Chapter 1: The Death of a Nobody

The air was thick with the scent of instant noodles and cold coffee. The flickering light in the tiny apartment cast eerie shadows on the cluttered desk where Lin Tian sat hunched over, eyes red from exhaustion. His fingers trembled as they danced over the keyboard, submitting yet another assignment due in less than an hour.

"Just one more..." he mumbled, his voice barely a whisper.

His head pounded like a war drum. His stomach growled, but he had long learned to ignore hunger. His body was screaming for rest, but sleep was a luxury he couldn't afford. Between university, three part-time jobs, and the never-ending pile of work, Lin Tian had forgotten what it meant to live.

"Money… I need more money…"

His vision blurred. He shook his head, trying to refocus, but the words on the screen twisted and melted together. His breath hitched. His chest tightened.

Then—darkness.

Lin Tian didn't remember falling. He didn’t remember hitting the ground.

All he knew was that he was standing in a vast, infinite void. A place where time, space, and reality blended into nothingness. It was neither hot nor cold, neither bright nor dark.

And yet, he felt aware.

"Am I... dreaming?"

His voice echoed, yet it was swallowed by the emptiness.

Then, without warning—

[Beep!]

A crisp mechanical sound rang in his ears, followed by a translucent blue screen appearing before his eyes.

> [World Cultivation System Booting…]

[Scanning Host’s Soul…]

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[Host’s Death Confirmed. Cause: Extreme Fatigue & Organ Failure.]

[Evaluating Potential…]

[Suitable Host Found.]

[Initializing Binding Process…]

Lin Tian’s breath hitched.

"Wait... what?"

His mind raced. He should be dead. His body had finally given up, hadn’t it? Was this some kind of hallucination? Or was this what came after death?

[Beep!]

> [Binding Complete! Welcome, Host Lin Tian!]

[You have been chosen as a World Cultivator, a being capable of creating, shaping, and ruling entire worlds.]

[The journey begins now.]

Before Lin Tian could process anything, the void around him shattered.

A rush of wind howled past his ears. His stomach lurched as he felt himself plummeting—falling through an endless abyss. His body twisted, weightless, as if the universe itself had tossed him aside.

Then—impact.

Lin Tian hit the ground with a force that sent cracks splintering through the earth beneath him. Dust and debris clouded his vision as pain wracked his body. He groaned, slowly pushing himself up.

The first thing he noticed was the sky—an eerie shade of crimson with swirling black clouds. The land around him was barren, desolate, and lifeless. Craggy mountains stretched into the horizon, and the air was thick with a strange, suffocating energy.

Lin Tian’s heart pounded.

"Where the hell am I?"

A soft chime echoed in his mind.

[Welcome to Unnamed Abandoned World.]

> World Status:

Grade: Rank 0 (Dead World)

Core Status: Severely Damaged

Resources: None

Lifeforms: None

> System Notice:

This world has no owner. Would you like to claim it as your own?

Lin Tian’s eyes widened.

A world? A whole damn world?

For a brief moment, he wondered if he had lost his mind. But everything—the pain, the cold ground beneath his fingers, the strange energy in the air—felt too real to be a dream.

His gaze fell on the desolate land stretching before him. The idea of owning an entire world was absurd. But… if he really had died and been reborn, if he had truly been chosen as a World Cultivator—

Then this was his new reality.

He took a deep breath.

"...Claim."

[World Binding in Progress…]

A deep, resonant pulse rippled through the land. The ground trembled beneath his feet. The very air seemed to vibrate as an unseen force wrapped around him, connecting him to something vast and ancient.

Then—power.

Raw, untamed energy flooded his body, seeping into his very soul. His mind expanded, his senses stretching beyond human limitations. He could feel the land beneath him, hear the whispers of the dying world, sense the remnants of something ancient and broken lingering in its core.

[World Successfully Bound.]

> Host: Lin Tian

World Name: ???

World Status: Rank 0 (Dead World)

Core Status: Critical (Repair Needed)

[New Quest: Restore the World's Core.]

A wave of exhaustion washed over him, but Lin Tian grinned.

For the first time in his life, he wasn’t a nobody drowning in debt, slaving away for a system that didn’t care if he lived or died.

No.

He was now the ruler of this world.

And this… was just the beginning.