The collapse of the network and the withdrawal of the system created a global crisis that made every headline in every country simultaneously obsolete. Thousands of system users around the world suddenly lost their abilities. Some of them were holding sensitive positions, controlling critical infrastructure, managing financial systems.
The chaos that followed made the stock market crash seem like a minor fluctuation. Governments fell. Banks failed. Scientific research that had been based on system user breakthroughs suddenly became impossible to replicate. Planes with system user pilots experienced critical failures. Hospitals with system user surgeons saw death rates skyrocket.
But there was something else happening too. In the chaos, people discovered that they were more resilient than
