Pain.
That was the first thing.
His eyes snapped open, and all he saw was static. Not light. Not darkness. Static. Like a broken screen had been stretched over the inside of his skull.
[SYSTEM BOOTING...]
[ERROR: HOST VITALS UNSTABLE]
[NEURAL LINK… INCOMPLETE]
He couldn't move. His body felt like it had been dropped from orbit, set on fire, and then half-dissolved.
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
"Subject #77... conscious."
The voice wasn't human. It echoed in his head—metallic, calm, but… curious.
"Well. That's not supposed to happen."
The static faded just enough for him to see jagged ground beneath his body. Broken stone. Blackened earth. Some kind of post-apocalyptic lab, maybe? Or a battlefield?
He didn't know who he was. He didn't remember his name. His age. Nothing. Just that he hurt—and he was still alive.
[System Override Detected. Attempting Stabilization...]
A panel blinked into his vision.
[STATUS: SUBJECT #77]
Codename: N/A
Vitality: 12%
Neural Sync: 42%
System Connection: Fragmented
Location: Unknown Sector [Rift-13]
Core Attributes:
Strength: 2
Agility: 4
Endurance: 1
Perception: 3
Willpower: 6
Luck: 0
"You look like a character someone rage-quit creating halfway through," the voice added.
"No offense."
He groaned. "W…who's talking?"
"I'm the system assigned to you. GPT-type system, experimental integration. You were… not supposed to wake up like this."
His hands twitched. They worked. Sort of.
"Can you stand?"
"No."
"Excellent. We're already exceeding expectations."
He lay there for what felt like minutes, chest rising and falling in shallow gasps. His skin was bruised. Ribs cracked. Something had gone terribly wrong.
"Let's try a tutorial."
[NEW OBJECTIVE: STAND UP]
[REWARD: 1 EXP]
He squinted. "One? Just one?"
"You want two? Get on your feet and we'll talk."
He clenched his teeth and started to push himself up. The pain flared like fire across his muscles, but he kept going. Elbows to hands. Knees buckled. Back straightened.
He stood.
Barely.
[OBJECTIVE COMPLETE]
[+1 EXP]
"Congratulations. You're now officially outperforming 63% of test subjects."
"Most of them exploded."
He looked around again. Rubble. A shattered steel pillar. A flickering control panel embedded into a wall. The sky above was split—one half dark and stormy, the other glowing with digital light like a broken screen.
"Where… am I?"
"Short version?" the system replied. "A collapsed simulation layer. Reality's breaking. You were part of a failed project. Everyone else is gone. Or dead. Or worse."
"...And I'm the lucky one?"
"Not lucky. Just glitched. But hey, it's working for you so far."
His stomach twisted. His mind burned with questions. But right now, there was only one thing he could do: survive.
"Let's get you moving. Maybe—maybe—we'll unlock something useful before the world tries to kill you again."
His legs weren't working right.
Each step felt like walking through wet cement with a broken ankle—and that was being generous. The world around him twitched, as if reality itself had buffering issues.
But he moved.
Barely.
[NEW QUEST: WALK 50 METERS WITHOUT COLLAPSING]
Reward: 5 EXP + ???
"Fifty?" he muttered, dragging one foot forward. "You sure you don't mean five?"
"What's life without a little suffering?"
"C'mon, you've got bones left. Use 'em."
He limped past a cracked console half-sunk into the ground. There were sparks coming from inside it—red, blue, then purple. Static trickled through the air. He reached out instinctively.
"I wouldn't touch that."
He touched it anyway.
The spark zapped his fingers, and—
[+1 EXP]
[NEW STATUS EFFECT: Minor Shocked – Duration: 30s]
"Told you."
By the time he reached the halfway mark, he was sweating. His breath came in short bursts. Everything ached.
"Reminder: collapsing void sectors may include falling debris, corrupted mobs, or spontaneous deletion."
"That's not motivating."
"It is if you like having legs."
At 41 meters, his knee gave out. He dropped forward, caught himself on a bent metal pipe, and swore loudly enough to echo across the rubble.
"Get up. Just nine more. You're almost a functioning person."
He didn't reply. He just growled, pushed himself up, and kept going.
At 50 meters, the world pinged again.
[QUEST COMPLETE: WALK IT OFF]
[+5 EXP]
[RANDOM REWARD ACQUIRED – "Survivor's Instinct"]
[Passive Unlocked: Slightly reduces damage from falling, minor poisons, and pure stupidity.]
