Alex focused on the word before him, a word heavy with meaning.
Status.
He wasn't stupid. Anyone who had read even a handful of system novels would know what it meant. Alex had read far more than that. Enough to recognize the pattern the moment the thought formed.
'Status…'
He whispered the command, already half-expecting what would happen next.
The instant the word left him, a brilliant blue light burst into existence.
Before that moment, there had been only darkness. Not simple darkness, but something crushing. A suffocating void that wrapped around his consciousness, squeezing tighter and tighter, like a lonely hand closing around his heart.
And now there was light.
He couldn't even tell where it was coming from. He had no eyes. No body. And yet the blue glow existed within him, vivid and undeniable. Instead of comforting him, it made everything worse.
The contrast hurt.
The sudden reminder that he could still see something made the loneliness surge back even stronger. His heart pounded wildly, emotions flooding in all at once. Grief. Fear. Loss.
He broke.
Alex cried like a child.
There were no tears, no sobs that echoed through the void, but his soul trembled as if it were shattering into pieces. Time lost all meaning as he clung to that pain, letting it tear through him again and again.
He had already accepted the truth.
He wasn't on Earth anymore.
And deep down, he had already considered the possibility that he might never see his parents again. His family. His home.
The thought nearly crushed him.
But even so, he clenched his fists.
It might not be impossible.
That fragile possibility was enough. Enough to keep him standing. Enough to stop him from asking the system the one question burning in his mind.
Could he go back?
He didn't ask.
Because asking meant risking the loss of hope.
And hope was the only thing he had left.
After a long while, when the storm inside him finally quieted, Alex steadied himself. His attention returned to the glowing screen before him.
This… this would be his greatest asset.
The answer to everything he didn't understand yet.
---[Status]---
[Name: Alex Morgan]
[Race: Undying]
[Total Energy: 72]
[Undying Energy: 72]
[Task: Collect 20 Energy]
[Reward: Human Body]
---[Knowledge – LAWS]---
[Fire]: 0.00001% (+2% attack to all fire-based techniques)
[Water]: 0.00001% (+1% attack to all water-based techniques)
[Air]: 0.001% (+8% attack to all air-based techniques)
[Earth]: 0.00001% (+3% attack to all earth-based techniques)
---[Skills]---
None
---[Create]---
Not sufficient energy.
Not sufficient authority.
---[Store]---
[Knowledge] (Unlocked)
[Other] (Locked)
'Although this isn't what I imagined, it's much more organized.'
Alex studied the screen carefully.
He had expected something closer to a typical game interface. Numbers everywhere. Stats like attack, defense, HP, EP. Instead, what he saw was simple. Neat. Almost minimalist.
He went through each line slowly, processing everything written there.
He looked at his changed race which he can't do anything about and doesn't have anything to aske so he moved next.
Then he saw the line which says 'Undying energy'.
'Was this the same energy present in his soul which makes me immortal?'
He asked this question to system and system only says
He also didn't linger on that as well because he had already done with it and the answers which he doesn't have answer of system won't tell.
It just says some authority nonsense.
Then he saw task and reward which is human body.
'System,' he asked, 'how do I collect energy?'
He had assumed he would need a technique. Some method. Something. But he had nothing.
Alex fell silent.
'…Great. Luck. My specialty.' he muttered dryly.
His luck had been so incredible that an explosion had gone off right in front of his home while he was standing there.
Why hadn't it happened earlier? Why only after they reached the gate?
He let out a quiet sigh, then asked his next question.
'Then when will the store unlock?'
Alex had already grown accustomed to the system's replies.
They were always the same. Cold. Vague. Final.
He chose not to say anything.
Then,
Ding!
A crisp sound rang out through the void, catching him off-guard.
<+1 Energy>
Alex froze.
Wait. I… gained Energy?
He became surprised. After the system's constant vague answers, this was the first truly positive development.
He didn't even ask the system simply checked himself.
'Status' he said.
---[Status]---
[Name: Alex Morgan]
[Race: Undying]
[Total Energy: 73]
[Undying Energy: 72]
[Qi Energy: 1]
[Task: Collect 20 Energy] (1/20)
[Reward: Human Body]
Everything was the same… except for one new, softly glowing line:
[Qi Energy: 1]
Qi Energy!
Alex stared at the glowing word on the status screen, not with fear, but with overwhelming shock and excitement. He checked it once… twice… then again, as if repetition might somehow make it disappear.
'This… this can't be the same Qi I read about in cultivation novels… right?'
The thought alone made his consciousness tremble. A shiver ran through his very existence, born not of fear, but of pure exhilaration.
If it was the same Qi described in those stories, the coincidence was almost absurd. And yet, if its functions were even remotely similar, then only two possibilities existed.
The first made his thoughts turn dark.
What if Qi had always existed on Earth, hidden deliberately? Suppressed because revealing it would plunge the world into chaos. If everyone knew that cultivation was real, that power could be gained without limit, then laws would crumble overnight.
The strong would rule.
There would be no rules. No regulations. No democracy. People would trample over one another to climb higher, to gain more power, to satisfy their desires, no matter the cost. The world would drown in blood long before it found balance.
And then there was the second possibility.
What if the stories had not originated from Earth at all?
What if someone, at some point in history, had come from another world?
A cultivator. A traveller.
That single word echoed in his mind.
Worlds.
Traveling between them.
The idea refused to let go. The more he thought about it, the more his thoughts sharpened, snapping into place like pieces of a puzzle. His uncertainty melted away, replaced by clarity.
Alex's expression hardened. His resolve solidified.
He had clues now.
His excitement surged, impossible to contain any longer. The question that had been burning in his mind finally spilled out.
'Hey, System,' he asked, his voice trembling with barely restrained anticipation, 'is this the same Qi energy people cultivate to achieve immortality? The one described in the novels I used to read?'
There was no pause. No delay.
Alex's consciousness shook.
This wasn't speculation anymore.
There might a chance it to be real. About the travelling.
However, he didn't let go the possibility of his first speculation.
But a face of determination can be seen.
After few moments of thinking.
Eventually, only one question remained the one he had been avoiding.
'System… where am I right now?'
This time, the answer came instantly.
'Sigh… just as I predicted.' Alex let out a long, quiet sigh.
Even though he expected the answer, part of him still wished it wasn't true.
The system continued:
Alex's voice softened to a whisper. '…Yeah. Show me.'
The moment the words left him a torrent of memories exploded open inside his mind. Notifications he had glimpsed but forgotten… Messages he couldn't read in the final moments of his life…
Everything came rushing back with blinding clarity, flooding his consciousness like a broken dam.