The cool evening breeze of this new city blew against Mark's face as he took in the overwhelming sight before him: neon skyscrapers that pierced the clouds, holographic billboards advertising AI-powered everything, self-cleaning roads, and bustling crowds who walked by as if a glitchy college student appearing in the middle of the street was just another Monday.
Mark Veil, armed with nothing but his hoodie, sweatpants, and a cyber-laptop fused into his arm, stood rooted to the spot. A dozen questions fought for space in his brain, but one stood above all the rest: How the hell did I end up here?
The two men in black suits—now holding elegant bouquets instead of rifles—glared at him with the frustrated disbelief of someone who just saw their weapons rewrite themselves into flower arrangements.
"Sir... permission to engage?" one of them growled into his wrist comm, trying not to look ridiculous with a daisy clenched in his hand.
Before they could recover, Mark took the only logical course of action available.
He ran.
Dodging pedestrians, he bolted down the crowded street, his sneakers slapping against the glowing pavement. With every step, the neon city blurred past him. A few people gave him curious glances, some even raising their augmented-reality glasses to check if he was part of some marketing stunt.
"Reality hack..." Mark muttered, his heart racing as he weaved between a robotic delivery drone and a kid holding an ice cream cone the size of her head. "So I can change... things... just like that?"
He didn't stop to think long about it—he was being chased, after all. He could hear the shouts of the men behind him, now joined by several others.
[System Notification: Immediate Escape Recommended]
"No sh*t, Sherlock."
He ducked into a narrow alleyway between two sleek buildings, his lungs burning. Just as he turned a corner, a holographic sign materialized before him: Restricted Zone: No Entry Beyond This Point Without Authorization.
Mark grinned. "Authorization, huh? Let's see what happens if I rewrite a little code..."
He flexed his hand, and a glowing terminal window opened in front of his eyes. The system around him wasn't just visual—it was interactive. All of it. He typed a line of code directly into the holographic interface.
if (user == MarkVeil) { access_granted(); }
The moment he hit Enter, the holographic sign blinked out of existence. The alley stretched forward, now wide open.
"Oh, this is too good." Mark ran through, unable to suppress a laugh.
He glanced behind him just in time to see the agents reach the alley entrance—and slam face-first into an invisible wall. One of them cursed loudly, while the other shouted, "The anomaly's manipulating the system!"
Mark grinned. "That's right, suckers. Stay out of my code."
But his moment of triumph was short-lived. As he reached the end of the alley, his laptop-glove flickered, and a message popped into his vision.
[Warning: System Balance Algorithm Activated]
Overpowered actions will trigger world defenses. Prepare accordingly.]
Before Mark could react, the air around him rippled—as if the world itself had just recompiled. A glowing circle appeared in front of him, and a sleek humanoid figure stepped out, armed to the teeth with cyber-enhanced armor and a glowing energy blade.
"Oh, come on," Mark groaned. "I was just debugging!"
The armored figure raised its weapon. "Target identified: Unregistered Reality Hacker. You are hereby detained by order of the System Defense Protocol."
Mark raised his hands in mock surrender. "Hey, hey, let's not do anything hasty here. I'm new, I don't even know what the heck this place is—"
The defense bot lunged at him without a second's hesitation.
Instinctively, Mark reached out with his mind—his newly acquired system powers flaring to life. Reality Hack activated again, and time seemed to slow. He saw the path of the energy blade before it even swung, and with another mental flick, he altered the bot's code mid-attack.
if (aggression == true) { action = "dance_happy" }
The energy blade vanished, and the bot's posture changed instantly. With a smooth twist of its limbs, it began performing a perfectly choreographed moonwalk.
Mark stood frozen for a second, his jaw hanging open as the battle-hardened bot slid across the pavement, spinning like a dancer in a music video.
"Okay," Mark whispered. "This has officially crossed into the weird zone."
He didn't stick around to admire the choreography, though. Instead, he turned and bolted again, leaving the confused agents and the moonwalking defense bot behind.
After sprinting through several more streets and narrowly avoiding getting run over by a self-driving taxi, Mark finally ducked into a quiet corner of a rooftop garden. Panting heavily, he collapsed onto a metal bench, clutching his side.
"Okay... okay..." he wheezed, trying to make sense of everything. "What the hell is going on? I just wanted to finish my project. Now I'm some kind of... glitch god or something?"
He glanced down at his hand, where the laptop-glove still shimmered with code and data streams. The system interface flickered again, revealing a status window.
[Status Report: Mark Veil]
Class: Overpowered ErrorActive Skills: Reality Hack, Infinite ComputationQuest Log: [1] Get Your Life Together
Mark stared at the quest log. "Get my life together... Yeah, sure. That's easy when the universe thinks I'm a walking bug."
Just as he was about to close the interface, another notification popped up.
[Incoming Message from System Administrator]
Message: "Congratulations, Mr. Veil! You have been granted the privilege of debugging reality itself. Please refrain from breaking the universe too quickly. Also, lunch breaks are not included in your hero contract."
Mark rubbed his temples. "This can't be real. I must've fallen asleep in front of my laptop, and this is all some fever dream brought on by too much caffeine and ramen."
A loud ding echoed in his mind.
[New Quest: Meet the Admin]
Objective: Locate the System Administrator's Office in Sector 12-B.]
Mark groaned. "Why does this sound like the plot of the weirdest video game ever?"
But he knew he didn't have much of a choice. He was stuck here, in a world that ran on rules and glitches he barely understood, and apparently someone had answers.
Mark stood up, brushing off his hoodie. "Alright, Mark Veil. Let's find this admin guy before those agents decide to come back."
Just as he took a step forward, another system message blinked in front of him.
[Tutorial Hint: Don't die. Dying is strongly discouraged.]
Mark chuckled dryly. "Yeah, no kidding."
And with that, he set off into the neon-lit streets, armed with nothing but his snark, some broken code, and the kind of overpowered abilities that could either save this world—or break it beyond repair.
One way or another, Mark Veil was going to figure out how to hack his way through this bizarre new life.
Or at least, he hoped he would.