"Ah… my head hurts so much."
"My throat is dry… and my body feels like it's burning."
Thick darkness surrounded him from all sides—dense, suffocating, whispering in an incomprehensible voice.
Suddenly, this stillness cracked, layers of shadow shattering like fragile glass. Leo's eyes opened slowly amidst the whirlpool of pain, as if an iron club had struck his skull repeatedly.
He tried to move his head, but his muscles betrayed him, as if he were imprisoned in his own body—bound without chains.
His world was hazy, his vision blurry, and the sounds scattered.
"What's happening? Am I asleep? Is this a dream?"
"I can think… but I can't feel anything."
Thoughts surged like chaotic waves inside his fogged mind, fragmented memories, questions without answers.
"The last thing I remember… an explosion? Screaming? Then… something fell on me."
"Am I dead? Is this a coma? Or am I… in a hospital?"
But before the spiral of panic could complete itself, the pain in his head gradually faded, leaving behind a strange coldness—clear, suspicious.
Suddenly, without warning, a blue screen appeared suspended in the air before his eyes:
===============
[Status] [Shop] [Locked]
Name: Nol Vier
Type: Human
Level: F-
Combat Ability: F-
Strength: F-
Speed: F-
Endurance: F-
Perception: F-
Magic Power: F-
Available Points: 2
Experience: 0
[Class]
Sword – Beginner Level
===============
His eyes widened, his breathing quickened, and his body began to tremble.
"What is this? A screen? A system? Like in games?"
He tried to touch it, but his fingers passed through it—as if it were an illusion.
"Nol Vier… who's that?"
He repeated the name, and with each repetition, the pressure in his head increased until it felt like it would explode.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
He collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain, his body trembling like a terrified worm. Unintelligible words began to pour from his mouth:
"Seris… Evaren… Black Ploth… Abyss Academy… three days…"
Then suddenly—everything went silent.
He opened his eyes again, and now, for the first time, he could clearly see what surrounded him.
But the surprise wasn't a forest… it was a dead land, black, cracked, stretching endlessly under a distorted crimson sky.
"What… is this place?"
He stood up with difficulty, and beside him was an old leather bag.
He opened it quickly.
A dagger… a vial of medicine… canned food… a black uniform like that of soldiers… and a digital watch.
He pressed the side of the watch, and a prompt to enter a password appeared.
"Password… I don't remember…"
But he switched to the fingerprint option and placed his thumb.
With a soft sound, the watch unlocked.
===============
User: Nol Vier
Age: 16
Grade: First Year
Institution: [Abyss Academy]
Current Location: Demon Continent – Bloody Mist Lands
"… Impossible."
He knelt on the ground, his fingers trembling, his chest quaking.
"I've… entered Black Ploth."
The memories surged suddenly. The novel Black Ploth, where the hero Eiren Solas fights demon armies, a world ruled by hellish creatures, where there's no place for the weak.
But this part of the world wasn't part of the main events of the novel.
"Demon Continent… no, no, this place was only hinted at in vague clues. It was said to be the swamp of death where the Great Demon was exiled."
He raised his gaze to the torn sky, where a red lightning bolt split the horizon, followed by the roar of a massive creature breathing behind the mist.
"I'm… not in the human world."
He gazed at the land around him; no trees, no water, only charred structures, jagged rocks, and bones peeking from beneath the red soil.
A phantom of an old battle still screamed across the horizon.
"But why here? Why didn't I appear in Abyss Academy like the normal characters?"
He approached a rock, sat on it, and began to think.
"The system I see… is different from the novel's. It has experience, a shop… that wasn't there. Is it a gift from the transfer?"
But he didn't have time to analyze.
Another roar—closer this time—and with it, the ground shook.
From behind the mist, a giant shadow emerged.
A creature with a human body and wolf fangs, its eyes glowing blood-red, and its wings broken and black.
"Bloody Nightmare?!" he screamed, recalling a monster mentioned in the novel, a creature never faced at level one.
"Damn it! Not now!"
He dashed forward, the ghoul behind him, roaring, every step of its feet carving a crater into the earth.
Leo ran through hollows and hills, his breath breaking, his heart pounding like war drums.
"If it catches me… I'll die instantly."
But he wasn't strong… his body worn out, his stats were "F-"… no chance.
Then suddenly, he remembered something.
"The system!"
He stopped for a second, closed his eyes, and imagined the screen.
It appeared.
"Shop!" he opened it, and it displayed:
[Shop – Beginner Offers]
– Speed Potion (1 point)
– Enhanced Dagger (1 point)
– Stealth Horn (2 points)
"The horn!" he shouted, and bought the last option.
The horn appeared in his hands.
He blew into it, and before his eyes, his body faded into the shadows.
The beast arrived, sniffed the air, then roared and moved away.
"I survived…"
Leo collapsed to the ground, panting, eyes closed.
But he didn't feel relieved—rather, a heavy feeling choked him.
"Mom… Dad… I won't see you again."
Tears flowed; he didn't know if they were from fear, pain, or loss.
He remembered his last morning with them, when he left without a proper goodbye.
"If only I had known…"
Rain began to fall, but in this land… it wasn't water.
It was black ash descending from the sky like the final weeping of a forgotten world.
And Leo, amid the ash, began to realize the truth:
"I've become part of this world…
And I'll need more than luck to stay alive."