The desert plain stretched onward, endless dunes scattered with broken stones and the ribs of fallen buildings half-buried beneath the sand. Tom walked carefully, his boots sinking just enough to make each step feel heavy. The pulsing map in his menu still pointed him toward the Endless Black Ocean, but his eyes caught something else. A glint on the horizon.
He stopped, squinting against the light.
There, far ahead, stood a structure unlike anything else in this ruined land. A cathedral, its spires towering high, its walls shimmering as though carved entirely from glass or mirror.
The sunless sky cast a red haze over it, yet the building reflected the world around it in broken, shifting fragments. Every gust of wind sent light scattering across the sand like blades.
Tom's hand tightened around his cloak. His first thought was caution. It could be a trap, a distraction from the path he was meant to follow. Wasting time there might cost him his chance at survival. Yet… the world they had been thrown into was not simple. Relics, faces, and mysteries hid in places no one expected.
If there was something inside that cathedral, something to aid him in the coming night, he couldn't afford to ignore it.
His eyes narrowed with quiet resolve. "I'll check. If it's nothing, I'll move on."
He adjusted the cloth over his mouth and stepped forward. Each stride brought the cathedral closer, and with it, an uneasy feeling. The mirrored walls did not simply reflect the sky and sand they seemed to bend, twist, and sometimes show flashes of things that weren't there at all.
Tom kept walking, the rune he had found earlier sitting safely in his pocket.
Its faint glow pressed through the cloth now and then, reminding him it was there. He touched it lightly as if to be sure it had not vanished, then let his hand fall.
At last, the Cathedral stood before him. Up close, it was even stranger. The walls were not stone at all but smooth mirror, stretching high into the sky. No cracks, no signs of age, just endless reflections that bent and twisted his own face as he moved.
Tom circled the building once. He searched for a window, a gap, anything to peek inside, but there was nothing. Only the polished mirror surface. It gave him back a hundred versions of himself. Taller, shorter, thinner, distorted.
At the front stood a massive double door, tall and heavy, carved from the same mirrored surface. He stepped toward it slowly, his pulse louder in his ears with each step. He reached out, his fingers trembling a little, ready to push.
But before he could touch it, the doors swung open on their own. The sound was swift and sudden, sharp in the quiet air. Tom jumped back, his heart pounding.
From the dark space inside, a small swarm of butterflies burst out. They were made of mirror, too shimmering wings reflecting the red sky, the sand, even his own face as they circled around him.
For a brief moment, they filled the air like scattered shards of light. Then, one by one, they dissolved into nothing, fading like smoke.
Tom stood still, breathing slow, staring into the open cathedral.
The cathedral swallowed Tom whole. The light from outside faded as the great mirrored doors shut slowly behind him, leaving only the glow of strange fruits hanging from vines along the walls.
They were like lanterns, pulsing with soft white and blue light. The air was cool, almost damp, carrying a faint sweet smell.
Tom walked carefully. He glanced at the glowing fruits but didn't touch. He didn't know if they were safe or poisonous.
His footsteps echoed faintly as he moved deeper, the mirrored walls reflecting him from all sides until it felt like a hundred Toms were walking with him.
The path bent left, then right, twisting like a maze, but he did not turn back. Soon, he found himself in a wide hall. The ceiling arched high, mirrors bending the reflections of the glowing fruit into streams of light across the walls.
And there, floating silently in the center were two screens.
Tom froze. His system pulsed and a message appeared.
[ Notification: Rank File Unlocked ]
He frowned and stepped closer. The first screen lit up.
It was a ranking system. His eyes skimmed the strange words.
[ Uptie System ]
There were five Upties in total, each with two levels,
[ Uptie 1 The Person: Level 1 – The Novice. Level 2 – The Disciple ]
[ Uptie 2 The Guardian: Level 1 – The Ladder. Level 2 – Pathfinder ]
[ Uptie 3 The Crowned: Level 1 – The Regent. Level 2 – The Harbinger ]
[ Uptie 4 The Overlord: Level 1 – The Sovereign. Level 2 – The Saint ]
[ Uptie 5 The Celestial ]
Tom exhaled slowly. His own menu updated in the corner of his vision.
[ Uptie 1 – Level 1 ]
[ The Novice ]
He was at the very bottom. The start.
His gaze shifted to the second screen.
