The wind blew gently. The silence felt like an invisible hand brushing across the world, forcing everything to remain still for a moment. Kael slowly opened his eyes and sensed an odd weightlessness, as if his body had just been forcibly transferred from one place to another.
Just earlier… he still remembered.
Running between trees that shook in panic.
The low growl.
Something massive moving behind the forest fog.
Then the white light swallowing everything.
Now he stood in the middle of a vast grassland he had never seen before.
The grass, reaching up to his shins and glowing a light green, moved with the wind like calm waves of the sea. The sky above was pale blue almost too clean, as though it were a digitally rendered backdrop rather than a real sky. The sunlight was warm but not piercing, as if its intensity had been carefully adjusted by someone.
Kael turned his body slowly.
Far in the distance, the dense forest appeared only as a thin dark line at the edge of the world. How far had he been moved… or had the world itself moved him?
Kael exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
This place was too silent, too vast, and too perfectly arranged.
No birds.
No insects.
No sound except the wind and the beating of his own heart.
Something suddenly appeared in front of his face.
No sound.
No wind.
A translucent rectangular light.
A system window.
Digital text began to form.
Initiating identity verification…
Verification complete.
The window shifted, revealing a profile page like a character sheet in a game.
[SYSTEM]
Open status...
[STATUS]
Name: Kael Asterin
Age: 26
Race: Human
Level: 1
Ability: Unknown
Status: Stable
Physical Condition: 87%
State: Initial Access Unlocked
Kael stared without blinking, feeling his heartbeat spike.
Before he could touch the window, another one materialized beside it, its blue shade deeper and heavier.
[STATISTICS]
Strength: 1
Endurance: 1
Speed: 1
Intelligence: 1
Agility: 1
Luck: 4
Kael frowned.
His luck was far higher than the rest.
But before he could make sense of it, a third system window appeared beside the others.
This one trembled.
Its color was not transparent blue
It flickered between dark green, dull red, and shadow-black.
Inside it were only question marks.
Every column was filled with broken letters and wild symbols shifting violently.
The window felt alive, trying to form words but failing again and again.
The hairs on Kael's neck rose.
He stepped back slowly, instinct screaming that this window did not belong to the normal system.
The glitch pulsed once… twice… and vanished.
Leaving nothing behind.
Kael let out a long breath, trying to steady his mind.
But the calm lasted less than a minute.
A low growl echoed in the distance.
Kael's back stiffened. He turned toward the sound.
Something moved across the sky.
A massive shadow cut through the sunlight.
Its wings spread wide, moving with slow, eerie grace.
Its long, scaled body shimmered with a faint red tint each time light hit it.
Its head resembled both a reptile and a beast he had never seen before.
A red glow pulsed deep in its throat, like simmering embers.
The creature flew low, circling the grassland.
That low growl echoed again, shaking Kael's chest.
It was the same sound he heard earlier.
The same monster?
Or a similar species?
The creature's gaze locked onto Kael.
No, he wasn't mistaken.
It saw him directly, intensely, as if the rest of the world no longer mattered.
Kael felt his blood freeze.
The creature dove.
Kael ran.
He sprinted through the open field, grass slapping his legs, wind stinging his eyes. Each flap of the creature's wings sent a tremor through the ground.
The low growl shifted into a thunderous roar.
Hot wind blasted against his back.
Kael risked a glance.
The creature was about to strike.
A system window suddenly blinked into view, flickering like a panicked heartbeat.
[WARNING]
Threat detected…
Creature Identified: Pyrkon
Threat Level: Extremely High
Target Level: Unknown
Classification: Long and Short-Range Predator
Survival Probability: Very low
Recommended
Use ability.
Activating ability…
Instruction…
Excess data unstable…
Access… access…
Kael gritted his teeth.
The instruction was blurred.
Vague.
Useless.
Yet something inside him stirred.
A strange pull in his chest, a silent whisper that wasn't spoken yet urged him onward.
His hand moved on its own.
A small light formed at his fingertip.
But it didn't explode.
Didn't extend.
Didn't turn into an attack.
Kael muttered a curse.
The creature came closer.
He saw the dense forest ahead once far, now rapidly approaching. He pushed himself faster, leaping over scattered stones and roots.
The scaled beast roared and released a burst of red energy from its throat.
Kael fell as the ground beside him exploded. Heat slapped his skin like molten fire.
He crawled, forcing his legs to stand.
A small cave entrance lay ahead, almost too small to be called a cave.
Just a dark crevice hidden by roots and bushes.
Kael didn't think.
He dove inside.
His body nearly got stuck, but he forced himself deeper until darkness swallowed him completely.
Outside, the creature roared in frustration, its voice shaking the earth.
But it couldn't enter.
The cave was too narrow.
Kael shivered in the dark, letting his eyes adjust.
A system window glowed into existence.
[MISSION]
1. Survive Pyrkon's attack
Status: Completed
2. ???
3. ???
Before Kael could process it, another window appeared this one pale gold, like a special interface.
[MISSION REWARD]
A black glove with flowing violet lines, pulsing like veins.
Item Name: Shade Vortex Grip
Absorbs 10% of enemy attacks
Absorbed attacks can be released as counterattacks
Counterattack power: 80% of the enemy's original force
Upgrade: Can be enhanced up to 5 levels
Required material: Void Catalyst Fragment
Current Level: 1
The glove materialized slowly on Kael's hand, molding perfectly around his fingers as if crafted for him.
Kael lifted his hand, watching the faint glow pulse from wrist to fingertip.
He swallowed hard.
But the moment was cut short by something
A glitch.
The corrupted system window reappeared beside the reward window.
This time, a few letters managed to form inside the distortion.
… the limit …
… prioritize …
… find …
Only those three words came through clearly.
The rest dissolved into broken symbols and twitching marks.
Then it vanished without a trace.
Leaving Kael alone in the cramped darkness, breath unsteady, in a world growing deeper and stranger with every moment.