Sighing, he decided not to waste time. The world had already tipped into uncertainty, and if the coming wishes truly held power, then caution was the only sane response. He made a trip to the store, starting with practical supplies: a power generator, canned food, dried goods, bottled water, and anything else with a long shelf life. He thought carefully as he went, choosing items not just for comfort but for survival.
Since he rarely spent money on luxuries, his savings had grown quietly over the years, and now that foresight paid off. Sitting on nearly fifty-nine thousand dollars, he dipped into it without hesitation. Out of that amount, nine thousand vanished in a single afternoon, traded for gear and resources that might determine whether he could endure the chaos to come. He didn't consider it wasteful—it was an investment in his future, plus, he could always return some of these.
"Good thing I'm in America," he murmured, his eyes falling on the AR-15 he had just purchased. Along with it came other weapons—some meant to be stashed away, hidden for emergencies, and others chosen for raw firepower. He wasn't naive enough to think food and supplies would be enough if the world truly went mad. Preparation, in his mind, meant being ready for every possibility.
By the way, his name was Seth.
He set the guns down carefully, arranging them within reach, and turned his focus back to preparing for what was coming. The countdown ticked steadily in his mind—seven hours left, which meant his wish would manifest at exactly 12 PM.
He spent hours double-checking supplies, testing the generator, and making sure his purchases were where they needed to be. By the time he finally sat back, exhaustion tugging at him, the clock had eaten away more time than he realized.
Settling onto the couch, Seth pulled out his phone, curiosity pushing him to see how the world was reacting. Social media was a storm. Hashtags exploded across X, videos were spreading in real time, and threads piled with frantic theories. It didn't take long to see he wasn't the only one preparing for the worst. People across the globe were stockpiling, arming themselves, or openly boasting about their wishes. Some were reckless enough to share their exact choices, bragging about the power they would soon wield.
But not all posts were triumphant. Just as many were filled with regret—people realizing too late that they had wished for something shallow or shortsighted. It was hard not to notice the desperation in their words, the fear creeping in as they compared their choices with others who had asked for abilities or resources far beyond anything they had imagined. The divide between those confident in their wishes and those terrified by them was already taking shape.
Seth almost laughed when he came across a man sobbing. The poor fool had wasted his once-in-a-lifetime wish on something painfully small—he had wished for something cute and romantic before his girlfriend, and now he was regretting everything, seeing that he might have just missed out on an opportunity.
What struck Seth as strange, though, wasn't the parade of foolish or reckless wishes—it was the silence of the governments. For all their bluster and posturing, the world's most powerful nations were quiet. Too quiet. China, the United Kingdom, and several other countries had cut themselves off from the wider internet entirely, locking down communication like walls going up before a storm. And though there was no official announcement, Seth was certain the United States was doing the same. The silence of world powers spoke louder than any words—they were preparing, hoarding, and planning in ways ordinary citizens could only guess at.
With nothing else to do, Seth sighed and let himself drift back into the endless scroll of his feed, skimming past arguments, memes, and shaky live streams as the minutes bled away. The anticipation weighed on him like a coiled spring, each glance at the clock reminding him of what was coming.
And then, at last, the digits flipped. 12:00.
The instant the clock struck noon, the entire Earth shuddered beneath him. The walls groaned, the floor vibrated, and in that single moment, every doubt about the reality of the wish system was erased.
Shocked, Seth quickly got up, his chair scraping against the floor as he stumbled toward the window. His heart raced, every instinct telling him something was terribly wrong. Pulling the curtains aside, he froze.
There, stretching across the heavens, was something no human was ever meant to see. A vast palm—so massive it seemed to cradle the entire planet—hung in the sky. The sight was so surreal that his mind struggled to process it, as if the laws of reality had been rewritten in an instant.
His eyes locked on the endless lines of that hand, each crease as wide as mountain ranges, and higher still, the faint outline of a face. He couldn't see it fully; he was on the side of the Earth turned away from it. But he knew it was there, watching. The awareness of that gaze, even unseen, pressed down on him like gravity itself.
[All life forms of Planet Earth, your wishes have been granted. Although the wishes had to be adjusted to preserve balance, the core of your ability has been kept. Mana will slowly fill the Earth, along with new lifeforms. Good luck.]
The screen flashed before Seth's eyes one final time before vanishing, and with it, the colossal being that had been holding up the planet faded from view as if it had never been there. For a heartbeat, the world seemed normal again—until searing pain tore through him.
