"You... you are a monster." The Angel stammered, its wings flickering like a dying lightbulb.
"I told you," I replied, wiping the monster's blue blood from my cheek. "I'm the Developer. Now, stop stalling. Upon finalizing the tutorial, the Survivor is granted a reward based on their performance evaluation.'"
I took a step toward the floating NPC. "I killed a Rank E+ Boss solo. Without taking lethal damage. In under three minutes. That's an SSS rating. Hand it over."
The Angel gritted its teeth. It seemed to be communicating with a higher power, its eyes rolling back to show white static. " The System... The System acknowledges the kill," the Angel spat out the words bitterly. "But your methods were irregular! You exploited bugs! You shouldn't be rewarded for breaking the game, you should be banned!"
"Ban me then," I opened my arms, grinning. "Go ahead. Try to delete the User_ID: Kael from the database. See what happens to your precious server stability."
I was bluffing. Partially. I knew my existence was a paradox. A Divide by Zero error in human form. If they tried to delete me violently, the resulting logic crash might wipe out the entire Tutorial Sector. The System was pragmatic; it preferred a glitchy user to a crashed server.
The Angel froze. It received the order from above. "Fine," it hissed. "Take it. But know this, Anomaly: The Tower watches. The higher you climb, the stronger the antivirus becomes."
A golden rift opened in the air. A luxurious chest, adorned with dragon heads and pulsing with mana, floated down.
[Tutorial Clear Reward: SSS-Rank] [Type: Legendary Random Skill Book]
The students gasped. Even from a distance, they could feel the pressure coming from the chest. A Legendary Skill at Level 6? That was enough to make someone a Guild Leader instantly.
"Open it," the Angel commanded. "It is a random draw from the Legendary pool. Good luck," it said sarcastically.
I narrowed my eyes. Random? I placed my hand on the chest. I didn't open it. I activated my authority.
[Admin Tool v0.5 Active] [Inspecting Loot Table...]
A list of probabilities scrolled rapidly in my vision.
Meteor Summon (Rank Legendary): 0.0001%
Divine Healing (Rank Legendary): 0.0001%
...
Legendary Fireball (//Legendary//): 99.9%
I laughed. A cold, dry laugh. "Wow. You guys really are scumbags," I looked at the Angel. "The RNG is rigged. You programmed the box to give me a visual effect of a Legendary item, but the actual content is a Common skill."
The Angel flinched. "I-I don't know what you're talking about! It's luck!"
"Luck is for losers." I make one small edit. I didn't need to create a new item. I just needed to delete the "junk" from the list.
[Command: Remove Entry ID_Common_Fireball] [Command: Remove Entry ID_Trash_Skill_02] [Command: Force Selection -> ID_Skill_990]
The chest shook violently. The golden lock clicked. "No!" the Angel shouted, realizing I was tampering with the result.
I kicked the lid open. A blinding violet light erupted from the box, silencing the entire schoolyard. A black book, bound in what looked like void skin, floated into my hands.
[You have acquired a Skill Book!] [Skill: Mana Overclock (Rank Legendary)] [Description: Allows the user to burn their own Health Points (HP) to generate Mana instantly. Ratio: 1 HP = 5 Mana.] [Side Effect: The pain of burning life force is excruciating. Prolonged use causes permanent soul damage.]
"Perfect," I whispered. To a normal mage, this skill was suicide. Using it meant dying to cast a few more spells. But I think for me, it won't be a problem after I edit that skill a bit.
I instantly crushed the book. The knowledge flowed into my brain. [Skill Learned: Mana Overclock]
"Now, just a little edit before i use it."
[0,01 HP = 99 Mana.]
I tested it immediately. Activate. My HP bar dropped by 0,01 points. My mana bar has reached its maximum.
I felt nothing. Just a surge of power. My Admin Tools consumed Mana. Now, I had infinite mana.
"Thank you for the meal," I said to the Angel.
[TUTORIAL PHASE 1 COMPLETE] [Initiating Transport to the "City of Beginnings".]
A massive pillar of light descended from the sky, engulfing the school. The students began to float. "Wait! Kael!" I looked down. Lucas was running towards me, holding a rusty iron pipe. "Take me with you!" he begged, tears in his eyes. "Please! I... I'll carry your bags! I'll do anything! Just don't leave me with them!" He pointed at Bruno and the others.
I looked at Lucas. In the past timeline, he died because he was weak. But he was loyal. And I needed someone to handle the mundane tasks—selling loot, buying potions, dealing with annoying NPCs—so I could focus on coding.
I reached into my inventory (the dimensional space provided by the system). I pulled out the Iron Butcher's Cleaver (a massive weapon I looted but hadn't inspected yet). It was Rank E, heavy and brutal. I tossed it at his feet.
"Carry that," I said. "If you drop it, I leave you behind."
Lucas grabbed the handle. It was heavy, dragging him down, but he nodded frantically. "I won't! I swear!"
The light became blinding. The Angel glared at me one last time as his form dissolved. "The Administrators of the First Floor are not as lenient as I am, Glitch. You are walking into the lion's den."
I smiled, my body turning into particles of light. "Good. I need a new fur coat."
ZAP.
[LOCATION CHANGE: THE TOWER - FLOOR 1] [Zone: City of Beginnings]
The sensation of teleportation was like being pulled through a straw. When my vision cleared, the smell of chalk and blood was gone. Replaced by the smell of spices, forged steel, and unwashed masses.
I was standing in a massive plaza made of white stone. Around me, thousands of other "survivors" from other tutorials were appearing in flashes of light. Some were crying. Some were celebrating. Some were injured.
Above us, the sky wasn't blue. It was a ceiling of rock, miles high, with a glowing artificial sun in the center. We were inside the Tower.
"Attention, Worms!" A voice boomed across the plaza, amplified by magic. On a podium in the center, a knight in shining silver armor stood. He wasn't a player. He was an NPC Guard of the City. Level 50. "Welcome to the City of Beginnings. This is the only safe zone you will find. Outside these walls, you die. Inside these walls, you obey."
The Knight scanned the crowd. "New arrivals must register their Guild Card at the Central Crystal. Line up! Trash to the left, combat classes to the right!"
I stood in the middle of the crowd. Lucas was beside me, panting, struggling to hold the giant cleaver, but he hadn't dropped it. "Kael... where do we go?"
I ignored the line. I ignored the Knight. My eyes were scanning the architecture of the city. Most people saw buildings, shops, and NPCs. I saw wireframes. I saw hitboxes. I saw merchant inventories through the walls.
And then, I saw it. A small, flickering icon above a dark alleyway between a potion shop and a tavern. A corrupted texture. A "Glitch Zone".
"We're not registering," I said, adjusting my collar. "What? But the Knight said..." "The Knight is a script," I interrupted. "If we register, the System puts a tracker on us. We're going off-grid."
I started walking towards the dark alley. "Come on, Lucas. Let's go see what errors this city is hiding."