When morning came and the sun rose, I opened my eyes and got up with a lazy stretch, as if I were rising from a bed I had been napping in for years, completely relaxed.
Today was a big day.
For the first time in this new, unfamiliar world, I was going to step outside my room. Throughout the night, I had strained my memory and written down every detail I could recall from the novel SSS Talent: The Cursed Path of the Chosen Hero, managing to produce dozens of pages of detailed notes. By the end, I was so exhausted that I do not even remember how my head hit the pillow.
Thinking about it now, I had already managed to adapt to this new reality. To be honest, I never really saw myself as a normal person, but I still wondered how a normal person would react in my situation.
They would probably want to return to their own world, or panic and try to run away, not knowing what to do. Would they miss their families and loved ones?
And me… would I miss the ones I left behind?
"Absolutely fucking no."
Given a body with the potential for world domination, in a universe full of lovable villainesses, and most importantly a world filled with every kind of fantasy woman imaginable, starting with elves, was I really supposed to miss my old world?
To hell with that old world made of nothing but concrete, ruled by corrupt old bastards hoarding all the power. I am not the type of person who longs for a boring place with no magic and no other races.
The only thing I was praying for was that this world was not a hallucination or some kind of simulation. That was why I sat on the edge of the bed. The moment my feet touched the floor, a strange sensation ran through me. Not cold. Not hard. Real. Excessively real.
And now… me.
A peculiar thrill stirred inside my chest. Not fear. Definitely not anxiety. It was closer to the immoral excitement of a long awaited opportunity finally presenting itself.
I stood up and walked to the window. The moment I parted the curtains, sunlight struck my face. This world's sun was different. Not because it was warmer, but because it felt more meaningful. There was magic beneath it. There were gods, systems. Most importantly, there were rules, and those rules could be bent.
Below, the courtyard came into view. Servants hurried about, armored guards patrolled their routes. All of them alive, all of them extras with stories of their own. People who had faded into the background of a novel, but who were now part of my reality.
Today, I would step outside for the first time.
And the ironic part was this: I was the only person who knew the novel. The only one who knew the future, the disasters, who would become heroes and who would turn into monsters. A god complex? Maybe. But knowledge is power, and I was the encyclopedia itself.
I was about to head for the door when I stopped, realizing I had forgotten something important. I had been so focused on what I would do once I went outside that it slipped my mind. I immediately opened the system, tapped the glowing indicator over the shop icon, and three boxes appeared in front of me. All the same size, but each marked with symbols in different colors.
I remembered this moment.
In the early chapters of the novel, there was only a single box, the "first random reward" obtained by the protagonist, Aurelius. In the original story, this scene was glossed over quickly. The reader was shown only the result, while the psychology of the choice itself was skipped entirely. Because who would bother?
Three boxes floated before me. They did not fall to the ground, nor could they be called fully material. It was as if the system had relaxed the laws of physics specifically for me. Each was the same size, yet they felt different. Bronze was calm and docile, silver carried a cautious promise, and gold… the gold box was unsettling. It felt as though it was watching me, even when I was not looking at it.
I remembered the novel.
At this point, Aurelius had opened his single box without a second thought. He was the chosen one. The system was kind to him. The author was too.
I took a deep breath. My heart was steady, my mind clear.
"Then," I said to myself, "let's begin properly."
I reached for the bronze box first.
The moment I touched it, the box opened silently. There was no explosion, no light show. It was as if even the system accepted this as an ordinary beginning. A soft, warm glow rose from inside and flowed directly into my chest.
A screen appeared.
[Bronze Reward Acquired]
[Passive Skill: Predator's Awareness]
[Description: Sight, hearing, touch, smell, and all other senses are passively enhanced. When focused, this enhancement intensifies significantly. You distinguish details more quickly and detect environmental changes earlier.]
That was all.
"Not bad, not bad"
The bronze box quietly broke apart and vanished. Two boxes remained.
This time, I turned to the silver one.
When I touched the silver box, I felt a slight weight, unlike the bronze. Not physical, but more like mental pressure. It was not unpleasant, more like a new pair of shoes settling onto your feet.
The box opened.
Streams of light flowed out in neat lines. There was no chaos. None at all. The system seemed to like this reward.
A new window appeared.
[Silver Reward Acquired]
[Active Skill: Void Storage]
[Description: Creates a personal spatial inventory with a capacity of 10,000 kilograms. You may store any object inside and retrieve it at will by opening a small portal. The portal appears within your line of sight and closes instantly.]
A smaller note appeared beneath it.
[Warning: Storage of living beings is not recommended.]
I raised an eyebrow.
"That one skill every main character absolutely has to have."
I ran a quick test in my mind. Focusing on the table in the corner of the room, I watched as a nearly imperceptible rift opened beside me. The table vanished without making a single sound.
A moment later, I opened the portal again. The table returned exactly as it had been.
Clean. Stable. Silent.
I checked my body. No headache, no pressure, no foreign whispers.
It was clean.
The silver box dispersed just like the bronze one. The room fell silent again.
And only the gold remained.
This time, I did not hesitate. I did not think. As I looked at the gold box, there was neither fear nor expectation inside me. Just curiosity.
"Let's see what we've got."
I touched it.
The gold box did not open like the others. First, its surface softened, then it collapsed inward, as if a shell were melting away. What spread out was not blinding light, but a sensation of clarity.
A new window opened.
[Gold Reward Acquired]
[Active Skill: Calamity Cut]
[Description: Converts the user's mana flow into pure cutting force, releasing an invisible slashing wave forward. The power and range of the wave are determined by the user's Base Statistics, particularly Strength, Mana, and Perception. Depending on the enemy, armor, resistance, and other forms of physical defense can reduce or even completely negate the effects of this attack.]
[Detail: The slashing wave is not a physical blade. It cuts the space itself. It is invisible, silent, and takes effect without delay upon impact.]
[Warning: High mana consumption. Uncontrolled use may result in environmental destruction and unintended consequences.]
For a moment, there was silence.
As the system window hovered before me, the air in the room noticeably grew heavier. It was as if the world itself was trying to process what had just been given to me.
Calamity Cut.
I remembered the novel and this ability did not exist in the original story. Not with Aurelius, not with any side character, not even with the "hidden bosses" that appeared later. This was a line the author had never written. Or perhaps a response prepared by the system for someone who had stepped outside the story.
Worse, or better… this ability was too clean.
There was no spell formula. No chant. No sword. No gesture. Cutting space itself. This was a direct interference with the infrastructure of the world.
The corner of my lips curled upward without my permission.
"This isn't a hero's ability," I murmured. "This is… an execution tool."
I took the warning seriously, but I had no intention of ignoring this power. Uncontrolled use meant environmental destruction. Which also meant controlled use was possible. Like anything else, this could be learned.
I slowly extended my hand. Not toward the opposite wall. Toward a smaller, safer target. The empty space beside the window. No one there. No objects. Just air.
I felt my mana flow. The smoothness of the silver ability was absent here. This skill did not ask for mana. It demanded it. As if it were saying, "Give."
I gave very little.
Nothing visible happened.
But a breath later, a thin line appeared in the air. No, "appeared" was the wrong word. It was more like the absence of something that should have been there suddenly became noticeable. Then, from the stone window frame, came a faint, almost imperceptible click.
There was a perfect cut on the surface of the stone.
No cracks. No debris. As if a master craftsman had spent years carving it. I brought my fingers closer. The edges still felt… sharp.
I swallowed.
"Yes," I said to myself. "This is going to cause problems."