Seth stumbled back from the window, clutching at his face as his vision ignited with unbearable light. His eyes burned as though molten fire had been poured directly into them, and the agony spread deeper, stabbing into his skull. A strangled cry escaped his throat as he collapsed, writhing on the floor. The pain wasn't confined to his sight; it was everywhere, radiating inward, burrowing into his very mind.
He thrashed against the floor, clawing at anything within reach, desperate for something—anything—that could lessen the torment. Every second felt stretched into an eternity, his body convulsing as though his brain itself was being rewritten against his will. The torment dragged on without mercy, hours of relentless suffering that blurred together until his voice grew hoarse from screaming.
And then, slowly, horribly, the agony began to shift. The white-hot pain dulled, giving way to an overwhelming rush of sensation that was no less unbearable. Pleasure, raw and consuming, bled into every nerve, mingling with the remnants of pain until he could no longer feel the pain. The feelings forced a moan from his lips, his body trembling under the storm of pleasure that dwarfed any worldly pleasure out there.
[Name: Seth Williams
Race: Primal Human
Talent: Nexus (UR Rank)
Title: [The Honor One], [The World Chosen]
Tier: 0 Tier (0/1,000,000,000 XP)
Combat Power: 100
===============
Skills: [Nexus Eyes (LvL: 1/5)]
Resistances: [None]
Equipped Gear: [None]
Mount/Pet: [None]
Nexus (Ur Rank): An extremely powerful ability that, across the universe, only a handful have ever been honored with such a high-ranking talent.
With mastery over space and time, everything such dominion entails and beyond, this power carries limitless potential. Upon obtaining it, even the weakest creature, an ant, could evolve into something beyond reason. Abilities? Unknown. Tier up to uncover them.
Nexus Eyes (LvL: 1/5): With these eyes, your mind no longer functions like that of a normal human. Instead, it operates as a super-powered computer, processing information at speeds and levels that transcend former limitations. Your vision stretches further than ever before, piercing into what was once unreachable. Energy costs are reduced by 10%.
'I knew I'd be nerfed… but what does it mean by me being a Primal Human? And what's with those titles?' Seth frowned, thoughts racing as he scanned the glowing text. Slowly, he lifted his gaze, letting his new vision adjust to the world around him.
The difference struck him instantly. His sight no longer ended at the horizon or with the dull range of human eyes. Instead, he perceived wavelengths of color that had always existed but had remained forever out of reach. Colors that defied description, shades that twisted and shimmered in ways no language could capture, unfolded before him. Each hue was sharp and distinct, weaving together into a spectrum so impossibly vast it felt like staring into the secrets of creation itself.
It was beautiful—alien and overwhelming, yet breathtaking in a way that made him forget everything. All of his troubles were meaningless as he was allowed to see something so beautiful.
Seth struggled to push himself upright, his muscles trembling from the lingering strain of transformation. The moment he tried to take a step, his balance faltered, and he nearly collapsed, catching himself just in time. Even so, the floor beneath him didn't escape unscathed—a sharp crack split across the surface, the result of strength he hadn't yet learned to control. The raw force coursing through his body was more than he could comprehend, as though every movement threatened to spill over into destruction.
A frown settled on his face. Something was off, unmistakably different. His body felt foreign, as if it no longer belonged to him. He forced his unsteady legs toward the bathroom, gripping the doorway for support before finally lifting his gaze to the mirror.
The sight staring back at him nearly stole his breath. His hair, once ordinary, now gleamed a stark white, strands shining faintly under the light as if touched by something otherworldly. But it wasn't the hair that froze him in place—it was his eyes.
They were unlike anything he had ever seen before. Not blue, not green, not any shade familiar to human sight. The color was… impossible, something beyond the spectrum known to mankind. A hue without a name, a shade language could never capture. For the first time, he truly understood what it meant to see a color outside human comprehension.
And despite the strangeness, or maybe because of it, they were beautiful. Simply, impossibly beautiful.
He was taller, too. Once standing at 5'11, he now loomed at 6'1, his frame carrying a presence it never had before. His body had changed completely, muscles carved and balanced into a well-toned physique that looked as though it had been sculpted by years of training. It wasn't just strength for the sake of appearance either—it carried a raw, primal power, the kind of body worthy of a race elevated far beyond ordinary humans. A physique fit to be called that of a Primal Human.