The ruined city, like the solid bones of a giant animal after its death, smelled of decay and danger in the silence.
Three months ago, the disaster known as the "magical awakening" ripped apart the heavens and shattered human society to pieces.
Twisted steel like broken ribs pierced the bare concrete, and once bustling streets are now a hunting ground for mutant creatures and mad wavers.
Ryan's figure, like a ghost incorporated into the night, flitted between the wreckage of the capsized car.
His movements were light and precise, each step falling on the most solid of gravel without making any noise, and he looked around cautiously. Even the wind and the grass could not escape his dark eyes.
The mountaineering bag on his back was half-empty and contained what could barely be called "supplies" that had been scrapped today: several bottles of unopened mineral water, a can of flattened beans and a roll of tough umbrella rope that had been retrieved from a shabby outdoor goods store.
Being alive is the only goal.
This is the creed he has written in his bones in blood and scars for ninety days.
His eyes fixed on the small convenience store on the corner.
The windows were already sparse and the shop was in ruins. Perhaps something else had been missed.
He needed a bit of shit luck, perhaps a pack of cookies that hadn't been destroyed by the damp, or a handy knife that could still be used.
Just as he was about to hurry across the street, a hoarse laugh and the sound of items being kicked over were faintly coming from behind the convenience store.
Ryan was so short that he instantly hid behind a charred school bus, melting into the darkness.
He leaned out his head carefully.
Five figures staggered through the back door of the convenience store, their clothes mixed with filth and their rough weapons - machetes and sharpened steel spears.
The leader was a bald man with a hideous snake-shaped tattoo wrapped around his neck. He casually dropped an apple and smiled with a cruel smile on his face.
"Oh, shit!It's absolutely terrible!"A thin monkey-like guy swears and throws the empty tin to the ground to vent his frustration.
Ryan's heart went cold most of the time.
It was the vulture gang, the most disgusting scum in the area, who robbed unlucky people who had fallen alone.
He recognized the shaved head, nicknamed "Viper," the E-Class Peak Awakened One, with terrifying power.
He held his breath and begged the bastards to hurry by.
But fate never gives mercy to a cautious man.
The snake's eyes flickered casually across the street, but stopped abruptly and stared intently at the school bus tire - the strap of Ryan's backpack, which had accidentally swung a little corner.
"Hey! There's a little mouse over there!"The snake grinned, showing a mouthful of smoked yellow teeth, and laughed especially harshly.
In a split second, five unintended eyes were nailed to death in Ryan's hiding place.
It was too late to flee, and their position blocked all exit routes.
Ryan rose slowly to his feet and raised his hands to signal that he was not a threat.
"I was just walking by to find something to eat. All this stuff in the bag is for you."His voice was surprisingly calm, but his brain was counting frantically.
There are so many differences in power that fighting on the front is killing.
He had to show weakness and wait for a break.
The snake swayed slowly over, and the remaining four people dispersed, forming a semi-enveloped formation.
"Yes." He grabbed Ryan's backpack, weighed it, and threw it away to one of his men.
"Search him to see if he has anything good to hide."
The thin monkey approached with a sinister smile and began to grope around Ryan.
The sense of humiliation was like a flame, burning every nerve in Ryan's body, but he kept his teeth tight and did not move.
He noticed that the snake's attention was attracted by an old compass he had searched for - a relic left by his father.
It's now!
A cold light flashed in Ryan's eyes, and his right hand, which had been hanging from his side, swung out!
At some point, he clutched a piece of broken glass with a sharp edge in his hand and stabbed it directly into the throat of the thin monkey nearest!
"Puzzling!" The blade entered the flesh, and with the spray of blood, the thin monkey stared in disbelief and covered its neck and collapsed.
"Get to death!" The snake was furious and punched.
The fist had a sharp crackle of wind, a speed and a strength that Ryan couldn't stand.
Ryan had only time to lean on his side and brush his fist across his rib. The pain hit him instantly. He felt at least one broken rib.
