When I woke up, the first thing I felt wasn't fatigue.
It was weight.
As if someone had taken my bones out during the night, put them back in, and this time set them in a bit more firmly.
Good news: I was still alive.Bad news: My body still thought that was a mistake.
"Status."
⟪SYSTEM⟫[STATUS – SUMMARY]
LEVEL: 2
PATH:– Root: Survivor– Main Branch: Veil – Observer– Sub-Branch: Flesh – Endurance
New Talent:– Pattern Sense I → "Scattered details in your mind tend to connect on their own."
Side Effect:– Increased risk of overthinking.– Time spent staring at the ceiling before sleep: +17%.
"Great," I muttered. "I already couldn't sleep. Now it's officially confirmed."
I got out of bed.My shoulder still ached, but it wasn't as sharp as yesterday. My muscles were sore, but this time there was a faint sense of strength beneath the soreness.
I pulled the curtain aside.Morning light was just beginning to touch Veldan's stone roofs. The streets weren't fully crowded yet.
Today, I had to stay alive again.And if possible… get a bit stronger.
I'd mashed together Lira's advice, Bran's pressure, and my own paranoia into a morning routine:
Push-ups.Sit-ups.Squats.And, if possible, a short run.
A perfect package if you want to start your day already hating yourself.
I lay face-down on the wooden floor.
"Ten," I said. "Let's start with ten."
After ten push-ups my arms were burning, but I didn't collapse to the floor this time.When I hit fifteen, my breathing sounded like a secret being dragged out of me, but I could still keep going.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[MICRO ANALYSIS – MORNING ROUTINE]
– Yesterday's max reps: around 12.– Today: 16 reps, form still bad but you did not die.
Minor Effects:– Strength: very slight increase.– Endurance: microscopic increase in local muscle groups.
"Thank you, microscopic increase," I said. "What would I do without you."
Push-ups, sit-ups, squats…When I finally lay on my back and stared at the ceiling, it began.
The cracks up there looked normal at first.Then… they started to shift.
They weren't actually moving.But my mind was trying to fit the lines into some kind of shape.
Into those ceiling cracks, yesterday's city map slid in.Market streets, the Old Well, narrow alleys…Little pins, chalk marks, scars on wrists.
All of it connected in my head, as if someone were pulling an invisible thread through them.
Me in the center.Half-finished triangles around me.One corner of the map felt empty; the northeastern side had a gap, like a missing point on a ring.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[PATTERN SENSE – PASSIVE]
– Mental shape formed: An incomplete ring / chain.– Gap: Corresponds to the northeastern part of the city.
Note:– There is something there you don't know about yet.– Category "Unknown things": already quite full.
"So…" I said, "yesterday we were at 'there are marks on the map.'Today we're at 'the marks make a chain and there's a hole in it.'Tomorrow… hopefully I'll still be alive to complain."
When I went downstairs, the Copper Lantern wasn't fully busy yet.Morning customers were quieter than the ones who tried to overturn tables at night.
Garen was behind the counter, as usual.
"Judging from your face, you beat yourself up this morning," he said. "Want breakfast?"
"As long as there aren't too many surprises in it, yes," I answered. "I think I've hit my surprise quota for the day already."
He set down a plate of bread, cheese, and a light soup.
"Heading out with the guards again today?" he asked.
"Probably," I said. "Or they'll lock me in a room and ask questions again.Both usually end the same way: tired."
"Tired is good," Garen said. "Tired people live longer than those who run around the streets at night."
Everyone in this city had a different picture of what "living long" meant.For me, right now, that picture was just bread and soup.
When I got to the headquarters, the courtyard had a different kind of buzz.
Some guards looked more tense than usual, some were rushing around with papers in hand.There was an unnamed sort of strain hanging in the air.
Bran was waiting for me at the entrance.
"Right on time," he said. "We've got another 'calm' assignment today."
"When you say 'calm,' you usually mean the opposite," I said. "What is it?"
