Fifty-eight minutes.
Kain stood in his tiny bathroom, staring at his reflection in the cracked mirror. The shadows that had erupted from him during the class integration had receded, but he could still feel them lurking just beneath his skin, waiting for his command.
He'd tested it briefly—extending his hand and willing the darkness forward. The shadows had responded instantly, coiling around his fingers like living serpents before retreating at his mental command. The control was instinctive, natural, as if he'd been born with this power instead of having it thrust upon him minutes ago.
Shadow Sovereign. The words echoed in his mind. A class I never heard of in ten years of fighting.
Which meant one of two things: either it was so rare that no one in his timeline had ever obtained it, or...
Or he was the first.
The only.
Kain splashed cold water on his face, forcing himself to focus. He didn't have time to philosophize about the nature of his new abilities. In fifty-seven minutes, the First Gate would appear in Central Manhattan, and he needed to be there.
But first, he needed to prepare.
In the first timeline, he'd been in this same apartment when the Gates appeared. He'd felt the awakening—a sudden rush of mana flooding his body, a status window appearing before his eyes. He'd been lucky enough to be one of the 0.1% of humanity that could access the System.
But he'd been unprepared. Confused. Terrified.
He'd wasted hours trying to understand what was happening, and by the time he'd worked up the courage to enter a gate, all the good opportunities had been claimed by bolder hunters.
Not this time.
Kain moved to his closet and pulled out the few possessions he owned. A pair of worn sneakers. Dark jeans. A black hoodie. Not exactly hunter gear, but it would have to do. In a few hours, the world would descend into chaos as gates appeared globally and people awakened. Money would become meaningless overnight as the new economy—based on magic stones and gate drops—took over.
But for now, he was just a broke college dropout with $47 in his bank account.
He pulled on his clothes, laced up his shoes, and was reaching for his apartment keys when another system window materialized:
[SHADOW SOVEREIGN INTERFACE UNLOCKED]
Status Window Available
Would you like to view your status?
[YES] / [NO]
"Yes," Kain said aloud.
The window expanded, displaying information that made his breath catch:
[STATUS WINDOW]
Name: Kain Voss
Age: 18
Class: Shadow Sovereign (Hidden SSS-Rank)
Title: The Regressor (Hidden)
Level: 1
Stats:
STR: 10
AGI: 10
VIT: 10
INT: 10
SEN: 10
LUK: 10
Available Stat Points: 0
Active Skills:
Shadow Extraction (Lv. MAX) - Extract shadows from defeated enemies and add them to your army. Success rate varies based on target's power and will.
Shadow Storage (Lv. MAX) - Store your shadow army in a pocket dimension. Summon and dismiss shadows at will.
Monarch's Authority (Lv. 1) - Exert dominance over beings weaker than yourself. Higher level increases range and effectiveness.
Shadow Step (Lv. 1) - Teleport between shadows within visual range. Cooldown: 10 seconds. Mana Cost: 50.
Umbral Strike (Lv. 1) - Coat your weapon in shadow energy for increased damage. Mana Cost: 30 per strike.
Passive Skills:
Shadow Sovereign's Presence (Lv. MAX) - Entities affiliated with darkness instinctively recognize your authority. Weak shadow-type monsters may submit without combat.
Eternal Vigil (Lv. MAX) - You do not need to sleep. Resting for 4 hours provides full recovery.
Future's Memory (Unique) - Perfect recall of events from your previous timeline. This knowledge cannot be shared directly through normal means.
Shadow Army: 0/10
Mana: 500/500
Special Note: As a Monarch-class entity, you do not gain experience from normal kills. Your power grows through Shadow Extraction and evolution of your shadow soldiers. Choose your battles wisely.
Kain read through the status window three times, his tactical mind already working through the implications.
Level 1, but SSS-rank. Stats of 10 across the board—exactly the same as a normal F-rank awakened. In raw power, he was currently no stronger than any other newly awakened hunter.
But his skills...
Shadow Extraction. That was the key. He didn't level up by grinding monsters like normal hunters. He grew by building an army. Every enemy he defeated could potentially become a loyal soldier.
