The world had never been more ordinary.
There were no monsters.
No cultivators.
No supernatural powers.
No mysterious energy flowing through the air.
Humanity had spent thousands of years believing that Earth belonged to them.
Aether Draven had never had a reason to question that belief.
Until tonight.
He was sitting near his bedroom window, staring absentmindedly at his phone.
It was an ordinary evening.
Cars moved along the street below. Lights illuminated apartment buildings. Somewhere nearby, someone was arguing loudly. A dog barked in the distance.
Nothing unusual.
Aether yawned and put his phone down.
Then—
The stars disappeared.
He frowned.
The sky outside had suddenly become completely black.
Not cloudy.
Not dark.
Black.
As if something had swallowed the night itself.
Aether stood.
"What the hell?"
A strange pressure suddenly filled the room.
His window trembled.
Then the entire world went silent.
The cars outside stopped.
The barking stopped.
Even the wind seemed to disappear.
Aether slowly walked toward the window.
And looked up.
His expression changed.
A thin golden line had appeared across the sky.
It stretched from one horizon to the other.
Then another appeared.
And another.
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Cracks.
The night sky was cracking.
CRACK.
A sound like breaking glass echoed across the entire city.
The cracks spread.
Millions of people looked upward at the same moment.
Then the sky—
SHATTERED.
Golden light poured through the cracks.
For several seconds, nobody understood what they were seeing.
Then something enormous moved behind the broken sky.
An eye opened.
Aether froze.
The eye was so massive that it seemed to occupy half the heavens.
Ancient.
Cold.
Impossible to understand.
A voice echoed across the world.
Not through speakers.
Not through phones.
It simply appeared inside everyone's minds.
"The Origin has awakened."
Aether's heart pounded.
"What..."
The golden light suddenly exploded outward.
It covered the Earth.
Buildings shook.
Windows shattered.
Electrical systems failed.
People screamed in the streets.
And then—
Something changed.
The air itself became different.
Aether took a breath.
For the first time in human history, something unknown had entered Earth's atmosphere.
Origin Energy.
He didn't know what it was.
Nobody did.
And then came the screams.
Not human screams.
Something far deeper.
Far more monstrous.
Aether turned toward the street.
A shadow moved between the buildings.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Creatures began emerging from cracks of golden light scattered throughout the city.
Some were small.
Some were enormous.
Wolves.
Insects.
Reptiles.
Birds.
Things that looked like animals—
And things that looked like they had never existed on Earth before.
Aether's instincts screamed at him to run.
Then—
BOOM!
A creature crashed through the building across the street.
Concrete exploded outward.
People scattered.
Aether stared.
The creature slowly stood.
It was nearly three meters tall.
Its body resembled a wolf, but its black fur was covered in glowing crimson markings.
Its eyes burned red.
Its claws dug into the pavement.
Aether's mind went blank for a moment.
Then words appeared before his eyes.
Not on his phone.
Not in the room.
Directly in his vision.
[Unknown Origin Beast detected.]
Aether's breathing stopped.
More words appeared.
[Analyzing...]
[Analysis complete.]
Name: Ashfang Wolf
Rank: F
Origin Attribute: Fire
Threat Level: Low
Estimated Weakness: Lower throat
Evolution Potential: Unknown
Aether stared.
"What is this?"
The wolf suddenly turned its head.
Its eyes locked onto him.
Aether's blood ran cold.
The creature jumped.
He moved without thinking.
The wolf crashed through the window.
Glass exploded around him.
Aether dropped to the floor.
The creature's claws tore through the wall where his head had been a second earlier.
He rolled backward.
His eyes quickly scanned the room.
No weapon.
Nothing useful.
Then he noticed a broken metal rod near the desk.
He grabbed it.
The wolf turned.
It attacked again.
Aether stepped sideways.
The claws passed inches from his chest.
He swung.
BANG!
The rod struck the creature's skull.
The wolf staggered.
Aether didn't hesitate.
He remembered the information that had appeared earlier.
Lower throat.
The wolf lunged again.
Aether ducked beneath it.
He drove the metal rod upward.
THUD!
The creature collapsed.
Silence.
Aether stood frozen.
The wolf stopped moving.
Then its body began dissolving into crimson particles.
The particles entered his body.
Aether stumbled backward.
A strange warmth spread through his veins.
And then—
DING.
The voice returned.
[Origin energy acquired.]
Aether stared at the empty floor.
"What... are you?"
The answer appeared before him.
[ORIGIN SYSTEM]
Host: Aether Draven
Cultivation: None
Physique: Infinite Origin Physique
Physique Development: 0.01%
Origin Energy: 3
Origin Rings: 0
Contracted Beasts: 0
Abilities: None
Aether's eyes widened.
Infinite Origin Physique?
He had never heard those words before.
There had been no cultivation.
No supernatural bloodlines.
No ancient sects.
No secret warriors.
Earth had been completely normal.
Until today.
Then another notification appeared.
[Origin System initialization complete.]
[Basic functions unlocked.]
Origin Analysis
Beast Contract
Origin Ring System
Physique Analysis
Aether stared at the words.
His mind was racing.
The world had changed.
Humanity had changed.
And somehow—
he had awakened something too.
He looked through the broken window.
Smoke was rising throughout the city.
Sirens screamed in the distance.
More creatures were appearing.
Some were much larger than the wolf he had just killed.
Aether's eyes narrowed.
He understood something immediately.
That wolf had been classified as F-rank.
And the system had called it a low threat.
Which meant there were things far stronger.
A notification suddenly appeared.
[Warning.]
[Powerful Origin Beast detected.]
[Approximate distance: 2.7 kilometers.]
Rank: C
Aether stared toward the distant skyline.
A deep roar shook the city.
The windows vibrated.
People screamed.
For the first time in his life, Aether felt something he had never experienced before.
Not excitement.
Not fear.
Something between the two.
The world he knew was gone.
There was no rulebook.
No government capable of explaining what was happening.
No guarantee that humanity would survive.
Aether tightened his grip around the metal rod.
He looked at the strange system floating before his eyes.
Then at the burning city.
"If this is the new world..."
His eyes hardened.
"...then I'll learn its rules."
He stepped through the broken window.
Behind him, the lights of the city continued to disappear one by one.
Above Earth, the golden cracks remained open.
And somewhere beyond them—
something was watching.
Something that had been waiting for this moment.
A voice echoed through the darkness.
"The Origin has chosen."
And the age of humanity's survival began.