Global Abyss: My Skills Can Enhance Infinitely Chapter 1 - 1 Awakening Memory

Neon lights illuminated the streets, where scantily-clad women paraded past traffic lights at zebra crossings, even as reckless dump trucks tore through the night.

Beep~~

The shrill blast of a horn shattered the dream. Tao Yu jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat and struggling to catch his breath.

A damp, musty stench lingered in the air, a scent that grounded Tao Yu as he slowly regained his consciousness.

It was that same recurring nightmare—so vivid that the boundary between illusion and reality began to blur.

He found himself caught between two identities: Tao Yu, the corporate worker from the twenty-first century, and the eighteen-year-old Tao Yu of the outer city. The lines were fading.

Over the years, this dream had visited him periodically, but as his eighteenth birthday—the day of his awakening—neared, the frequency had spiked. For the past month, it had claimed his sleep every single night.

Initially, he brushed it off as stress-induced hallucinations tied to the upcoming awakening. Yet, as more memories surfaced, the systematic and coherent nature of these recollections proved they were far from mere imaginings.

According to the motifs found in the novels within his dream-memories, this was surely a reincarnation into another dimension.

He recalled the tranquil, warm, and beautiful world from those memories, then looked around at his cramped, humid room. He stared at a bed constructed from bricks and planks, an asbestos ceiling stained with grime, and windows patched together with cardboard.

Tao Yu went blank.

Through the fissures in the cardboard covering his window, he observed the oppressive blackness outside. He listened to the howling wind and caught faint, indistinct whispers that left his heart heavy.

A solitary oil lamp sat on his bedside table. Its flame, feeble as a soybean, cast a flickering, hazy glow that hit the windowpane and stopped dead, as if it dared not venture into the darkness beyond.

The shifting shadows, danced to the rhythm of the dying flame, making the room seem alive, yet teetering on the edge of complete darkness.

"Is there truly a peaceful world where everyone has meat to eat..."

After eighteen years in this existence, those past-life memories, once so ingrained, now felt like relics from another lifetime.

Everything he had taken for granted back then was a luxury—a mere fantasy—in this harsh reality!

Why couldn't his former self have arrived in that world instead?

With the grueling combat and survival training he had endured for nearly two decades, he could have easily flourished as a bodyguard or become a wealthy live-in son-in-law in that twenty-first-century metropolis.

The Abyss.

It hovered like a Sword of Damocles over every citizen, representing the ultimate end of all things.

No one could recall exactly how long this world had been held in the Abyss's sights.

Based on the fragmentary knowledge Tao Yu possessed, when the encroachment first began, the world's will awakened, bestowing individuals with the power of resistance.

Only through Pioneers, who braved the fragments of realms within the Abyssal Rift to scavenge Yuan Force, could the world continue to sustain its life.

The details were lost to time, but the grey fog of the Abyss had relentlessly pushed humanity into crumbling cities and fortified shelters.

Communication between cities was largely severed; only by following the Lamp of Will could one navigate the treacherous fog, maintaining the barest shreds of connection.

The Flame of Civilization—which pushed back the fog—and the mandatory awakening ceremony on one's eighteenth birthday were the final legacies gifted by the will of the world.

Giggle, giggle~

A distant rooster crowed in the darkness. As if triggered by the sound, the heavy ink of the night receded, giving way to a dim, grey dawn.

The sound snapped Tao Yu out of his trance. Gazing at the weak light filtering through his window, he exhaled a heavy sigh. He reached over, twisted the blackened knob of the oil lamp, and snuffed out the tiny flame.

Disappearances had become frequent in the outer city, and no one knew when their time might come. He prayed that today’s awakening would grant him a combat talent. Given his parents' genetic traits, he expected nothing more than some form of Dynamic Vision.

If that talent reached Grade C or above, perhaps his life could finally offer some stability.

Pulling on shoes with plastic soles caked in mystery grime, Tao Yu pushed the door open. It creaked in protest, revealing a living room mirroring the squalor of his bedroom.

The walls were a patchwork of rusting iron sheets and asbestos, centered around a table held up by three uneven legs. The stools were equally scavenged—a hodgepodge of wood, metal, and triangular scraps.

Moving to the water tank, Tao Yu scooped a ladle of water into a porcelain basin.

His reflection revealed a slender face with fine-boned features, stirring a complex mix of emotions in his chest.

He wasn't unattractive, just malnourished. The recent intensity of his dreams had been sharpening his mind, allowing the two versions of himself to align.

Squeak.

The door opened, and a dark-skinned, sturdy woman emerged. She flashed him a bright smile.

"Ah Yu, it's your big day. You should rest. I’ll handle the farm work."

"Sister-in-law, I can't sleep."

Tao Yu offered a respectful nod and splashed the cold water onto his face.

"It's fine. Mom and Dad will return by noon. They are sure to bring some decent gear for you."

Seeing his anxiety, the woman tried to soothe him. "I’ll find something fresh for you to eat later."

"Thank you, Sister-in-law."

Tao Yu finished his morning wash, grateful for the comfort. By his count, she was his third sister-in-law. Two older brothers had perished on their Awakening Day, his fourth sister had been married off, his fifth brother had died as cannon fodder, and his sixth sister had fallen into madness before being put down by security forces. Few remained: his parents, his third brother, his third sister-in-law, and his sixteen-year-old younger brother.

Attempting to reduce their quota for cannon fodder and increase their social standing, his parents had considered a ninth child, though their viability was in question.

Despite his relatively 'stable' upbringing, he had been desensitized to life and death since he could remember.

The Awakening Day was the pivot point for everyone. After this, all citizens had to spend time in The Abyssal Rift to gather Yuan Force, both to fortify their own strength and to reinforce the world's defenses.

There were no status screens or game menus here. Instead, the world's will allowed individuals to clearly understand their potential and accelerated their growth through Yuan Force, while simultaneously codifying their innate talents.

Talents were wildly diverse and often useless for survival, hindering individual growth rates. Given the scarcity of resources, combat-oriented talents were the only ones that secured training, corporate privileges, and safety.

Tao Yu’s father, Tao Long, possessed Eagle Eye (Grade C+). It wasn't direct combat power, but it made him a master of reconnaissance, which had kept him breathing all these years.

His mother, Hong Xia, had Dexterity (Grade F), a mediocre talent better suited for manufacturing than the battlefield.

While talent-grade upgrades or rare mutations existed in theory, they were fairytales for a family of their standing. His mother had married his father specifically to pass on and optimize a combat-ready Dynamic Vision talent.

She had channeled her own efforts into manual labor, earning a steady senior position in a leather factory. Combined with the incentives for having many children, they had successfully avoided being drafted as cannon fodder for years.

Genetics were a gamble. Among all their children, only his third brother, Tao Tong, had struck gold, inheriting Dynamic Vision at Grade D+.

He had once been on the path to joining the company security forces, but that dream had been severed along with his legs in a brutal mission. The family couldn’t afford mechanical prosthetics, so he remained crippled.

Fortunately, the company had deemed his sacrifice worthy enough to grant him and his wife, Li Li, a lifetime exemption from the cannon fodder registry—a small mercy in a brutal world.