system:Reborn

Chapter 6: The First Reward

The street was silent.

Kai stood over the defeated Shadowling Alpha, breathing heavily.

Around him, the remaining Shadowlings had stopped attacking.

They simply stared at him.

Then every creature suddenly looked toward the sky.

Kai followed their gaze.

The enormous Core remained suspended above Neo-Tokyo, its surface slowly rotating.

For the first time since its activation, it appeared to be looking directly at him.

Kai's System flickered.

[WARNING]

[REMOTE OBSERVATION DETECTED.]

Kai's expression hardened.

"So you're watching me."

Nothing answered.

Then the Core released a pulse of violet light.

Every Shadowling disappeared.

Not died.

Disappeared.

The streets instantly became empty.

Kai stood frozen.

"What just happened?"

A notification appeared.

[FIRST WAVE — PHASE ONE COMPLETE.]

[GLOBAL MONSTER COUNT: 1,000,000 → 742,391]

Kai stared at the number.

Hundreds of thousands of creatures were still somewhere across Earth.

This wasn't over.

A second notification appeared.

[PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION CALCULATED.]

Shadowlings Defeated: 31

Elite Monsters Defeated: 1

Civilian Lives Preserved: 7

System Override Usage: 14

Evaluation: Exceptional

Kai blinked.

"Seven?"

He remembered the family from earlier.

The parents.

The two children.

They had survived.

Something about that made the exhaustion feel slightly less unbearable.

Then the System opened his reward window.

[FIRST WAVE CONTRIBUTION REWARD]

Choose ONE:

A — 500 Evolution Points

B — Rare Skill: Kinetic Dash

C — Unknown System Fragment

Kai immediately focused on option C.

"Unknown?"

The System displayed a warning.

[SYSTEM FRAGMENT]

Classification: Restricted

Origin: Unknown

Compatibility: Unknown

Warning: May expose hidden System functions.

Kai stared at the other choices.

Five hundred Evolution Points could make him stronger.

Kinetic Dash could give him a powerful combat ability.

But the fragment...

That was different.

It might explain why his System was behaving strangely.

Kai selected it.

[REWARD ACCEPTED.]

A small black fragment appeared in his inventory.

The moment it materialized, his entire interface glitched.

ERROR

ERROR

ERROR

Kai stumbled backward.

Then a voice whispered inside his head.

Not the System.

Something else.

"You finally found one."

Kai froze.

"Who are you?"

Silence.

Then—

"Don't trust the System."

The voice disappeared.

Kai stared at his interface.

For the first time, he was afraid of the thing that had been helping him.

A siren suddenly sounded across Neo-Tokyo.

Emergency drones filled the sky.

A holographic announcement appeared above the buildings.

[GLOBAL EMERGENCY BROADCAST]

FIRST WAVE SURVIVORS ARE REQUESTED TO REPORT TO THE NEAREST EVOLUTION CENTER.

ALL AWAKENED HUMANS WILL UNDERGO POWER CLASSIFICATION.

Kai looked down at himself.

If he reported his real ability, someone would discover System Override.

And if the Observer was already watching him...

He couldn't risk that.

He opened his status window.

Name: Kai Ren

Level: 4

Rank: F

Ability: Null

Hidden Ability: System Override

System Access: Level 2

Kai closed the window.

"Nobody needs to know."

He started walking toward the evacuation zone.

But halfway there, another notification appeared.

[NEW QUEST]

THE HIDDEN AWAKENED

Objective: Enter the Neo-Tokyo Evolution Center.

Secondary Objective: Conceal System Override.

Unknown Objective: Identify the person carrying the same System signature as you.

Reward: ???

Kai stopped walking.

"Same System signature?"

Across the city, somewhere among thousands of survivors, another interface had just activated.

And its owner was looking for him too.