I Am a Hero With A Hundred Abilities-Chapter 4: Ch 3. New World

Ethan sat frozen, staring at the darkened phone screen. His thoughts were a chaotic storm, disbelief mixing with frustration.

So the reason I was brought here... was because of a lover's quarrel?

A harsh scoff escaped his lips.

The previous Ethan had his heart broken, got cheated on, and decided the best solution was to erase himself.

Fine.

That was his choice. But why the hell did he have to drag Ethan's soul into this mess?

Ethan clenched his fists. He didn't care that the guy got cucked—that was his problem. But his soul? That was his.

He exhaled sharply, forcing himself to calm down. Getting annoyed wouldn't solve anything.

The damage was done. The real issue now was figuring out how to move forward.

His brow furrowed.

The old Ethan hadn't even bothered to leave any information for him.

No notes, no hints, nothing about the world he was now stuck in. Not even a basic explanation.

At first, Ethan was irritated by that. But after a moment, he realized—it actually made sense.

If a person on Earth lost their memories, they wouldn't forget how to walk, speak, or use a phone.

The old Ethan must have assumed the same thing. He thought that even if he forgot his past, he'd still retain basic common sense about the world.

What he didn't realize...

Was that he wouldn't just lose his memories. He had ripped his own soul out and replaced it with someone from another world.

To the previous Ethan, leaving general knowledge seemed unnecessary. To the new Ethan?

It was a critical mistake.

Luckily, he had the internet.

Ethan sat on the edge of his bed, his phone glowing in his hands as he scrolled through article after article, absorbing every detail he could find about this world—the "New World."

The name sounded almost ironic. New? Maybe 300 years ago, before everything went to hell. But now? It was a world built on the ashes of catastrophe.

Three centuries ago, this world was just like Earth. A place of nations, governments, and ordinary people living their lives.

Until it wasn't.

The change came without warning.

From the depths of black pits—vast, yawning portals with no discernible end—emerged the Dread Beasts.

They weren't just monsters. They were walking calamities.

Some were towering horrors, with twisted limbs and soulless eyes that devoured anything in sight.

Others were shapeless masses of writhing flesh, constantly mutating as they tore through entire cities.

Some took humanoid forms, but their bodies were grotesque distortions of life, with chitinous armor, bone-like protrusions, and too many eyes watching from unnatural places.

They poured out like a plague, forming Dens—territories they claimed as their own, where the land itself rotted and twisted under their presence.

Their invasion was absolute.

No army could stand against them. Cities burned. Continents fell. What had taken centuries to build crumbled in a matter of three years.

Humanity was on the brink of extinction.

Until they fought back.

The turning point came with the discovery of Aether-Factors—a rare genetic anomaly present in only one year of a person's life: their 16th year.

Scientists worked desperately, creating the Super Serum—a formula that, when injected into someone with an Aether Factor, could awaken latent abilities.

Thus, the first Heroes were born.

And they pushed back.

Dens were destroyed. Territories were reclaimed. Slowly, the tide of war shifted.

And after 20 years of brutal conflict, the war reached a point where humanity was no longer fighting for survival—but for dominance.

With governments all but destroyed, a new power rose to take their place—the Hero Association.

It became the absolute authority, overseeing everything related to heroes, from their training to their deployment.

Hero Academies were built in every major city, designed to find 16-year-olds with Aether Factors and train them before they awakened their Aethermarks at 18.

Because the moment someone awakened, their future potential was locked.

When a person fully absorbed the Super Serum, their Aethermark formed—a mystical symbol that acted as both a status interface and a power limiter.

Their rank at awakening determined everything.

E-Rank (Forsaken) – 1 Ability

D-Rank (Aspirant) – 3 Abilities

C-Rank (Valiant) – 5 Abilities

B-Rank (Champion) – 7 Abilities

A-Rank (Paragon) – 9 Abilities

S-Rank (Mythic) – 12 Abilities

Legendary-Rank (Ascendant) – 15 Abilities

Mystic-Rank (Transcendent) – 18 Abilities

The higher the rank, the more abilities you could wield, the stronger your potential, and the greater your future.

