Kael had never been inside a hacker's safehouse before.
Rin's base was hidden beneath an old cyber-café in West Granis, its faded neon sign blinking "NETT ZONE" like a relic of a forgotten time. The interior upstairs was dusty and dark—rows of broken terminals and flickering screens. But down below, in a concealed basement sealed with biometric locks and retinal scans, was an entirely different world.
Bright blue lighting reflected off polished metal walls. Server racks hummed quietly. Drones hovered silently along the ceiling, scanning with green lights. Holograms flickered to life as Rin walked ahead of him, casually chewing gum like she wasn't living in a secret tech bunker under a fake business.
"This is where I monitor rogue signals and illegal data traffic," Rin said. "Everything that moves through Granis's underground web touches here at some point. Think of it as the beating heart of the city's digital shadows."
Kael looked around in awe. "And no one's ever found this?"
"No one alive, anyway," Rin said without missing a beat.
Kael didn't ask what that meant.
As he explored, Rin activated a holographic table in the center of the room. A map of Granis lit up, marked with dozens of red, blue, and green dots.
"These are all the active Life System users I've been able to trace," Rin explained. "Some are like you—off the grid, unregistered. But most belong to the Order, or their little puppet factions."
Kael pointed to a pulsing red icon in the upper east. "What about that one?"
"That," Rin said, "is a Reclaimer. The one they're sending for you."
Kael felt his chest tighten. "How long until it finds me?"
"Four days. Maybe less. Depends on how much data that drone sent before we shot it down."
He stepped back from the table, jaw clenched. "So what do we do?"
"We prepare," Rin replied. "You need training. Real training. Because when a Reclaimer shows up, it doesn't knock—it deletes."
Kael nodded. "Fine. But I want to fight back. Not just run."
That made Rin smile. "Good. I was hoping you'd say that."
---
For the next few days, Kael trained harder than ever.
Rin set up simulations—combat scenarios, puzzle rooms, logic traps, and even direct cyber-assaults on his system. She made him fight digital replicas of enemies he'd never seen before, creatures formed from corrupted code and malicious AIs. Each failure taught him something. Each reboot made him faster.
His System evolved with him. New options appeared.
[System Upgrade: Reflex Boost I]
[System Upgrade: Mind Firewall]
[System Skill Unlocked: Blink Step] (Short-range teleport within line of sight. 10-second cooldown.)
Rin watched as Kael mastered the new skill with alarming speed. "You're adapting too fast," she said one evening. "That's not normal."
"Maybe my System really is different," Kael replied, panting after a brutal training round.
"No maybe about it," Rin said. "It's like it's… alive."
That night, while Kael slept on a makeshift bed in the corner of the safehouse, the System gave him a new notification.
[Private Message: Unknown Sender]
Subject: We See You.
Message: You can't hide, Kael. Join us, or be erased.
He bolted upright. The message vanished as soon as he tried to screenshot it.
"Rin!" he shouted.
She came rushing in, half-asleep, gun in hand. "What is it?"
He showed her the notification. "Someone got into the System. They sent a message."
She cursed. "They're getting too close."
Kael sat down, mind racing. "I need to hit back. I need to hit them."
Rin hesitated. "You're not ready."
"Then help me get ready."
She studied him for a long moment, then nodded. "There's one place. The old Data Vault beneath District 9. It holds fragments of a broken system—something called Origin Code. Dangerous stuff. Might boost you. Might break you."
Kael stood. "Let's find out."
---
The next day, under cover of rain and shadows, Kael and Rin left the safehouse. She handed him a black mask and a lightweight cloaking coat. Kael pulled up his hoodie and checked his System one last time.
[Active Mission: Trace the Origin Code]
Risk Level: Extreme
Success Rate: 13%
He smirked.
"I like the odds."