Location: Ironblood Cartel Forward Base (Sector 7 Safe Zone)
Vance didn't like excuses. He liked spreadsheets. He liked inventory lists. He liked numbers that added up.
Currently, the numbers standing in front of him didn't add up.
"Let me get this straight," Vance said, his voice dangerously calm. He sat behind a mahogany desk that had been dragged out of a CEO's office and placed in the middle of a commandeered hotel lobby. "You, a Level 3 Rogue with a Dexterity build, were disarmed and chased off by a... Level 2 Civilian?"
Rat stood on the other side of the desk, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He looked pathetic. His leather armor was scuffed, and he was missing his primary weapon.
"He's not a civilian, boss," Rat stammered, sweat beading on his forehead. "I'm telling you, the guy is a freak. A sleeper agent. Something."
Vance tapped a finger on the desk. "You said you stabbed him in the kidney."
"I did! I felt the blade hit bone!" Rat insisted, his eyes wide. "Critical hit marker and everything. He didn't even flinch. He just looked at me. It was like stabbing a concrete wall."
Vance sighed. He looked at the other man standing in the room—a tall, silent figure wrapped in a grey cloak.
"Kael," Vance said. "Thoughts?"
Kael, the Cartel's lead Scout for Sector 7, didn't move his head. "Rat is incompetent, but he's not a hallucinator. If he says he landed a crit and the target didn't drop, there are two possibilities. One: High-level tank with damage mitigation gear. Two: A glitched HP pool."
"A glitch?" Vance raised an eyebrow.
"The System is barely six hours old," Kael replied smoothly. "Bugs happen. Or... he has a Unique Trait we haven't seen before."
Vance rubbed his temples. The Ironblood Cartel was trying to lock down this sector before the military regrouped. They needed resources. They needed weapons. They didn't need wildcards running around.
"Rat said the target had a Skill Orb," Vance noted.
"A combat skill," Rat nodded vigorously. "He wouldn't give it up."
"Kael," Vance commanded. "Go. Find him. Do not engage. I want a full [Inspect] on this guy. If he's a threat, we assemble a kill team. If he's a recruit... well, we'll see."
Kael nodded and vanished into the shadows of the lobby.
Rat looked hopeful. "Can I go? I need to get a new dagger."
"You're on latrine duty," Vance said without looking up. "Get out of my sight."
Location: The "Stop & Go" Convenience Store - Storage Room
Arthur sat in the darkness, chewing on a stale granola bar he found under a shelf.
It tasted like cardboard and dust, but he needed the calories. His body was burning energy like a furnace.
HP: 110 / 235
An hour had passed since Rat fled. In that hour, Arthur's maximum health had increased by another 60 points.
The potion Rat dropped had pushed him out of the danger zone, but he wasn't fully healed. His natural regeneration (the base 1 HP/min that everyone assumed they had) was working, but slowly.
"235 Max HP," Arthur whispered, watching the number tick up to 236.
A normal Level 2 Warrior—assuming they put all points into Constitution—might have 140 HP. Arthur was already nearly double that. And he was just sitting here eating granola.
He looked at the loot pile next to him.
Rusty Pipe Wrench (Reliable, heavy).
Serrated Thief's Dagger (Fast, deadly).
Skill Orb: Heavy Strike (Useless until Str 10).
"I need two points of Strength," Arthur calculated. "That means Level 4. Or a Strength potion."
He checked his experience bar. 0 / 200 EXP.
Killing that Rank F zombie gave him 50 EXP. He needed to kill four more to level up. Or one stronger monster.
He stood up, groaning as his stiff muscles protested. He couldn't stay here. The smell of the dead zombie was getting worse, and Rat might bring friends.
Arthur moved to the doorway, stepping carefully over the shattered wood. He gripped the dagger in a reverse grip—it felt more natural than the wrench now.
He stepped out into the main store area. The aisles were trashed. Looted.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
It wasn't a sound. It was a feeling. A pressure. Like someone was staring at him through a sniper scope.
Arthur froze. He didn't turn around. He remembered reading about this—high-level scouts could project "Killing Intent" or simply had a gaze so intense the System warned you.
Someone is watching.
Arthur's heart rate spiked, but he forced himself to breathe.
Greed Protocol: Inactive.Survival Protocol: Active.
He didn't run. Running triggered a predator's chase instinct.
Slowly, deliberately, Arthur reached down and picked up a can of soda from the floor. He cracked it open. Tsssch.
He took a sip, acting casual. Acting like he owned the place.
Location: Rooftop across the street
Kael lay prone on the gravel roof, his [Eagle Eye] skill active.
From fifty meters away, the target was crystal clear.
Male. Average height. Poor posture. Clothes torn and bloody.
"Looks like a bum," Kael muttered to himself. "Rat got beaten by a bum."
He zoomed in on Arthur's movements. The target was calm. Too calm. He was drinking a soda in the middle of a monster-infested zone, surrounded by gore.
"Alright," Kael whispered. "Let's see what makes you tick."
He focused his mana.
[Skill: Advanced Inspect (Rank E)]Effect: Reveals target's Level, HP, and Main Attributes. Higher chance of success if target is lower level.
A blue targeting reticle appeared over Arthur's head. The data stream began to download.
[Scanning Target...][Target Level: 2][Class: None]
"Level 2. No Class," Kael scoffed. "Rat is an idiot."
Then, the Health bar loaded.
[Calculating Vitality...][HP: 112 / 238]
Kael blinked. He rubbed his eyes and looked again.
238 Max HP? At Level 2?
That was impossible. Even with legendary gear, a Level 2 shouldn't exceed 150.
As Kael stared, the number flickered.
[HP: 112 / 239]
"It... moved," Kael whispered.
He watched for another minute.
[HP: 112 / 240]
The Max HP was increasing in real-time. Without a level up. Without a buff spell visual effect.
Kael felt a chill run down his spine. This wasn't a tank. This was a biological anomaly.
Suddenly, the System interface covering Arthur's head turned red. Static noise filled Kael's vision.
[ALERT: Value Out of Bounds.][Error Code: INT_OVERFLOW_PREDICTION][Target Designation: ???]
"What the hell?" Kael recoiled, clutching his head as a migraine spiked behind his eyes.
The System was rejecting the scan. It couldn't calculate the growth curve because the curve was infinite. To the low-level [Inspect] skill, Arthur looked like a black hole of data.
Kael scrambled back from the edge of the roof, his breathing shallow.
In the gaming world, "Error" didn't mean weak. "Error" meant Admin. It meant World Boss. It meant Run.
"He's not a civilian," Kael gasped, scrambling to his feet. "He's a Monster in human skin. Or a System Test Subject."
Kael looked back at the store one last time. Arthur was just finishing his soda, looking bored.
"Vance needs to know. We can't touch this guy. Not yet."
Kael turned and sprinted across the rooftops, putting as much distance between him and the "Error" as possible.
Location: The "Stop & Go" Store
Arthur finished the soda. He burped.
The feeling of being watched vanished as quickly as it had arrived.
He checked his status.
HP: 113 / 242
"Must have been a cat," Arthur muttered.
He tossed the empty can into a pile of trash. The sound echoed in the empty store.
He looked at the glass doors at the front of the shop. Outside, the sun was setting. The shadows were getting longer. Night was coming.
And at night, the things that were stronger than Rank F zombies would come out.
"I need a safe zone," Arthur decided. "And I need EXP."
He checked the map on his phone—which miraculously still had GPS, though no signal. There was a subway station three blocks east.
Subways meant tunnels. Tunnels meant chokepoints.
"Perfect for a tank," Arthur grinned.
He gripped his dagger and stepped out into the twilight.