At some point, I stopped living outside the screen.
The world beyond the glass faded into nothing—just background noise while I chased numbers, ranks, rewards. Sleep? Optional. Meals? Barely remembered. Family? Forgotten.
I gave everything for a digital crown no one else even cared about.
When I collapsed in front of my screen, surrounded by stale air and empty energy drink cans, the world didn't even notice I was gone.
I died a king of nothing.
And yet... somehow...
I woke up.
I jolted upright, gasping.
Sunlight streamed through a window that should have been boarded up with blackout curtains. My desk—clean. My floor—no piles of trash.
The monitor wasn't even on.
Hands trembling, I looked around, heart hammering harder than any boss raid ever had.
A calendar on the wall caught my eye.
Two months before Heaven's Crown launches.
My throat tightened.
No way.
I stumbled to my desk. Sitting there, crisp and unopened, was a letter—the college acceptance I'd ignored in my last life, too obsessed with chasing leaderboard fame.
From down the hall, I heard voices—my parents, softly arguing about money again.
My little sister practicing a speech project at the kitchen table.
I wasn't dead.
Not yet.
Not this time.
I wasn't going to waste this second chance.
I was going to get stronger.
In the game—and in the real world.
I was going to rise.
For me.
For them.
For the future I'd thrown away once already.
I pulled on running shoes buried under my bed, stretched muscles I hadn't used properly in years, and stepped outside into the morning sun.
It was time to start living.
[Time Skip: Two Months Later]
The past two months flew by in a blur of motion.
Early mornings running until my lungs burned.
Afternoons lifting, pushing weights I'd barely managed at first.
Evenings hitting the books, prepping for college classes I'd once tossed aside like trash.
Nights studying build guides, hidden questlines, market trends—everything I remembered from my first life.
I rebuilt myself—body, mind, and purpose.
Rumors buzzed everywhere:
"Did you hear about Heaven's Crown?""The prize pools are insane.""Some players are already prepping to become guild kings."
They had no idea.
They were starting fresh.
I was starting armed to the teeth.
[Launch Day Morning]
College orientation was in two weeks.
The apartment was still modest, shared with two guys I'd met at the gym who were casual players at best.
Mom and Dad were still working double shifts, saving every penny for my future without realizing I'd already decided to pay it back a hundredfold.
Today was mine.
Today was the day.
I sat in front of my gaming rig, hands poised on a clean keyboard, heart hammering in my chest.
The login screen flared to life—an endless sky stretching up past mountains and floating islands, a glowing citadel perched atop a stairway of clouds.
Welcome to Heaven's Crown.
Ascend beyond limits. Forge your legend.
I took a slow breath—and clicked [Begin].
The login sequence wrapped around me, a rush of sound and light.
Text scrolled across my vision, clean and familiar:
[Name: Damien Cross]
[Age: 18]
[Starting Realm: Dawnlight Fields]
[Initializing base attributes...]
[Status Window Updated.]
With a mental flick, I opened it.
Name: Damien Cross
Level: 1
Class: None (Unassigned)
Health: 100
Mana: 50
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 10
Endurance: 10
Dexterity: 10
Skills: Basic Attack (Starter), Dodge Roll (Starter)
Equipment: Worn Leather Tunic (Common), Worn Iron Shortsword (Common)
Pretty bare-bones for now.
But that wouldn't last long.
The world around me solidified—fresh green fields, a blue sky streaked with the glow of a distant spire reaching into the heavens.
NPCs bustled about in the small village square where every new player spawned.
Shouts filled the air:
"First quests available here!"
"Looking for group for starter dungeon!"
"Selling basic gear!"
I flexed my hands, feeling the weight of the sword at my hip.
This time, I thought, I'm not chasing numbers.
I'm building an empire.
I turned toward the quest board, pretending to browse like everyone else.
But my eyes were already searching—there.
A scrap of parchment, half-jammed behind the board's wooden frame.
To a normal player, it looked like trash.
To me—it was the first step toward everything.
I pulled it free.
[Hidden Quest Discovered: The First Step Beyond.]
[Difficulty Rating: Hard.]
[Rewards: ???]
A slow grin spread across my face.
Time to begin.