Silence veiled the Ninth Tier of the Immortal Realm a world forged with laws so profound that even the greatest Ancestors could never fully comprehend them. Crystal mountains glimmered, horizons dissolved into infinity, and oceans of golden aura spiraled like the threads of fate itself.
At the heart of that spiritual sea, a man sat cross-legged. His white robes flowed without wind. Each strand of his hair reflected starlight. His eyes remained closed… and the world held its breath.
He was the Great Ancestor.
The silence shattered when his eyelids quivered. A single breath drifted from his lips soft, quiet… yet heavier than a thousand galaxies.
As that breath escaped, the entire Immortal Realm from the First Tier to the Ninth trembled.
Mountains cracked. Spiritual lakes boiled. Every Ancestor in secluded cultivation snapped open their eyes, faces pale, their souls resonating as if summoned by something far beyond their rank.
"H-Has He… returned?"
"The Great Ancestor… truly awakened again?"
"Hurry! Bow! Greet His presence!"
That single breath crossed into other realms Beastfolk, Fae, Monster, Demon and each felt the same pressure: the return of someone who should have vanished into the folds of a million-year myth.
The tides of inter-racial war stopped instantly.
Weapons fell. Monsters froze. Even the highest demons felt their bones quake.
No one dared move.
Everyone knew who had awakened.
In the Immortal Realm, the oldest Ancestors knelt, their bodies pressed down by the overwhelming spiritual weight radiating from the man seated in the center.
A Second-Tier Ancestor spoke, though his voice trembled despite him being one of the strongest beings across all realms.
"Great Ancestor… we welcome your return."
But the Great Ancestor only offered a faint nod. For a moment, He gazed across the realm He created one protected by generations of rulers, while He alone bore the burden of His existence so the world wouldn't collapse the moment He stirred.
"All things proceed as they should," He whispered. That soft voice made dimensions shiver.
After offering brief guidance to the Immortal Ancestors, He closed His eyes again, intending to resume His seclusion.
But suddenly, a foreign sound reached Him.
Gentle. Broken. Crying.
A woman's voice.
"...Please… please…"
The Great Ancestor opened His eyes.
And the world around Him shattered like fragile glass.
He awakened to the scent of metal and blood.
His body felt heavy, cold. The air stabbed into His lungs. Pain pulsed through every joint a sensation foreign to Him after millions of years.
The Great Ancestor lowered His gaze.
He saw blood.
A lot of it.
And slabs of steel pinning down His body.
It was the frail body of a human youth, crushed and wounded, breathing shallowly like a small bird caught in a storm.
Foreign memories flooded in fragments of the original owner's life. Hunger. Hard labor. The little sister he protected. A grandmother who died without answers. The antique shop on the mountain. A curse of misfortune shadowing every step.
And then, one final plea.
"Please… protect my sister."
The Great Ancestor closed His eyes.
He understood.
"So this is a human world from another multiverse… a parallel realm."
His voice was quiet, yet the resonance of His soul made the air tremble.
He lifted His hand a small gesture that sent several tons of steel floating upward like cotton drifting in the breeze.
This body was weak yet His consciousness was not.
"Your body can no longer return," He murmured. "But your final request… I will accept."
For the first time in millions of years, the Great Ancestor felt something new.
A small life.
Without a throne.
Without realms bowing.
Without inter-racial war.
Just… being an older brother.
A fragile, human life.
He rose slowly. Pain seared through Him, but He allowed it. Human sensations feelings He had long forgotten.
Flickering building lights, distant sirens, the smell of engine smoke.
This was not a realm He created.
Not a world He knew.
This was… Earth.
And amid the noise of a modern world, trapped in a body so frail, the Great Ancestor opened his new human eyes.
Eyes that once witnessed the birth of stars… now looked upon a human world collapsing under monsters, dungeons, and a mysterious awakening system.
He drew a shallow breath infinitely weaker than the breath that once shook the realms.
Yet the world responded.
Lights died. Winds halted. Shadows trembled.
"This body is fragile… but this consciousness is far too vast for this world," he whispered.
Then something formed before his face.
A blue light.
Shaped like a panel.
A… screen.
[Welcome, Prospective Hunter.]
[Awakening System will begin evaluation.]
The Great Ancestor fell silent.
The panel quivered.
As if terrified.
Then
[E-E-ERROR.]
[Subject possesses existence beyond system parameters.]
[CATEGORY: FORBIDDEN THREAT.]
[…]
[G-G-Greetings… Master…]
The screen… bowed.
The Great Ancestor exhaled lightly.
"First day in a new world," he murmured. "And its system is already acting like this."
He allowed himself a faint smile.
"Very well. Show me what you can do."
And with that, the journey of the Great Ancestor…
as a human…
began.