The Infinite Genesis System

Chapter 9: T.I.G.S: Candidate of Ascension

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"Some doors are opened by courage.

Some are opened by desperation.

The cruelest ones open without asking, and never allow those who enter to leave unchanged."

_Chronicles of the World Scar: Chapter 9_

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A Rift Bridge had descended upon the village of Ashvale.

It had brought horror. It had brought destruction. But more than anything, it had stolen away a powerless young boy who couldn't possibly understand the destiny that had just reached out and claimed him.

Kalexi slowly opened his eyes.

"...Ugh..."

Pain pulsed through his skull as his blurred vision slowly came into focus. For a brief moment, everything around him dissolved into shifting lights and dancing specks, as though the world itself hadn't finished assembling.

He clutched his aching head while his ears rang sharply.

"...I'm... alive?" The words escaped him almost instinctively.

He pushed himself upright, his movements sluggish and unsteady. "...Where am I?"

His gaze drifted across his surroundings. Towering trees rose endlessly into the heavens, some trunks thicker than entire houses. Ancient roots twisted across the earth like sleeping dragons. Everywhere he looked, an endless forest stretched beyond sight—wild, silent, untouched.

He slowly lifted his head—and froze.

From where he stood, the sky was unlike anything he had ever seen.

High above floated two celestial lights. One was a pale silver moon, suspended over one half of the heavens, its gentle glow spilling across an endless sea of darkness stretching far beyond the horizon. On the opposite side, a crescent sun burned quietly, bathing the other half of the world in warm scarlet light.

Between the two, darkness divided the heavens like an invisible ocean.

Kalexi stood rooted in place, his breathing slowing. "...Two... sources of light?" His eyes widened. "Elyndra doesn't... have two skies."

Silence answered him. Only then did the impossible realization begin creeping into his mind.

"...Am... Am I inside the World Scar?"

His heart hammered violently against his ribs. No one was there to answer, yet somehow, he already believed it.

Kalexi slowly exhaled. "...The Rift Bridge... It brought me into another world.... How was that possible...?" He frowned.

Every lesson had drilled the same fundamental rule into their heads: Rift Bridges were unstable spatial failures. They were tears in reality where essence leaked out and monsters poured in. They weren't gateways—they were slaughterhouses. When a bridge opened, you didn't step through; you ran, or you prayed a Vessel reached you before the Rift Fiends did.

Nobody had survived being swallowed by one.

Yet, here he was. Alive. Standing under two skies that had no right to exist together.

"...A spatial distortion of that scale..." Kalexi murmured, staring up at the razor-sharp border where the silver moonlight met the sun. "...It didn't just collapse space. It pulled me across it."

He sighed before dusting off his academy uniform. It was torn in several places, stone dust still clinging stubbornly to the fabric.

"...Great. Now I'm lost inside the World Scar. No Genesis. No weapon. No way to defend myself..." He scratched the back of his head. "...Honestly... I should probably worry about food first... assuming I survive long enough to get hungry."

A dry laugh escaped him. "...And there's probably no way home."

His smile slowly faded as the image of his father appeared in his mind.

"...Dad..." For just a moment, his chest tightened. "...He's probably worried sick right now."

Kalexi forced himself to smile. "I'm alive. ...So don't worry just yet."

He turned away from the wall of darkness and began walking toward the side illuminated by the sun.

"...If I'm really inside the World Scar... then surviving comes first. ...Everything else... can wait."

Kalexi had barely taken a few steps when a sharp pain suddenly exploded behind his eyes.

"...Gh!"

His body lurched violently. The pain was so overwhelming that his knees buckled beneath him.

THUD!

He crashed onto the ground, both hands flying to his head, his fingers digging into his hair as though he could physically tear the agony out of his skull.

"W-What... What's happening?!" The words escaped through gritted teeth.

It felt as though someone had driven molten iron straight through his mind. His chest tightened and his heartbeat accelerated violently.

THUMP!

THUMP!

THUMP!

Each beat echoed louder than the last. The forest around him began to blur; the towering trees twisted and bent unnaturally while the earth rippled beneath him. Reality itself seemed to distort before his eyes.

His breathing became ragged as his vision faded in and out. "...Make... it... STOP!"

Then—everything stopped.

The unbearable pain vanished as suddenly as it had arrived. The ringing inside his head disappeared, and the distorted world became perfectly still.

Too still. Not even the wind remained as silence swallowed everything.

Kalexi slowly lowered his hands. "...Huh?"

He blinked. The forest had vanished. He wasn't standing among colossal trees anymore; instead, he floated within an endless sea of darkness. There was no ground beneath his feet, no sky above him, no sound, no direction—only infinite black stretching endlessly in every direction.

Kalexi slowly turned, then turned again. Nothing.

"...Am I... dead?" His own voice sounded strangely distant. "But... I'm still thinking. I'm still conscious. So... how?"

For several long seconds, nothing answered—only silence.

Then, a tiny cough echoed somewhere within the darkness.

"Ahem..." The voice sounded oddly cheerful. "I suppose introductions are in order." It paused, then muttered to itself, "...Attempting dramatic entrance... again."

A soft ringing echoed through the void.

DING...

Golden light burst into existence as tiny glowing symbols appeared all around Kalexi—one after another, hundreds, thousands, each symbol spinning gracefully through the darkness like newborn stars. They circled him in elegant spirals before slowly weaving together, golden threads intertwining as lines folded over one another.

Until a luminous window unfolded before him, hovering quietly in the darkness—blank, radiating a warm golden glow.

Moments later, silver letters slowly appeared across its surface.

