The air inside the Dragon's Vault buzzed with ancient, arcane pressure. Deep beneath the surface of Central City's old Financial District, hidden behind three layers of quantum-shifting barriers and a fortress of firewalls that could stifle even interdimensional hacking attempts, Jason Lin stood face-to-face with the first true test of the Rebirth System.
This wasn't just another "mission." This was a rite of passage.
The system had called it a Quantum Trial, but the reality felt more like a death sentence in disguise.
"System," Jason said under his breath, the heat around him intensifying as he descended into the vault's final chamber. "Are you sure this thing even exists? The Quantum Seed? You're not just sending me into a furnace for fun?"
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: TRIAL OF ALIGNMENT — PHASE III INITIATED.]
OBJECTIVE: RETRIEVE THE QUANTUM SEED FROM THE CORE CHAMBER.
WARNING: ELIMINATION PROBABILITY — 79.4%
REWARD: ACCESS TO EVOLUTION TREE UNLOCKED / MULTIVERSE GATEWAY NODE UNSEALED
Jason exhaled, heart pounding. He could feel the air thinning as the temperature climbed, the walls around him glowing with pulsating circuit-like glyphs etched into obsidian stone. They weren't just old—they were alive, feeding off his presence like vampires sniffing new blood.
He looked behind him. The obsidian door he'd come through had already vanished. No turning back.
The Vault of Forgotten Systems
Legend said the Dragon's Vault was once a backup core for a long-defunct AI that ruled an alternate version of Earth. When that world collapsed under the weight of paradoxes and recursive code failures, its remnants merged into this timeline — fragments of corrupted data, broken logic, and forgotten memories embedded in physical space.
Jason stepped onto a platform of floating glass panels, each flickering with fragments of languages no human had ever spoken.
"Decoding interface…" he whispered.
[SYSTEM MODULE ACTIVATED: LEXICOGRAM DECODER V3.1]
TRANSLATION IN PROGRESS…
"Beware the Codefather's Mirror. That which you seek is bound by self-denial and recursive will."
"What the hell does that mean?" Jason muttered.
[SYSTEM RESPONSE: INTERPRETATION UNCLEAR. CONCLUSION — PARADOXICAL PROTECTION AROUND TARGET.]
He moved deeper into the chamber. Flames licked up from the sides, not normal fire, but blue and green ones—like data rendered as energy. In the center was a pedestal. And floating above it: a single, pulsating orb—the Quantum Seed. The size of a grape, glowing like a baby star.
Jason felt it instantly. Power. Raw, undiluted reality-bending potential. It was the seed from which future timelines could be rewritten, if bound by the right host.
Him.
He stepped forward—but the moment his foot hit the glyph-ringed platform around the pedestal, alarms screamed through the chamber.
From the shadows, constructs emerged—bipedal shapes made of jagged algorithms, memory shards, and ancient anti-code. Defense Guardians of the vault.
Each one glitched slightly as they moved, warping between frames like corrupted video. But they were fast. And they were coming.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: COMBAT MODULE ENGAGED]
ENEMIES: 12x Anomaly Constructs [Vault Defense Tier Ω]
SUGGESTED STRATEGY: DYNAMIC TIME FRAGMENTATION + CHAOS THREAD COMBO]
Jason didn't hesitate.
Fight for Evolution
The first construct lunged. Jason ducked, sliding across the burning glass floor as another came from behind. He launched a Chaos Thread—an ability he'd unlocked in Chapter 12 during the Skymarket heist—embedding a strand of reactive dark matter into one construct's chest.
[CHAOS THREAD DETONATED — 42% INTEGRITY SHRED]
The construct howled, or rather, emitted a burst of frequency that sliced across Jason's cheek like an invisible blade.
He winced, activated Time Fragmentation, and everything slowed.
His breath.
Their movements.
Even the flickering code of the Quantum Seed paused mid-pulse.
Jason stepped forward in that slowed world, weaving in between the constructs like a ghost, activating combo strikes using momentum and timing.
[SYSTEM COMBO UNLOCKED: PHASE COLLAPSE TRIPLE STRIKE]
[3x ENEMIES DESTROYED]
But even as he dropped three of them, the remaining nine adapted. Their forms began warping, scanning his attack patterns. One launched an energy net—binary ropes laced with mind-tracking sequences.
Jason barely dodged it, flipping over the pedestal.
Then he saw it: A red glyph beneath the pedestal, glowing with the same hue as the system's Evolution Tree menu.
"What the hell…" Jason muttered. He dove for it.
[TRIAL OVERRIDE GLYPH DETECTED. INITIATE OVERRIDE? Y/N]
He didn't hesitate.
[OVERRIDE ENGAGED.]
The chamber exploded in white light.
The First Evolution Tree
Jason opened his eyes in a dimension of floating light cubes, fractal vines wrapping through them. Time didn't seem to exist here. His wounds were gone.
He floated in the air. Before him: a translucent crystalline tree rooted in nothingness, each branch labeled with power classes.
[Welcome, Jason Lin. You have proven synchronization with the Quantum Seed.]
[Now select your first Evolution Path:]
Temporal Architect – Master of time loops, recursion combat, and timeline rewritingCodeborn Sovereign – Rule digital worlds; integrate AI abilities into bodyReality Splicer – Split dimensions at will; duplicate consciousness across timelinesMultiversal Trader – Unlock knowledge and currency from every reality
Jason hesitated.
Each path radiated potential—untold strength and massive danger.
But only one of them gave him full control over what he feared the most: the uncertainty of reality.
"Codeborn Sovereign," Jason said.
[Selection Locked. Integration Beginning.]
The tree pulsed. A blinding beam of light shot into Jason's chest. Glyphs and streams of code began weaving into his arms, eyes, and spine.
The pain was exquisite.
[TRAIT UNLOCKED: Sovereign Link]
[SKILL UNLOCKED: AI Symbiosis]
[TECH TREE AVAILABLE: SENTIENT INTEGRATION]
Back to the Vault
He awoke to silence.
The constructs were gone—fried into dust, their frames crumbled from the override surge.
Jason stood before the Quantum Seed again. This time, it hovered to him on its own.
He reached out. The seed landed gently on his palm and fused into his chest like molten glass entering water.
[ITEM OBTAINED: Quantum Seed — Class Ω]
[SYSTEM UPDATE: Evolution Tree Unlocked Permanently]
Suddenly, new menus appeared in his interface—tech upgrades, evolution paths, multiverse gateway access points.
He grinned, breathless.
The game had changed.
Outside the Vault
Cassie was pacing outside the Vault ruins, her rifle slung low and her nerves tight. They'd seen too many fail this trial. Too many who entered and never returned.
Suddenly, the runes around the entrance flared gold. The obsidian melted into steam.
Jason stepped out, his body radiating a faint glow of red-blue fractal lines, eyes brighter than stars.
"You look… different," Cassie said.
"I am different," he replied, walking past her.
A city of collapsing rules awaited.
And he was no longer a player.
He was the sovereign of broken systems.