The needle slid into my arm like a promise."Relax, Mr. Chen," the Awakening Center nurse said, her smile practiced and empty. "Most people don't feel anything during the injection. The System integration is entirely painless."I wanted to believe her. God, I wanted to believe her.Around me, two dozen other eighteen-year-olds sat in identical chairs, arms extended, faces bright with anticipation. This was supposed to be the best day of our lives. Awakening Day. The day we'd receive our Classes, our stats, our chance to become something more than ordinary.My best friend Jake sat three chairs down, practically vibrating with excitement. He'd been talking about this moment since we were kids. His older brother had awakened as a Spellblade last year and was already making decent money clearing dungeons on weekends."I'm hoping for anything combat-oriented," Jake had told me on the bus ride here. "Even something basic like Warrior would be fine. Just... not a crafting class. Can you imag

Dinner was a special kind of torture.Mom had gone all out—my favorite dishes crowded the table. Honey-glazed salmon, garlic green beans, her famous potato gratin that took three hours to make. She'd even baked a cake, chocolate with vanilla frosting, with "Congratulations Marcus!" written in blue icing.It was perfect. It was loving. It made me want to throw up."So tell us everything," Dad said, passing me the salmon. "What skills did you get? What are your stats like? Do you have a skill tree yet?"I'd rehearsed this on the bus ride home, but actually saying it out loud to my parents felt different. Worse somehow."Basic Rogue package," I said, cutting into the fish. "Stealth enhancement, critical hit multiplier for sneak attacks, some kind of perception boost. My Intelligence is pretty high—14—so the counselor said I should focus on tactical skills rather than pure combat.""Fourteen Intelligence at Level 1 is excellent," Dad said. He'd never Awakened himself—he was part of the th

I spent the rest of that afternoon wandering the city with Han's tablet weighing down my backpack like a brick of guilt.Five names. Five lives. Five people the world would arguably be better off without.Raymond Booker, the thug. Maria Voss, a drug dealer who'd gotten three teenagers killed with tainted product. Chen Wu, a loan shark who'd driven two people to suicide. Darius Cole, a domestic abuser with a restraining order he violated weekly. And finally, Vincent Kane, a con artist who specialized in scamming elderly people out of their life savings.All terrible people. All actively making the world worse.And I was supposed to pick one to murder.My phone buzzed. Mom asking when I'd be home for dinner. I texted back that I was studying with Jake and would grab something out. Another lie to add to the growing pile.The sun was setting by the time I found myself in front of a small park near the Warehouse District. Not the nice kind of park with playgrounds and families—this was the

The next morning, I woke up to seventeen missed messages and the sound of my phone vibrating itself off the nightstand.Most were from Jake, who apparently had been trying to organize a dungeon run since 6 AM. Sarah had sent a stream link. Tyler had shared a motivational video about "grinding your Class from day one."And one message from an unknown number: Found something. Meet me at Henderson Park, noon. Come alone. - RI checked the time. 10:47 AM. I'd slept through my alarm and half the morning.[Quest Timer: 27 days, 16 hours, 29 minutes remaining]I dragged myself to the shower, trying to wash away the residue of last night's dreams. Killer's Dream had been working overtime, showing me increasingly elaborate scenarios. Some were clinical and efficient. Others were disturbingly creative. All of them featured me as the protagonist, the hunter, the executioner.The System was trying to normalize it. Make it feel natural.I turned the water as cold as I could stand, gasping as it sh