wasn't falling in the way dreams often felt. It was deeper. As if he were being pulled through reality itself—memories scattered like paper as his mind passed through them. His first losing poker game. His father's funeral. His mother's last smile before the hospital bills started piling up.
Then stillness.
A new screen appeared, black and gold. Crisp. Elegant. Absolute.
[Choose Your Game]
Coin Flip Duel (Beginner Mode)Five-Card Draw (Standard)Rock-Paper-Scissors: Reverse Format (Experimental)
Jack stared. They weren't just games. They were weapons now. A reflection of his experience, his instincts.
He smiled inside.
"Let's start with something simple."
[Selected: Coin Flip Duel]
[Rules: Best of 5. Each flip must be CALLED before toss. Must win 3 to succeed.]
[Round 1: Call the Flip]
His heart thudded like a drum.
"Heads."
The coin spun. Not in air, but in endless void. It shimmered, caught light that shouldn't exist. It tumbled forever in a place where time barely moved. Like a star deciding its fate.
[Result: Heads – Round Win]
[Round 2: Call the Flip]
His confidence surged. "Tails."
The coin obeyed. It rose, danced, shimmered.
[Result: Tails – Round Win]
Two for two. His breath came easier. He was beginning to understand it. The System wasn't pure chance, it had rhythm… Momentum.
And yet...
[Round 3: Call the Flip]
He hesitated for a moment. The pattern said heads. But that felt too easy for him.
"Heads."
[Result: Tails – Round Loss]
[Score: 2-1]
A chill slid down his spine, not from fear, not yet, but caution. The System wasn't rigged in his favor, it was testing him, not just chance but will, mental clarity.
[Round 4: Call the Flip]
He tried to breathe, to clear the rising static in his thoughts.
"Tails."
[Result: Heads – Round Loss]
[Score: 2-2]
This was it. The cutting edge of everything.
[Round 5: Final Flip]
Jack fell into silence. He could feel the weight of the moment crushing in. A phantom pressure settled over his chest. It wasn't just a coin. It was fate, dead or alive.
He thought of Mia's face beside the hospital bed. Her red, swollen eyes. The way she gripped his hand like he was her only tether.
He thought of his mother. Her desperate, breaking herself to protect them. Her voice crying out behind the door.
He thought of the debt. The beatings. The helplessness. The voice in his head that kept saying: you're too weak to matter.
And then he remembered who he was.
A gambler. A reader of odds. A man who didn't flinch from risk. He'd survived games tougher than this. Not with luck, but instinct.
Jack smiled.
"Heads."
The coin rose one last time.
[Result: Heads – Round Win]
[VICTORY CONFIRMED]
[XP Gained: 0]
[Reward Granted: Full Physical Recovery + Trait Unlocked: Analytical Eye (F-Rank)]
Light flooded his vision, a torrent after the dark. His lungs, starved for air, seized it with a desperate, ragged gasp, his chest heaving as life surged back into him.
He could move.
His fingers twitched, toes curled, and a wave of sensation crashed through him. The hospital ceiling, once a blur, sharpened into focus like dawn breaking over night.
He blinked.
And then the world changed.
Lines and colors, data streams and faint text overlays appeared. A glow shimmered in the corner of his eye. Faces, sounds, probabilities. His vision wasn't normal anymore.
[Analytical Eye Activated]
He saw Mia slumped beside his bed. Her breathing slow and soft. Her hair a tangled mess of worry and exhaustion.
From the hallway came the crack of his mother's voice.
"Please, just give us one more week. He just woke up… please..."
Jack's new vision highlighted a subtle tremor in her voice.
Probability of her plea succeeding: 2.4%.
A red warning tag blinked next to her silhouette.
[Threat Proximity: Mild | Stress Level: Critical | External Hostility Detected Nearby]
Jack clenched his fist.
Not again. Never again.
He turned his head for the first time in days. The pain was faint, dulled by whatever magic the System had poured through him.
He could feel the strength returning, the weight of his body reclaiming itself.
He could stand. He would stand.
A final screen appeared.
[Welcome to the All-or-Nothing System]
[Player ID: Jack Bernard]
[Current Trait: Analytical Eye (F-Rank)]
[Rank: Unranked]
[New Opportunities: Pending...]
[Let the Gamble Begin]
Jack stared at those words with smirk on his face.
The glow from the screen faded into the edges of his vision. He looked at Mia. At the hospital door. At the world.
And for the first time since the coma, he truly smiled.
"Let the gamble begin."