[ Top 100 Players – Durkan Legion Board ]
Tom got an idea about the name of the place but wasn't sure.
A list of names stretched down, glowing white, each with numbers beside them. Tom's eyes moved to the very top.
[ 1. Marshall Jacob – EXP: 1,900,855 – Uptie 4, Level 1: The Sovereign ]
Tom's stomach tightened. Almost two million experience points. Uptie 4 already. Whoever this man was, he had survived long enough to climb higher than anyone Tom had ever imagined.
Tom checked the rest of the list. Some names had notes: "Slayer of the Crimson Face"… "Breaker of Chains"… "Tide Runner". Titles earned from deeds. Their EXP numbers were massive compared to his zero.
And then he realized something worse.
Some names were familiar.
Tom leaned closer. He spotted one written faintly in the bottom ranks. "Azmaik Veyric – EXP: 18,450 – Uptie 2, Level 2: The Pathfinder."
Tom's eyes widened. Azmaik was on the list at the bottom column. That meant he had already begun climbing faster than most.
A chill ran down Tom's back. If Azmaik could kill so easily, then rising in ranks would only make him more dangerous. And he wasn't the only one here with a name glowing on that board. Tom caught sight of others. Some strangers, some faces from the plaza.
It wasn't just survival. Every action, every fight, every kill was being recorded, measured, turned into points.
He stepped back, heart pounding.
This world wasn't random. It was a game but about a hunt. Every player was being watched, weighed, and ranked by something....
And Tom wasn't even on the list.
Tom's eyes lingered one last time on the floating screens in the cathedral hall. The words etched themselves into his thoughts.
Uptie, Levels, Rankings. It wasn't just about survival anymore. There was structure, an invisible ladder that determined who rose and who fell. And now, thanks to the system update, he could see it all inside his own menu.
He summoned it briefly.
[ Menu ]
[ Notes ]
A new screen unfolded before his eyes. His current rank was etched clearly.
[ Uptie 1 – Level 1: The Novice ]
[ EXP: 0 ]
There was also a blank space for titles and achievements, mocking him in its emptiness. A list of his coin count, the bread he had stored, and the glowing rune he carried flickered beneath it. At least now, he thought, he could measure progress. At least now, he had a sense of the game he had been dropped into.
Exhaling slowly, Tom left the cathedral. The mirrored doors closed behind him with a sigh like wind through glass. The desert stretched onward, and so did he.
Minutes passed as his boots sank into the loose sand, his eyes fixed on the broken horizon. The rune in his pocket pulsed faintly from time to time, though he could not tell if it was warning him or simply alive.
Ahead, the remains of a ruined building jutted out of the ground, leaning to one side as if ready to collapse. Beneath the fractured arch, Tom saw something moving.
A boy.
Small, thin, curled against the stone, crying softly. His shoulders shook with every sob. Tom stopped in his tracks. His gut twisted with suspicion. In this world, nothing came without danger. Was this a trap? Or worse.... a bait?
He moved closer anyway, cautious, his hand near his cloak. The boy's face was dirty, streaked with tears, his clothes ragged. He looked like one of the Homans.... The type of player who did not hunt, only lived in this world's shadow.
"Hey," Tom said softly, keeping his voice low, calm. "It's alright. I won't hurt you."
The boy turned, eyes wide. For a heartbeat, Tom almost believed it.... almost.
Then the child's body shivered, spasmed violently. His skin rippled, mouth opening in a voiceless scream. The flesh melted, dripping like wax, until it collapsed in a puddle of slick, quivering slime.
Tom stumbled back, heart hammering. The slime quaked, its surface splitting to reveal a dark core pulsing inside. Then it lunged.
The ground hissed where it struck, burning the sand.
"Damn," Tom cursed under his breath. His instincts surged forward. He pivoted on his heel, dodging the strike. The slime slapped against the cracked wall, leaving a smoking trail.
Tom sprinted, cloak snapping at his sides. The monster screeched behind him, its form bouncing and reshaping as it gave chase. Every step it made seemed faster, louder, hungrier.
He zigzagged through the ruins, scanning the ground, searching for higher ground, for anything to use. His mind raced not to fight, but to survive.
The slime wasn't a simple beast. It was a mutation. A trap wearing the skin of a boy. It might a curse or corruption type something.
And it wasn't going to stop chasing him.