Sora stood before his team, heart pounding in his chest. In front of them stood a horde of players who had ambushed them.
Just like the ambushers, he was a player as well. Having reached level 49, he knew he was ahead of most people in his village. Yet, facing today's opponents, he felt completely powerless.
Who are these people? he wondered. We never provoked anyone!
He turned quickly to see how his friends were reacting. The worry, fear, anger, and despair written across their faces only confirmed his own fears—the situation was hopeless.
As he parried an enemy's strike with his sword, his mind drifted to what had led them here. Rachel's shared quest seemed simple on paper. All we had to do was come here and kill a hundred monsters.
Of all the places we could've been ambushed this week, this dead end had to be the worst...
Noting the layout of their surroundings, he couldn't help but think this was no coincidence.
They followed us... he concluded.
"Stay focused, Sora! You're backing up too much!" he heard. Lara, his teammate, had noticed his lack of focus as he clumsily defended against his opponent.
Seeing the grim look in his eyes, she added, "We can't give up now!"
Sora nodded and tightened his grip on his sword. He had faced many challenges before, and even though this one seemed insurmountable, he would give it his all.
With a powerful swing, he struck back, forcing the hooded assassin before him to stumble away. His eyes darted toward his allies, searching for who needed help the most.
About twenty meters away, Adele, their healer and support, was being targeted by dozens of enemy archers and mages. Without thinking, he activated a movement skill to block some of the incoming attacks.
However, the skill's range didn't cover enough distance. The notification of his comrade's death appeared before he could do anything for her.
Knowing he couldn't mourn her in the middle of battle, he turned to see Enzo, his mage friend, raining down explosions on the archers who had targeted their healer.
Enzo managed to injure several of them badly, but his mana soon ran dry, leaving him unable to finish them off.
"Lara! Jérôme! Two o'clock! The archers are low!" Enzo shouted to the two archers on their team before closing his eyes to recover energy.
Sora leapt beside his meditating friend and shielded him as a storm of arrows rained down.
He managed to save him, and his face lit up when several enemy archers fell to Lara and Jérôme's shots.
"Sora, switch with me!" Karim's voice reached him. Sora nodded and dashed toward the assassins that his tank friend had pinned down.
He immediately activated a sword skill to eliminate the three immobilized targets. He felt his sword energy surge through his body, racing into his weapon. The energy condensed into a thick golden substance.
As the strike cut through the air toward the three assassins, it gradually lost thickness—and power.
I hope that's enough! Sora thought desperately.
But before he could see the result, a scream tore through the battlefield.
He turned just in time to see Jerôme flung into the air. A death notification appeared before his eyes. His eyes moved away from the corpse to where he had been hit. Sora's eyes widened. In Jerôme's place stood a massive warrior wielding a giant mace.
Lara, who had been fighting back-to-back with Jerôme just moments ago, turned toward the enemy warrior and launched a desperate attack.
Lara!! She doesn't stand a chance in close combat!
Sora's face twisted in horror as he tried to activate his dash skill to intercept and protect his friend—but the ability didn't trigger.
I'm out of mana…
Powerless, he didn't look away when his friend fell under a single swing of the mace. When the notification of her death was followed by two more, he turned and saw that Karim hadn't been able to protect Enzo for long. The two had died back-to-back.
Enzo… Watching his comrades fall one after another, Sora felt tears well up in his eyes.
As his vision blurred, someone grabbed his forearm. When he saw the young woman standing behind him, he couldn't help but smile.
"Rachel..." he whispered, his voice trembling.
She looked at him with eyes even redder than his own. She had been his childhood friend. She was his brother's widow. And ever since his brother's death, he had looked after her.
In his grief and despair, he didn't notice that her health and mana bars were still full.
He opened his system interface and said quietly, "Let's not let them take our loot. Let's end our own lives."
As he navigated the menu, a notification popped up—his friend had left the party. Without warning, she drove a dagger into his back.
In shock, he didn't even see his health bar drain. Feeling the fatal wound, he forced out the words, "Rachel... why?"
"I was hunting," she replied coldly. "You and your friends were simply my targets."
