[ The Inverse Pyramid - Entrance Zone ]
Kai stood before the anomaly.
The Inverse Pyramid floated upside down, its massive, pitch-black base completely obscuring the Egyptian sun.
Its needle-point tip hovered just inches above the scorching desert sand, defying every known law of gravity.
He took a deep breath. The adventure begins.
But before he could step forward, a commotion caught his eye.
Near the makeshift security perimeter, a young woman was aggressively arguing with a group of heavily armed guards.
She looked roughly Kai's age, her face bright and defiant, with large eyes burning with furious curiosity.
"You can't just block science!" she yelled, pointing a finger at the tallest guard.
"Scram, civilian," the guard grunted, shoving her hard by the shoulder.
She stumbled backward, tripping over the sand.
Her oversized bag hit the ground and ripped open, scattering her belongings everywhere—holographic notepads,pen, lenses, and strange, cubic gadgets.
"Hey!" she cried out.
The guards just laughed, casually kicking her equipment away as if it were trash.
Kai's expression flattened.
He walked over, completely ignoring the towering guards, and crouched down in the sand to help her gather her things.
"Thanks," the woman muttered, furiously brushing dirt off her knees.
"Don't mention it," Kai said.
He spotted a small, round object rolling away.
It looked like a compressed travel capsule, painted white and red.
"Is this a Poké Ball?" Kai asked, picking it up. He gave the center button a light squeeze.
"Wait! Don't touch the release—"
Pop.
The capsule expanded instantly in Kai's hand.
There wasn't a monster inside.
It was... a massive pile of lacy, pastel-colored underwear.
Kai froze.
He knelt in the desert, holding the unmentionables in mid-air, his dark eyes wide with sudden horror.
I am a god of entropy... and this is how I die.
The woman's face turned nuclear red.
She snatched the clothes from his hand with the speed of a striking viper.
"You pervert!" she shrieked.
"You creepy old man!"
"I'm not an old man!" Kai retorted, standing up quickly.
"I'm younger than you, you Crone!"
"Crone?!" The woman looked ready to throw her holographic notepad at his head.
"Who are you calling a grandma? I'm twenty-four!"
"Stop yelling," Kai sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"My name is Kai."
The woman huffed, violently stuffing her clothes back into her bag and zipping it shut.
"I'm Nyra. And next time, don't touch my compression cubes."
"Fine," Kai said.
"So, Miss Crone, what are you doing out here?"
"I'm a journalist," she said, aggressively straightening her glasses.
"I came to study the spatial geometry of the Inverse Pyramid. But these gorillas won't let me in."
"Why?"
"They say it's reserved for the Endless Company Hunters," she spat.
"I have a press pass, but they just laughed at it. They checked my System ID and threw me out."
"Why would they throw out a journalist?"
Nyra went suddenly silent.
Her fiery energy vanished. She looked down, kicking at the sand with her boot.
"Because... I'm Level Zero."
Kaiblinked.
In this world, even children triggered Level notifications before they could speak.
Being Level Zero wasn't just weak; it was a statistical impossibility.
"You too?" Kai asked softly.
Nyra looked up, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Are you going to mock me? Go ahead. Get it over with."
"No," Kai said, his voice dropping its sarcastic edge.
"I'm Level Zero, too."
Nyra's jaw dropped.
"Really? I thought I was the only one. Are you... do you also have the D.D.S. condition?"
"Condition?"
"Dimensional Displacement Syndrome,"
Nyra whispered, glancing nervously at the guards.
"My body is unable to hold mana particles. They just... leak out."
Kai stared at her.
Dimensional Displacement.
It was the exact same disease Anna's mother suffered from.
Suddenly, the desert heat seemed to shimmer.
For a split second, Nyra's face overlapped with another—a nine-year-old girl with a fragile, hopeful smile.
Anna.
Kai reached out, his hand hovering near Nyra's arm.
"I..."
"What?" Nyra slapped his hand away, taking a step back.
"Don't get weird again."
Kai shook his head, instantly clearing the hallucination from his mind.
He looked up at the looming, impossible geometry of the Pyramid, then back down at Nyra.
She was weak, like Anna.
Rejected by the System's code, just like him.
"Do you want to go inside?" Kai asked.
Nyra's eyes lit up. "Yes! But how? Those guards are Level 30."
Kai smirked.
It wasn't a nice, friendly smile.
It was the cold, calculating smile of a Developer who had just spotted a backdoor in the server.
"Just watch," Kai said.
"Follow me."
High above them, standing silently on the inverted, pitch-black base of the Pyramid, a Masked Man looked down at the two tiny figures.
He didn't intervene.
He simply watched them, like a player observing an inevitable cutscene.
And shifting in the shadows right beside him... something giggled.
Somewhere far beyond the desert wind, something had already begun tracing his footsteps.
[The Border of Kemet - Crime Scene ]
Yellow holographic tape surrounded the frozen remains of the cargo truck.
A Senior Officer of the Super Cops stepped out of a mobile command tent, wiping sweat from his brow.
He quickly approached a man standing near the wreckage.
The man radiated an unnatural brilliance.
He wore a rumpled beige raincoat over a tailored suit, and a bright, sun-shaped earring dangled from his left ear.
His smile was warm, blinding, and terrifyingly fake.
[ Name: Vrisha ]
[Affiliation: Special Investigations Unit]
"Sir," the Senior Officer reported, saluting nervously.
"We secured the surviving bandits. But... the driver is dead. Horrifyingly."
Vrisha tilted his head, his smile widening like a fox spotting a rabbit.
"Explain."
"The body..." The officer gulped, pointing to the kneeling statue of ice.
"It's completely shattered at a molecular level. All the heat was instantly absorbed from his cells. It's as if his soul was trapped in a warmthless prison until physics just gave up."
"My, my," Vrisha drawled, crouching down to lazily inspect the frost-covered remains.
"Entropy manipulation? That's a rare bird."
"The captives aren't speaking," the officer continued.
"They're too traumatized. But one woman mumbled something... she said when she opened her eyes, the bandits were already defeated."
"Lies," Vrisha said cheerfully, standing back up.
"Humans are such terribly bad liars. Bring her to me."
Moments later, the young woman Kai had saved from the driver was brought forward.
She was trembling violently, her eyes darting around the wreckage.
"Hello, miss," Vrisha said, his voice dripping with warm, golden honey.
"You look so cold. Let me warm you up."
"I... I don't know anything," she stammered, shrinking away from him.
"Shh." Vrisha held out his bare hand.
"Just hold my hand. It will all be over soon."
The woman hesitated, mesmerized by his blinding smile, and slowly took his hand.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: SOLAR RESONANCE]
The atmosphere instantly darkened as Vrisha's aura absorbed the surrounding light.
The shadows collapsed toward him, as if devoured by a miniature sun.
The woman's pupils dilated until the iris vanished.
She went completely limp, held up only by Vrisha's iron grip on her hand.
"Now," Vrisha whispered.
His playful tone vanished, replaced by the crushing, absolute authority of the sun.
"Replay the memory. What happened in that truck?"
Inside her fractured mind, Vrisha watched the tape rewind.
He saw the sudden cold. He saw the sickening violet light.
And he saw the hooded figure freezing a Level 21 Bandit into a solid statue with a single, casual touch.
Vrisha opened his eyes, releasing his grip. The woman collapsed into the sand, completely unconscious.
"Interesting," Vrisha murmured, reaching up to gently touch his sun earring.
"A Level Zero… carrying winter in his veins."
He turned his gaze toward the desert horizon, looking exactly in the direction of the Inverse Pyramid.
"It seems we have a new Vector in the game."