The rain in Sector 7 felt like needles against Lu Chen's skin. He stood outside "Golden Dragon Pawn," clutching a small velvet box. Inside was a ring a cheap one, but it had cost him three months of skipped meals.
"Su Mei, happy anniversary," he whispered, practiced and nervous.
The door to the shop swung open, but it wasn't his girlfriend who walked out first. It was a man wearing a tailored suit made of mana-silk. Young Master Zhao. Behind him, Su Mei followed, her hand tucked firmly into Zhao's arm.
"Lu Chen? What are you doing here?" Su Mei's voice wasn't filled with love; it was filled with irritation.
"I... I came to see you," Lu Chen said, his eyes falling on the luxury car waiting at the curb.
Young Master Zhao laughed, a sound like glass breaking. "Su Mei, is this the 'trash' you told me about? The one who can't even ignite a single spark of mana?"
"He's a nobody, Zhao. Let's just go," Su Mei said, not even looking at the box in Lu Chen's hand. "Lu Chen, don't come back. I'm an Awakener now. We live in different worlds. You're a Zero. You'll always be a Zero."
As the car sped away, splashing muddy water over Lu Chen's cheap clothes, he felt a hollow ache in his chest. He turned back to the shop, where his boss, Old Man Gore, was standing in the doorway.
"Don't just stand there like a dead dog!" Gore barked. "Get inside and clean the basement. We got a shipment of 'Scrap Metal' from the dungeon raiders. If you don't sort it by morning, don't bother asking for your wages."
Lu Chen gritted his teeth. He had no choice. In this world, without mana, he was less than a human. He was a tool.
The basement was damp and smelled of rust and ancient rot. Piles of broken swords, cracked shields, and blackened trinkets lay in heaps. These were the leftovers of the dungeon items deemed "common" or "broken" by professional appraisers.
Lu Chen began sorting, his hands shaking from the cold. He picked up a blackened, heavy coin. It was covered in a strange, oily grime. As he tried to rub the dirt off, a sharp edge sliced his thumb.
A drop of blood fell onto the coin.
Suddenly, the basement didn't feel cold anymore. A searing heat surged from his palm, climbing up his arm and exploding behind his eyes.
[System Initialization...]
[Scanning Host Potential...]
[Warning: Host Mana Capacity is 0. Compensating with God-Level Perception...]
[System Bound: The God-Level Appraisal System is Online.]
Lu Chen fell to his knees, clutching his head. When he opened his eyes, the world had changed.
The dark basement was now glowing. Floating text boxes hovered over every piece of junk in the room.
[Item: Broken Iron Sword]
Grade: Trash
Hidden Stat: None. (Actually just a piece of a tractor).
[Item: Cracked Leather Armor]
Grade: Common
Note: Can be repaired with 2g of Mana-Glue.
But then, his eyes landed on the coin he was holding. It was no longer a black piece of metal. It was pulsing with a deep, royal purple light.
[Item: Seal of the Fallen Monarch]
Grade: Mythic (Damaged)
Current Value: 50,000,000 Credits
Hidden Effect: Contains the 'Sovereign's Breath' cultivation technique.
Note: To the untrained eye, it looks like trash. To you, it is the key to heaven.
Lu Chen's heart hammered against his ribs. 50 million credits? A Mythic item? He looked at his own reflection in a puddle on the floor.
[Target: Lu Chen]
[Level: 0]
[Class: None]
[Potential: Infinite (Locked)]
[Current Status: Malnourished, Heartbroken, but about to become a God.]
A cold smile finally touched Lu Chen's lips. The Zero was gone.