Year 2025 – WORLD, USA
"Hey! Watch where you're going, are you stupid?!"
The woman scowled angrily at the coffee spilled on her and snapped at the young man in his early twenties.
"I'm really sorry, ma'am," said the young man, bowing his head slightly.
His name was Eren. He was 22 years old, studying at the Technical Development University, and working as a waiter at a café to make ends meet. The only thing that set him apart from his peers was his bright green eyes—and perhaps the fact that he was an orphan. Otherwise, he was an ordinary, quiet young man.
But just as he turned around, his boss's angry voice cut through the air:
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?! Tell me quickly, what happened here?!"
Eren, knowing that the man was actually trying to impress the woman, fixed his eyes on him with a condescending expression.
"Seriously? Did you really think someone like you could yell at me like that? Get lost, old fart."
The manager was stunned. His eyes widened, then his face turned red with anger.
"You… I curse the day I hired you! I only took you in out of pity, yes, just because you were an orphan! And now you dare to speak to me like this?! Get out of here! You're fired!"
Eren sighed, but couldn't stay calm.
"Tsk. I'm not going to keep working with pathetic people like you anyway, you fat pig."
He flipped him off, threw his apron, and walked out of the café without looking back.
As he stepped onto the sidewalk, he muttered to himself:
"Great. I lost my job again because of my impulsiveness. Why can't I just leave without getting fired? A year's worth of salary went up in smoke… I really feel like crying."
Eren clenched his fists, trying to suppress his anger as he continued walking. But suddenly, his entire body froze. He thought he was having a stroke, but the truth was much stranger. At the same moment, he heard that sound echoing throughout the world:
[You Earthlings have rested at the final stop of reincarnation for billions of years as the haven of peace at the intersection of the infinite universe. Now, the time has come for you to pay your debt to existence, having escaped millions of reincarnation cycles.
WELCOME TO THE INFINITE REINCARNATION SYSTEM, EARTHLINGS.]
Upon seeing the message, Eren, unable to even think about what to do, stumbled unsteadily and fell to the ground, unable to maintain his position.
"Damn it, what the hell is going on here!"
What happened to Eren, whose mind was in turmoil, was actually nothing compared to what was happening to everyone else in the world. Thousands of drivers dying on highways, thousands of people dying due to delays in operating rooms, and countless others; a mere 20-second announcement had already caused millions of deaths and planted the seeds of fear of the future in people's hearts.
"Shit, what should I do now? What's all this nonsense about the universe and reincarnation? Is the so-called 'life beyond the world' even real in the first place?"
Eren, not knowing what to do, could only look up at the sky and pray to the gods for the best.
"God, Buddha, Zeus, I pray to all of you with all my heart for the best. Please show your mercy upon us."
With a devout attitude, he was spouting all the sacred words he had ever heard.
[Hello, user.]
"Fuck, who are you? Hey God, is that you? I'm really sorry for all those DVDs, please forgive this servant of yours. I swear I'll destroy them all as soon as possible."
Trembling with fear, Eren knelt down and sought forgiveness from God. If a priest had seen that scene, he might have genuinely considered Eren a serious candidate for marriage.
[System initializing. User is compatible with the system. User panel being displayed... 1%, 9%, 31%... 100% successful.]
[User Panel]
User: Eren Star
Age: 22 (physical)
Health: 40/50
Energy: 10/10
Class; -
Level: 0
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Stamina: 10
Vitality: 10
Intelligence: 10
Spiritual Energy: 10
Traces:
1-********** (Levels 1-20)
2-********** (Levels 21-40)
3-********** (Levels 41-60)
4-********** (Levels 61-80)
5-********** (Levels 81-100)
6-********** (Levels 101-120)
7-********** (Levels 121-140)
8-********** (Levels 141-160)
9-********** (Levels 161-180)
Eren, a 22-year-old young man who had read a few novels like the others, was familiar with the concept of the system. Eren, who understood everything else, was overwhelmed by the projections and their mysterious aura.
"Hey system, tell me, what exactly are these so-called traces?"
Eren, impatiently awaiting the answer, had turned his ears toward the system's mechanical, feminine voice.
[Traces are nine random lives selected from your past lives that exist as a result of the millions of reincarnations you have experienced as humans. After reaching the specified level, you can awaken the memories of your life and preserve fragments of your past life as one class, four passive skills, and two active skills through the system.
