The boss monster, a grotesque amalgamation of flesh and jagged bone, lay twitching at the center of the ruined plaza. Its massive form shuddered one final time before going still, its glowing eyes dimming like dying embers. Liam wiped sweat from his brow, his hands trembling from adrenaline and exhaustion. Around him, the surviving members of their ragged group cheered, their voices hoarse from battle.
Aria stood a few feet away, her collapsible staff slick with black ichor. She shot Liam a rare, approving nod. "Not bad for a rookie," she said, her voice barely audible over the celebratory shouts.
Liam grinned, though his legs felt like jelly. "What can I say? I've got a knack for not dying."
The robotic voice of the system echoed through the ruined tutorial zone:
[Tutorial Complete.]
[Rewards Pending.]
[Proceed to Individual Safe Zones for Ascension.]
One by one, the survivors vanished in flashes of blue light, teleported to their private chambers to receive their rewards. Liam exhaled, rolling his shoulders. "Finally. Maybe now I'll get something that doesn't involve running for my life."
Aria scoffed. "Don't get your hopes up. The system doesn't do handouts."
Liam opened his mouth to retort, but the ground beneath them trembled violently. A deafening roar split the sky, and the air itself seemed to warp. Above them, the artificial sky of the tutorial flickered like a dying screen before tearing open—revealing a glimpse of the real world beyond, where the apocalypse still raged.
"What the hell—?" Aria's grip tightened on her staff.
Then, something fell from the rift.
It was massive, a blur of silver and crimson, trailing smoke and sparks like a dying star. It crashed into the tutorial zone with the force of a meteor, obliterating buildings and sending shockwaves rippling outward. Liam barely had time to raise his arms before the blast hurled him backward. His body slammed into a crumbling wall, pain exploding across his ribs. The world spun, his vision swimming with static.
BOOM.
The impact site was a crater of twisted metal and flickering energy. At its center lay the source of the destruction—a corpse.
Humanoid, but unmistakably alien. Its silver skin was cracked and charred, its limbs bent at unnatural angles. Glowing blue veins pulsed faintly beneath its flesh before fading entirely. Its eyes, wide and luminous even in death, stared blankly at the sky.
An Astral.
Liam's breath hitched. He'd only seen them on the blue screens announcing the apocalypse. Up close, it was both mesmerizing and horrifying.
Then, the system glitched.
[WARNING: CORRUPTION DETECTED.]
[TUTORIAL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED.]
[REWARDS SUSPENDED.]
Blue screens flickered erratically around Liam, their text scrambled and unreadable. A sharp, staticky pain lanced through his skull, and he clutched his head with a groan.
"Liam!" Aria's voice cut through the chaos. She sprinted toward him, her boots kicking up dust. "Get up! We need to move!"
Liam tried to push himself up, but his limbs refused to cooperate. His vision darkened at the edges. The last thing he saw before unconsciousness took him was the Astral's corpse—and the way the air around it shimmered, as if reality itself was unraveling.
First, the cold press of metal against his back. Then, the acrid taste of blood in his mouth. Liam groaned, forcing his eyes open. He was lying on the floor of a dimly lit chamber—his Safe Zone, though it looked different now. The walls flickered with distorted holograms, and the air hummed with unstable energy.
[SYSTEM ERROR.]
[USER LIAM CREST: TUTORIAL INCOMPLETE.]
[LEVEL LOCKED: 0.]
Liam sat up too fast, his head throbbing. "What?"
The system didn't respond. Instead, a new prompt appeared, its text glitching violently:
[UNIQUE SKILL ACQUIRED: [CAMERAMAN NEVER DIES].]
Liam stared. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
No answer.
He stumbled to his feet, his body aching. The Safe Zone's door hissed open, revealing the aftermath of the Astral's crash. The tutorial zone was in ruins, its once-sterile corridors now littered with debris. In the distance, he could see the other survivors—now Level 1—emerging from their Safe Zones, their expressions a mix of relief and confusion.
Aria was among them. Her eyes locked onto Liam, and she frowned. "You're still here?"
Liam opened his mouth to reply, but one of the other survivors—a burly man with a fresh scar across his cheek—cut him off. "The hell happened to you? You didn't level up?"
Liam's stomach dropped. He checked his status again.
[LEVEL: 0.]
The others exchanged glances. The scarred man sneered. "Dead weight."
Aria's grip on her staff tightened, but Liam forced a smirk. "Guess I'm just built different."
The group didn't laugh. One by one, they turned away, muttering among themselves. Only Aria hesitated.
"You coming or not?" she asked.
Liam glanced back at his glitching system screen. Then, at the Astral's corpse. Something about it felt… important.
"Yeah," he said, though his mind was racing. "Yeah, I'm coming."
As they walked away, Liam couldn't shake the feeling that the Astral's death—and his broken system—were connected. And if there was one thing he knew, it was that nothing in this apocalypse was a coincidence.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: CAMERA FEED ACTIVATED.]
A small drone, no larger than his palm, detached from the wall and hovered beside him. Its lens gleamed in the dim light.
Liam stared at it. Then, slowly, he smiled.
"Well," he muttered. "This just got interesting."