Soulless Players

"Where am I?"

Kairo's voice trembled in the darkness that enveloped him. The world around him seemed to pulse and quake. Sometimes, he felt compressed tightly, while at other times, he felt a strange comfort.

Panic clawed at Kairo's chest. He had no idea where he was or who he even was.

He had a lot of questions: Why is he trapped in this suffocating void? Is there a way out?

As Kairo moved and attempted to strike out against the oppressive void, a feminine voice chuckled softly, its melodious tone echoed and wrapped him with total comfort and drowsiness.

The voice then sang a song he didn't know or recognize. Yet, paradoxically, it brought Kairo a sense of ease as though its lyrics were gently patting him to sleep.

A few moments later, a time when Kairo didn't know whether he slept for minutes or days, he was awakened by panicked cries of the same feminine voice he heard the last time. Her voice intertwined with the deep, resonant tones of a man and a few other tones he finds annoying to listen to.

Kairo's eyes snapped open, and in his confusion, he instinctively whispered internally the words, "Open System."

A few seconds later, an ethereal screen suddenly materialized before him. Curious, Kairo tried to reach out, only to have his hand pass through it, hitting a seemingly soft yet infinite darkness.

However, when he touched that dark expanse, the voice of the woman turned even more frightful.

It was at this moment that Kairo had fully awoken and realized the truth: he was an infant, still in his mother's womb. Moreover, as the ethereal screen lit across him, memories of the soulless games instantly flooded into his mind.

He finally recalled his identity, turned his attention to the screen, and read what was written on it.

_________________

Name: Kairo Asher

Story: I am a G-level Hunter and I am the Strongest!

Profession: Awakened Hunter

Level: 0 (0/100)

Stats:

Physique: 0.5

Mental: 15

Mana: 0

Spirit: 0

Attributable Stat Points: 0

Karma:0

Uniqueness: 100% Probability Wish - Active (Unapgradable)

One-time-use ability to forcibly manipulate the player's fate to achieve a desired outcome.

_________________

Kairo fell into a thoughtful silence, trying to make sense of the information he had read. Then, gradually, memories of his past began to resurface in his head.

He had come from a world where supernatural powers were commonplace, and individuals became hunters to combat the ever-emerging dungeons and the monsters within them. Kairo had been an awakened hunter, bearing the F-level skill "Strings of Luck," which allowed him to see the strings that projected the fates of people.

This skill had been invaluable in protecting his team from unexpected danger and lived an easy life on the back of the team.

However, when an SSS gate suddenly emerged and opened, it all changed. The gate threw humanity into chaos and his teammates, whom Kairo initially believed to be his friends, ultimately betrayed him to save their lives.

Kairo waited for his death along with anger and surrender.

However, what he thought would be his death had instead awakened his dormant power, elevating his F-level skill to G-level!

Unbeknownst to him and to other hunters, what they initially thought was the lowest ranking was in fact the strongest. The "G" stood for "God," signifying that those with G-level skills possessed power even greater than SSS-level hunters.

With his newfound abilities, Kairo had closed the gate and earned the title of a hero.

As time went on, he had also met other G-level hunters and formed a team with them. He also learned that the hunter association intentionally misinformed the masses to protect them as there were monsters in human disguise infiltrating their world.

Along with this information, Kairo, with his friends and a girlfriend he didn't know where she came from or how he came to like her, had embarked on a journey to eliminate these threats.

As the story reached its climax, the main antagonist, an H-level being—the highest rank in the power system—had finally arrived to wreak havoc on Earth. It was then that Kairo learned that "H" stood for "Horror," a harbinger of calamity.

Thus, with a love for their motherland, Kairo and his team began to fight this calamity and ultimately won in the end.

However, despite emerging victorious, they suffered from significant casualties. 99% of the world's population was gone and Kairo's team had all died, leaving not even their corporeal bodies behind.

In the end, Kairo had been the last one standing, dealing the fatal blow to the antagonist and, in the process, ascending his G-level skill to H-level.

As Kairo had dealt the final blow to the antagonist, his G-level skill had been elevated to H-level. He was bestowed with the title of Probability Manipulator, giving him control over everything governed by luck and probability. Moreover, he had stolen the antagonist's power, the "Authority of Time and Space."

