The screams started on schedule.
I pulled Vera into a loading dock alcove as the first wave of infected crashed through the street. Not zombies—those came later. These were "Broken NPCs," regular people driven mad by the System's integration.
[WARNING: TUTORIAL MOB SPAWNED]
[Broken Citizen x12 - Level 2-3]
[Suggested Strategy: Avoid or Group Combat]
"We should run," Vera whispered, ice already forming on her fingertips. Untrained. Wasteful. In my timeline, she'd blown through 90% of her mana pool on the first spell and collapsed.
"Not yet." I watched the patterns. Twelve mobs. Same spawn points as always. Alpha leads from the northwest corner. Beta pair flanks right. The straggler with the broken leg always separates at the—
There.
[Skill Activated: Foresight (Lv.1)]
[Mana Cost: 10 MP]
Five seconds of the future bloomed in my vision. The straggler veered toward our position. The others continued south.
"When I move, freeze the ground ten feet ahead. Just the ground. Don't aim for them."
"I don't know how to—"
"Yes, you do. The System gave you a Class already. Check your interface."
Her eyes went distant. Reading invisible text. That moment of wonder—I'd forgotten how it felt when the world turned into a game.
"It says... Ice Bolt, Frost Armor, and Frozen Ground."
"Third one. Five seconds. Trust me."
The straggler rounded the corner, eyes milky white, jaw dislocated from screaming. [Broken Citizen - Level 3].
"Now!"
Vera's hands shot forward. Frost spread across concrete like spilled milk, twenty feet instead of the ten I asked for. Overachiever even at Level 1.
The mob's foot hit ice. Physics did the rest.
I was already moving. The fire axe came down on its skull.
[Critical Hit: 28!]
[Enemy Defeated: +35 EXP]
"Oh god," Vera gasped. "I just—we just—"
"Killed something that stopped being human the moment the System tagged it as a mob." I crouched, searched the body. Credits were still years away, but—there.
[Looted: Cracked Mana Crystal x1]
[Looted: Tattered Cloth Armor]
I tossed her the crystal. "Crush it. Your mana's at 40%."
"How do you know that?"
Because I'd memorized her entire stat progression over five years of fighting beside her. Because I'd held her hand as she died and felt her mana drain to zero.
"Lucky guess. Do it."
She crushed the crystal. Blue light flowed into her skin.
[Mana Restored: +50]
Her eyes widened. "That's... this is insane. Yesterday I was grading papers. Today I'm—"
"A mage. Level 3 if you accept the quest completion prompt you're ignoring."
"How did you—"
[QUEST COMPLETE: FIRST BLOOD]
[REWARD: +50 EXP, Title: Awakened]
[Vera Chase: Level 1 → 3]
[Class Confirmed: Frost Elementalist (Rare)]
Twenty-three hours since System integration. Most players were still level 1, dying to the first mob they encountered. Vera had just hit 3.
Right on my schedule.
"We need to move," I said. "Tutorial Boss spawns in six minutes."
"Tutorial Boss?" She looked at the distant screams, the burning buildings. "This is a tutorial?"
"Cosmic joke, right?" I started toward the fire escape. "The real game doesn't start until we hit the Wilderness Gates. But first, we need to farm."
"Farm what?"
"Levels. Gear. The Alpha Wolf drops a skill book 30% of the time. I need it."
She grabbed my arm. "Stop. Just stop." Those eyes—sharp even through fear. "Who are you? You're not some random survivor. You know the spawn timers. The loot tables. You're talking about this like it's a—"
"Video game?" I met her gaze. "Because it is. Some alien god turned Earth into an MMORPG, and we're the NPCs that got lucky enough to be tagged as players instead of mobs. Now we have six minutes to reach Harlan Street or we miss the Alpha spawn window."
"And if we don't kill this Alpha Wolf?"
"Then I stay Level 3 instead of hitting 5. Then we don't get the [Pack Tactics] skill book. Then when we reach the Outpost, we can't recruit Marcus efficiently. Then the butterfly effect kills us both by Day 15."
She stared at me like I'd spoken another language. Maybe I had. The language of time loops and grinding optimizations.
"You're insane."
"No." I started climbing. "I'm informed. There's a difference."
---
The Alpha Wolf spawned exactly on time.
