The aroma of instant ramen and the blue light of the screen were Alex's usual companions. It was almost three in the morning, and her eyes, though tired, were glued to the latest episode of "Isekai Harem."
It wasn't her favorite, but the plot had gotten interesting with the heroine discovering a new power.
"Come on, idiot! Use the summoning skill now!" she muttered, pushing the screen with her index finger as if that would speed up the page loading.
The protagonist, a generic guy with supernatural luck, was about to be crushed by a rock golem. Alex felt a familiar pang in her chest, something her doctor had called "anxiety due to too much caffeine and lack of sleep." Or so she said.
Suddenly, the pang sharpened. It wasn't her typical one. It spread, burning and constricting, throughout her chest. The air seemed to be sucked out of her lungs. Her breathing became erratic, a stifled gasp that barely allowed her to take in a trace of oxygen.
The computer screen blurred, the colors blending in a psychedelic whirlwind.
His trembling hand clutched his shirt, wrinkling it. He fell sideways in his swivel chair, the monitor reflecting light off his pale, sweaty face. A deafening buzzing filled his ears, drowning out the faint sound of the game's music still playing in the background.
The last seconds of his life faded away amid the smell of cold ramen, the distorted image of a manga hero about to die, and the growing darkness.
And then, nothing.
Silence was the first thing he noticed. A thick, deep silence that enveloped him like a heavy blanket. Then, the cold. A damp cold that chilled his bones, very different from the air conditioning in his room.
When he tried to open his eyes, the light was a blinding sting, a bright sun filtering through what looked like leaves.
Confused, Alex blinked several times, his mind struggling to comprehend. He wasn't in his room. He wasn't in his chair. He was lying on something soft and dewy, the scent of earth and wild vegetation filling his nostrils.
He sat up, dizzy, and what he saw left him speechless. A forest. Not the park near his house, but a dense, ancient forest, with trees so tall their canopies were lost in the sky. The sun, larger and oranger than normal, barely broke through the leaves.
"What... what the hell...?" he muttered, his voice sounding strange in the fresh air.
At that instant, a robotic voice, but with a feminine tinge, echoed directly into his mind. It wasn't a voice he heard with his ears, but one he felt, clear and concise, as if it had been implanted in his own brain.
[Welcome, host! The Milf System has been activated.]
Alex staggered back, falling face first into the wet grass. "Who are you?! What is this?!"
[Host : Alex. Status: Confused. Location: Unknown. Objective: Survive and conquer all the milfs. Your unique skill has been granted.]
A translucent blue screen floated before his eyes, visible only to him. On it, glowing letters detailed his status:
[Name: Alex]
[Race: Human]
[Level: 1]
[Class: No Class Assigned]
[HP: 100/100]
[MP: 50/50]
[UniqueSkill: SSS Multiplier (x100)]
[Description: All base stats gained, as well as experience and loot, will be multiplied by 100.]
Alex blinked. "A milf system? A x100 multiplier?" he said in shock and euphoria.
His mind, despite the shock, began to process the information with unprecedented speed. He had read countless mangas and isekai novels. He knew what this meant.
"Am I... am I in a fantasy world? Did I die and reincarnate?" he asked, more to himself than to the system.
[Affirmative, host. His death from cardiac arrest in the previous world allowed for his transmigration]
A cardiac arrest. The image of the manga on the screen, the pang in his chest. Now everything fit together with cold logic. He was dead. And now, reborn in a world that seemed ripped straight from the stories he loved so much. But this time, he was the protagonist. And he had an ability that made him infinitely more powerful from the start.
"SSS Multiplier… x100," he repeated, feeling a mixture of terror and euphoria. With this, anything he did would be magnified. Could a simple rock be worth a hundred rocks? Could a weak blow be devastating? The possibilities were… overwhelming and endless.
He looked around again. The forest looked identical, but now he saw it through different eyes. It wasn't just a landscape; it was a world filled with dangers and opportunities. And he, Alex, the former exotic manga reader, had the ultimate tool to conquer everything this new world threw at him.