My fingertip touched the glass surface of my phone.
In that exact instant, the world around me shattered.
Not physically—but reality itself seemed to crack like shattering glass. Blinding white light seared my eyes, forcing me to squeeze them shut tight. The hum of my computer, the whir of the fan, the distant rumble of traffic outside my window—all of it vanished in an instant, replaced by a strange, soft sound.
Swish… swish…
It sounded like thousands upon thousands of threads, caught and stirred by a gentle wind.
My body felt weightless, as if I were drifting suspended in water. Nothing but cold, endless emptiness, and that white glow slowly dimming, fading soft and soft still.
When I opened my eyes again, my breath caught sharp in my throat.
I was no longer in my room.
Stretching out before me was a world that made no sense at all. The sky was no familiar blue—pale violet streaked with ribbons of silver that drifted slow as clouds. Beneath my feet lay grass softer than any I had ever felt, lush and green, and strangest of all—
Delicate, shimmering threads of every colour drifted through the air all around me.
Some blazed bright red, others cool calming blue, some gleamed like molten gold, some faded ash-grey. They stretched on endlessly, thin as a strand of hair or thick as my own finger. They drifted slow and silent, caught in a breeze I could not feel, weaving past one another, crossing and never tangling.
I lifted my hand, reaching out to touch a pale blue thread floating right before my eyes.
But my fingers passed straight through it as if it were nothing but smoke. No warmth, no texture, no feeling at all.
[DING]
A clear, crisp notification chimed inside my very head—so loud and sudden I flinched, pressing my palms to my temples with a groan.
[System Loading…]
[Identity Confirmed: SIX]
[Status: Male. Age: 21.]
[Welcome to THE LOOM.]
My eyes flew wide open. What… what in the world is this?
Hovering right there before my vision hung a translucent panel, glowing faint and steady—exactly like the HUD overlay from every game I'd ever played. But this wasn't printed flat on a screen. It hung right in the air before my eyes, solid and three‑dimensional, and I could clearly see the whole strange landscape stretching out behind it.
I turned my head. The panel shifted perfectly with my gaze, always staying centered right where I looked.
[Current Location: Town of Veridia, outside the gates of the Academy of Thread Arts]
[Time: 07:12 AM, Day 1 of the Loom Calendar]
[Main Quest: Survive for 30 days as a new student.]
[Reward: Full unrestricted access to the System.]
[Failure Penalty: Permanent Erasure.]
Permanent Erasure?
My brows knotted tight. I tried to speak, and my voice came out thin and rough: "This… what is this? Some kind of sick joke?"
[System does not answer trivial queries. Please review World Basics first.]
The panel shifted instantly, replacing those lines with a long block of text. I read it slowly, every word sinking in as my mind struggled to accept the terrifying truth: I might never be going back to my old world again.
WORLD BASICS: THE LOOM
This entire realm is built upon the power of Threads—the living, breathing manifestation of magic, woven into tangible strands that exist everywhere around you. To see or sense them without training is impossible for ordinary eyes.
Every person born in this world has the latent ability to sense and manipulate Threads. A mage's strength is measured entirely by the thickness, tension, and complexity of the threads they can command—ranked from weakest to strongest:
Rank F → E → D → C → B → A → S
In THE LOOM, women hold absolute authority and power.
By nature, women are born with vastly greater innate talent for Thread manipulation. Nearly every strongest mage, every ruler, every high‑ranking general, every headmaster across the ages has been female. They hold every seat of power, every high office, every position of influence.
And men?
Men are seen as fundamentally weak.
Statistically, 99.9% of all men possess zero talent for Thread magic. They cannot sense threads, cannot move them, cannot wield them at all. In a world built entirely on Thread power, men are treated as second‑class citizens. They are limited to labour, menial service, support roles—and nothing more. No male has ever been admitted into the Academy of Thread Arts in its entire 300‑year history.
I read that paragraph over twice, then let out a dry, hollow laugh.
So I haven't just gotten trapped inside some weird game. I've landed inside a world where men like me are basically treated as worthless trash.
Great. Just absolutely perfect.
[Talent Scan Initiating…]
[Please remain still. Scan will complete in 10 seconds.]
I breathed in slow and deep. Alright then. If this really is a game, every player's got stats, right? Maybe I've got some hidden talent or secret power waiting to wake up—isn't that exactly what happens in all those novels I read when I was bored? Protagonist falls into a new world, gets legendary cheat‑code powers, becomes unstoppable.
