A sensation of weightlessness was followed by a sudden, jarring halt.
The torrent of data solidified, and Alvian found himself standing in an endless, sterile white void. There was no ground, no sky, only an infinite expanse of pure, featureless light. The air was still and silent, devoid of any sound or scent. This was the Genesis Chamber, the character creation hub of gods domain.
A translucent blue interface materialized before him, its text sharp and clear.
[Ding! System Welcome!]
[Welcome, Player, to gods domain. Your journey is about to begin.]
[Please select your starting Archetype.]
Before him, five figures shimmered, alive with light and purpose. The Warrior...armored, massive sword in hand, radiating raw strength. The Archer...lean, bow drawn, arrows glowing like captured stars. The Mage...swirls of crackling magic curling around their form. The Rogue...dark, knives reversed, ready to strike from shadows. The Cleric...soft light pooling around them, calm and unyielding.
In his first life, Alvian had picked the Warrior. Safe. Obvious. Predictable. It had carried him straight into mediocrity, then slaughter, then nothing. A choice that felt heroic once, now tasted of failure.
This time, he wasn't here to follow a path. He was here to forge one.
He ignored the five glowing figures completely. His eyes scanned the interface, looking for something that wasn't there, something no new player was supposed to know about. With a flicker of intent, he mentally swiped the initial menu away, revealing a near-invisible command input prompt at the bottom of the interface.
It was a hidden exploit, a backdoor discovered by a programming prodigy a full year and a half after the game's launch in his previous timeline. A command meant for developers, accidentally left in the public build.
His fingers, phantom limbs in this digital space, flew across a non-existent keyboard.
sys.override.archetype_select
initiate_custom_class: [Unbound]
The system, which had been placid and inviting, suddenly pulsed with a crimson light. A series of urgent warnings flooded his vision, the text stark and aggressive.
[WARNING! The requested class 'Unbound' is a non-standard Archetype.]
[WARNING! The 'Unbound' Archetype possesses no base attribute bonuses. All stats will begin at a baseline of [1].]
[WARNING! The 'Unbound' Archetype possesses no starting skills or techniques. You will begin with an empty skill tree.]
[WARNING! Progression will be exceptionally difficult, and early-game mortality rates for this path approach 99.8%. Do you wish to proceed?]
A cruel smirk touched Alvian's lips. Yes. This was exactly what he wanted. The standard classes were shackles. They offered a quick start in exchange for a predefined ceiling. A Warrior could never master grand sorcery, and a Mage could never truly learn the art of the blade. Their paths were set.
But 'Unbound'? It was a blank slate. A vessel of pure potential with no rules and no limits. It was a suicidal choice for any normal player, but for someone with his knowledge, it was the key to absolute power. He was gambling everything on this single, critical choice.
"Proceed," he commanded, his voice firm and unwavering.
The crimson light of the warning messages faded, and the system seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if processing the sheer audacity of his decision. Then, a new message appeared, this one tinged with a golden hue.
[Anomaly detected in player choice.]
[Calculating severity of self-imposed handicap… Calculation complete.]
[Handicap Level: EXTREME.]
[Compensatory Protocol Activated: Granting one (1) Innate Talent Spin.]
[Due to the severity of the handicap, the quality of the drawn Talent is guaranteed to be SSS-Rank.]
Alvian's heart, which had been beating with cold resolve, now skipped a beat with raw, unadulterated excitement. It had worked. His plan, his gamble—it had paid off perfectly. An SSS-Rank talent. The highest, most legendary tier of power in the entire game. In his past life, the few individuals who possessed such talents became the gods among men, the pillars of humanity's resistance.
The white void cracked, then gave way to a storm of colors...nebulae swirling, stars pulsing. A massive slot machine floated before him, made of starlight and spinning galaxies. Its three reels glowed gold, symbols etched across them, each one a doorway to some hidden talent in the game.
He willed the lever down.
The machine roared to life. Reels spun, fast and bright, like stars colliding. Shadows flickered, light twisted. His pulse raced...everything, his revenge, his second chance, all balanced on this one spin.
Seconds stretched, stretched, until the reels slowed. One clicked. Another. The last landed with a deep, ringing chime that vibrated through everything.
"BANG!" The first reel stopped.
"BANG!!" The second reel locked into place.
"BANG!!!" The third and final reel shuddered to a halt.
Across the cosmic backdrop, three words burned with a golden intensity that seemed to sear itself directly into his soul.
[L I M I T] [B R E A K E R]
A system panel, grander and more ornate than any he had ever seen, unfolded before him.
┏━━━━━━━[ SSS-Rank Talent Acquired ]━━━━━━━┓
│ Name: Super Upgrade System
│ Rank: SSS (Sole, Non-replicable)
│ Effect: You may upgrade any single skill or technique twice (2) per day.
│ Condition: This ability ignores all material, level, or prerequisite requirements.
│ Potential: Can force skills beyond their established maximum level, breaking
│ system-defined limitations and unlocking hidden, evolved forms.
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Alvian stared, his breath caught in his throat. He had dreamed of getting a powerful SSS-Rank talent, perhaps one that boosted his damage or increased his learning speed. But this… this was something else entirely. This wasn't just power. This was a flagrant, system-defying cheat code. A skill that was "un-upgradable"? He could upgrade it. A technique that required a rare material from a world boss? He didn't need it. A legendary art that took years to master? He could perfect it in days.
This talent, fused with his 'Unbound' class and memories of the future, made something unnatural. Something dangerous.
A laugh slipped out, low at first, curling from his chest like smoke. It twisted, jagged, until it became a roar of release. Failures, death, endless fear from his first life...they pressed less now, edges dulled. The chaos inside him hummed, wild and sharp, but lighter.
Almost free.
[Please input your character name.]
He didn't hesitate. "Alvian."
[Character 'Alvian' created.]
[Commencing world insertion… Destination: Overlords Academy Proving Grounds.]
The cosmic vista shattered. He wasn't transported to a peaceful starter village filled with low-level boars and goblins. There was no gentle tutorial. The world reformed around him with a violent lurch, and the sterile silence of the Genesis Chamber was replaced by a cacophony of sounds. The scent of pine and damp earth filled his nostrils. The roar of a distant beast echoed through the trees. And all around him, the glint of steel and the crackle of nascent magic signaled that the test had already begun. He had arrived. And this time, he was not a lamb being led to the slaughter. He was the wolf.