[TUTORIAL BOSS: ALPHA WOLF]
[LEVEL 5 | HP: 450/450]
[ABILITIES: PACK CALL, SAVAGE BITE, BERSERKER STATE]
Fifteen feet of muscle and teeth materialized in the intersection. Same spot where I'd died to it my first run. Where Marcus had tanked it for thirty seconds before his shield broke. Where Vera had—
Focus.
"Strategy," I said, pulling Vera behind an overturned car. "I aggro, you kite with Frozen Ground when it charges. We alternate until it hits 40% health, then it goes berserk. That's when you dump everything you have into one Ice Bolt. I'll finish it."
"That's suicide."
"Only if you miss." I tested the axe weight. [Improvised Weapon - Durability: 12/20]. Wouldn't last the fight.
"I've never cast Ice Bolt at anything alive before!"
"Then consider this live-fire training." I stepped into the intersection.
The wolf's head snapped toward me. Red eyes locked on.
[ALPHA WOLF AGGRO ACQUIRED]
"Hey, remember me?" I raised the axe. "Different timeline, same debt."
[Skill Activated: Foresight (Lv.1)]
Five seconds bloomed. The wolf would charge. I'd sidestep left. It would pivot and—
There. Opening.
Real-time caught up. The wolf charged.
I stepped left. Axe high. The wolf twisted mid-leap—exactly as predicted.
[Hit: 15 damage]
[ALPHA WOLF: 435/450 HP]
It roared. Spun. Charged again.
"Frozen Ground! Twenty feet ahead!"
Ice spread. The wolf slipped. Not enough to fall—too experienced for that—but enough.
I struck twice more.
[Hit: 18 damage]
[Critical Hit: 32 damage!]
[ALPHA WOLF: 385/450 HP]
"It's learning!" Vera shouted. "It's dodging!"
Of course it was. Tutorial Bosses adapted. That's why most groups needed four people minimum.
But I'd solo'd this thing at Level 8 in my third regression attempt.
Level 3 would just hurt more.
[Skill Activated: Foresight (Lv.1)]
Three seconds left. The wolf would feint right, strike left, catch my ribs. I'd lose 60% of my health.
Unless.
I pivoted hard right. Toward the feint. The wolf's eyes widened—could AIs look confused?—as I brought the axe down on its actual attack trajectory.
[Critical Hit: 41 damage!]
[ALPHA WOLF: 344/450 HP]
[New Skill Discovered: PREDICTIVE STRIKE]
[Bonus damage when countering predicted attacks]
"How did you—"
"Foresight skill!" I rolled under its retaliatory snap. The axe handle cracked. [Durability: 5/20]. "Forty percent! Get ready!"
The wolf's fur bristled. Eyes went from red to crimson.
[ALPHA WOLF ENTERED BERSERKER STATE]
[ATTACK SPEED +50% | DEFENSE -30%]
It came at me like a missile.
I couldn't dodge this. Not at Level 3.
"VERA! NOW!"
She stepped out. Hands glowing blue-white. All her mana—I could feel it from here—condensing into a single point.
"For the record," she shouted, "I think you're insane!"
[Spell Cast: ICE BOLT (OVERCHARGED)]
The bolt wasn't a projectile. It was a spear of winter itself.
It hit the wolf mid-charge. Froze it solid. Three hundred pounds of fury suspended in crystalline ice.
[Critical Hit: 280 damage!]
[ALPHA WOLF: 64/450 HP - FROZEN STATUS]
The ice cracked. Three seconds before it broke free.
I ran.
[Foresight (Lv.1) - 2 seconds remaining]
My vision split. One timeline: I aimed for the head, missed, it killed me.
Other timeline: I went low, under the jaw, severed the artery.
Choice made.
I slid under the shattering ice. Axe blade angled up.
The wolf broke free.
Fell onto my blade.
[Critical Hit: 71 damage!]
[ALPHA WOLF DEFEATED]
[+450 EXP]
[LEVEL UP! 3 → 4]
[LEVEL UP! 4 → 5]
[BOSS LOOT AVAILABLE]
The corpse dissolved into golden motes. In its place:
[Pack Tactics Manual (Skill Book)]
[Alpha Fang Dagger - 25-38 damage]
[Wolf Pelt Armor - +15 Defense]
[Lesser Healing Potion x3]
I grabbed the manual first. Crushed it.
