UNLOCK: I CAN SEE MY STATS

My god, what a headache!”

Marcus slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He frowned as he noticed the unfamiliar surroundings.

“What is this? Where am I?...”

“Why am I here? What is this place?”

He looked around, trying to recognize his current location, but what he saw was an unfamiliar environment. He found himself inside what seemed to be a dark, unknown cave.

He moved his arms, feeling a weakness and numbness in his limbs. His body was prickling with pain everywhere, accompanied by an unbearable ache.

“Ugh!!... My whole body hurts…” He groaned, subconsciously.

Ignoring the pain, he thought with a scowl,

“Was I saved? I remember being one step from death!!”

He struggled to lift his arm, slowly rubbing his temples to ease his confused mind. Due to the cave’s darkness, he couldn’t see anything, and so didn’t realize that his physical condition was actually in sharp contrast to what he last remembered.

“Hah! My condition is miserable! And my mind is really disoriented... I can’t even extract some Eternal Energy to heal myself…”

Despite the intense pain, a brilliant smile appeared on his face. If anyone saw him, they might think he was sadistic.

But in truth, his smile came from the fact that he had survived certain death. He couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

“Looks like I’m still alive, even after activating that forbidden technique…”

He seemed confused as he thought about it. According to the requirements of the forbidden skill, the user was supposed to give up all vitality to activate it—and he knew this well, for he was the one who invented the technique.

He tried to stand up, but then he noticed the peculiar sensation he had felt since opening his eyes.

“Why do I feel smaller? Is this a side effect?”

At that moment, suddenly, the sound of two people arguing from inside the cave broke his deep thoughts.

They suddenly ran toward him, and one of them, a female teen by the sound of her voice, asked,

“Marcus, are you alright?”

Marcus, always sensitive to the emotions of others, could feel her voice mixed with worry and guilt.

The other person, while making strange hand signals, replied,

“Liana! This isn’t the time for this! Quickly, carry Marcus and let’s leave. I sense seven auras coming toward us, about 900 meters away…”

Liana’s eyes widened in panic, and she asked in alarm,

“What!!? How did they catch up to us so quickly!?”

The panic disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, showing her resilience. She swiftly lifted Marcus onto her shoulder with ease.

The other person stared at everything with a deep scowl. He didn’t make any movements or speak the entire time, simply observing, his frown deepening.

As they exited the cave, Marcus noticed it was almost dawn, the sun starting to rise.

“Who are they?” This was the thought running through Marcus's mind the entire time.

“I don’t think I know them… but somehow, I feel like I do!”

He always felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he had seen these two people somewhere before, at some point in time.

“Oh my god, this headache is unbearable. I need to organize my thoughts somehow…”

He closed his eyes, trying to focus on the sensation he had felt since waking up.

After about half an hour, Marcus felt Liana stop running and place him down. When he opened his eyes, their gazes met, as though this moment was a key to something important.

It felt like a film reel playing in his mind. Thousands of scenes flooded his consciousness, more than his mind could process in such a short time.

He screamed involuntarily before losing consciousness.

Due to the scream and the fainting, both Liana and the other person became extremely worried about his condition.

“We need to get back to the camp quickly. It seems the head injury is worse than I thought…” Rio analyzed as he checked Lucas, who was unconscious.

“This is because… if it weren’t for saving me, he wouldn’t have been hurt…”

Rio shook his head and said as he lifted Marcus,

“That was his choice! We just need to get back to the camp quickly.”

He approached and wiped her tears with his hand, adding,

“The faster we go, the better his chances of survival.”

Liana nodded and then used the Instantaneous Technique with Rio. They both disappeared from the spot in an instant.

---

Five hours later, inside a tent at the Lorana State camp, the young man with spiky black hair suddenly opened his eyes and sat up, panting heavily as if he had just run a long race.

After a moment, Marcus calmed himself and murmured,

“So, somehow, I’ve gone back to the past when I was 14, but it seems this timeline is different in some ways…”

He finally realized the source of the strange feeling he had since opening his eyes. Apparently, somehow, he had escaped death and returned to the past. However, based on the memories from this timeline, he found that many events and things were different from what he had lived through. From this, he concluded that this timeline was completely different.

According to the current memories, this Marcus belonged to the Abomarian clan and had seven siblings, which was completely different from his original timeline, where he was an only child. He also found that his mother had apparently died a year after his birth due to a disease called Blood Factor Syndrome.

Other than these differences, not much else had changed. The geography and the power system were almost identical, as both used Eternal Energy.

“Hmm, the current time is 13 months after the start of the World War…”

In his original timeline, there was also a World War, though the reasons for its outbreak were different. Still, the essence was the same: a war between six major powers.

He also discovered the cause of his injury. It seemed he, Rio, Liana, and another girl named Nicole had been on a mission. Unfortunately, Nicole had died when they were ambushed by an enemy force. Because he saved Liana, Marcus sustained serious injuries.

He smiled and sighed,

“Hah! It looks like, in this timeline, my family arranged a marriage between me and Liana to strengthen the alliance between the families..."

" and The worst part? This body actually fell in love with her… but it’s one-sided love. Now, there’s no love left. The matter died with Marcus of this timeline… As for the engagement, I can deal with that later. Now…”

“Power. All that matters is power… Since I’ve been given another chance, I’ll make the most of it…”

He looked into the emptiness before him, as if staring at a treasure, and murmured joyfully,

“Especially since I have something to rely on…”

He wasn’t looking at the emptiness literally, but at an invisible, holographic interface no one else could see.

He had been born with this screen, and discovered how to use it just three months before his death—though by then, it had already been too late.

[Name: Marcus Abomarian]