[Victory! +50 EXP]
[Level Up! Level 2 Unlocked.]
[New Skill Unlocked: Stealth Strike — +10% damage from behind.]
Energy surged through Jax's body in a sudden, overwhelming rush.
The ache in his muscles faded, scrapes knitting together as if they'd never existed. His senses sharpened, the forest snapping into vivid clarity—the whisper of leaves, the weight of the air, even the distant pulse of movement beyond his vision.
"EXP? Levels?" he murmured, stunned. "This is straight out of my code…"
Before he could process it, the interface warped.
The blue panel shuddered, its edges distorting as a harsh buzzing filled his ears. New text forced itself over the system display, flickering violently as if struggling to exist.
[System Error detected.]
[Admin Access Granted.]
[Glitch System Activated.]
The words sent a chill down his spine.
The forest around him seemed to tear at the seams for just a heartbeat, reality warping like corrupted data. Jax staggered, clutching his head as his thoughts raced.
Had his exploit code followed him here?
The idea should've been impossible. But this entire world already was.
On instinct alone, he focused, willing a response the same way he would in front of a broken program. Something shifted deep inside him, subtle but unmistakable, like a hidden panel unlocking behind the scenes.
A debug menu.
Voices cut through the moment.
Rough. Confident. Too close.
Jax snapped his head up as armored figures emerged from between the trees. Four of them, their gear mismatched but functional, weapons worn and stained. Smirks curled across their faces as their eyes dropped to the goblin's corpse at his feet.
"Well, look at that," the leader said with a bark of laughter. His face was scarred, his sword hanging loose at his hip. "Fresh meat."
His gaze flicked to Jax, cold and assessing.
"Fork over the loot," he continued, stepping forward, "or respawn the hard way."
Jax tightened his grip on the jagged rock, knuckles whitening.
The glitch notification still hovered at the edge of his vision, pulsing faintly. Fear flared—but it was quickly swallowed by something hotter.
Defiance.
If this world was a prison, then he wasn't going to survive by playing fair.
With admin access, he'd break it wide open.
The leader drew his sword, steel sliding free with a hiss as he advanced, a predatory grin spreading across his face.
Jax didn't hesitate.
He triggered Stealth Strike on pure instinct, melting into the shadows as his body blended seamlessly with the trees. The forest seemed to accept him, hiding his presence as he circled wide, breath steady despite the adrenaline flooding his system.
Behind the leader, an opening appeared.
And Jax Thorn moved to take it.
The group hesitated, spreading out as they scanned the trees with growing unease.
"Where'd he go?" one of them muttered, his sword tip scraping against the dirt as he turned in a slow circle.
Jax moved.
He struck from behind, bringing the rock down hard against the leader's helmet. The impact landed with a resounding thud that echoed through the trees and sent painful vibrations up his arm. The man lurched forward, clutching his head as his HP bar plummeted, flashing red warnings across Jax's vision like urgent error alerts from his old coding days.
Dazed. Vulnerable.
The others spun around, confusion snapping into alarm as weapons came up in a rush. One swung wildly at Jax, the blade slicing through empty air inches from his ear. Jax slipped past the attack and drove a sharp kick into another's knee.
The joint popped with a sickening snap.
The man collapsed, screaming as he hit the ground.
[Stealth Strike Activated: +10% Damage]
The fight dissolved into chaos.
Jax flowed between them like a living shadow, every movement precise, every strike deliberate. He exploited openings the moment they appeared, drawing blood and watching health bars drain steadily with each clean hit.
A club came down in a desperate overhead swing. Jax sidestepped smoothly and slammed his elbow into the attacker's ribs, feeling bone give way beneath the force. The man gasped, folding in on himself before collapsing.
Another charged blindly, fury overriding caution. Jax swept his legs out from under him, then finished the motion with the jagged edge of the rock across the throat—quick, brutal, final.
They fell one by one.
Bodies hit the forest floor with heavy thumps, leaves and dust stirring around them. Some were clubbed down without mercy. Others were tripped and silenced in the undergrowth. A scavenged blade, pried from the first corpse, flashed as Jax used it with ruthless efficiency amid the spreading pool of blood.
[Victory! +200 EXP | Level 3 Unlocked.]
Jax stood among the fallen, chest heaving, hands slick with blood. Dark splatters stained the forest floor in chaotic patterns, but he didn't hesitate.
He looted quickly and methodically.
A rusty dagger. Poor condition, but well-balanced. A handful of coins that clinked softly in his palm. A basic cloak that smelled faintly of sweat and iron, still warm from its former owner.
The glitch system stirred again in his mind, a low, promising hum.
[Fuse Items?]
Jax didn't question it.
He combined the dagger with the jagged rock, watching as energy spiralled around the objects and tore them apart before reforging them into something sharper, leaner, and far deadlier.
[Glitched Shiv — +15% Bleed Chance]
Footsteps echoed faintly in the distance.
More players. Drawn by the noise, the bodies, or the promise of easy loot.
Jax slipped back into the trees without a sound, Stealth Strike activating as his breathing slowed and his pulse settled into a steady, predatory rhythm. The forest swallowed him whole.
Then a whisper brushed his mind.
Cold. Untraceable.
"The gods watch anomalies like you."
Jax froze mid-step, the words lingering like a curse etched into his thoughts. A chill ran down his spine, one that had nothing to do with the cooling evening air.
For the first time since arriving in this world, he realised something worse than death might be watching him.
And it already knew his name.