Where am I?
My eyes fluttered open to a world scattered with cyan gems, glittering like starlight on alien soil. A strange sky loomed above, the air thick with unnatural weight.
I scanned the terrain, confused. This isn't my lab. This isn't any world I know.
Then—
"I remember eating a World-Devouring Whale… and Inerous's notifications."
In—
A tidal wave of memories crashed into me. But they weren't mine.
"A doppelgänger?"
Panic coiled inside me. The body I now inhabited had my face, yet everything else—his thoughts, his emotions—was foreign. I sifted through the fragments.
This body belonged to an 18-year-old boy named Dax Godfall. A cruel irony. Same name, same face. But no strength. No talent. Not even a mana or aura core. He was weaker than the weakest.
"The Weakest Man in Existence."
His only companion? A tiny green lizard clinging loyally to his shoulder.
His father, once the clan head, had been dethroned repeatedly, humiliated by his own blood. While the rest of the Godfall progeny shone like stars, this Dax was nothing.
He ran away—not to seek power, but to escape shame.
But the world wasn't done punishing him.
On the road to a neighboring town, his carriage was pulled into a grotesque realm. A dungeon? A prison? No one knew. Sky and soil alike birthed monsters.
One by one, his companions were torn apart. The only one who made it out unscathed was a beautiful woman who vanished the moment they arrived.
Alone, hopeless, and weaponless, Dax clung to Tina—the little lizard—for sanity.
Then came the basilisk. A towering Dreadmaw with death in its eyes.
Cornered on a cliff's edge, trembling, he whispered:
"If I'm going to die, let it be on my terms."
He jumped.
His life didn't flash before his eyes. Regret did.
—
When the memory ended, I was left with something I hadn't expected.
Disgust.
This was the shell I now occupied? A boy who embraced weakness? Who welcomed death as if it were mercy?
Pathetic.
A foreign despair surged through me—heavy, clinging, almost sentient. Was this just fusion, or a punishment?
"You were weak. Unlucky. But I… I am Dax Godfall. The No.1 Gene Researcher. A Dual Trait Wielder. We may share the same name, but from now on—we walk a new path."
A figure emerged in the air—a translucent version of myself, but otherworldly, refined. Skin pale like stardust, face sharp, knowing. He smiled as though recognizing an old friend before fading into drifting blue particles.
"I should be the one thanking you," I murmured, almost fondly.
Then came the chimes.
Ding! Ding!
Familiar. Impossible.
[SYSTEM BOOT COMPLETE]
[WELCOME TO EPOCH.]
"Inerous?!"
"Welcome, Master."
"How... how are you here?"
I designed Inerous myself. She was a digital construct locked into my neural net. But transmigration was a soul-bound event. This shouldn't be possible.
[This is thanks to your Traits.]
My mind surged with downloaded knowledge.
I drifted into a memory—an outer body moment.
I saw myself floating in deep space, drenched in the cosmic blood of the World-Devouring Whale. Red mist shimmered with flecks of stars, wrapping around me like a veil. I was unrecognizable. A celestial abomination—part man, part void.
My stomach twisted.
Then came the black flames—my first Trait: Insatiable Hunger. It gifted infinite physical evolution… but required flesh. A cannibal's path.
I was the Galactic Demon. Feared. Endless.
But the hunger turned inward. I was devouring myself.
I needed a fix.
So I sought out the one being that could change everything: the World-Devouring Whale. I planned to consume it and use my second Trait—Synthesis—to bind its Absorption System to my own.
And it worked—until it didn't.
As I digested the whale, the spiral in my gut became a black hole. Gravity tore loose.
I drifted toward a planet watching it crumble into my core. Then stars. Moons. Everything.
Only my face remained.
Then—silver flames erupted, engulfing my entire being, cleansing the collapse..
Suddenly the black hole halted.
Poof!
I exploded into stardust.
"That was Synthesis! But… I never activated it."
[Correct, Master. The Synth Flame triggered automatically. During this, I fused with your soul.]
"I see..."
Status.
[STATUS]
Name: Dax Godfall
Race: Human
Bloodline: None
Traits:Insatiable Hunger (Locked), Synthesis
Attributes:
Strength: 5
Intelligence: 2
Mana: 0
Aura: 0
Agility: 3
Physique: 1
Dexterity: 1
Luck: -1
I stared at the display, blinking.
"Negative luck?"
No wonder the original was cursed to misery.
I pushed myself to my feet. Clothes torn, body aching, but breathing.
"No one's coming. Time to move."
"Storage," I muttered.
The world collapsed.
I reappeared in a boundless space—10,000 cubic meters of stillness.
The floor was a black mirror, endless and flawless. Each step sent ripple-like echoes through the void.
At the far edge, I saw something—familiar.
A blade, resting on the reflective ground.
Reality bent around it.
My heart skipped.
"You… followed me?"
The crimson katana hummed softly. Its glow—faint, alive.
Cil.
My first creation. My greatest companion. A living weapon forged from my DNA and cosmic alloys.
I knelt, fingertips brushing its edge.
"You're drained… but you waited for me."
The steel quivered.
"We'll reach the pinnacle again," I whispered.
Cil pulsed once—like a heartbeat.
Returning to reality I focused on my goal and that was to get stronger I had no time to waste.
I went to a hidden corner sitting crosslegged
I circulated my traits around my body instantly a black and silver flame burst from my body splitting themselves into a perfect half suddenly a black and white halo appeared above my head.
Good I still have my mastery that means my traits should be at the level of Trait emperor.