The final boss loomed above me—an abomination of corrupted code and ancient magic. Its frame twisted unnaturally, a roiling mass of glitching runes and obsidian limbs. Eyes like dying stars burned through the haze, locked onto me.
I didn't lift my weapon.
There was no point.
This wasn't victory.
This was failure, written in every flickering line of my HUD.
Ten years. That's how long I had played Ascension—grinding, fumbling, scraping through the game's labyrinthine systems. I was never a legend. Never the top of the leaderboard. Just a mediocre support-class player in a game that worshipped raw power.
And now, standing here alone, my teammates long dead, my spells on cooldown and my healing tags exhausted—
I knew how this would end.
The sky cracked open.
[You are dead.][Game Over.]
No cinematic. No applause. Just darkness and silence.
Until… something different.
[You have obtained: The Fragment of Origin (Unique)]Would you like to activate its power? Y/N Effect: Rewind the world to the beginning of Ascension. Warning: All progress will be lost.
I stared at the prompt.
I had never seen this item before. No one had. Ten years of digging through forums, secrets, and glitches, and not once had I heard of anything like this.
Could it really take me back?
To the beginning?
To before I spent a decade failing?
I clicked Y.
The world shattered into golden light.
I gasped awake in a cramped dorm room. The ceiling light buzzed overhead. A half-eaten meal sat on the desk. And in the corner, humming quietly—
My old, beat-up VR pod.
I staggered to my feet.
The date on my terminal read: March 1st, 2029.
Launch day.
The first day Ascension opened to the world.
My heart thundered. I checked my phone, then the time. The news. Everything lined up.
This wasn't a dream.
I was back.
Ten years of hard-earned knowledge surged through my mind. Secret quests. Broken builds. Glitched skills. Hidden classes buried beneath layers of developer warnings.
This time, I wouldn't waste it.
This time, I wouldn't settle for average.
This time, I would rise.
I slid into the pod, initiated full dive, and let the world dissolve.
NEURAL LINK ESTABLISHED.WELCOME TO ASCENSION.PLEASE SELECT A CLASS.
Dozens of options bloomed before me: Warrior, Mage, Assassin, Paladin...
I scrolled past them all and opened a hidden panel—one tagged by the devs: Unbalanced / Under Construction.
At the very bottom, one name blinked in red.
[Class: Spellforged Scribe]Support-focused. Low damage. High potential. Risk of user dissatisfaction: 98.4%
In my old life, this class was a joke.
But I had learned what it could become.
I selected it.
Confirm class?
Yes.
The world blurred, then resolved. Rolling hills stretched beneath a golden sun. NPCs walked past, talking, trading, laughing. The air shimmered with promise.
I didn't head toward the starter quests.
I walked straight past the town gates and ducked behind the blacksmith's shop.
Buried beneath a pile of rusted scrap was a tiny, half-broken amulet.
[Item Acquired: Forgotten Heirloom (Quest Item)]You feel an odd warmth from the amulet. It hums with something… ancient.
The beginning of a questline no one else ever found.
One that would let me bend the rules of magic itself.
[Quest Started: Dust to Divinity]
Let the others chase goblins and XP.
I had ten years of knowledge.
And a second chance to rewrite everything.
[SYSTEM NOTICE: Anomaly Detected – Monitoring Initiated.]
...Looks like I wouldn't go unnoticed for long.