Abyss Sovereign: Lin Yuan's Awakening

The dusk glow blazed like spilled blood, stinging the eyes. Lin Yuan gripped the rusted rooftop railing, his knuckles white, Adam's apple bobbing hard. He stared unblinkingly at the pitch-black, all-devouring rift below, his heart hammering so wildly it felt ready to burst through his ribs. The Abyss. Ten years. This damn thing had sprouted up like a cancer out of nowhere, spreading across the entire globe. Scientists had studied it day in and day out, and couldn't figure out jack s**t about it. But those religious crackpots? They screamed themselves hoarse calling it divine punishment. Let's see them jump in if they're so damn sure. But one thing no one dared deny: no one who went into the Abyss ever came back alive. Until the first Awakened crawled out of the Abyss, covered in blood, clutching a glowing blue crystal in his hand. That thing would later be known as the Abyss Core—a single gem that could grant a normal person superpowers. On the international black market, its price was enough to buy half the city. "s**t! Another whole day of nothing!" Lin Yuan slammed his boot into the railing, sending a shower of rust raining down. A sharp ache shot through his knees, and he cursed this godforsaken world a thousand times over before turning toward the rust-eaten staircase that looked ready to collapse at any second. He was eighteen years old, thin as a rail, his arms crisscrossed with scars from scrapes and cuts, his skin rough enough to tear through fabric. What else could he expect? He was nothing but an F-Rank mortal, a waste of space who didn't even qualify to call himself an "Awakened". In a world run by the awakened, he was lower than a stray dog. His job was scavenging. Not digging through city trash cans, but gambling with his life on the edge of the Abyss. The teams that limped back from Abyss expeditions always left junk behind—maybe a shard of Abyss monster bone, maybe a discarded low-grade material. The Awakened wouldn't even spare these things a second glance, wouldn't even be good enough to wipe their asses. But for Lin Yuan? This junk was his next meal. No sooner had he stepped off the rooftop than a group of lazy, sneering figures surrounded him. At their head was a guy with bright red hair, his nose turned up so high he looked like he could sniff the clouds. His words cut like a knife: "Lin Yuan! Out picking up trash again?" Lin Yuan's face stayed blank, his jaw tight as he held back his rage. "Move." "Oh? The little trash has a temper?" Red Hair snickered, grabbing Lin Yuan's shoulder with a grip hard enough to crush bone. "Heard you picked up a monster carapace in the East District ruins yesterday? Sold for fifty bucks? Nice! That's enough for two buckets of instant noodles to get you through the day." The goons around him burst into raucous, mocking laughter. Lin Yuan's ears burned, his nails digging so deep into his palms he drew blood, the metallic taste filling his mouth. He had to hold back. He couldn't afford to fight now. If he did, he'd get beaten to a pulp, and lose what little money he had left. He said nothing more, just kept walking straight ahead. "Stop!" Red Hair yanked him back hard, his voice turning vicious. "I'm talking to you, you deaf piece of s**t?" Lin Yuan froze, then slowly turned his head. His pitch-black eyes were completely empty, cold as a frozen grave. Red Hair felt a sudden jolt of fear shoot down his spine, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck, his grip loosening without him even realizing it. "Next time you see me, get the f**k out of my way." Red Hair threw his hand off Lin Yuan's shoulder, trying to save face as he stormed off with his goons, spitting a half-hearted threat over his shoulder without daring to lay another finger on him. Lin Yuan rubbed his aching shoulder, a bitter, self-deprecating smile tugging at his lips. This kind of mockery and bullying? He was used to it. The world of the Awakened was kill or be killed, the strong eating the weak. For a normal guy like him? He didn't even qualify to be prey. He could only scuttle around in the dark like a rat, clinging to life. "Someday..." he muttered under his breath, his voice quiet but sharp with a rage he'd held back for years, the cut on his palm stinging, but nothing compared to the fire of resentment in his chest. "Someday, I'm going to crush every single person who's ever looked down on me under my heel." The edge of the Abyss rift in the East District was a wasteland of abandoned industrial parks, piles of broken concrete and twisted metal rising like mountains. The wind howled through the ruins, making a high, keening wail that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Lin Yuan moved through the ruins with practiced ease, his eyes scanning the ground like a radar, his steps light and silent. This was the outer edge of the Abyss, and every now and then, you could find something the big teams had left behind. If he got lucky, he could make enough to eat for a week. "Huh?" He froze mid-step, his heart skipping a beat. He bent down and picked up a shard of metal, and the second his fingertips touched it, an icy cold shot up his arm, making him nearly drop it in shock. It was a scale from an Abyss monster, about the size of his palm, its edges glowing with a faint purple light, a faint metallic stench clinging to it. "A Tier 3 monster scale?!" Lin Yuan's eyes went wide, his breath catching in his throat, his fingers trembling. He'd been scavenging this s**t for years—he knew exactly what this was. This was the scale of a monster equal in power to a C-Rank Awakened. On the black market, this would sell for at least five thousand bucks! Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. No normal expedition team, no matter how beat up and desperate, would ever leave something this valuable in the outer edge. This scale was worth more than their lives! Unless—they'd run into something far worse than a Tier 3 monster. Something so terrifying, they didn't have time to grab anything, only to run for their lives. Lin Yuan's stomach dropped to his feet, a cold sweat breaking out all over his back, his legs turning to jelly. "s**t! I need to get the f**k out of here, now!" He spun around and bolted for the edge of the industrial park. But he was already too late. Behind him, a high, ear-splitting tearing sound split the air. The pitch-black rift that had been fixed for years was expanding wildly, a void of darkness that swallowed everything in its path. A putrid, rotting stench hit him like a truck, making him gag and cough. The Abyss boundary was moving. "f**k! f**k! f**k!" Lin Yuan ran for his life, his lungs burning like they were on fire, his throat dry as a bone. The concrete ground beneath his feet shook violently, chunks of rock and concrete raining down, the whole world ready to collapse at any second. The faster he ran, the faster the rift expanded behind him. A deadly, pulling force grew stronger and stronger, like an invisible hand had a fistful of his shirt collar and was yanking him backward into the dark. Suddenly, the ground vanished beneath his feet. Lin Yuan let out a yell—he'd never admit it, but he was terrified—as he plummeted like a broken kite into the endless Abyss. The wind howled in his ears, sharp as knives cutting into his face, making him wince in pain. He scrabbled at the air, desperate to grab onto something, but there was nothing but cold, empty air. His vision blurred, his consciousness fading fast, and one thought screamed in his head: What the f**k? I'm gonna die here? I haven't even gotten my revenge, haven't even beat the s**t out of that red-haired bastard! The darkness swallowed him whole. 【Abyss Sovereign Candidate detected...】 【Qualification confirmed...】 【System binding in progress... 10%... 50%... 100%! Binding successful!】 【Welcome to the Abyss, future Sovereign.】 A cold, mechanical voice exploded in his head. Lin Yuan's eyes flew open, he nearly choked on his own breath, his chest heaving, his heart hammering so hard he thought it would burst. He wasn't dead? He lay in a vast, endless dark space, above him nothing but an infinite black void, beneath his feet a perfectly still, mirror-like black water that reflected his pale, shocked face. Floating right in front of him was a translucent blue system panel, glowing bright enough to make his eyes water. 【Abyss Sovereign System】 Host: Lin Yuan Rank: F-Rank (Abyss Sovereign Lv.1) Status: Abyss Core Activated (maxed life-saving buff!) Attributes: ──────────────────────────── Strength: 5 → 15 (Abyss Boost, TRIPLED!) Agility: 6 → 18 (Abyss Boost, outrun monsters with ease!) Constitution: 4 → 12 (Abyss Boost, no more getting beat up!) Spirit: 7 → 21 (Abyss Boost, maxed senses!) ──────────────────────────── Abyss Points: 0 (Earn more by surviving and fighting!) Skills: None (Complete quests to unlock!) Lin Yuan stared at the panel, his eyes going wide, his jaw dropping open so far he could fit an egg inside. His palms were soaked with cold sweat. A system?! He'd heard the stories! Legends said that only a tiny handful of the most blessed Awakened would bind to a system when they awakened, becoming the so-called "System Awakened". Their power always dwarfed normal Awakened of the same rank, by leaps and bounds. And the name of his system? It was called—【Abyss Sovereign System】?! "I... I awakened?" Lin Yuan's voice shook, not with fear, but with overwhelming, explosive joy. His heart was ready to burst out of his chest, eighteen years of pent-up humiliation and rage exploding free in that single moment. 【That is correct, Host.】 The cold mechanical voice spoke again, still flat, but with a faint, unmissable gravity.【You have fallen into the outer edge of the Abyss Floor 1. Your current main quest: Survive for 24 hours. Quest Rewards: 100 Abyss Points, 1 Random Skill (newbie bonus, no loss guaranteed!)】 【WARNING! Time until Abyss Monster Tide arrives: 2 Hours 47 Minutes!】 【Good luck, future Sovereign.】 Lin Yuan took a deep, shuddering breath, squeezing his fists so tight his knuckles turned white. In his eyes burned a fire of rage and ambition he'd held back for eighteen long years. He wasn't dead. Not only was he alive, he'd been given the chance to turn his whole life around. "2 hours and 47 minutes..." he muttered under his breath, a cold, wild grin spreading across his face. There was no more fear, no more cowardice in his eyes—only unbridled, ruthless resolve. "That's more than enough. More than enough for me to plant my feet here." So what if there's a Monster Tide? So what if it's the Abyss? From this day forward, Lin Yuan was no longer the trash everyone kicked around. He was going to be the one who ruled this place.