The world changed the moment the sky cracked.
No one forgot that day.
It began as a sound- like glass under unbearable pressure, stretching across the heavens. Then came the fracture. Not physical, Not quite. More like reality itself had been scored open by something unseen. The blue sky rippled, split, and revealed something deeper beneath, Layers of darkness threaded with light, like veins of a living Organism.
Hours later, The first gate appeared.
It hovered above a crowded intersection in the capital. A tear in space shaped like a vertical iris. Black at the edges, pulsing at the center. The air around it warped. Sound distorted. People fled.
Then something came out. A creature too large, too wrong. Its limbs bent in unnatural directions, its skin like cracked stone, its eyes glowing with a dull, hateful red. The first monster.
It took less than ten minutes to kill over a hundred people. The military responded. But they failed.
Human weapons meant nothing. Bullets barely slowed it. Explosions only angered it. And just when it seemed like humanity would be crushed under something it didn't understand...
People began to awaken.
10 Years Passed.
Now the world ran on a new system, one that everyone accepted, feared, and depended on.
Every human had a chance, small, but real, to awaken abilities after exposure to Gates or extreme life-or-death conditions. Those who awaken gained access to a status window visible only to them. Skills, Stats, Levels and most importantly...
Rank.
From F to SSS.
A person's worth, their future, their survival... all determine the moment they awakened.
Governments reorganize. Guilds rose to power. Entire economies formed around dungeon clearing, monster cores, and relics.
Cities became fortified zones.
And people like them?
They became expendable.
"Move faster Wystan!" The barked command snapped through the dim corridor, echoing off, damp stone walls.
Wystan Vega tightened his grip on the crude iron blade in his hand and forced his legs to keep moving.
The dungeon air was thick, humid and stale, carrying the faint scent of rot. The walls pulsed faintly with a sickly blue light, veins of mana running through them like arteries. Every step felt like trespassing inside something alive.
He hated it.
"Don't lag behind!" another voice snapped.
"I'm not-" Wystan started, but his breath hitched. His chest burned. His body was slower, weaker.
Pathetic.
He bit down on the word before anyone else could say it. Too late.
"Useless as always," muttered Kerran the party's vanguard, a bulky man clad in reinforced armor his shield strapped to his back. "Why'd we even bring an F rank?"
"Because he's cheap." Someone else replied with a snicker. Laughter rippled through the group. Wystan said nothing. He was used to it.
They were inside a D-Rank-Dungeon a collapsed underground ruin that had surfaced three months ago near the outskirts of the city.
For most hunters, this was beginner level work.
For Wystan?
It was a death sentence waiting to happen.
He shouldn't even be here.
Name: Wystan Vega
Rank: F
Level: 3
Skills:
- Spark (Lvl.1)
- Minor Regeneration (Lvl.1)
Two skills.
Both worthless.
Spark could barely light a torch. It produced a flicker of flame no bigger than a candle.
Minor regeneration... was slower than natural healing.
He had tested it. Timed it. It was practically useless in combat when he awakened a year ago.
The Guild evaluator didn't even bother hiding his disappointment.
"F-Rank. Minimal mana capacity. No combat viability." That was the verdict.
Since then Wystan survived by doing whatever work he could. Porter jobs, scavenging low tier dungeons, cleaning up after real hunters.
Today's job?
Backup support, which really meant bait.
"Contact ahead" Kerran said raising a hand. The group stopped, Wystan swallowed. The corridor ahead opened into a wider chamber. Shadows pooled in the corners. The air grew heavier.
Then came the sound, scraping.
Wet, slow, dragging across stone. A figure emerged.
Humanoid, but wrong. Its limbs elongated joints bending unnaturally. Skin stretched thin over its bones, pale and translucent. Its mouth split too wide, filled with jagged teeth.
A Ghoul.
Then another.
And another.
Five in total.
"Damn that's more than expected." One of the mages muttered. "Formation!" Kerran ordered. The party shifted. Tank up front, damage dealers behind, casters in the rear.
Wystan?
Pushed to the side. "Stay back and don't get in the way." Kerrann said without looking at him. Wystan clenched his jaw. "Right."
The fight began.
It was fast.
Kerran charged forward, Shields slamming into the first Ghoul. Steel rang against bone as the creature screeched. The damage dealers followed, blades flashing, magic erupting.
Fireballs exploded.
Lightning cracked.
The ghouls were torn apart piece by piece.
Wystan watched. That's all he could do, he tried to step in once just, once raising his blade toward a ghoul that broke past the line.
"Back!" someone shouted. A burst of wind magic slammed into him, knocking him aside. He hit the ground hard.
Pain flared.
By the time he looked up again, the ghoul was already dead.
"Idiot!" Kerran snapped. "You almost got yourself killed!" Wystan stayed silent.
His fingers tightened around the hilt of his blade.
Useless again.
The fight ended quickly. Five corpses lay scattered across the chamber, dissolving slowly into black mist. Mana residue drifted upward, fading into the dungeon walls. "Collect the Cores" Kerran said.