"A house at the foot of Elvur Hill," he said. "Near the Old Well district.Cracks in the walls, trembling in the floor, people yelling that 'the house is going to collapse.'We're supposed to go there and tell them 'it won't.'"
"And if it actually does collapse?" I asked.
"In that case," Bran said, "today's topic gets more interesting."
Torren joined us from behind.His expression, as always, said, "Shared life-shortening program."
"We should go before the crowd panics," he said. "If too many rumors spread today, the council will take it out on us."
"The map…" I thought. "The gap was on the northeastern side. Elvur Hill is more or less that way."
⟪SYSTEM⟫[MICRO ALIGNMENT]
– New task location: Near the "empty" region on your mental map.
Comment:– Some blanks are just boxes waiting to be filled.
"Of course," I thought. "Of course that's where we're going."
The streets at the base of Elvur Hill looked even older than those in the Old Well district.
Stone steps were warped, walls were mossy.It was like the city had decided to forget this area, but the houses stubbornly refused to fall.
The crowd had gathered at the start of a narrow street.
"There," Torren said. "The source of the panic, in the middle of the people."
As we approached, the voices grew clearer:
"The wall's splitting, are you blind?""It shook all night, I swear!""The kid is still inside, get him out first!"
Bran moved to the front of the crowd.
"The guards are here," he shouted. "Everyone step back and stay out of the house.If the place collapses and you want to be underneath, that's your choice, but I don't want to write it in a report."
The crowd grumbled but stepped back, slowly.
At the end of the street stood a two-story stone house.Its right wall was webbed with cracks.Near the bottom, the stones looked as if something had pulled them inward.
Right next to the door there was a broken water bucket, a fallen chest, and a few pieces of cloth scattered on the ground.
And there, right by the wall, my eyes snagged on something:
Three chalk lines, half-erased.
One slanting upward, one sideways, one down.Another unfinished triangle, its end unclear.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[PATTERN SENSE – ACTIVE]
– Floor cracks, chalk marks, foundation stones:• All give the impression of being "drawn" in the same direction.
Preliminary Assessment:– Not a purely ordinary foundation failure.– Something beneath could be pulling as well.
NOTE: Digging is not recommended at this time.
"Thank you," I thought. "Fantastic idea not to dig under a collapsing house."
Bran pounded on the door.
"Whoever's inside, speak up!" he called.
A thin, shaky voice answered:
"Um… I'm here! I'm just… packing the chests!"
"Come out," Torren said. "Now."
The door opened; a girl in her early twenties with braided hair peeked out.Her face was wearing a calm expression that was already starting to crack.
"I said I'd finish and come," she said. "My mother's outside, tell her I'm fine."
Bran didn't bother arguing.
"Ethan, with me," he said. "Torren, check the cracks from outside.If we reduce the weight inside, we reduce the chance of collapse."
When I stepped inside, the musty smell of the old stone burned my nose.The floor had a subtle tremor, like the house itself was breathing.
The girl was struggling with the lid of a chest.
"Leave the heavy ones," Bran said. "Your life is worth more than a box."
She nodded, but her hand didn't leave the chest.
"This…" she said in a low voice, "is the last thing my father left me. If I leave it, it feels like… I'm accepting he's really gone."
A shadow of softness flickered across Bran's face.Then he looked at me.
"Help," he said. "But make it quick."
Just as we were about to lift the chest together, Pattern Sense flared again.
Floor cracks, wall scratches, where the crowd was standing outside…All overlapped in my mind.
As if an invisible hand were drawing a line—"from here to here."
Those lines met at one very specific point in the lower right corner of the house.A particular stone.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[INSTANT WARNING – YELLOW]
[YELLOW QUEST – CREATED]
Quest: Preventable Collapse
Description:– The cracks don't look "random."– Something is pulling from above and below.
Objectives:– Get everyone in the house out so no one ends up underneath.– In particular, move one person (the girl) to safety.– Don't get too close to the exact center of the collapse.
