The sound of machines filled the morning air.
Drills, hammers, shouts — the rhythm of a city still growing.
Arin stood on the half-built tower, sunlight brushing against his skin. He could feel every vibration, every metallic hum beneath his boots. His eyes traced the horizon — far away, where the ocean met the sky.
To the other workers, he looked like just another quiet laborer.
To himself, he was something else entirely.
It had been sixty-one days since he opened his eyes in this world.
Two months of silence, routine, and secrets.
He lifted a steel beam and placed it across the scaffold with one arm. It should've taken three men, but he made it look effortless. No one questioned it anymore; they just assumed he was one of those naturally strong types.
His strength didn't come from muscle. It came from something far deeper — the quiet, constant hum of his Blackstar System, feeding him endlessly.
[Current Stats]
Qi: 5,132,609
CP: 5,132,609
Skill(s): Hidden (Lv.1), Absorb (Lv.1)
Passive Growth: +1 CP/+1 Qi per second
Lifespan: ∞
Every second that passed, his power grew.
Every breath made him stronger.
And yet, it wasn't enough.
He didn't understand why he was growing. Or what the end of this growth would look like.
There's no limit.
The thought repeated in his mind like a whisper. No ceiling. No wall. No death.
He finished his shift, collected his pay, and walked home through the quiet backstreets. His coworkers invited him to drink. He refused with a smile, like always.
He didn't drink. He didn't need to.
His apartment was dark when he entered — just the pale blue light from the window.
He tossed his bag aside and sat on the floor.
For the past few nights, sleep had been harder to find. His body no longer tired. His heart no longer raced. Even hunger had begun to fade.
He didn't feel human anymore.
Arin raised his hand, staring at his palm. Faint traces of black energy shimmered beneath the skin, pulsing slowly, like veins of lightless fire.
"Absorb," he whispered.
The glow came instantly — smooth, silent, obedient. A perfect circle of darkness formed around his palm, humming with quiet power.
He picked up a broken metal pipe from the corner. The moment it touched his hand, it began to crumble, turning to black dust that vanished into nothing.
[+91 Qi]
[+91 CP]
He could feel it — a tiny rush through his body, like cool water flowing under his skin.
The numbers were small, but the effect was real.
Each piece of matter he absorbed became fuel.
Arin stood and looked around the room. His eyes fell on the concrete wall. He hesitated, then pressed his hand gently against it.
The energy flared again.
At first, the wall stayed still. Then — slowly — the part under his palm began to fade, leaving behind a hollow patch about the size of a fist.
No debris. No residue. Just… gone.
He stepped back, staring at the mark. The building creaked softly, dust falling from the ceiling. He clenched his hand into a fist, cancelling the skill.
I could destroy this entire room in minutes… without anyone knowing.
It wasn't pride that filled him — it was fear.
The next morning, he decided to test something else.
On the way to work, he stopped by an empty park near the riverbank. Early sunlight rippled across the water. He took a deep breath and raised his hand toward the river's edge.
> "Absorb."
The dark aura flickered again. As he touched the surface, the water began to swirl and vanish. Steam didn't rise; it simply ceased to exist.
Tiny sparks of blue light — Qi particles — flowed into his arm.
[+1,203 Qi]
[+1,203 CP]
He pulled his hand back, stunned. The ripples faded.
Even something as fluid and alive as water could be taken.
It was all energy — just arranged differently.
Arin exhaled slowly.
The power was real… and endless.
He turned his hand over, watching faint traces of black vapor drift away. "So this is what I've become," he said softly. "A living void."
At work, he acted normal. But in his mind, questions spiraled.
He had no teacher, no guide. The goddess who sent him here — Ru — had disappeared from his thoughts.
He didn't even know if she existed anymore.
Was she real? Or just part of the meteorite's trick?
He tried to ignore the thought. But the more he grew, the more he felt something watching from within — not above, not outside. Inside his very soul.
That evening, after work, he decided to test one last theory.
He climbed to the top of a tall building — still under construction — where no one would see him. The city lights glowed below like a living map.
He stood still, closing his eyes.
In this world, energy was everywhere — in the air, the ground, even the light. He could feel faint traces of Ki flowing around him, from people training, from the earth's pulse, from faraway warriors beyond the horizon.
He opened his eyes and extended his hand.
> "Absorb."
The air shimmered faintly.
This time, the black energy didn't just move around his palm — it spread wider, like invisible waves reaching out.
He could feel it.
The air itself was feeding him.
[+15 Qi]
[+15 CP]
[+18 Qi]
[+18 CP]
It was slow — like breathing through cloth — but it worked. He was pulling energy directly from the atmosphere.
He smiled faintly.
"If I can absorb air… what about light?"
He turned his palm upward toward the night sky. The faint starlight above flickered against the dark glow.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, a few of the stars seemed to dim — not vanish, but flicker, as if their light struggled to reach him.
The System remained silent.
But Arin understood enough.
He lowered his hand and whispered, "Even light is energy… and energy is just fuel."
He stayed there until midnight, watching the city sleep.
He thought about his old life — about the boy who once hid bruises under long sleeves. About the mother who called him a curse.
About the day he died without reason.
He thought he'd left that pain behind.
But standing under the infinite sky, he realized something terrifying — he was no longer human enough to feel it.
The System gave him life.
But it also hollowed him out.
He looked at his hands — ordinary, scarred from work, but glowing faintly under the moonlight.
> "If I can take everything… what's left for me to become?"
The wind carried no answer.
---
The following week passed quietly. Arin continued working, continued growing.
But at night, he began to experiment more — small tests, controlled and secret.
He discovered he could absorb energy sparks from machines, electric current, even fire.
When he absorbed flame, it disappeared in a flash of smoke, leaving behind cold air — and a surge of warmth in his veins.
[+402 Qi]
[+402 CP]
No fatigue. No limit. Just growth.
He began keeping count, marking small notes in an old notebook — things he absorbed, how much power they gave, and how the System responded.
Some nights, the numbers skyrocketed.
Other times, they barely moved.
It was unpredictable, but it confirmed one thing:
Everything was fuel.
One rainy night, he walked home through empty streets. The city's neon lights reflected on the wet pavement, stretching like ribbons of color.
He passed an alley and saw a stray dog limping in the dark, half-starved, shaking from the cold.
It looked up at him — tired eyes, weak body.
For a moment, Arin froze. The thought crossed his mind.
He could end its suffering instantly.
One touch, and it would vanish painlessly.
He could gain strength from it too.
His hand trembled slightly as he raised it… then stopped.
He crouched instead, pulling a sandwich from his bag and placing it gently in front of the dog.
The animal sniffed, then ate hungrily.
Arin watched in silence, his expression unreadable.
I can take anything, he thought. But that doesn't mean I should.
He stood and walked away, rain dripping from his hair.
Later, in his apartment, he sat near the window, the city silent behind him.
> "Status."
The glowing panel appeared.
[Blackstar System]
Qi Level: 5,541,008
Combat Power (CP): 5,541,008
Lifespan: ∞
Skill(s):
• Hidden (Lv.1) — Conceals power from detection.
• Absorb (Lv.1) — Convert matter or energy into Qi and CP.
Passive Growth: +1 CP / +1 Qi per second
He closed the window. His eyes dimmed.
Power, infinite life, endless growth — yet he felt no joy, no purpose.
He didn't want to be a god. He didn't even want to fight.
He just wanted to understand why him. Why the meteorite chose him.
Why infinity had a face at all.
The city slept.
The rain fell softly.
And somewhere in the darkness, a man who could devour stars stared at his reflection — wondering how much longer he could pretend to be human.
End of Chapter 4: