📖 Chapter 2:
The interface in front of me is nothing like I've seen in textbooks or forums.
No polished design. No smooth animations.Just raw text—blinking, shifting, reformatting—like it's figuring me out as much as I'm trying to understand it.
[Initializing… Personality Sync: 2%][Auto-Class Detection Failed][Loading Core Functions…][WARNING: User has no pre-coded evolution path][SYSTEM MODE: MANUAL REWRITE ENABLED]
What… the hell does that mean?
And then I feel it.Not mana.Not energy.But something deeper—like a second pulse beneath my skin. A humming vibration in my bones, as if my very presence is being... uploaded.
The air around me distorts.Dust lifts off the ground.Light flickers overhead.
The coin in Niall's hand explodes into sparks.
"Hey—what the hell was that?!" he yells, stumbling backward.
I stare at my hands. They're trembling—but not from fear. From pressure.I feel… connected. But not to Aerthos. To something else.Like I'm standing between this world and another version of it—one made of possibilities.
[Reality Write: Permission 1 Granted]"Define Output: Emergency Protocol — Reaction Trigger: Threat""Skill Created: Mirror Blink (LV. 1)"
A skill…? Already? But I haven't trained. I haven't even—A red warning flashes across my interface.
[INCOMING THREAT: DETECTED — CROWN GUARD, A-RANK][Tracking You via Glitch Pulse Interference][RECOMMENDED ACTION: FLEE / ACTIVATE NEW SKILL]
Before I can decide, a loud thud shakes the alley walls.
A Crown Guard stands at the far end of the alleyway.Clad in platinum alloy armor, sword glowing with tracking magic, helmet shaped like a hawk's beak.His voice echoes, filtered through a vocal stabilizer.
"You! Unauthorized activation. Class: Unknown. Host signature: unstable.Riven Kael—you are now classified as a System Violation Entity.Surrender for dissection and reset."
Dissection?!
I step back, heartbeat pounding. Niall's already gone, sprinting for the rooftops.
The guard raises his blade. The glow intensifies. I don't know what I'm doing—but instinct takes over.
[Mirror Blink: Activating…]
Time slows.
Everything around me stretches—colors melt.The guard's blade comes down.
And in a flash, I'm gone.
I reappear ten meters away, behind him. He turns, stunned.Even I didn't see myself move. It was like I stepped between reflections of a moment.
[Skill Evolution Detected — Blink Type: Adaptive][New Form: Glitch Blink (LV. 1)]
He's faster now. He hurls a spell—some kind of stun chain. It wraps around my leg and slams me into the wall.
Pain. White-hot. But the system doesn't flinch.
[Pain Filter: Online][Emotion Surge Detected. Generating Response.]
[New Skill: Static Howl (LV. 1)]
My scream—uncontrolled—turns into a shockwave.
Electric static blasts outward, shorting out the magic chain, distorting the air. The guard staggers. His helmet sparks, and his blade dims.
"Unauthorized skill generation?! That's—impossible!"
I don't wait for him to recover. My body's not built for long fights—at least not yet. But I'm learning fast.
Too fast.
I leap through a busted wall, sprinting into the lower city sectors where system signals don't work well.Where anomalies like me can disappear.
Where I belong.
🧩 Behind me, the system hums:
[Level: Undefined][Title Gained: Error-Born][System Status: Unbound | Learning Mode Active][First Override Completed.]
And deep within the fractured digital network of Aerthos, far away from me, another message quietly activates:
[RELAY ALERT: Subject #001 has come online][Initiating Observation Protocol — "Architect Mode"][Notify: High Table | Threat Level: RED]
🔚 End of Chapter 2