"Chronos."
Ace’s eyes glowed with a faint blue hue, and he felt his body being grabbed by a powerful force into a swirling vortex.
GASP!
Then his eyes shot open, and he jolted his body upright, breathing heavily.
"W-Wha?" He blinked and looked around, his head was still heavy, but the roaring wind was gone.
The last memory he held was of drifting through purgatory, talking to the entity that resided within.
But that wasn’t the confusing part.
If his memory served him right, his arm was broken, and his leg consumed by the demon, but now, they were whole, firmly attached, as though it had never happened at all.
But it did.
He wasn’t an awakener, nor a Soul-Hunter, so he had no abilities in his arsenal that allowed him to heal and regenerate lost tissues.
Instead, he found himself in a quiet room lined with medical beds. Machines stood beside them, their lights blinking softly and giving off low, steady beeps.
The air felt cold and sterile, carrying a faint scent of disinfectants.
He tried to move, but something tugged at him.
Looking down, he saw wires and tubes connected to his body, leading into one of the machines beside his bed.
"An ECG monitor?" For a moment, he just stared confused, trying to understand how he ended up here.
Then.
A sudden and vicious sharp ringing tore through Ace’s head. His eyes blurred from the pain he felt, and he cried out as his strength gave away.
He clutched his head with both hands, the sound screaming through his skull as the world spun around him.
[You have activated the Nexus Code: God-Tier Adaptation!]
[You have successfully awakened the Class (Chronos)]
[You have obtained the Fragment of Origin!]
[You have gained an additional boost in your physical attributes.]
[10% increase in physical strength.]
[5% increase in agility and speed.]
[1% increase in constitution.]
The blur in his vision faded, the sharp ringing dulled, and the pain coursing through him slowly ebbed away just as a window materialized before his eyes.
[————Creator 401’s Status————]
[Name: Ace Voltia]
[Age: 18]
[Race: Human]
[Level: 5]
[Experience: 4]
[Dexterity: 20]
[Stamina: 21]
[Agility: 23]
[Strength: 25]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Soul-Energy: 100/200]
[Soul-Core: Chronos (1% integrated)]
[Rank: Conceptual Law Breached. Your rank has evolved into the Grade 0 Upper Stage]
[Soul-Shard: Conceptual Law Breached. Your Soul-Shard has evolved into the one of the great fragments of the supreme ruler
- Fragment of Origin.]
[Assimilation: 1%]
Ace stared at the window. Though the inscriptions on it were surprising, they didn’t confuse him, he already knew the answers to the question he had.
It was a System.
And because of it, his status had completely changed!
"But how? I’m certain I never awakened." Then it hit him.
"The Nexus Code?" His eyes shot open as he recalled the events that brought him into this world.
He wasn’t an Awakener, he wasn’t supposed to be transported to the New Nexus, not to talk of the sanctuary.
Then it hit him.
"The Nexus Glitch?" The Nexus Glitch was a completely rare bug in the Nexus Code, because the Nexus Code had to simultaneously rewrite the genetic code of teenagers worldwide at the age of 18, it was overtasked.
But it was a highly sophisticated element that not even the brightest scientist could comprehend, so the risks of an error wasn’t supposed to exist, but in Ace’s case it did.
And that glitch registered him as an Awakener even though it wasn’t, but something went wrong. Because Ace wasn’t an Awakener, when the New Nexus tried registering him, another error occurred, and because a non Awakener couldn’t access the New Nexus, he was transported here into the sanctuary.
What he didn’t realize was, the glitch that sent him here also brought the Nexus Code with him. The Nexus Code was the programming that merged Ace’s previous reality with the game, and because he was unawakened, that code provided him with something unearthly.
The God-Tier Adaptation System.
"The Nexus Code: God-Tier Adaptation?" He let out a small chuckle, shaking his head as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. It didn’t feel real.
Back on his earth, he spent his free time reading web novels, stories about different types of strange systems. The 100x Returns System, the Divine milking system, the Neuro link System.
Back then, it had all just been fantasy, something to pass the time.
But now, standing here and facing something that felt so similar, he couldn’t help but laugh again. It was hard to believe that those ridiculous stories might not have been so far from reality after all.
But this was the first time he ever heard of a God-Tier Adaptation System.
He stared at his hand, stunned by what he saw. He had gained a bit of weight compared to how he looked like before.
Now, he looked like an actual body builder, with a faintly visible six pack abs, a slightly developed chest, and well defined calves.
"Is this because of the assimilation?"
A 10% increase in strength meant more developed muscles, and to build muscle, fat had to be added. The assimilation had done exactly that, transforming his body in the process.
"Chronos huh?"
That name was too familiar.
In folktales and mythologies, Chronos was the God of Time in Greek mythology, a name not to be casually thrown around in New Olympus.
He was a Primordial being, whose strength surpassed even that of Zeus, the ruler of the Olympian gods.
"Could that be the Chronos this status is referring?"
It sounded too good to be true, but the events that unfolded said otherwise.
"Ah, so you’re finally awake?" The door creaked open, and two men stepped inside, dressed in white shirts beneath a black jacket with matching pants. The first man wore his hair in a bowl cut and stood around five foot eleven.
While the second stood at around five foot nine with a briefcase in hand.
"Incredible..." The second man rushed at Ace, examining his chest and arm, practically every injury that he sustained before he got here.
"Relax Ethan, allow him to come to." The first man said.
