The transition from The Ethereal Plane to Earth was always jarring.
One moment, Sebastian was breathing the mana-rich air of Ironhold. Surrounded by the hum of magic and the smell of steel. The next, darkness swallowed him.
He gasped. Ripped the VR helmet off his head.
The stale, recycled air of his apartment hit his lungs like a physical blow. The smell of mildew, ozone, wet concrete was overwhelming. Rain lashed against the window. The neon lights of the dystopian city outside flickering in the storm.
"Ugh."
Sebastian rolled off his bed. His legs feeling heavy and unresponsive. He'd been in the dive for nearly twelve hours straight.
He stood up. His joints popping. Walked to the small kitchenette. His stomach cramping with a hunger that felt primal.
On the counter sat the boxes of military-grade MREs he'd ordered. He tore one open—"Beef Stew"—and devoured it cold. Not bothering to heat it. He drank a liter of distilled water in one go.
As the nutrients hit his system, his mind began to clear.
He looked at his hands.
Pale. Thin. The hands of a gamer who spent too much time indoors. But as he flexed his fingers, he felt something... different.
A heat.
A subtle, humming vibration under his skin. Running along his nervous system.
"It's starting," Sebastian whispered.
He walked to the center of his cramped room. Cleared away a pile of laundry. Dropped into a push-up position.
In his past life, before the apocalypse, he could barely do twenty push-ups.
"One."
He pushed. His body flew up. His hands leaving the floor by six inches.
"Two."
"Three."
He moved with explosive power. His muscles didn't burn. They felt like coiled springs made of titanium. He wasn't just using muscles. Unconsciously channeling a sliver of Mana.
Fifty. One hundred. Two hundred.
He stopped. Not because he was tired. The floorboards were beginning to creak ominously under the force of his movements.
He stood up. Sweat dripping down his face. He felt light. Too light.
He walked to the concrete load-bearing wall of his apartment.
"Status," he muttered.
A faint, ghostly blue window flickered in his retinal vision. It wasn't the VR headset. The hallucination of the System bleeding through.
════════════════════════════
[Synchronization Rate: 1.05%]
[Real World Stats Adjusted.]
[Strength: 5 -> 8]
[Agility: 5 -> 9]
[Mana Sensitivity: Low]
════════════════════════════
"1%," Sebastian analyzed. "Just reaching Level 15 and getting the first kill on a Void beast in the game pushed it this far."
In the previous timeline, nobody reached 1% sync until three months in. Sebastian was months ahead of the curve.
He pulled his fist back. Needed to test the density.
He punched the concrete wall.
CRACK!
Pain shot up his knuckles. Bleeding from the abrasion. The result was undeniable though. A spiderweb fracture, the size of a dinner plate, had appeared on the concrete. Dust trickled down to the floor.
A normal human punch would have broken the hand. Sebastian had broken the wall.
"Good," he said. Wrapping his bleeding knuckles with a stray cloth. "But not enough to fight a Tier 1 beast yet."
He walked to the window. Looked out at the city. It was 2077. Flying cars zoomed through the rain-slicked skyways. Holographic ads for "The Ethereal Plane" dominated every building.
[ESCAPE REALITY. LIVE FOREVER.]
"If only they knew," Sebastian scoffed.
He turned on the wall-screen news.
"Breaking News," the anchor said. Her face pale. "Reports of mass hysteria in Tokyo continue. Hundreds of citizens claim to see 'shadow people' in the subways. Authorities are blaming a leak of psychotropic gas from an old industrial sector."
The screen changed to shaky footage from a phone. Showed a subway tunnel. The lights flickered. For a split second, a shape moved in the darkness—a shape with too many limbs.
"Gas leak," Sebastian muttered. "That's a Phase Spider."
The Merge wasn't a singular event. A bleed. The walls between dimensions were thinning. Small monsters were slipping through the cracks already.
"In another report, seismic activity near Mount Qiongtu has increased by 400%. Geologists are baffled by the energy readings..."
Sebastian turned the screen off.
He had time. Not much though. He needed to secure the Sanctuary base in-game before the first real Wave hit Earth. If he established the Sanctuary in the Ethereal Plane, he could eventually manifest it in reality using a City Core. The only way to survive the nukes that would inevitably fly when the governments panicked.
He looked at the VR helmet.
"Rest is a luxury," he said.
He sat back down in the chair. Checked his supplies. The MREs would last a month. The water was secure. He'd reinforced the door with a heavy dresser earlier.
He put the helmet on.
"Link Start."
The darkness took him again.
Sebastian smiled. The real world was fragile. Weak.
In the game though?
In the game, he was a god in the making.