Chapter 1 – Finally Awakened
The storm rolled across the sky, thick with mana and thunder. Rain fell in sharp angles, pelting the rooftops of Ashveil Town. Most people were indoors. Only the desperate or the mad wandered the outer district this late.
Auther Finn didn't have the luxury of fear.
Seventeen years old, soaked to the bone, and curled under the lip of a crumbling rooftop, he sat staring up at the storm with tired, silver eyes. His white hair clung to his forehead in wet strands. His hands were cold, stiff, and bruised.
But he was still breathing.
That counted for something in this world.
It had been a year since he'd arrived.
One moment, he was walking home after school. The next, the world twisted, and he was falling into a sky that didn't belong to Earth. No truck. No portal. No glowing ritual. Just… displacement. Reality turned inside out.
This world — it looked like Earth. Cities, trains, markets, technology. But the deeper you looked, the more you saw it wasn't. Towns were surrounded by walls. Wild zones sprawled between them, filled with monsters. Dungeons — called Gates — opened unpredictably. And everything was soaked in mana.
It was a place where the strong ruled.
Where the weak died.
A place where people awakened.
Some were born with power. Others Awakened during moments of danger or pressure. And with that Awakening came a gift — an ability, different for every person. It could be simple: enhanced strength, night vision, fire resistance. Or it could be rare: time distortion, blood manipulation, dimensional pockets.
Abilities came in ranks too. From common to rare, epic, legendary… and higher.
Auther knew all this. He'd learned it while surviving. Working trash jobs. Carrying mana-logged corpses. Listening to adventurers talk after clearing gates. No one knew he came from another world. The System hadn't recognized it. No one had asked. He didn't tell.
He didn't need to.
Because no one cared. This world didn't reward weakness, and it didn't hand out pity.
It just waited for you to die.
But he didn't die.
He adapted.
He endured.
And then tonight… something changed.
It began like a spark behind his ribs. A crawling heat, building fast. He doubled over, pain blooming through every nerve. His heart felt like it was being branded. And then, just as he thought he'd pass out —
A blue screen appeared before him, floating mid-air.
[System Initialization Complete.]
[You have Awakened.]
His breath hitched.
He stared at it, rain forgotten.
Then another screen opened.
Name: Auther Finn
Rank: F1
Ability: Skill Creation (Unique)
Skills: None
Skill Points: 100
A beat passed.
Then another.
His eyes widened.
Skill Creation.
It wasn't just some flashy name. It was exactly what it sounded like. A power to forge skills. Not copy. Not borrow. Create.
He'd never heard of anything like it.
And the hundred Skill Points…?
That was more than most could dream of. People didn't just get skills. They created them with blood and trial — or inherited them from books left behind by powerful awakeners. There was no "EXP," no skill farming.
Points? No one had those.
Not unless they were him.
The realization hit like lightning.
He was an Awakener now.
But not just any Awakener.
He had a power that could reshape everything.
And the System, cold and uncaring, simply floated there.
[Congratulations. You've Awakened.]