The more he thought about it, the more brilliant—and terrifying—the system became. A normal hunter might kill a thousand goblins and gain a few levels. But Kain could turn those thousand goblins into a thousand soldiers, each one fighting for him, allowing him to tackle stronger enemies, which would become stronger soldiers, in an exponentially growing cycle of power.
It was the perfect system for someone who knew the future. He knew where the strong monsters would appear. He knew which gates held the most valuable targets for extraction. He knew every boss, every hidden dungeon, every secret that he'd discovered over ten years of trial and error.
This time, I'll be unstoppable.
But first, he needed to survive the next hour.
Kain pocketed his phone and keys, then paused. In the corner of his room sat an old aluminum baseball bat—a remnant from his brief stint on his high school team before he'd dropped out to work. It was dented and scratched, barely better than a club.
But it was a weapon, and that was more than most people would have when the chaos started.
He grabbed it, testing the weight. The muscle memory was still there from his first timeline. Thousands of hours of combat had burned efficient movement patterns into his very soul, even if his current body was weak and untrained.
Another notification appeared:
[EQUIPMENT RECOGNIZED]
Aluminum Baseball Bat (Common)
Physical Damage: 8-12
Durability: 45/100
Special Effect: None
This weapon is beneath your station as Shadow Sovereign. Acquire proper armament as soon as possible.
Despite everything, Kain almost smiled. Even the System was judging his poverty.
"Yeah, well, beggars can't be choosers," he muttered, slinging the bat over his shoulder.
He checked the quest timer: 52:14 remaining.
Time to move.
The streets of New York were as he remembered them—a chaotic symphony of honking cars, shouting pedestrians, and the ever-present smell of street food and exhaust. It was a normal Saturday morning in the city that never slept.
For forty-nine more minutes, anyway.
Kain navigated the familiar route toward Central Manhattan, his mind cataloging everything he remembered about the First Gate. In the original timeline, it had appeared in the middle of Times Square at exactly 10:47 AM. The sudden materialization of a swirling portal of light had caused mass panic, traffic accidents, and dozens of injuries as people fled in terror.
The gate itself had been F-rank—the lowest possible threat level. Inside had been a small cave system populated by Giant Rats, oversized rodents about three feet long with stats slightly above a normal human. Dangerous to civilians, but manageable for even freshly awakened hunters.
Most hunters had ignored it. F-rank gates offered minimal rewards—a few magic stones worth maybe $50 each, and equipment so common it was barely worth picking up. The real prizes were in higher-ranked gates.
But those hunters had been thinking short-term.
Kain knew better.
His tactical mind assessed the situation. The Giant Rats wouldn't make powerful shadows—they were F-rank fodder at best. But they'd be expendable soldiers he could use to clear tougher gates. And from his experience leading parties in the first timeline, he knew that composition mattered more than numbers. One skilled A-rank hunter was worth a dozen mediocre C-ranks. The same principle should apply to shadow soldiers—quality over quantity.
And to do that, you needed to start somewhere.
The Giant Rats won't make powerful shadows, Kain thought as he walked, but they'll be expendable soldiers I can use to clear tougher gates. Plus, the First Gate has a hidden boss that most hunters never found.
In the original timeline, a solo hunter had accidentally discovered a secret passage in the First Gate three days after it appeared. Behind it was a Rat King—an E-rank boss with a small treasure chest. The hunter had been killed, and by the time a proper party cleared it, the chest had already been looted by another group.
But Kain knew where it was. And he knew the Rat King's attack patterns.
That boss would become his first real shadow soldier.
He checked his phone: 10:32 AM.
Fifteen minutes until the gate appeared.
Kain found a spot near the edge of Times Square where he could watch without drawing attention—a difficult feat given the baseball bat slung over his shoulder, but New York was weird enough that one more eccentric person barely registered.
He leaned against a building and waited, letting the familiar sounds of the city wash over him. Around him, people lived their normal lives, completely unaware that in fourteen minutes, everything would change forever.