Those who awakened at Legendary or Mystic ranks were treated as walking gods. They became the backbone of human civilization.

Those who awakened at E-Rank?

Discarded.

Their potential was crippled from the start. No matter how hard they trained, they could never reach the heights of higher-ranked heroes.

And Ethan?

He had awakened as an E-Rank.

A Forsaken.

Thrown Into a World on "Hell Difficulty."

Ethan let out a slow breath, rubbing his temples.

This was worse than he thought.

Reincarnating into another world? Sure, he could deal with that. He'd seen enough anime and novels to roll with it.

But getting reborn into a world where humanity was constantly at war with monstrosities?

And on top of that—being stuck with the worst possible awakening rank, doomed to be powerless?

That was straight-up Hell Difficulty.

****

Ethan sat motionless on the bed, staring at the glowing screen of his phone, still digesting everything.

The world he now lived in, the war, the hierarchy, the fact that his future potential had already been decided the moment he awakened—it was a lot.

Then, suddenly—a sharp ringing sound.

It wasn't his phone.

He turned his head towards the source—the hotel landline. The old-fashioned wired phone sat on the desk, its small screen flashing with an incoming call.

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Ethan hesitated for a moment before picking it up.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Ethan, this is the front desk," a polite voice said on the other end. "We're calling to inform you that your stay is scheduled to end in one hour. Will you be extending your booking?"

Ethan blinked. Right. The old Ethan had only booked one night.

That meant he had to leave.

For a second, an image of Sophia flashed in his mind—the warm, intimate feeling of her beside him last night.

His face heated up slightly, but he quickly shook it off and cleared his throat.

"No, I won't be extending," he said.

"Understood. We hope you enjoyed your stay."

With a soft click, the call ended.

Ethan put the receiver back down and let out a slow breath. Guess it was time to go home.

He pushed himself off the bed and headed straight for the bathroom.

By the time he stepped out of the shower, his mind was clearer. He quickly dried off, dressed, and grabbed his phone.

A few taps on his phone led him to an address saved under "Home" in the maps app. An apartment complex in the city.

Not bad.

Pocketing his phone, he slung a jacket over his shoulders and headed out the door.

The moment Ethan stepped out of the hotel, he froze.

His eyes widened as he took in the breathtaking sight before him.

The city stretched out in every direction, filled with massive, sleek skyscrapers that seemed to reach into the clouds.

But unlike the concrete jungles of Earth, these buildings were lined with glowing blue circuits, their surfaces pulsing softly like living veins of energy.

The roads were completely free of old-fashioned cars—instead, the air buzzed with Hover Taxis, private levitating vehicles, and streamlined public transports gliding soundlessly above the streets.

At the sidewalks, people moved with ease, some walking normally, while others used gravity skates that let them hover just above the ground.

Holographic signs flickered in the air, advertising advanced tech, Hero Academies, and Aether-enhancing supplements.

Ethan let out a low breath.

This was his new life now.

A world that had suffered catastrophe, yet advanced to levels far beyond anything he had seen on Earth.

He had no choice but to get used to it.

Snapping out of his awe, he raised his hand and signaled a Hover Taxi.

A sleek, metallic vehicle descended smoothly from above, its doors sliding open automatically.

Ethan stepped inside, sitting on the soft, synthetic leather seats that molded to his form the moment he sat down.

"Destination?" the driver asked, turning slightly to look at him.

Ethan quickly read the address from his phone.

"250 Skyward Towers."

The driver nodded, inputting the coordinates.

"That'll be 200 credits."

Ethan's eyes flicked to the scanner on the dashboard—a biometric payment system.

He leaned forward slightly, and the scanner registered his face.

Payment complete.

"Alright, we're off," the driver said, gripping the controls.

With a gentle hum, the Hover Taxi lifted into the air and shot forward, merging into the stream of floating vehicles.

As the city rushed past him, Ethan exhaled deeply.

For better or worse—

He was finally going home.