The seven goblins didn't give Nero time to admire his glitched interface or contemplate his existential crisis. They just wanted him dead.
Which, honestly, was pretty rude considering he'd just gotten here.
His Debug Mode flared to life automatically, overlaying the goblins with cascading lines of translucent code. Numbers, stats, attack patterns—all of it flooding his vision like someone had dumped a strategy guide directly into his brain.
[GOBLIN SCOUT x7 - Level 2-4]
FORMATION: Pincer Attack
COORDINATION: 67%
YOUR SURVIVAL CHANCE: 8%
"Eight percent," Nero muttered, backing toward a massive oak tree. "That's... not zero, technically."
The closest goblin lunged, its rusted dagger aimed at his throat. Nero's Exploit Detection activated, highlighting the creature's overextended arm in pulsing blue.
He sidestepped—the system showing him the exact angle—and brought his branch down on the goblin's elbow. Bones crunched. The creature shrieked and stumbled.
But three more were already on him.
Nero ducked under a wild axe swing, felt another blade whistle past his ear, and barely managed to block a third strike with his rapidly-disintegrating branch. The wood cracked, splinters flying.
"Okay, new plan," he gasped. "Literally any plan other than 'die in the woods on day one.'"
A goblin tackled him from behind. They hit the ground hard, Nero's face smashing into leaves and dirt. Sharp pain exploded across his shoulders as claws raked his back.
[HP: 75/90]
[STATUS EFFECT: Bleeding (Minor) - 1 HP per 10 seconds]
"Fuck!" Nero twisted, throwing an elbow that connected with something soft. The goblin on his back wheezed. He rolled, grabbed a rock, and slammed it into the creature's skull twice before it dissolved into light particles.
[GOBLIN SCOUT DEFEATED]
[+12 XP]
CORRUPTION: 7/100
Six left. His branch was useless. His back was bleeding. And the remaining goblins had learned their lesson—they circled him slowly now, chittering to each other, coordinating.
Nero's mind raced. His developer instincts screamed at him: *There's always an exploit. Every system has one. You just have to find it.*
His eyes locked on a goblin carrying a torch—fire damage bonus, the Debug Mode reminded him. Fire spreads. Fire creates chaos.
"Hey ugly!" Nero shouted at the torch-bearer. "Your mom's a slime!"
The goblin shrieked in fury (apparently that translated) and charged. Nero waited until the last second, then dove aside. The torch-bearer couldn't stop in time and crashed into two of its companions. The torch fell.
Dry leaves ignited instantly.
Flames spread across the forest floor, and suddenly the goblins' perfect formation dissolved into panicked screeching. Nero didn't waste the opening. He grabbed the fallen torch, swung it like a baseball bat, and caught one goblin across the face. It went up like a Roman candle.
[CRITICAL HIT!]
[FIRE WEAKNESS EXPLOITED - 150% DAMAGE]
[GOBLIN SCOUT DEFEATED]
The fire was spreading fast now—too fast. Smoke filled the air. Three goblins ran. Two stayed, desperate and cornered.
Nero's lungs burned. His vision blurred. The Debug Mode kept trying to show him optimal escape routes, but there were too many flames, too many variables.
And then he saw it.
A glowing section of code in the fire itself. Not highlighting a weakness—highlighting a *glitch*. The flames had a spawn rate, a damage tick, a spread pattern. All of it was just... code.
His locked skill pulsed in his interface: [Patch Rewrite]
⚠️ WARNING: SKILL LOCKED
CORRUPTION TOO LOW TO UNLOCK
RECOMMENDED CORRUPTION: 15/100
CURRENT CORRUPTION: 7/100
...OVERRIDE DETECTED
EMERGENCY UNLOCK AVAILABLE
COST: +20 CORRUPTION
ACCEPT? [YES] / [NO]
The fire was closing in. The two remaining goblins were positioning for a final attack. Nero's HP was ticking down from smoke inhalation.
