ERROR! THE SYSTEM IS BEING CORRUPTED!
RESISTING CORRUPTION....
RESISTANCE FAILED.
CORRUPTION: 20%→40%→70%→85%→95%→100%
CORRUPTED SYSTEM COMPLETED!
PLAYER "ETHAN JONES" RECEIVED A BROKEN SYSTEM!
STATUS WINDOW
Name: Ethan Jones
Title: Villain: The Grand Instigator
Class: Instigator
Level: 1
HP: 100/100
MP: 50/50
Skills: WHISPERED PROVOCATION (E), SEED OF DISCORD (E), FALSE NARRATIVE (E), CHAIN REACTION (E), SMOKESCREEN TRUTH (E), READ THE ROOM (E), PANIC SPREAD (E)
STRENGTH: 8
AGILITY: 10
VITALITY: 10
INTELLIGENCE: 5
Title Effect: Strength increases based on the scale of chaos indirectly caused by you.
Skills Description:
WHISPERED PROVOCATION (E) (Growth Type)
MP Cost: 10 MP
Cooldown: 18 seconds
Proficiency: 0.00%
Description: Subtly provoke a target, increasing their hostility toward a chosen individual.
SEED OF DISCORD (E) (Growth Type)
MP Cost: 14 MP
Cooldown: 25 seconds
Proficiency: 0.00%
Description: Plant a lingering doubt between two targets, slightly reducing their trust in each other.
FALSE NARRATIVE (E) (Growth Type)
MP Cost: 16 MP
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Proficiency: 0.00%
Description: Fabricate or distort information, misleading a target and obscuring the truth.
CHAIN REACTION (E) (Growth Type)
MP Cost: 18 MP
Cooldown: 35 seconds
Proficiency: 0.00%
Description: Intensify an ongoing conflict, causing emotions and aggression to escalate more rapidly.
SMOKESCREEN TRUTH (E) (Growth Type)
MP Cost: 12 MP
Cooldown: 40 seconds
Proficiency: 0.00%
Description: Conceal your involvement in recent events, making it difficult to trace actions back to you.
READ THE ROOM (E) (Growth Type)
MP Cost: 8 MP
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Proficiency: 0.00%
Description: Analyze nearby individuals to detect hidden tension, rivalry, or exploitable emotional weaknesses.
PANIC SPREAD (E) (Growth Type)
MP Cost: 20 MP
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Proficiency: 0.00%
Description: Induce unease within a group, increasing fear and making coordinated action harder to maintain.
Ethan was confused while looking at his own status window.
"What is this? An Instigator class? It's good that I don't need to fight myself, but didn't that cat say that we should save the world? Why did I gain something evil instead?"
DINGGGG!!!
A hologram appeared in front of him, glowing faintly in the empty white space.
"Due to unknown interference, Player Ethan's system quest will be different from the others. The penalty for failing each quest will be the player's death."
He frowned, staring at the floating words.
"What? My death? So it's basically saying that I should do what it wants, huh? Well, I'm kind of bored, so let's just do it. This is better than being a slave in my company."
The hologram flickered slightly, as if reacting to his answer.
DINGGGG!!!
Another screen appeared.
"You will be transported into the Players Lobby with everyone who survived!"
A light enveloped his whole body, warm and blinding, and just like that, he was transported into a huge white room again—one a hundred times bigger than the previous one.
Inside were hundreds of thousands of people who had passed the first test and proved their worth through any means. All of them were covered in blood—some drenched, some barely stained, but none completely clean.
The people there were from different countries all over the world, their faces carrying different expressions—relief, pride, shock, emptiness—as they stood beneath the endless white ceiling of the vast lobby.
The horned cat appeared again.
"CONGRATULATIONS, NEW HEROES!"
He glitched while he spoke, his small black body flickering like a distorted signal.
"MY TIME HAS COME TO AN END, AND I WILL NOW PASS MY BURDEN TO ALL OF YOU. TO PROTECT YOUR OWN WORLD IS NOW UP TO YOU."
He continued to glitch, fragments of his form breaking apart and reforming.
"WHEN YOU GO BACK TO EARTH, A MONTH LATER, MONSTERS YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN WILL INVADE YOUR WORLD! KILL THEM AND BECOME STRONG! STRONG ENOUGH TO KILL ANY INVADERS! AS TIME PASSES, THE DIMENSIONAL RIFT WILL GROW LARGER. UNTIL THEN, GROW AS STRONG AS YOU CAN. IF NOT—HUMANITY WILL CEASE TO EXIST!"
His voice distorted near the end, overlapping with static.
After saying that, he vanished like smoke, dissolving into thin air.
And all of them were transferred back to where they had been before coming there.
The news of this phenomenon spread all over the world as guilds and organizations formed overnight.
Everyone got Warrior, Swordsman, Berserker, Knight, Mage, Sorcerer, Wizard, Elementalist, Ranger, Archer, Assassin, Rogue, Bard, Scout, Magic Swordsman, Battle Mage, Summoner, Necromancer, Blacksmith, and Healer.
Only Ethan got an Instigator.
While others were given a system to help them save the world, Ethan got a system that wanted to destroy it.