Kain spotted a young couple taking selfies, laughing and carefree. A businessman shouting into his phone about a merger. A street performer doing magic tricks for spare change. A hot dog vendor arguing with a customer about extra relish.
Normal. Mundane. Safe.
In his first timeline, how many of these people had died in the first week? How many had been killed when gates broke and monsters spilled into the streets? How many had awakened only to be killed in their first gate raid by overconfidence or bad luck?
Elena had once told him that she couldn't save everyone. That trying to shoulder the weight of every death would destroy him.
She'd been right.
But she'd also said that didn't mean he shouldn't try to save who he could.
I'll save you this time, Elena, Kain promised silently. You and everyone else I can.
His phone buzzed with a news notification: "Strange Atmospheric Phenomena Reported Worldwide."
Kain almost laughed. The governments had detected the mana fluctuations but had no idea what they meant. In a few hours, every major world power would be scrambling to understand the System, to weaponize it, to control it.
They would all fail.
The System didn't care about human politics or military might. It gave power to individuals, not nations. And those individuals would become the new ruling class, whether the governments liked it or not.
10:46 AM.
Kain pushed off from the wall and walked toward the center of Times Square, bat in hand.
The crowd around him continued their normal routines, oblivious to what was about to happen.
Thirty seconds.
Twenty.
Ten.
Kain positioned himself in the exact spot he remembered the gate appearing.
Five seconds.
The air began to shimmer.
Three.
Two.
One.
CRACK.
Reality split open.
The sound was like glass shattering on a cosmic scale, a noise that seemed to bypass the ears entirely and resonate directly in the soul. People screamed, stumbling backward as a swirling vortex of white light erupted from thin air, hovering three feet above the ground.
The First Gate.
Notifications flooded Kain's vision:
[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT]
The Gates have opened.
Mana has returned to Earth.
Humanity's trial begins.
Awaken or perish.
Around him, people clutched their heads in pain as the System forcibly integrated with every human on the planet. Most would see only a message telling them they had no affinity for mana, condemning them to remain ordinary in a world that no longer rewarded ordinary.
But some—the lucky 0.1%—would see a different message.
Kain ignored the chaos. He'd seen this all before. Instead, he focused on the gate itself.
[GATE DETECTED]
Rank: White (F-Rank)
Type: Dungeon
Estimated Monsters: 47
Estimated Boss: None Listed
Recommended Party Size: 3-5 Awakened (F-Rank)
Time Until Break: 167:59:47
Warning: You are attempting to enter alone. This is not recommended.
Proceed? [YES] / [NO]
"Yes," Kain said.
He stepped forward into the light.
The world twisted, colors bleeding together, and then he was somewhere else.
[YOU HAVE ENTERED: THE FIRST GATE]
[DUNGEON: RAT'S NEST]
Kain found himself standing in a damp cave tunnel lit by phosphorescent mushrooms growing along the walls. The air smelled of mold and animal musk. Somewhere in the darkness ahead, he could hear the skittering of claws on stone.
He gripped his baseball bat tighter, shadows already beginning to coil around the aluminum surface as Umbral Strike activated automatically.
In the first timeline, he'd been terrified when he'd finally worked up the courage to enter a gate three days after awakening. He'd barely survived his first fight, and only luck had saved him from being killed by a goblin's rusty knife.
But that Kain had been weak. Uncertain. Afraid.
This Kain had died on a mountain of corpses after ten years of war.
This Kain had nothing left to fear.
A Giant Rat rounded the corner ahead, its beady red eyes locking onto him. The creature was the size of a large dog, with matted brown fur and teeth like yellow daggers. It hissed, poison dripping from its maw.
[GIANT RAT]
Level: 3
Rank: F
HP: 150/150
In the first timeline, this creature would have been a serious threat to a level 1 hunter.
Now?
Kain smiled coldly.
"Come on then," he whispered to the shadows dancing along his weapon. "Let's begin building my army."
The Giant Rat lunged.
And Kain Voss, the Shadow Sovereign, went to war.