The Shadow Wolf didn't bark. It didn't growl. It just... flowed.
One second, it was a mass of corrupted pixels in the corner; the next, it was a streak of darkness tearing through the room.
"Shields up!" Miller screamed, bracing himself.
He was the only one acting like a tank. The other [Warrior]—a guy named Steve from HR—dropped his sword and scrambled backward, tripping over his own feet.
CRACK.
The wolf slammed into Miller's shield with the force of a freight train. The rusty iron buckler didn't stand a chance. It buckled inward, screeching like torn metal. Miller went flying, skidding across the stone floor until he hit a pillar with a sickening crunch.
"Miller!" Sarah shrieked. She raised her staff, her hands trembling so hard the tip was vibrating. "Fire! Fireball!"
A small bolt of flame, about the size of a tennis ball, sputtered out of her staff. It hit the wolf's flank.
[IMMUNE]
The text floated above the beast's head in gray letters. The fire simply vanished upon contact with the shadow fur.
The wolf turned its head slowly. Its eyes were burning red, leaking black smoke. It looked at Sarah.
"It... it didn't work," she whispered, backing away.
The wolf snarled, exposing teeth that looked like serrated obsidian daggers. It crouched, muscles coiling to spring. It was going to slaughter her.
Think, Jax. Think!
I was standing twenty feet away, useless. My heart was in my throat. I brought up my console again, my eyes frantically scanning the wireframe world.
[TARGET: SHADOW_ALPHA_WOLF (LVL 5)] [HP: 850/850] [STATUS: AGGRO (TARGET: SARAH)]
I focused on the wolf. I mentally clicked on it.
> [SELECT TARGET] > [DELETE]
[ERROR 403: PERMISSION DENIED. TARGET LEVEL TOO HIGH.]
"Damn it!" I hissed. "Come on, give me something!"
I tried to modify its stats.
> [SET ATTRIBUTE: STRENGTH = 0]
[ERROR: CANNOT MODIFY ENTITY DATA WITHOUT ROOT ACCESS.]
The system was locking me out. I was a Glorified QA Tester in a world that required a Senior Developer. The wolf lunged.
Sarah screamed, throwing her arms up in a futile attempt to protect her face.
I didn't have time to hack the wolf. I needed to hack something else. Anything.
My eyes darted to the floor beneath the wolf's paws.
The wireframe grid of the stone tiles lit up.
[TARGET: FLOOR_TILE_STONE_04] [TYPE: STATIC MESH]
Static Mesh. That meant it was part of the environment. I couldn't delete the monster, but maybe I could mess with the stage.
I focused on the properties of the floor.
> [PROPERTIES] > Material: Stone > Durability: Indestructible > Friction: 1.0 > Temperature: 15°C
Friction.
In game physics, friction determines how slippery a surface is. A value of 1.0 is like rough concrete. A value of 0.1 is like wet ice.
The wolf was mid-leap. Its claws were digging into the stone for traction to launch itself at Sarah.
I highlighted the Friction value.
> [SET VALUE: 0.0]
[SYSTEM ALERT: VALUE MODIFIED.] [WARNING: PHYSICS ENGINE MAY BECOME UNSTABLE.]
"Screw physics!" I yelled.
The effect was instantaneous—and hilarious.
The wolf pushed off the ground to pounce. But there was absolutely zero friction. Its back legs shot out from under it as if it were standing on a cartoon banana peel.
WHOOSH.
Instead of launching forward, the wolf face-planted into the stone with a heavy THUD. Its momentum carried it forward, sliding across the floor like a hockey puck.
It slid right past Sarah.
It slid past the screaming HR guy.
It kept sliding, legs flailing comically, trying to find purchase on a surface that physics had decided was infinitely slippery.
CRASH.
The beast slammed head-first into the far wall. The impact was solid.
[-50 HP]
A damage number popped up. Not from a weapon, but from "Environmental Damage."
"What... what just happened?" Sarah lowered her arms, staring at the wolf, which was now shaking its head dizzily against the wall.
"Don't question it!" I shouted, my head throbbing from the mental exertion. "Miller! It's stunned! Hit it now!"
Miller was groggy, blood trickling down his forehead, but he was a gamer too. He saw the opening. He roared, grabbing his dented shield and sword, and charged.
The wolf shook off the stun. It saw Miller coming. It snarled and tried to stand up.
But it was still on the "zero friction" tile.
Its paws scrambled frantically, like Scooby-Doo trying to run in a hallway. It couldn't generate any forward force. It was running in place, claws scratching uselessly against the stone.
