Kane's eyes fluttered open to the familiar sight of a dusty, dimly lit tavern. The wooden beams above him creaked under the weight of patrons moving around on the second floor. The air was thick with the smell of ale and smoke, a combination that Kane had grown all too accustomed to.

Welcome back to Eternal Ascension, Adventurer! flashed across his vision in bright, golden text. Kane groaned, sitting up from his makeshift bed in the corner of the tavern. The innkeeper, a burly NPC with a stained apron and a permanently furrowed brow, shot him a dirty look.

"You gonna pay for that room, or just keep freeloading?" the innkeeper growled, his voice as gravelly as ever.

Kane ignored him. It was just an automated script, the same line he heard every time he logged back into the game after a long session of grinding. He checked his inventory — a few measly potions, a rusty sword barely worth a few copper coins, and a ragged tunic. Nothing impressive. He sighed.

He'd been stuck in this low-level village, Cragwood Hollow, for weeks, running the same fetch quests and killing the same low-level mobs, barely making enough to keep his character alive, let alone progress to the more interesting parts of the game. But today, something felt different. A faint buzzing sound lingered in his ears, and his interface seemed a little...off.

"Alright, let's see what we can scrounge up today," Kane muttered to himself. He pulled up the quest board, a flickering hologram that materialized before him. Most of the quests were the same repetitive tasks: "Collect 10 Wolf Pelts," "Deliver Ale to the Blacksmith," "Clear the Cave of Rats." But as he was about to close the board, a new quest blinked into existence.

Quest Added: System Anomaly Detected — Investigate the Ruins of Mylthar

Kane frowned. He hadn't seen this one before. He tapped the quest description, and a brief, cryptic message appeared:

"A disturbance has been detected in the Ruins of Mylthar. Investigate the source of the anomaly."

"What the hell is this?" Kane whispered. He glanced around, half expecting other players to crowd around him, but the tavern was as empty as always. He was alone, as usual.

Deciding he had nothing to lose, Kane accepted the quest. Instantly, a new marker appeared on his map, guiding him towards the outskirts of Cragwood Hollow, where the ruins were said to be located.

As he stepped outside, the sun was just beginning to rise, casting a pale orange glow over the cobblestone streets. Kane tightened his grip on his rusty sword and began his trek towards the marker, his mind racing with possibilities. Could this be a hidden quest? A secret that no other player had discovered yet?

The path to the ruins was eerily quiet. Usually, the game's ambient sounds of chirping birds or distant chatter would fill the air, but now there was only a faint hum, like the distant buzz of a machine. As he approached the entrance to the ruins, the humming grew louder, vibrating through his character's body.

The Ruins of Mylthar were a forgotten place, overgrown with vines and moss, the stones cracked and broken from years of neglect. Most players avoided it, as it had no high-level mobs or valuable loot. Kane had never bothered exploring it either — until now.

He stepped through the crumbling archway and was immediately greeted by a flash of light. His screen glitched for a moment, static filling his vision.

"Whoa!" Kane stumbled back, his heart pounding. "What the hell was that?"

He tried to move, but his controls felt sluggish, like he was wading through water. His HUD flickered again, and a new message popped up:

Warning: System Error Detected. Attempting to Reboot…

Before Kane could react, the world around him warped. The ruins seemed to twist and bend, the stones vibrating with an unnatural energy. Then, just as suddenly as it started, everything snapped back into place.

Kane blinked. The ruins looked the same, but something had changed. His character felt...different. He opened his status menu and gasped.

Level: 1

Experience: -2147483648

"What the—?" Kane's jaw dropped. His experience points were a negative number. How was that even possible? He knew enough about game mechanics to recognize the value: -2,147,483,648 — the lowest possible integer value in most programming languages. He shouldn't have been able to see that.

Suddenly, he heard a voice. Soft, barely a whisper, yet clear as day.

"Welcome, Chosen One. You have found the path to ascension."

Kane spun around, his sword raised. But there was no one there. The ruins were empty.

"Who's there?" he called out, his voice echoing off the stone walls.

No response. Just the eerie silence and that persistent hum.

He glanced back at his status screen. His fingers trembled as he navigated through his skills. His heart skipped a beat. Every skill was maxed out — not just the skills he had earned, but every skill in the game. Skills he'd never even heard of, let alone trained.

His eyes widened as he scrolled further. There, amidst the familiar abilities, were skills that should have been mutually exclusive. Shadow Assassin — a skill tree only available to the darkest of rogues, those who had sworn their souls to the underworld. Right next to it, glowing with the same max-level brilliance, was Holy Guardian, the pinnacle ability of the Paladins, those sworn to uphold the light. It was impossible; these paths were meant to cancel each other out. A player could only choose one or the other, never both.

But here they were, both trees fully unlocked and maxed out, sitting side by side as if the game had abandoned all logic.

Skill: Shadow Assassin (Maxed Out)

Skill: Holy Guardian (Maxed Out)

Skill: Archmage's Arcana (Maxed Out)

Skill: Berserker's Rage (Maxed Out)

He continued scrolling, his disbelief growing with each new line. Skills from every class, every faction, every alignment — all at his fingertips. He could wield the dark arts of necromancy and the purest spells of divine magic simultaneously. He could manipulate the shadows and command the light, twist the fabric of reality with arcane power, and channel the raw, unbridled strength of a berserker.

"No way…" Kane whispered, his voice trembling. "This isn't just a bug… This is… everything."

The implications were staggering. In Eternal Ascension, players had to make choices — hard choices — that shaped their characters' destinies, choices that came with sacrifices. If you chose the path of light, you could never dabble in the dark arts. If you became a mage, you couldn't wield a warrior's strength. But now, Kane had it all. Every path, every choice, every ability, and power ever imagined by the game's creators, all unlocked and maxed out.

He felt a rush of exhilaration mixed with fear. This wasn't just a fluke or a minor oversight. This was a breach in the very foundation of the game's mechanics. A tear in reality itself.

A new message flashed before him:

Achievement Unlocked: The One Who Walks All Paths

Kane stared at the screen, his mind racing. He had broken the game in a way no one had ever thought possible. But what did it mean for him? For the game?

He didn't know. But one thing was certain: the rules no longer applied to him. And he was ready to see just how far this newfound power could take him.

A slow, excited grin spread across his face. He was going to have some fun with this.