The air in the Tutorial was supposed to be sterile, but as the body count rose, it grew thick with the metallic tang of blood and the musk of dying beasts. Alex ignored the screams. He ignored the frantic clanging of James's shield echoing behind him.
He wasn't looking at the monsters. He was looking at the world.
In his third life, a dying scholar had whispered a secret to him: The Tutorial is a prison of logic, but every prison has a crack where the light leaks in.
As Alex sliced through a Scavenger Rat, his eyes—enhanced by the gold of the Demon King's fragment—began to see the "static." Amidst the blinding whiteness of the void, there was a patch of space that didn't vibrate correctly. To a normal eye, it was just more white. To Alex, it was a jagged, vertical seam in the reality of the System.
A Temporal Tear.
"James! Hold the center!" Alex roared over his shoulder.
"I'm trying!" James yelled back, his shield glowing like a miniature sun as a dozen rats threw themselves against his golden barrier. "Where are you going?!"
SLICING THE UNSEEN
Alex didn't answer. He lunged toward the seam.
[ WARNING: BOUNDARY INTERFERENCE DETECTED ]
[ RETURN TO THE COMBAT ZONE IMMEDIATELY ]
The System's voice boomed in his head like a physical blow, making his nose bleed. He ignored it. He reached the tear and plunged his shadow-coated dagger into the nothingness.
He didn't hit air. He hit resistance.
He twisted the blade. The white void screamed—a sound like metal grinding on glass. The "static" intensified until a rift opened, barely wide enough for a man. It didn't lead to another room; it led to the "Inner Workings" of the Tutorial.
Alex stepped through.
THE ARCHIVE OF THE FIRST ERA
The transition was violent. He was no longer in a white room, but in a chamber built of floating gears and starlight. This was the Reward Room: Zero, a hidden node for those who broke the logic of the First Stage.
At the center of the room sat a single, pulsing crystal the color of a bruised sky.
[ HIDDEN QUEST CLEAR: THE ONE WHO SEES THE SEAM ]
[ REWARD: CHRONO-FRAGMENT (RANK: EX) ]
Alex approached the crystal. His hand trembled. In his previous lives, he had heard of these—artifacts of the Old Gods that could stabilize a regressor's soul.
As his fingers touched the cold surface, memories that weren't his flooded his mind: A dragon weeping over a broken world, a king falling into a black hole, and the face of the Watcher—the entity that had been following him across timelines.
[ CHRONO-FRAGMENT INTEGRATED ]
[ SOUL STABILITY INCREASED: 15% -> 45% ]
[ NEW SUB-SKILL: MOMENTARY STILLNESS ]
Suddenly, the room began to shake. The System had found the "glitch."
[ ERROR: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS ]
[ FORCIBLE EJECTION IN 3... 2... ]
"Wait," Alex hissed, his eyes darting around. He saw a second pedestal, hidden in the shadows. On it lay a book bound in silver elven skin.
He lunged for it, grabbing the book just as the starlight chamber dissolved.
RETURN TO THE SLAUGHTER
Alex was slammed back into the white void.
The scene had changed. The 500 participants were down to 300. The floor was a lake of red. James was still standing, but his shield was cracked, and he was surrounded by a wall of rat corpses.
And standing ten feet away from James, his sword raised for a killing blow, was System-Cage.
"He's too fast..." James wheezed, his golden aura flickering.
Cage's sword descended. It moved with the weight of the System's malice, a strike meant to execute the "Sun" before it could truly rise.
"Momentary Stillness," Alex whispered.
The world turned gray.
For exactly 0.5 seconds, time stopped for everyone but Alex. He didn't run; he flickered. He crossed the distance in a heartbeat, his dagger held in a reverse grip.
Time resumed.
SPURT.
Cage's sword hit the ground, but his hand was no longer attached to it. Alex stood between James and the ghost of his traitor, his eyes burning with a terrifying, absolute calm.
"You're late," James coughed, falling to one knee.
"I brought a souvenir," Alex replied, holding up the silver book.
[ STAGE 1 COMPLETE ]
[ SURVIVAL QUOTA REACHED ]
[ PREPARING TRANSPORT TO THE INTERMISSION CAMP ]
As the white light claimed them again, Alex looked at the silver book. The title was written in a language that shouldn't exist for another ten years: The Hymn of the First Dawn.
The "Hidden Quest" hadn't just given him power. It had given him the map to the only thing that could save James from his own awakening.