His thoughts spiraled, flashing between his career, his fans, the life he’d built.

"And now... now I’m just here? Like the game swallowed me whole?"

[This world reflects the same design, and your mastery grants you access to the system interface. As a top-ranked player of Dead World Online , you carry expectations.]

"Expectations, huh? Figures. Even when I’m dead, someone still wants me to perform."

[Think of it as a survival adaptation. Your experience is now your advantage. Some functions will remain active to aid you, but only in limited form. Every decision, every consequence, will be real.]

"So no second chances. No pause, no reset. If I die again here... that’s it. Maybe I’ll just end up as another one of your zombies, wandering the streets I used to clear in the game."

[This grants you the game mechanic starting to... Quick Menu.]

[Say "Quick Menu" to access your personal interface.]

Sid straightened his back, puffed out his chest like he was about to start another stream. He cleared his throat with exaggerated formality.

"Alright... ahem! Quick Menu!"

The air shimmered once more, and this time a large, translucent panel slid into existence before him. It was the game’s UI rebuilt in front of his eyes. Tabs hovered neatly across the top: Profile, Inventory, Skills, Quest Log.

"No way... I actually have a HUD. This is insane!"

The first tab glowed brighter, he tried to click it just like in the game and it opened. The Quick Menu had opened his status.

His eyes locked onto his own figure. A full 3D model of him rotated slowly in the center of the screen, down to the scuff on his sneakers and the torn edge of his T-shirt. Sid tilted his head, watching the model mimic him perfectly in real time.

"Holy cow... it’s literally me. Not an avatar, not my old character skin. Just... me."

Next to the model, text lined up in clean rows:

[PROFILE]

Name: Sid Wilder

HP: 100/100

Stamina: 100/100

Race: Human

Age: 22

Job: Pro Game Streamer

Physique: 185 cm / 74 kg

Sid blinked at the details, his jaw tightening as he read them twice. His height, his weight, even his job, it wasn’t a character sheet. It was his real life written out in stats in a game.

Every number matched perfectly, down to the profile he had bragged about during interviews. For a moment he just stared, caught between disbelief and awe.

Then a nagging thought tugged at him. He leaned closer, eyes narrowing at the lines on the panel. Something was missing. Something that should have been there.

"No. That’s not right. The job slot... that’s supposed to be my rank. Legend. The highest title I earned, the one thing I actually took pride in."

In Dead World Online , that slot was never called "job." It was his rank. The mark of everything he had worked for, proof of how far he had climbed. And for him, it was always "Legend," the highest rank anyone could reach.

He remembered the rush of unlocking it, the celebration, the flood of congratulations from millions of fans. His title wasn’t just game achievement. It was who he was.

[Because you have been consumed in the game, your progress has been reset.]

"Oh sh*t, yeah... that zombie bride. The one who started everything. She ate me in the game, and now I’m back at zero."

[Do not be concerned. What you lost in title has been replaced with truth. Your "job" reflects who you are in the world you came from. What matters is what you build here. If you wish to move forward, open the next tab... the Skills menu.]

Sid exhaled slowly, his thumb hovering in the air before he swiped to the next tab. The Skills menu unfolded, glowing faintly in front of him.

Rows of boxes appeared, most of them grayed out, locked behind invisible walls of progress. But at the very top, one skill pulsed faintly with color, as if waiting for him to notice.

[SKILLS]

[HUD Overlay]

[Description: Unlocks a minimal game interface overlaying reality. Blink twice to activate or by saying the skill’s name.]

"No way... that’s—oh my god, that’s perfect."

His finger hovered over the text before tapping it. A confirmation flickered, and he hesitated only a second before shutting his eyes. He blinked twice.

And there it was.

A clean, faint overlay appeared in the corner of his vision, just like in the game. Two slim bars floated there: one red, one yellow. Representing his health and stamina. Sid tilted his head, testing it as if trying on new glasses.

"Holy crap... this is actually real. I can see my HP. My stamina bar, too. This... this changes everything."

He reached up instinctively, like he could grab the overlay and move it, but it shifted with his vision, always fixed to his perspective. Sid chuckled, the sound shaky but genuine.

"Alright then... at least I won’t die blind this time. Back on Earth, I never even saw my HP dropping to zero. That seizure hit out of nowhere."

[To disable HUD Awareness, blink twice again. You may activate or deactivate it at will.]

"So it’s like toggling a stream overlay. Got it."

He blinked twice more, and just like that, the bars vanished from his vision. The world felt bare again, strangely emptier without the display floating there. He tested it once more, flickering it on and off like a light switch, and smirked.

"Alright... that’s clean. That’s real clean."

The Skills menu shifted again, another entry glowing faintly beneath the first.

[RNGesus Blessing (Streamer Luck) (Passive)] [Description: Reality bends in your favor, granting a high chance of encountering rare opportunities. These appear in your vision with Sparkling Gold or a shifting rainbow spectrum , depending on their rarity, making them instantly recognizable as special.]

"Oh, no way... streamer luck is actually a skill?!"

He burst out laughing, the skill catching him completely off guard.

"Back home, people always said I was blessed with stupid drops. First try rare loot, one-in-a-thousand pulls, always on stream. And now? It’s literal. The game actually turned RNGesus into a real mechanic for me."

He swiped his hand down, excitement bubbling in his chest.

"This... this could be insane. No wasting time looting garbage, no praying for hours. If there’s something special nearby, I’ll know. Hell, it’s practically cheat codes, but baked in."

His grin spread wider as he imagined it: golden-outlined weapons shining from the rubble, hidden caches glowing like treasure chests.

"Man... if the fans could see this now, they’d lose their minds."