The 99th Floor of the Universal Tower
"Kael, stop stalling." Marcus's voice—the Solar Flame Hero—echoed from behind the great sacred magic barrier, where the rest of the Dawnbreaker guild was hiding.
"The Source Crystal is over there, fifty meters ahead. Destroy it and clear the path." The mage Calithus spoke arrogantly, pointing at a large black crystal pulsing with purple light. "Hurry up and destroy it!"
I adjusted the pickaxe on my shoulder. My equipment was Rank F trash, but my skin tingled. Before me, a corridor of black mist pulsed ominously. Any God or Demon that touched it would have their HP reduced to zero in the blink of an eye.
But I wasn't a God. I was a "Trashman." And I had one single thing that made me valuable to the Hero's party.
I took a step forward. The mist wrapped around my body. The sound of flesh sizzling should have filled the corridor. Instead, only system windows silently lit up on my retina.
[Alert: Status "Demonic Curse of Destruction" (Rank SSS) detected.][Passive Skill (Rank EX) "Absolute Negation" Activated.][Status Effect: None.]
I felt no pain. I felt nothing. My Rank EX skill was a cruel joke of fate. It negated any negative status—poison, paralysis, fear, burning, even a Rank SSS demonic curse. But it didn't increase my defense or provide any other benefit. A stab from a level 1 goblin would still kill me. It only made me the perfect "curse shield," used again and again by others because of my ability—an ability that, unfortunately, gave me no strength to protect myself.
After climbing a bit, I finally reached the black crystal. I raised the pickaxe.
"CLANG!"
The Black Crystal exploded into shards of light. Immediately, the black mist dissipated. The path to the Final Boss was clear.
"I did it…" I took a deep breath, clean air filling my lungs for the first time in hours. I turned toward the group with a tired smile. "Marcus, the deal… now I can get my share of the—"
"SHLIK."
The sound was wet and sudden. I looked down. A golden, gleaming blade protruded from the center of my chest. Hot blood gushed out, staining the black marble of the 99th floor.
Marcus was behind me. He had used Flash Step the instant the mist vanished.
"Good work, Kael," he whispered in my ear, slowly twisting the blade to maximize critical damage. "But you know how raid math works… The Final Boss's XP is divided by the number of people in the room," he said coldly.
"Y-you…" I tried to speak, but choked as hot blood rose up my throat.
"Besides," Marcus laughed, his eyes not even looking at me, "having a rat with a Rank EX ability around is dangerous. What if one day you learn how to fight? No, no… better to cut loose ends."
He kicked my back, freeing the sword from my body. I fell face-first to the floor. Life drained out of me. Cold spread through my fingers. Darkness closed in on my vision like a heavy curtain.
Then, the System announced the end.
[User HP has reached 0.][Status: "Death".][ERROR!]
That was the moment the universe made a terrible mistake. Death, to the System, is not the end of existence. It is a Status—a permanent state effect that says "this object is no longer active."
But it seems that a bug not even the System could imagine occurred that day.
[Rank EX Skill "Absolute Negation" reacting…][Detected Status: "Death".][Action: DENY.]
Time stopped. Marcus, who was sheathing his sword, froze mid-motion. Dust particles in the air halted. A cognitive dissonance tore through reality.
[CRITICAL LOGIC ERROR][Target Kael HP: 0 (Dead).][Target Kael Status Death: Denied (Alive).][Paradox Detected.]
I felt my soul being stretched. I was dead and alive at the same time. The System tried to kill me, but my Rank EX passive screamed "NO." The world server couldn't handle the contradiction.
[Attempting troubleshooting…] [Failed.][Attempting forced death…] [Access Denied by Rank EX Skill.][ALERT: TOWER INTEGRITY COMPROMISED.][Initiating Emergency Protocol: LOCAL SERVER RESET.][Reverting to last stable save point: "Day 1 – The Tutorial".]
The black world of the 99th floor shattered into purple binary code. Amid the digital chaos, a new window appeared. It wasn't the polished blue window everyone knew. It was a raw black screen, with red command lines flashing furiously.
[Entity Kael survived the "Deletion Event".][The System God acknowledges the anomaly.][To prevent further collapse, granting supervisory privileges.][DEVELOPER MODE: ACTIVATED.]
…
"Kael! The teacher is going to throw the eraser at you!"
I gasped for air, my lungs burning as if on fire. I jumped up from my chair, knocking my books to the floor.
"MARCUS, YOU BASTARD!" I shouted, my eyes searching for the golden sword.
Silence. There was no Marcus. No Tower. No blood on my clothes. There were thirty students staring at me in shock. The math teacher stood frozen at the blackboard, holding a piece of chalk, mouth agape.
I looked at my hands. No calluses. No scars. I looked at the clock on the wall.
11:59 AM
"Kael? Are you crazy?" Lucas, my roommate who died in the first wave, whispered beside me.
