The night air in Granis City tasted of smoke and electricity.
Kael sat on the edge of a high-rise rooftop, legs dangling over the ledge as the wind toyed with his hoodie. The city stretched beneath him like a glowing circuit board—flashing lights, moving cars, buzzing signs. And somewhere in that endless sprawl, someone was watching.
He could feel it in his bones.
His Life System hummed faintly in the back of his mind. The update cycle was approaching. Every 24 hours, it refreshed with new quests, stats, and—if he was lucky—rewards. But tonight, something was different.
A quiet beep echoed in his head.
[Hidden Mission Unlocked: "Ghosts in the Signal"]
Objective: Trace the unknown signal disrupting your Life System.
Reward: Unknown.
Warning: Risk level – High.
Kael frowned. "What now…"
He tapped open the System interface. A faint, glitchy pulse blinked in the corner of his vision—an anomaly. It was like a heartbeat, off-rhythm, artificial. Someone—or something—was trying to tap into his System.
He stood and activated his scanner, fingers glowing faintly with soft blue data lines as he traced the signal's origin.
A location pinged: an abandoned telecom tower in the North Sector.
"Of course," he muttered, already leaping off the ledge.
---
It took less than twenty minutes to reach the North Sector. The streets were quieter here—too quiet. The buildings were old, broken, and forgotten by the rest of the city. The telecom tower loomed above the slums like a ghost of a different era, its antennas twisted and rusted.
Kael crept inside through a torn metal fence and made his way up the staircase. Dust and grime coated the railings. Rats scurried in the shadows.
He reached the top floor—and froze.
Someone was already there.
A girl, no older than eighteen, sat cross-legged in front of a pile of old tech, cables, and flashing monitors. She wore thick goggles over short white hair, and her fingers moved with inhuman speed across a hacked console.
When Kael stepped forward, she didn't even look up.
"Took you long enough."
"…Do I know you?"
"No," she said, popping a piece of gum into her mouth. "But your Life System's been screaming like a baby for the past hour. Real subtle, by the way."
Kael tensed. "Who are you?"
"Name's Rin," she replied. "Tech-type Life System user. Class: Signal Interceptor."
He blinked. "You can classify systems?"
She finally looked up, smirking. "You really are flying blind, huh?"
She flicked her fingers, and a floating screen appeared before Kael.
It displayed Life System classes.
- Combat Type
- Tech Type
- Enhancement Type
- Control Type
- Origin Type (Unknown)
"You're different," Rin said, studying him. "Your signal's unstable. That means your system's either still evolving—or it's... rewriting itself."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "And why were you trying to access my System?"
"I wasn't," she replied. "Someone else was. I intercepted the tail end of a probe signal—it was trying to breach your System's firewall. Bad news? It almost got in. Good news? I scrambled it. You're welcome."
Kael stepped closer. "Do you know who sent it?"
Rin hesitated, then nodded. She turned the screen again and displayed a symbol.
It was a black triangle with a vertical slit in the center. Almost like an eye.
Kael's pulse jumped. "The Order."
"Yeah," Rin said. "But not just any branch. This was Black Cell. Their elite AI division. They've been trying to hijack rogue Systems. Turn users into remote-controlled soldiers."
Kael felt a chill run through him. "They wanted to control me."
"They still do," she said, standing. "But now that you're on their radar, they won't stop. You've got maybe a week before they send a Reclaimer."
"A what?"
Rin's expression turned grim. "You don't want to meet one."
The tower lights flickered. A warning flashed in Kael's system:
[Threat Detected: Surveillance Drone – Stealth Variant]
Kael looked at Rin. "Company."
"I see it," she said, grabbing a compact EMP launcher from her satchel.
A sleek, almost-invisible drone buzzed outside the window, scanning the room.
Rin didn't hesitate. She fired.
The drone burst in a flash of static and fell like a rock.
"Time to move," she said. "Come with me. I've got a safehouse."
Kael followed her down the stairs, thoughts racing. Every new layer of this system pulled him deeper—deeper into a world of secrets, power, and war.
And now he wasn't just a glitch in the code.
He was the key.