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Chapter 1 — System Awakening
The first thing Kael Drayven felt was nothing.
No warmth. No cold. Just static—an irritating hum that filled his skull like a dying signal.
Then came the voice. Artificial. Hollow.
> [System Awakening in Progress...]
Initializing Class Selection Protocol...
ERROR.
Class: Undefined. Trait: Corrupted. Status: Non-viable.
Designation: GLITCHED.
Kael's eyes snapped open.
He was lying flat on a cold slab inside the Awakening Hall, staring up at a domed ceiling lit by holographic glyphs. Dozens of other teens stood upright in crystalline pods around him, faces slack with bliss as their systems activated, flooding them with power and purpose.
Not Kael.
His pod lay shattered.
The glowing interface hovering in front of him flickered violently, its data streams corrupted, spewing lines of broken code.
> [Connection to World System... DENIED.]
[You do not exist.]
"What the hell..." Kael muttered, pushing himself up with shaky limbs.
All around him, cheers and excited gasps echoed through the vast chamber.
"I got Shadowblade! Legendary class!"
"Holy hell, I unlocked a Trait! 'Soulbound Phoenix'!"
"I leveled up just from awakening!"
Kael clenched his fists. His System Interface was supposed to unlock at age sixteen—class, skills, stat sheet, the works. It was a rite of passage in the world of Eos. Without it, you were nothing.
But his panel was just... broken.
Lines of code twisted and warped before his eyes, rewriting themselves only to crash again.
> [WARNING: Unknown Protocol Detected.]
[Corruption Level: 17%]
[Do not proceed.]
Kael tapped the interface. It glitched, jittered—and then did something strange.
The text shifted.
> [...Proceed anyway? Y/N]
The system never asked. It commanded.
Kael stared, heart hammering. Something deep in his gut screamed that this wasn't supposed to happen. That whatever path this would unlock... it wasn't human.
But then he heard the voice of Overseer Varn across the hall.
"Remove the Glitched."
Kael turned, just as a group of armored enforcers in obsidian robes stepped through the northern gate, their visors scanning the room.
A hologram flared above his head—[GLITCHED] in harsh red text.
The other newly awakened teens stepped back instinctively, eyes wide. They'd been taught to fear corruption. To fear system failures.
Kael backed away.
"No. I didn't do anything wrong—!"
But it didn't matter.
They came for him.
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They tossed him out like garbage.
No trial. No appeal.
Just a hard boot to the back as he was shoved into the Dead Zone, a jagged canyon carved by ancient dungeon breaks. The sky above was fractured—glitches in the atmosphere forming codestorms that crackled with raw data-lightning.
A rusted sign outside the gates read:
> "CONDEMNED ZONE 13 – GLITCHED WILL BE PURGED"
Kael stumbled through the debris-strewn pass, arms cut from the jagged fall, blood dripping into the dust. His System Interface kept flickering in and out, flashing errors.
He wanted to scream. To cry. But most of all, he wanted to understand.
What had gone wrong?
Why him?
He was smart. Stronger than most kids his age. His father had been a Tier 4 Knight of the Realm. His mother, a healer with a Rare Trait. Everyone said he'd awaken with something powerful.
And yet...
His fingers trembled as he brought up the corrupted status screen.
> Name: Kael Drayven
Class: None
Level: 0
Trait: [??? - Corruption Protocol]
HP: 20/20
MP: 5/5
STR: 3
AGI: 2
INT: 4
VIT: 3
LCK: -2
Title: [GLITCHED]
Kael stared at the trait line.
[Corruption Protocol]
The words weren't just hidden—they pulsed with unstable code, like a virus. When he focused on it, his screen crashed.
> [Trait Scan Failed. Unknown Format.]
[CAUTION: Trait is incompatible with current reality parameters.]
He slumped against a rock, exhaustion weighing on him.
"Perfect," he muttered. "I'm literally broken."
Then—he heard something.
A chirp—mechanical and sharp.
Kael tensed, ducking behind a boulder. A low rumble followed.
From the shadows of the canyon emerged a beast—not natural. Its skin was formed of jagged polygons, its eyes glowing red with malformed data. A dungeon spawn: Level 5 [Glitch Hound].
> [Threat Detected.]
[System Functions: Minimal Combat Mode Enabled.]
Kael's panel flickered back to life for a second, then stabilized—barely. His HP bar shimmered weakly. No skills. No weapons.
He grabbed a broken pipe from the ground, heart pounding.
The hound growled, data leaking from its joints in sharp bursts.
"I don't want to die," Kael whispered.
Then the world slowed.
The moment before the creature lunged, the panel flashed violently.
> [Corruption Protocol Engaged.]
[Initiating Data Hijack...]
Kael's vision blurred. Lines of code appeared around the hound—its stats, skills, weaknesses. Somehow, he could see into it.
> [Skill Hijack Available: 'Data Claw – Level 1']
[Corruption Cost: 3 MP. Proceed?]
He didn't think.
> YES.
A jolt of pain shot through Kael's skull as his interface cracked—literally. Like a screen under pressure.
Then the hound froze mid-lunge—data tearing from its right claw as the skill was ripped from its code.
> [Skill Acquired: Data Claw – Lv 1]
[Warning: Skill format unstable. Rebuilding...]
Kael screamed—but his arm shimmered.
The pipe morphed. Became sleek. Sharp. It looked like raw code, barely formed, and it burned in his hand.
He slashed upward just as the hound pounced.
The improvised weapon tore through its neck.
The creature howled, then dissolved into broken particles.
> [Enemy Defeated. EXP Gained: 25]
[Level Up: 0 → 1]
[HP +10. MP +2. Stat points +3]
Kael dropped to his knees, panting.
Then—he laughed. Hysterically.
The system had failed him. The world had thrown him away.
But now...
Now he had something else.
Something worse than power.
Something wrong.
And he was going to use it.
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End of Chapter 1
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