The city never truly slept anymore. Since the gates appeared, nightfall had become a time of vigilance. Patrol lights swept the skyline like searching eyes; drones buzzed faintly above empty alleys. But in the guild dormitory, the world was deceptively quiet.
Kai lay on his bunk, staring at the cracked ceiling. Snores rattled from the beds above and below. The air smelled of sweat, iron, and mold. A meal had been served earlier — watery soup with stale bread — but he forced it down anyway. Subsidized food was the only reason he stayed here. Better a cheap meal than none at all.
But tonight, food couldn't settle the weight in his chest. He couldn't sleep. Not with the memory of the brute's corpse flashing in his mind, and the whisper that refused to be forgotten:
[System initializing…]
It had been too clear, too sharp to dismiss. Yet his Mark now sat dull against his wrist, as lifeless as ever. If he told anyone, they'd laugh. They'd sneer like they always did: Zero Sync, always dreaming of miracles.
So he rose quietly from his bunk, slipped past the watchman asleep at the desk, and stepped into the cold night.
The river lot welcomed him with silence. Rusted beams jutted from broken concrete, weeds rattled in the wind, and the water lapped dully against stone.
Here, no one watched. He clenched his fist and whispered: "Show me."
The panel flickered into existence.
[Resonant Eclipse System]
Sync: 0% (Undetectable)
Attributes:
- Strength: 2
- Endurance: 3
- Agility: 2
- Resonance: ???
Status: Pathway locked
Kai's breath caught. It was real.
He touched the air; the text quivered. "Show me more."
A new line scrolled into view:
To increase Endurance: 20 continuous hours of physical exertion.
"Twenty hours…" His voice cracked.
The number mocked him. Even trained C-rank hunters collapsed after three or four hours of drills. Twenty was not training. It was punishment.
Kai slumped against a rusted beam, chest tight. For a moment he wanted to laugh. But the image of Mei rose in his mind, unbidden.
She had smiled at him just two days ago, when he visited home. Their small flat smelled of dust and boiled rice, the only food she could afford with her part-time wages. She had pushed a bowl toward him, her dark eyes steady.
"Kai, don't overdo it," she'd said softly. "Don't always push yourself into raids. It's too dangerous. I can work more shifts. I don't need much."
Her words had been firm, but her hands trembled slightly as she set the bowl down. He had pretended not to notice.
She was growing up well — healthy, cheerful, no trace of the poverty he carried on his back. She studied, hung out with her friends, laughed as though the world hadn't collapsed around them. And she wanted it that way — for him to see she was fine.
But Kai knew. Every coin mattered. Every pocket money he slipped into her hand meant she could eat without guilt, walk into class without shame.
She wanted him safe, but he wanted her life untouched.
Even if it meant shouldering all the danger alone.
Kai opened his eyes, sweat chilling his skin. "Twenty hours," he whispered. "For Mei… I'll do it."
He forced himself upright. His ribs still ached from the raid, but he staggered into a jog around the lot. Each step jarred his bones, his lungs burning as the cold tore at his throat.
Ten minutes felt endless. Thirty like drowning. By the first hour, his legs shook uncontrollably. He collapsed to his knees, gasping.
The panel blinked.
Progress to next level: 1 / 20 hours.
Kai's laugh came out broken. "One… one hour…"
He thought of Mei's smile again, her voice telling him not to worry, her hands pretending not to tremble.
"No," he whispered to the weeds swaying around him. "I can't stop. Not yet. Not ever."
And he forced himself to stand again.
The first hour nearly killed him.
Kai's lungs clawed for air, his ribs seared with every breath. His calves trembled, his knees buckled, his vision blurred. But the panel didn't care.
Progress to next level: 1 / 20 hours.
He almost laughed. Almost cried. Nineteen more hours like this?
The grind blurred time. The lot became a circle of torment — weeds brushing his ankles, rusted beams flashing past like taunting sentinels. He forgot direction, forgot pace. Just step. Breath. Step. Breath.
By the third hour, his chest rattled like broken glass. His throat was raw. His shirt stuck wet to his skin.
By the sixth, his mind whispered treachery:
What if this isn't real?
What if you're killing yourself for nothing?
He stumbled, nearly collapsed. But when the panel blinked —
Progress to next level: 6 / 20 hours.
—he screamed out a laugh, hoarse but triumphant.
"It's working…"
Hallucinations came later.
Shadows shifted like monsters stalking the edges of vision. The wind hissed like mocking voices: Zero Sync… burden… mule.
At the twelfth hour, he saw faces in the weeds. Raiders who had laughed at him. Harker sneering. Alek snorting. Their words cut deeper than claws:
"No way he killed that brute."
"Lucky Zero."
"Pathetic."
Kai spat blood into the dirt. "I'll show you."
The panel blinked again.
Progress to next level: 12 / 20 hours.
By the fifteenth hour, his body was done.
He collapsed, vomited bile, clawed at the ground to push himself back up. His arms shook violently, barely obeying. His legs gave way every few steps.
"Get up…" His voice rasped into the empty lot. "Get up."
He forced one foot forward, then the other. Not for Mei. Not even for his mother. Not for anyone else.
For himself.
For the boy who had stood in the testing hall while the machine declared him worthless.
For the man mocked as Lucky Zero, good for nothing but carrying packs.
For the raider who had watched Darin die, powerless to help.
"I'll never be nothing again."
His Mark pulsed once, faint.
Nineteen hours. His body was wreckage. His skin blistered with salt, his lips cracked, his muscles screaming with every twitch.
But the panel blinked:
Progress to next level: 19 / 20 hours.
One more.
One last eternity.
He dragged himself forward, staggering, stumbling, muttering curses to the air. His eyes rolled back. He forced them open. His legs folded. He forced them straight.
And then — collapse.
The lot tilted sideways. His body hit the ground.
The panel flickered.
[Endurance: 4]
Pathway Unlocked: The First Step
Skill Acquired: Breath of Resolve (Passive)
His Mark flared faintly, light etching across his skin like a promise.
Kai stared, barely conscious, lips curling into a bloody grin.
"I did it…"
The panel scrolled one last message before vanishing:
[Continue training to progress the Resonant Pathway.]
And Kai let the dark claim him.