By IMERPUS RELUR
--
The crowd cleared like parting data.
Reya stood before him, a blade across her back. Her armor shimmered with code—each plate etched with rotating numbers that kept rewriting themselves.
> [ENTITY: REYA]
Role: Null-Origin Knight
Origin: Self-Written Memory
Sync Risk: Unknown
> "I wasn't in your sketch," she said. "But I exist.
Do you understand what that means?"
Kai didn't.
He barely understood the rules anymore.
The world felt like a system interface wearing the skin of a city.
Stat banners fluttered above rooftops. Children were ranked by "Contribution Value." Even the sky had a Level—Sky Lv. 42, flickering beside storm clouds.
> [NATIONAL WORLD: VELAHAR]
System Mode: Creator-Class Influence Detected
Dormant God-Sync Threads… 3% Stabilized
> "You're not their king," Reya said, walking beside him. "You're their contradiction."
> "Then why do I feel responsible?" Kai muttered.
> "Because you didn't build this world. You broke it."
---
The tower in the city's center pulsed.
Lines of people stood before it, hoping for class upgrades. They input dreams. The system responded with numbers. Some cried. Some were erased.
Kai's hand moved again—drawing something over the skyline. A crack. A possibility. A question.
> [Sketch Integration Request Detected]
Drawn Element: "The Tower's True Name"
Status: Locked by Memory Inversion
> "You don't even remember what it was originally called, do you?" Reya asked.
Kai felt dizzy.
His panel pulsed with a strange phrase:
> "THE NATION REMEMBERS YOU, EVEN IF YOU FORGOT IT."
And then, a notification he hadn't expected:
> [You are being watched.]
---
Above them, the system eye opened—embedded into the sky itself.
It was made of code, ink, and intention.
And it was looking directly at him.