Kyn's breath caught in his throat as another message from the system flashed in front of his eyes.
{Half Correct. System will now provide you with the second part of your reward. The system understands that you're only a mortal with a godly metagene, but your second reward will unlock your current mimic….}
Okay... this could be good, Kyn thought, though a sinking feeling weighed down his gut.
{The system will teleport you to the core of WR-102, a Wolf-Rayet star located about 8,480 light years away. You will arrive in seconds. The system will protect you while you are at the core of the star to awaken and unlock your current mimic's powers, abilities, and status. However, you will experience immense pain. You must stay conscious—if you lose control of your body during the process, your awakening will fail, and your body will explode, resulting in your death. Be warned, Host! Prepare yourself emotionally.}
The words hung in the air like a death sentence.
"A star?!" Kyn gasped, his mind spinning as the weight of the revelation crashed into him. He stumbled back, his heart pounding so hard he thought it might explode. "A freaking star?!" he repeated, disbelief thick in his voice. He wasn't some invincible superhero with unbreakable skin or Kryptonian invulnerability. He was just a guy—one who happened to be stuck with God-tier mimic powers he didn't even know how to control yet. And now the system was planning to toss him into the core of a freaking star?
His stomach twisted in knots. "And why that star? Why not just send me to the Sun in our solar system?" His voice cracked with rising panic. "Is that star supposed to be better? Please, explain before you send me to my doom!"
For a moment, the system remained silent. The pause was ominous, but then, in its usual calm, emotionless tone, it began: {Host, the Earth contains approximately ½ ton of Kryptonite, the remnants from the destruction of Krypton and because of Kal-El's direct path to this planet most of those kryptonite fragments landed in this planet. If you were sent to this Sun, you would only partially unlock your current mimic target's powers. At that level, surrounded by so much Kryptonite, you would be much more vulnerable with only having half or less than Superman's strength.}
Kyn swallowed hard, dread creeping into his bones.
The system continued, {To fully awaken and unlock the powers of Rao, you must be sent to WR-102. That star will allow your body to transcend, making Kryptonite ineffective against you. Once your transformation is complete, red suns will no longer weaken you, and absorbing solar energy—or any energy source even kryptonite—will only make you stronger. Your powers will become permanent. Now… prepare for teleportation in 10 seconds... 9... 8...}
Kyn's mind raced as the countdown began, his heart beating faster than the ticking seconds.
"Wait! Wait!" Kyn shouted, the panic rising in his voice. His mind raced, trying to process what was about to happen. He had no time to prepare, no time to breathe. "How am I supposed to handle the core of a star?! This is insane!"
{... 5... 4... 3...}
The countdown was merciless, and Kyn knew that whatever was coming would hit him with the force of a supernova. He had to brace himself—mentally and physically. The core of a Wolf-Rayet star would be a trial like nothing he'd ever faced, a blazing furnace of unimaginable heat and pressure. And the pain—the system had warned him. If he passed out, it was game over. He'd die instantly.
Kyn took a deep breath, trying to calm his heart. He clenched his fists, feeling the sweat forming on his palms. "I've got to do this. I don't have a choice."
{... 2... 1... Initiating teleportation. Good luck, Host.}
The world around him twisted in a blur of light and heat. One moment he was standing in his rundown apartment, and the next, everything vanished.
When Kyn reappeared, he found himself suspended in a vast, seething inferno. He was at the very heart of WR-102, the star's core a blinding mass of energy and chaos. The heat was unbearable, so intense that it felt like his skin was melting off—only, the system's protective barrier barely kept him from disintegrating.
Pain hit him immediately, a sharp, unforgiving agony that seared every fiber of his being. His bones felt like they were being compressed into dust, his organs crushed under the star's monumental pressure.
{Warning: Host, stay awake. Maintain control of your body, or the process will fail.}
Kyn screamed, his voice lost in the roar of the nuclear furnace around him. His body trembled violently, fighting against the overwhelming pain that threatened to tear him apart. He could feel the power inside him awakening, slowly expanding, and burning through his veins like molten lava.
"I... can't... pass out!" he growled through clenched teeth, his vision blurring with tears of agony. "I can't... die... here!"
Every second stretched into eternity as the system began unlocking his mimic of Kryptonian God Rao. The divine power of creation, the godly strength, the unimaginable control over the sun and light—it was all flooding into him, but it came at a cost.
His mind frayed at the edges, teetering on the brink of unconsciousness. His muscles burned with white-hot pain, and his lungs felt like they were filled with fire. But Kyn fought, holding on with every ounce of willpower he had left.
{Awakening in progress... 50%... 60%... 70%...}
The numbers flashed before him, ticking down like the final moments before a storm. Each passing second brought him closer—closer to a rebirth that promised the power to rewrite everything. Kyn's breath hitched as anticipation gnawed at him, but the agony that rippled through his body grew unbearable. His vision blurred. He was slipping.