But then those harsh facts came rushing back: 99.9% of men have zero talent.
Maybe… just maybe… I'm that lucky 0.1%?
[Scan Complete.]
[Result: ————]
I frowned hard. What do you mean no result?
[ERROR. Male physiology detected. No Thread manipulation aptitude found.]
[Rank: NONE.]
[Category: Non‑User.]
I went dead silent.
What? So I really, truly have absolutely nothing at all? How on earth am I supposed to survive 30 days inside an academy full of powerful, high‑ranking female mages? One wrong bump, one careless spell, and I could be dead before I even hit the ground.
But before I could even start screaming curses at the system inside my head—the panel shifted again. This time the text burned bright angry red, flashing like a dire warning.
[ CRITICAL WARNING — ANOMALY DETECTED WITHIN HOST BODY]
[Discarded Data Remnant: Code B‑001.]
[Remnant Designation: BLACKSPINE.]
My eyes went wide. Blackspine? What even is that?
[Description: BLACKSPINE is an ancient, forbidden magic defined as "anti‑Thread." It possesses the ability to sever, devour, absorb, or perfectly mimic any Thread magic it encounters. Fundamentally, it is the ultimate counter to every form of magic that exists within this world.]
[History: Blackspine was discovered centuries ago by the very architects who built the System itself. It was deemed far too volatile, far too dangerous, fundamentally opposed to the very laws and nature of this reality. It was purged entirely from the main System, erased from every record, every archive, every memory—and left adrift in the void of forgotten data as discarded waste.]
[Current Status: For reasons unknown, the Blackspine remnant attached itself to Host (SIX) during the dimension transfer process. Host now serves as a temporary vessel holding Blackspine within their body.]
[ SEVERE WARNING: Blackspine is NOT a power belonging to you. You are merely its container. If your body and mind fail to contain it, Blackspine will devour your consciousness from the inside out—and take full, permanent possession of your body.]
I read every single word, jaw hanging slack in shock.
So that's it then. I'm not some chosen hero gifted legendary powers because I'm special. I'm just… spectacularly unlucky. The moment I arrived here, some forgotten, abandoned piece of system garbage latched onto me and decided to use me as its new home.
I don't command Blackspine. I'm just its temporary cage.
And if I don't figure out how to keep it under control… this thing is going to eat me alive.
I laughed again—sharper, colder, bitter all the way through. Of course life never ever cuts me a single break, does it?
Suddenly my senses pricked—something caught my attention.
I lifted my head, staring toward the towering, imposing academy gates rising high before me. Standing gracefully atop that high wall was a girl. I couldn't make out her features clearly from this distance—but I saw exactly what she was doing.
Her right hand lifted, rising slow into the air.
And an impossibly thick, gleaming silver thread materialized out of thin air, coiling gracefully around her fingers like a tamed serpent. She flicked her wrist just so—and that massive thread moved exactly as she commanded, fluid, precise, and terrifyingly powerful.
Her rank… at least Rank B, I guessed.
And the very second I watched that silver thread move—something deep inside my chest throbbed.
Not my heartbeat.
Something else. Something dark. Something thorny, sharp, and ice‑cold.
I clutched my left fist hard against my chest, breath catching tight in my throat. Beneath my skin I could feel faint shifting movement—like countless tiny chains waking up from a long, frozen slumber, stirring slow, awakening, sensing every Thread radiating all around me.
[Blackspine responding to nearby Thread presence.]
[Predatory Instinct ACTIVE.]
[Tension Level: 2%.]
Two percent. And already it feels like my chest is about to tear right open.
I looked back up at that girl standing on the wall. She was still focused entirely on weaving her silver thread, completely unaware that down below her, stood a man who should have no magic at all—carrying inside him a living weapon made specifically to destroy everything she is, and everything she commands.
The System told me I have to survive 30 days.
But trapped inside this body with this thing… who really needs to be afraid of whom?
Is it me—afraid of all these powerful female mages?
Or is it them—who should be afraid of the Blackspine sleeping coiled inside me?
I clenched my jaw tight, fighting back the cold throbbing pain in my chest—and a sharp, twisted smile pulled slowly at my lips.
Alright then.
If this whole world wants to treat me like second‑class trash… like something useless and worthless…
Let's see exactly who ends up as trash in the end.
I stepped forward—straight toward those towering iron gates, and straight into the absolute madness my new life had become.