I woke up in an alley. Head pounding. Mouth dry. Back sore.
So either I died and hell was incredibly mid, or something had gone very wrong.
My first thought was that I'd been jumped. Or spiked. Maybe both. But my wallet was still in my pocket—completely empty, sure, but that wasn't new. My phone was fried. Not low battery. Just dead, like someone had microwaved it.
I stood up, wiped off what I hoped wasn't grease, and took a long look around.
Definitely Japan. Street signs, vending machines, that one very specific smell of convenience store ramen and cigarette smoke. But it felt… off. Can't really explain it. Like the brightness was dialed down slightly, and every sound had a half-second delay. The people walking by didn't even glance my way.
Not that I expected them to help a random guy slumped in an alley, but still. Eye contact would've been nice. A "Hey, you good?" Maybe even a pity yen.
Nothing.
The whole city felt like background noise. Familiar, but hollow. Like I'd been dropped inside a movie set right before filming started. The longer I walked, the more it gnawed at me.
I didn't panic. That's not my thing.
But I didn't feel good either.
Then it hit me.
Not a car. Not a guy with a bat. Just… a feeling. Right down my spine like I'd just licked a battery.
I froze on instinct. And when I looked up, I locked eyes with some woman across the street—business suit, tired expression, probably two more meetings away from snapping. She stopped walking.
Just stood there.
Her eyes widened. Her face kind of slackened. Like someone had hit pause on her brain.
Then, just like that, she shook it off and walked away.
Weird? Yes.
Coincidence? Not a chance.
Because right then, my brain lit up with knowledge I didn't ask for.
Like some invisible hand downloaded patch notes straight into my head.
Mystic Eyes of Charm – Rank B
Perception nudge via eye contact. Can't mind control. Can't hypnotize. But weak minds? Yeah. You can bend those.
The hell?
It wasn't a guess. It wasn't even a thought. I knew it. Like I'd always known it. Like I'd just remembered a skill from a past life I didn't sign up for.
I stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, hands in my pockets, watching everyone walk by like nothing had happened.
No one else seemed to notice the shift. But I did.
Power, dropped on me out of nowhere. No menu screen. No glowing orb. No talking animal sidekick.
Just... a sudden upgrade. And the sinking realization that I might've just gotten roped into something deeply unfun.
I didn't know what did it. No clue where it came from. But I recognized the pattern.
You read enough trashy fanfiction and anime-tier web novels, you start picking up the tropes.
The Celestial Grimoire.
It wasn't real. Not supposed to be, anyway. Just a dumb concept: a system that hands out random powers like it's spinning a wheel behind your back. No rules. No warnings. Just: Congratulations, here's your plot device. Good luck, idiot.
Usually shows up in Jumpchain-type fanfics. Y'know—the ones where some guy wakes up in a new world and suddenly starts getting loot drops based on word count or karma or God's mood that day. Abilities from random universes. Sometimes useful. Sometimes cursed. Sometimes both.
And apparently?
I was the idiot this time.