Most people don't think about how they're going to die until it's already happening.
Me? I always imagined something epic: saving a kid from a burning building, fighting off a bear in the woods, maybe even a tragic car crash that turns me into an internet martyr.
But nope.
I died choking on a popcorn kernel.
Alone.
Watching the *Percy Jackson* movie.
Worse, it was the *first* movie. The one that butchered the source material like a bad fan edit. I was hate-watching, halfway through groaning at Grover's casting again, when it happened—popcorn down the wrong pipe. A sudden cough. A sharp gasp. Then nothing.
---
**\[SYSTEM BOOTING...]**
**You have died.**
**Cause of Death: Choked on Popcorn During a Bad Adaptation**
**Achievement Unlocked: "Truly Unworthy Demise"**
**+1 LUCK**
---
The first thing I thought was: *Huh. I knew it.*
I'd always believed in reincarnation, gods, alternate universes. Not because of religion, but because… well, it made life feel less lonely. I didn't expect to be *right*, though. And I definitely didn't expect the universe to insult me in Comic Sans.
Okay, maybe not Comic Sans. The blue box hovering in the darkness around me had a clean, crisp RPG-style font. Think *Persona 5 meets Skyrim.* But still, the message was blunt:
---
**\[You have qualified for the "Rebirth Initiative."]**
**World Setting: Percy Jackson Universe**
**Divine Parent: Khione – Minor Goddess of Winter, Ice, and Snow**
**Unique Trait: The Gamer**
**Rebirth Year: 1993 CE**
**Starting Point: Neonatal Phase**
---
"Wait, Khione? The snow goddess?" I muttered—or tried to. My voice echoed silently in the void. There was no sound, only thought.
She wasn't even a major Olympian. Most people barely remembered her myth. A daughter of Boreas, goddess of snow, mostly known for freezing people she didn't like and making dramatic snowstorms.
Still... she was cool. No pun intended.
The Gamer power, though—that was what made me freeze. This wasn't just another life. This was *my* life, *as a game.* Menus. Skills. Stats. Level-ups.
I'd read a hundred webnovels like that. It always sounded fun.
But now it was real.
---
Then everything exploded into blinding white.
No warning. No loading screen.
Just *rebirth.*
---
### ❄️
Cold.
That was my first real sensation.
I was freezing. Not uncomfortable—*aching*. The air around me felt sharp and dry, like my skin was being shaved off by snowflakes.
Crying filled the room. It took me a full minute to realize it was *me*.
My lungs stung. My muscles felt like jelly. My vision was a blur of soft light and shadow, the world reduced to warmth, pressure, and sound. Everything was huge. Distant voices surrounded me.
"He's underweight," someone muttered.
"Strong lungs, though," said another.
Fabric brushed against my skin. Latex gloves. A nurse? A doctor? I couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Could barely blink. But inside, I was *panicking*.
*This is real. This is happening.*
*I'm a baby.*
---
**\[Welcome, Player.]**
**Race: Human-Demigod (Divine Parent: Khione)**
**Class: The Gamer**
**Starting Location: Seattle, WA – Human Realm**
**Quest Created: Survive Infancy**
**Note: Divine Blood Locked Until Age 6**
---
My heart thundered in my tiny chest. I was in a hospital, I realized. Clean lights, antiseptic air. Crying babies. The faint static buzz of old monitors. People murmured softly behind surgical masks. A woman sobbed somewhere nearby.
I wanted to see her face—my new mother—but I was too tired.
---
I woke up hours later, swaddled in a plastic bin with a name tag I couldn't read yet. The glass outside was fogged. Snow drifted gently across a winter city skyline. Distant car horns. Sirens.
And then... a chill.
A presence.
It was like frost curling along my spine. I turned my eyes to the window.
She stood there.
A figure of silver and frost, dressed in a long cloak made of wind and snow. Her skin was the pale blue of glacier ice. Her hair flowed like a winter storm. And her eyes—her *eyes*—they were not human. They were the color of falling snow at midnight.
Khione.
She didn't speak. She didn't smile. She just placed one pale finger on the glass.
A white puff of ice bloomed there, in the shape of a snowflake. And then, like mist, she vanished.
---
**\[Passive Blessing Received: Khione's Mark]**
*+10% Cold Resistance | Cryomancy Skill Tree Unlocked (Locked Until Age 6)*
*Divine Awareness: You will instinctively sense unnatural winter-related phenomena.*
---
I didn't cry again that night.
I couldn't explain it. But even in my tiny body, I felt *watched*. Protected. Like the cold itself was cradling me.
It would be years before I understood just how dangerous that feeling really was.
---
[PLAYER STATUS – END OF CHAPTER 1]**
**Name:** Unknown
**Race:** Human-Demigod (Khione)
**Class:** Gamer
**Level:** 1
**EXP:** 0 / 100
**HP:** 50 / 50
**MP:** 30 / 30
**Stamina:** 40 / 40
---
### **Attributes**
---------------------------------------------------
Strength: 2 (newborn baby)
Dexterity: 1 ( uncoordinated infant)
Constitution: 3
Intelligence: 6 (Adult trapped in baby body)
Wisdom: 4 (Overwhelmed but aware)
Charisma: 1
Luck: 6 (+1)
---
### **Active Skills**
* *(None unlocked yet)*
---
### **Passive Skills**
* **Gamer's Mind (Lv. MAX)** – Mental clarity, immunity to panic, perfect memory.
* **Khione's Mark (Lv. 1)** – Cold resistance. Grants access to Cryomancy.
* **System Interface (Lv. 1)** – Allows access to RPG menus and HUD.
---
### **Titles**
* **The Reborn One** – You remember a past life. +Small EXP boost from insight.
* **Child of Snow** – You carry the blood of the Winter Goddess.
* **The Gamer** – Your life is now a game.
---
### **Quests**
**\[Main Quest: "Survive Infancy"]**
*Objective: Live to age 3 without dying.*
*Progress: Day 1/1095*
*Reward: Unlock physical growth perks, +Stat Point*
---