Rain lashed against the cracked window of Arjun Das's hostel room, drumming a relentless rhythm. The streets of Kolkata were slick with water, neon lights reflecting in puddles, the city half-awake, half-drowned in the storm. Inside the dim room, only the glow of his battered laptop pierced the darkness.
Arjun sat hunched over the machine, fingers dancing across the worn keyboard. To anyone else, it was just a broken secondhand laptop, but to him, it was a weapon. A scalpel slicing through firewalls, a hammer smashing digital locks.
"NullVoid never fails," he whispered. That was his hacker alias, feared in the darknet forums, whispered by those who knew him only as a ghost. He didn't hack for money. He hacked for control. For freedom. For the one thing his life had never offered: power.
Reality, with its endless debts and crushing poverty, had given him nothing. His father had died when Arjun was twelve, leaving behind debts that ate his family alive. His mother sewed clothes tirelessly, while he scraped through college on a scholarship. At fifteen, he'd been forced to watch friends with rich parents get everything, while he lived in hand-me-down shoes and old t-shirts.
But online? Online, he was a god.
The code in front of him flowed like water. He was attacking a private bank's firewall—not to steal money, but to prove something. To himself.
And then, the impossible happened.
The screen froze. Lines of code blinked out, replaced by glowing green letters:
[SYSTEM BOOTING…]
[USER IDENTIFIED: ARJUN DAS]
[ACTIVATING: HACKER SYSTEM]
Arjun's pulse jumped. He hadn't initiated this. He tried shutting down his laptop, but it didn't respond. Then the next line appeared:
[Congratulations. You are chosen.]
[Mission 1: Infiltrate City Bank firewall and retrieve encryption key.]
[Reward: Skill – Quantum Decryption.]
[Failure: Exposure of IP address to Cyber Crime Division.]
"What… who's doing this?" Arjun whispered.
Before he could react, his fingers moved on their own, typing a single command. The bank's firewall, one that should have taken hours to crack, collapsed in seconds. Encryption keys poured onto his screen.
Knowledge surged through his mind like fire. Algorithms, exploits, loopholes—all clear. This wasn't learning. It was a rewrite of his brain.
[Mission Complete.]
[Reward Unlocked: Quantum Decryption.]
He leaned back, chest heaving, staring at the screen in disbelief. The system had chosen him. Given him power beyond imagination.
---
The next morning, Kolkata's streets were damp but calm. Arjun walked to college, the System interface floating faintly in his vision. Level 1. Skills: Quantum Decryption. Missions: None Active. Reputation: 0. Reality had become an RPG.
"Arjun!"
He turned. Ananya Roy, his childhood crush, was walking toward him with her usual warm smile. She carried books stacked in her arms, hair tied back loosely, eyes shining with a brightness that made his heart constrict.
"Did you study for the algorithms test?" she asked softly.
Arjun forced a smile. "Sort of. I might… improvise."
She shook her head playfully. "You always say that."
The sight of her made his chest tighten. She had always been out of his reach—kind, perfect, someone he had admired in silence for years.
Before he could dwell further, a familiar sharp voice cut through.
"Well, well, if it isn't our scholarship ghost."
Rhea Kapoor leaned against a corridor wall, arms crossed, red-streaked hair glinting under the sunlight. Rich, bold, and arrogant, she had once challenged him online as a rival hacker—but neither of them had revealed their true identities.
"Late again, Das?" she said, smirking. "Up all night playing with your little toys?"
Arjun kept his calm. "Some of us don't measure life by grades, Kapoor."
Rhea's eyes narrowed. "Some of us don't have a choice. You? You're a ghost. No money, no name, no future. Ghosts fade."
He brushed past her, forcing his pulse to slow. But the System pulsed in response: [Potential Threat Detected: RHEA_K].
---
Class passed in a blur. Arjun tried to focus on lectures, but his mind was split between the System, Ananya, and Rhea. Then, mid-class, the System activated again.
[Mission Available: University Exam Server]
Objective: Retrieve algorithm test paper.
Reward: Skill – Ghost Cloak (Conceal IP for 10 minutes).
Failure: Permanent Flag in University Security System.
Arjun's stomach tightened. This was tempting but dangerous. The reward could save him in the future. Every hacker needed invisibility.
He hesitated, then his fingers moved automatically. Quantum Decryption sliced through the server's security. He was in. Encrypted files appeared. With a few commands, he accessed the exam paper.
The System pulsed again:
[Optional Bonus: Leave false trail targeting 'Rhea_K'. Reward: Reputation +10.]
He almost laughed. Framing her would give him an advantage, but she was clever. He declined. Not yet.
[Mission Complete. Reward Acquired: Ghost Cloak.]
---
Later, at the exam hall, the students panicked. Arjun wrote with calm precision. After submission, Ananya leaned over.
"You seemed confident," she whispered.
"Just… prepared," he replied.
Before she could respond, Rhea's voice cut in. "You looked too confident, Das. Almost like you already knew the answers."
His heart skipped. Did she suspect him?
Arjun smiled lightly. "Or maybe I studied harder than you think."
She didn't believe him. Leaning closer, she whispered: "One day, I'll find out what you're hiding."
And walked away.
---
Back in his hostel, the System pulsed again. [New Mission: Black Phantom Syndicate detected. Objective: Investigate unknown hacker group. Reward: Skill – Quantum Cloak.]
Arjun's chest tightened. The first mission had been small, but this… this was the start of something bigger. The System wasn't a toy. It was a game. A war.
And he had just been drafted.
He looked at the glowing interface, then at the rain-streaked window. Tomorrow, he would face challenges, rivals, and dangers that could destroy him. But tonight, he allowed himself a rare smile.
For the first time, he didn't feel like a nobody. He felt unstoppable.
And somewhere, deep in the shadows of the darknet, someone was already watching.
---
Chapter 1 ends here