My name was Kartik.
One second, I was deep in the zone. The hum of my gaming rig, the glow of three monitors filled with elegant code, the familiar ache in my knuckles from yesterday's muay thai session—it was my sanctuary. My life was a clean, logical loop: debug, train, sleep, repeat.
The next second, everything went white.
Not bright. Not light. Just… a pure, empty white void. A 404 Error for my soul.
[ALERT: Unauthorized Termination Detected.]
The words didn't come as sound. They compiled directly in my mind, in the sterile font of a system administrator.
What the hell? I thought, my developer brain scrambling for a log file, a crash report, anything.
[CAUSE: Critical Failure in Reality-Management Subsystem. Soul-Migration Protocol 'Harvest' executed 47.3 standard cycles prior to scheduled endpoint. Classification: Cosmic Clerical Error.]
A… bug. I got killed by a universe-sized bug.
All those years. The predawn runs. The broken ribs from jiu-jitsu sparring. The countless hours perfecting my boxing combos and katana forms. The grind to get my body and mind to peak condition—wiped out because some cosmic intern screwed up a database query?
Rage, cold and sharp, cut through the shock. This wasn't fate. This was incompetence.
[COMPENSATION PROTOCOL INITIATED.]
[OPTION A: Peaceful Dissolution. Essence recycled.]
[OPTION B: Standard Reincarnation Package. Destination: High-Fantasy Paradigm 'Aethelgard'. Features: System-based progression, dungeons, multiple races, continental scale 100x Earth.]
A new world. A world of magic and monsters. My fighter's instinct stirred. A real challenge. But my IT mind was skeptical.
Standard package? I pushed my thoughts back at the void. You delete my data due to your faulty code, and your best fix is a factory reset? I need root access. I demand compensatory parameters.
The void flickered. I'd thrown a logic exception into the process.
[…QUERY ACCEPTED. ADMINISTRATIVE OVERRIDE GRANTED.]
[ACCESSING… KARMIC ADJUSTMENT MODULE.]
The white emptiness shattered like glass. In its place spun a wheel. A Wheel.
It was vast, beyond comprehension, etched with symbols that hurt to look at. One segment showed a glittering crown. Another, a wilted flower. A third, a swirling galaxy. The colors bled from dull iron to blinding, divine gold. This was the lottery of creation itself.
[BOON GRANTED: NINE (9) SPINS OF THE KARMIC WHEEL. CONCEPTUAL REWARDS, SOUL-BOUND, MANIFESTING IN NEW INCARNATION. SPIN NOW? Y/N]
Nine spins. A chance to hack my own reincarnation.
A grin I didn't have a mouth for spread across my essence. High risk. Infinite reward.
Spin.
SPIN 1 of 9… COMMENCING.
The Wheel began to turn. It started slow, then became a kaleidoscopic blur, a roar of pure potential vibrating through my soul. I felt a tug—a test of some hidden variable.
It slowed. Symbols flashed by: a flaming sword, a tome of secrets, a bag of gold… The pointer drifted…
CHIME.
It landed on a segment glowing with a deep, forest green light.
[REWARD: 'Legacy's Embrace' - Epic Grade.]
[EFFECT: The total neuromuscular memory, combat instinct, and strategic knowledge from your previous life's physical disciplines are perfectly encoded into your new soul's foundation. They are not memories to recall, but instincts to awaken. Your new body will grow into this legacy.]
Yes. My hands tightened into fists I didn't have. My training wasn't lost. It would be my birthright. The Wheel reset.
SPIN 2 of 9… COMMENCING.
Another whirl of fate. This time, it settled with a soft click on a calm, luminous silver segment.
[REWARD: 'Cognitive Array' - Rare Grade.]
[EFFECT: Mental faculties enhanced. Innate Skills granted: [Perfect Recall], [Logical Deduction (Advanced)]. Your mind organizes information like a perfect database and detects patterns/exploits in systems at a superhuman level.]
