Adam stood still, staring at the portal with a tired breath.A sigh escaped his lips. "Hahh…"
He had experienced things like this many times before. The portal shimmered — not with light, but with a strange stillness, like static stretched across a void. It wasn't black. It wasn't white. It was something in between, something his eyes couldn't quite define. He couldn't see what lay beyond, but something deep in his instincts told him: the moment he touched it, he would vanish. Transported. Shifted. Somewhere far from here.
Still, the scent in the air brought warmth.
Beyond the portal, buildings stood silent — glass walls enclosing them like memories preserved in jars. Warm air drifted in, carrying with it the scent of food: freshly baked sourdough, toasted pandesal, the crisp edge of a baguette crust.Even the faint, greasy sweetness of a Pizza Hut came from a nearby house-like building tucked in the heart of the district — as if some suburban home had gotten lost in a city grid.
Other shops dotted the hub. One displayed violins in its window, strings glinting under flickering lights. Another had dusty phones from a decade long past. A guitar hung sideways, forgotten, its wood dried with time.All of it felt old.Like stepping into a year long gone — early 2000s, maybe.Adam could almost see…
His feet moved without thought.
He wandered forward, eyes tracing the cracked pavement, and found it — a Game Boy cartridge. It lay tucked beneath a rusted vending machine, half-buried in dirt. His heart twitched.When was the last time he'd seen one?Where had it been?
It was like a thread pulling from the fog —A memory, faint but loud: streets left for dead, white dust twisting in the air like ghost smoke. The sky was darkening, streetlights dying one by one, like blinking eyes refusing to watch.He had stood there once.A kid. Small hands pressed against cold glass, watching rows of pixelated characters on display.
Mario in a textbox.Playthroughs looping on an old TV.Consoles stacked like treasure behind the window — their prices unreadable, unreachable. He didn't even try asking. He just watched. Silent. Unmoving.The cold had bitten his fingertips, but still, he watched.
And somewhere, deep inside him even now — he whispered:
"One day… I'll win. Just once."
The memory scattered. He blinked.
And he was there again, at the casino.The digital streaks of gold he'd earned stacked like tokens in his hands. He played: poker, blackjack, spinning reels that blinked with fake hope.But the house was merciless.Game after game —Nothing... That fricking colorfull eyed people, if i ever see one of them ill...
Then, it kicked him out.Zero gold.Not even a pity prize.
He stared at the machine, the slot screen frozen mid-spin.
"I didn't even get a chance..." he muttered.
His hand curled into a fist as he stared at the concrete. The world around him felt enclosed now — like canals surrounding him, walls that leaned in. Beneath his feet, red water flowed, thick and sluggish, like flooded wine or something worse.
He slammed the wall, though only inside his mind.
Then — a voice.
"I seeeee~! Your the person who i... nvm"Playful. Drawn out. Almost mocking.
He turned.
A girl stood a few feet away, arms folded and one foot crossed over the other. Her expression was smug, like she was always about to tease you. She wore a smirk shaped like an internet emoji — that ridiculous ";3" face.
She tilted her head. "You're still here? Aww… You must really love this place. What, won a hundred prizes in the casino already?"
Adam blinked at her.
She looked familiar.Red streaks in her hair, white and grey bleeding into each other. He couldn't place her name, but something in him knew: she had been here before. Maybe in another dream. Another version of this place.
"I didn't win even once," he muttered flatly.
"Ehhhh? Really?" She grinned wider. "Then you're just unlucky, haha!"
Adam didn't respond. He just started walking, hands in his pockets, ignoring her.
But she moved too quickly. With one small hop, she blocked his path again, arms out.
"Wait, wait! Seriously, now's not a good time to be wandering," she said, voice lowering just a little. "I mean, unless you wanna get jumped. Y'know... Timous are still active right now."
He frowned. "Timous…?"
"You don't know?" she said, blinking. "Wow. You really must be new."
Adam's gaze shifted past her. And then he saw them.
Up ahead, past the buildings — hovering like twisted balloons — were figures.Human-shaped. Floating just slightly above the ground. Their limbs flailed erratically, like arms made of rubber in a wind tunnel. Their heads twisted without bones. Silent.
They were faceless, but somehow — expressive.Desperate. Or just walking around mindlessly..
A chill ran up his spine.
"…Are they dangerous?" he asked.
The girl shrugged with that same mischievous smirk. "Who knows? Now cmon... Please?"
[Current character identified...]
the voice of this secondary system had finally said something again... as i just saw many errors on this system///
[Allocated...]
[Tested]
[Created Datasheet:: Replaced to become chosen character]
[
🔒 Level 10 — Throw of Techs
Type: Ranged | Target: Single/MultiUnleashes a burst of modern gadgets—laptops, phones, headphones, tablets, even a piano—at the target.Damage Type:Luck-basedEffect: Deals multiple hits; damage scales with ATK and LUCK stats.
