Chapter 1 The Day the Sky Split
Leon Veyra was used to the sound of rain.
It drowned out the noise of the city, the debt collectors banging on his door, and the fact that his dinner was instant noodles for the third night in a row.
He wasn’t a hero. He wasn’t even the kind of guy people noticed. Just a worn-out delivery driver in a city that never cared whether you lived or died.
The storm outside was heavy, the kind that felt endless — until the thunder stopped.
That silence was wrong.
Leon set his chopsticks down, glancing toward the window. No rain. No sound. Not even the faint hum of the fridge behind him. The world had gone still, as if someone had pressed pause.
Then the first crack appeared in the sky.
It wasn’t lightning. It was… glass breaking. The night tore open, revealing something bright and endless beyond. The “crack” spread like a spiderweb, each branch glowing with raw, swirling colors that made his eyes ache.
> [System Initialization Complete.]
[Welcome, Survivors, to the Arcane Rebirth.]
A panel of light appeared in front of him, words etched in an elegant, alien script. They shifted as he stared, rearranging into his language.
> [Status: Unregistered.]
[Error: Classification failed. Access level… undefined.]
Leon stumbled backward, hitting the table. “What the hell…”
The panel flickered. Then another message appeared, far sharper in tone.
> [Warning: Unauthorized skill detected.]
[Skill registered — Arcane Overflow (Unique).]
[Description: All mana spent will return doubled to the user.]
A cold chill ran down his spine. He didn’t know what mana was, but doubling anything sounded dangerous — and from the way the words “unauthorized” flashed in red, it clearly wasn’t meant to happen.
The world outside erupted.
Roars shook the ground as buildings shattered under the weight of creatures that looked ripped from nightmares — wolves with bone armor, birds whose wings were blades, shadow-things that moved like liquid. People screamed. Some fought with weapons that seemed to appear in their hands; others died before they could even react.
Leon’s panel flared again.
> [Tutorial: Eliminate threats to survive.]
[Reward: Level +1.]
The door to his apartment exploded inward. A creature hunched in the doorway, its head nearly scraping the ceiling. Its eyes glowed faintly blue, its teeth dripping with something that hissed as it hit the floor.
Leon didn’t think. He grabbed the kitchen knife from the counter and swung. The blade barely cut through the creature’s hide — but a thin trickle of blue blood hissed out. The monster snarled, lunging.
> [Mana Detected: 1.]
[Arcane Overflow triggered — Mana restored: 2.]
A warmth spread through his chest. His limbs felt lighter, faster. He stabbed again, and this time the knife slid deeper. The creature collapsed in a heap, dissolving into motes of light.
> [Threat eliminated.]
[Level Up.]
Leon stood there, breathing hard, the panel’s glow reflecting in his wide eyes.
Outside, the cracks in the sky widened.
The world was ending — and for the first time in his life, Leon had something no one else did.
