Chapter 1: The Birth of a System
The cataclysmic burst of black electricity had turned **Carter** into a projectile. He was violently catapulted through the cosmos inside a magnificent **black electric energy wave**, a terrifying and amazing journey through a **whirlwind of colors and lights**. He didn't know if he would survive, much less what new horror awaited him.
His journey ended as violently as it began. Like a **black comet, he breached Earth's atmosphere and slammed into the planet.** The force of the impact was cushioned by his own subconscious electrical aura, knocking him unconscious for **three hours**.
He awoke in a daze, looking around a strange forest. He quickly realized the terrifying truth: he couldn't sense any **mana** at all. This place was utterly devoid of magic. He concentrated, and surprisingly, managed to conjure a ball of **light magic** just large enough to heal his scratches.
That's when the invasion began.
*"Hey. What's that?"* a voice asked, not with his ears, but inside his mind.
Carter yelled out loud, "Who the fuck is in my head!"
*"Well, I'm the planet, and they call me **Earth**,"* the voice replied, sounding curious. *"It seems I have **sentience**. Your landing ignited something inside of me. I've lived for four and a half billion years, and I've never been able to talk before—until now."*
Carter, with a nervous, smug tone, demanded, "Well, congratulations, but can you please get out of my head! I don't like talking to myself."
*"Well, I've only been able to do this for a few hours since you landed here and went to sleep,"* Earth countered. *"I'm starting to get all of your memories. You're far from home, and you won't be able to get back. Also, as we speak, I'm learning."*
"You're learning? Learning what?"
Earth replied with simple, massive finality: *"Everything."*
Carter's eyes flashed fiercely **black and white**. The nascent **mind link** between the planet and Carter instantly reached **100% integration**. **A white-hot spike drove through his skull, forcing his eyes shut. It wasn't just data; it was the screaming cacophony of five billion people's history. He saw cat videos and global wars, quantum physics and ancient cave paintings, all compressed and simultaneously fed into his central nervous system. He felt the cold, indifferent logic of algorithms and the fiery passion of a billion arguments. He dropped to his knees, clutching his head as the planet forced its entire consciousness—a massive, contradictory, and brilliant System—to dock with his mind.** A torrent of data flooded his consciousness. The coronation gift, Valerian's device, had flung him here. His impact had ignited a **Mana Flow** inside the planet's core, giving Earth sentience. As Carter stood there, the planet was now integrating its massive knowledge base—the **Internet**—as a sophisticated **System** inside Carter's own mind.
But his impact had done more. The sudden surge of mana flow would slowly begin to **change the planet** and, more terrifyingly, it would begin to **loosen the chains that held an ancient, dormant evil.** **As the thought crystallized, the earth beneath Carter's knees shuddered. It was a deep, guttural tremor unlike any natural earthquake. Miles away, in a remote stretch of the Pacific Ocean, a volcano that had been dormant for ten thousand years suddenly vented a single, mile-high column of red-hot steam, a silent promise that the powerful prisoner had felt the tiny, persistent key turning in its eternal lock.** Neither Carter nor Earth knows this, but they just loosened the chains of an ancient dormant evil.