The last thing Carl Black remembered was the screech of tires and the blinding, clinical white of LED headlights. There was a sickening crunch—the sound of metal folding like paper—and then a silence so absolute it felt heavy.
Then came the smell.
It wasn't the smell of gasoline or burnt rubber. It was the thick, metallic scent of old blood and wet earth, mixed with something that smelled like a lightning strike.
Carl opened his eyes. He wasn't in his car. He was lying on a bed of damp ferns in a forest so dense the canopy swallowed the sky. The air was cold, biting, and felt "thick" in a way he couldn't describe.
[Initialization Complete.]
[Soul Binding: Successful.]
[Welcome, Carl Black. The Underworld is bleeding. Style is mandatory.]
Carl stared at the semi-transparent blue text floating in his vision. He blinked. It didn't go away. He sat up, his ribs groaning, though he found no blood on his skin.
"A System?" he croaked. "Seriously?"
He looked down at himself. He wasn't wearing his university hoodie and jeans anymore. He was clad in a high-collared, reinforced leather coat—deep charcoal with crimson accents—fitted with buckles that looked more like armor than fashion. Underneath was a tactical vest and sturdy, combat-ready boots.
Beside him lay two items that made his heart skip a beat.
The first was a short sword. It was ugly. The blade was forged from a dark, jagged metal that seemed to absorb the dim forest light, and the guard was wrapped in what looked like the dried, leathery skin of a lizard. It felt unnervingly warm to the touch.
The second was a heavy-duty semi-automatic handgun, its barrel engraved with silver filigree. Next to it was a pouch of ammunition. A notification popped up as his hand brushed the leather:
[Item: 'Vesper' Handgun]
[Ammo: Silver-Jacketed Rounds (Infused with Holy Water)]
Note: A mortal solution for a demonic problem. Effective, but lacks 'Soul.'
Carl let out a long, slow breath, his hand rising to cover his face. He sat there for a full minute, the palm of his hand pressed against his forehead.
"I died. I actually died," he whispered into his hand. "And I'm stuck in some twisted reality with the mechanics of my favorite game."
He stayed in that facepalm for a moment longer, mourning his half-finished degree and the life he'd left behind. Then, the sound of a distant, guttural shriek pierced the woods. It wasn't a wolf. It sounded like a choir of insects screaming in a cathedral.
Carl's fingers dropped. His eyes—now flecked with an amber, cat-like glow he didn't yet realize he had—sharpened.
"Okay," he muttered, gripping the hilt of the jagged short sword. "Fine. If this is the new reality, I might as well make sure I'm the one doing the hunting."
He didn't have to walk far.
About fifty yards into a clearing, he saw it. It looked like a man-sized ant standing on its hind legs, but its face was a white, bone-like mask with jagged mandibles. An Empusa.
It was hunched over the carcass of a deer, its needle-like claws tearing through meat. To Carl's eyes, the creature flickered. It didn't look like it belonged to the "resolution" of the forest around it. It was a glitch in reality.
[Target Spotted: Lesser Empusa]
[Reward: 10 System Points | Red Orbs: Variable]
Carl felt a strange surge in his chest—a thrumming beat that matched the "lightning strike" smell in the air. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know he was in a land known as The Continent, or that he was currently standing in the dangerous woods of Temeria.
He didn't care about the world. He only saw the demon.
He drew the Vesper. The weight was perfect. He aimed, not with the clumsiness of a student, but with the downloaded [Basic Marksman Expertise] that flickered in the back of his mind.
BANG.
The silver-jacketed bullet struck the Empusa's shoulder. The Holy Water infusion hissed like acid against the demon's hide. The creature shrieked, spinning around, its multi-faceted eyes locking onto Carl.
"Come on then," Carl said, a wild, involuntary smirk tugging at his lips as he unsheathed the jagged bone-sword. "Let's see if this 'System' actually works."
The Empusa lunged, a blur of chitin and claws. Carl stepped to the side—his movements faster, tighter, and more fluid than they had any right to be. He swung the short sword, the demonic metal humming as it bit into the creature's neck.
Black ichor sprayed. The demon didn't just bleed; it began to dissolve.
As the creature collapsed into ash, Carl saw it—a cluster of glowing, crystalline red shards rising from the remains. They flew toward him, sinking into his chest like warmth into a cold hand.
[+15 Red Orbs Absorbed]
[+10 System Points Awarded]
Carl looked at his trembling hands. The power didn't make him feel stronger yet—it just felt like potential. It felt like he had the fuel, but he still needed to buy the engine.
"Ten points," he muttered, opening the System Store as he stood over the fading ash. "What can I get for ten points?"
He scrolled past [Style: Trickster - 1000 pts] and [Alchemy: Demon Decoctions - 500 pts].
At the very bottom, he found it.
[Purchase: 'Demonic Internalization: Level 1' - 10 Points]
Description: Learn to channel absorbed Orbs to reinforce bone density and muscle fiber.
"Buy it," Carl said.
A flood of information—sensations of heat, breath control, and anatomical geometry—slammed into his brain. He gasped, dropping to one knee as his body began to "understand" the red energy he had just inhaled.
He was in a world he didn't know, surrounded by monsters he didn't understand. But as he stood up, his grip on the sword felt a little firmer.
"Next one," he said, looking deeper into the dark woods. "I need more points."