Synergy. The fighter's body needed the tactician's mind. Perfect.
SPIN 3 of 9… COMMENCING.
This spin felt different. Heavier. The Wheel groaned as it slowed, dragging to a stop not on a color, but on a void-black segment speckled with cold starlight.
The system message stuttered.
[REWARD: …ANOMALY DETECTED. 'Void-Tether' - Mythic+ Grade. WARNING: ORIGIN UNKNOWN. MANIFESTATION: UNPREDICTABLE.]
[EFFECT: A dormant, foreign connection has been grafted to your soul's core. It is not of the local reality's System. Under conditions of extreme duress, proximity to dimensional fractures, or at certain power thresholds, this tether may activate, granting temporary access to… external resources. Or attracting external attention.]
A wild card. A backdoor into something… else. Could be a curse. Could be the ultimate cheat. I'd take it.
[REMAINING SPINS (6) QUEUED. MANUAL ACTIVATION TRIGGER ESTABLISHED. COMMENCING SOUL-TRANSFER.]
[NEW DESIGNATION: KAELEN VANCE.]
[WELCOME TO AETHELGARD.]
The Wheel vanished. The void collapsed, sucking me into a torrent of light and sensation. I felt myself being compiled, rewritten, compressed into something new and terrifyingly small.
Three boons burned like sealed programs in my core:
Legacy's Embrace… Cognitive Array… Void-Tether…
Spins Remaining: 6.
Then—PAIN.
The shock of cold air. Blinding light. A crushing pressure on my tiny body, forcing me to…
WAAAH!
The sound was shrill, pathetic. The cry of a newborn.
My new lungs burned. My vision was a blur of washed-out shapes and shadows. But deep within, beneath the helpless infantile terror, a new process was already running.
A cold, analytical clarity assessed the situation.
Vocal cords functional. Lungs operational. Gravity estimate: 1.0 G. Biological stress levels: high. Initiate survival protocol: breathe, sleep, grow.
And beneath that, a deeper, older instinct, a ghost in my tiny muscles, whispered:
Grow fast. Get strong. The world doesn't know you're coming.
I, Kaelen Vance, had arrived.
---
[System Status: Unawakened. Spins Available: 6.]
Author's Note:
Whew! Chapter 1 is in the books (or rather, on the screen).
Hello, dear readers! Welcome to A Developer in a Dungeon World. This is the start of a MASSIVE project I'm incredibly excited to share—a 700-chapter epic that will blend hardcore progression, intricate world-building, strategic combat, and yes, a meaningful romance subplot with 10 amazing female leads (as promised, featuring three beastkin—fox, wolf, and a panther/lioness—and no dwarves in the harem).
What to expect:
· A MC who uses logic, martial arts, and system exploits instead of just brute force.
· A slowly-unfolding world 100x the size of Earth, filled with dungeons, different races, and deep lore.
· A slow-burn harem where relationships develop naturally over time, with individual arcs for each FL.
· High-stakes action, academy arcs, politics, empire-building, and mysteries about the System itself.
· Roughly 25% R-18 content integrated later in the story, focusing on emotional and character-driven moments.
A few quick points:
1. Chapter Length: I aim for 1.8k-2.5k words per chapter (after this one).
2. Release Schedule: (To be decided based on reader interest! Let me know in the comments what you'd prefer—daily, every other day, etc.)
3. The Spins: The remaining 6 spins will be used at key, dramatic moments. No dumping them all at once!
4. Patreon & Advanced Chapters: If support is strong, I'll set these up in the future.
This story is for those who love smart protagonists, detailed power systems, and sprawling fantasies that take their time. If you're here for instant god-mode and a harem by chapter 10, this might not be your jam. But if you're here for the journey—for the climb from nothing to legend—then buckle up.
Your support means everything. Please leave a comment, add this novel to your library, and vote with power stones if you're enjoying it! Let me know what you think of Kaelen's first three spins and what you hope to see next.
See you in Chapter 2!
— Author