[System Time: 08:42 AM][Location: Sector 4, "The Rust-Belt"][Altitude: 12,000 feet]
Kaelen hung upside down, suspended by a frayed wire over an endless sea of white clouds.
To the wealthy "Players" living in the Upper Spire, the clouds were a beautiful view. To Kaelen, they were a shroud covering the Dead Earth—a place forbidden by the System. If you fell into the clouds, you didn't just die; your ID signal vanished. You were deleted.
"Focus, Kaelen," he muttered, adjusting his cracked goggles. "Rent is due."
He kicked off a piece of floating masonry, swinging toward a rusted metal beam drifting in the updraft.
[Scan Initiated...][Item: Old World Rebar][Rarity: Trash][Value: 2 Credits]
"Garbage," Kaelen sighed.
He was a Level 2 Scavenger. His stats were pathetic.
Strength: 4
Agility: 6
Luck: 1
Mana: Locked
In Aethelgard, the System decided your worth at birth. If you didn't manifest a Combat Class by age 12, you were designated "NPC/Civilian." Kaelen was 18. He was dust.
He was about to trigger his winch to ascend when his passive skill pinged.
[Passive Skill: Junk Sense (Level 3)][Anomaly Detected nearby.]
Kaelen twisted in his harness. About ten meters down, wedged into a fissure of a floating rock, was a box.
It wasn't rusted iron. It wasn't grey stone. It was a matte, absolute black that seemed to absorb the sunlight.
"Void Steel?" Kaelen's heart skipped. "No way. That's high-level crafting mat."
He extended his mechanical claw—a piece of junk he'd built from spare servos—and grabbed the box.
As soon as his fingers brushed the cold metal, the wind stopped. The clouds froze in their swirling patterns. The hum of the distant city fans cut out.
For one second, the world entered Stasis.
Then, reality snapped back with a violent lurch.
[System Alert!][Error: Item ID undefined.][Error: Timestamp predates Genesis.]
"Predates Genesis?" Kaelen blinked, clutching the box to his chest. "Nothing is older than the System. The System created the world."
That was the First Law of the Church. In the beginning, there was the Code.
Suddenly, a jagged, red text box fractured his vision. It wasn't the calm blue he was used to.
[Warning: Containment Breach.][Source: The Ninth Seal.][Threat Level: Calamity.]
SCREEECH.
From the clouds below, something emerged. It wasn't a bird. It wasn't a machine. It was a humanoid figure with rotting grey flesh, climbing the sheer rock face with claws that dripped black ichor.
[Enemy Identified: Rot-Ghoul][Level: 15][Status: Glitched]
"A mob?" Kaelen panicked. "Here? This isn't a Dungeon Zone!"
The Ghoul looked at him with milky, white eyes. It opened its mouth, and a sound like grinding stones came out. "The Ancestor... smells... awake."
It lunged.
Kaelen slammed the retract button on his winch. "Up! Go up!" The motor sparked and whined, pulling him up slowly. Too slowly.
The Ghoul leaped through the air, defying gravity. Its claws slashed through Kaelen's boot, shredding leather and skin.
"Argh!" Kaelen kicked out, but he did 4 damage. The Ghoul had 800 HP.
He was going to die. He was going to die holding a black box over a sea of nothing.
[System Query: Open 'Legacy Box'?][Y / N]
Kaelen didn't think. He smashed his bloody hand against the box. "Yes! Open!"
The box clicked. There was no sword inside. There was no potion. There was only a puff of grey mist.
The mist shot into Kaelen's nose. It didn't smell like magic. It smelled like Time.
[System Override.][Legacy Found: The Dust of Kuro.][Class Awakening...]
Kaelen's eyes rolled back. He felt a cold, ancient logic flood his brain. He looked at the Ghoul clinging to his leg.
He didn't see a monster. He saw a cluster of expiring data.
He reached out and touched the Ghoul's forehead.
[Skill Force-Activated: Decay.]
The Ghoul didn't take damage. It simply... aged. In one second, its flesh turned to leather. In two seconds, it turned to dust. In three seconds, the dust scattered in the wind.
[Target Eliminated.][XP Gained: Error.]
Kaelen was hauled up onto the metal dock of Sector 4, gasping for air. The black box lay open and empty beside him.
[Class Updated: Glitch Walker (Hidden)][Current Corruption: 1%]
"What..." Kaelen wheezed, staring at his hand. "What am I?"