"Not yet," he rasped, his voice raw, barely more than a breath. "Not yet!"
If anyone had seen him, they would have witnessed a grotesque sight—his body fracturing at the seams, atoms unraveling, cells shredding into nothingness. His organs and bones followed, obliterating and reforming, only to be torn apart again. It was an endless cycle of creation and destruction, like the universe playing a cruel joke on him.
Through the agony, subtle changes began to manifest. His once average physique reshaped itself into something extraordinary—a body chiseled and honed, not overly muscled, but with the precise definition of a warrior sculpted by the gods. He became many times more handsome and his height, once a respectable 183 cm around 6 feet tall, surged. Bones stretched, skin tightened, and by the time his transformation neared its peak, he stood close to 1.95 meters tall—a towering 6 ft 5 in and do remember he is only seventeen he hasn't reached his peak height yet.
But none of it registered. Kyn could only feel the agony, the relentless torment that would have driven any normal person to the brink of madness. But he clung on, teeth gritted, eyes wild. It was his sheer willpower—the only thing that held him together when everything else was falling apart.
{90%... 95%...}
Suddenly, a massive surge of power exploded within Kyn. Something deep and primal shifted inside him—a vast, cosmic energy awakening, threatening to tear him apart from the inside out. His entire body convulsed as the power surged through his veins, a force so intense it felt as though the very fabric of his being was unraveling.
He let out a final, agonized scream, his voice barely cutting through the overwhelming roar of energy. He fought with every ounce of willpower he had left—fought to stay conscious, fought to survive the awakening.
In that very moment, if any sapient being or advanced civilization had been close to WR-102, they would have witnessed the impossible. The star itself pulsed violently, and from it, a sound resonated—a powerful, earth-shattering vibration that echoed across the system then to the rest of that part of the galaxy. It was like the heartbeat of a cosmic titan, each beat rippling out into the vast expanse of space.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
The rhythm was steady, loud, and filled with immense power. It was as if the entire universe had paused to listen, sensing the birth of something beyond comprehension. Planets trembled, and moons quaked under the force of the vibrations. Every pulse carried an undeniable message—a cosmic being had just been born.
The star pulsed in time with Kyn's racing heart, its energy now synchronizing with his own. It was as if the universe itself recognized him, acknowledged his existence as something far greater than a mere mortal. The strong, steady beat reverberated through the star system, carrying the weight of a new power.
THUMP! THUMP!
And then, silence.
The heartbeat ceased, leaving a void so vast that it seemed to consume the very stars themselves. Kyn's eyes flickered open, and with the last of his strength, he whispered, "I survived..."
But as he lay there, trembling and drenched in sweat, he couldn't help but wonder: What have I just become?
{100%... Awakening complete. Host, you have unlocked the full power of Kryptonian God Rao. Current mimic: 1/∞. System teleporting Host back...}
And just like that, the core of the star disappeared. The searing heat, the crushing pressure—all of it was gone in an instant.
Kyn collapsed onto the floor of his apartment, more specifically in the bathroom that he left a few hours before he was teleported to the center of a star, drenched in sweat, his body trembling violently. His vision swam, but he was alive.
"I... made it..." he whispered, gasping for breath. His chest heaved, each inhale feeling like a desperate grasp at life itself. His mind, still reeling from the trauma, was a whirlpool of chaos, but exhaustion weighed him down like billions of tons pressing against his eyelids. The world blurred, and he tumbled into unconsciousness, his body so emotionally and physically drained that he slept for eighteen hours straight.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
A loud, relentless pounding echoed through his foggy mind. "What the hell is that noise? Where's it coming from?" His memory, still hazy, began to surface in fractured pieces. "The last thing I remember was... Oh my God!" His eyes flew wide open in a moment of raw, terrifying clarity. "I really was sent to the center of a star... probably the hottest star in the universe!" The realization hit him like a freight train.
As he struggled to pull his thoughts together, another sensation washed over him—an overwhelming flood of sounds. City noises buzzed in his ears: the chatter of voices, the screams for help, the shuffle of footsteps... and then, something more. The tiniest sounds, even the steps of insects, boomed painfully loud. Everything was magnified to an intolerable level. He could hear not millions, but billions of people, all at once—every whisper, every breath, every cry. It was as if the entire world had been amplified to a torturous degree, a bullhorn cranked to its maximum volume blaring directly into his ears.
"HAH! HAH! Why is it so loud?!" he gasped, panic setting in. "Super hearing... it's too much. I can hear everything... the whole world... I'm going to go insane." His heart raced as he struggled to control the chaos in his mind. "Focus, Kyn! Please focus! Or I'll lose it. Focus! Damn it!" He tried to drown out the world by honing in on one sound. "The faucet. Listen to the drip of the water... come on, Kyn, you can do this."
