Chapter 5: Echoes of the Rift
The sky above Sector 7 flickered with unstable light, faint traces of the rift still lingering like a scar across the clouds. It had been days since the first monsters poured through, and yet the city hadn't recovered. Most zones were abandoned, and danger still pulsed from deep within the rifts that had opened.
Kai kept his hood low as he passed through what used to be a shopping district. Looted stores, shattered windows, and blood-stained streets told the story of panic. But here and there, others had returned—survivors, scavengers, and more importantly, awakened individuals.
He noticed them immediately. The ones with system classes. Their stats were visible only when focused on, but their posture, their weapons, the faint glow of system-bound armor—it all gave them away.
One leaned against a cracked lamppost, her long red scarf fluttering in the wind. A dagger spun in her hand, vanishing and reappearing into her inventory slot. Assassin class. Low defense, high burst. Dangerous. Her nameplate, just barely visible through Kai's perceptive gaze, read: **Rin Valeska**.
Another walked alongside a cart of salvaged supplies, armored in reinforced mana-thread cloth, carrying a glowing tome. Mage class. Likely fire or wind based on the color of the aura around her fingertips. Her system-tagged name: **Ira Lemont**.
None of them looked at Kai twice. He had no visible gear, no class icon hovering beside his name. He wasn't part of the system.
And that was his advantage.
He moved through the crowd unnoticed, reaching the edge of a makeshift checkpoint. A small guild had set up a supply post here—nothing official, just a few tents, a power core, and a couple of mercenaries standing guard.
As Kai approached, a scanner flared to life beside him. He froze.
The nearest guard, a burly man named **Garrick**, raised a brow. "You're unregistered."
Kai tensed. "Is that a problem?"
Garrick studied him for a second too long. "Depends. No class, no identification, no recorded level. You could be a monster in disguise."
Kai fought back a smirk. "Do I look like one?"
Before the man could reply, another stepped out of the tent. A woman in patchwork armor with short-cut gray hair and an emblem of a phoenix stitched to her chest. Her presence was commanding, and the name on her badge read: **Commander Elira Dorne**.
"He's clear," Elira said, eyes locking on Kai. "Let him through."
Garrick hesitated, but stepped aside. Kai nodded and passed through, trying not to draw attention. But he knew she had seen something. Felt something.
That kind of gaze wasn't casual—it was calculating.
---
Inside the tent, Elira watched him go. Her deputy, **Tomas Vale**, leaned in. "Why'd you let him through?"
"Because," she said quietly, opening a system interface only she could see. A glowing window flickered with a blurry image—a screenshot from a surveillance drone. It showed Kai, bow drawn, elemental energy forming in the air.
"He's the one from the ruined zone."
Tomas blinked. "The Soul Link guy?"
"If that's real," Elira whispered, "he may be the first variable we can't control."
---
That night, Kai made camp beneath an old overpass. The Water Goblin stood nearby, silently guarding the shadows. He focused on the stream of water running beside the cracked concrete, shaping it with a gesture. It responded instantly, moving with him like a limb.
He wasn't done learning.
If the world wanted to put him in a category, it would fail.
He wasn't a fighter. Not a mage. Not a rogue or healer.
He was Soul Link.
He was the start of something new.
And they hadn't seen anything yet.
End of Chapter 5