My name is Riven Altarai. I'm 19 years old and a high school student. I'm 185 cm tall, and my long wavy hair shifts between brown and black. I have black eyes and thick eyebrows. No matter how well my face is described, I wouldn't be considered handsome. I'm an ordinary person. My life revolves around school, sports, and home. It may seem monotonous, but for me, this routine is a source of peace. I like calmness, away from the chaos of crowds. But there was always a sense of melancholy, a weight deep inside me. It was like an old burden from the past; as if nothing remained from my former life.
Lately, the stress of exams had drained me. What would my future be? That question kept echoing in my head. I lived in a place that could be called rural. My family wasn't well-off. I often felt sorry for my mom and dad; my dad had been injured at work, and while my mom applied ointment to him, the lines on her face deepened. After the accident, strange rumors had started circulating in the neighborhood. "That wasn't just a normal accident," they said. I didn't know the truth, but I felt something was missing inside me.
I never asked, "Why aren't we rich?" I didn't even question it. Even though my family told me, "Don't stress too much," an anxiety gnawed at me silently, breaking me from within. I kept wishing all these troubles would end—but at the same time, I didn't. I didn't even understand myself anymore. Maybe I was hiding my fears from them, just so I wouldn't be a burden. I didn't know what I wanted; I was just being dragged along in the same daily cycle.
Like a programmed robot, life was nothing more than a triangle of school, sports, and home. If it weren't for sports, I probably wouldn't have lasted. When I went to the gym, at least for a few hours, my soul would find a bit of relief. With each muscle strained, the burden in my mind lightened a little.
That night, as I left the gym and headed home, I looked up at the sky and saw the crimson glow of the blood moon. It looked so beautiful. I wished I could fully watch it. As I walked with my eyes locked on the moon, the rhythm of the song playing through my earphones echoed in my ears. At that moment, the ground began to shake, as if a force was rising from deep beneath the earth.
Suddenly, a glowing message appeared in front of me:
"Seal of the Night has been activated in the world!
Welcome to the Seal of the Night, Riven."
I couldn't believe my eyes. Everything around me went silent, the world took on an unfamiliar atmosphere. A power I'd never felt before rose inside me—a calling. At that moment, I realized the days of my ordinary and monotonous life were over.
I couldn't make sense of the messages in front of me. It felt like I'd been teleported to another world, far from reality. I thought I might have fainted; otherwise, why would such strange things appear before me? I blinked repeatedly, but the messages wouldn't disappear. In fact, they began to multiply, until they filled my vision. Reading them all would take forever. But the one that stood out, the one that kept appearing most frequently, was:
"Monster wave begins in 1 hour. Please check your status screen."
At first, I had no idea what to do. That message made no sense. Just the fact that something like this was happening was already bizarre. Normally, the streets would be lively, people making noise, cars passing by. But now, the streets were eerily silent. Only a single streetlamp was lit, its yellow light faintly illuminating the area. I looked up at the sky—the blood moon was there, red and terrifying. The cold night air filled my lungs, and a dark feeling settled inside me. Was this the end of the world? Had the apocalypse begun?
Inside me, there was a strange mixture of joy and sorrow. It felt like something I'd been waiting for my entire life had finally begun—something I'd unknowingly been preparing for. As I stood there wondering, "Has the apocalypse really begun? Is this some kind of joke?" it felt too real to be false.
But one thing pulled me out of those thoughts: my status screen.
I looked at the screen. Just like in the RPG games I used to play, it displayed numbers, names, and information:
Name: Riven Altarai
Age: 19
Height/Weight: 185 cm / 75 kg
Title: — (none yet)
Trait: Composure
Fatigue: 45%
Strength: 12Defines the damage of close combat attacks like punches and swords. Also affects the capacity to lift heavy objects.
Speed: 11Determines how fast you can run, your ability to dodge attacks, and your attack speed.
Endurance: 11Affects how much damage you can take, how long before you tire, and overall durability.
Magic: 0Your ability to use magic, magic damage, and your capacity to interact with spells.
Intelligence: 9Affects strategic thinking, information processing, and compatibility with certain spells.
Luck: 7Impacts the chance for critical hits, finding rare items, and narrowly escaping danger.
Lumen: 0
It looked just like the stat screens from the RPG games I used to play. I didn't quite understand what "Lumen" was, but it seemed to know every detail about me. My stats didn't look too bad.
Then my family came to mind. I touched the strap of my backpack—I had no idea how long it had been since I left the gym. I decided to run straight home.
There were only a few cars on the streets, and some had broken windows, moss-covered surfaces. The buildings were wrapped in vines, as if nature had reclaimed them. The city no longer resembled the place I knew."This used to be where my childhood memories were made. But now, nature reclaiming its place from humanity sent chills down my spine. Were these the remnants of a catastrophe long ago? Or a warning of something greater to come?"But I didn't care—I just ran, thinking of my family.
"Monster wave begins in 45 minutes!"
"Monster wave begins in 25 minutes!"
"Monster wave begins in 10 minutes!"
The countdown kept shrinking, but I wasn't slowing down. I was exhausted, but somehow, the fatigue didn't matter. I had to keep running. I had to see my family. They were the reason I kept going.
What was the monster wave? If they were real monsters, I had to stop them. But I was on the verge of collapse from exhaustion. My brother was stationed in Moscow, serving as a soldier. I hoped he was okay—maybe he could help me."Last week, there were strange reports from where he was stationed. Unnatural activity near the forest, attacks by unidentified creatures... When I first heard it, I felt a chill, but now—was all of it coming true?"
As I ran, I suddenly fell to the ground. My fatigue had taken over, but I didn't give up. When I came to, I felt a strange power in my body. Suddenly, a new message appeared on the screen:
"Your Endurance has increased.Despite your fatigue, you kept running.You have gained the skill: Tenacious."
I felt renewed—more determined. Was this normal? My Endurance had suddenly increased:
Endurance: 12
Skills: Composed, Tenacious
This change within me was astonishing. Even my emotions felt different—I was more resilient, more focused, more alive. Was this a dream? Or had I truly stepped into another world?
Was this real? Or just a game?
I blinked and scanned the area again. The city was in ruins, the silence eerie. But the only truth I had now was my family—and this mysterious stat screen.