Tony sat on his hospital bed, his gaze fixed on the glowing panel only he could see. The more he focused on his newfound ability—Innate Divinity—the more astonishing it felt. Every breath he took was making him stronger, and he was beginning to understand just how broken this talent was.
First, every minute he breathed, his four core attributes—Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Spirit—each increased by 0.2. That might sound small, but for a normal person whose upper limit was barely ten points, this was absurd. This was only the zero-tier effect, meaning that as he ranked up, the growth would skyrocket. Second, the frequency was locked: twenty breaths a minute, each one giving a steady rise in power. It didn't matter if he inhaled sharply or slowly; the system simply counted his breathing rhythm. As long as he drew breath, he grew stronger.
Every minute, 0.2 points. Every hour, 12 points. Every day, 288. Without killing monsters, without risking dungeons, without even moving, he could turn into a superhuman just by existing. This wasn't just strong—it was godlike.
The hospital room had three occupants. Tony occupied one bed, an old man in his sixties lay near the door, his face wrinkled but full of vitality, and his teenage granddaughter had come to visit him. When the Supreme Will's radiant streams descended, they healed Tony's stab wound instantly. The old man, who had been groaning earlier, now looked decades younger, his illness seemingly erased.
Excited chatter filled the room.
"Grandpa, I got a B-Rank talent!" the girl said, puffing out her chest proudly, her eyes shining.
B-Rank talents were rare—barely one in a thousand people awakened with one. Most had F or E ranks, and S-Rank was practically legendary, one in a hundred thousand. As for SSS, rumors said there were fewer than a hundred people in the entire world who'd awakened one.
The old man only had an E-Rank, but he didn't care. He smiled warmly, letting his granddaughter chatter on. Half the new terms flew over his head, but he basked in her excitement. Now and then, the girl glanced at Tony with curiosity. She wanted to ask what his talent was, but he kept his face neutral. He wasn't about to announce to strangers that he'd awakened an EX-Rank, something that surpassed all known rankings.
Tony opened his phone and checked the class group chat. Messages were flying faster than he could scroll. His stabbing incident earlier had been the hot topic, but now the feed was entirely about awakenings.
"Holy crap, I got an A-Rank!" one guy boasted.
"No way! That's insane, there's barely a handful of A's in the whole school."
"Master Ma, you're my boss now. Please accept me as your humble disciple."
"Ugh, I only got D. Life is pain."
"F-tier reporting in. I'll just cry in the bathroom."
From what Tony gathered, only one student in his class had awakened an A-Rank talent, and no one higher. A few others stayed silent, including Tony himself. People started @-mentioning the quiet ones, asking for their results. Tony was just about to reply when the sound of frantic footsteps echoed down the hallway.
Every nerve in his body went taut. After what had happened earlier, danger set his instincts on fire. His eyes snapped to the door just in time to see a creature step into view. It looked like a wolf, but wrong—its fur was matted, black smoke curled off its skin, and its eyes glowed a blood-red. Drool dripped from its jagged fangs.
The old man and his granddaughter turned just as the beast lunged. The girl froze, her mind blank, unable to even think of using her new talent. The old man sprang forward, but he was too slow.
The wolf's fetid breath hit her face as its jaws opened wide—
—and a strong hand clamped around its muzzle mid-leap. Another hand seized its hind leg, and with a sickening wham, Tony hurled the creature across the room. It slammed into the wall hard enough to leave a dent, blood spraying from its mouth as it crumpled, twitching feebly.
Ten minutes had passed since his awakening. In that time, his stats had jumped.
[Strength: 10] [Agility: 9] [Constitution: 10] [Spirit: 9]
And with his next breath, his Strength ticked up again, surpassing the normal human limit. This "wolf monster" might look terrifying, but in truth, it wasn't much stronger than a mundane predator. With Tony's current physique, he could crush it like paper.
Without wasting a second, he bolted out of the room. Down the hall, a space rift was flickering, slowly closing. That had to be where the beasts came from. Another wolf had climbed onto the nurses' station, a young nurse cowering on the floor beneath it, sobbing in terror. Tony sprinted in, launching a flying kick that smashed into the creature's ribs, sending it sprawling across the corridor.
"Th-thank you!" the nurse cried out shakily.
Tony didn't stop. He grabbed a chair from the station and barged into another nearby room where the last wolf was snarling, ready to pounce on a patient. With a savage swing, he brought the chair down on its back. The beast yelped once and went limp.
All three wolves lay dead within a minute. Their bodies didn't vanish like in a game—they were just corpses, bloody and real. Tony expected security or law enforcement to arrive, but nobody came. A passing nurse, trembling, explained that attacks like this were happening all over New Haven City. The police were completely overwhelmed.
With nothing else to do, Tony left the hospital. His wounds were long healed, and he didn't feel like heading back to the dorms. He went home instead, to the small apartment his parents had left him before they passed away.
Scrolling through the group chat again, he saw the new topic: monster attacks. During his skirmish at the hospital, New Haven University itself had been hit by creatures from another world—a swarm of green-skinned goblins barely a meter tall, surrounded by the same eerie black smoke as the wolves. The internet was flooded with clips and posts about awakenings, monsters, and portals appearing worldwide. Thankfully, the creatures were weak and few, casualties were limited, but the message was clear: this was a warning. A taste of what was to come.
Tony opened his status panel again, this time staring at the Dungeon option. For every awakened, there were two types of dungeons: Trial Dungeons, where you gained rewards and growth points, and Ascension Dungeons, required to level up once you reached 100 growth. Right now, every awakened started at zero-tier.
By all logic, he could sit back and relax. His ability would make him absurdly strong just by breathing. If he stayed out of danger and waited a while, he'd eventually crush anything that came his way. Safe, easy, no risks. That would've been his plan.
But today changed everything. An assassination attempt. A world on fire. Monsters are spilling through cracks in reality. He had felt powerless once already, and he hated it. He needed to grow stronger—not tomorrow, not next week, now.
Tony's eyes hardened, determination igniting like a flame. "You all forced me into this," he muttered. With a sharp breath, his finger slammed onto the Dungeon option on his interface.