The Abyssal Spire loomed like a broken tooth stabbing into the storm-black sky. Three days had passed since the Awakening in a blur of forced preparations and colder-than-usual silences. Kael Voss stood at the crumbling entrance with the rest of the Voss expedition party, the wind whipping his cheap leather armor like it wanted to tear him apart before the dungeon even started.
'... Three days of them pretending I don't exist. Three days of Elara avoiding my eyes while whispering with Darius. Six months in this world and it all comes down to this. My own family scheduling my execution like a business meeting...'
Baron Harlan had stayed behind at the keep — "important matters at court," he'd claimed with that same stony face from the ceremony. Only the "awakened youth" were sent. Convenient.
Darius led the group, his dark cloak billowing dramatically, [Void Reaper] aura already leaking faint purple energy. Level 92. Untouchable in their eyes. Lira moved beside him like a shadow, her [Shadow Weaver] skills making her footsteps silent even on loose gravel. And Elara… she walked a few steps behind Kael, close enough to seem supportive, far enough to deny everything later.
"Stay in formation," Darius called back without looking at anyone, voice sharp with impatience. "The first three floors are cleared by the guild last month. Real danger starts on floor four. Kael — try not to slow us down. Or at least die usefully."
Lira giggled, the sound light and cruel. "Yes, little brother. Maybe trip a trap for us. That would be the most helpful thing you've ever done in these six months."
Kael kept his mouth shut and trudged forward, the gray status window hovering at the edge of his vision like an old CRT monitor that refused to turn off.
The system had been quiet since the ceremony, but every few minutes it still tried to load something.
[Entering Dungeon: Abyssal Spire – Recommended Party Level: 70+]
[Legacy User Detected. Difficulty scaling…]
[Loading… 14%… 27%… 39%…]
(The spinning pixel hourglass appeared again, turning painfully slow.)
'... Great. Even the dungeon notice is buffering. This thing is going to get me killed before the betrayal even starts...'
They cleared the first two floors without much trouble. Darius sliced through shadow beasts with casual swings of his void-infused scythe. Lira wove darkness into binding chains. Elara supported from behind with precise ice lances — her class [Frost Sovereign] making her look elegant even while killing. Kael contributed exactly nothing useful. His Basic Strike barely scratched the weaker mobs, and every time he tried Analyze, the deprecated skill took forever to respond.
[Analyze (Deprecated) activated…]
[Loading enemy data… 8%… 19%… 42%…]
[Result: Shadow Beast – Level 28. Weak to… (error)… light? Maybe? Good luck.)]
On floor four the air grew thicker, heavier. The walls pulsed with faint black veins.
Darius raised a hand. "Rest here. Ten minutes. Then we push to the boss chamber on floor five. The Shadow Drake is worth serious contribution points if we bring back its core."
The group settled against the walls. Elara sat near Kael, closer than she had in days. She placed a gentle hand on his knee, voice soft and practiced.
"Kael… I know this has been difficult for you. The Awakening, the looks, everything. Six months in the family and you still feel like an outsider, don't you? But House Voss needs strength right now. Our engagement… it was arranged when we were children. Perhaps, after this expedition, we should reconsider what's best for both families."
Kael looked at her. Really looked. The perfect face. The calculated concern in her eyes that never quite reached warmth.
'... There it is. The knife before the real one. Six months of fake smiles and now the polite dump speech. Back on Earth I'd at least get a Slack message...'
He kept his voice steady. "And what would be best, Elara?"
She smiled sadly. "You've always been kind, Kael. But kindness doesn't win wars or build empires. The Nexus rewards the strong. Maybe… it's kinder if you find your own path. Away from all this pressure."
Before Kael could answer, Darius stood up abruptly. "Enough rest. Move out. Kael, take point on the next corridor. Scout ahead."
Lira smirked. "Yes, let the glitch test the waters first. Maybe his ancient system will finally load something useful."
Kael rose without argument. '... Point. Of course. Send the weakest ahead so the strong stay safe. Classic noble family bonding...'
He walked down the narrow passage, heart hammering. The system flickered again, still slow.
[Analyze (Deprecated) activated on corridor ahead.]
[Loading… 23%… 51%… 78%…]
[Result: Trap density high. Ambush probability… 94%. Primary threat: Humanoid.]
Kael's steps faltered for half a second as the text finally appeared.
'... Humanoid? Not monsters… them. It's happening now. Even my laggy system saw it coming...'
He kept walking, pretending he hadn't seen the warning. The corridor opened into a wider chamber lit by sickly green crystals. In the center, a low growl echoed — the Shadow Drake stirring from its rest.
Darius's voice came from behind, calm and commanding. "Kael, draw its attention. We'll flank."
Kael stepped forward, raising his pathetic basic weapon — a rusted short sword they'd given him like charity.
