Bruce Ryker, Consolation Prize
"I like you! Please go out with me!"
Bruce snapped out of his daze, looking at the woman in front of him in confusion.
Who was this person?
Where am I?
Didn't I die?
Seeing the handsome young man look at her with his cold and heartless eyes, the young woman trembled and cried from fear.
"...I'm sorry for thinking I had a chance!"
Then she stormed off, tears pouring down her face.
Bruce was extremely confused. He hadn't even said anything yet. No, that's not the point—what the hell was happening?
As far as he knew, he was dead. He had been involved in a succession dispute over a business worth billions of dollars.
While he was walking on the road in broad daylight, a car suddenly ran over him while he was parking in front of his house.
Before he died, he heard the person driving the other car say they were ordered by someone named 'Koi' to kill him.
Bruce narrowed his eyes. That was the nickname of his eldest uncle, a staunch supporter of his cousin to succeed in the family business.
'What a dirty move.'
He clicked his tongue, shaking his head in displeasure.
But now, where the hell was he?
Bruce found the answer to that question soon enough. Unknown memories suddenly made their way into his mind.
"Ah, fuck!"
The onslaught of information made his mind ache unbearably. Bruce clenched his jaw and shut his eyes.
He resisted the pain with everything he had, and soon, the pain ended and the memories seamlessly integrated into his mind.
"I have a hard time believing that I'm not in some kind of novel right now..."
Bruce rubbed his head, examining his memories. He had been transmigrated into the body of a young high school student.
Although he was happy that he was still alive, if he was going to suffer through high school again, he might as well stay in hell.
"Of course, that's just a joke," Bruce hurriedly said aloud. "Whoever heard that, please don't take it seriously!"
He just realized that if something as absurd as transmigration exists, then maybe he transmigrated under the whims of a god.
Although the possibility was slim, he couldn't risk it.
If that divine entity heard his thoughts, maybe they'd put him back in hell.
"Interestingly enough... my status in this world is oddly similar to my previous life. It seems I'm born unlucky in both lives."
Bruce rubbed his chin. The identity of the body he was occupying was quite special. He was someone from the Ryker Family.
The Rykers was a high-class family that occupied at least a third of Blue Star's business industries and had connections with the Star Lord.
His current identity, Bruce Ryker, was very special as the illegitimate son of the current head of the Ryker family.
His existence was a huge controversy for the family, and he received a lot of verbal abuse and insults as he grew up.
Unable to cope with the scorn, the young man developed depression and eventually killed himself through poison.
Earlier, the poison had finally taken effect and killed him, opening a gap for Bruce to take over the body.
"There's one problem, though. If you were planning to kill yourself, why the hell did you even bother to accept a confession? Are you stupid?"
Bruce complained, knocking his head. Unfortunately, his predecessor was a people pleaser; he couldn't bear to reject someone's request to confess to him.
The poison was originally intended to take effect by the end of the day, thus giving him time to respond to the girl's confession and reject her.
But he didn't expect he wouldn't even last an hour...
"What a mess," Bruce clicked his tongue, wanting a smoke. "A pitiful, hopeless kid. That's what you are, Bruce Ryker. Even though you received scorn and insults all your life, you don't have a trace of anger in you."
Since his memories had synchronized with Bruce Ryker's, he could sense all the leftover emotions the young man had accumulated deep inside him.
There was no anger—no desire for revenge. The young man had died without blaming anything on the Ryker family.
At this moment, a voice echoed inside Bruce's mind, stunning him in his place.
Bruce's expression constantly changed. But after a while, the voice disappeared. His face was complex and indescribable.
"I won't take revenge on them for your sake," Bruce said while walking away. "But if they cross paths with me, then I'll have no choice, alright?"
After saying that to no one in particular, a gust of wind blew as though answering him. If anything, it looked like someone agreed with him.
Navigating through the academy grounds, Bruce found his dorm using his memories as a guide. He didn't bother knocking and directly opened the door.
Bam!
The people inside the room were flustered, almost dropping what they were holding. They looked at the door and saw it was just Bruce.
"Bro, what the hell! Knock before you enter!"
Bruce ignored him and headed to the bedroom. He closed the door behind him, locking it so no one would disturb him.
However, before he could even take a step towards the bed...
At this moment, a ding sounded in his mind.
[System... awakening... 1%... 18%...]
[...32%... 58%... 88%... 100%]
A flash appeared in front of Bruce's eyes.
[The Infinite Cipher]
[Name: Bruce Ryker]
[Age: 16]
[Awakened Skills: Energy Extrasensitivity]
[Realm: Pre-evolutionary/Transcendent]
[Cipher Gifts: Immortality, Universal Strength, Master of the Future, God of Time, Space Supreme, Sorcerer Maker...]
The endless succession of cool, powerful titles made Bruce extremely excited. But unfortunately, before he could appreciate all of them, the system glitched.
[Error. Error. Error.]
[Major problem detected!]
[Problem: Host body too weak to inherit the Cipher Gifts.]
[Solution: Sealing the '999, 999, 999...' skills given by the Infinite Cipher.]
Bam!
Bruce threw his head against the door in sudden shock, feeling as though the world had ended right before him.
"Wait, no...!"
Those cool, powerful titles such as Immortality, God of Time, Space Supreme... vanished into particles of light, leaving seven unknown question marks.
[Unsealing 7 skills for use. Refresh every week.]
Well, there was his consolation prize.