“With a cheat this big, can I really handle it?”
The youth was named Lucian.
Delicate features, dressed in casual clothes.
He stared at the room in front of him, his face full of panic.
Half an hour ago he’d been teleported here from his home, and he’d already learned exactly what kind of hellhole this place was.
In short, this world was a giant cesspool crawling with every kind of horror, things that had only begun appearing in the last ten years.
spirit energy had surged, demons ran rampant, and there were Other World creatures and aliens too; Goblins, slimes, and the like poured endlessly out of Dimensional Rifts.
The whole world had been thrown into chaos by these things.
Still, it wasn’t all bad.
After these entities showed up, humanity had gained a fair amount of new technology and special powers.
This had once been an ordinary, technological world, but the Dimensional Rifts had set it on a completely different path, one where, alongside their technology, people slowly began to master powers they’d only ever dreamed of.
From what Lucian now knew, there were several ways for a human to gain power, but the mainstream route was still the systematic training the country provided.
Those with good Talent underwent an Innate Awakening of some aptitude (superpowers, in other words), while those who couldn’t Awaken had to rely on self-study to grow stronger.
Another method was to draw power from the Dimensional Rifts; those powers were gifts from the Other Worlds.
Lucian sorted through the information in his mind.
If nothing was off, the power he now held must have come from an Other World.
“Eye of Revelation, the ultimate eye that sees through all phenomena.
Learn it after one look, master it after two.” Lucian couldn’t help murmuring.
Recalling the other self he’d glimpsed the moment he transmigrated, Lucian sank into thought again.
When he’d first appeared in this world, someone who looked exactly like him had summoned him, and before Lucian could even react, that person had fused with him, handing over all his memories and his identity.
The other him had seemed almost…
relieved.
After sorting through the memories he’d left behind, Lucian roughly understood why.
Because this world was simply too terrible, and the Talent the other had Awakened was a one-time ability: to summon a parallel-world version of himself to take his place.
“What a rotten deal.
What kind of Talent is this, dragging some poor soul here to suffer in your place?” Lucian cursed as he pulled out an ID card.
This was his identity in this world: a high schooler about to be sorted into a class, eighteen years old this year.
According to the memories, the parallel-world version of him had suffered from severe depression and had long since lost the will to live, and paired with the Talent he Awakened…
“You’re free now, but I’m the one in for a miserable time.
At least you were antisocial and had no friends; otherwise this would’ve been a real headache.” Lucian grumbled at the ID card.
It really was for the best.
His transmigration had landed him in his own body, so at least he wouldn’t wind up as a mecha pilot or some undocumented nobody.
With the other’s memories, living here shouldn’t be a problem; the original owner had been an orphan with no friends and barely any social life.
So Lucian only had to change things one step at a time, and he’d be able to take over the original’s identity completely.
After tidying away the ID card, wallet, and the rest, Lucian finally took a proper look around.
By his memory, this was the apartment the original had rented, a single room only a few dozen square meters, with a few basic necessities.
Lucian frowned at those necessities.
Even if another version of himself had used them, he didn’t like them one bit.
Everything was getting replaced.
He glanced out at the sky.
It was already dawn, so he decided to go downstairs and do some shopping before thinking about anything else.
Grabbing his wallet and keys, Lucian headed out and down the stairs, following the route in his memory to the convenience store he needed.
Aside from the monsters, a lot about this world was similar to the one Lucian came from.
Even from an ordinary little shop, he picked up quite a bit of information.
After buying what he needed, Lucian went home to wash up, and only then did he grab the original’s school bag and head back downstairs.
The other was still a high schooler, one due to be sorted into classes this very year.
According to the memories he’d been given, today was the day to report his Awakened Talent.
The school would then place students by their Awakened Talent, and it was precisely because the original had Awakened that bizarre Talent that he’d decided to give up.
Honestly, “sacrifice yourself to summon a parallel self” was a genuinely bizarre Talent.
After all, who’d willingly let another version of themselves replace everything they were?
It made him sound like nothing but a sacrifice; the Talent’s very existence erased everything about him.
Combined with his depression, the other simply couldn’t think straight, and the instant he realized what his Talent was, he used it without hesitation.
A Talent that could be used only once in a lifetime, one that offered release the moment it was spent, and he’d spent it.
And so he’d pulled the Lucian of a parallel world into this one, and…
Lucian had successfully Awakened his own Talent in turn.
“The other me really got the short end of it,” Lucian sighed, then let the matter drop.
Things were what they were.
What mattered now was that Lucian live well in this world in his place.
He grabbed breakfast from a roadside stall and walked toward the school from memory.
Just like in his old life, plenty of old men in this world liked to come out and train in the morning, except the fist techniques these old-timers practiced were no flashy party tricks.
They were real, and lethal.
Lucian took a single look, and the moves of one old man’s fist technique surfaced in his mind.
That made him stop and watch a little longer; his Talent was kicking in.
One look, and Lucian had it.
A few more, and he could feel his body changing.
His Physique was growing stronger, and the fist techniques in his mind were settling into muscle memory.
In just a few seconds, it was as if he’d been drilling these forms for decades.
Watching the old man punch away with such vigor, Lucian wore a strange expression.
His cheat was terrifying.
Testing his strength, he figured he could kill the version of himself from a few seconds ago with a single slap.
In a good mood, Lucian kept watching the others exercising in the park; of course he’d learn as much as he could while he had the chance.
The morning park was full of old men and women working with blades and spears; retired from certain lines of work, most likely.
The moves they’d mastered were all practical, which suited Lucian just fine.
In just a few minutes, he’d picked up several Martial Skills through his Talent, and his physical fitness had climbed several notches too.
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