Each reincarnation has 4 stages: 2 passive skills at level 1, 1 active skill at level 5, 2 passive skills at level 10, and 1 active skill at level 15.]
Upon hearing the answer, Eren was overcome with a mix of excitement and fear. In most of the novels he had read, something described as "random" could turn out to be either an invincible, legendary holy warrior—or a completely useless farmer with a combat power of just 5. Unsure of what to do next, Eren was lost in thought, trying to figure out his next move—while, ironically, the woman who had spilled coffee on him and the café manager had already progressed to the flirting stage.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. I really don't know how I let something like this happen in the store I manage. I swear I don't know."
The smiling, bald, overweight café manager, especially when he smiled, resembled an expensive Buddhist statue.
"Hahaha, really, believe me, it doesn't matter, sir. Especially someone in your position can't possibly keep track of all this."
Upon hearing the woman's words, the manager realized he could make a move on her and reached out to ask for her number, but the sound that echoed throughout the world had paralyzed them both.
[Welcome to the infinite reincarnation system, Earthlings.]
Feeling as though he might wet himself from the paralysis and fear, the manager forced a neutral expression in an attempt to reassure the woman. But when he looked at her face, he froze in horror. Her sagging, wrinkled green skin and hair that had transformed into moss were now reaching out toward him. Terrified, he lost control and wet his pants. Yes, the manager—who might have held the potential for incredible power in his final reincarnation—had lost it all within seconds to the seaweed-like tendrils and the monstrous woman whose jaw now grew hundreds of razor-sharp teeth.
Hearing the screams from outside, Eren looked back at the café he had just left and couldn't believe what he saw.
"This can't be real!"
Eren, frozen in horror, watched the people being slaughtered before him.
"What should I do? Should I help them? But what if I get killed? According to the system, this is our last chance; I don't want my existence to be erased for nothing. What should I do?"
As Eren looked around, trying to figure out what to do, he occasionally glanced toward the café, wary of the monster approaching him.
"The gas station—yes, I must go to the gas station. In all those cultivation novels I've read, those cursed plants were reduced to ashes by tiny flames."
Eren was seriously considering blowing up the gas station. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't the main character type or a psychopath; he was just a human being who wanted to live. He wanted others to live too, and he was mature enough to know that small sacrifices were necessary for greater things.
Seeing the small metal piece in the trash and the oil office about 100 meters away, Eren walked toward the trash can and picked up the iron.
"Hey, you ugly piece of shit, come here quickly!"
Throwing the piece of metal at the monster, Eren started running toward the gas station like a madman. While running, he reached into his back pocket, took out a pack of cigarettes, and held the lighter inside the pack as if his entire life depended on it, continuing to run.
"Damn it, old friend, please don't leave me halfway. Damn it, what's with this stupid monster's speed, damn it!"
As Eren approached the gas station, he estimated that he needed to make it just in time, measuring the 20-meter distance between him and the monster behind him.
"Hey, give me a bottle of gasoline from there, hurry up!"
The old man, looking at Eren like he was an idiot, thought the young man was mocking him,
"Hey, son, robbing a store with a lighter. I hope this is a joke, hahahah!" he said.
"Damn you, you fool!"
Seeing that the monster had also reached the gas station, Eren pushed the man aside, grabbed a bottle of gasoline, and started running.
"Hey kid, come here quickly!"
GULP!
The green monster behind him swallowed half of the man at the station without any effort, ignoring the half of his body that was left with bile and blood spilling out, and continued chasing Eren.
"Now or never!"
Whispering to himself, Eren opened the cap of the gasoline bottle and threw it at the monster behind him, shouting,
"Damn filthy monster, how did you manage to become even worse than you already were?"
The monster didn't dodge the gasoline-filled bottle, and its entire body was covered in gasoline.
Eren, seeing this,
shouted, "Fuck off, die, bastard!" and threw the lighter at the monster before continuing to run away.
Eren kept running in fear, even though he knew the monster was on fire and the flames were growing larger. After running for 10 minutes, pushing his body to its limits, he stopped at the sound of a notification and took a deep breath before reading the notifications, focusing on the holographic screen in front of him:
[Congratulations on defeating the Level 5 monster 'Princess of the Green Moss' and gaining 4 vitality points.]
[You have slain a monster 5 levels higher than yourself; EXP is increasing exponentially. You have leveled up, you have leveled up, you have leveled up.]