"Guess dying wasn’t as bad as I thought. Turns out it was just the preliminary stage of my unemployment."
This was the first thought that came to my mind as I opened my eyes because the last thing I remembered was a truck, a brief and pointless dispute with my fate, and becoming the road decoration.
Instead of angels and hellish chains, I saw the rusty metal of the ceiling with a few drops of dirty water flowing down from a hole right above my forehead.
Drip
I blinked at the ceiling and waited for another drop to fall before I stood up, my skull thundering like a drunkard’s laugh.
"Well," I muttered wiping water from my face, "either I’m dead or heaven’s interior design is making a comeback."
The room in which I found myself was a cave that could barely be called a room because three of the walls were made of old machine parts.
Snakes of copper went up the ceiling from which steam casually escaped, and there were some yellow lights flickering from behind the protective screens.
The stench that came with the scenery made me frown and cover my nose.
Oil
rust
burning
and something else that reminded me of burning meat.
I pushed myself off the floor and was about to investigate further when I realized something was wrong.
My body didn’t feel like my usual self.
Looking down at my attire, I frowned.
The clothes were not mine.
I was wearing a black shirt with a couple of holes sewn on the chest, dark trousers, boots, and a long coat with an equally long history of survival.
"What the hell?"
Digging through my pockets, I checked if I had any identification.
As expected, there was nothing.
No money, no phone, no wallet, and not even a penny.
That was when the deafening noises started.
The machinery growled from the other side of the wall, and I could hear the steady thumping of pistons and the swish of a giant steam engine.
I approached the tiny window that faced the outside world and froze in place for a few seconds.
A city sprawled beneath the greenish smog of the sky, its towers of black metal piercing the gray clouds.
Pipes, ropes, and cables connected them, and the roads in between were filled with steam-powered vehicles.
Below the traffic, people walked under the shadows of massive chimneys in umbrellas and metal casings.
Some of them had mechanical arms or legs, some had glowing veins, and others had metal plates instead of jaws.
I stared at a man walking past the window with just a single working hand and chuckled.
"I guess this one isn’t Earth."
Above the city, an enormous ship hovered, its belly full of giant rotating propellers, and the metal plating of its sides was riveted with copper rings.
There were smaller aircrafts circling around it like angry seagulls.
For some reason, the sight was oddly calming.
I turned away from the window and rubbed my temples.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later," I muttered to myself.
If this was some kind of rebirth and a second chance, then why did I get stuck in the worst possible city known to man?
I didn’t have a chance to find out because right then, the room around me filled with another voice.
[System initialized.]
I turned around sharply but found no one behind me.
The voice seemed to be in my head.
More specifically, it was floating right in front of me in an abstract blue screen of light.
I blinked.
The screen blinked.
[Welcome, Riven Vex.]
I stared at the words in wide-eyed horror.
"...Who?"
[Host identification successful.]
"Who are you?"
[I am the Infinite Upgrade System.]
I stared at the message for a couple of seconds before I burst into laughter.
Not out of fear because there wasn’t much to be afraid of, but mostly because I was screaming internally.
"So I really did get reincarnated."
[The System does not have sufficient information to recognize reincarnation]
"That’s the best excuse I’ve ever heard."
The words faded away as soon as they appeared, and the screen divided into several panels.
[Functions unlocked:]
[Scan]
[Upgrade]
[Inventory]
[Status]
My heartbeat skipped a beat.
System.
An upgrade system for hosts.
I’ve read plenty of light novels to know what this meant.
In other words, if this wasn’t some kind of divine intervention, there was no God at all.
"Status."
The word materialized above the blue panels.
[Name: Riven Vex]
[Age: 20]
[Level: 1]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 6]
[Endurance: 5]
[Aether Affinity: 0]
[Upgrade Energy: 10]
I stared right at the last bar.
"Ten?"
[Current Upgrade Energy: 10]
"And what exactly am I supposed to do with it?"
The System’s response was instant.
[Upgrade Energy can be obtained by defeating enemies, exploring the terrain, completing System missions, and other available activities.]
"So, I need to work for it."
[Indeed]
I sighed.
"Wonderful."
Looking down at the floor, I spotted something that made me narrow my eyes in interest.
There was a knife lying next to an upturned wooden crate, but its condition left much to be desired.
The blade was chipped, the handle was wrapped in dirty rags, and several spots were already rusty.
I picked it up and turned it around in my hands before I pointed it at the wall.
"Can you upgrade this?"
The System responded instantly.
[Scanning.]
A blue outline appeared around the knife.
[Target: Rusted utility knife]
[Condition: 31%]
[Upgrade potential: Low]
[Possible upgrade: Reinforced utility knife] [Cost: 5]
[Upgrade Energy ]
My eyes nearly popped out of my skull.
"So, does that mean it actually works?"
Looking at the pathetic thing that was supposedly a knife, I chuckled.
It didn’t take much energy to realize that this was the easiest way to confirm the System’s legitimacy.
If it worked, I would have spent five points on a junk knife.
"Upgrade."
The moment I said the word, blue light energy surged across the knife’s surface.
The old rust peeled off like dead skin, the cracks disappeared, the metal took an unnatural bend, and the handle grew tighter and more rigid.
It only took a few seconds for the upgrade to finish, and when the light dissipated, I found myself staring at something very different.
[Upgrade successful.]
[Rusted utility knife → Reinforced utility knife] [Upgrade energy remaining:5]
I slowly ran my thumb along the knife’s new edge and smiled.
For the first time since waking up in this strange world, I felt something other than hopelessness.
"Alright, Aetheria," I said, addressing the name in which the System introduced itself, "let’s see what else awaits us in this new world of yours."