He stopped and blinked at that last line.
"System. What does 'pure stupidity' mean?"
"You'll find out soon, trust me."
A sound crackled nearby.
He turned sharply—well, limped-sharply—and spotted a flickering bush.
Blue leaves. Slightly translucent. Glowing from the inside like it was running on AA batteries.
"Do not eat that."
"I wasn't going to!"
"You were definitely going to."
He crouched beside the bush. It shimmered when he touched it—like pixels rearranging themselves in real-time. Not a plant. Not really. Something pretending to be a plant.
"Analyzing…"
[Corrupted Flora: Digital Bloom]
Edibility: 0/10
Poison Risk: High
Memory Fragmentation Chance: 22%
Taste: Bland, then screaming]
"...Screaming?"
"Yes. Literal, internal screaming."
He backed away very slowly.
[QUEST UNLOCKED: You Actually Didn't Eat It]
Reward: ???
A second later, the air shimmered and dropped a cube from the sky like a vending machine finally giving up.
[REWARD ACQUIRED – GLITCHED REWARD CUBE]
It landed with a soft tink, vibrating with unreadable symbols.
He stared at it.
"...This is going to break something, isn't it?"
"Almost definitely."
System Error: You Win
The cube hovered in the air, pulsing like a heartbeat made of neon static.
[GLITCHED REWARD CUBE ACTIVATED]
[WARNING: REWARD FILE CORRUPTED]
[…Proceed Anyway?]
"…Yeah," he muttered. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Famous last words."
He reached out.
The moment his fingers brushed the cube, the world twitched. Colors inverted. Gravity hiccuped. His system interface fizzled like someone was yanking code from under its feet.
[OPENING GLITCHED REWARD CUBE]
[Error. Error. Error. ERROR.]
[Reward stack failed. Dispensing all contents.]
[…Good luck.]
The sky cracked.
And three beams of glitching data shot straight into his chest.
He screamed—part pain, part overload, part oh god what did I just do.
[REWARD 1: ITEM ACQUIRED – Reality Tear (Fragment)]
[REWARD 2: PASSIVE UNLOCKED – System Sync++ (Beta)]
[REWARD 3: STAT BOOST – Luck +40]
His body flared with energy.
He stumbled, caught himself, and looked down at his hands. Veins glowing faint purple. Sparks of data flickering from his fingertips. His inventory pinged.
A weapon appeared there, warped and constantly shifting—like a dagger made from shattered reflections and static.
Item: Reality Tear (Fragment)
Type: Weapon
Damage: Variable
Effect: 5% chance to hit before you swing
Side Effect: Occasionally whispers from the void. Not responsible for existential dread.
Then came the second wave.
A light wrapped around him, different from the weapon. Cleaner. More… aware.
Passive: System Sync++ (Beta)
EXP Gain: +40%
Unlocks hidden system features earlier
Emergency override enabled (System can move MC's body briefly to avoid death)
Internal ego boost: Unreasonably high
"Congrats," the system said. "We're synced now. Like, deeply. I know your heartbeat and your terrible sense of direction."
Then came the Luck.
It hit like a bolt of lightning made from casino chips and cosmic laughter. His interface updated again.
[LUCK: +40]
[Current LUCK: 40]
"...What the hell does 40 Luck even do?"
"Let's compare," the system said smugly.
Average Human Stats:
Strength: 3
Agility: 3
Endurance: 3
Perception: 3
Willpower: 3
Luck: 2
He stared at his panel.
[STATUS: SUBJECT #77]
Codename: N/A
Vitality: 20%
System Sync: 62%
Location: Unknown Sector [Rift-13]
Core Attributes:
Strength: 2
Agility: 4
Endurance: 1
Perception: 3
Willpower: 6
Luck: 42
EXP: 7 / 10
Level: 1
He blinked. "I've already got more Luck than most gods, don't I?"
"Correct."
"Probability is now your plaything. You'll open empty chests and find gear anyway. Monsters will run from you for no reason."
"Side effect: You may begin winning arguments you're clearly wrong in."
A soft ping followed.
[NEW SYSTEM FUNCTION UNLOCKED – Perk Draft Available]
[Reason: Luck broke the intended level curve.]
He just stood there, dumbfounded. Power buzzing through his fingers. His luck stat climbing into "Are You Serious" territory.
"...Am I the protagonist now?"
"You're the problem now."