The air in the chamber seemed heavier than before, pressing against my lungs with every breath. I trailed after Damian, my boots crunching over loose gravel. The faint glow of the ore veins flickered like a candle struggling to stay lit.
A system notification popped into my vision.
[**System Update Required: Critical patches available. Restarting...**]
Restarting?
Before I could process the message, my vision blurred, the map overlay vanishing. A sharp jolt of nausea hit me, and I stumbled against the wall, gripping the cold stone to steady myself.
"Keep up," Damian called over his shoulder.
I opened my mouth to respond, but no words came out. My tongue felt thick, my throat dry. The world around me seemed to tilt, the edges of my vision flickering. Then, like a snapped thread, the system's interface reappeared, but… wrong. The normally clean, organized display was fragmented, pieces overlapping and flickering.
