Chapter 52: GOD ROLL, The Body Breaks

Alvian set his feet firmly on the melting stones. His Clearwater Coating flared across his skin at full power. His hands squeezed into tight fists. Every muscle in his body braced for what was coming.

The wheel shattered.

A billion rainbow pieces hung in the air. Then they collapsed inward, a reverse blast of light and sound, pulling together into a single spot.

Straight onto Alvian.

The alley went pure white.

[DING!]

[JACKPOT. 10,000X MULTIPLIER.]

[Gambler’s Delay Pool: 43,880 base EXP × 10,000 = 438,800,000 EXP.]

Then the EXP hit his body.

Every cell locked as dimensional energy flooded his fibers, vessels, and nerves, driving his Flesh Limit to scream in protest.

His body should have burst.

[Emergency Protocol engaged.]

[Absorbing excess EXP to Bank.]

[Current intake rate: 2,000,000 EXP per second.]

[Estimated time to complete absorption: 219 seconds.]

[Host body experiencing moderate stress.]

[VIT threshold expansion recommended.]

"Moderate stress" was the worst lie the System had ever told him.

Capillaries burst and skin cracked as blood wept from his pores in thin red lines, his vibrating bones pushed to the brink.

His muscles tore and reknit in real time. The EXP forced cellular destruction and regeneration simultaneously. His body was being taken apart and put back together at the same time, over and over, thousands of times per second.

Alvian screamed.

A wild, painful sound echoed down the narrow alley. Bouncing off the stone walls, it sounded so strange that he did not know it was his own voice.

Watching from behind the dumpster, Serah saw a huge jump in energy on her pad. The device tried to restart, but the power was too strong, and it crashed again immediately.

The readings were higher than anything her pad could measure. The energy signature did not match any known Talent classification in any database on the continent.

Her hands shook as she whispered, "What is happening to him?" Her mind was full of fear because she knew this should be impossible.

The System kept working.

It focused on VIT, the main stat for the Flesh Limit. Each point of VIT let his body safely take in about 100 more EXP. More EXP meant more level-ups, which gave more stat points to put back into VIT.

An endless cycle of growth spun faster and faster inside his breaking body.

[Level up! Level 32 → 33.]

[VIT +12. Threshold expanded.]

[Level up! Level 33 → 34.]

[Level up! Level 34 → 35.]

The alerts blurred together, and Alvian stopped reading.

At 43 seconds, his heart stopped.

For four silence-filled seconds, no blood or oxygen moved. By any doctor’s rule, he was dead, but EXP kept his brain working on pure energy.

The System disagreed.

[Cardiac arrest detected. EXP-sustained vitals active.]

[Forcing cardiac restart in 3... 2... 1...]

THUMP.

His heart restarted, hurting even more than when it stopped. Thick blood pushed through his broken vessels and bones.

His body was changing fast. His lean muscles grew thicker and stronger than any real training could cause. His bones hardened, and his skin became tough with a faint, shiny glow.

His shoulders grew wider, and his posture straightened. Light leaked through his closed eyelids, making Serah let out a small, scared sound.

Minutes passed. The alley stayed quiet, except for the terrible sounds of his body rebuilding and the constant noise of system alerts.

[Level up! Level 47 → 48.]

[Level up! Level 48 → 49.]

[Level up! Level 49 → 50.]

[Allocation phase entering final stage.]

At exactly 219 seconds after the God Roll hit, it stopped.

[DING!]

[God Roll processing complete.]

╔══════════════════════════════╗

║ LEVEL: 32 → 50

║ STR: 40 → 110

║ AGI: 38 → 102

║ VIT: 68 → 280

║ INT: 22 → 65

║ Essence: 1 → 100

║ EXP Bank: ~110,000,000

║ Fate’s Loaded Dice: CONSUMED

╚══════════════════════════════╝

[WARNING: Probability anomaly registered by local reality.]

[The World Will’s attention has escalated to ACTIVE MONITORING.]

Alvian opened his eyes to a changed world. With his new INT stat, his mind moved so fast he could count cracks in the wall and see tiny dust floating in the air.

He felt strong, healthy, and ready for fight or flight. His health was completely full, and his new, heavy body cracked the stone floor just by standing up. The dry blood on his skin flaked away as he healed.

Before thinking about his new power, his first thought was checking on Serah and Tobias behind the dumpster.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a rough voice.

Serah stepped out from behind the dumpster, staring at him in shock. "Your eyes were glowing," she said, running out of words. "Your skin cracked, and your heart stopped... then you just..."

"I’m okay," Alvian said.

He walked to Tobias, who was breathing slowly against the door frame. Alvian knelt beside him. "Tobias. Can you hear me?"

"Boy?" the old man asked weakly. "What happened? I saw stars in the alley."

"Later," Alvian replied. "We need to move."

He checked his glowing status panel one last time.

Level 50. VIT 280. Essence 100. EXP Bank: 110,000,000. World Will: ACTIVE MONITORING.

The numbers were huge, a Level 50 with high stats in the body of a poor teenager.

Underneath that power, thin cracks spread through the stone like veins around his feet. The air looked wavy, even though it was not hot. The world itself was growing weak in this spot.

[Dimensional stability: LOCALIZED ANOMALY DETECTED.]

[The God Roll’s energy release has stressed the dimensional bedrock.]

[Recommendation: Leave the area immediately.]

With his high intelligence, Alvian could see the space below Vaeloria breaking apart. Stat points and EXP could not fix this damage.

He picked up Tobias with one arm, as if the old man weighed nothing. He held out his other hand to Serah.

She looked at it for a moment, then took it.

"Let’s go home," he said.

They did not get far before the extra energy caught up with him.

His body held too much energy left over from all the EXP. His cells could not hold it, and it built up like steam in a closed box.

Suddenly, a bright beam of golden, starry light blasted up into the sky.

WHOOSH.