"Take that, you glitchy mutt!" I grinned.
Miller reached the wolf. He didn't slash. He raised his sword with both hands and brought it down like an executioner.
SHINNK.
The blade buried itself deep into the wolf's neck.
CRITICAL HIT! [-120 HP]
The wolf howled—a sound that vibrated in my teeth. It thrashed, finally managing to kick itself off the wall and onto a normal patch of floor. It regained its footing.
It was bleeding, angry, and glowing with a dark purple aura.
[BOSS PHASE 2 INITIATED] [ABILITY ACTIVATED: SHADOW STEP]
"Phase 2?" Dave whimpered from the back. "We didn't even finish Phase 1!"
The wolf vanished.
It didn't run. It just dissolved into smoke.
"Where is it?" Miller spun around, blood flying from his sword. "Everyone, back to back!"
I scanned the room with [Source View]. The wireframes were going crazy. The wolf wasn't in one place; its code was jumping around the room, corrupting the data wherever it went.
There.
A cluster of red error text appeared directly above Sarah.
"Above you!" I screamed.
Sarah looked up just as the wolf materialized from the ceiling, dropping straight down.
I tried to target the ceiling. [Target: Ceiling_Tile].
> [PROPERTIES] > Gravity: ON
Too slow. I couldn't change the gravity fast enough. It was going to land on her.
I looked at Sarah's staff.
[TARGET: BEGINNER_MAGE_STAFF] [DURABILITY: 10/10] [SCALE: 1.0]
Scale.
In game development, "Scale" determines the size of an object. If you scale something up, it gets bigger.
I didn't know if this would work on an item held by a player. The System usually blocked player interference. But I was desperate.
I focused on the staff's Scale value.
> [SET VALUE: 3.0]
[OVERRIDE ACCEPTED.]
POOF.
Instantly, the wooden stick in Sarah's hand expanded. It tripled in size, turning from a walking stick into a telephone pole.
The sudden expansion caught the falling wolf in the stomach.
WHAM.
The wolf effectively impaled itself on the giant staff before it could reach Sarah. The force of the impact launched the beast sideways. It tumbled through the air and landed near the center of the room, wheezing.
Sarah fell over, pinned under the weight of her now-giant staff. "I... I can't lift it!"
"Drop it!" I yelled.
The wolf was hurt. It was glitching badly now. Its leg was flickering in and out of existence.
[HP: 150/850]
It was low.
"Kill it!" Miller shouted. "Everyone! Pile on!"
The fear broke. Seeing the monster slip on invisible ice and get smacked by a giant stick had removed the terror. It wasn't a nightmare monster anymore; it was just a buggy mob.
The group charged. Even Dave threw a rock.
Spells, swords, and fists rained down on the struggling beast. I stood back, watching the HP bar tick down.
[-10] [-5] [-22]
The wolf let out one last, digitized howl that sounded like a computer crashing. Its body disintegrated into data streams.
[BOSS DEFEATED: SHADOW ALPHA WOLF] [DISTRIBUTING XP...]
A golden light washed over everyone in the room.
[LEVEL UP!] [LEVEL UP!]
Miller hit Level 3. Sarah hit Level 2.
And me?
I watched my own notification pop up.
[SYSTEM ERROR: USER 'JAX' CLASS CONFIGURATION INVALID.] [XP CANNOT BE PROCESSED.] [CALCULATING ALTERNATIVE REWARD...]
"Are you serious?" I groaned, slumping against a wall. "Zero XP again? I'm going to be Level 1 forever, aren't I?"
[REWARD CALCULATED.] [YOU HAVE RECEIVED: 1x ADMIN LOOT BOX (BUGGED)]
A small, glitchy cube appeared in my hand. It was vibrating.
Miller walked over, wiping sweat from his brow. He looked at the giant staff on the floor, then at the spot where the wolf had slipped. He looked at me.
"Jax," he said, breathing heavily. "Did you... did you do that?"
I shoved the glitchy loot box into my pocket. "Do what? The wolf was clumsy. And Sarah's staff... uh... must have had a hidden growth enchantment. Lucky proc."
Miller narrowed his eyes. He wasn't buying it. But before he could ask more, the center of the room began to glow.
A treasure chest appeared. A normal one this time.
"Loot!" Dave screamed, forgetting his fear instantly. "I call dibs on the gold!"
I sighed, looking at my hands. I was still Level 1. My stats were still trash. But I looked at the room—the scratched floor, the giant staff, the pixelated blood.
I smiled.
I can't fight, I thought. But I can cheat.