Failure:– First civilian deaths recorded.– Pattern Sense begins with "disaster you saw but failed to stop."
Rewards:– Extra EXP.– Veil Branch: Micro-talent "Sense of Dangerous Points."
"Great," I thought. "Today's special: heroics without being crushed by a building."
I grabbed one side of the chest.
"You can get the rest later," I told the girl. "Right now, staying alive makes more sense."
"There is no 'rest,'" she said stubbornly. "Just this one."
Suspicious.But the tremor in the floor didn't leave time for debate.
Bran turned toward the door.
"Torren!" he shouted. "Check the right corner! I don't like it!"
Before an answer came, the floor held its breath.
Silence.
Then from the right side of the house, a short, deep cracking sound.
One stone shifted out of place.Cracks raced outward like a spiderweb.
"Out!" Bran yelled.
I shoved the chest away and pushed it toward the girl.
"Let go!" I shouted.
This time she did.
I grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the door.
Behind us, the right corner of the house gave way; the air filled with dust.Bran pushed us both from behind, and we tumbled out into the street.
As we hit the ground, the right corner came down like a giant dropping to its knees.That part of the wall collapsed inward; stone, splintered wood, dust—all in a heap.
Screams rose from the crowd.
The girl dropped to her knees and stared at the ruined house, eyes bright with tears.
"You okay?" I asked.
She nodded.
"I am," she said. "If my father were here… he'd have chosen me over the house.I think… I did the right thing."
"Yeah," I said. "You definitely did."
Torren approached the fallen corner.Between the stones, for a brief moment, part of the inside face of the wall was visible.
Just for a heartbeat, before dust swallowed everything—
A triangle carved into the stone.
Three clear lines.In the center, a faint circular scorch.
My eyes locked onto it.
The marks I'd seen on the map yesterday now lined up with the one hidden in the wall today.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[CRITICAL GLIMPSE – SHORT]
– Completed symbol: seen clearly for the first time.– Comment: The "Cracked Brand" may never have been incomplete.It was just… always showing itself half-finished on the outside.
Note:– Detailed analysis blocked.– Reason: "Too early."
I tried to speak.
"Bran, the wall—there's something on it, look—"
The words caught in my throat.An invisible hand pressed lightly against my chest; the watch there turned to ice.
The pain was brief, but sharp.
"Not now," something said. "Still not yet."
As the dust cloud rose, the triangle's lines vanished from sight.The fallen stones covered it like a new wall built to hide it.
Torren stepped back.
"You're lucky," he told the crowd. "Only the corner went down. It didn't fall on anyone."
Bran turned to me.
"I'm glad you let go of the chest," he said. "If you'd insisted, we'd be scraping you out from under it right now."
"When the ceiling decides it wants to relocate to ground level," I said, "arguing with it isn't wise."
The girl slowly got to her feet, still trembling.
"Um…" she said, "thank you. I can't repay this, but—"
Bran raised a hand.
"Go to Lira," he said. "She'll find you a place to stay for a while.I'll handle the headquarters report.Right now, your only job is staying on your feet."
The girl nodded and disappeared into the crowd.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[QUEST COMPLETED – YELLOW]
[SIDE QUEST: Preventable Collapse]
Status: SUCCESS.
Results:– Civilian casualties: 0.– Specially targeted individual: Safe.
Rewards:– Experience: Small increase.– Veil Branch: Micro-talent "Sense of Dangerous Points" gained.
[Sense of Dangerous Points]:– Increases your ability to feel where "weight is wrong" in a place.– Applies to both collapsing buildings and collapsing plans.
Side Effect:– Sometimes you'll feel "something is going to break here" even in perfectly solid rooms.
"Fantastic," I thought. "Now I get to be nervous around buildings too, not just people."
It didn't take long for others to arrive to inspect the damage.
Some were more guards from the headquarters, others wore the official insignias of the city council.
