The world dissolved into a blinding white. Not the white of a hospital room, or the pearly gates of some imagined heaven, but a pure, featureless void. Kazuya Shirai felt… nothing. No pain, no fear, no regret. Just a profound sense of detachment. He vaguely remembered the screech of tires, the deafening impact, and the crimson stain spreading across his vision. Truck-kun, as the internet would call it, had claimed another victim. A rather cliché end to a thoroughly unremarkable life.
He had been a university student, majoring in something he couldn't even recall at the moment. His days had been a monotonous cycle of lectures, part-time jobs, and solitary evenings spent playing video games or browsing the web. He wasn't unhappy, per se, just… indifferent. Apathy was his default setting.
"Welcome," a voice echoed, devoid of any discernible gender or emotion. It wasn't a sound that reached his ears, but rather a presence that resonated within his… consciousness? He supposed he still had one of those.
Kazuya, or what remained of him, attempted to speak, but found he had no mouth. He tried to look around, but there was nothing to see. He was simply a point of awareness in an infinite expanse of nothingness.
"You have died," the voice continued, stating the obvious. "However, your journey does not end here. Due to… certain circumstances… you have been selected for a unique opportunity."
A pause. Kazuya waited, not with anticipation, but with a mild curiosity. What 'unique opportunity' could possibly await a disembodied soul?
"You will be reincarnated in another world. A world of magic, monsters, and… a System."
The word "System" sparked a flicker of something within Kazuya. It was a term he was familiar with from countless light novels, manga, and games. A gamified reality? Intriguing.
"As a… gift… you will be granted a unique System. The Devour System."
Another pause, this one longer, pregnant with unspoken significance.
"It will allow you to… grow… in ways others cannot. It will allow you to consume… and become stronger." The voice almost seemed to hesitate before the word "consume," a subtle shift that Kazuya, in his heightened state of awareness, picked up on.
"Do you accept?"
Kazuya didn't hesitate. His previous life held no attachments, no lingering regrets. This new world, with its promise of a "System," offered… something. A potential escape from the crushing boredom of existence.
His assent was silent, but the voice seemed to understand.
"Very well. Your new life begins… now."
The white void imploded, and Kazuya felt a sensation of falling, of being compressed, reshaped. He was plunged into darkness, then…
He was small. Helpless. He could feel the warmth of another body pressed against him, the rhythmic thump of a heart that wasn't his own. He opened his eyes, blurry and unfocused, and saw a woman's face, lined with exhaustion but radiant with love. He was an infant.
*Rayden,* a name whispered in his mind, not by the voice of the Administrator, but by the woman holding him. His new name. He felt the instinctive urge to cry, but even that was muted, a weak whimper that barely escaped his lips.
Over the next few years, Rayden grew. But he grew *differently*. He was unnaturally quick to learn, to walk, to talk. He absorbed information like a sponge, devouring knowledge with the same unsettling intensity he would later display towards… other things.
He was also strangely… detached. He felt little emotion, observing the world with a cold, analytical gaze. He saw his "parents," the villagers of Elden, as resources, data points. He felt no love, no familial bond. Only a cool assessment of their usefulness.
Then, on his eighth birthday, everything changed. He was playing in the woods near the village, chasing a small field mouse. He caught it, a clumsy grab that snapped the creature's neck. As he held the lifeless body, a strange sensation washed over him. A pull, a hunger. And then, a flood of information:
[Devour System Activated]
[Field Mouse (Deceased) Acquired]
[Analyzing…]
[+0.1 Strength, +0.1 Agility, +0.1 Vitality]
[Skill Acquired: Bite (Level 1)]
A translucent window, shimmering like heat haze, appeared before his eyes. A Status Window. The System. Real.
Rayden stared at the window, a flicker of something that might have been excitement, or perhaps just cold calculation, in his eyes. He felt a slight increase in his physical capabilities, a subtle shift in his perception. He bit his lip, a small, sharp pain. *Bite (Level 1)
He looked down at the dead mouse. The hunger returned, stronger this time. He hesitated for only a moment, then, with a clinical detachment that would have chilled any observer to the bone, he began to eat. He *devoured*. This world, he understood, was a game. And he was going to win.