By the time the simulation grid faded, half the auditorium had gone silent.
Kairo walked off the arena floor without a word. Mote hovered behind him, pulsing softly — a living cursor in a world of monsters.
Some students stared. Others whispered. One even started recording him from behind a holoscreen, zooming in on the replay feed of the duel.
The video would spread within minutes.
A Data Mote… disabling a 3-star Blazehound? With a system-registered skill?That wasn't just rare. That was impossible.
Kairo ducked into a corridor near the back of the hall and leaned against the wall. Finally, he let himself exhale.
"Mote."
"Yes, Master?"
"That wasn't just a 'glitch'—you executed a level-scaling bypass, didn't you?"
"Correct. My nature allows temporary access to advanced protocols once exposed to a target's code signature. I simulate and corrupt microcode. Over time, I will not need contact at all."
Kairo blinked.
"You just told me you'll eventually be able to disable pets by looking at them."
"I did not say 'disable,' Master. I said 'corrupt.'"
He wasn't sure if that made it better or worse.
[System Notice]
Pet 'Mote' has reached Level 2. Hidden Growth Protocol available.View Evolution Tree? [Y/N]
"Yes."
A holographic interface opened in his vision — a branching web of forms, skills, and evolutions. Most pets had three to five possible evolution paths.
Mote's chart? It expanded like a virus.
Each branch split into twenty more. Some nodes were glowing gold, others blacked out. Some were pure red — warning signs. One was even glitching, with broken code flashing over its icon.
"What the hell is this?"
"These are the initial known routes for the 'Glitchborn Seed.' You may choose evolution branches once per milestone."
[Available Evolution Path – Tier 1 Unlock]
Data Wisp – Increases evasion and scan radius
Code Leech – Gains passive health drain on enemy skill use
Kernel Breaker – Gains first active attack skill: Interrupt Pulse
"What would you recommend?"
"Kernel Breaker. Direct combat capacity. Necessary for survival."
"Done."
[Mote has evolved into Kernel Breaker.][New Skill Learned: Interrupt Pulse][Ability: Datalock — chance to freeze enemy pet skill queues for 1 turn.]
The door to the corridor hissed open. A tall girl stepped through — pale gray uniform, long twin-braided hair, and a datapad already open in one hand.
Mira Kessal.Top student. Tactical genius. Obsessed with data anomalies.
Kairo sighed. "Let me guess—you tracked me."
She ignored the sarcasm. "You should've suppressed the duel logs. The academy is already pinging your profile with a privacy inquiry."
"News travels fast."
"No," she said, walking closer, "glitches travel fast."
She showed him her screen — the duel video. Blazehound lunged. The frame-by-frame capture of Mote's pixel-split dodge. Then the burst of unknown code that fried the fire wolf's neural path.
Mira's eyes narrowed. "You either cheated the system, or you've got a pet that doesn't belong in the registry."
Kairo smiled faintly. "I didn't cheat. I just got lucky."
"That's not luck." Her tone dropped. "That's a broken protocol. A Whisper Pet."
Kairo's expression shifted slightly.
He knew the term. "Whisper Pets" were rumored — creatures not born from the gacha, but inserted into the system through unknown means. Myth. Conspiracy. Ghost code.
Mira leaned in.
"I want in."
"In… what?"
"Whatever you're hiding. No one's ever triggered a Whisper Protocol in the academy system. I want to study it."
Kairo said nothing.
"Master," Mote whispered in his mind, "This one is useful. Intelligent. Dangerous. Suggest limited disclosure."
"Noted."
"I'm not hiding anything," he said aloud, pushing off the wall. "But thanks for the concern."
He started walking.
"Veylan," Mira said sharply, "if it's what I think it is — if that thing you've bonded with is triggering Ten Thrones architecture — then you're not just glitched."
"You're marked."
He paused.
"What does that mean?"
She tilted her head, whispering:
"It means the system thinks you're either a god… or a virus."