Far from human settlements, a desolate place with an endless red landscape. In one corner of the land, there was a mound made of rugged stones soaring into the sky.
It was not too high, only a few meters away from the flat plain. There was a hole leading downward, revealing a dark corridor lined with natural stone eroded by sharp objects.
Then, from the sky, a whistling sound echoed, revealing the figure of a mysterious person in a robe. His floating body slowly descended and touched the ground, exhaling small dust that disappeared in the strong wind.
The corrupt who had returned to his lair looked left and right, making sure no one followed him from behind. After knowing there was no one, the corrupt entered the hole.
His footsteps echoed, clashing with the uneven natural stone beneath his feet. He walked along the dark corridor until he finally arrived in an open room.
A spacious place with a spiral path that would take him to the bottom of an endless abyss. When peering into the darkness below, the face beneath the robe glowed red.
Silence gripped the place until, finally, a red light shot its beam from the depths of the darkness. It triggered a chain reaction, and the cave, which had been dim, was now illuminated by the red glow from the horde of virus beasts nesting there.
"You came?"
A feminine voice, which sounded ancient, reverberated across the room. Instantly, the robed corrupt kneel in his place and bow his head.
"Come, my child."
Nodding to the words, he stood up and began to continue his halted steps, circling the descending path that took him to the core of the planet.
As he walked, the virus beasts that filled the surrounding area opened a path for him. The red glow from their cores flickered, as if paying the corrupt respect as a chosen one.
Not long after, the corrupt arrived at the bottom. He walked across a vast and towering hall. At the end, an elevated floor revealed an iron throne. On it sat a woman, her body wrapped in a thin black cloth that concealed her identity.
On the woman's head was a branched horn that symbolized her glory and dignity as the leader of that place.
However, the horn cracked, and visible red dots flickered, sending an invisible wave that marked her territory and also served as a detection signal throughout the room and the land around it, proving that the woman was not a human figure.
But, she was a corrupt entity belonging to the ancient category, because of her long lifespan and having witnessed more wars than the little corrupt one who was recently just born.
"I have come, venerable mother."
The machine called Mother was silent, looking at the young, corrupt kneeling before her, his head lowered. The black cloth covering her face fluttered gently, and the soft, feminine voice echoed in the room.
"Good job, so, where are the things I asked for?"
He raised his head, hesitant to tell the results of his expedition to find the pure power that had awakened these past few days. His mouth cracked, and as the young corrupt was about to speak. The atmosphere turned heavy, blasting his metal body to the floor, creating cracks that spread.
"My child, do you think your mother didn't notice that you brought nothing before me?"
"...S-Sorry, venerable, ukh!?"
The pressure became heavier and pushed him deeper into the floor as his body was almost buried. A crack resounded in the room, but all the red eyes witnessing only remained silent, staring blankly as if nothing had happened.
The black cloth covering the mother's face fluttered smoothly, as if exhaling a cold breath that froze the surrounding air.
"Huff, that is the wrong way to apologize, my child."
Even with his cracked body, the young corrupt pushed himself upward. He climbed out of the hole and prostrated, pressing his head to the ground.
"I beg your pardon, venerable mother."
From the throne, the mother looked as if she was not satisfied, but let bygones be bygones as she opened her mouth again.
"Tell me the details?"
"Very well."
He began to tell everything. It started with reconnaissance and the plan to retrieve the attribute, which was not just one but several in a single facility.
The attribute itself was a source of raw energy they were after, but its existence was also rare. That was why the corrupt, like the mother sitting on the throne in front of him, were also looking for it.
If a virus, beast, or corrupt consumed an attribute, they would evolve and advance to the next level to reach the peak of the world, which was their final goal.
The mother heard the details and finally scoffed, causing the black veil over her face to open, revealing part of her smooth face, with plump lips that radiated an alluring aura.
"Hmpth, humans again. How dare they disrupt my plan to evolve!"
For the first time, the calmness that enveloped the mother's body stirred. One tap from her finger was enough to create a shockwave that shook the air in the enclosed room, making the earth tremble in fear.
"Venerable mother, grant me request."
The boy opened his mouth and attracted the attention of the woman sitting on the throne. She was muted for a few seconds, not yet accustomed to hearing such irregular vocabulary coming from the machine mouth she called her child.
However, it was not a bad opportunity either, because the mother herself, who could not leave her lair for several reasons, might as well give the machine in front of her another chance.
"Alright, by any means necessary, you must offer all that pure energy to me!"
"Very well, venerable mother."
The young corrupt pressed his forehead to the ground. The worn hood, which covered his expression, concealed a malicious grin. Only he knew what was on his mind.
***
While the corrupt had a new agenda. In one of the facilities in the military barracks. A grey-haired boy, deeply asleep on a white bed, was facing his ordeal.
The darkness that enveloped his consciousness stirred awake, letting out a prolonged, endless rumble that jerked his eyes open.
Cain's breath hitched as he saw an empty room within the void in his heart. Two large monitors before him flickered, showing blurred images. He wrinkled his eyebrows as the black fog in front of him faded, opening up a path to a large opening area.
'This place again, huh!?'
He dragged his heavy feet forward. Yet his step had to stop when a blue panel suddenly appeared in his view.
[Null Sequence detected the user is in deep slumber. Attempting the update!]
That news snapped his eyes wide open. Cain glared at the system as it poured a lot of panels beneath it, filling his sight to the brim.
[Upgrading the Null Sequence System.]
[Updating, ...20%, ...60%]
[Null sequence update is complete]
[NULL SEQUENCE v0.2.0 → v0.3.0]
[Adjusting the accumulating Integrity point.]
[You reached the third threshold.]
...
[Null sequence update is complete]
[NULL SEQUENCE v0.3.0 → v0.4.0]
[Skill Data Reconstruction proficiency up!]
[Lv 1 > 2]
[Skill Limit Break proficiency up!]
[Lv 1 > 2]
The series of notifications that blocked his vision forced the boy to wave his hand as he tried to close the panel.
However, a jolt of searing heat began to assault his skull. Cain clutched his throbbing head, feeling molten iron scorch his brain. The heat spread like thousands of hot needles penetrating his skin to the bone, it gave an excruciating agony that made the boy gnash his teeth hard.
It did not stop there; the hand that groped his head glitched and faded, as if being erased by the mother system.
'Ah!?'
Cain tried to reach for his missing hand, but his other arm followed. The glitch gnawed at his body, leaving only his floating upper limbs, which slowly erased from existence.
"!?"
The boy's long-closed eyelids opened, gazing at a white ceiling. Its surface had a gentle touch of cold metal, reflecting his faint figure. Cain opened his mouth.
"Unfamiliar ceiling?"