"Next!"
That voice was smooth. Too smooth. Like a late-night host who'd had one drink too many.
Callum opened his eyes.
Spotlights flared above him, circling a vast theater stage built from stardust and shadows. Velvet curtains as tall as skyscrapers rippled behind a shimmering podium, where a being dressed in a glittering suit spun a golden wheel.
He had no idea how he got here, but he knew for sure that this was some kind of afterlife realm... Some people would say that there was no such thing as reincarnation, but even though Callum never took a side with them, he hadn't totally believed that reincarnation was true either.
After this view, that belief seemed to rise, as he glanced around once more. Perhaps this scene was a little too strange compared to what he had expected as an afterlife realm, but yes... He had no doubt.
"Ah! Callum Drey!" the being dressed in the glittering suit declared, reading from a card with exaggerated drama.
"Age twenty."
"Died tragically."
"Broken dreams... Hmmm, as if he had one."
"Unpaid debts."
The being raised a brow.
"One last text to a dead phone. Oof. That's rough, buddy."
Callum felt himself flinch. He tried to speak, but no words came. He wasn't sure he even had a body anymore.
The Host snapped his fingers. A giant screen suddenly dropped from above as a large flash of images displayed on it.
Somehow, this turned out to be Callum's past life...
A clear show of his past, miserable life before his death...
Working two jobs, missing his grandmother's final moments, being betrayed by the one he loved—the woman he thought would be his last hope at life.
The woman he spent the best significant moments of his life taking care of without thinking of his future.
The montage had no music, just awkward silence.
He noticed the audience in the hall, but he saw no faces. They were just shadowy figures who didn't even make a sound as they watched the boring tape on the large screen.
The Host tapped the screen. "Hmm. Let's check the stats…"
[Entertainment Value: 29/100.]
[Risk Factor: Low.]
[Spontaneity: Nonexistent.]
[Heroism Potential: Untapped.]
[Final Verdict: Boring, but salvageable.]
'What the heck is this? Where am I?' Callum finally gathered a complaint inwardly.
He felt something in his chest tighten.
The Host sighed, pulling a lever. The stage began to tilt.
"Sorry, kid. You're not evil enough for Hell, not brave enough for Valhalla, and definitely not dramatic enough for reincarnation. But hey... good news!"
A giant glowing portal opened beneath Callum, swirling with chaotic colors and fragments of broken dreams.
"You've been selected to enter a new world! A reality-bending, death-defying sandbox where the dead go to entertain the gods, or die trying. Again. But cooler this time."
At this point, still, he had no idea what this meant and what was going on. He completely had no clue.
However, it didn't seem like this man would be revealing any understandable words.
The Host waved with two fingers and grinned.
"Do better this time, kid! The gods hate giving third chances!"
....
In the next moment...
Callum crashed into something soft, yet firm... like being caught by a cloud with attitude.
The light dimmed.
He opened his eyes.
He was lying in the center of a massive circular room, marble white with silver veins pulsing like veins of a living world. The sky above was glass. The stars flickered... watching.
"About time," a voice said—clear, cool, and composed like a wind that had somewhere important to be.
He sat up.
A woman stood at the far end of the chamber, tall and radiant, dressed in obsidian robes that shimmered with constellations. Her silver hair floated weightlessly, her gaze sharp like a blade dipped in moonlight.
"Welcome, Callum Drey. I am Lady Virellia, Guide of the Expanse, Keeper of Fates... and I suppose today, your onboarding agent."
She walked toward him, her heels making no sound on the polished floor.
Callum blinked. "Am I... dead?"
"You were," she said, flicking her wrist. A scroll unrolled beside her, glowing with golden ink. "Now you're property of the Glory Expanse. Your life was judged underwhelming by the God of Fun."
He opened his mouth. She cut him off with a glance.
"But you were not without potential," Virellia said. "Now, you must do what every arrival does. Choose a Class."
"Ahh, what does that mean? Where am I going to?"
"You would know in a moment," Virellia said casually and looked away.
"But first, you need to choose a Class and a Talent. They are the most important weapons every soul entering this world needs," she added.
She waved her hand, and a ring of ethereal symbols encircled him. Swords, staffs, guns, daggers, mechanical beasts... each floating like a ghostly emblem.
Callum glanced around and observed every symbol, each catching his attention as he stared. He surely wanted to pick the best one, but who is to say a novice like him could actually know the best Class?
After a moment, he settled in front of a particular symbol... It was an armor with shiny golden lights with two swords crossed against each other below it. Callum had no idea what he was choosing, but he ended up going with it.
[CLASS SELECTED: Ranger.]
Callum instinctively flinched as the emblem flared and dissolved into his chest.
Virellia gave a small smile. "Efficient. I like that."
"Now, it's time to choose a Talent."
Then she snapped her fingers, and from above descended a wide pool of glowing orbs.
They were no ordinary orbs—they pulsed like a heart, wrapped in swirling light with a very deep aura of power.
"This," she said, "are Talent Orbs. Pick any orb of your choice, but keep in mind that what is in its content determines your foundation in your new world."
Callum gave a slight nod, still clueless about all this. But he gathered some courage and went ahead to pick.
In the pool were countless orbs with different colors... Green. Red. Blue. Purple. Orange, and even Black.
However, there was one...
One unique orb, different from the others.
It was colorless and dimmer than the rest.
'Why is there only one of this type?' he wondered inwardly.
And yet at the same time, it made him curious. Curious to the point that he decided to pick it.
"This one," he pointed at it.
"Got it. Remember that you can't change your pick... Are you sure you want to go for this?"
"Yes, I am," Callum replied firmly.
"Alright then. You got it," Virellia nodded.
Callum stared at it. "And I just... take it?"
"You don't get a second one," she replied dryly.
He reached out and touched the orb.
And suddenly, it cracked, hissed, and then vanished into a thin thread of light that burrowed into his chest.
Callum gasped as visions flickered behind his eyes—too fast to grasp, too alien to process.
Virellia turned away.
"You'll wake up soon. Alone, in a world that wants to entertain the gods through your suffering... Or should I just say your service? Well, never mind."
She paused at the threshold of a large, arched gate that had just materialized.
"Oh. And when the talents awaken," she added without turning, "do try not to die too fast. It would be... disappointing."
Callum stared almost blankly and confused but tried to nod.
Then, he was urged to walk through the gate, where, in no time, he felt himself being carried by a dashing light.
...
In the next moment, he found himself appearing in a vast land... One that was recognizable as a place like Earth.
But he knew it wasn't Earth.
[Entrant #1001542678, welcome to Glory Expanse!]
A robotic voice suddenly sounded in his head, stunning him at that instant. But that was not all...
While trying to detect his location, another robotic voice sounded again, this time, with a red interface appearing in front of him.
[CLASS: RANGER] > Assigned.
[Talent Orb Analyzed...]
[You have gained... A Ta...]
[Potential Error Detected! Analyzing Talent Orb again...]
[Talent Orb Analyzed...]
[You have gained Three SSS Ranked Talents!]
[SSS Ranked Gacha System.]
[SSS Ranked Soulmancy.]
[SSS Ranked Bloodline Talent: Blood of the Flamborne.]
In an instant, Callum's eyes widened.