I laid on the bed for a long moment, letting the adrenaline drain, my pulse still hammering in my ears. The black hoodie and pants sat neatly in the wardrobe, untouched, but I couldn't bring myself to move. Every fiber of my being screamed that something was… off. That nothing in this place was ordinary.
My hands traced the edge of the mattress, my new muscles unfamiliar beneath my fingers. Taller. Stronger. Leaner. I flexed involuntarily, feeling a strength I had never known. My reflection earlier… those twin purple eyes… the body. None of it made sense, but a fragment of something familiar tugged at the back of my mind, whispering that there was a pattern here, a logic beneath the chaos.
I sat up slowly, heart still hammering, breathing uneven. The words from the mysterious notification, the "Cycle 01" text, the purge, the wardrobe, the note—Too painful—everything screamed of rules, systems, mechanics. Like this was… a structure I didn't yet understand.
A thought flitted through my mind, fragile and almost ridiculous in the quiet luxury of the room: maybe… maybe I could talk to it.
I swallowed hard, my voice trembling as I muttered, almost as a test.
"Status"...
________________________________________
𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑻𝑼𝑺
𝑵𝑨𝑴𝑬: 𝑹𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒍 𝑯𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒓
𝑨𝑮𝑬: 16
𝑩𝑳𝑶𝑶𝑫-𝑳𝑰𝑵𝑬: 𝑵𝒐𝒏𝒆
𝑷𝑶𝑻𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑰𝑨𝑳: 𝑩+
𝑻𝑰𝑬𝑹: 𝑭+
𝑺𝑻𝑹𝑬𝑵𝑮𝑻𝑯: 𝑭+
𝑽𝑰𝑻𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑻𝒀: 𝑭-
𝑨𝑮𝑰𝑳𝑰𝑻𝒀: 𝑭
𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑳𝑳𝑰𝑮𝑬𝑵𝑪𝑬: 𝑺+
𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑴: 𝑨+
𝑨𝑭𝑭𝑰𝑵𝑰𝑻𝒀: 𝑳𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑵𝑰𝑵G (Adept)- 𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒅. 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆, 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒚𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒍𝒚, 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆.
𝑰𝑵𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑬 𝑨𝑭𝑭𝑰𝑵𝑰𝑻𝒀: 𝑽𝑶𝑰𝑫 ( Beginner):𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔. 𝑩𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔, 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. 𝑺𝒖𝒃𝒕𝒍𝒆, 𝒆𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒆—𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒍𝒚. 𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 10𝒎 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒖𝒔.
𝑺𝑲𝑰𝑳𝑳𝑺: 𝑬𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒔𝒆 𝑽𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕 (B- 𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒌): 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅, 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔. 𝑨𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒘.
𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌 ( 𝑪+ 𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒌): 𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒔 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔.
________________________________________
I blinked, hesitating, before my hand hovered in front of the faint, translucent screen that had appeared when I said Status. The numbers and letters blinked at me, precise and clinical. My pulse picked up again as I read line by line.
Name: Raviel Hatcher.
The name was unfamiliar. I swallowed hard. Raviel Hatcher… Who was he? A name from nowhere—or someone important? My stomach churned.
Age: 16, just like my age in my world,
Potential: B+
Current Tier: F+
Strength: F+
Vitality: F-
Agility: F
Charm: A+
Intelligence: S+
I froze at Charm. A+. Absurdly high. My eyebrows shot up. I knew what charm meant—likeability, presence, influence—but this number was ridiculous. In a real human sense, it didn't make sense that someone with my awkward, panicked personality could score that high. Yet here it was, glaring at me like an impossible fact.
And my intelligence… S+. My mind raced, trying to process it. Sharp, precise, perfect… yet entirely unfamiliar.
I swallowed again, heart hammering as my eyes flicked down.
Affinity: Lightning – Adept
Okay, that… I could grasp. Lightning. Some sort of elemental power. Not unheard of. Not too strange. But then…
Innate Affinity: Void – Beginner
Something in the word Innate stabbed at me. My breathing quickened. My chest tightened. I remembered—just a fragment, a faint echo, a whisper from somewhere in my mind. That word. Innate . I'd read it before. In a story, a forum discussion, a fan theory, something that had lodged itself in my subconscious. It was… it was connected.
My fingers trembled as I hovered over the screen. The memory pressed at the back of my skull like a heartbeat. My eyes darted down the rest of the screen—no, I couldn't. I didn't want to confirm. My hands jerked, slamming the display closed. My breathing was ragged.
I pressed both palms to my face, inhaling shakily. Too much. Too much.
I stumbled backward, letting my back hit the desk. My fingers brushed the smooth surface of something new—sleek, cold, unmistakably modern. A laptop.
Instinctively, I touched it.
It blinked on instantly.
USER IDENTIFIED!. WELCOME, RAVIEL.
I jerked back. The screen glowed in a soft, sterile light, yet the interface looked familiar. Not my world, but similar. More modern. Sleek. The kind of tech I'd only read about in novels or seen in forums about futuristic worlds.
I opened the browser instinctively, fingers moving almost on their own, and typed without thinking:
What should mana be called — Psion or Aether?
