Chapter 01: Beginning

Beijing, China.

"Alright, class. Behave yourselves during the lesson".

The noisy class instantly quieted down at the urgency in Professor Zhou Dong's voice. However, his sharp eyes couldn't help but notice the boy sleeping in the back: Dai Zen.

"Dai Zen, final exams are in less than two weeks, yet you insist on sleeping through my lessons. Don't you have any aspirations for your future?" The stern professor reprimanded him, his voice resonating in the silent classroom.

Upon hearing this, Dai Zen's classmates' gazes turned toward his unremarkable form.

Dai Zen was an ordinary young man with messy black hair and a forgettable face. The type of character one would glance over without a second thought. However, this hadn't always been the case.

Last year, Dai Zen shone as one of the top students, excelling in his courses with minimal effort. This year, however, his grades plummeted at an alarming rate. He was now just the target of his disdainful classmates' ridicule.

Of course, this decline wasn't due to pure laziness. At only eighteen years old, Dai Zen didn't have the support of parents. To make a living and save money for the future, he sacrificed his study time to take on a job.

While his classmates relaxed at home after class, he went to work, only to return home in the early morning hours, exhausted but with classes waiting for him after only a few hours of rest. It was a vicious cycle, and intense exhaustion was etched into his features.

The only reason Dai Zen forced himself to attend classes was to have the chance to enter Beijing University next year with his girlfriend. Without this goal, he would have given up on his studies altogether to devote himself entirely to his job.

With a soft sigh, Dai Zen forced open his heavy eyelids to listlessly survey his surroundings. For a fleeting moment, his dark eyes bulged as if struggling to comprehend the scene before him.

He caught the mocking glances of his classmates and the reprimand of the professor, but the words slipped from his mind as quickly as they had entered. Such was a daily occurrence.

And so, with the class silent under Professor Zhou Dong's stern gaze, the lesson continued without further interruptions.

***

As Professor Zhou Dong's voice echoed in the silent classroom, the desks and chairs on which the students were sitting ominously shook.

"Another earthquake? This is the fifth time this week!" Exclaimed a student with alarm.

"I don't think it will be the last either." Replied another gravely: "Let's remember that there have been over fifty such cases last month. It seems these tremors are not limited to China, but afflict every country in the world!"

A somber mood settled over the classroom after this statement. As his classmates anxiously murmured about the frequent tremors of recent times, Dai Zen absentmindedly toyed with the metal pendant he wore around his neck.

It was the only crucial memory from his childhood, so he made sure to always keep it with him.

Suddenly, a strange glow caught Dai Zen's attention. Looking down, he was surprised to see the pendant emitting a faint light. But as he turned his gaze towards the window, the strange glow disappeared, and he dismissed it as a trick of the light.

His naturally somber gaze was then drawn to the black crows gathering in the skies beyond. They flew in great numbers towards the south as if fleeing from an invisible terror. An unsettling premonition gripped his chest at the sight.

"Again. I wonder what's happening to this world." Dai Zen clicked his tongue in annoyance.

According to news reports, scientists did not adequately explain the strange phenomena afflicting the planet. The media focused more on avoiding mass panic and only picked up on minor details while ignoring the big picture.

By this point, such irregularities were so frequent that they barely felt strange. Torrential rains, polar warming, Antarctic thawing, and global tremors have been common events since last month. People had become accustomed to the ominous changes in nature.

Suddenly, Dai Zen felt an inexplicable chill. Something about today felt very wrong.

Rubbing his arms against the sudden cold, Dai Zen dropped his head onto the desk. Perhaps sleep would provide an escape from that sense of impending doom–

The world shook violently, cutting off his thoughts. Artwork and portraits fell off the walls as the students' chairs and desks shook with ferocity.

Screams and cries of alarm rose from the students. Cracks ran through the floors and windows. Dust and debris rained down from the ceiling, sending the students into a panic.

This wasn't a simple earthquake. This was something much more sinister.

Knowing that nothing good would come of this, Dai Zen quickly threw himself to the ground, backing away from the rapidly fracturing floors. He didn't want his weight on them to cause a collapse.

Then, in the space of a breath, everything went dark. Unnatural darkness covered the world like a black veil had been thrown over it.

The classroom was plunged into shadow; the screams of fear and confusion from the students echoed for a brief moment before being abruptly silenced. A cold terror seized Dai Zen's heart as the strange phenomenon overtook them.

Before he could react adequately, a piercing pain shot through his skull. A scream came from his throat, but no sound came out.

His vision wavered and darkened at the edges while a fierce pressure built up behind his eyes. It was as if an invisible hand had grabbed his head and tried to crush it.

Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the pain faded away. The world righted itself, and the strange shadows and silence disappeared. The sunlight once again streamed through the windows.

However, nothing was as it should be. His eyes, once dark, now shone with a crimson light. Some of his classmates lay motionless; he didn't know if they had collapsed from pain, were unconscious, or something worse.

—Crack!—

He heard the sound of crumbling as he felt his hand sink into solid material. Looking down, he saw his fingers embedded in the concrete as if it were mere sand. He quickly withdrew his hand and looked at it in surprise.

"Although I have worked in construction, I have never been this strong before– Wait, what's with these nails?!"

Surprised and disbelieving, he looked at his nails, which had turned black as ink. Upon closer inspection, he discovered his skin had paled to a pure white color as if he had come straight out of a vampire movie.

As he tried to look through the window to inspect his unusual appearance, he noticed something.

A bluish screen floated in front of his face, with words in a foreign alphabet dancing on its surface.

[The blessing of the Evolution Entity has come to Earth]

[Please prepare for the Apocalypse. It's time to evolve!]

[Reading Dai Zen's Existential Record]

[You have awakened the Unique Trait: Nullity]

[To check your status, call <Status>]

The blue panel on the screen remained motionless in front of Dai Zen, its faint light casting shadows on his pale features. No matter how much he shook his head or rubbed his crimson eyes, the strange vision wouldn't disappear.

'What witchcraft is this?'

Whenever he had free time, Dai Zen delved into fantastic stories of magic and mystery. However, he could never have imagined such phenomena appearing before his own eyes.

His mind drifted away from the implications, seeking to dismiss the screen as nothing more than an illusion or a trick of his tortured senses.

But as another tremor shook the fractured classroom and the sudden change in his body, denial was a luxury he could hardly afford.

'Status.'

The letters ominously blinked through the screen at his whisper. What was once familiar to him only through the pages of light novels and fantasies was now his new reality.

[Dai Zen - Hybrid-Badly Evolved]

Level: 0

Trait: Nullity [Unique]

Evolution: First Rank

Class: No Class

Title: No Title

[Stats]

Strength: 15

Vitality: 15

Resistance: 15

Agility: 15

Magic Power: 15

Mana: 70

[Available Stats Points: 0]

...

Dai Zen was speechless.

At that moment, his old life had cracked beyond repair. He had become a video game character with attributes and abilities worthy of fantasy.