Chapter 1: When the System Took Everything

Chapter 1: When the System Took Everything

DING—!

✨【YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY TRANSPORTED TO A HIGH-TIER DIMENSION.】

【YOUR DISCIPLINE AND CORRECT DECISIONS HAVE BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED.】

🎖️ YOU ARE NOW ELIGIBLE TO SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING REWARDS:

🎁【PLEASE SELECT YOUR DESIRED REWARD:

1️⃣ 👶 CONCEIVE A CHILD

➤ SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO BEAR LIFE IN THIS REALM, YOU WILL BE GRANTED A
🔹 RARE MAGICAL PHYSIQUE OF YOUR CHOICE

2️⃣ ⚔️ PURGE THE GOBLIN NEST

➤ STEP OUTSIDE THE CAVE AND ELIMINATE ALL GOBLINS.
📘 REWARD: EPIC SKILL SCROLL

3️⃣ 🐲 SLAY THE LIZARD KING

➤ CHALLENGE AND DEFEAT THE REIGNING BEAST OF THIS TERRITORY.

🌀 REWARD: EPIC COMBAT STYLE

"Ugh..." I groaned.

My head was spinning.

Maybe I was drunk last night.

Maybe the weird illusion I saw wasn’t real after all.

I shook my head, still groggy.

My body felt heavy, like I hadn’t rested at all.

I was just about to go to the bathroom—my bladder was screaming—but then something made me freeze.

"..."

"What the..." I whispered.

There it was again.

That same screen.

The digital display I thought I had imagined last night was still there, hovering in front of me, clear and solid.

“Seriously?” I muttered.

“I’ve got work to do. What is this reward nonsense?”

I clenched my fists.

The memory of last night hit me all over again.

That unbearable pain.

Like every bone in my body was being crushed under a thousand hammers.

Just thinking about it made me shake. I never wanted to feel that again.

“I hope I’m not late,” I mumbled. “There’s a meeting today at the company.”

But first, I needed water on my face. My vision was blurry.

Like something was wrong with my eyes.

Was it a health issue?

“No way,” I said, blinking hard.

“This is stupid. I’m healthy. I’m successful. There’s no way this is happening.”

I stopped.

My vision in the right eye began to fade, then the left followed.

Panic started crawling through me.

“Shit,” I whispered. “This can’t be real.”

Still half in denial, I reached down to steady myself. My fingers touched the ground.

It was cold, wet, and rough. Not tile. Not wood.

“Wait... is this dirt?” My voice trembled.

Fear gripped me as I looked around. Thick white mist covered everything.

I couldn’t even see my own hands unless they were right in front of the screen.

“Where am I?” I asked aloud, my voice cracking.

There was no answer.

I tried turning my head.

But the screen only stayed visible when I looked directly at it. Everywhere else was nothing but fog and blindness.

“What is this? What reward? What high-tier dimension? What’s happening to me?”

My voice rose. Panic pushed at my chest. Everything hit me at once.

“I’m a professional. I’m Nerine Anemone. I don’t accept this. I don’t accept this reality.”

I stared back at the screen, my voice shaking.

“Hey. You weird thing. What’s going on? What time is it? Why are you doing this to me?”

But it said nothing.

It just floated there, unmoved, while my stomach growled in pain.

I tried to stand, but my legs were too weak.

I stumbled, angry and helpless.

“I’m hungry,” I said louder.

“Give me food. Please. Just something.”

I looked again.

No buildings. No people.

No signs of life.

Just dirt under my feet and endless silence.

That feeling hit me. Real despair. Empty and sharp.

My eyes stung as I slid down against a jagged rock.

The pain in my back didn’t even matter anymore. I didn’t know where I was. Everything around me felt like the orphanage I swore I would never return to.

The same loneliness.

The same emptiness.

With shaking hands, I looked again at the screen.

✨🎖️ 【PLEASE SELECT YOUR DESIRED REWARD】

1️⃣ FIRST CHOICE: CONCEIVE A CHILD

👶 IF YOU CHOOSE TO BRING LIFE INTO THIS REALM, YOU WILL RECEIVE A RARE MAGICAL PHYSIQUE OF YOUR CHOICE.

2️⃣ SECOND CHOICE: PURGE THE GOBLIN NEST

⚔️ STEP OUTSIDE THE CAVE AND ELIMINATE EVERY GOBLIN.
📘 REWARD: EPIC SKILL SCROLL.

3️⃣ THIRD CHOICE: SLAY THE LIZARD KING

🐲 THE DOMINANT BEAST OF THIS TERRITORY.🌀 REWARD: EPIC COMBAT STYLE.

I didn’t trust it.

I still believed it was suspicious.

But I had no choice.

Refusing wouldn’t help. This could be my only way out. And if it wasn’t real, then maybe I had already lost my mind.

"Mom-Leveling System? Isn’t that the kind of thing weirdos online talk about?" I said quietly.

I remembered how they used to argue about stories like that.

People acting like they were the main characters. It annoyed me.

I even looked into a few of those threads once.

I was disgusted.

