Slowly, Adam's eyes opened. He found himself in a completely unfamiliar place. He was still lying down, but there was no ceiling above him, no room around him. Instead, the open sky stretched overhead.
Seeing this, Adam abruptly sat up and then stood. He saw he had been lying on a park bench, and a stiffness was spreading through his back because of it.
Adam looked beside him. His bag was there, along with several books piled next to it. Seeing his belongings confused him for a moment. Then, he remembered what happened before he woke up here. He remembered being killed.
As the realization hit, Adam quickly touched his stomach with both hands, searching for the injury. He looked down at his clothes, then felt around his abdomen again. But there was nothing. His stomach was fine, no sign of any wound. He was completely unharmed.
He looked up at the sky again. The light suggested it was early morning, maybe around 6 AM. Adam didn't own a watch, so he could never be sure of the exact time. He stood up from the bench and looked around the park. There were very few people around at this hour.
Confusion clouded Adam's thoughts. He was sure he hadn't just dreamed of his death; it had felt too real. More memories surfaced. As they returned, a look of fear washed over Adam's face. He brought both hands to his head, clutching it. "No," he muttered, his voice tight with distress.
"No, no, no."
The memories flooded back. He remembered how a rich man's spoiled son, John Walker, and John's powerful father had used all their influence to destroy him and his family. He remembered his parents being killed before he himself died.
His entire life flashed before his eyes. Adam grew up in a village, living with his parents. He had no bad habits; he helped his parents with their traditional farming work and focused on his studies.
Years later, his hard work paid off when he got admitted to a prestigious university, UV Academy. He moved to the city, living in the UV Academy dorms, away from his parents.
But his biggest troubles began there. John Walker, the son of the city's mayor, was in his class. A misunderstanding turned John completely against Adam. John started bullying him at college and eventually used his influence to get Adam expelled from the university.
Adam thought things couldn't get worse, but he was wrong. For years, John used his father's power to prevent Adam from finding any stable job. If Adam managed to find a small job, John would ensure he was fired soon after. Adam wandered the unfamiliar city for years, his situation growing progressively worse.
But the most devastating blow was yet to come. One day, news reached Adam that his home in the village, where his parents lived, along with their fields, had been set ablaze.
His parents hadn't survived. The news reached him a week late. He rushed back to the village, only to find that his parents' final rites had already been performed without him. He never got to see them one last time.
Adam had been completely broken. But John wasn't finished. After years of tormenting Adam, reducing him to wandering the streets with nothing to eat, John finally confronted him.
Along with some old college friends, John beat Adam and then killed him.
All these memories returned vividly. Remembering John's final act, and the reason behind it, Adam spoke in a low voice, fear still evident on his face.
"He killed my parents." He said this because, just before dying, John had confessed that he had found out where Adam's village was and had arranged for his parents to be murdered.
Hearing that confession again in his memory made Adam's eyes widen, then narrow with a burning anger. He wanted to find John, to make him pay for what he did to him and his parents.
But then, Adam took a deep breath. He forced himself to calm down, his fists unclenching slightly.
"No," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "Not yet."
He said this because, looking at his current situation – the park bench, his bag and books beside him, the early morning light – he understood. He remembered this exact scenario.
It had happened 10 years ago, the morning after he was expelled from the university dorms. He had spent the entire night sleeping on this park bench.
Seeing himself here, with his belongings exactly as they were back then, Adam realized he had returned to the past. Ten years earlier. New memories, belonging to the Adam of this current timeline, surfaced in his mind.
They confirmed it: last night, this Adam had been kicked out of his dorm room. With nowhere else to go in the city, he had come to this park and fallen asleep on the bench. He was back.
Adam remained standing before the park bench, his mind racing. Suddenly, something entirely unexpected materialized before him: a transparent, blue window hovering in the air.
Startled, Adam stumbled back a step. "What is this?" he exclaimed, surprise coloring his voice.
