'LIKE HELL IT WON'T BE THAT BAD!!!'
Raven's mental roar echoed in the void, not that it made any difference. No one could hear him, not even himself.
Still, it was the only form of protest he could muster in his current state, and damn it, he was going to use it.
He had no idea how long he had been here. There was no way to tell time in this pitch-black limbo. No sun, no moon, no clock, not even the occasional 'ding' of the system to keep him company. Just endless nothingness.
At first, he thought it had only been a few days.
Then, weeks.
Now? He was convinced it had been over a month at least. And if his dreadful calculations were correct, he might be stuck here for a full damn nine months.
'NINE MONTHS! IN THIS VOID! NINE FUCKING MONTHS!'
The sheer horror of it was enough to make him want to scream again, but he held back—what was the point?
His voice didn't work, his body didn't exist, and his sanity was hanging on by a thread.
Of course, he hadn't just been sitting here sulking the entire time. No, he had been productive—because what else was there to do?
He spent his time going through every possible function of his so-called divine artifact, his 'system,' hoping to find something useful.
And what did he discover?
'EVERYTHING IS FUCKING LOCKED!'
Every. Single. Feature. Store? Locked. Inventory? Locked. Status screen? Locked. Trading? Locked.
The only thing that wasn't locked? The Loan App.
Yes. The one damn thing the system allowed him to access was some absurd, cosmic debt trap disguised as a feature.
[Loan App: Borrow divinity with a 10% daily interest rate. Failure to repay results in catastrophic consequences.]
'Catastrophic consequences?! What does that even mean?! Do I explode?! Cease to exist?! Get my balls stolen?!'
He had stared at that screen for days, trying to find any loophole, any fine print that would make this less of a scam. But no. It was as bad as it sounded.
Borrow a little now, owe an ungodly amount later. The only way to earn divinity for him was to improve the plot, and since he still didn't know how much he would get from it, taking a loan was equivalent to signing his own death sentence.
'Who the hell designed this system? A loan shark? An evil banker?!'
If he had a table, he would have flipped it. If he had a body, he would have pulled his hair out. But he had neither, so all he could do was yell at nothingness.
'I swear to whatever higher power is listening, the moment I get out of here, I'm going to find a way to make that damn goddess PAY for this bullshit... I hope.'
... Anyways, for now, he had no choice but to endure. He just hoped that by the time he was born, he still had a shred of sanity.
............
'Ah, I-I can move!'
It was after who knows how long that Raven could finally feel himself move. His surroundings seemed to be contracting and relaxing, and before long...
'LIGHT!!! I CAN SEE LIGHT!!'
In the infinite darkness surrounding him, Raven saw a tiny spec of light.
Then—pain?
No. Not quite pain, but a squeezing force, an overwhelming pressure, as if the world itself was trying to squeeze him out like a wet cloth.
'W-What am I supposed to do?!'
Raven felt himself being pushed, his surroundings tightening around him. It was suffocating and chaotic—something was forcing him forward, and he had no control over it.
'Oh god, oh god, oh god—!'
Panic mixed with excitement flared within his entire being.
He didn't know why he felt panicky, but he did. Maybe it was because his body was being moved without his consent, or maybe he was just scared of what the world would hold for him, but before he could fully process it, he felt himself slipping, his body finally free from the unbearable pressure.
The sudden exposure to open air sent shock through his tiny, unformed body.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he could actually feel something other than that damn void.
And then—
WAAAH!
A cry burst from his mouth before he could even comprehend what was happening.
'DID I JUST SCREAM?! HOLY SHIT, I CAN HEAR MY VOICE AGAIN!'
The overwhelming mix of sensations hit him all at once.
The cold air prickling his skin, the wetness covering his tiny body, the strange gibberish shouts echoing around him—too much, way too much.
His mind spun as he tried to adjust, his barely functioning newborn senses making everything a blurry mess.
'Ugh, my eyes... Why is everything so damn bright?!'
He struggled, unable to see anything other than fuzzy shapes and colors.
The voices around him—likely from whoever was delivering him—sounded hurried, but he couldn't understand a word.
Then, suddenly, he was lifted.
Strong arms held him, careful yet firm. He was being carried somewhere.
The movement of the one carrying him was smooth, steady, and deliberate. There was no fear, no hesitation, just an almost ritualistic urgency.
'O-Okay, this is fine. This is totally fine. No one's trying to kill me. Yet.'
But just as he was starting to calm down, something strange happened.
A warmth spread through him.
It wasn't the kind that made him feel comfortable—it was something more.
It seeped into him, filling every inch of his tiny, frail body. It was as if he had been an empty vessel all this time, and now... now he was being filled.
'What… what is this?'
Strength.
That was the only way he could describe it.
The tiniest, most minuscule hint of strength, but compared to the months of helplessness, it felt like a divine gift.
'Is this what being in the protagonist's body feels like?!' He laughed inwardly, enjoying the sensation.
'Oh... oh, hell yes! This—this is amazing!'
It was like someone had poured life itself into him.