The Drake roared and lunged.
For a moment, real combat exploded. Darius and Lira moved like professionals, void and shadow dancing in perfect sync. Elara hurled ice that froze the beast's wings mid-flap. Kael dodged clumsily, landing one weak Strike that did almost nothing while the system helpfully displayed:
[Basic Strike activated…]
[Loading damage calculation… 31%… 64%…]
[Damage dealt: Minimal. Try harder next time.)]
Then the Drake reared back for a breath attack.
Darius shouted, "Now!"
Kael turned — just in time to see his brother's scythe glowing with void energy, swinging not at the Drake… but straight at his own back.
The blade sank between Kael's ribs with a sickening wet sound.
Pain exploded through his body, white-hot and blinding.
He staggered forward, blood pouring from the wound, collapsing to one knee.
'... It hurts… more than I thought it would. My own brother… just like that. Six months of family dinners and this is how it ends...'
Lira's laugh echoed off the walls. "Finally. The glitch is useful after all."
Elara stepped closer, her ice lance still raised but not pointing at the Drake anymore. Her voice was ice itself. "You were always going to drag us down, Kael. At least your death will let us claim we fought bravely to save you. The baron will reward us for the sacrifice. And I… I'll be free to ally with someone who actually matters."
The Shadow Drake, sensing weakness, roared again and charged the group. But Darius waved a hand, using a high-level skill to push it back temporarily.
Kael coughed blood, vision blurring. He clutched the wound, feeling his life slipping away with every heartbeat while the system tried to respond.
[Critical Damage Detected…]
[Loading survival protocols… 9%… 22%… 47%…]
[Soul stability dropping… Please wait…]
He gasped, forcing words through bloodied lips.
"You… all of you… smiled while you killed me."
Darius laughed, already turning away to finish the Drake. "Die quietly, little brother. No one will miss the error. Your slow system can lag in hell."
Elara looked down at him one last time, no regret in her eyes. "Goodbye, Kael. Try not to haunt us… if your ghost even loads properly."
Lira just waved mockingly as the three of them moved to engage the boss, leaving Kael bleeding out on the cold stone floor, monsters beginning to circle the scent of fresh blood.
Kael's hand trembled as he reached toward the pulsing gray box in his vision, still buffering.
'... They left me for dead. Thought the glitch would just fade away...'
The new command from the Awakening finally finished loading after what felt like forever.
[Override Protocol Alpha – Ready.]
(The text appeared letter by letter with long pauses.)
He whispered, voice breaking but filled with cold fury.
"Then watch me crash your perfect fucking world."
He activated the command.
For five precious seconds, the world itself seemed to stutter — slow at first, then snapping.
Darius's void scythe mid-swing froze in place like a video lagging. Lira's shadow bindings dissolved into harmless smoke after a visible delay. Elara's ice lance melted uselessly in her hands with a comical glitch sound only Kael could hear.
The Shadow Drake roared in confusion — and turned its full fury on the now-powerless trio.
Kael collapsed fully to the ground, health critically low, vision going black at the edges.
But he was smiling through the blood, a weak, bitter grin.
'... Five seconds. Just five seconds of their perfect system failing… even if my own took forever to deliver it. That's all I needed to plant the seed...'
As darkness took him, the system's voice — older, heavier, and still slightly laggy — echoed in his fading mind.
[Override successful. Rollback complete.]
[Legacy User survival protocols engaged… Loading… 53%… 81%…]
[New Hidden Quest: Rise from the Ashes.]
Description: They buried you. Now dig yourself out and make them regret every smile they wore while stabbing you.
Reward: The first real piece of the Forgotten Code.
Warning: Death is still very much on the table. Choose wisely, kid. (And maybe restart your soul cache.)
Kael's last conscious thought was a cold, burning promise mixed with dark humor.
'... I'm not dying here. Not like this. When I open my eyes again… none of you will be safe. Even if I have to wait for the loading screen to finish...'
The Spire fell silent except for the roar of the enraged Shadow Drake and the sudden, panicked shouts of his betrayers.
-----------------------------------------
Deep in the darkness, as Kael's body lay motionless in a growing pool of his own blood, the Primordial System v0.9 finally finished its emergency rewrite after another agonizingly slow load.
The gray box stabilized for the first time, glowing with faint, dangerous white lines at the edges.
[Soul Reboot Initiated…]
[Loading core… 67%… 89%… 100%]
[Primordial Core Online.]
[Welcome back to the real game, Kael Voss. (Took you long enough.)]
Somewhere in the distance, the sounds of desperate fighting echoed — his "family" suddenly realizing their perfect skills weren't working quite right anymore, with occasional lag spikes making their movements jerky.
And in the black void of near-death, Kael heard the system's final, quiet whisper, still buffering slightly:
[They thought the outdated version was harmless.]
[They were wrong.]