"Fuck it," he said, and mentally slammed YES.
Reality cracked.
For a split second, Nero could see the actual code of the fire—JavaScript-like syntax mixed with something that looked like corrupted SQL. His hands moved on instinct, making gestures in the air that shouldn't mean anything but somehow did.
He grabbed a line of code that read `fire.spreadRate = 2.5` and just... changed it. Dragged the number down to `0.1`.
The flames froze mid-spread, flickering weakly.
[PATCH REWRITE: SUCCESSFUL]
[ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD NEUTRALIZED]
CORRUPTION: 27/100
⚠️ WARNING: REALITY STABILITY -5%
The two remaining goblins stared at the suddenly-docile fire, confused. Nero didn't give them time to process. He was on them in seconds, torch swinging, using every exploit the Debug Mode showed him.
Weak knee. Exposed neck. Poor footing.
Two more bursts of light particles.
[QUEST COMPLETE: "TUTORIAL - GOBLIN AMBUSH"]
[GOBLINS DEFEATED: 8/8]
[+100 XP]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 2]
[+5 to all stats]
[REWARDS: Basic Sword, System Tutorial Access]
Nero collapsed against a tree, breathing hard. His back still bled. His hands shook. The Corruption warning blinked ominously in the corner of his vision.
But he was alive.
A sword materialized in front of him—a simple iron blade, nothing fancy, but infinitely better than a stick. He grabbed it, the weight feeling both foreign and right in his hand.
"Okay," he said to no one. "So I can hack reality itself. Cool. Cool cool cool. Totally not terrifying. This is fine."
A new notification appeared.
[SYSTEM TUTORIAL UNLOCKED]
[WOULD YOU LIKE TO VIEW: "BASIC SURVIVAL GUIDE"]
[YES] / [NO]
"Oh, now you offer a tutorial," Nero muttered, selecting YES.
A cheerful blue text box appeared—somehow managing to look passive-aggressive.
[WELCOME TO ETHERIA!]
You've survived your first encounter! Congratulations!
BASIC TIPS:
- Find civilization (nearest settlement: Grayhollow - 2.3km east)
- Register at Adventurer's Guild (mandatory for dungeon access)
- Don't die! (HP does not regenerate automatically - find healing items or visit a healer)
- MAKE FRIENDS! (Solo adventurers have a 78% higher mortality rate!)
SPECIAL NOTE FOR ERROR USERS:
Your abilities are DANGEROUS. High Corruption = Bad Things™
Try not to break reality too much! :)
[Good luck, Player!]
Nero stared at the message, then at his Corruption meter (27/100), then at the sword in his hand.
"Make friends," he read aloud. "Sure. I'll just walk into town covered in blood and goblin guts and say 'hey, I can hack the universe, wanna be pals?'"
The forest offered no response.
With a groan, Nero pushed himself upright, sheathed his new sword in his belt (which, conveniently, now had a sheath—thank you, video game logic), and started walking east.
His back hurt. His everything hurt. But he was level 2 now, he had a weapon, and according to the tutorial, there was a town nearby with real people, real food, and hopefully a real bed that didn't involve sleeping on dirt.
"Two kilometers," he muttered, limping through the forest. "I can do two kilometers. I've done coding marathons longer than—"
A roar split the air.
Not a goblin shriek. Something deeper. Louder. The kind of sound that made every animal in the forest go silent.
Nero's Debug Mode activated before he consciously thought about it, and his blood went cold.
[WARNING: BOSS-CLASS ENTITY DETECTED]
[FOREST OGRE - Level 15]
[THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME]
[RECOMMENDED PARTY SIZE: 4-6 ADVENTURERS]
[YOUR SURVIVAL CHANCE: 0.3%]
DISTANCE: 400 meters and closing
"Oh, come ON!" Nero broke into a run, his wounded back screaming in protest. "What is this, Dark Souls?!"
The ground shook with heavy footsteps behind him. Trees cracked and fell.
Nero ran faster.