Two of them stood out:
A tall, thin woman in a gray cloak;and beside her, a short-bearded man with an unsettling calm on his face.
The gray-cloaked woman glanced at the collapsed corner and pursed her lips.
"This district again?" she said. "Half the crack complaints in the last months are from here."
The bearded man leaned over the rubble.His fingers moved very close to where I'd seen the triangle; then he suddenly pulled his hand back, as if he'd felt heat.
"This place," he said in a low voice, "needs to be closed for a while.No digging.Nobody touches the foundations. Understood?"
Bran raised an eyebrow.
"Official reason?" he asked. "What goes in the report?"
"Weak foundations," the man said. "Write about damp, age, whatever you like.You don't need to know the real reason."
He said the last line while looking directly at us.
Torren's jaw tightened, but he didn't say a word.
The gray-cloaked woman clasped her hands.
"We'll temporarily close this street," she said. "Redirect people elsewhere.And please, let's not spread stories about 'collapsing houses and strange things on the walls.'Veldan has enough nightmares already."
Just as she turned to go, her gaze rested on me for a moment.
In her eyes, I saw something sharp, something I didn't recognize but knew I'd remember:"Did you see?"and at the same time,"Don't."
I didn't say anything.I just dipped my head slightly.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[PATTERN SENSE – UPDATE]
– New point: The collapsed house by Elvur Hill.– Links: Old Well, northern grove, map marks, thug's wrist.
Provisional Conclusion:– There might be more than one hidden group involved.– And the city council / official bodies are at least "aware" of something.
Comment:– Everyone is hiding a different piece.– You, whether you like it or not, came with the puzzle box.
"Great," I thought. "I'm just the pawn someone pulled from the wrong game."
Back at headquarters, Bran and Torren took over the paperwork.
"I'm not writing this one," I said. "My hand's still shaking."
"We've got it," Bran said. "You… rest your eyes for a while.You saw a lot today.Those who see get tired faster than those who don't."
Torren nodded.
"And," he added, "don't run to Mira with everything.Let some things sit in your head first.Sometimes raw information is more dangerous than cooked."
"You two are full of inspiring lines today," I said. "Really uplifting."
⟪SYSTEM⟫[NEW NOTE]
– Bran and Torren → Both lean toward "don't say everything immediately."
Veil Alignment:– Perfectly compatible with Silent Observation tendency.
On my way back to the inn, Pattern Sense did something new in my head.
All the points I'd seen began to move by themselves:
The underground ruins.The northern grove.The Old Well.The collapsed house by Elvur Hill.Chalk marks on walls.Burn marks on wrists.Pins on the map.
They formed the edges of something, like the outline of an ink stain.
An incomplete ring…As if something had drawn a huge symbol beneath the city and simply stopped halfway.
"Did it stop halfway," I wondered, "or are we just not ready to see the whole thing yet?"
⟪SYSTEM⟫[SHORT ANSWER]
– Yes.
"That is… absolutely not helpful," I said.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[EXPLANATION – REDACTED]
– Which part of "yes" this refers to...
Attempt to access higher-tier information detected.Continuation locked.
"All right, all right," I muttered. "Stop. My head already hurts."
As I reached the Copper Lantern's door, the watch on my chest trembled for a moment.
I reached under my shirt and took it out.
Beneath the glass, a new, incredibly fine detail had appeared:
A hair-thin crack, almost like three lines that didn't quite meet.
At first glance, it was just a scratch.
But I wasn't capable of seeing cracks as "just scratches" anymore.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[MICRO RESONANCE – UPDATE]
– Connection between watch, city, and symbol: Strengthening.
Note:– Cracks don't always mean weakness.Sometimes things only show what's inside once they break.
"I am definitely not going to remember that line at a convenient time," I said. "And I kind of wish I could forget it."
I slipped the watch back under my shirt and went up to my room.
Today, a house had collapsed and no one died.And once again, I'd taken one more step—not just toward seeing the cracks in stone,but toward seeing the map of fractures running through this city's story.