Jiwoon sat alone on the ridge above Mirror Valley. The ground beneath him still hummed faintly with residual data — the kind only someone bonded to the system could sense.
But something had changed.
It wasn't just his body, or his shrinking divine tether.
It was his identity.
System Notification
[New Title: The Sin Divergent]
[Effect: Immunity to Direct Control by System Protocols]
[Warning: Evolution Path Uncharted]
[Stability: Variable]
Would you like to initiate a self-diagnostic?
Y/N
Jiwoon didn't respond. He was busy watching the sunrise, something he hadn't done in what felt like years.
Elsewhere – Echo Faction Camp
Vera stood over a holographic map, fingers tracing red pulse routes along fractured ley lines. Kaelya entered the room, holding something wrapped in white cloth.
"You won't believe what the scouts found," she said, unwrapping a stone mask.
"Same material as the Vault of Sins."
Vera frowned.
"More remnants?"
"Or… maybe future ones."
They both went silent as a new notification rang out:
[Jiwoon has entered Divergent State]
[Warning: Destiny Thread Altered]
Vera clenched her fist.
"He's rewriting the system itself…"
Back at the Ridge
Kravein finally appeared, arms crossed, boots crunching on dust.
"You broke it, didn't you?"
Jiwoon didn't look back.
"I made something new."
"And what happens when something new turns into something dangerous?"
Jiwoon smiled faintly.
"Then I'll hunt myself."
Qilin Arrives
Unlike Kravein, Qilin didn't speak right away.
He placed a bottle of warmed herbal tea next to Jiwoon and sat beside him.
"You'll need more than power to survive what's coming."
"I have you, don't I?"
"…For now."
The Sinless Oracle's Last Message
A strange breeze stirred.
Jiwoon turned — and there, hovering faintly like smoke above the earth, was the last echo of the Sinless Oracle.
Her voice was no longer commanding. It was soft.
"If the storm begins to form…"
"Go west. There lies the First Sin. Buried… but not dead."
Jiwoon stood.
His eyes glowed — not red, not black — but a flickering shade of violet. A third state. Neither hunter, nor god. Something else entirely.
He looked at his hands, then toward the distant west.
"Let's see what happens… when the system chases me."
System Notification
[New Directive Unlocked: Seek the First Sin]
[World-Level Event: Divergence Begins