The blue window remained steady. Taking a moment to regain his composure, Adam stepped closer, peering at the text displayed within it. He read the words carefully:
[Congratulations!]
[You have traversed a Forbidden Zone: Time Leap.]
[Based on evaluated potential, the Universe grants you a Unique Skill.]
Adam's gaze locked onto the name of the skill provided:
[Unique Skill Acquired: Copy & Paste]
He stared at the words, silent and still for several seconds. Then, a sharp "What?!" escaped him. He instantly clamped his mouth shut, glancing around the park. People were still present, though farther away.
Controlling his reaction, Adam lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper, "Can I… copy things?"
As soon as the words left his lips, a new window appeared:
[Skill: Copy & Paste]
[Effect: Allows the Host to copy any perceived or touched object.]
[Copied objects can be instantaneously Pasted into reality or stored within the Host's Inventory.]
Adam read the details, his eyes widening with astonishment as the implications sank in.
Then, abruptly, the system windows vanished. He looked around frantically, searching the air.
"Where did they go?" he thought. "No, I need to know more. I need to understand this skill." Determined to test it, Adam began scanning the immediate vicinity for a suitable object.
His eyes landed on a man standing a short distance away. The man, seemingly finished with his morning jog, was unscrewing the cap of a bottle filled with an energy drink.
Adam focused his attention intently on the man and, more specifically, the bottle in his hand. In a low murmur, almost subvocalizing, he uttered the command, "Copy."
Immediately, a notification window popped up:
[Copy Successful: 1x Energy Drink Bottle]
Adam felt a jolt of surprise at the confirmation. Without hesitation, he whispered the next command, "Paste."
In an instant, a bottle identical to the one the jogger held materialized in Adam's own hand.
The man nearby took a sip from his drink, oblivious. Adam stared at the bottle in his grasp, utterly stunned.
He brought it closer to his face, examining its details – the label, the liquid inside. "Did I… did I really copy this?" he thought, turning the bottle over in his hands.
Just then, his stomach emitted a loud growl, a sharp reminder that he hadn't eaten since the previous evening.
"Right," Adam mumbled, a note of disappointment in his voice, "I haven't eaten." He twisted the cap off the newly acquired bottle and drank the entire contents in several quick gulps.
He then walked over to a nearby trash bin and tossed the empty plastic bottle inside.
"A cheat skill," he mused quietly. "With this... I can do anything." But before he could formulate any further plans, his attention was caught by movement nearby.
Three young men were approaching, laughing amongst themselves, heading directly towards the bench Adam had just vacated.
They hadn't seen him yet, hidden partially by the morning light and distance, but Adam recognized them instantly. A jolt went through him. "Oh no," he whispered, shocked. "I forgot about them."
Acting purely on instinct, Adam snatched his bag and books from the ground beside the bench.
He scrambled quickly towards a thick cluster of bushes a few paces away and dove behind them, crouching low. Peeking through the leaves, he watched the trio approach.
He remembered this vividly from his previous life. On that morning, after being expelled and waking up on this very bench, these three—friends of John Walker—had found him.
They had beaten him badly. Right now, Adam had no way to fight back or defend himself. Hiding was the only viable action.
He remained concealed as the three young men stopped directly in front of the now-empty bench. From his hiding spot just meters away, Adam watched and listened.
"Hey, you said the loser was here," one of them complained, looking around. "I don't see anyone."
Another one, slightly shorter than the others, chimed in, "I swear, I saw him sleeping right here just a little while ago. I figured I'd grab you guys first, then we could teach him a lesson, let off some steam. I didn't think he'd scram so fast."
The third young man sighed audibly. "Relax," he said. "How far could he get? He's got nowhere to go. Probably hasn't gone far. Come on, let's check the streets just outside the park."
The other two nodded in agreement, exchanged smirks, and the three of them turned and walked briskly away from the bench, heading out of the park.