Ding! Congratulations on successfully clearing the 999th floor of the Ladder of the World Tree!

  Kairon stood on the platform at the apex of the World Tree. Overhead, its colossal leaves blotted out the entire sky, while the massive trunk before him, thick as a heaven-bearing pillar, soared straight into the far reaches of the clouds. He slowly lowered the longsword in his hand, the wounds covering his body gradually mended by the holy light that suffused the summit.

  The wind tugged at his tattered cloak, and the nerves he had held taut through endless battles finally slackened in this moment.

  For three full years, he had soloed floor after floor of the World Tree dungeon, a challenge the entire server had unanimously deemed forever unbeatable, and in the end, he became the first player to ever set foot here.

  "Finally made it to the top," he muttered under his breath, his eyes burning with a fire he had suppressed for far too long.

  "What will the reward be? Mythic gear? A unique talent? A powerful hidden class?"

  "Whatever the System gives me, even just one of these things will be enough. Enough to take back everything that's mine, enough to plant my feet firmly on the ground again."

  Dusk Throne Guild. That throne you built on betrayal and plunder? I'm going to tear it down and crush it to dust with my own two hands.

  Zareth. Virella. You two treacherous backstabbers. The blood debt you owe me? I'll make you pay it back tenfold.

  He slowly stepped forward into the void at the end of the platform. The primordial phantom of the World Tree slowly coalesced before him, its core thrumming with soft yet boundless holy light of creation. This was the heart of the hidden quest, the very embodiment of the World Tree's will at the summit.

  He did not need to hand over a single item. His clear record of conquering all 999 floors was the only proof required to complete the quest.

  Ding! Congratulations! You have completed the unique hidden quest: The World Tree's Final Prayer! Quest Reward: One chance at Resurrection!

  The moment the System announcement finished, Kairon froze mid-step, a wave of stunned disbelief crashing over his mind.

  Three years. Three full years. He had died countless times, fought his way through 999 floors of hellish trials, and all he got in the end was a single chance at resurrection?

  What player can't respawn for free after dying? All it costs is a single level of experience. Was this all his all-or-nothing gamble amounted to? A basic mechanic every single player has access to?

  Before he could open his mouth to demand answers, the World Tree's phantom erupted in a blinding burst of holy light. A searing power, far beyond any resurrection spell in existence, washed over his entire body in an instant, as if it would melt his very soul down and forge it anew.

  Kairon's consciousness plummeted into endless darkness. Time lost all meaning in that moment. It felt as if only a single heartbeat had passed, and at the same time, as if eons had come and gone.

  ...

  Inside an apartment in the city of Avermont, Kairon shot bolt upright in bed.

  His skin still burned as if molten lava had coursed through it, that scorching heat fading from his flesh at a visible pace, leaving nothing behind but his t-shirt soaked through with cold sweat.

  He braced himself against the edge of the bed and stood up. The moment his feet landed firmly on the floor, his breath caught in his throat.

  He looked down at his perfectly intact legs, his fingertips brushing gently over his knees. In his past life, the men Elzada had hired had shattered his legs with their bare hands, leaving him a double amputee for the rest of his days.

  Even though everyone knew who was truly responsible, the case had gone cold due to a lack of evidence. Only with the help of a friend had Kairon fled to another city, narrowly escaping with his life.

  "Where… where am I?"

  Memories slowly flooded into his mind, and he lifted his gaze to look around the small, modest apartment.

  This was the apartment he had rented when he was 20 years old. He had once thought this would be the start of his and Virella's journey in the game. Now, he knew it had been nothing but an elaborately woven lie.

  Kairon suddenly realized something. He snatched the phone from his pillow, tapped the screen to wake it, and the date stared back at him clearly: Friday, September 12th, 2038.

  He still could barely believe this dreamlike reality, his heart hammering uncontrollably in his chest. He quickly threw open his bedroom door and rushed to the door of the apartment next door.

  Knock knock knock.

  Kairon rapped his knuckles against the door. He remembered that a girl named Lenora had moved in just the day before. In his past life, when he'd been left for dead in his apartment with broken legs, she'd heard the noise, called an ambulance, and saved his life.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  The door pulled open, revealing a delicate, pretty face clouded with faint confusion.

  "Lenora, what's the date today?" Kairon blurted out before he could think.

  The girl froze for a moment, surprise flickering across her eyes. "How do you know my name?"

  Kairon snapped back to his senses. Right now, they were supposed to be meeting for the first time. He tamped down the roiling emotions inside him. "Uh… sorry, that doesn't matter right now. Can you please tell me the exact date today?"

  "September 12th, 2038."

  Before Lenora had even finished speaking, Kairon had already turned and walked back into his apartment, closing the door softly behind him. He sat down on the edge of the bed, pressed his fingertips to his forehead, and let out a long, shaky breath.

  He had really been reborn.

  He was back, one day before the launch of World of Eldrath.

  He suddenly remembered the quest he'd completed. The reward description had read: Complete the quest to receive the thing you desire most!

  Kairon let out a quiet, bitter laugh, a flicker of acceptance in his eyes.