They were wasting time, pretending to be something they weren’t.

I had always focused on reality. I built myself from the ground up.

Alone. No distractions.

No fantasies.

But now here I was.

Facing the exact kind of screen I used to laugh at.

"Killing a goblin. Killing a lizard king. That sounds easy enough. Conceiving? Giving birth? Hell nah," I muttered.

I moved to select the second option. But before I could, something echoed in the fog.

A scream. Not human. Sharp and wild.

It wasn’t close.

But it wasn’t far enough either.

I froze.

My hand hovered mid-air. Trembling.

"Shrieked."

"What the hell is that?" My voice shook.

This time, I was truly scared.

Imagine being blind and surrounded by crocodiles. That’s how it felt.

"Is it a monster? Hey, damn system, what is it?" I demanded, half-expecting nothing.

But this time, the system responded.

📡✨

[THE CAVE HAS BEEN SURROUNDED BY THOUSANDS OF GOBLINS. KILLING EVEN ONE IS IMPOSSIBLE UNDER THE HOST’S CURRENT PHYSICAL CONDITION.]

"..."

At first, I thought I was hallucinating.

"What?" I blinked.

I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Those were the words I hated the most.

Words that told you that you couldn’t do it.

"Screw you, system. Are you underestimating me? I work out every day. I’m in shape. My chest is solid. My shoulders are broad. My..."

I stopped.

My hands had touched something that shouldn’t be there.

"What..."

I froze in shock. I squeezed again, uncomfortable and afraid. My heart dropped. I reached lower, terrified of what I wouldn’t find.

And I didn’t.

"Where is my dick?" I asked, my voice loud and shaking.

Everything had changed. My body. My identity. My reality.

I felt anger. Stress. Confusion. I had no answers. So I cursed.

"Whoever did this to me, I curse you. I hope you die."

I thought about it again.

The truth I had never told anyone. I was a virgin.

Not because I wanted to be, but because I couldn’t trust anyone.

I had girlfriends, but they only saw me as a wallet. I knew they were bad for me, but I was lonely. I wanted love.

I thought success would bring that. But it didn’t. I never got the chance to fall in love.

I couldn’t even allow myself to hope. I had grown bitter toward people who only wanted my money.

So I waited. I stayed alone.

And now?

Now I had nothing left.

"You trash system. What did you do to me?"

This time, there was no reply.

Just silence.

I remembered everything from last night. The pain. The loss. My rage boiled over.

"So that bone-crushing pain was your fault? You changed my gender? You ruined my life, you damn bastard."

I didn’t know what face I was making. But tears were falling.

And I knew why.

That cursed system had taken everything from me.

I sobbed. Quietly. Bitterly. My curses filled the silence.

Too much had been stolen from me.

My sight.
My body.
My place in the world.

"Everything. You took everything from me." I sobbed uncontrollably.

I couldn’t understand what I had done to deserve this.

Had I committed some crime?

No.

That was absurd.

I worked hard just like everyone else. I never cut corners or cheated anyone.

So why did I have to suffer like this?

"Rotten system," I muttered, the words filled with bitterness.

I had every reason to curse it. My rage refused to fade.

Who wouldn’t be furious if even a thousand dollars were unjustly stolen?

But this wasn’t just a thousand.

My entire net worth, ten million dollars, was gone.

I fought for that money. I bled for it. I risked everything. And now it had all vanished in an instant.

All I could do was grit my teeth. My voice trembled as I swore an oath.

"I will defy this cursed system. No matter what. I will make it pay."

There was madness in my eyes, in my voice. I didn’t know if I had already gone insane, but it no longer mattered.

Anyone in my position would want revenge. And if they didn’t, they were already worse than defeated.

They were trash.

"Just wait," I whispered coldly. "I will destroy you."

I kept talking to myself in that darkness, unaware of the danger creeping closer.

My blind eyes didn’t register it, but a goblin had entered the cave.

The system picked it up before I did.

【DING.】

📡✨【WARNING: A GOBLIN HAS ENTERED THE CAVE. PLEASE SELECT YOUR REWARD PATH.

FIRST CHOICE: INSTANTLY CONCEIVE AND RECEIVE YOUR REWARD.
SECOND CHOICE: FULFILL THE MISSION BY KILLING ALL GOBLINS.
THIRD CHOICE: SLAY THE LIZARD KING.】

The moment I heard the choices, I finally understood.

"You really want me to get pregnant," I said, disgusted.

"You sick, broken system. You're nothing but a nest of rats."

My voice shook with fury.

This system was getting more twisted by the second. It was obvious now. It didn’t want a warrior.

It wanted a vessel.

There was no way. Not like this. How could I survive, let alone protect a child in this hell?

"This cursed system..." I began to speak, but my voice was cut off by a sudden wave of nausea.

Blood poured from my mouth as agony flared in my abdomen. Something had struck my stomach hard, launching my frail body across the cave.

I slammed into the stone wall and collapsed.

Warm liquid spread beneath me. Blood. My own.

I coughed violently, choking on the iron taste in my throat.