"I am sure you’ll find someone better."

Clara spat the words and left the apartment without looking back as though his response didn’t even matter.

Lucien stared blankly at the last half-empty water bottle in front of him, still struggling to process what had just happened.

"Did I regress?" He muttered, more so to himself as he had nobody else to accompany him, not anymore.

Slowly, his eyes regained clarity.

He scrambled up hastily and reached for his phone to check the date.

"April 21, 2030..." he whispered in slight confusion and extreme relief.

Although he already knew it after seeing his girlfriend—or ex-girlfriend — dump him, he still had to confirm it twice to make sure he wasn’t being paranoid.

"I am actually back."

He clenched his fists as relief spread through his veins and with a thud, he sat down on the floor with his frame leaning against the wall.

It would’ve been better if I had regressed before the apocalypse started, but alas. Still, I should be happy with getting a do-over at the very least.

Glancing at the floor-to-ceiling window on his left, all that came into view were tall apartments. The rest below? Already submerged in the Black Water that came from who-knows-where.

Fifteen days ago than the current date, the Black Water rose from cracks in the ground in multiple places at once without any warning.

And before people could even care enough to discuss it, it had already flooded entire subways, stopping the tram system all over the country.

"But it didn’t stop there." Picking up the last bottle of water in his hand, Lucien took a huge gulp and shifted his attention back to the water that had almost reached the third floor of the building.

The Black Water had spread so fast that even the top scientists on Earth couldn’t provide a clear reason behind it.

And just days after it appeared in the subways, some people had already started stockpiling resources crazily, believing it to be the judgment of the gods, while others did it just in case something bad happened and they would have food shortages for a few days.

But a few days turned into more than two weeks, and now most people were eating as little as they could and trying to make the most of their resources. Except for those fanatics of course.

Opening his refrigerator only to find four raw eggs and half a pound of meat, he narrowed his eyes.

He wasn’t a saint who would die while being honest, no. It was far from it.

He had already tasted death at the hands of mutated rats twenty days from now on in the future, and he wasn’t going to let it happen again.

Luckily, he had saved enough money working himself to the bone for three years after graduation just to be able to afford an apartment on the twenty-second floor of this building.

And the reason he did that?

It was due to his ex-girlfriend, Clara.

Ironically, that decision had saved his life.

At least temporarily.

"For me, it was my first love. To her? Just a fling that she decided to end the moment she found out that my resources were thinning out."

Still, experiencing everything that had happened after she dumped him and his death was more than enough for him not to get too hung up on those feelings.

He had things to do.

Awakening took the utmost priority, but trying to get an awakening crystal without a weapon would be suicide.

"I would need something to protect myself first." And the only thing he could find to arm himself with was a crowbar.

He already had a plan in mind for where to get the awakening crystal from, the sixth floor.

Lucien didn’t know the owner of that house, but in his past timeline, that person had already died a few days earlier than the current time after he tried to drink the black water. His corpse was found with a cooking pot still clutched in his hands.

The person who used to live there was rich enough to have advanced fishing gear, which was discovered later by someone else after that man’s death.

Yes. The Black Water was lethal for humans, but opportunities were always present where dangers lurked the most.

And why did he need the fishing gear?

Because left with no other option, some people had tried fishing and consumed mutated fish and other animals, only for many of them to die.

But luckily, a few of them had not only managed to survive but also awaken.

Only later was it found that those who managed to survive had consumed fish that had a small crystal-like orb present inside them.

And one of them was Aiden.

Aiden was one of the earliest humans to not only awaken with a powerful talent but also was the one who had gotten hold of everyone in this building, in the span of half a month to boot.

"The same person she dumped me for."

With determined steps, he exited his bedroom and was about to rush downstairs when a sudden gold-colored panel flared to life before him, startling him so badly that he forgot to breathe for a second. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

[DING!]

[INFINITE GACHA SYSTEM ACTIVATED!]

Lucien stopped dead in his tracks, struggling to believe what was in front of his eyes.

A system?

He had a certain idea of what a system was from his fair share of experience with novels that he liked to binge read whenever he was bored.

Though receiving it himself felt a little surreal.

But when he thought back to the ongoing apocalypse, the awakening, and his regression which couldn’t be explained by any normal means, it wasn’t something he couldn’t accept, not when it was going to benefit him.

With a heart that refused to calm down even for a second, he decided to take a look at it before heading downstairs.

And reading the name, he already had an inkling of what it could provide.

Taking a slow breath, Lucien uttered the trigger word in his head.

System.