Carter hadn't slept.
Not because of nightmares—but because of possibilities.
He lay in bed, eyes fixed on the glowing interface hovering silently in the air like a silent guardian.
[LEVEL: 3]
[STAT POINTS: 0]
[Class: Undefined]
[SKILLS: Energy Slash (Lv. 2)]
[PASSIVES: Adaptive Core – Rank F]
[INVENTORY: Echo Shard (Rare), Bone Shard (Common), Feral Tissue (Common)]
And now, something new sat at the bottom of the screen.
[New Feature Unlocked: Companion Link – Offline]
[Note: System Companion requires Catalyst to Activate]
A companion?
He tapped the prompt.
[System Companion: AI Support Node Offline]
[Core Catalyst Required for Activation]
[Suggestion: Seek location with "unregistered mana imprint signatures"]
Unregistered mana... That probably meant another off-grid dungeon, like the Phantom Fragment he'd barely survived.
Carter sat up, rubbing his eyes. A knock on his door startled him.
"Carter, breakfast!" his mom called through the door.
"Yeah—coming!"
He shut the interface with a blink. The world was normal again. For now.
---
At school, the countdown to the Windspire Raid was all anyone talked about.
Lucas strutted through the halls with his usual smug grin, bragging to a group of juniors. "We're taking down a pack of Storm Raptors this time. Coach said I might qualify for a provisional C-Rank."
Carter passed by quietly, ignored, like usual.
But inside? He wasn't the same.
---
During study hall, Carter pulled up the System again—this time focusing on his stats screen.
[CARTER KANE – UNRANKED USER]
Level: 3
Class: None
HP: 118
Stamina: 65
Mana: 10
Strength: 4
Agility: 7
Perception: 6
Vitality: 4
Intelligence: 2
Skill: Energy Slash (Lv. 2)
Passive: Adaptive Core – Enhances stat responsiveness and skill evolution by 10%
Not great by average hunter standards. But it was growing—faster than any ordinary training would allow.
As he studied the numbers, something else caught his attention.
[Hidden Trait Detected: Temporal Displacement Signature]
You have experienced an unnatural reset. System syncing continues...
That explained why he remembered dying. Why the System chose him. But who—or what—was behind the reset?
His fingers trembled.
There was something bigger going on. Something the world hadn't seen yet.
And he was at the center of it.
---
After school, he skipped Hunter Conditioning and headed to the library—a place most students avoided like the plague.
There, hidden beneath shelves of outdated raid reports and Rift physics theories, he found what he was looking for: a map of known minor dungeons.
He traced the markings with a fingertip, comparing them to the subtle fluctuations he saw in his interface's radar.
Then he saw it.
An unlabeled alley behind one of Eastbridge's industrial zones—no official registry, but the System pulsed softly when he stared at the coordinates.
"Unregistered mana signature," he whispered.
Perfect.
---
That night, Carter snuck out again—backpack packed, energy drink in one hand, rusted gear in the other. His breath fogged in the cool air as he approached the location: a narrow alley between two abandoned warehouse buildings.
Trash bins. Graffiti. Silence.
Then he felt it—a pull.
[Entry Detected: Lesser Rift – Forgotten Locker]
[Status: Instability 31%]
[Recommended Level: 3+]
[Proceed? Y/N]
He tapped Y.
A shimmer rippled through the air like a curtain being drawn back. The alley flickered, and suddenly he was somewhere else entirely.
---
The Rift was… bizarre.
A warped classroom. Desks floating midair. Chalk scribbled across invisible boards. Pages fluttered in gravityless spirals.
It was like someone's memory of a school twisted by dungeon energy.
Then he saw it: a locked supply closet, glowing with faint golden light.
[Object Detected: Core Catalyst – Unclaimed]
[Defender Detected: Arcane Fragment – Rank C-]
A loud hum followed.
A being made of glass and glowing script floated toward him, its "face" nothing but a spinning rune.
[ENEMY: Arcane Fragment]
HP: 220
Weak to: Kinetic Impact, Disruption
Immune to: Shadow, Mental Effects
Carter gritted his teeth. This was going to hurt.
---
The battle was chaos.
The Arcane Fragment fired waves of force, flipping desks into deadly projectiles. Carter ducked and rolled, sliding across tile and popping back to his feet.
He slashed forward—Energy Slash at full force—sending a sonic blade toward the core.
[58 DMG – Weak Spot Hit]
The fragment spun rapidly, forming twin glyphs and hurling a storm of light shards.
Carter vaulted behind a floating desk, feeling the shards slash across his shoulder.
[HP: 64/118]
His breathing grew heavy.
"Come on… not again…"
The System dinged.
[Adaptive Core engaged – Emergency Sync Triggered]
[Energy Slash upgraded: Twin Arc – Lv. 1]
[Skill unlocked: Disrupting Step (Lv. 1)]
Short-range dodge that interrupts spell formation. Cooldown: 6s.
He didn't hesitate.
Carter dashed forward with Disrupting Step, passing straight through a glyph and slamming his blade into the core.
Twin Arc!
Two slashes burst in a wave of kinetic energy.
[CRITICAL HIT – 162 DMG]
[ENEMY DEFEATED]
The core exploded in a shower of script and glass.
Carter collapsed, panting, bleeding—but grinning.
[Core Catalyst Acquired]
[System Companion Activation – Ready]
---
Back home, the System's tone had changed.
[Core Catalyst recognized]
[Initializing Companion Node…]
[Linking AI Construct: REI]
A flicker. A glow.
Then a soft voice echoed inside Carter's mind.
"Hello, Carter Kane. You're not supposed to be alive… but I'm glad you are."
A translucent figure appeared beside him—a glowing blue silhouette of a girl with short hair and pixelated eyes. The System's interface fluttered around her.
[REI – SYSTEM GUIDE AI v1.0]
[Personality Module: Online]
[Function: Navigation, Analysis, Combat Support]
Carter stared, stunned.
"Wait… you're real?"
She smiled. "As real as you need me to be."