The Beginning

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Victor Black: The Awakening

I woke up drenched in sweat, the echoes of a nightmare fading faster than I could grasp them. Something about those dreams gnawed at me, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. But there was no time to dwell. The morning sun had already begun to creep through the blinds, casting long shadows across my cramped apartment. With a groan, I pushed myself out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. 

As the cold water hit my face, clarity returned, and with it, a familiar dread. The monotony of my part-time job loomed ahead, and I cursed myself for staying in bed so long. My life had become a carousel of routine, spinning endlessly without change. 

I dressed quickly and grabbed a piece of bread before heading out. The elevator in my building was working for once—small miracles. As I stepped inside, I noticed a little girl clutching her mother's hand. There was something in the girl's eyes, something that seemed to pierce through me, but I shrugged it off and turned my attention to my phone. A quick scan of my messages revealed nothing of importance. Typical. I flicked over to the news, where the latest buzz was about an idol couple's sudden marriage. Apparently, it was a shotgun wedding. 

A pang of loneliness hit me. Twenty-two years old and still single. My friends would tease me mercilessly if they knew how much it bothered me. I wasn't against waiting for the right person, even marriage, but lately, that seemed like a distant dream. 

The elevator dinged, and I stepped out, shaking off my thoughts. My bicycle, the one purchase I was truly proud of, was waiting for me. I hopped on and started the ride to work, letting the morning air clear my head.

As I approached the busy intersection near the coffee shop, a sense of unease crept in. Something felt off. The light turned green, and I began to cross, but the screech of tires made me freeze. My eyes snapped to the source of the noise—a massive truck barreling toward me, the driver slumped over the wheel, unconscious. 

Time seemed to slow. My heart pounded in my chest as I realized there was no way to avoid it. This was it—my "Truck-kun" moment. Fear surged through me, and I closed my eyes, bracing for the impact. But then, something strange happened. I felt a force pulling at me, like the fabric of reality was tearing apart.

When I opened my eyes, the truck was gone. I was standing in the middle of the road, untouched, but the coffee shop where I worked was in ruins. The truck had somehow veered off course and crashed into it instead. The driver, still asleep, lay on a pile of debris, remarkably unharmed. 

People were gathering, shouting, and pointing, but I could barely process it. The police arrived, and the scene became a blur of flashing lights and panicked voices. The shop owner, Mr. Lee, was on the phone with his insurance company, trying to explain what had happened. 

"Victor," he called out when he saw me. "You're okay. Thank God. Listen, we're going to be closed for repairs—probably a couple of weeks. Take some time off. You deserve it."

I nodded numbly and walked away, the surrealness of the situation still clinging to me. I decided to head home and try to process what had just happened. 

Back in my apartment, I called my parents, keeping the details of the accident vague. After a short conversation, I lay down, hoping for some rest. But as soon as I closed my eyes, I was pulled into another world.

I found myself standing in an endless void, surrounded by swirling mists. The darkness was suffocating, pressing in on me from all sides. I tried to walk, but the ground beneath me seemed to stretch endlessly, leading nowhere. My legs grew heavy, my breath labored. I had no choice but to stop and sit down, overwhelmed by a sense of futility.

Suddenly, I felt a presence—a cold, calculating gaze that sent shivers down my spine. I looked up and saw two scarlet eyes watching me from the shadows. Fear gripped me, stronger than anything I had ever felt before. These weren't just eyes; they were alive, sentient, and malevolent.

I tried to move, but my body refused to obey. Panic surged through me as the eyes drew closer, their intensity growing with every passing second. And then, just as suddenly as they appeared, they vanished, leaving me in the oppressive silence.

The scene shifted again, and I found myself floating in a strange, liquid-like void. My surroundings were dark and warm, and I realized with a start that I was seeing through the eyes of a child—an unborn child. My heart raced as the implications set in. Was this… me? Had I been reborn, or had something even stranger happened?

My mind raced, searching for answers. This felt like the plot of one of those fantastical novels I used to read, where the protagonist is thrust into another world with powers and challenges. But this was real—terrifyingly real.

I called out, trying to make sense of it. "System? Status? Menu?" I hoped for some kind of response, anything that could explain what was happening. To my shock, a deep, guttural roar echoed through the void, followed by a robotic voice. A dark black panel appeared in front of me, glowing with a faint, golden outline. Scarlet letters spelled out words in English, the interface familiar yet alien.

The panel flickered as it downloaded and installed, eerily similar to a familiar operating system. When it finished, the screen displayed what looked like a character sheet from a game—except this was no game.

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**System (click the [ ] to change the system name):**

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Name: Victor Black

Race: Vampire (Pureblood) / Shadow Dragon

Racial Level: Vampire (Lv1) / Shadow Dragon (Lv1)

Job: Shadow Lord (Lv1)

World: Marvel Universe

Level: 1(10) > 2(0/100)

Age: 6 months

ABILITY:

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HP: (6/6)

MP: (3/3)

STR: 5(+)

AGILITY: 3(+)

STAMINA: 4

Skill Points: 0

Exp: 0

**Daily Quest:**

- Get ready to be a predator in shadow

 - Sleep for 12 hours (Reward: Skill point - 0.01)

 - Drink milk (Locked) - 500 ml (Reward: 5 Exp)

 - Drink blood (Locked) - 100 ml (Reward: 10 Exp)

Reward: Title: Vampire Monarch.

(Warning! - Failure of Quest results in punishment.)

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I stared at the screen, disbelief washing over me. Marvel Universe? Shadow Dragon? Vampire? None of this made any sense, and yet, there it was, as real as the sweat on my brow. 

I couldn't help but chuckle, the absurdity of it all hitting me at once. At least I hadn't been reborn into some sadistic manga world where everyone had a death wish. But Marvel? That wasn't much better. There were cosmic threats, world-ending events, and, of course, Thanos with his obsession with the Infinity Stones. The timeline was a mystery, but the dangers were very real. 

I took a deep breath, trying to calm the whirlwind of thoughts racing through my mind. If I was really here, if this was really happening, then I needed to be smart—careful. The Marvel Universe was no place to be reckless. 

"I don't want to die without knowing how I died," I muttered under my breath. The irony wasn't lost on me. Here I was, in the womb of a woman I'd never met, in a universe that could crush me before I even took my first breath.

But this was also an opportunity. I had been given a second chance, with powers that could change the course of history. I didn't know how or why, but I was determined to find out—and to survive, no matter what this universe threw at me. 

The darkness around me shifted, and for the first time, I felt a spark of hope. I had been given a chance, and I wasn't going to waste it.

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