The first thing Cain felt was cold. Not the sharp, biting kind that came with winter winds, but the slow, creeping kind that soaked into your bones. It clung to him like wet cloth, numb and unrelenting.
His eyes fluttered open. Darkness. Then, a faint glimmer. Faint light trickled in from a crack above—a ceiling far above. Broken stone beams stretched overhead like the ribs of some dead god, collapsed inward. Rubble. Dust. The stench of mold and old blood.
He didn't remember how he got here. That didn't matter.
What mattered was that he was alive. Barely.
Pain lanced through his side as he moved. He grimaced and rolled over, coughing up something thick. His hand brushed against broken gravel, a torn satchel strap, and finally, the hilt of a dagger.
His thoughts were sluggish, but instinct still fired. He gripped the dagger and pushed himself upright. Every movement screamed.
Then—
[System Loading...] [Welcome, Initiate. Begin Class Assignment—] [ERROR: Directory Not Found] [System Crash Detected. Rebooting...]
Cain blinked as a glowing translucent screen appeared in the air before him. The standard system interface. Every child in the world received one by the age of seven. Life revolved around it. Jobs. Combat. Survival.
But this one wasn't right.
The screen glitched. The welcome text flickered, distorting like ripples across a pond. Then it dissolved, pixel by pixel, and a black void replaced it.
[Ascendancy.exe booting...] [Warning: Unauthorized Instance] [Root Access Compromised. Rebuilding Local Environment.]
Cain stared.
[Choose Core Directive:] • Survive • Evolve • Rewrite
His hand moved on its own. He tapped Rewrite.
The screen pulsed once. Then it vanished.
Silence returned.
Cain exhaled slowly. He didn't know what that was. It wasn't the system anyone else had. It wasn't normal.
But he was alive. And that meant he had time to figure it out.
—
His first few hours were spent scavenging the ruins. Broken stone corridors stretched out like the innards of some dead beast. He found a shattered corpse wearing rusted chainmail. A broken sword. A half-burnt torch.
No light spells. No food. No potions.
But there was something else.
Another screen appeared.
[Entity Detected: Deceased – Human | Fighter Class] [Skill Fragment Available: [Quickstep I]] [Absorb?]
Cain didn't hesitate. "Yes."
A pulse of heat surged through his chest. His vision blurred for a moment.
[Quickstep I acquired.] [Manual Integration Mode Active.]
A new window opened:
[Assign Passive Modifier?] • [None] • [Accelerated Movement Reflexes] • [Unstable Reaction Boost]
Cain stared. These options… they weren't normal. Normal system users couldn't customize skill architecture. You got what the system gave you.
He selected Accelerated Movement Reflexes.
A faint shimmer passed over his skin. He felt… lighter. Sharper.
And just like that, the rules of the world changed.
It took two days to find the exit. The dungeon had collapsed long ago, but Cain used his new ability to navigate through tight crevices and evade a roaming beast with claws like kitchen knives.
When he killed it—barely, by using loose rubble and timing his Quickstep perfectly—another screen popped up.
[Entity Terminated: Ravager-Class Mutant] [Trait Unlocked: [Adaptive Nerve Lattice]] [Warning: Trait is not compatible with base human framework.] [Force Integration? Y/N]
Cain hesitated. Then selected Y.
Pain hit like a bolt of lightning. He screamed, back arching as his nerves rewired. Something in his body changed. Not just strength. It felt like his very code had shifted.
When it passed, he was panting, soaked in sweat.
But alive.
More than alive.
[Ascendancy.exe Version 0.0.1 | Update Log Initialized] • Glitch Integration Protocol Active • Manual Override Enabled • Progression Unbound
Cain smiled faintly.
The world had rules. Systems. Paths you were meant to walk.
But not for him.
He didn't walk the path.
He was going to rewrite it.