The fall did not end in death.
Inside the Void Rift, time was a broken thing. The boy floated in a sea of grey silence, his body being bathed in the primal energy of the space between worlds. Any other human would have been erased, their atoms scattered into nothing. But the God Tears held him together, acting as a beacon in the dark.
As he drifted, his system began to scream with notifications, the text flashing in a deep, blood-red color he had never seen before.
[Notice: You are the first human to survive the Void without a vessel.]
[Reward: Max Affinity with the Void (Unique).]
[Notice: You are the first human to cross worlds using raw displacement.]
[Reward: Superhuman Trait Unlocked — 'Void Heart' (SSS-Rank).]
[Notice: First God-Tier Item Owner detected.]
[Analyzing Skill: View (H-Rank)...]
[Mutation Initiated...]
The boy gasped as his eyes burned. It felt as if his pupils were being replaced with shards of a dying star.
[Skill Mutation Complete: Sovereign's Eye (Divine Rank)]
* Effect: The user no longer just observes data. They perceive the fundamental 'Truth' of all existence. Worth can no longer be hidden. Flaws become visible. The future is a suggestion.
The light blinded him, and then, the silence was replaced by the hum of a city.
The Girl and the Loner
When he finally woke, the boy—now the owner of a God's power and a Void's heart—found himself lying on a cold metal bench in a park made of holographic trees. His clothes were rags, but his skin felt like it was made of tempered steel.
"You look like you've had a really bad day," a soft, musical voice said.
He sat up, his head throbbing. Next to the bench was a girl in a motorized wheelchair. She had a gentle face and messy hair, and she was holding a small digital tablet.
"I'm Aya," she said, offering a small, lopsided smile. "I'm the designated 'useless' student of Class 7. Since you're wearing our uniform but I've never seen you before, I assume you're the transfer student who fell into the rift during the trip."
He looked at her, and instinctively, his mutated skill flared. He didn't see a "cripple." He saw a constellation.
[Status Window: Aya Sloan]
[Identity: The Fallen Saint]
[Trait: Superstar (SSS)] — Possesses a soul that can command the hearts of billions.
[Combat Talent: SS] — A master of war, locked behind broken gates.
[Singing: S] | [Acting: SS] | [Worth: SS]
[State: Crippled] — Internal energy channels are flooded with primal mana. The body is collapsing under the weight of its own greatness.
He was stunned. In this advanced world of cold machines and data, he was looking at a goddess in a wheelchair.
"I'm... Kaelen," he said, using his old name for the first time in this new air.
"Nice to meet you, Kaelen," she laughed, though it ended in a small cough. "You look like a loner. That's good. Loners last longer in this school. Come on, the registration office thinks you're dead. I'll help you get your ID before the Wardens find you."
The Rundown Sanctuary
Aya led him through the city of Neo-Terra. It was a place of high technology but no soul. People walked like machines, their eyes fixed on "Efficiency Ratings" floating in the air. Music was just a series of rhythmic beeps to keep workers on schedule.
"My apartment is a dump," Aya warned as they reached a crumbling building on the edge of the neon lights. "But the school doesn't check this far out. You can stay on the couch until you find your feet."
Inside, the apartment was filled with old books and a broken guitar—objects from a time when "culture" meant something.
Kaelen looked at her as she struggled to move from her chair to the bed. Her "SSS" Superstar trait was humming, trying to break through her crippled state.
"Aya," Kaelen said, his voice grounded by the power of the Void. "Why do you help me? I'm an H-Rank nobody."
She paused, her eyes reflecting the flickering neon outside. "Because in a world that only cares about how much you're worth, I like people who don't have a price tag yet. You have a weird look in your eyes, Kaelen. Like you've seen the end of the world and decided you didn't like the ending."
Kaelen reached into his pocket. The God Tears were gone, but the essence was inside him. He looked at the "Worth: SS" girl and then at his own hands.
"I'm going to change your price tag, Aya," he promised quietly. "I'm going to change everyone's."