The others moved efficiently retrieving small glowing stones from where the ghouls had fallen. Wystan didn't move. He knew better. Those weren't for him.
They went deeper, further into the dungeon. The air grew colder heavier. Wystan felt it before anyone said anything.
A shift.
Subtle but wrong.
"Something's off." One of the mages murmured. "No kidding" Kerran replied. The corridor narrowed again, then abruptly opened into a massive chamber. And that's when everything went wrong.
The ceiling trembled. A deep rumbling crack echoed above them. "Wait-" someone started.
Too late.
The ground shook violently.
Stone split.
The ceiling collapsed.
Wystan barely had time to react before the chamber came crashing down. Dust, debris, darkness. He was thrown backward, his body slamming against the ground as the air was knocked from his lungs. Pain exploded through his ribs. His vision blurred for a moment-
There was nothing.
Then
Silence, Wystan coughed, choking on dust as he forced himself to move. Everything hurt. His head rang, his limbs felt heavy, his chest burned with every breath.
He pushed himself up slowly. Or rather- half of who was.
The ceiling had collapsed, sealing off the path behind them. Rubble blocked the entrance completely.
"Kerran?" he called out hoarsely. No response "Anyone?" A grown answered him, from somewhere to his left. Relief flickered. He stumbled toward the sound.
"Hey are you-" He stopped. Kerran was there, alive, bruised, bleeding, but alive and not alone. Two others had survived as well the rest?
Gone, buried, dead.
"Damn it..." Kerran spat, pushing himself upright. His eyes darted around the collapsed chamber. "We need to get out" one of the survivors said, panic creeping into his voice. "No kidding" Kerran snapped. "Find another path-" He stopped.
His gaze shifted slowly toward Wystan. Something changed. Subtle but unmistakable.
"You" Kerran said.
Wystan frowned.
"What?"
Kerran's expression hardened. "Were short on supplies." The words felt... off.
Wystan's stomach dropped. "What are you-"
"We can't carry dead weight." Kerran continued. The other two fell silent. Neither objected. Neither defended him. Wystan took a step back.
"You're joking..." No one laughed.
Realization hit, cold, sharp, final. "We'll find another exit" Kerran said calmly. "You'll just slow us down." Wystan shook his head. "No, wait, I can-" a shove, sudden, violent, Wystan stumbled backward.
"Sorry" Kerran said. He didn't sound sorry. The ground beneath Wystan cracked. He didn't even have time to scream.
He fell.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
The fall didn't kill him.
That was the cruelest part.
Wystan hit the ground hard, his body slamming into cold stone with bone rattling force. Something cracked. Pain exploded.
Air left his lungs in a strangled gasp. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe. For a moment he thought- this is it.
Time passed.
Or maybe it did't .
Down there, in the suffocating dark, time lost meaning. He lay there, broken, alone. His vision flickered. His body refused to respond. Blood pooled beneath him. Minor regeneration ticked slowly. Too slowly, not enough.
Not nearly enough. "Heh." A weak laugh escaped his lips. "Figures..." All that effort, all that humiliation and this was how it ended?
At the bottom. Forgotten. Discarded.
His fingers twitched, barely. Just enough. "No" the word was faint but real. "No" not like this.
Something shifted deep within him. A spark, not the weak flicker of his skill. Something else, Something waiting. A sound echoed in the darkness. Not external, internal...
[Conditon Met]
Wystan's eyes widened.
[User has reached critical state.]
[All survival parameters below threshold]
[Evaluating...]
The darkness around him seemed to... breathe
[Hidden Requirement Satisfied]
A pulse, like a heartbeat. Not his own.
[Unique Ability Unlocked.]
His vision exploded into light.
[Skill Fusion Systems Initialized].
Wystan's breath hitched.
"What?"
A new window appeared before him. Different, distorted, unfamiliar.
[Available Skills for Fusion:]
- Spark (Lvl.1)
- Minor Regeneration (Lvl.1)
A single prompt flickered beneath them.
[Combine?]
Wystan stared at it. His mind raced. This was a chance. Maybe his only one. His lips trembled.
"Do it..." The world held its breath.
[Fusing skills...]
The air trembled.
Energy surged.
His body burned.
Pain-worse than anything before-ripped through him.
"AAGH-!!"
Fire, not outside. Inside, his veins ignited, his bones screamed, his flesh tore and rebuilt in the same instant, the darkness... burned.
Then silence.
A single notification appeared.
[Fusion Complete]
Wystan lay there, unmoving, breathing, alive. Slowly, very slowly, he opened his eyes.
Flames flickered in the darkness. Not around him. From him.
A new window hovered before his gaze.
[New Skill Acquired:]
-Phoenix Body (Lvl. 1)
Wystan exhaled. A faint ember escaped his lips.
For the first time in his life... he felt it.
Power.
And far above beyond the collapsed ruin the dungeon trembled as if something had just been born.