🔒 Level 20 — Sighing
Type: Debuff | Target: Single EnemyA deep, soul-heavy sigh that disrupts enemy balance.Effect:
Increases enemy ATK by 20%
Decreases enemy Agility and DEF by 20%
🔒 Level 30 — Black Tendrils (Single)
Type: Physical | Target: SingleSummons shadowy tendrils that lash at the enemy with overwhelming force.Effect: Deals high single-target damage, scaling with ATK
🔒 Level 50 — Existential Crisis
Type: Buff / Status Alteration | Target: SelfCrippled by the dread of existence... yet empowered.Effect:
DEF -40%
AGI +20%
ATK +40%
LUCK +20%
🔒 Level 70 — Black Tendrils (AoE)
Type: Magical / Luck-based | Target: All EnemiesUnleashes chaotic, twisting tendrils that swarm all enemies.Effect: AoE damage; the number of tendrils and their power scale with LUCK
🔒 Level 100 — Final Strike
Type: Ultimate | Target: Wide-range AoEThe final crushing blow of a space.Effect:
High AoE damage
Damage increases 2× for every 10% HP lost
Damage also increases by percentage on user lost DEF
Further scaled exponentially by LUCK (×1–10 multiplier)
🛡️ Passive — Willpower (Unlocked at Level 50)
Trigger: Upon reaching 0 HPThe character refuse to dissapear Effect:
Revives with 1–100% HP, depending on LUCK
Temporarily boosts ATK, DEF, and LUCK by 1–100 percentage points (LUCK-based)
Regenerates 2% HP per second for 60 seconds
🛡️ Passive — Overcome
🔒 Unlocks at Level 100
"In the face of overwhelming odds."
Trigger: Activates when the enemy's total stats exceed the user's total stats.
Effects:
📈 Stat SurgeWhen triggered, the user gains a temporary exponential boost to all core stats (HP, ATK, DEF, AGI).
The multiplier is LUCK-based and scales exponentially with the difference between the enemy's and the user's base stats.
Boost = (Enemy Total Stats ÷ User Total Stats)- exponential to 1-10 luck based...
Reactive Grit: Each time the user takes damage, there's a LUCK-based chance to:
Increase the user's damage output by +5%
Trigger 2% HP regeneration for 10 seconds
Unique Skills Hidden
]
Looking at these notification he got distracted
His head jerked back in irritation just as he faceplanted into a wall — something soft but static-like. His whole body glitched forward for a split-second, shaking in place like corrupted data.
"Ack—?!" he groaned, pulling back, rubbing his forehead.
From behind, the girl burst into laughter. "Hahaha! You did that to yourself!" she giggled, almost wheezing. "Nice idling-to-nowhere moment."
Adam glared at her, but before he could retort, something slithered into the edge of his vision.
Red.
All around them, red tendrils crawled along the ground, walls, even overhead — long, rope-like strands pulsing with a slow, sick rhythm. They twisted like searching hands, or veins that didn't belong. The floor under him hummed nervously.
Then he noticed someone else.
Just walking farther of the platform, just below — a man sat on the cold ground, casually observing the red tendrils like they were part of his day. He wore a padded black coat, a hat and a fractured mask hanging on the side of his face, and was fiddling with a broken alert device.
The man looked up lazily.
"Wait… you're still here?"
Adam sighed, rubbing his temples. "I just wanted to win something from the casino. Maybe buy food, gear… I don't know. Something to enjoy or experience or make this whole mess feel worth it."
The man blinked, unimpressed looking away. "You do know—"He paused.
"…Nevermind," he muttered, shaking his head. "I'm just confused how these weird creatures — tendrils, vines, or some kind of moss, parasites, whatever — keep popping into my plane. I swear, I pluck one out, and three more spawn in its place. It's like a bug with pride issues."
The boy — Minori, he finally recalled her name — stepped beside Adam, arms folded.
The man looked between them. "Hey, actually — I got an idea." He pointed at Adam. "Can you tell Manori there's a tiny problem that needs solving? Because I can't physically leave this zone. Alert button? Broken. My permissions? Locked. I've been stuck here babysitting taking out this eldritch red spaghetti for hours."
Adam stared at him flatly. "Why would I want to do that?"
The man coughed awkwardly and gave a desperate emoji-face: ;[
"C'mon… It would be like a quest. You know, interaction, dialogue tree, progression — the whole RPG experience?"
Adam rolled his eyes. He thought about all those games he used to play, the ones where you could skip past lines and lines of dialogue by hammering the confirm button, ignoring exposition just to get to the point.
Suddenly, a holographic prompt flashed in front of him.
[NEW QUEST ACQUIRED]Title: The Red Growth ProblemDescription: Manori must be informed about the anomaly in Plane Timeout Room. Contact her through Nexus Node or in-person transport.
[REWARD: ??? + Companion Unlock]
Adam groaned. "Alright, alright!" he shouted, swiping the popup away before it could finish scrolling more flavor text.
The man smiled, his whole demeanor brightening like someone just gave him a raise. "Thank you~ And oh — take her with you."