Arlan stood by the window of his apartment unit, his gaze fixed on the Jakarta skyline, now distorted by static, violet lightning. Following his success at Mall Taman Anggrek, his mother's recovery had reached 95%—a "Zero Player" miracle. Hope was finally tangible, but his work was far from over. His focus was now locked onto a single name: Maya.
"Kuningan, Mandiri Tower, 30th floor," Arlan whispered. The location echoed in his mind like a primary quest objective that couldn't be ignored.
He knew that infiltrating Kuningan, now classified as a Red Zone, would be suicide at Level 26. He needed more than just digital map coordinates, which often glitched and led to dead ends in distorted areas.
Arlan headed down to the Jakarta Sector plaza to gather his final supplies. In a deserted corner, beneath the wreckage of a TransJakarta bus stop strangled by glowing roots, a tattered old man approached him. He looked like a typical beggar NPC, but his eyes were sharp, far too clear for a commoner.
"Searching for jasmine in a field of corpses, young man?" the man's voice rasped, competing with the hum of background system static.
Arlan turned, his hand instinctively gripping the hilt of his Azure sword. "What's that supposed to mean?"
The old man chuckled, sliding a crumpled map drawn on an old shopping receipt toward him. "Kuningan isn't a business district anymore. It's an Open Dungeon called 'The Sky-Scraper Nest.' The MRT tunnels are crawling with Venomous Crawlers. If you value your life, take the elevated tracks. The monsters there are stronger, but at least you won't suffocate in the dark."
Arlan took the map, feeling the fragile texture of the paper. "Why help me?"
The man began to walk away, his figure fading into the digital fog. "Because I want to see if a Sword Magician can rewrite the code of this world before it's all deleted."
Wasting no time, Arlan hit the supply shops. He spent the bulk of his Gold on a skill book essential for facing the Machine-type monsters of Kuningan.
[Skill Unlocked: Elemental Infusion – Lightning]
[Effect: Increases Attack Speed by 15% and grants Paralyze effect]
Preparation complete. Arlan returned to his rented unit to say goodbye. His mother sat quietly, handing him a small parcel of bread she'd baked from safe-zone rations. Her eyes were bright and full of life—living proof that his struggle at Mall Taman Anggrek had been worth it.
"Come back in one piece, Lan," she said softly.
Arlan nodded firmly, then crushed a Teleport Stone bound for the Sudirman border. The moment his boots hit the cracked asphalt, the air grew heavy, thick with the sharp scent of ozone. He unsheathed his blade, letting the Ancient Magic Circuit on his neck pulse with a brilliant blue light.
For the next five days, Arlan engaged in intensive grinding along the elevated tracks leading to Kuningan. He used Level 23 to 27 monsters as stepping stones. Every swing of his sword was no longer limited to fire or ice; yellow electrical arcs now hissed with every movement, frying the circuits of his enemies instantly.
CRACK! BOOM!
An Overload explosion erupted as he fused fire and lightning elements within the chassis of an Automaton Security unit. System notifications cascaded across his vision.
[Level Up! 26 —> 27]
[EXP: 85%]
[Item Obtained: Wind-Walker Boots (Rare)]
Arlan equipped the boots immediately, feeling his body become light as a feather. He stood atop the wreckage of the last monster, staring at the Mandiri Tower looming ahead, shrouded in a dark, oppressive aura.
"Wait for me, Maya. I'm almost there," Arlan muttered.
He purposely held back from hitting Level 30. His instincts warned him that reaching that milestone would trigger a "surprise" from the system. In this new reality, the system functioned much like the games of old—and it loved its surprises.
However, at the gateway to the Kuningan district, Arlan was forced to a halt. Several heavily armored players bearing the Guild Eclipse insignia stood guard with weapons drawn. In their center stood a giant of a man, a heavy steel shield planted in front of him and a broadsword resting on his shoulder. This was Kael (Level 28), an elite Guardian of Eclipse.
"Halt, solo player!" Kael bellowed, slamming his shield into the ground until the asphalt buckled. "This zone is under the jurisdiction of Guild Eclipse. Back off, or you'll have to go through my wall!"
The tension in the air turned razor-sharp. Arlan narrowed his eyes at the line of guards—the same kind of people who had treated him like trash when he was low-level.
"A Guardian, huh?" Arlan murmured coldly, tightening his grip on his sword. "Let's see how well your 'wall' holds up against my magic."
Kael stood frozen in the middle of the fractured road. His massive shield was still buried in the asphalt, but the target he was supposed to block had vanished. His eyes widened as he stared at the fading yellow sparks in the air and smelled the lingering ozone. That kind of speed shouldn't have been possible for a Level 20 player.
"Dammit! He broke through!" Kael roared, his voice echoing through the dead district. "Report to HQ immediately! We have a high-class anomaly heading for Mandiri Tower! Don't let that flea snatch the drop from the 30th-floor Boss!"
But Arlan was already out of earshot. His world had shifted into the haunting interior of the tower.
As he passed through the lobby's revolving doors, the gloomy Jakarta atmosphere was replaced by a suffocating silence. The air inside the skyscraper felt static and cold, reeking of the metallic tang of rust—the signature scent of data decaying under Reality Deletion. Mechanical cobwebs glowing blood-red draped over cracked marble pillars. In the shadows, dark figures moved with jagged, glitchy motions—remnants of office workers trapped in a permanently broken script.
Arlan looked up. The ten-meter-high lobby ceiling was now choked with power cables dangling like the tentacles of a giant organism. The cables pulsed, pumping unstable violet mana throughout the building's structure. The tower was no longer just a building; it had become a breeding ground for something much darker.
[STATUS WINDOW]
- Level: 27 (Exp: 85%)
- Job Class: Sword Magician (1st)
- Strength: 30
- Agility: 32
- Intelligence: 31
- Dexterity: 7
- Vitality: 10
- Skill: Elemental Infusion (Fire, Frost, Lightning)
- Equipped: Ancient Magic Circuit (Rare), Wind-Walker Boots (Rare)
- Current Objective: Breach the Kuningan Blockade.