"You are my special~"
The distorted, almost manic voice of the song echoed inside the closed room, bouncing off cracked walls and returning as noise rather than music.
The phone screen in my hand was the only source of light, casting a pale blue glow over a place that could barely be called a room.
Used wrappers lay scattered across the floor like discarded skin.
Empty cans rolled lazily when nudged by my foot, clinking softly against layers of dust that had long since given up hope of being cleaned.
The table was a battlefield.
Books were piled together in clumps—some open, some bent, some twisted so badly their spines screamed in silent agony. Pens lay everywhere, some uncapped, some chewed, some dried beyond recovery. A charger hung half-dead from the socket, barely clinging on, just like me.
The blankets were unfolded, crumpled into an unrecognizable mess.
Chaos.
Messy.
Ugly.
And that was the room I lay in.
My room.
Creak…
Creak…
The ceiling fan spun lazily above me, its old joints protesting with every rotation.
"Will it fall?"
I stared at it, eyes dull, as the question slipped out of my mouth without any real concern.
Cobwebs clung to the corners of the ceiling, thick and ancient. Spiders had long claimed the roof as their territory, weaving their kingdoms above my head.
Lying beneath them, staring at decay and dust, I couldn't help but question my life.
***
Earth.
Year 2027.
The world was on fire.
World War had broken out.
Missiles streaked across skies.
Drones hummed death into cities.
Guns, tanks, weapons I couldn't even name—handled by people my age.
Young men were fighting.
Dying.
Changing history.
And here I was.
A fat loser lying on his bed, rewatching an anime for the third time.
I looked down.
Past my chin.
Past my chest.
My belly rose and fell slowly with each breath.
…It had grown.
"It has grown."
The words were hollow.
Yeah. I was getting fatter. Day by day. Week by week. Month by month.
And yet, my sorry ass couldn't even get up for a second.
"When did I become such a loser…?"
The question lingered in the air as memories surfaced uninvited.
Where did I go wrong?
Where did I stray?
***
I was born to a loving couple.
My childhood was… good. Warm. Safe.
School?
Normal. I guess.
A loner.
Zero friends.
Someone who scored above average without studying.
Someone with communication skills so bad it bordered on tragic.
That description fit me perfectly.
School life passed quietly.
No drama.
No friends.
No girlfriends.
And then came COVID.
Two years.
Two years erased from existence.
I became addicted.
Webnovels.
Original fiction.
Fanfiction.
MTLs.
Manhuas.
Manhwas.
Anime.
Stories where people lived the lives I never could.
By the end of COVID, I was unrecognizable.
Fat belly.
Below-average face.
No skills.
No social life.
A loser.
The loser I am today.
I worked hard—just enough—to enter medical school.
But so what?
My lifestyle didn't change.
My appearance didn't change.
My social life stayed nonexistent.
I stayed the same.
A lazy, worthless piece of trash who couldn't even change himself.
"Hah…"
A sigh escaped my lips.
My parents' faces surfaced in my mind.
"They must be so disappointed in me…"
Blurry images followed.
My father, holding a hoe, walking toward farmland.
My mother, feeding cattle, her hands rough yet gentle.
…Wait.
Farm?
Cattle?
I sat up abruptly.
"What the fuck am I saying? My father works at—"
Pain exploded in my head.
Memories.
Not memories.
Memories.
A massive influx of images, sensations, emotions invaded my mind, overwhelming my senses like a dam breaking apart.
The Continent of Arcania.
The Lutania Kingdom.
The Desmond Barony.
The towering Black Towers piercing the sky.
No—
These weren't foreign.
These were mine.
A seal shattered.
I remembered.
I remembered everything.
Damon.
Son of Farmer Luther and Maria.
That was me.
I was Damon.
Born under open skies.
Raised among golden fields.
Growing up in the soil of Arcania, under the loving care of my father and mother.
How could I forget?
How could I forget my own life?