His fingers twitched. His toes curled. It wasn't much, but it was more than nothing. And after so long being nothing, even a drop of power felt like heaven.
'More... give me more...'
He knew perfectly well what was happening. He might have been scared or panicked if he were reincarnated directly during this time, but not right now.
He had been preparing for this moment and planning about it for as long as he could remember.
This gifted body of the protagonist. Raven was going to make full use of it.
But just when he was caught up in the intoxicating feeling of power, out of the corner of his barely functioning vision, he caught sight of something.
Water.
A large, circular container filled with glowing liquid. A container that he was very quickly being led toward.
'Wait. Wait, wait, WAIT—!'
Realization slammed into him like a heavy truck.
'Oh, hell no. It's already time for that?!'
Before he could even process his thoughts fully, he was lifted higher—and then, without a shred of hesitation, thrown in.
SPLASH!
The glowing liquid enveloped him instantly. He barely had a moment to take a breath before he was fully submerged.
Panic exploded in his mind.
'SHIT! I'M A NEWBORN! I CAN'T SWIM! You should've at least let me take a deep breath!!'
But just as the hysteria set in, something else hit him.
It was a feeling—a sensation unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
It was euphoric. Pure, unfiltered ecstasy.
The weak trickle of power he had felt before? That was nothing.
This was like a dam bursting, flooding his body with something beyond mortal comprehension.
'Ohhhhhh, yes~! This is amazing! This is—'
His bliss, however, was cut short as the sensation twisted—warped into something else entirely.
Pain.
A deep, bone-searing agony tore through him.
It felt as if his very existence was being stretched beyond its limits, his tiny body forcefully expanding to contain something far greater than it was meant to.
'WHAT THE FUCK?!'
The ecstasy from before became a distant memory as he felt the vassal which had been filling up before now expanding forcefully.
His skin felt like it was being shredded apart, his bones seemed to be at the snapping point, and his very essence quivered under the pressure.
'The protagonist endured this for FIVE MINUTES?! How the actual fuck?!'
He had read about this moment.
The original Raven had survived this for a full five minutes. A feat that, right now, seemed utterly impossible.
'I swear—protagonists are built differently! This is inhuman!'
His mind scrambled for a way to cope, something, anything to get him through this. And then, a ridiculous memory surfaced.
'Pain endurance increases when you curse.'
He didn't know where he had read it, but at this point, he was willing to try anything.
'FUCK YOU, SYSTEM! FUCK YOU, GODDESS! FUCK YOU, WHOEVER THREW ME IN HERE! FUCK THIS WORLD! FUCK—'
His mental tirade continued, fueled by pain and spite.
He cursed the goddess responsible for his reincarnation, cursed the unknown person who had flung him into this nightmare, cursed the unfairness of this world, cursed the heavens, the earth, the stars—
He even cursed the damn glowing water.
'WHY THE HELL DOES IT HAVE TO GLOW?! IT'S LIKE IT'S MOCKING ME!'
But despite his desperate efforts, his body was reaching its limit. The pressure inside him built up dangerously, and an overwhelming sense of impending doom loomed over him.
'Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. I'M GONNA EXPLODE.'
He could feel it.
His body couldn't contain this power any longer.
Every fiber of his being screamed at him to get out. But when he tried to gauge how long he had been in the water—
'It hasn't even been a MINUTE?!'
Despair flooded his mind.
If he gave up now, his chances of survival in this shitty world would turn nonexistent.
'Like hell am I gonna waste my second life just because I can't handle a little pain!'
He was desperate.
His eyes burned.
His lungs burned.
His veins felt like they were exploding. It was far more painful then he could've imagined, but he couldn't give up.
Raven was just a normal guy with no pain tolerance, however, for the sake of his own life, he endured and endured.
To be honest, he wanted to give up from the moment he started feeling pain. He felt that he could probably do something else less agonizing than this. His body trembled on the edge of destruction. But he tried to hold on.
Raven had always taken the easier way out in his past life, but not again. He wanted to do his best in this life. He wanted to proudly say that he had tried his best.
His lungs, however, gave out at that moment.
'Fuck! I can't breathe!' His small hands clawed at his neck and his eyes turned red because of being opened underwater for a while.
Then, without thinking, in his final act of defiance—
He gulped down the water.
One gulp.
Then another.
Each drop sent a new wave of agony through his body, but he endured. He had to endure.
'I just need... one more second, let's try to survive... one more second—'
BOOM!
The container exploded.
Water splashed everywhere, soaking the floor and drenching anyone nearby.
There, in the middle of the wreckage, lay Raven.
His tiny body twitched. His breathing was ragged. His mind teetered on the edge of unconsciousness.
'Fuck… I don't even care anymore…'
Regret filled his thoughts as his vision darkened.
Has it been more than a minute? He didn't know. To him, it felt like an hour, but he was sure that it was way less, and he knew that he had utterly failed.
...or so he thought as the last remnants of his consciousness faded.
He failed to notice the bright system notification flashing in front of him.
Ding!
[5 Plot Points have been added and can be turned into divinity anytime.]