It took minutes—agonizing minutes—but finally, he reined it in. The sounds dimmed, falling into manageable waves. His super hearing, once unbearable, settled. But as soon as one challenge passed, another hit him. His strength surged wildly, and when he realized it, he saw that his hand had crushed the edge of the bathtub. A large chunk of the porcelain lay in his palm, shattered from a careless squeeze. "Damn... this strength... it's insane." He breathed deeply, wrestling with this new power until he felt in control again.
But there was no time to relax. His vision sharpened next—so sharply that the world around him seemed to expand in impossible ways. He blinked and saw astronauts in space, their forms crystal clear. He could see the very atoms that made up their bodies. His gaze shot further, beyond the atmosphere, past planets, until Pluto's desolate surface came into focus. "This... this is incredible," he marveled. But it was too much—again. His super eyesight was overwhelming. Closing his eyes tight, he spent almost ten minutes dialing back the intensity, learning to control it just like his hearing and strength. Only when he was sure he could manage did he open his eyes again, with a newfound ability to activate the nanoscopic, x-ray, or telescopic vision only when he willed it.
At last, the chaos subsided. He took a deep breath, and an electrifying surge of energy flowed through his veins. "I feel... better. No, not just better... I feel invincible." Every cell in his body seemed to hum with an infinite amount of energy, and it felt intoxicating.
After a quick shower, he glanced in the mirror—and froze. The face staring back at him wasn't his… at least, not the one he remembered. "If I rated myself before all this... maybe a solid 8, 9 on a good day," he muttered, narrowing his eyes as he examined every detail. His reflection was unrecognizable. Now, his jawline was chiseled to perfection, his features arranged with such symmetry it bordered on unreal. The sculpted muscles that rippled beneath his skin were like something out of myth. "I'm not joking... this is a 100," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Past human... or devilishly—no, excessively handsome."
He chuckled, though the sound was hollow. The transformation was otherworldly, almost unsettling. But then reality crashed into him. "Damn... walking out like this is going to be a huge problem." He groaned. His new looks alone would cause a spectacle wherever he went. "Face mask... definitely. Maybe a cap too." He tilted his head slightly, catching another detail that made him pause. "Wait... how tall am I now?" He bent down just to see his reflection fully. Where he could once stand comfortably in front of the mirror, now he towered over everything around him, his new height leaving him towering over the bathroom.
With a grin, he ran a hand through his hair. "Guess I'm not just feeling different... I am different."
As he stepped out of the bathroom, his intention was simple: get dressed. But something stopped him in his tracks. Dried blood—splattered across the floor, staining the sheets—caught his eye, and a deep frown settled on his face. The sight alone was unsettling, but now, with his enhanced senses, the smell hit him like a freight train. The coppery tang of dried blood clung to the air, so strong it made him gag.
"Great," he muttered, pinching his nose. "I'm going to have to clean this up."
The thought of cleaning the entire apartment made him sigh, already exhausted by the idea alone. Cobwebs in every corner, layers of dirt, garbage strewn about, and worst of all—the blood. So much filth that it seemed like a full day's job. But he couldn't ignore it. The overwhelming stench, the oppressive mess, and his heightened senses were too much to bear. It was suffocating him, crawling under his skin like an itch he couldn't scratch.
Rolling up his sleeves, he muttered to himself, "Alright, let's get this over with." He filled a bucket with water, the sound of the running faucet echoing unnaturally loud in his ears. Soap swirled in as he grabbed the mop, then garbage bags and rags, his hands moving faster than his mind as he set everything up for what felt like the world's most grueling chore.
But something was off. He didn't realize it at first—not until a gust of wind suddenly swept through the apartment, rattling papers, knocking over a picture frame, and making the curtains billow as if caught in a storm. For a moment, he paused, puzzled, before looking down at his hands.
Then it hit him—he wasn't just cleaning. He was moving so fast that the world around him blurred, every action compressed into a streak of movement. He blinked, disoriented, and before he knew it, he was standing next to a small mountain of garbage bags piled up neatly in the corner. The floor sparkled, the bed was stripped bare and spotless.
The entire apartment had been scrubbed top to bottom.
His eyes widened as the realization struck him. "Wait... what just happened?" he whispered, looking around in disbelief. Something that should've taken him hours had been done in a mere 3 seconds. "I... I used super speed." The words hung in the air as he tried to process it. He had moved faster than he could comprehend, and the power was staggering.
He stood there, marveling at the sheer extent of what he had just done. "These powers..." he murmured, flexing his fingers. The rush of speed, the insane strength, the enhanced senses—it was all so overwhelming. And yet, deep down, he knew this was only the beginning. From the divinity of God Rao, he could feel it: more powers would come. Powers beyond his current comprehension.
But for now, he had to learn control.