The sky of Abyss never truly changes.
Not really.
It sinks lower.
Darkens.
Twists into shapes without names.
But it always watches.
As if the entire world exists beneath its gaze.
I had been walking for hours when I felt it.
The wrongness.
Shadows fell against the light.
The air tasted like metal.
Danger.
I sat on a broken stone and summoned my status window.
Not out of hope.
Out of habit.
Level. Skills. Attributes.
Numbers that once meant nothing.
Now they decided if I would live another day.
I closed it.
"Just a little more," I whispered. "Then I rest."
The System answered.
[Hidden Quest Detected]
Name: Bond of Progress
Objective: Reunite with those who once shared your growth
Progress: 0%
Reward: ???
My old clan.
The ones I thought were dead.
And that's when I remembered how the world had ended.
The screen had shattered.
The world had shifted.
And I had woken up alone in Abyss.
Not everyone arrived in the same place.
Some fought like shooters.
Some commanded armies.
Some evolved slowly through endless grind.
The System turned games into survival.
There was no balance.
Only adaptation.
I kept moving while others stopped.
Because I understood something.
Abyss didn't reward the strongest.
It watched the ones who grew quietly.
Every level made me feel observed.
Recorded.
Measured.
When the ruined clan base finally emerged from the darkness, my heart tightened.
They were alive.
But Abyss had changed them.
And when their weapons slowly lifted toward me, I understood something terrifying.
Reunion wasn't salvation.
It was a new trial.
[Quest Update — Phase Two Initiated]