The results loaded instantly. Scientific debates. Articles. Discussions. A public forum with dozens of researchers and scholars arguing over terminology. Psion versus Aether. The words made my stomach lurch.
I froze.
I had read this before. Exactly like this. The debate, the arguments, the forums… I had read it in a novel. Not just casually, either. The Last Inheritor. The story I'd devoured, chapter by chapter, late at night, remembering every plot point, every debate, every character.
And suddenly it hit me.
I wasn't dreaming.
I had transmigrated.
Into the world of the novel.
Into the body of someone named Raviel Hatcher. Someone… who was, apparently, an Extra. Someone whose potential and status didn't even reach the top tiers. Someone who… didn't matter in the grand scheme of the story, except now I was inside him, living it.
The thought twisted in my gut. I could still feel the aftershocks of my nightmare memories—the trauma of dying, the screams, the blood—but it was gone now. Stripped. Purged. And yet, this… this body, these stats, the world in front of me… it was real.
I sank into the chair, shaking. My hands clenched the edges of the desk as my mind raced. Charm. Intelligence. Lightning. Void.
And the realization, sharp and cold, dug into me deeper than any nightmare ever could:
I was an Extra.
A character who shouldn't have mattered.
In a world I had once only read about.
I swallowed hard, tapping the search bar again. My fingers moved almost automatically, my mind desperate to anchor itself. But every query, every result, confirmed it. I was here. I was Raviel Hatcher.
And somewhere deep down, a voice in my chest whispered, terrifyingly human:
This… is just the beginning.
I barely had time to breathe before the thought escaped me.
"Status…"
The word left my lips almost instinctively, shaking as if saying it aloud could somehow anchor me to the reality—or the system—that had thrown me into this new life. The translucent screen materialized again, hovering in the air like it had before, crisp, clean, coldly clinical.
I stared, blinking rapidly. The lines of text streamed across my vision, but I didn't immediately look at the stats I'd memorized. My eyes locked on one section in particular:
Innate Skill: Void – Beginner
I froze. The word Void glimmered, faintly, but it carried weight this time. My breath caught as I read the description that accompanied it:
Void – Beginner: Can manipulate forces within a 10-meter radius. Limited control at first. Potential scales with growth.
My mind raced. I had read countless passages in 'The Last Inheritor' about innate skills. Only a handful of characters in the story—even the notable ones—possessed such abilities. Innate skills were rare. Nearly mythical. To be a beginner and still control forces within a 10-meter radius… that was more than just rare. That was… dangerous.
I swallowed hard. My fingers pressed against my knees as I crouched slightly, trying to steady myself.
Why would an Extra have this?
Extras were barely mentioned. They were… expendable. Background noise. Footnotes in the story's grand narrative. And yet here was Raviel Hatcher, an Extra, possessing an innate skill.
I scrolled further down the panel, heart thumping, each new line making me breathe faster:
Skills:
Eclipse Vault – B- Rank: Stores memories and can be acessed, can cause overload if used frequently; access limited.
Mindlock – C+ Rank: Numbs emotions and complete control of oneself.
I blinked. Slowly, the lines registered. Skills. Ranked skills. In this world, skills were not handed out like candy. They were rewards of blood, sweat, danger—and nearly impossible for anyone, let alone an Extra, to obtain.
I sank back against the chair, chest tightening. My fingers dug into the armrests. My pulse thumped painfully in my ears.
Pieces began to click together.
The system… version 2.88. The notification earlier. The failed initialization. It hadn't failed because it didn't exist—it had failed because it had been rejected. Rejected. Like a tool, like a weapon I had been meant to inherit, but was denied.
I swallowed hard. The truth pressed down on me like iron.
I didn't have a cheat.
I hadn't been given the system's guidance. I hadn't been handed a path. No B-rank advantages, no support, no warnings. Just… me, this body, this innate skill, and a future I had already read about.
And that future…
My stomach knotted. My eyes darted back to the status screen, back to the potential rank: B+. My mind replayed fragments of the novel—the bloody wars, the massacres, the way every character clawed to survive a world that had no mercy. Even with a B+ potential, I had no guarantee. I could not survive the future if I were unprepared.
I pressed my palms against my face. I cursed under my breath, muttering low and harsh, venomous words at the empty, sterile room:
Damn it! Damn it all! How could they—how could anyone—expect me to survive that?
I gritted my teeth. My body felt heavier now, not physically, but with the weight of realization. Potential meant nothing without a system, without experience, without guidance. Every skill, every number, every statistic was useless unless I could survive the first fight.
My mind whirled, trying to reconcile the impossible: an Extra, a nobody in the novel, carrying a skill that could bend forces, and yet still utterly unprepared for the horrors that awaited.
I leaned back, hands trembling, staring blankly at the ceiling. For the first time, the blood, the screams, the nightmares—they weren't just echoes. They were warnings.
And I had no cheat.
The room felt colder. My heartbeat thundered. My fists clenched.
I will not survive like this. I cannot.
The thought reverberated through my chest, sharp as a blade. And yet, somewhere deep in the pit of panic and despair, a thread of grim determination began to knot itself around my fear.
I had to figure this out. I had to understand Raviel Hatcher. I had to survive.
Because if I didn't…
The bloody future would swallow me whole.