The Admin scanned the tavern with a slow, mechanical turn of its masked head. Patrons averted their eyes, suddenly fascinated by their drinks.
Ellis slid lower in his seat. "Don't move," he breathed. "Don't even blink."
Kai's heart hammered against his ribs. The Admin's featureless mask revealed nothing—just a smooth black surface where a face should be.
The Admin took one step into the tavern. The floorboards didn't creak beneath its weight.
It doesn't interact with physics properly, Kai realized.
Then something strange happened. For a split second, the Admin's form... glitched. Its silhouette fractured into geometric shapes, rearranging before snapping back to normal.
The Admin's head swiveled toward their corner. Though it had no visible eyes, Kai felt its attention lock onto him.
Time slowed as the Admin moved toward them. The air rippled. Sounds became muffled. Colors desaturated.
Ellis slowly reached for his blade under the table.
The tavern door burst open again. A young woman with fiery red hair stumbled in, bleeding from a gash on her arm.
"Night wolves!" she gasped. "Attacking the east gate!"
The Admin's head snapped toward the commotion, then back to Kai. It seemed to hesitate, its priority protocols conflicting.
After an agonizing moment, it turned and stalked toward the door.
"System threat detected," it announced in a voice like digital static. "Initiating containment protocol."
The door slammed behind it.
Ellis released a shaky breath. "That was too close."
The red-haired woman slumped against the bar, her "wound" already fading—it had never been real blood.
"You owe me, Ellis," she called over her shoulder.
"Add it to my tab, Faye," he replied.
"The Admin glitched," Kai said. "For a second, it broke apart."
Ellis's expression grew serious. "That's new. The Admins have always been the most stable code in Arkanis." He drummed his fingers on the table. "It's more evidence that something's corrupting the system from inside."
"How do I level up quickly?" Kai asked, returning to his original question.
"The Alchemist's Challenge," Ellis replied. "Daily potion delivery quest that resets. With your ability, you could complete it dozens of times while the system registers only one day."
They rose to leave, slipping out the back door. The sounds of commotion echoed from the east gate.
As they rounded a corner, they nearly collided with the Admin. It stood perfectly still, as if it had been waiting for them.
"Anomaly detected," it said, its voice distorting reality. "Player: Kai Sakamoto. Status: Irregular."
Its hand shot out, impossibly fast, catching Kai by the throat.