The flickering glow of a monitor was the only light in the cramped apartment. Empty instant noodle cups littered the desk, and a stack of unpaid bills leaned precariously on the corner. Outside, the city of Qinghai buzzed with life, but inside this suffocating room, only silence and the faint hum of electronics reigned.
Su Yuan leaned back in his chair, the cheap plastic groaning under his weight. His eyes, bloodshot from too many sleepless nights, stared at the screen with a mixture of melancholy and resignation.
On the monitor, a majestic world unfolded—towers of crystal, sprawling forests alive with mythical beasts, and skyships drifting across a violet horizon. It was a world he knew better than his own reflection: Arcane Destiny Online.
[Final Server Shutdown Countdown: 00:11:29]
The bright red numbers ticked down with merciless precision. Eleven minutes left before the game—the world he had poured half his life into—was gone forever.
Su Yuan's lips curled into a bitter smile. "Ten years… and this is how it ends."
A Broken Life
At twenty-four, Su Yuan had already lived through more despair than most. Born in an orphanage, he had no family, no inheritance, no safety net. He clawed his way through school with scholarships, worked part-time jobs to survive, and finally graduated from university.
And yet, reality had been cruel. Companies rejected him, citing his lack of connections. Those that accepted him squeezed every drop of labor they could before discarding him like trash.
Now, jobless again, he had only this game left. Arcane Destiny Online was the one place where he wasn't powerless, where he wasn't "just another failure."
In the game, he was Solari, Archmage of the Thousand Flames, one of the first players to clear the Abyssal Labyrinth. He had once stood at the pinnacle of leaderboards, respected and envied.
But even legends fade. The player base dwindled as newer games appeared. Guilds disbanded. Friends disappeared. And now, the servers were shutting down for good.
The Final Night
Su Yuan guided his avatar through the city of Aurelia one last time. NPCs bustled in their eternal loops, merchants shouting their wares, children laughing in the streets. Soon, all of them would vanish into digital nothingness.
"Feels almost… alive," he whispered.
His character, clad in flowing crimson robes, stood atop the Mage Tower—the highest point in the capital. He looked down on the city, a king gazing at his domain.
Memories flooded him. Nights spent grinding mobs until dawn. The thrill of defeating a world boss with only a sliver of HP left. The joy of trading jokes with guildmates in voice chat.
"Everyone moved on. But me… I stayed."
He glanced at the countdown again.
[00:07:42]
A heaviness settled in his chest. He knew it was ridiculous to mourn a game, but Arcane Destiny had been more than that. It was his second home, his escape from the harshness of reality.
Su Yuan opened his inventory one last time. Rows of legendary gear, priceless artifacts, spell scrolls—trophies of years of effort. He scrolled slowly, as though flipping through an old photo album.
Finally, he unequipped everything. His avatar stood bare, just a simple apprentice's robe on his back—the same he had started with a decade ago.
"From beginning to end," he murmured. "Let's finish this properly."
Farewell to a World
The countdown neared its final minute. Other players gathered in Aurelia, their characters dancing, shouting farewells, spamming fireworks spells. The sky above the city lit up in a dazzling spectacle of colors.
Su Yuan didn't join them. He simply sat atop the Mage Tower, silent, watching.
"Thank you… for giving me a place where I mattered."
[00:00:10]
His throat tightened.
[00:00:05]
He closed his eyes.
[00:00:00]
The screen went black.
The Storm
Silence. The apartment felt emptier than ever.
Su Yuan removed his headset slowly, placing it on the desk. Without the game's warmth, the cold of reality pressed in. He leaned back, staring at the ceiling, feeling an ache he couldn't put into words.
"What now…?" he muttered.
The question hung in the stale air. His life had no direction. No job, no family, no future. Only an endless cycle of rejection and despair.
A low rumble drew his attention. He glanced at the window. Outside, the night sky was boiling with storm clouds. Flashes of lightning streaked across the heavens, followed by rolling thunder that shook the apartment walls.
Su Yuan frowned. "The forecast didn't mention a storm…"
The TV in the corner flickered to life on its own, broadcasting an emergency report.
"—unprecedented atmospheric disturbance. Citizens are advised to remain indoors. Lightning strikes reported across the city—"
A deafening crack split the air. Blinding light flooded the room.
Su Yuan barely had time to gasp before something crashed through the window—a spear of lightning, pure and white. It struck him square in the chest.
Agony unlike anything he had ever known ripped through him. His body convulsed, his vision blurred. He collapsed to the floor, the smell of ozone filling his nostrils.
As consciousness slipped away, one last thought echoed in his mind:
If only… I could live in that world instead.
Between Life and Death
Darkness. Endless, suffocating darkness.
Su Yuan floated weightlessly, his body numb, his thoughts scattered.
"…Is this death?"
No answer. Only silence.
Then—
A faint chime.
[Unlimited Resource System initializing…]
His eyes snapped open—though he had no body, no form.
[Host bound: Su Yuan][Welcome, chosen one.]
"What… is this?"
[System activated.][Newbie gift pack distributed.][Congratulations! You have obtained: Infinite Mana.]
The words echoed in his mind, unreal, impossible.
"Infinite… mana?"
Before he could process it, the darkness shattered.
Awakening in a New World
Cold. Pain. Hunger.
Su Yuan groaned, clutching his head as memories not his own flooded in. Images of classrooms filled with robed apprentices. Harsh instructors barking lessons. The endless humiliation of being called "trash."
When the dizziness passed, he found himself lying on a straw bed in a cramped, dimly lit dormitory. His body was frail, his hands thin and scarred.
"This… this isn't my apartment."
He staggered to a cracked mirror on the wall. The reflection staring back was not Solari, the Archmage, but a gaunt youth of sixteen with dull black hair and hollow eyes. His robes were patched and worn, a cheap imitation of a mage apprentice's attire.
More memories surged.
This body belonged to Su Yuan, an orphan raised in the outer district of Aurelia Mage Academy. He was one of the few with a trace of mana sense, barely qualifying as an apprentice. But his talent was abysmal. He could barely light a candle with his magic. Other students mocked him as trash, and teachers ignored him.
The realization hit him like a hammer.
"I… transmigrated. Into Arcane Destiny Online."
Excitement warred with dread. This was the world he knew, the game he had mastered. But instead of being a powerful mage, he was… the weakest of the weak.
Then he remembered the voice. The system.
"Infinite mana…"
He sat cross-legged on the bed, closing his eyes. Slowly, he reached inward, searching for the thread of mana within.
What he found stunned him.
It wasn't a thread. It was an ocean. Endless, boundless, stretching into infinity.
Mana surged through his veins, limitless, pure.
A laugh escaped his lips—half disbelieving, half ecstatic.
"I… I really have infinite mana!"
The weakest trash had become something no one else in this world could imagine.
A flame danced in his palm, brighter and hotter than any apprentice could ever conjure. It didn't sputter or fade. No matter how much mana he poured into it, his reserves remained unchanged—an eternal sea.
His heart raced. For the first time in both lives, Su Yuan felt a spark of hope.
The system's words echoed again.
[Every day, the host will receive unlimited copies of a random resource.][Luck determines whether the item is useless… or priceless.]
A slow smile spread across his face.
From trash apprentice… to infinite mage.
The world would never see him coming.