[Skill Learned: PACK TACTICS (Passive)]
[Effect: +15% damage when fighting alongside allies. Allies gain +10% attack speed]
"We..." Vera collapsed against the car. Mana exhaustion. "We actually..."
"Killed a Level 5 boss at Level 3 and 1." I tossed her a healing potion. "Drink. We have three minutes before the second wave spawns, and I need to explain something."
"Explain what?"
I sat beside her. Watched the countdown timer only I could see.
[TUTORIAL ZONE COLLAPSE: 23:35:12]
"How I know all this. Why I'm acting like I've done it before." I pulled up my status screen. Showed her the one thing I'd been hiding.
[UNIQUE TRAIT: REGRESSION CORE]
[TIMELINE JUMPS: 1/∞]
[PARADOX RISK: 0.12%]
Her eyes went wide. "That's... you're a..."
"Regressor. Time looper. Whatever you want to call someone who died at the end of the world and woke up at the beginning." I met her gaze. "This is my second run, Vera. And I'm not letting you die again."
She didn't speak. Didn't move.
Then: "What happened? In your first timeline?"
"You died on Day 847. I died on Day 1,827. Everyone died on Day 1,830 when the System completed its integration and deleted Earth."
"And you think we can change that?"
I stood. Offered my hand. "I know we can. Because the System gave me a cheat code. And I'm going to exploit it until the whole game breaks."
[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT]
[FIRST TUTORIAL BOSS DEFEATED: ALPHA WOLF]
[DEFEATED BY: CARTER, L. | CHASE, V.]
[REWARD: BONUS EXP FOR ALL SURVIVORS IN ZONE 7]
[+100 EXP]
Her communicator—the System-issued one everyone got—exploded with messages. Other survivors. Asking how. Begging for help.
Vera looked at the messages. At me. At her trembling hands still crackling with residual frost.
"If we're doing this," she said, taking my hand, "I need you to promise me something."
"What?"
"Don't treat me like I'm made of glass. If I died in your timeline, that's that timeline. This one? I intend to survive."
A smile cracked my face. First real one in five years.
"Deal. Now come on. We've got thirty-two more survivors to recruit before the Exodus Quest triggers, and Marcus is bleeding out in a convenience store four blocks west."
"How do you know—"
"Time loop. Keep up."
[QUEST TRIGGERED: BUILD YOUR PACK]
[RECRUIT SURVIVORS: 0/30]
[TIME LIMIT: 6 DAYS, 23 HOURS]
We ran into the burning city. Behind us, the System watched.
And in its code, a single error flag appeared:
[ANOMALY DETECTED: TEMPORAL SIGNATURE]
[INITIATING OBSERVATION PROTOCOL]
The game had noticed its glitch.
But it hadn't deleted me yet.
---
[STATUS UPDATE]
LEO CARTER
- Level: 5 (720/800 EXP)
- Class: Temporal Hunter [Unique]
- HP: 140/220 | MP: 45/110
- Skills: Foresight (Lv.1), Predictive Strike (Lv.1), Pack Tactics (Passive)
- Equipment: Alpha Fang Dagger, Wolf Pelt Armor
- Paradox Risk: 0.12%
VERA CHASE
- Level: 3 (280/400 EXP)
- Class: Frost Elementalist [Rare]
- HP: 95/95 | MP: 12/140
- Skills: Ice Bolt (Lv.2), Frozen Ground (Lv.2), Frost Armor (Lv.1)
- Status: Mana Exhausted (Regenerating)
QUEST LOG
- [ACTIVE] Build Your Pack (0/30 recruited)
- [ACTIVE] Reach Wilderness Gates (6d 23h remaining)
- [HIDDEN] Save Marcus Stone (Location: 0.4 miles west)
---
NEXT: The Tank Who Shouldn't Die Yet
---
<< Author's Note >>
And we're off! Leo's already breaking the game, Vera's proving she's more than a damsel, and the System is starting to pay attention.
The Marcus rescue next chapter is going to test just how much Leo can change without triggering a paradox storm. Spoiler: More than he thinks.
Daily updates continue! If you're enjoying the time-loop exploitation and want to see Leo's full skill tree, check the auxiliary chapter I'll post later today.
Question for readers: Should Vera learn about the full extent of what happened in Timeline 1, or should Leo keep some secrets? Vote in the comments!