The sky turned black. The screams started. And the world stopped playing by human rules. Adistira should have died. Yet amid the chaos, a barefoot child calling himself the Observer showed him a memory that wasn't his, proof of a promise older than Adistira's own life. Torn from Earth and thrown into Astal, Adistira learns the System's first rule: power isn't earned—it's bought. Every level costs a piece of his soul. Every Skill is carved from who he already was. A countdown he never agreed to is already running. No second chances. No safety net. Levels and stats mean nothing if he fails even once. His only goal: find the family the System tore from him. Something ancient, starving, older than the gods themselves, has already noticed him. Something the System doesn't track chips away with every level he clears. Adistira grows stronger by the day — and less himself. Whatever he becomes, someone he loves