Chapter 1
The train was late.
Kairo noticed it immediately—not because the announcement board said so, but because the crowd was wrong.
Too quiet.
People stood too close together, shoulders brushing, breaths shallow. In a city like this, silence wasn't peace; it was a held breath. He sat near the middle of the carriage, laptop resting on his knees, fingers hovering over the keyboard without pressing a single key.
Lines of code glowed faintly on the screen.
A simulation loop. Incomplete.
He exhaled slowly and leaned back, eyes half-lidded, observing reflections in the glass window opposite him. A woman clutching her purse too tightly. A man sweating despite the winter cold. Someone standing instead of sitting even though there were empty seats.
Patterns.
"CIEL," he murmured under his breath, more out of habit than expectation.
No response came.
Of course not. CIEL didn't exist yet—not like it would.
The train jolted forward at last, metal wheels screaming against rails. Outside, the city blurred into concrete and light. Kairo finally let his fingers move, finishing the last function with practiced ease.
He was a game systems developer. Not famous. Not poor either. Just… competent. The kind of person studios relied on but never showcased. He designed AI behavior trees, adaptive difficulty curves, decision matrices that made enemies feel alive.
He liked systems that responded.
Life, unfortunately, did not.
The explosion came without warning.
There was no dramatic countdown. No shouted warning. Just a deafening pressure that crushed sound itself, followed by heat so intense it felt cold.
For a fraction of a second—less than that—Kairo was aware of everything.
The scream of twisting metal.
The way time seemed to stretch, like a corrupted frame rate.
The laptop flying from his hands, screen shattering mid-code.
And then—
Pain.
Not sharp. Not immediate. Just… final.
As the world collapsed inward, Kairo had one last thought, absurd and calm:
Poor optimization.
Darkness followed.
But it did not end.
He woke to cold.
Not the sterile chill of a hospital, but damp stone seeping into skin. His body felt wrong—lighter, smaller, weaker. His breath hitched as unfamiliar air filled unfamiliar lungs.
Kairo's eyes snapped open.
The ceiling above him was cracked stone, uneven and stained black with age. A flickering orange light danced across it, casting warped shadows that twisted unnaturally.
He didn't move.
He didn't panic.
He simply… observed.
His hands—small, dirty, calloused—rested against his chest. The fingers were thinner than he remembered. Younger. He flexed them slowly, noting the delay in muscle response.
Not paralysis, he concluded. Developmental difference.
A child's body.
Voices drifted nearby.
"…tellin' you, the brat's not gonna last the winter."
"Doesn't matter. Another mouth gone is another mouth gone."
Boots scraped stone. A cough. The crackle of firewood.
Kairo turned his head slightly.
He was lying in a corner of what looked like a ruined building—collapsed walls, scavenged boards forming crude barriers against the wind. A slum shelter. No—worse. An abandoned understructure, repurposed by people with nowhere else to go.
Memories flooded in then. Not his—but his.
A boy. Orphaned. Parents dead from sickness years ago. No name worth remembering. Survived by stealing scraps, doing errands, sleeping where he could.
Kairo accepted the memories without resistance.
Reincarnation, he concluded calmly.
Not disbelief. Not awe.
Just acknowledgment.
A soft chime echoed in his mind.
Not sound—interface.
[Initializing Cognitive Anchor…]
[Synchronization complete.]
[Welcome back, Kairo.]
His breath stilled.
"…CIEL?" he whispered internally.
[Designation confirmed.]
[Core Intelligence Entity Loaded.]
[Status: Integrated.]
A sensation spread through his mind—not warmth, not electricity, but clarity. Like a fog lifting from a landscape he didn't know had been obscured.
[This world operates under a Blessing System.]
[Analyzing…]
Symbols unfolded before his closed eyes, forming translucent panels only he could see.
[Blessing Acquired at Birth: "Copy Blessing"]
[Blessing Granted upon Reincarnation: "Evolve Blessing"]
Kairo didn't smile.
He simply absorbed the information.
"So… a system world," he thought. "Figures."
[Additional Function Detected.]
[Battle Simulation Space: Unlocked.]
[Time Dilation Ratio: 1:100,000.]
His heart skipped—not in fear, but interest.
A training space. A simulated environment. Time manipulation.
CIEL continued, tone neutral and precise.
[All beings on this continent possess at least one Blessing.]
[Blessings vary by race, bloodline, and origin.]
[You are an anomaly.]
That earned a slight pause from Kairo.
"Explain."
["Copy Blessing" allows acquisition of observed abilities.]
["Evolve Blessing" removes inefficiencies, adapts functions, and enables fusion.]
[Combination Potential: High.]
[Risk: Mental Strain when copying higher-origin blessings.]
Kairo opened his eyes again, staring at the flickering fire across the room.
Across from him, a man with a scarred face glanced his way, then looked back to his companions.
"Tch. Kid's awake," the man muttered. "Won't matter."
Another voice, rougher. "If he can walk, he can steal. If he can't, he's dead weight."
No sympathy. No malice either.
Just efficiency.
Kairo pushed himself upright slowly, ignoring the ache in his limbs. No one stopped him. He stood there—thin, ragged, dirt-streaked—but something about the way he moved caused the conversation to die.
The scarred man frowned. "What're you lookin' at, brat?"
Kairo met his eyes.
Not with defiance.
Not with fear.
Just… neutrality.
"I'm leaving," Kairo said quietly.
The man barked a laugh. "You won't make it past—"
Kairo walked past him.
No one touched him.
Not because they feared him—but because something in his presence felt wrong. Like approaching a cliff edge you couldn't see.
Outside, the slums stretched endlessly—leaning buildings, open gutters, children with hollow eyes. Above them all loomed the academy spires, visible even from here, piercing the sky like judgment.
CIEL's voice returned.
[Objective Suggestion:]
[Survive.]
[Acquire Information.]
[Copy.]
[Evolve.]
Kairo adjusted the torn cloak around his shoulders.
His expression remained calm.
The world had not cared when he died.
He would return the favor.