⟦ SYSTEM BOOT COMPLETE ⟧

✦ Candidate Detected

Kalexi blinked. "...Candidate?" His brows furrowed. "What candidate?"

The window gave no reply. Instead, the silver text dissolved, and new lines immediately replaced it.

⟦ VERIFYING EXISTENCE... ⟧

✦ Soul Signature: Confirmed

✦ Origin: Elyndra

✦ Race: Human

✦ Status: Pathetically Weak

Kalexi stared, then frowned. "...Excuse me?"

Almost immediately, the cheerful voice returned.

《Oh good. You can read. That saves me the trouble of teaching you.》

Kalexi spun around. "...Who's there?!"

Silence. Then the voice answered as casually as if they were discussing the weather.

《Me.》

Kalexi's eye twitched. "...Who's 'me'?"

《Me is me.》

Kalexi pinched the bridge of his nose. "...That's not an answer."

《And yet... you understood it.》

Kalexi let out a long sigh. "...This has officially become the strangest day of my life." He rubbed his forehead. "First I get dragged into another world... now I'm arguing with a voice that refuses to introduce itself."

The voice chuckled. 《I must say... you're adapting surprisingly well. I honestly expected you to panic the moment I called you a Candidate.》

Kalexi frowned again. "...Candidate? What exactly does that even mean?"

The golden window shimmered softly. Kalexi instinctively lifted his gaze toward it as, for the first time since the voice had appeared, the teasing tone disappeared.

Silence filled the endless darkness. Then, slowly, new words materialized across the glowing screen.

⟦ WELCOME TO THE RACE ⟧

✦ Candidate of Ascension

✦ Status:You have been chosen by Fate to join the Race of Ascension.

The darkness around Kalexi seemed to tremble. His heartbeat quickened, his eyes remaining locked on the floating words.

"...Chosen by Fate? ...The Race of Ascension? ...Candidate?" He frowned. "I don't understand." He looked around the endless void. "Could someone please explain why it feels like I've been kidnapped... and now I'm being welcomed by a glowing window calling me a Candidate of Ascension?"

The cheerful voice returned with an amused chuckle. 《Congratulations, young one.》 It paused dramatically. 《Out of countless lives...》 Another pause. 《Out of countless worlds...》 Its voice grew strangely grand. 《Out of countless possibilities...》 Then it laughed. 《You were unlucky enough to be chosen.》

Kalexi blinked. "...Unlucky?"

《Oh yes. Extremely.》

His eyebrow twitched. "...Would you mind explaining instead of dropping mysterious comments every few seconds?"

The voice immediately answered. 《No.》

"..."

"...You're doing this on purpose."

《Maybe.》

Kalexi let out a long sigh. "...You're surprisingly annoying."

《Thank you.》

"...That wasn't a compliment."

《I accepted it anyway.》

Kalexi stared blankly into the darkness. "...I'm beginning to miss the fiend."

The playful voice suddenly fell silent. The golden window shimmered once more as a new query appeared.

⟦ SYSTEM QUERY ⟧

✦ Do you wish to join the Race of Ascension?

Kalexi frowned. "...That's it? No explanation? No details? You just expect me to answer?"

Silence.

Not even the mysterious voice responded. Only the glowing screen floated quietly before him.

He folded his arms. "...This is suspicious."

Kalexi folded his arms tightly across his chest. "I'm not answering anything until someone explains what this Race of Ascension actually is."

The cheerful voice hummed thoughtfully. Then, for the first time, it answered without dodging the question.

《The Race of Ascension...》 Its playful tone softened ever so slightly. 《...is the oldest race in existence. Older than kingdoms. Older than civilizations. ...Older than your world itself.》

Kalexi's expression slowly became serious.

The voice continued. 《It is a race for everything.》 A brief silence followed, allowing the weight of those words to settle. Then it spoke again. 《Do you desire power?》

The darkness around Kalexi rippled; the golden window shimmered.

《Worlds no human has ever conquered?》 Another ripple. 《Endless knowledge?》 Another.

Its voice became almost hypnotic. 《...Godhood?》

Kalexi remained silent, his gaze staying fixed on the glowing window. Every word the mysterious voice spoke made his skin crawl—not because it sounded unbelievable, but because it sounded too tempting.

After several long seconds, he finally spoke. "...Can I refuse?"

Silence. Complete silence.

Then—the voice erupted into uncontrollable laughter.

《HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!》

The sound echoed endlessly through the void. Kalexi simply waited.

Eventually, the laughter died down. The voice sounded genuinely surprised. 《...Oh. You're serious. You actually don't want to join?》

Kalexi nodded without hesitation. "...Mm-hmm. I've already had enough surprises for one lifetime. If joining this race means even more of whatever this is..." He gestured toward the endless darkness. "...I'd rather politely decline."

For a brief moment, the voice said nothing. Then the golden window shimmered once again.

⟦ SYSTEM CHOICE ⟧

✦ Would you like to decline your qualification for the Race of Ascension?

✦ YES

✦ NO

Kalexi narrowed his eyes, a chill creeping down his spine. "...Why... does this feel like a trap?"

The cheerful voice immediately answered.

《Oh? You figured that out already?》 A pleased chuckle echoed through the void. 《Good. You're learning.》

Kalexi looked back at the two choices floating before him. Neither option felt safe; neither felt honest. The silence pressing against him somehow made the decision even heavier.

Slowly, he realized something that sent another shiver through his body: no matter which option he chose, he wasn't choosing between freedom and captivity. He was choosing how to accept a fate that had already been forced upon him.

And somewhere within the endless darkness, the cheerful voice simply waited—patiently—as though it had known from the very beginning exactly what his answer would be.