The weight of the silver vial felt impossibly heavy in my hand. Inside, a swirling vortex of black and silver smoke pulsed with a life of its own, an "Abyss's Echo" from a monstrous being long dead. It was the key to my first step on the Beyonder pathway.
The system's message from moments ago was burned into my mind. [Beyonder Characteristic of the 'Monster' has been successfully acquired. Await ingestion to begin your first advancement.]
I didn't hesitate. The old me, the ordinary guy from Earth, would have been terrified, but the new me, with a cheat code bound to my soul, just felt a sense of anticipation. I carefully lit a small stove in the vault's corner and began to follow the system's simplified instructions for brewing the potion. It was less of a magical ritual and more like a macabre recipe, a mix of powdered herbs and a few drops of what looked like mercury, all combined to neutralize the raw energy of the characteristic.
When it was done, the brew was a translucent liquid, humming with faint, unseen power. I felt the Key of Light pulse in my chest, a low, resonant thrum of approval.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and drank it.
The moment the liquid touched my tongue, it felt like fire. Not a searing heat, but an all-consuming conflagration that ignited every nerve ending in my body. My head swam, and a thousand disjointed whispers filled my mind, gibberish that I knew contained cryptic knowledge about the future, about fate, about things that would happen, but my mind couldn't comprehend them yet. It was chaos. My body shook violently, my muscles spasming as the potion's power integrated into my flesh and soul.
Just as the madness threatened to overwhelm me, the system flared in my vision. [Warning! You are losing control. Begin the acting method immediately. You must embrace unpredictability and act out the persona of a 'Monster.' Accept the chaotic nature of fate without resistance. Let it flow through you.]
"Right, a monster," I muttered, my voice hoarse. I stumbled toward an old, cobweb-covered mirror in the corner of the vault. I stared at my face, my reflection a pale, terrified shadow of my old self.
I forced a strange, lopsided grin, my mouth twisting into a terrifying parody of a smile. I made a series of odd, jerking movements, like a broken puppet. I stared at my reflection, my eyes wide and unblinking, and in a high-pitched, mocking voice, I began to sing a nursery rhyme from my past life.
"Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the clock…"
It was ridiculous. It was nonsensical. It was utterly, perfectly monstrous. My mind, instead of fighting the chaos, accepted it. My actions, so bizarre and unpredictable, acted as a psychological anchor, a release valve for the spiritual pressure.
The whispers in my head faded. The burning sensation in my body subsided, leaving behind a cold, detached clarity. I stared at my reflection one last time, my face back to normal, and then the system's notification appeared.
[You have successfully digested the Potion. You are now a Sequence 9 Beyonder: Monster. Your abilities have awakened. Welcome to the Wheel of Fortune Pathway.]
I felt it immediately. My senses sharpened, but not in a physical way. I felt a new kind of intuition. I looked at an old, tarnished helmet on a shelf, and for a split second, I saw a flash of a man wearing it, his face filled with sorrow, a vision so faint I almost missed it. That must be my Premonition.
Then, as I walked toward the vault's door, a strange tingle ran down my spine, a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold. I froze, my body reacting to an unseen threat. I took a step back just as a heavy, forgotten suit of armor toppled from a shelf, crashing to the floor right where I would have been standing. Danger Sense.
A slow grin spread across my face. It was real. This was power.
I had a new goal. [Main Quest: Advance to Sequence 8 'Robot'. Required Beyonder Characteristic: 'Robot'. Estimated time to find: 3-5 months.]
I also needed money. I looked at the chest of artifacts I had found—rings, staffs, and strange gems from the Lawyer pathway. Useless to me, but they would fetch a fortune from the right person. My luck, my cheat code, would lead me to that person.
I sealed the vault door, my mind already racing with plans. I would find an antique dealer in Backlund, someone who dealt in such items but wasn't too tied to the Churches. With my luck, I wouldn't have to search long. I would sell the artifacts, use the money to rebuild my family's fortune, and in the process, find a way to get my hands on my next potion.
I stepped out into the night air of my ruined estate. The moon was high above, a cold and indifferent sentinel. I was a Monster now, an agent of chaos and fortune. And the world… the world was about to see what a monster with a system and a godlike luck stat could do.