On a battlefield filled with mountains of corpses and lakes of blood, a man sat on the ground soaked in red. He leaned his body against a pile of human remains, people he once knew as comrades. In both hands, he held a loose grip on a sword and a firearm.
He wore futuristic armor riddled with holes. Each opening revealed a wound—stabs and slashes that did not appear to be the work of a human hand. The man breathed with ragged urgency, not only from exhaustion but because his lungs were drowning in his own blood.
Death had already begun its walk toward him.
"Is this the end of my life?" Kayen uttered, followed by a cough that sprayed blood.
Kayen's hands and feet could no longer move, making it impossible for him to leave the battlefield, even if he desired to. He shifted his eyes toward the sky. Staring at the familiar blue expanse, Kayen could not help but recall memories he had begun to forget.
The world he came from was not this one. He originated from Earth, a blue planet that now existed only in his mind. There, he was not a soldier; he was merely an ordinary man with a stable job and a wife. Back then, Kayen thought he would die of old age. He never smoked, never drank alcohol to the point of losing consciousness, was never cruel to others, and always made time for exercise.
However, no one knows when death will arrive. One day, while Kayen was on his way to work, a vehicle traveling at high speed struck him as he walked across a zebra crossing. The impact threw him several meters away, leaving him critically injured. At that moment, Kayen knew his end had come. His injuries were so severe that he could see his own internal organs. Realizing he was going to die, Kayen—though reluctant—finally gave up the struggle. He understood that miracles would neither come nor be created for him.
Yet, when he thought he had truly died, he found himself reborn in a world similar to Earth. But this world was not exactly the same. Although it was also called Earth, monsters had been attacking for several centuries, bringing destruction and sorrow in their wake. At that time, humanity was desperate. They possessed no abilities to stop the monsters' rampage and could only resignedly accept their extinction.
However, just as mankind reached the brink of annihilation, a few chosen individuals suddenly awakened a power that would later be known as Essence. Seeing this phenomenon, humanity found hope. Decades after the monsters first attacked, humans successfully halted their rampage.
The first thing humanity did upon stopping the monsters was not to celebrate. They sought the cause of the monsters' appearance and discovered that the creatures were born in a realm called the "Mysterious Realm." Through repeated explorations, humanity found that the number of monsters in the Mysterious Realm was vastly different from those on Earth. The monsters in the Mysterious Realm were not only stronger, but their numbers were thousands of times greater. Furthermore, these numbers did not even cover the entirety of the Mysterious Realm, as that domain was incredibly vast.
Observing this, the government kept the information secret and immediately ordered the construction of schools for the "Awakened." People who awakened their Essence were called Awakened, and from that moment on, the era known as the Era of Awakened began.
Returning to Kayen.
He was initially born into an ordinary family, but unfortunately, his parents were killed in a monster attack when he was only three years old. At that same age, Kayen was sent to an orphanage because his parents had no living or connected relatives to care for him. In the orphanage, Kayen disliked the cliché stories where the main character is bullied. Relying on his adult mind, he became the most well-liked child by both the staff and his fellow orphans.
A few years later, at the age of seven, Kayen was finally adopted by a prestigious family famous in the city where he lived. That family produced many high-level Awakened, making them one of the ruling powers of the city. The family believed that Kayen was a candidate with high potential because candidates usually possessed a mind far more mature and intelligent than average children. They invested many resources into him, fulfilling every request Kayen made. This led Kayen to believe even more firmly that he was the protagonist of this world, destined to awaken a God-tier Essence and save the world.
Unfortunately, reality said otherwise. At the age of sixteen—the age when many candidates awaken their Essence—Kayen found that he had awakened a low-level Essence that allowed him to produce nothing more than a spark of flame.
Literally, a spark.
In the same year he awakened his Essence, Kayen was eventually expelled by his adoptive family. Fortunately, because he had not caused trouble or made excessive demands during his stay, the family simply cast him out without further conflict. Once expelled, Kayen lived in his school dormitory. It was a prestigious school for the Awakened; even though he was frequently mocked and insulted, he did not drop out. This was because the school dormitory was his only home, and the school cafeteria was his only source of food. His friends at the school immediately distanced themselves, believing he was not their equal, which Kayen did not mind.
After graduating, Kayen pursued a military career. The military did not care about the level of one's Essence; they only cared about a person's Essence energy to power the weapons they manufactured to fight monsters. This made it the only place where Kayen could be accepted. Kayen was stationed in the eastern region, where he carried out his military duties for twenty years until the present moment, where he lay critically wounded and dying.
Kayen saw a monster with an octopus-like head suddenly appear in the distance and walk toward him. Realizing the monster intended to end his life, Kayen felt no fear; he had already experienced death once before. However, what he felt now was disappointment. He was disappointed because he had not become the person he thought he would be.
As the octopus monster drew close enough, Kayen could clearly see its form. It had a body, legs, and one hand like a human, while its other hand was shaped like a scythe.
'How ugly.'
Once it was close enough, the monster immediately launched an attack on Kayen, severing his head from his body. His eyes were still fixed on the monster's appearance as it happened.
Kayen saw darkness and felt a sense of peace. He was free from the exhaustion, the shortness of breath, and the heat he had felt while alive. He did not know how long he spent in that darkness, but suddenly, a white light with dark-colored letters filled his vision. A voice that sounded neither like a woman nor a man read the letters written in the white light.
["Congratulations, you have experienced your first death."]
["Awakening the Death System."]
Hearing this voice, Kayen, who was previously empty, suddenly became conscious of who he truly was.
'A Death System? Is my cheat finally activating?'
Kayen had often heard about systems in the novels he read, so he spontaneously thought of the "cheat" he had always hoped would appear. After that announcement, the screen changed to a log displaying Kayen's entire life journey.
[Age 1: You are born.]
[Age 2: Due to your intelligence, you become quite famous in your local neighborhood. (+1 Death Point)]
[Age 3: You lose both parents to a monster attack and are sent to an orphanage in the same year.]
[Age 4: Because of your politeness, kindness, and friendliness, you are well-loved by the staff and other orphans. (+5 Death Points)]
[Age 7: You are adopted by a prestigious family in your city. (+100 Death Points)]
[Age 16: You are expelled from the prestigious family that adopted you. (+10 Death Points)]
[Age 18: You are successfully accepted into the military. (+15 Death Points)]
[Age 19: You are sent on your first mission and successfully kill 15 Rank 0 monsters. (+15 Death Points)]
[Age 23: You are sent on a rescue mission and successfully save 17 ordinary citizens. (+17 Death Points)]
[Age 26: During a mission, you accidentally kill a Rank 1 Peak (Mortal) monster. (+10 Death Points)]
[Age 33: You successfully survive a monster assault on the fortress where you were stationed. (+50 Death Points)]
[Age 35: Because you offended a high-ranking official, you are reassigned to a fortress in the eastern region. (+10 Death Points)]
[Age 38: You die from an attack by a Rank 2 High (Mortal) monster. (+10 Death Points)]
[You have successfully obtained 243 Death Points.]
'Death Points? What are these? And what is meant by "Mortal"?'
Kayen, reading this log, was quite confused by the new terms mentioned. As a novel reader, Kayen intended to speculate, but his attention was diverted by a button.
[Continue]
Seeing this button, Kayen intended to press it with his finger, but he could not feel his body. However, as if knowing what Kayen wanted, the screen immediately changed.
[Death Points: 243]
[Name: Kayen]
[Essence: Spark of Flame]
[Ability: Heat Hand]
[Skill: Theron Family Swordsmanship (Beginner: 38%)]
[Talent: —]