I had no time to answer. The world turned gray. Sound vanished. The same message from ten years ago echoed in everyone's minds.
[Initializing the Great Server…][Welcome to the Tutorial.]
Screams erupted. The entire school's ceiling melted away, and the "Tutorial Angel" descended majestically, his wings of light blinding everyone.
"Do not fear, humans. You have been chosen for the Great Ascent."
I knew this script. I knew what came next. Without waiting or letting the students calm down, the Angel began distributing classes. Beams of light struck the students.
"Northern Warrior!" one shouted."Priest!" another cried.
I stood still, a cold smile on my face. Last time, I had trembled in fear. This time, I was waiting.
The Angel's beam of light came toward me to read my soul and assign my class. The instant the light touched me, the air around me crackled with purple electricity.
The Angel's smile faltered. He tilted his head, confused.
"Error?" he muttered, breaking character. "I can't read this player's data?"
A window appeared before my eyes.
[System Read Attempt Blocked.][Loading Admin Interface…]
While the others saw their simple blue screens, my vision filled with a complex interface, packed with tabs, code, and sliders.
"System, open status screen!" I repeated—one of the phrases I'd spoken most in my past life.
[Admin Tool v0: Level 1]
User: Kael (Level 1)
Strength: 11
Endurance: 05
Agility: 15
Mana: 03
System Power: 02
(Anomaly) Status: Alive/Dead (ERROR)
Authorities: [Low-level Administrator]
Skills: [Passive: Total Status Negation (Rank F) (Weakened)]
I examined my new stats with mild surprise. Unfortunately, there was no time to explore what all of this really meant. I had to ensure my survival as quickly as possible.
I looked at the desk beside me. There was an old box cutter lying there. I pointed my finger and tried to appraise the item. A code box appeared, floating above it.
Item: School Box Cutter [ID: wpn_common_knife_99321]. (Rank G)
Base Damage: 1 ~ 3
Durability: 4/10
Description: just an old school box cutter; the student who used it seemed to like cutting quickly, without wasting time.
Beside it was a bright red button that only I could see: [Administrator]. I mentally pressed it. A slider menu appeared.
[Adjust Damage Variable] [Minimum: 1] <-------------> [Maximum Possible: 3] (editable)
[Adjust Durability Variable] [Minimum: 1] <-------------> [Maximum Possible: 10] (editable)
[Dormant Skill: Critical Cut.] (editable)
[Item Cortex Editing: LOCKED] (Insufficient admin level)
Curious, I tried adjusting the damage to the maximum possible and clicked to awaken the skill, eager to see what would happen.
[Initiating edit]
The box cutter on the desk began to vibrate slightly. The cheap metal darkened, becoming sharper. The blade extended a few millimeters, humming faintly.
[…]
"?"
[Edit successful!]
Without wasting time, I checked the box cutter's stats again.
Item: The School Box Cutter [ID: wpn_common_knife_00001]. (Rank F)
Base Damage: 3Durability: 10/10
Skills: (Critical Cut; Active) (Rank E)[Forces a critical hit that deals +100% damage][Cooldown: 1 minute]
Description: an incredibly well-made school box cutter—it would be a waste to use it only to cut paper.
"Truly a weapon now. I can use this to deal with the worms that are about to appear," Kael said coldly, staring at the weapon's status.
"Hey, you!" the Angel shouted, pointing at me, clearly irritated by the status-reading error. "What's going on with your evaluation? The System is—"
"CRASH!"
The windows shattered before he could finish.
Goblins.
The first wave.
Small, green, and cruel, they burst into the room, screaming and brandishing daggers and wooden clubs. Panic erupted instantly. Students ran everywhere. The Angel floated passively, glaring irritably at Kael.
A goblin lunged at me, foaming at the mouth, raising a rusted dagger. Based on my knowledge, its dagger should deal 5 to 8 damage. My HP was 10. Two hits and I'd be dead. With a lucky crit, even worse.
I didn't retreat. I grabbed the box cutter from the desk. It felt light as a feather, yet it hummed with strange power.
"Balance?" I murmured with a smile, changing the goblin dagger's durability—just as it was about to hit me—to 0.
"I hate balance."
I slid the box cutter through the air. No strength was needed. The tip pierced through the shattered remains of the goblin's dagger and reached its filthy green eye in a split second. There was no resistance—only a wet sound as the blade sank into its skull, blood spraying.
(Skill: Critical Cut Activated!)(Critical Location Hit – Damage Bonus: 200%!)[Critical Damage: 18!] [One Hit Kill!]
[Goblin Defeated]
The goblin collapsed to the floor and dissolved into blue particles, leaving behind only a tiny green crystal and the scraps of rags it wore.
The rest of the goblins froze. They were mindless monsters, but even they knew when something was wrong.
I looked at the Angel, who was staring at me tensely. Without wasting time, I pointed my box cutter at the horde.
"Let's test the drop rate," I said."I think setting it to 100% should be enough!"