Zayn wiped the blood from his face, panting. His hands trembled—not from fear, but from the aftershock of evolution.
He could feel it.
His muscles—tighter.
His eyes—sharper.
His fear? Gone.
> [You have unlocked: Battle Instinct (Passive)]
[You have unlocked: Battle Surge (Glitched)]
— Temporary stat boost when injured.
— Warning: Glitched trait may cause overdrive or shutdown.
Zayn squinted. "Shutdown?"
The system replied with total silence, like it was pretending not to hear him.
Typical.
"Great," he muttered. "I get a moody system with commitment issues."
---
He checked his body: bruised, slashed, but alive. His system menu flickered again.
> [Next Evolution Trigger: Weapon Bond]
[Requirement: Defeat 3 enemies with the same weapon]
[Progress: 1/3]
He looked at the bloody metal shard in his hand. It wasn't a sword. Not even a dagger. Just a sharp hunk of steel that now felt… personal.
He sheathed it into a scrap of cloth and tied it to his back.
"Guess you're stuck with me now, Shardy."
---
Back in the city outskirts, guild hunters gathered. Zayn slipped past them unnoticed. He didn't belong to any guild. Didn't have a license. Technically, he shouldn't be alive.
But while others leveled up with rules, Zayn was glitching his way to the top.
---
In a dark corner of the guild tower, a high-ranking analyst reviewed dungeon breach logs.
"Sir, we've found something... strange."
A red-haired officer looked up. "Strange how?"
She turned the monitor.
"There was an unregistered survivor inside the hidden zone. No clearance. No system ID. But… his mana pattern is unstable. Like it's evolving on its own."
The officer's eyes narrowed.
"Put out a silent watch. If he shows up again… I want him tagged."
---
Zayn, meanwhile, chewed on cheap bread from a street vendor, clueless.
"Tag this," he mumbled with a mouthful, raising a brow as his system pinged again.
> [New Passive Detected: Iron Stomach]
— Allows digestion of food with questionable quality.
He paused.
"…Wait, WHAT?!"
To be continued…