Matt POV:
I expected pain. Or complete darkness. Or maybe the slow drifting feeling that comes when consciousness fades. I did not expect to wake up choking on air that felt too sharp to breathe.
My lungs pulled in a freezing breath, and my eyes shot open. A ceiling I had never seen before came into view. My mind did not catch up at first. There was a strange numbness wrapping around my thoughts like a thick blanket that prevented panic from forming.
Then the memories hit.
Not mine... or are they?
A flood of scenes poured into my head as if someone had ripped open a dam and forced me to watch two different lives at the same time. I dropped back onto the bed and clutched my skull while unfamiliar voices, faces, and sensations clashed with my own memories.
A birthday celebration, a tired but smiling mother, school awards. teachers praising a gifted child, training, expectations, failing to awaken, more pressure and more disappointment...
The fragments overlapped and blended until my sense of self crumbled. I could not tell where my thoughts ended and where his began.
And then everything went black.
When I woke again, my body felt like it had been dragged through concrete. My head throbbed with a dull ache, and my limbs felt too heavy. I groaned and tried to sit up.
"Ugh. My head."
My voice sounded familiar but slightly different. A little clearer, maybe. A little younger. I rubbed my face and blinked away the sluggish haze.
A soft glow pulsed against my palm.
A bright light.
I looked down.
The phone I had been holding before the blinding radiance swallowed me was still in my hand.
"What in the world…" I muttered.
Before I could examine it properly, a metallic chime echoed inside my skull.
[Unidentified object found. Initiating world line restoration.]
A shiver ran up my spine. That line...was used multiple times by the universal world order in The Golden Weaver's Apprentice.
The phone brightened and the air around it twisted like a mirage. Instinctively, I dropped it.
It did not fall.
It floated above the floor, gently spinning. The space around it bent like reality itself was being pulled into strange shapes.
"Stop. Stop. Stop. What is happening… why are you floating?" I backed away until my legs hit the bed.
The mechanical voice sounded again.
[World line restoration analysis in progress.]
[Object cannot be terminated.]
[Adjusting measures for termination.]
My heart jumped.
"Hold on. What is being terminated? No no no, Is it gonna terminate me because I'm an otherworlder?!"
Quick on my feet, I urgently ordered in the air.
[Universal System Override!]
[Code 0010]
[User Schwarz ]
[Protocol Change Termination to Adjustment ]
The phone light then changed to a black color, which was strange enough and the distortion around it intensified until I felt the pressure in my ears.
Another set of messages sounded.
[Adjusting measure identified.]
[Adjustment confirmed. Object will be integrated into World Line System.]
[System integration into user in progress.]
[0.0001%]
"Into what now?" I squeaked.
The phone pulsed with violent light. The warping ceased. Then the device dissolved into countless tiny particles of light that floated like glowing dust.
I barely managed to shield my eyes before the particles rushed toward me and struck my wrist.
I flinched from pain but from the sudden icy shock that spread under my skin. I stared at my wrist. Nothing changed visibly. No burn. No mark. No embedded device.
"…That just happened."
My voice wavered. The world had given me a system. The type of system only awakened Weavers were supposed to receive naturally.
I sank onto the bed and tried to think.
Why would it give me a system that I would naturally acquire once I awakened as a weaver?
Would both systems merge? Would that cause another problem as a unique entity and be forcefully removed?
I could not answer any of that. Not while my brain still felt like it had been scrambled.
I dragged myself into the bathroom.
The mirror reflected a familiar face, but not quite the same. I leaned in until my nose almost touched the glass.
The hair was black, slightly messy and strangely soft looking. My eyes were a clear turquoise. They almost glowed under the light. No odd colored strands in my hair. That confirmed it. I was not an awakened Weaver in this world.
I touched my cheek. The skin felt smooth in a way that was definitely not natural. I looked like myself but enhanced. As if someone took my ordinary face, polished it and carved away imperfections with divine precision.
I had been average in my previous life. This version of me could probably pass as above average. Attractive, but nothing compared to the radiant beauty of awakened elites.
I splashed cold water on my face and stared again.
"Still me. Kind of," I muttered.
What was that earlier? I adjusted the World Line System and used the codename Schwarz because it is the only primordial color without sentience, so it would not become suspicious of someone borrowing its moniker to access the system. But if I use that identity again, I run the risk of being detected by the other primordial colors, and that would be an immediate "bad end."
Still… maybe I can use it one more time. I just need to alter the smallest possible detail—something barely a speck so that they won't notice any change.
I grabbed a drink from the magical refrigerator in the corner of the room. The rune patterns etched into the metal pulsed faintly, showing that it was powered by thrum, its this world's magic rather than electricity. That detail alone reminded me that this world was not Earth.
I returned to my desk chair and sat down. The room was similar to mine from my old life. The bed was the same. The desk was at the same angle. Even the window placement felt eerily familiar. That somehow made everything more unsettling.
I closed my eyes and sifted through the inherited memories.
This world's Matt grew up without a father. His mother raised him alone while working constantly to support them. He had rich cousins who treated him well. He was considered a genius as a child and was expected to become a powerful Weaver. Those expectations collapsed when he failed to awaken naturally, even by the time he reached 17 years old.
"This is a whole carbon copy in my previous life...."
There was only one chance left to awaken. The Coming of Age Ceremony.A forced awakening ritual.
The memories were clear. The ceremony was dangerous. Many people succeeded. Many failed. Some never came out.
I felt the tension rise in my chest.
"When is the ceremony?" I asked aloud.
I dug deeper. Dates. Schedules. Invitations. Ritual notices.
I froze.
"…No way."
I checked again. And again.
"It is today," I whispered.
A very long pause followed.
"It is right now."
I stood up so quickly that I slammed my knee into the desk. The pain shot up my leg with such intensity that I squealed in a pitch I never thought possible.
"Ow ow ow. My knee. shit biscuit…"
I grabbed the edge of the desk and inhaled through my teeth. After a few pained breaths, I managed to stand straight again.
"Coming of Age Ceremony. Now. Zero preparation. Fantastic."
I limped to the closet and changed into outerwear, a crisp white shirt, a black vest, a tie, and dark pants. I changed as quickly as I could manage. I found it again how naturally I was rummaging through things that were not mine just moments ago seemed weird.
"I guess I really transmigrated, huh.."
While fixing my vest, I suddenly froze.
This Matt was a side character. Actually, he was not even a side character. He was a background civilian with no plot relevance at all.
If he had no presence in the story…What happened to him in the ceremony?
Did he fail or did he succeed? Most likely, he failed, given how my hair has no other color than black, this body is not attuned to atmospheric thrum.
"Stop thinking like that," I warned myself. "You have a system now. That has to mean something."
I forced myself to breathe.
I prepared to take a step toward the door when a sudden chime echoed in my head.
A translucent window appeared in front of my vision.
[World Line System Integration Progress]
[0.003]
"I guess this minuscule progress is a bit comforting."