The monster lay dead at my feet.
Its massive, hulking form—once an unstoppable force—was now nothing more than shattered remains.
I flexed my fingers, staring down at my own hands. The same hands that had once been powerless. The same hands that had once gripped weapons too heavy for me to wield.
But now?
I had killed a monster with a single blow.
And yet… something felt off.
My body felt too light, too strong, too perfect—as if I wasn't just a man anymore, but something beyond it.
I took a slow breath, steadying myself. That was when it happened.
A notification appeared before my eyes.
Not physically—there was no glowing screen, no floating text.
It was something in my mind, something I had never noticed before.
It was always there, hidden just beneath my awareness.
Until now.
───────[ STATUS WINDOW ]───────
Name: [ ??? ]
Level: [ ??? ]
Strength: [ 999 ]
Endurance: [ 999 ]
Agility: [ 999 ]
Dexterity: [ 999 ]
Perception: [ 999 ]
Mana: [ 0 ]
Skills: [ Time Manipulation (EX) ]
──────────────────────────
I froze.
I had never seen this before. Not once.
Not in all the years I had spent rewinding time. Not in the endless days of training.
But now, it was clear as day.
And my stats… they were almost maxed out.
999.
A number that felt like a ceiling—like the absolute limit of human capability.
That's when it hit me.
This was why I was so strong.
This was why I had transcended normal limits.
My body hadn't just adapted—it had been measured and quantified.
It wasn't just training anymore.
It was growth.A System That Rewards Effort
I clenched my fist, feeling the raw power coursing through my veins.
If I had known this earlier…
If I had understood that every action was recorded, every movement improved me—
Would I have trained differently?
I glanced at the stats again.
999 Strength.
999 Endurance.
999 Agility.
I had pushed myself beyond what was normal, beyond what was even humanly possible.
But was this the limit?
Could I break past 999?
And then, a thought struck me.
If my strength increased when I trained—
If my endurance grew when I pushed my limits—
Then what would happen if I kept going?
I looked at my Mana stat.
0.
Completely empty.
I frowned. I had never considered magic.
Was it because I never trained for it?
Was it because I never even thought of using something beyond my fists and weapons?
For thirty years, I had only focused on the body.
What if I had spent just as much time trying to develop something else?
Magic.
Could I awaken that too?
I exhaled slowly, feeling a fire ignite within me.
And then—
Another realization struck me.
I wasn't the only one with this status window.
The Awakening of Others
As I turned my gaze to the ruined city, I saw them. Other survivors. Other Awakened.
They moved with purpose, each wielding a power of their own. Some had raw physical strength, tearing through monsters with superhuman force. Others manipulated elements—fire, ice, lightning—turning the battlefield into their domain.
And they all had the same look in their eyes.
They could see it too.
The numbers behind their power. The growth that came with their training.
This wasn't just a blessing for me.
This was the new reality.
Every Awakened had a status window, a measure of their strength, endurance, agility, and power.
And just like me, they had the potential to grow.
Some had only just begun, their stats still low.
Others had spent the past two years pushing their limits, raising their numbers little by little.
But none of them—none of them had trained as I had.
None of them had spent a hundred frozen years perfecting their skills.
I wasn't just another Awakened.
I was ahead of everyone.
But how long would that last?
The Next Step
For the first time in years, I felt excitement.
I wasn't just going to be strong.
I was going to be unstoppable.
And if this world was governed by stats, by growth, by limits—
Then I would shatter those limits myself.