The morning light didn't feel real anymore.
After the Trial, even the air seemed digital — every flicker of light too precise, every shadow too clean.
Lucas sat on his bed, staring at the floating System panel. His hands still ached from the feedback burns, faint golden lines tracing his veins like cracks in glass.
[Status — Updated Post-Trial]
Name: Lucas Hayes
Class: Systemless (Divine Variant)
Rarity: Divine
Level: 6
Unspent Stat Points: 3
Skill Menu
[Skill Interface — Active Overview]
Adaptive Protocol: lvl.3
Type: Passive
Description: Records combat data and adjusts reaction patterns in real time. Stores behavioral profiles of defeated enemies.
Resonance Shift: lvl.1 (Unstable)
Type: Active
Description: Temporarily synchronizes user with the System layer. Increases perception and mobility but causes severe feedback and stamina loss.
Artifact menu
[Artifact Interface — Active Overview]
Skystep Soles:(Bound Relic)
Description: Allows user to jump once in midair by converting kinetic energy into temporary mana platforms. Cooldown 8s.
Target Analysis HUD: (Bound Relic)
Description: Holographic interface scans visible enemies for weak points, relative stats, and elemental affinities. Accuracy improves with Perception stat.
[Warning: Resonance-based users have no skill capacity limit.]
[Note: Simultaneous activation of multiple high-load abilities may cause feedback, corruption, or data bleed.]
Lucas frowned at the warning. "So I can have as many skills as I want… if I survive using them."
The System pulsed faintly in response, as if acknowledging the thought.
[Observation confirmed.]
He scrolled further down. Another tab appeared — one he hadn't seen before.
Global Leaderboard
[Global Trial Rankings: Divisional Overview — Haven Network]
[Category: Combat Efficacy | Update Interval: Every 24 hours]
Rank Name City Level
#1- Unknown- Haven-01- 8
#2- Lucas Hayes- Haven-17- 6
#3- Ayaka Ren- Haven-05- 9
#4- Marcus Vale- Haven-17- 7
#5- Rena Solis- Haven-17- 7
[Note: Rankings determined by recorded kill count, Trial success rate, and Resonance Output.]
Lucas blinked.
Someone in Haven-01 had already overtaken him.
He tapped the first entry.
The System returned only a few lines:
[Subject: Unknown]
[Divine Signature Detected.]
[Access Restricted.]
His pulse quickened. "The other Divine…"
Rena's voice came from the doorway. "You're already checking the leaderboard? Most people celebrate first."
He looked over his shoulder. "Who's at the top?"
"No one knows," she said, stepping closer. "The System hides her data, but everyone's talking about her. Apparently she cleared her Trial in under four minutes."
Lucas looked back at the glowing screen. The #1 rank pulsed faint gold — the same color as his own class tag.
"So she's real," he said quietly.
"Looks that way."
Rena folded her arms. "Congratulations, by the way. You're second in the world for now. That's… something."
Lucas exhaled. "Second place to someone I've never met. Guess the System's giving me a rival."
"Or a warning," she said softly. "Just remember, the higher you climb, the more it watches."
The screen flickered, lines of code scrolling briefly across the bottom.
[Observation Priority Update: Subject L-17-D | Tracking intensity increased.]
Lucas muttered, "Too late for that."
Rena gave a faint smirk, though her eyes betrayed worry. "Try not to glitch the planet again, alright?"
When she was gone, silence returned.
He exhaled and swiped to reopen his personal menu. The golden interface unfolded once more in the air before him.
[Status Menu — Updated Post-Trial]
Name: Lucas Hayes
Class: Systemless (Divine Variant)
Rarity: Divine
Level: 6
Unspent Stat Points: 3
Stats:
Strength: 1
Agility: 4
Endurance: 2
Vitality: 3
Intelligence: 1
Perception: 3
Luck: 1
He hovered over the numbers, thinking.
"I've been moving fast, but not fast enough. If I ever face something like that Echo again…"
He dragged one point into Endurance, another into Agility, and the last into Perception — trusting his instincts.
[Stat distribution confirmed.]
[Derived Modifiers updated: stamina recovery +4%, dodge timing window +6%, visual clarity +9%.]
He stretched his fingers; the tremor in them steadied.
But another line appeared at the bottom of the interface — one that made his stomach sink.
Global Mortality Report
[Progression Summary — Haven Network]
[Population Status Report:]
[Total Human Population Integrated: 7,921,043,812.]
[Active Survivors Remaining: 3,942,772,601.]
[Total Deletions Since Tutorial: 3,978,271,211.]
Lucas's chest tightened. Nearly four billion gone.
He whispered, "And that's just the start."
For a moment, he scrolled back through his menus — the skills, the ranks, the warnings.
Everything looked structured, orderly, divine.
But it didn't feel like salvation. It felt like statistics pretending to be mercy.
He closed his interface. The last thing he saw before it faded was the faint glimmer of text at the bottom of his vision.
[Observation Priority: Tier Ascendant — Active Tracking.]
He looked out the window at the city — too bright, too quiet — and muttered,
"Keep watching, then. I'll make you see something worth the view."
The System didn't respond, but far above Haven-17, data rippled through invisible channels — and somewhere in Haven-01, another golden signature pulsed faintly in sync with his.