The sensation of being ripped through a straw ended abruptly. Chronos hit a surface that felt like polished glass, though when he looked down, there was nothing but a shimmering, translucent floor stretching into infinity.
The sky—if you could call it that—was a swirling vortex of deep violets and obsidian clouds. There was no sun, no wind, and no sound.
"Is this... my soul?" Chronos whispered. His voice didn't echo. It was swallowed by the vastness.
[Ding! Welcome to 'The First Void'.]
[Current Status: Empty.]
[Energy Level: 0.0001% - Critical Depletion.]
"Wait, depletion?" Chronos scrambled to his feet. "The quest said my soul was too big for my body. If I'm here, shouldn't I be safe?"
[Correction: Host is safe from physical collapse, but the Void requires 'Primordial Essence' to maintain its existence. If the Void collapses, the Host's soul will be extinguished.]
[New Tutorial Quest: Let There Be Light.][Objective: Synthesize the first Spark of Creation using your physicist knowledge.]
[Reward: 100 Mana, Access to the 'Creation Menu'.]
Chronos wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. In his past life, he knew that light wasn't just magic—it was electromagnetic radiation. He knew how photons behaved, how energy converted into matter.
He closed his eyes and held out his palm. He didn't try to "magic" a light into existence. Instead, he visualized a single point of infinite density. He imagined the friction of subatomic particles rubbing together at the speed of light.
'Friction leads to heat. Heat leads to glow. Focus...'
A tiny, microscopic speck of gold appeared above his thumb. It flickered like a dying candle.
"More," he hissed, pouring his mental focus into that tiny dot. He felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if his very life force was being sucked into his palm.
Suddenly, the golden speck turned into a blinding white flash.
[Ding! Success!]
[You have synthesized: 'The Eternal Spark'.]
[The First Void has been illuminated.]
The white light shot upward, fixing itself in the dark sky like a lonely star. For the first time, Chronos could see the boundaries of his dimension. It was roughly the size of a football stadium, surrounded by a wall of swirling grey fog.
[Rewards Granted:]
[+100 Mana]
[Level Up! Level 1 -> Level 2]
[You have gained 5 Attribute Points.]
[Creation Menu Unlocked: 'Basic Elements'.]
Chronos felt a surge of warmth wash over him. The exhaustion vanished, replaced by a buzzing energy that made his skin tingle. He immediately pulled up his status.
Name: Chronos
Level: 2
Mana: 100/100
World Population: 0
Current Creation Tier: Tier 0 (Dust & Gas)
"Attribute points? I'll worry about those later," he muttered, his eyes locked on the Creation Menu.
He tapped the screen. A list of "recipes" appeared:
Star Dust (Cost: 10 Mana) - The building blocks of everything.
Primordial Water (Cost: 50 Mana) - The cradle of life.
Basic Atmosphere (Cost: 80 Mana) - Because breathing is a luxury.
"It's like a sandbox game," Chronos realized, a manic grin spreading across his face. "But the power I generate here flows back to my real body."
He looked at his hands. Back at the Awakening Center, he was a "Null." A dud. But he knew something the Proctors didn't.
In physics, matter cannot be created or destroyed—it can only be transformed. But his System was breaking that law. He was creating matter out of nothing.
[Warning! An external force is attempting to locate the Host's physical anchor.]
[The Awakening Center Security is using a 'High-Rank Tracker' to find your location.]
Chronos stiffened. He had vanished in front of hundreds of people. The government, the orphanages, the greedy corporations—they would all want to know how a "Zero-Star" managed to teleport out of a locked room.
"How much time do I have before they find my 'anchor'?"
[Estimated Time: 12 Minutes.]
"Twelve minutes to become strong enough to defend myself," Chronos looked at his 100 Mana. "I can't fight them with a flashlight. System! Buy 'Star Dust' and 'Basic Atmosphere'. I need to create a planetary core, now!"
[Processing... 90 Mana deducted.]
[Warning: Creating a planetary core without a stable 'Gravity Well' may cause a localized explosion.]
"Then I'll just have to hold the explosion together with my bare hands," Chronos growled