Anger flared through the pain as darkness began to swallow him. "You... will... pay... for... this..." he managed to whisper.
She smirked. "That's exactly what he said too."
Then everything went black.
***
[You have died]
In the darkness, a notification appeared before him.
What a shitty way to die... Sora thought—then realized he could still think.
After a few moments, his mind began to drift back through his memories.
Born in Japan in 2020, he had lost his parents during their honeymoon in Paris when he was just three years old. Unable to find any relatives willing to take him in, the French authorities placed him with a young local couple. He grew up in France.
His adoptive older brother, Nathan, watched over him from kindergarten through middle school, protecting him from bullies and troublemakers.
When the world began to change in 2044, turning into something that resembled an old MMORPG from the 2000s, Sora was already a young adult.
He watched as foreign races appeared on Earth and millions of monsters settled across the world. Humanity adapted quickly, discovering that a mysterious system had granted them the means to fight back and to grow stronger.
He was happy to quit his job in the HR department of a construction company to follow in his brother's footsteps and become a player.
As he drifted deeper into those memories, another notification pulled him back.
[Innate Skill: Prestige has been Triggered]
Sora read the message in his mind and, instinctively, tried to open his eyes.
My body… it's glowing? He could feel himself floating in the darkness, which startled him. Wait—I have a body? Didn't I just die? And what's this Innate skill? Since when do I have one?
Curious, he tried to summon the system interface. To his surprise, it appeared right before him.
[Status Update]
Profile: Sora Hashino
Status: Dead (Prestige 0)
Talent Level: 1
Growth Factor: 1
Class: Swordsman (Level 49)
Body Level: 8,185,625
Energy Level: 8,095,685
Innate Skill: [Prestige]
Skills:
Sword Mastery (Level 29) Shield Block (Level 8) Critical Strike (Level 23) Dodge (Level 17) Mana Regeneration (Level 5) …
Sora scanned the familiar words on his status page and nodded. It more or less matched what he'd had before dying. He had been a swordsman, just shy of reaching level 50. He'd grown fond of the class quickly, and most of the abilities he used came from it.
His Talent Level and Growth Factor were both fixed at one—just like everyone else he knew.
But when his eyes caught the word "Dead" beside his status, he froze.
Dead? And Prestige 0 next to it? That's never been there before…
As if in response to his thoughts, his attention was drawn to the skill [Prestige], which was blinking faintly. It was something he had never seen before, and curiosity compelled him to focus on it.
An explanation appeared immediately.
[Innate Skill: Prestige]
Description: Reset your training upon death or by choice after reaching Level 50. All levels and skills revert to zero. Growth Factor doubles with each reset. Talent Level doubles with each reset.
Death Activation: Can activate upon death with a 30-day cooldown.
Manual Activation: Can be activated manually after reaching Level 50 with no cooldown.
Click for more.
Sora's mind raced. This was a chance to start over—to go back and change everything.
An exponential increase in Talent and Growth Factor every time I die? That's… insane!
Thinking about the implications made his heart pound. Talent Level amplified a player's strength, energy, and every attribute. For example, someone with a Talent Level of 10 would be ten times stronger than their identical self with a Talent Level of 1.
The Growth Factor, on the other hand, didn't directly strengthen the body. Instead, it accelerated how fast one gained experience—whether from quests, battles, or skills. It even sped up the mastery of professions available to players across the world.
Eager to know more, Sora focused on the final lines of the description. A small list appeared beneath.
[Skill Option 1: Change appearance and identity. Will incur a one-month wait, during which life continues without you.]
[Skill Option 2: Locked (Level 70)]
[Skill Option 3: Locked (Level 90)]
[Skill Option 4: Locked (Level 100)]
The first option caught his attention. He could vanish—start over. He clenched his fists, weighing his choices.
"If I keep my old identity and Rachel finds out, she'll hunt me down. I have to be careful. I need to disappear... start fresh, where she can't reach me."
He closed his eyes, thinking of his fallen friends. They were gone now, and he was alone. Could he really go back to the same life after this?
He shook his head.
"New identity," he murmured. This path meant letting go of his past— but returning stronger than ever.
With a deep breath, he reached for the option.