The last thing Ethan Vale remembered from his old life was the screech of tires and the blinding headlights of a truck.
He had been running across the street with a small plastic bag clutched in his hand — cheap fever medicine for his little brother. It wasn't enough. It was never enough. The disease was eating Liam alive, and Ethan couldn't even afford the real treatment.
Then came the impact.
Pain exploded through his body for half a second before everything went black.
In that final moment, a familiar blue loading screen floated in his fading consciousness — the title screen of Eternal Realms, the only world where he had ever felt in control.
"Game Over," he thought bitterly.
At least he could die thinking about the one place where power wasn't decided by money or luck.
But the screen didn't fade to nothing.
Instead, it glitched violently.
System Notification (Critical Error): [Anomaly Detected.] [Soul Transfer Initiated.] [Host Body Acquired: Ethan Crowe – Commoner (Extra #4782)] [Fate Line: Dies during the "Slum Purge" event in 47 days.] [Story Contribution: 0.0%] [Warning: This character is scheduled for deletion.]
The words burned like fire into his soul.
Then silence.
When Ethan opened his eyes again, the first thing that hit him was the smell.
Rotten food. Sewage. Damp wood and cheap alcohol. The air was thick and heavy, sticking to his skin.
He was lying on a thin, dirty straw mat inside a tiny, crooked wooden shack. Sunlight barely filtered through the gaps in the walls. His body felt wrong — too light, too weak, too small.
Slowly, he pushed himself up.
A cracked piece of mirror leaned against the wall. Ethan stared at the reflection staring back.
A boy, maybe sixteen or seventeen, with messy black hair that fell into his eyes. Sharp gray eyes. Pale skin marked with faint bruises. He wore ragged, patched-up clothes that smelled of sweat and poverty. Completely ordinary. Completely forgettable.
The kind of face you'd see in a crowd and never remember.
"Status," Ethan whispered hoarsely.
A translucent blue window flickered into existence in front of him, unstable and glitching at the edges.
Name: Ethan Crowe Level: 1 Class: None (Locked) Title: — (Hidden) HP: 118/120 MP: 75/80 Strength: 8 Agility: 10 Vitality: 7 Intelligence: 14 Wisdom: 12
Skills:
Basic Street Fighting (Lv.1) ??? (Locked – Requires "Anomaly" condition)
Ethan's breath caught.
It was real.
He had actually been transported into Eternal Realms — not as the overpowered hero, not as a villain with a tragic backstory, but as a literal background extra. A side character whose only role was to die early to make the main cast look cooler during the first major city event.
A soft cough came from the other side of the small room.
On a second, even thinner mat, a boy no older than twelve lay curled up. His cheeks were hollow, his skin sickly pale, and dark circles sat under his eyes. Even without the floating name tag, Ethan would have recognized him anywhere.
Liam Crowe – Younger Brother.
The same disease. The same frail body. The same quiet suffering.
Liam stirred weakly and opened his eyes.
"Big brother… you're awake?" His voice was thin and raspy. "The landlord came again yesterday. He said if we don't pay the rent by the end of next week… he'll throw us out."
Ethan felt something tight and painful twist in his chest.
In his previous life, he had failed to save his brother.
In this new world, he had been given another chance — except this time, both of them were at the very bottom. No money. No power. No connections. Just forty-seven days before the "Slum Purge" event wiped out hundreds of extras like them to set the stage for the real protagonists.
Ethan clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms.
Not this time.
He remembered everything.
He knew exactly when the hidden ruins beneath the city would open. He knew the exact day the rare "Cure-All Elixir" would appear in the black market auction. He knew the future routes of every major character — the heroes, the villains, the academies, the empires.
And he knew one more thing:
In Eternal Realms, the world ran on strict rules. Extras were meant to stay in the background. They were never supposed to change the story.
But Ethan wasn't going to follow the script.
He looked at his little brother and forced a small, reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, Liam. I'll handle it."
Liam blinked slowly, doubt and hope mixing in his tired eyes. "How…?"
Ethan stood up, ignoring the dizziness and the weakness in his legs.
"Because this time," he said quietly, eyes burning with cold determination, "I'm not going to be an extra who disappears."
Outside the thin walls of the shack, the sounds of the slum rose — distant shouts, the clash of training swords, the low roar of a dragon passing high above the capital city.
The main story of Eternal Realms was about to begin.
Heroes would awaken their legendary classes. Geniuses would dominate the academy entrance trials. Empires would start moving behind the scenes.
And somewhere in the filthy back alleys, a side character who should have vanished in the first arc was about to become the glitch that breaks the entire game.
Ethan Crowe took a deep breath.
"First step," he muttered to himself, "survive the next 47 days."
"Then… rewrite everything."