With powers involving luck, probability, time, and space, Kairo had reversed time, reducing the probability of gates and supernatural abilities appearing to zero, saving Earth from further suffering and returning to its normalcy.

After recounting his past life, Kairo smiled upon seeing his uniqueness.

His unique ability, the one he received, was the same ability he had used in the final moments of his previous life. It was akin to a wish—a wish Kairo was confident that it would make him the strongest.

He didn't bother with its one-time use as he already knew how to make it work.

Thus, without any hesitation, he made a very specific wish:

"Make me, Kairo Asher, the winner of Soulless Game, granting him a soul."

After making the wish, Kairo smiled as he waited patiently to come out from his mother's womb. He thought confidently, 'With this wish, even if I didn't put in an effort, I would still be a winner.'

However, this is where Kaiser made a grave mistake.

This world was different from his previous book world, where all laws revolved around the main character. Here, there were strict laws that every inhabitants had to abide by.

Ding!

Player is tampering with his fate! ■■■■■ woke up from his slumber and gazed at the player.

Ding!

Player is interfering with elements they should not touch!

Ding!

Karma: -100

Ding!

Danger! Danger! Player is at risk of facing death. Please prepare.

Suddenly, the umbilical cord tightened around Kairo's fragile form as he was about to be born. It happened so swiftly that he had no time to react, and his vision reddened as he choked.

Kairo's life was extinguished the moment he emerged into the world. But because he hadn't won the game and acquired a soul, his spirit remained in that state between life and death.

Ding!

Player's uniqueness is activated!

Ding!

The player's luck is forcibly set to 100%.

As Kairo's lifeless baby body was laid to rest underneath the ground, a devil took notice of his peculiar situation and resurrected his lifeless form. The devil then made the baby its subordinate.

Kairo was immensely grateful to the devil and didn't hesitate to serve as its subordinate. After all, being alive was far better than being dead. Besides, the devil only had one wish—to spread legends and horror stories.

Kairo willingly complied, spreading tales of the terrifying baby throughout the town.

However, as he thought everything was going smoothly, his karma suddenly plummeted to -100.

Ding!

The world has noticed someone not abiding by the rules of life and death. Punishment shall be granted to the lawbreaker!

Kairo soon found himself being hunted by a group of people wielding torches, their voices chanting, "Burn the evil! Burn the evil!"

He desperately sought out the devil, but when he returned to their abode, he found the devil dead and a figure of pure white, radiating light, with outstretched wings, holding a long staff.

As Kairo locked eyes with the being of light, his spirit was forcibly ejected from his body and cast into the spirit world.

...

Ding!

Uniqueness activated!

Player's "Tianak" legend has drawn the attention of the citizens. Player's spirit has strengthened and gained consciousness!

...

Ding!

The law does not allow interference with fate!

Karma: -100

...

Ding!

Uniqueness activated!

Player has instinctively opened his cores and entered the dream world, not only with his astral body but also with his spirit. The probability of this happening has changed from 0 to 100!

...

The sequence of events left Kairo utterly drained. While he had been alive, he had remained motionless, controlled by his uniqueness, playing and finding loopholes in the world's laws to keep himself alive. The entity that governed these laws had turned its unrelenting gaze upon Kairo, searching for a way to extinguish this stubborn spark of life.

***

Osuda then smiled at the audience and fixed his hat,

"This was a common pitfall for soulless players, using their abilities without first understanding whether the world held power over their existence. They don't know that in this world, laws governed everything, and everyone had to abide by them."

"If only Kairo had known, he could have wished for his stats to be multiplied by ten or even a hundred. He might still have been able to win the soulless game."

Osuda paused, his smile turned more eerily.

"But no one knew what lay ahead for the player 7, for while the uniqueness was not all-powerful, it still possessed incredible potential that could combat the world's laws."

"And so, the fate of the players remained uncertain—perhaps a certain winner had already emerged, or perhaps..."

Osuda paused once again, allowing the weight of the unknown to hang in the air, inviting the audience's imagination to complete the thought.