The glow of the monitor was the last thing he remembered.
Lines upon lines of dialogue. Cultivation realms. Spirit rings. Harem routes. Fate-defying protagonists. He had drawn them all, rewritten them all, criticized them all in comment sections at three in the morning.
"If I were the MC, I'd never choose the safe route."
That thought lingered—
Then the world shattered.
Pain came first.
A dull ache, small limbs, shallow breaths. The smell of soil and wood smoke. Crying that wasn't his—until he realized it was.
He opened his eyes to a thatched roof and a pair of rough, trembling hands holding him.
"A boy… he's a boy…"
A memory surged into place like a page snapping into a book.
Holy Soul Village.
Douluo Dalu.
"…You've got to be kidding me," his newborn mind thought calmly.
He didn't scream. Didn't panic. He had read this story too many times.
And then—
[DING][Transmigration Confirmed][Golden Choice System Activated]
The voice was crisp. Mocking. Almost… pleased.
System:"Congratulations, Host. You have successfully stolen the role of 'Unwritten Variable.'"System:"Canon Protagonist Detected: Tang San."System:"…Hmph."
That last sound felt strangely emotional.
Years passed like turning pages.
He grew fast. Too fast.
By the time he was six, his eyes were sharp, his thoughts colder than they should've been for a village child. He watched Tang San from a distance—quiet, polite, hiding more than he showed.
Tang San was careful.
The MC was worse.
The night before Spirit Awakening Day, the system spoke again.
[Critical Plot Node Incoming]Choice A: Awaken a normal weapon-type martial soul.Choice B: Awaken a mutated martial soul with uncertain fate.Choice C: Awaken an Ancient Pre-Divine Weapon Soul (Sealed).
The MC smiled in the darkness.
"Who would pick A or B?"
Choice Selected: C
Spirit Awakening Day.
The crystal ball trembled the moment his hand touched it.
The room fell silent.
A sword emerged behind him—not radiant, not flashy—but ancient. As if it had existed before gods learned to name themselves.
The air itself bent.
The village elder staggered back.
"This… this is—"
The sword vanished in a blink.
The MC exhaled slowly.
Ancient Sword Martial Soul: Sealed StateSoul Power: Level 10
A genius.
A monster.
And no one realized how bad it truly was.
That night, the system whispered again.
[Reward Granted]First Soul Ring Evolution Enabled
A faint yellow ring appeared—then deepened, thickened, darkened.
Purple.Black.
By the time the process ended, the ring pulsed with suffocating pressure.
99,999 years.
Just one step from red.
The MC stared at it, calm.
"So this is how broken I am."
System:"Relax. This is only the beginning."
Far away, a small girl with soft brown hair stirred uneasily in her sleep.
Golden eyes opened briefly.
Something had changed.