  He had once thought what he wanted most was mythic gear and powerful talents, the means to turn the tables in the game. But only now did he understand that his deepest, most heartfelt desire had always been to have a whole, healthy body again, and the chance to rewrite everything. And only rebirth could make that possible.

  He leaned back against the headboard, racing to sort through the flood of memories in his mind.

  September 12th. A date he would never forget, not even in death.

  In his past life, on September 11th, Virella had asked him for ten thousand cash, lying that she wanted to start a game studio of their very own. And he, fool that he was, had given her every last cent he had.

  It wasn't until much later that he learned this had been nothing but the opening act of the carefully planned betrayal she and Zareth had orchestrated. That money had meant nothing to them. And the trust he'd given them with all his heart? It had been nothing but a joke for them to laugh about over dinner and drinks.

  In early 2038, the Eldrath Corporation had burst onto the scene, acquiring every single online game company across the globe with overwhelming, unstoppable force.

  In the beginning, it faced a united front of resistance from the world's biggest gaming giants. But in just half a day, all of that resistance had vanished without a trace, and every single one of those giants had been absorbed into the Eldrath Corporation.

  For the next six months, not a single new game launched anywhere in the world. Everyone knew the Eldrath Corporation was building up to something massive.

  And they were right. Three months prior, on June 2nd, 2038, to be exact, the Eldrath Corporation had made a world-shaking announcement to the entire globe. Its full-dive holographic virtual MMORPG, boasting 100% real sensory fidelity, would launch globally at midnight on September 13th. The game was named World of Eldrath.

  The announcement sent the entire world into an uproar. Countless people questioned the safety risks of this unprecedented, era-defining neural interface technology, especially since World of Eldrath had gone from initial conception to official announcement in just six short months.

  Numerous so-called industry experts publicly called on governments around the world to ban the game's launch. Yet every national government on the planet remained completely silent, and those loudmouthed experts quickly faded into obscurity soon after.

  Through the three-month waiting period, the game's advertisements were everywhere, yet they never contained anything more than the original tagline from the announcement. No posters, no CG trailers, no detailed breakdowns of the game's lore or gameplay.

  Everyone inferred from the name World of Eldrath that it would be a fantasy adventure game.

  Only Kairos, reborn from the future, knew that this was no ordinary monster-slaying, level-grinding game, but a survival game for the future of the world.

  Four long years of gameplay in his past life had left him with intimate knowledge of the trigger locations for nearly every hidden quest, the exact spawn coordinates for every legendary piece of gear, and above all, the speedrun strategies and hidden mechanics for every high-difficulty dungeon in the game.

  But right now, the most pressing problem stared him in the face. He didn't have a gaming headset.

  He patted his pockets. All he had to his name was two hundred and seven. He was still a full two thousand seven hundred and ninety-three dollars short of buying the cheapest base model full-dive headset.

  Was he really going to wait six months for the universal model headsets that the Eldrath Corporation would give out for free to every person on the planet?

  By then, the golden launch window of the game would be long gone. Zareth and Virella would have already used their head start to build Dusk Throne into an unstoppable behemoth that dominated the entire server.

  Just then, there was a knock at the door.

  Kairon stood up and pulled open the door, and he froze the moment he saw who was standing outside.

  It was Lenora, his new next-door neighbor. And what stole his breath away wasn't her sudden visit, but the brand new, unopened Model 207 full-dive headset she was holding in her hands.

  He remembered clearly that in his past life, this very headset had been a gift from her. She'd given it to him six months after they'd met, after she'd learned what had happened to him and felt for his plight. But now? Less than ten minutes had passed since they'd first laid eyes on each other.

  "Hi, I just moved in next door. I look forward to getting along with you from now on. A small gift, nothing much." Lenora's cheeks were flushed a faint pink as she held out the headset, her voice carrying a hint of nervousness that was easy to miss.

  Those familiar words instantly overlapped with the memories from his past life. Back then, she had smiled just like this, held out the headset to him, and her eyes had been filled with the same gentle kindness.

  "Hello? Hey?" Lenora waved her hand gently in front of his face, noticing he'd zoned out.

  Kairon snapped back to reality in an instant and reached out to take the headset. "Thank you, Lenora. Thank you so much."

  Lenora's cheeks were still flushed as she turned to leave, only to freeze when he spoke again. "Wait, uh… my name's Kairon."

  She paused mid-step, turned back to look at him, and nodded with a bright, warm smile in her eyes.

  "Well… I'll head back now." With that, she hurried back to her own apartment, closing the door softly behind her.

  Behind two closed doors.

  Lenora leaned back against her door, her fingers twisting the hem of her shirt as she whispered to herself. "He really did know my name… does he remember too?"

  On the other side, Kairon sat on his bed, staring at the gaming headset in his hands. "Had she already had this headset ready back in my past life, and just waited six months to give it to me? Why… why would she do that?"

  He had grown up in an orphanage, with no power, no influence, and nothing to his name. He simply couldn't fathom what he could have done to deserve this kindness from her.

  But he quickly pushed all the messy, jumbled thoughts from his mind, tore open the headset's packaging, and a spark of excitement lit up his eyes.