"R-right." The second man — Ethan, took a step back before pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"Forgive my partner, he’s a bit fascinated. It’s incredible how the sanctuary summoned a Null-Born at this period in time, and you were able to survive in the forest next to the Devil’s Playground. You truly are one of the luckiest people alive.."
"Who are you?" Ace asked bluntly.
"Where are my manners?" The man cleared his throat, then said. "My name is Levi Thawnesman, and I am the lieutenant of the first Soul-Squad, and you my friend have only two options left."
"The lieutenant of the first Soul-Squad?" Ace raised a brow.
’Great, another Awakener.’ He thought.
"That’s right. You are unfamiliar with this world just like all new Awakeners, so I don’t expect you to know this yet. The sanctuary is divided into fifty levels, with each resting above the others like steps in the heavens. And every sanctuary is a separate realm, with its own landscape, trials, and dangers."
"What does the Sanctuaries have to do with the Soul-Squad?"
"Each level of the sanctuary has its own beasts and monsters, as well as its unique Soul Fragment required to enter into the next level. In the sanctuary where human life is disregarded, the Soul-Squad served as a guide and a beacon of hope to Awakeners. It also represents the levels of the Sanctuaries humanity has conquered."
"Conquered?" He blinked.
He couldn’t exactly say humanity had conquered some levels of the sanctuary while the beasts of the Devil’s Playground still existed, after all it was one of the most feared places in the first sanctuary.
"Yes, the Soul-Squads were established on the levels that humanity had cleared and ascended."
"And how many levels is that?"
"Right now, in the sanctuary, humanity is shielded by the 14 Soul-Squads."
Ace’s eyes shot open in disbelief, Levi and Ethan could only stare. They understood his shock, and that just proved how ruthless the trials of the Sanctuaries were.
Out of the fifty levels, humanity has only been able to ascend to fourteen of those levels. It wasn’t even close to half of it, numerically speaking.
"You mentioned something about me having only two options left, what’s that?"
"The first option is obselete after we measured your Soul-Energy while you were unconscious, so I don’t recommend it. The sanctuary only transports humans into the sanctuary after the Solstice, by then, the Awakeners gets precisely a year to perfect their abilities ahead of the first trial that activates during the Solstice. But you’re a special case."
"Because I didn’t awaken?"
"That." Levi pulled a chair from a nearby table and placed it in front of Ace’s bed. Then he took a seat and fixed Ace with a steady, serious gaze. "And the fact that the sanctuary transported you here just a week before the Solstice."
The atmosphere shifted, and Levi’s expression darkened.
"An Awakener in that situation would have a 5% chance of survival, but you, you have no abilities so to speak. You’re an anomaly, and not the good kind. To be frank, you don’t the minimum of what it takes to survive."
Ace squeezed the sheets in his hands, trying his best to suppress his anger. He’d been through a literal hell in the past couple of hours, and Levi’s thoughts wasn’t helping.
"What’s the other option?"
Levi let out a quiet sigh before glancing at Ethan, then in response he gave a small nod and handed him the briefcase. Levi set it on the bed, unclasped both locks, and flipped it open, revealing its contents to Ace.
"This is your only option, realistically speaking."
"What the hell is this!?" Ace shouted as he locked eyes onto what lay inside the case, a long rope with a noose tied at one end. "Are you suggesting I commit suicide!?"
"Look, I don’t hate you, infact I admire you for surviving despite your situation. So believe me, this is a better option than what you’ll face in mere hours."
"I thought you ’Soul-Squads’ are supposed to guide humans that are transported here, is this your guidance!?" In a fit of rage, he threw the briefcase to the ground.
Ethan took a step back, sensing the lieutenant’s impatience as the tension grew.
"I am not committing suicide, fuck off." Ace stood firm by his word.
"Listen kid! You are a Null-Born!" Levi snapped. He shot to his feet so fast that the chair toppled over to the floor. "Even if you were given a year to train, no man-made weapons can physically penetrate the skin of the creatures of the abyss. I’ve seen countless strong Awakeners, even Soul-Hunters fall, a Null-Born’s destiny in the sanctuary is to die a painful and gruesome death."
Levi grabbed the rope from the floor and tossed it onto the bed in front of Ace.
"I don’t hate you kid, and I bet you don’t hate yourself too. So believe me when I tell you that this is the only option you have, you can choose what option to take, but be sure not to regret it."
"Let’s go Ethan." Levi adjusted his tie. "We’re done here." Then he turned and walked out of the room with Ethan silently following behind him.
As the two men left the room, Ace stared at the door, and his eyes burned with righteous anger.
Then, a status window flashed before his eyes.
[Ding! Soul System is now online!]
[You have gained a new ability (Timeless {Level 1})]
Ace’s anger slowly faded as he stared at the system window. A soft chuckle escaped his lips as a realization popped into his head, and the tension in his expression eased a bit.
"He’s right." He said as he fixed his stare at the panel. "I’m not on earth anymore, and because I’m unawakened, it became my destiny to die a gruesome death... But not anymore." He rose to feet as he violently detached the last wire plugged into his body.
He now had the God-Tier Adaptation System, if it was as straightforward as it sounds, then it only meant one thing.
"If it was my was my destiny to die, I will adapt beyond death. If this system is genuine, then every attack the Sanctuary throws at me won’t just make me stronger, it will make me a celestial force to be reckoned with."
His teeth clenched hard against each other as his anger flared once more.
"I don’t have what it takes to survive? Think again." His fingers curled into a fist and dug deep into his skin so hard that he nearly tore his skin.
"The beasts of the abyss... The bastards who abandoned me to die, and the fucking Soul-Squads... I’ll show you all."