He took advantage of this impulse to roll backward, grab the machete that the thin monkey had dropped, and without looking back, ran down a narrow alley.
Behind them was the madness of the snake's roar, and the noise of a confused but persistent footstep.
The alleyway is the way to death!
At the end is a wall three meters high!
Ryan rushed under the wall and struggled to jump up, barely hooking his fingertips up to the wall.
But the soldiers are already here!
"Look where you're going!" A guy with a spear, viciously stabbed Ryan in the back of the heart!
The shadow of death swallowed him instantly.
Time seemed to be stretched infinitely, and he could clearly hear the beat of his heart and feel the sharp crackle of the wind behind him.
Despair, discontent, and a deep love for their missing parents exploded in this moment!
No! I can't die here!
Just as the tip of the spear was about to touch his skin, a cold, unemotional mechanical sound exploded deep in his head:
[Detected a sharp decline in host vital signs and met binding conditions]]
[The Space Wizard System activates...Is binding the host soul... The bonding was successful!]
Welcome, Rayne, the new space-time wizard.]
An indescribable force suddenly surged through the body, the pain dissipated, replaced by a transparency and Pure Brightness beyond the rules of physics.
At the edge of his vision, a translucent, blue-lit interface appeared quietly.
[Unlocking a New Skill: Back in Time]
[Current Daily Availability: 3 / 3]
There's no time to hesitate!
Ryan's mind sharply focused on the emerging skill icon.
Get started!
The world seems to have been pressed backwards.
The walls in front of us, the pursuers behind us, that killing spree - all the images were rolling back like a tide.
He felt himself being gently pulled by a soft but irresistible force.
The moment the dizziness disappeared, Ryan found himself back behind the charred school bus.
In my ear, I heard the snake saying:"Hey! There's a little mouse over there!"
He's back!
Back ten seconds ago, the conflict had not yet broken out, the moment he had just revealed it!
The huge amount of information was hitting his brain, but the tenacious nerves that had been honed in the last three months forced him to calm down.
This time, he knew exactly who he was, that the alley was a dead end, and that the thin monkey would search first.
The opportunity is only once.
He got up slowly again, raised his hands and said the same thing:"I was just walking by to find something to eat. All this stuff in the bag is for you."
But this time, deep in his eyes, it was no longer a forced conceit, but a predator's coldness and cunning.
He adjusted his stance without a word, making sure he could reach the broken glass hidden behind his back as quickly as possible.
When the thin monkey approached with an equally sinister smile, Ryan's body plummeted as soon as he reached out. Instead of stabbing at his throat, the glass slices dug into the other's thigh artery as hard as they could!
"Ah -!" The thin monkey gave a terrible cry, lost its combat power in an instant and collapsed to the ground.
"Fuck! Kill him!"The snake's roar was still deafening, but Ryan was already moving.
Instead of running toward the cul-de-sac, he used the thin monkey's fallen body as cover and ran like a slippery jellyfish in the other direction - a half-collapsed office building with a narrow entrance and easy access!
As he ran, he felt the strange force of time inside him.
In my head, the system's warning sounded again, but this time the content made his blood almost solidify and he went into cardiac arrest:
Warning: Exceptionally high-dimensional data soul fluctuations are detected creating entanglements with system binding process.]
[In the analysis...Identified as a data living organism of unknown origin...]
[Forced binding program starts...10%…50%…100%…The bonding was completed.]
[New module loaded: Data soul companion Alicia has been activated.]
In the moment he bursts into the shadow of the office building's ruins, a beautiful female shadow coiled in the light blue magical glow suddenly appears before him with a hint of confusion and apparent impatience.
She had long silvery hair and sharp ears. She wrapped her arms around her. Deep purple eyes looked up and down at him. Her lips opened softly. The first words she said were:
"Well, my new contracting partner is you a very awkward novice?"
(End of this chapter)