The air inside the ruin was thick with the smell of wet stone and something metallic—the scent of the merging world. Korr and his brothers moved with a confidence that bordered on arrogance, their weapons glowing with the faint light of C-Rank energy.
"Stay close, H-Rank," Korr barked, his hand resting on the hilt of a jagged blade. "And keep those eyes open. If we miss a single piece of high-value loot, I'll deduct it from your hide."
The boy nodded silently. He wasn't looking for loot anymore. He was looking at the brothers.
[Target: Korr]
[Betrayal Probability: 78%... 82%... 85%]
The number was climbing with every step they took deeper into the dark.
The Heart of the Ruin
They reached a wide chamber where the ceiling had collapsed, revealing a swirling vortex of grey mist above. In the center of the room stood a pedestal made of white, bone-like stone. Resting on it was a small, dusty bead. It looked like a piece of common glass, cracked and dull.
"There!" the youngest brother shouted. "The Core!"
Korr stepped forward, but stopped. A low growl vibrated through the floor. From the shadows of the far wall, a creature emerged. It was a massive hound, but its fur was made of shifting smoke and its eyes were hollow sockets of violet light.
[Target: Void Guardian]
[Rank: S]
[Worth: SS]
"S-Rank..." the boy whispered, his blood turning to ice. "Korr, we have to go! That thing is a monster from the deep merge!"
Korr didn't look scared. He looked at his brothers and smirked. "I know. That's why we brought the bait."
Before the boy could move, Korr's heavy boot slammed into his chest. The force sent him flying across the stone floor, skidding until he hit the base of the bone pedestal.
"What are you doing?" the boy gasped, clutching his bruised ribs.
"The guild pays a bonus for 'survivor stories,'" Korr said, backing toward the entrance. He pulled a silver flare from his belt and cracked it. "A tragic tale of a brave team losing their lowly appraiser to a beast... it keeps the auditors away from our real earnings. Thanks for the service, kid."
Korr threw the flare at the boy's feet. The violet-eyed hound roared, its gaze locking onto the bright light and the trembling human beside it.
The God Tears
Desperate, the boy reached up, his fingers scrambling over the pedestal. He didn't want to die empty-handed. His hand closed around the dusty glass bead.
[View Activated]
The world froze. The grey data screen didn't just appear; it shattered his vision with a light so bright it felt like a physical scream.
[Item: Unknown Shard]
[Public Rank: H (Trash)]
[True Name: God Tears]
[True Rank: ⭐⭐⭐ God]
[Description: The crystallized sorrow of an Origin Deity. It does not belong to this system.]
"H-Rank?" the boy choked out, a bitter laugh escaping his lips. "Even this is a lie."
The hound lunged. Its smoke-claws were inches from his throat when the bead in his hand hummed. The grey mist from the ceiling dropped like a curtain, swallowing the pedestal, the boy, and the beast.
[Warning: Dimensional Collapse.]
[God Tears detected... Initiating Emergency Displacement.]
[Target World: Neo-Terra.]
The ground vanished. The boy felt his body being pulled apart and stitched back together by threads of cold light. The last thing he saw was the look of confusion on Korr's face as the entire chamber folded into a single point of nothingness.
The Awakening in Starlight
"Student 402? Student 402, can you hear me?"
The voice was crisp and lacked any warmth. The boy opened his eyes. He wasn't in a dark ruin anymore. He was in a room of blinding white and polished glass. Tall windows showed a city of soaring metal towers and flying vehicles that left trails of blue neon in the sky.
"His vitals are stabilizing," a woman in a silver lab coat said, looking at a floating hologram. "A bit of a shock to the system, but typical for a field trip accident."
The boy sat up, his head spinning. He looked at his hand. The glass bead was gone, but he could feel a strange, warm pulse deep inside his chest.
"Where am I?" he asked.
"You're in the infirmary of the Starlight Institute of Technology," the woman said, not looking up from her data. "You fainted during the history excursion. Honestly, 402, your physical stats are embarrassingly low. You're lucky the school's insurance covers basic recovery."
He looked around. There were other teenagers in the room, all wearing sleek, grey uniforms. They were playing with holographic games or reading digital scrolls. None of them were talking. There was no music. No laughter. Just the hum of machines.
He focused his eyes on the woman.
[Name: Nurse Elena]
[Rank: B]
[Worth: F]
He blinked. The world had changed, the technology had jumped forward a thousand years, but his eyes still saw the truth.
He was a ghost in a new world, a scapegoat who had fallen through the cracks of reality. And hidden within him, the God Tears waited to be shed.