Chapter 1: The Last Soda and the Truck of Death Four goddamn years. Four years sitting on crooked desks, four years enduring fake grades and teachers who hated their jobs, four years staring at clock hands that seemed to move in slow motion on purpose... and finally, it was over. Kaito Sato, an official high school graduate, walked out of the schoolyard with a grin stretching the corners of his lips. He'd tossed his bag into a trash can; he didn't need it anymore. It was the first night of summer, hot and humid, and the empty streets smelled of hot asphalt and garbage. "Today, I'm sleeping for twelve hours straight," he said to himself, stretching. "Tomorrow, nothing. The day after, nothing. For the first time in my life, I have no damn responsibilities." He reached into the pocket of his torn jeans, pulled out a few silver coins, and his eyes landed on a vending machine at the end of the street, glowing under the dim neon lights. A glass display case full of colorful sodas. "Perfect. An ice-cold soda, the crown of my victory." He dropped the coins into the slot. Click-click. He pressed the button for the cherry soda. Grrrr... A strange noise came from inside the machine. The lights flickered once... and then nothing. The soda didn't fall. The machine had jammed. "You've got to be... seriously?" Kaito stared at the machine for a moment, then slammed his fist against its side. The cold metal trembled under the impact, but the soda still didn't fall. He hit it again. Harder. He pounded on the glass with his fist. Bam! The cherry soda slid down with a muffled thud and dropped into the bottom compartment. "YES!" Kaito grabbed the can, peeled off the label, and with a quick motion, popped the tab. The smell of carbonation and artificial cherry filled his nostrils. He took a sip and sighed with satisfaction. Right then, he stepped onto the crosswalk to cross the street. The traffic light was blinking red, but the street looked completely empty. No cars, no bikes—just the night silence and the distant chirping of crickets. Until a blinding white light suddenly filled his entire field of vision. Kaito didn't even have time to take a step back. The **roar of a massive truck horn** echoed in his ears like an explosion. Tires screeched on the asphalt, but it was too late. That multi-ton hunk of metal was barreling toward him at a insane speed. The last thought that sparked in his brain was: "Oh, son of a bitch... my life was just about to start!" And then, from the bottom of his heart, only one word came out: "...Damn it." --- Absolute darkness. Nothing. No pain, no smell, no sound. Nothing at all. When he opened his eyes, Kaito found himself in a completely black void. No up, no down. No left, no right. As if he were floating in the heart of nothingness. Until a sleek white panel materialized right in front of his face. **"You have died."** Please wait a moment... System is initializing... Initialization complete. His eyes widened. His mouth hung open. "I DIED?!" he shouted, his voice swallowed by the void. "On the very first night?! With that goddamn soda?!" Before he could lose it completely, the panel changed: **"Enter your character name."** Just that. An empty box with a virtual cursor wiggling around. Kaito frowned. "My own name? Don't you already know who I am? What kind of crappy system is this..." He took a deep breath and moved his finger across the virtual screen. He typed **Kaito Sato** and hit confirm. The panel flickered for a moment: **"Name saved. Select your class."** A long list of classes appeared before him: Warrior, Archer, Mage, Monk, Berserker, Rogue, and a bunch of other fantasy classes he couldn't even pronounce. But at the bottom corner, a class with a strange golden color caught his eye. **"Creator"** Curious, he clicked on it. A new window opened: **"Class Description: Capable of creating entities, objects, and even distorting the laws of reality. Activation condition: Class Death (complete physical death under specific circumstances)."** Kaito stared for a moment. Then a nervous laugh erupted from his gut. "I have to DIE to activate this class?!" He grabbed his face with both hands. "What kind of crappy class is this?! Die first, then use it later? What a useless, piece-of-shit system!" He dismissed the class with disdain and returned to the main list. "Whoever designed this piece of crap, I don't give a damn. For now, I'll just use my new race's basic abilities and figure things out." Next step: **Select your race.** The race list appeared: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Werewolf, Vampire, and more strange ones. Kaito scrolled to the bottom. He saw the **Goblin** race. "Goblin?" He hesitated for a moment. From everything he'd seen in movies and games, goblins were small, dirty, weak creatures. But the system had a description next to it: **"Goblin Race: High adaptability, exceptional agility, night vision, strong sense of smell. Potential for genetic upgrade and distortion."** And more importantly, there was a "Full Customization" option underneath. Kaito smirked mischievously. "If I'm gonna be a goblin, I'm gonna be the most terrifying goblin in history." He customized his appearance: · Hair: **Pure black** · Eyes: **Absolute black** (no whites at all) · Height: **220 cm** (the tallest goblin ever!) · Skin color: **Dark black** (melting into darkness at night) When he finished, he saw the image of his new character. A tall, lean, muscular giant with burning, hollow eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. Like a nightmare hunter. "Perfect." He grunted. "At least I died in style... but hey, at least I'm badass now." The system showed one final message: **"Are you ready to begin your new life?"** Kaito slammed the **"Yes"** button. Ding... All the panels went dark. The absolute blackness returned, and then a blinding white light filled his eyes. --- When he opened his eyes, the smell of **rotten flesh** and **fresh blood** filled his nostrils. He was lying on the ground in a dense, dark forest. Trees stretched to the sky, their branches like bony hands twisting through the fog. Everywhere, he could hear the gnawing and chewing of creatures hiding in the shadows. A few meters away, a three-eyed wolf was tearing into the carcass of some unknown creature. Its teeth were bloody, and its eyes were fixed on Kaito. Kaito slowly stood up. His new goblin instincts screamed with excitement: Run, hide, survive. He was just about to take his first step when a terrifying roar echoed above him. A giant bird with a scythe-like beak was diving from the treetops straight at him. Kaito muttered between his bloody teeth: "Welcome to the jungle." *«Kaito Sato, moments after his rebirth in the Bloodthirsty Forest.»* ---