My head throbbed as the memories aligned, merging seamlessly with my own.
And then—
A cold, mechanical voice echoed inside my mind.
[Subject: Damon — Awakening Successful]
[Analyzing Talent…]
[1% → 2% → 17% → 43% → 100%]
[Awakened Talent Detected!]
[Talent: Absolute Mastery {SSS}]
[You Have Awakened!]
[Congratulations!]
[You are the first player to awaken an {SSS}-Grade Talent!]
***
Arcania
Arcania was a normal world.
…Or at least, it used to be.
Life on this planet began in the depths of the sea—simple, fragile unicellular organisms drifting aimlessly through primordial waters. Over countless millennia, they evolved, merging and mutating into complex multicellular beings. Massive creatures ruled the oceans, while life slowly crawled onto land.
Eons passed.
Eventually, the planet fell under the dominion of colossal reptilian rulers—giant lizards that towered over mountains and forests alike. Their reign was absolute, their strength unquestioned. They were gods of flesh and scale.
Until catastrophe struck.
Whether it was a celestial impact, volcanic apocalypse, or something far more sinister, history could not remember. What mattered was the result.
The reptilian rulers were erased.
From the ashes of extinction, small creatures hiding in burrows survived. Ape-like beings rose cautiously into the empty world. Over millions of years, guided by evolution and necessity, they changed.
They learned.
They adapted.
They thought.
And thus, humanity was born.
Humans conquered the world not with claws or fangs, but with intellect. They learned to shape stone, control fire, cultivate land, and tame animals. They gazed at the sky in wonder and fear, naming the stars and bowing to unseen forces.
They worshipped gods.
They researched nature.
They feared death.
Over time, humans gathered into groups.
Groups became tribes.
Tribes became villages.
Villages expanded into towns.
Towns grew into cities.
And cities crowned kings.
Kingdoms rose and fell, histories written in blood and ink. Humanity spread across the vast continent of Arcania, carving borders into soil and stone, waging wars over land, gold, faith, and power.
Religion ruled the hearts of the common folk.
Kings ruled the lands with iron fists.
Everything followed a familiar order.
Everything was… normal.
Until the day the sky screamed.
Without warning, the earth itself shattered.
Across the entire world—deserts, forests, oceans, plains, cities—towering black structures erupted from the ground.
They were made of obsidian-like material, smooth yet ancient, indestructible to all known tools. These colossal pillars pierced the clouds, their peaks vanishing into the heavens.
They were called—
Black Towers.
No human had built them.
No kingdom claimed them.
No god answered questions about them.
To the people of Arcania, they were miracles.
At first.
The world prayed to them. Some believed they were divine trials. Others claimed they were the palaces of descending gods. Churches declared them sacred, kings claimed them as omens of prosperity.
But reverence soon turned to terror.
The world changed.
Animals once tame began to mutate.
Creatures evolved grotesque forms.
The era of monsters began.
The forests became hunting grounds.
The nights grew longer—and deadlier.
Then came the awakenings.
Humans wielding unnatural power appeared. Mages who commanded the fire, swordsmen who can cut to steel, evil demons who manipulate the dead.
They were called heretics.
They were called chosen.
They were called monsters wearing human skin.
Cities burned.
Kingdoms collapsed.
Power shifted overnight.
Churches declared holy purges.
Kings mobilized armies.
The world descended into chaos unseen.
And at the center of it all—
The Black Towers stood silently, watching.
***
Status Window
[Name] : Damon
[Talent] : Absolute Mastery {SSS}
[Level] : Lv. 0
[GeneralSkills]
• Enter Tower (1 Use / Day)
[Strength] : 1
[Agility] : 1
[Defense] : 1
[Mana] : 0
***
Absolute Mastery
Grade: SSS
A talent that defies the natural laws of the system.
• Any skill can be converted into a General Skill
• Skills can be created, fused, upgraded, or evolved
• Learning time reduced to near zero
• Mastery achieved almost instantly