The rain in Lagos didn't wash away the heat; it just made the humiliation sticky.
Bhy Khay stood in the center of the university courtyard, his cheap sneakers soaked through, clutching a small, crumpled letter. Around him, the elite students of St. Ivory's Academy whispered and giggled.
In front of him stood Elara Vance.
She was perfect. Terrifyingly so. Her silver hair—dyed to match her family's steel empire—shimmered even under the grey clouds. Her uniform was tailored, costing more than Bhy Khay's entire life tuition.
"You wrote this?" Elara asked. Her voice wasn't cruel; it was worse. It was indifferent. Like she was talking to a waiter who got her order wrong.
Bhy Khay swallowed hard, his throat dry. "I... I just wanted you to know. Before graduation."
Elara sighed, a puff of cold air. She held up the love letter with two fingers, as if it were contaminated.
"Bhy Khay, is it?" She glanced at the signature. "You're the scholarship student. The one who fixes the seniors' laptops for cash."
"Yes."
"Stick to fixing laptops," she said, letting the letter drop into a puddle of mud. "It suits your reality better than dreaming about me."
The laughter from the crowd exploded. A tall, muscular guy—Viktor, the son of a senator—stepped up and shoved Bhy Khay hard. Bhy Khay stumbled back, his boots slipping in the mud.
"You heard the Ice Queen, trash," Viktor sneered, wrapping an arm around Elara's waist. "Know your place. You're an NPC in our world."
Bhy Khay clenched his fists. The shame burned hotter than the sun. He wanted to scream, to punch Viktor's perfect jaw, to tell Elara she was heartless. But he couldn't. They were right. He was nobody.
I hate this world, he thought, staring at the muddy letter. I wish it would all just burn.
[WISH GRANTED.]
The voice didn't come from the crowd. It came from the sky. Or maybe from inside his own blood.
BOOM.
A shockwave of purple energy blasted across the courtyard. The rain stopped instantly—frozen in mid-air like diamonds. The laughter died in everyone's throats.
Viktor froze, his arm still around Elara. Elara's blue eyes widened, looking up.
Above them, the grey clouds were tearing apart. A colossal, digital clock appeared in the sky, ticking down in red neon numbers.
[SERVER MIGRATION: 99%]
[INSTALLING... BATTLEFIELD OS]
"What the hell is that?" Viktor shouted, stepping back.
"The sky..." Elara whispered, her composure cracking. "It looks like a screen."
[SYSTEM ONLINE.]
[WELCOME, PLAYERS. THE TUTORIAL BEGINS NOW.]
The ground shook. Cracks spiderwebbed through the expensive marble of the courtyard. And then, the text appeared in front of everyone's face.
[Viktor Adebayo]
[Class Assigned: WARRIOR (Common)]
[Strength: 15]
[Elara Vance]
[Class Assigned: ICE MAGE (Rare)]
[Mana: 20]
Elara gasped, looking at her hands as frost began to curl around her fingers. "Magic? Is this... a game?"
Bhy Khay looked at his own hands. He expected nothing. Or maybe 'Peasant'. 'Victim'.
Instead, his vision turned gold.
[ERROR: PLAYER ANOMALY DETECTED.]
[ADMINISTRATOR ACCESS GRANTED.]
[Unique Class: SOVEREIGN (###)]
[Passive Skill: THE KING'S EYES - You can see the hidden stats of all things.]
Before he could process it, a roar shook the earth.
From the cracks in the ground, they crawled out. Not zombies. Not aliens.
Hellhounds. Wolves made of magma and obsidian, the size of cars.
"SKREEEE!"
One of the hounds lunged straight for the loudest person. Viktor.
"Do something!" Viktor screamed, pushing Elara in front of him. "Freeze it! You're an Ice Mage!"
"I—I don't know how!" Elara panicked, stumbling back in her heels.
The hound leaped, jaws wide, aiming for Elara's throat.
Time seemed to stop for Bhy Khay.
He looked at the beast.
And for the first time in his life, he didn't see a threat. He saw... code.
[ENEMY: Hellhound Runt (Lvl 2)]
[WEAKNESS: A glitch in the left ribcage texture.]
[KILL PROBABILITY: 100% (If struck now)]
He didn't think. He didn't run.
The "Invisible Man" moved.
Bhy Khay grabbed a metal pole from a broken construction sign nearby. He stepped in front of Elara, blocking the beast.
"Move, you idiot! You'll die!" Elara screamed, her icy mask shattered by fear.
Bhy Khay didn't look back. He looked at the glitch in the monster's chest.
"No," he whispered, his eyes glowing gold. "You die."
He thrust the metal pole forward.
[CRITICAL HIT.]