All Chapters of MY SYSTEM LOADS 10 SECONDS LATE : Chapter 1
- Chapter 10
11 chapters
CHAPTER 1: EXPENDABLE BAIT
"Vane! Move your worthless ass to the front. The Vanguard needs eyes on the northern corridor, and you're the only scout left with a pulse."The harsh voice belonged to Garret, a B-Rank Tank and the leader of the Iron Vanguard's secondary raid team. He stood over six feet tall, clad in gleaming, heavy armor that radiated physical security.Jaxen Vane wiped a mixture of sweat and dungeon grime from his forehead, gripping his dull iron daggers. His knuckles were white.Jaxen was a 19 year old E rank scout. Not really the important type. His high perception skill gave him a kin sense to detecting danger and fluctuations in mana. This made Jaxen the perfect proxy to use as bait and danger control.Jaxen had a dark skin tone and black short curly hair. His height wasn't really something to brag on but he wasn't really the short type either. He wore a black bottom with a low rank leather vest situated on top of his hoodie. A very cheap armor set compared to the others."Garret, the mana flu
CHAPTER 2 : prodigy of evading death.
*Click.*The sound of the sinking stone tile echoed like a death knell in the quiet corridor.Garret's eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated panic. His momentum had carried him a full step into the forbidden zone, his massive armored boot pinning the pressure plate flat against the floor."What the—!" Garret roared, his head whipping back toward Jaxen.But Jaxen was already moving. Having experienced the exact trajectory of the trap just ten seconds prior, he didn't just step back—he threw himself flat against the opposite wall, completely out of the firing line.*Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!*The walls groaned as the ancient machinery unleashed its fury. A barrage of black, poisoned steel spikes erupted from the darkness.Because Garret was a B-Rank Tank, his reflexes were sharp. He instinctively raised his massive runic tower shield, channeling his mana into a glowing barrier. "Heavy Aegis!" he bellowed.*CLANG! CLANG! BANG!*The first few spikes slammed into the shield, denting the metal an
CHAPTER 3: Ten Seconds to Rewrite a Massacre
Eight seconds.That was the exact amount of time Jaxen had before the ceiling imploded and a Level 120 Abyssal Boss turned everyone in this room into a crimson smear.The knight's fingers were inches away from the iron latch of the chest. The rest of the Iron Vanguard stood by, relaxed, their guards completely dropped as they tasted a victory that didn't exist."Step back from the chest right now!" Jaxen roared. His voice cutting through the quiet chamber was so sharp, so utterly demanding, that the greedy knight instinctively froze, his hand hovering a mere centimeter above the metal."Vance, what the hell is your problem?" the knight snapped, turning around with an annoyed scowl. "I told you to shut your—""Lana, look at the ceiling arches!" Jaxen interrupted, completely bypassing the knight to lock eyes with the Vice-Captain. He didn't have time for a polite debate. "The runic resonance isn't coming from the chest. It's a localized gravity anchor. Something massive is dropping from
Chapter 4 : Slaying a God with Ten Seconds of Foresight.
Chapter 4: Slaying a God with Ten Seconds of Foresight*SPLAT.*A fountain of thick, acidic green blood erupted from the Crypt Weaver's secondary left eye as Jaxen's cheap iron daggers buried themselves up to the hilt.The Abyssal Boss let out a deafening, agonizing screech that shook the very foundations of the colosseum. It hadn't just been hurt; its charging momentum had been violently disrupted by an E-Rank hunter who had essentially placed a blade exactly where its weakest point was going to be."Did he just... blind it?!" one of the fleeing vanguard knights gasped, halting his retreat at the exit."Impossible!" Garret roared, clutching his poisoned leg. "He's an E-Rank! His strength stat shouldn't even be able to pierce its outer skin!"They didn't understand. Jaxen didn't use raw strength. He had used the monster's own terrifying, Level 120 momentum against itself. It was like a speeding train slamming directly into a perfectly placed spike.But the victory was short-lived.The
Chapter 5 : The Chaos Factor
The crimson glow radiating from the Crypt Weaver's chest pulsed like a dying star. The air distorted around it from sheer heat, turning the colosseum into an oven."Vance, get back!" Lana screamed, shielding her face from the blinding light. "It's a localized mana supernova! You'll be vaporized!"Jaxen didn't listen. He kept sprinting, his eyes locked onto the cracks spreading across the monster's frozen carapace. He needed to find the core's structural weak point before it detonated.*Five seconds.* The heat blistered his skin.*Three seconds.* The crimson light blinded him.*One second.**BOOM!*The mana core ruptured. A tidal wave of pure, destructive crimson energy erupted from the beast, expanding outward in a perfect sphere. The moment the energy touched Jaxen, his flesh melted from his bones, and his consciousness disintegrated into absolute nothingness.```[ALERT: Detonation damage exceeded maximum threshold.][Status: Dead.][ACTIVATING TALENT: 'Hindsight Bias'...]```*Whoo
Chapter 6: The weight of an A-Rank
Chapter 6: The Weight of an A-RankThe air inside the colosseum chamber grew suffocatingly dense.It wasn't the heat from the dead Calamity Beast's collapsed core that made the oxygen feel scarce—it was the raw, unadulterated mana radiating from Captain Robert, the leader of the Iron Vanguard's primary strike force. As an A-Rank Elite, Robert's presence was a physical weight. The ambient magical pressure caused the loose pebbles on the ground to vibrate, humming a low, threatening note.Behind Robert, ten elite hunters stood in a flawless semi-circle, their weapons drawn but lowered, their eyes darting between the colossal, frozen corpse of the Level 120 Crypt Weaver and Jaxen Vane."Repeat that, Garret," Captain Robert said. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a deep resonance that echoed off the damp stone walls. He didn't look at his crippled subordinate. His sharp, amber eyes remained locked entirely on Jaxen. "You're saying an E-Rank scout—a non-combat utility hire—cleared an A
Chapter 7 : The cellular limit
Chapter 7: The Cellular LimitThe neon glare of New Horizon City washed over Jaxen the moment he stepped out of the dungeon's armored decontamination transit.Towering skyscrapers stretched so high they pierced the permanent layer of smog blanketing the upper atmosphere. Massive holographic advertisements floated between the buildings, displaying high-ranking corporate hunters endorsing luxury cars, mana-infused energy drinks, and premium dungeon insurance. Below, the streets were a chaotic sprawl of sleek electric vehicles, overworked blue-collar citizens, and low-ranking mercenaries loitering outside weapon repair shops.Jaxen pulled his hood low, blending into the crowd of tired, dirt-stained utility workers leaving the raid sector. He walked quickly, bypassing the main mag-train lines, and slipped into a quiet, dimly lit alleyway behind a row of dilapidated cyber-clinics.He slumped against the graffiti-covered brick wall, clenching his jaw as a sudden, sharp tremor ran through hi
Chapter 8 : The price of a breath
Chapter 8: The Price of a BreathThe scent of sterile antiseptic and synthetic ozone always made Jaxen's stomach turn.St. Jude Corporate Hospital was less of a sanctuary for healing and more of a gleaming, high-tech fortress. Located on the outer ring of the Central Medical District, the towering glass structure was bathed in the harsh, rotating glow of neon advertisements promoting genetic therapy and premium neural implants. It was owned entirely by the Horizon Medical Syndicate—a major corporate ally of the Dawn Horizon Corporation.Jaxen walked through the sliding glass doors of the lobby, his boots squeaking softly against the polished white marble. He kept his hood low, conscious of the biometric scanners built into the ceiling corners. A faint silver pulse hummed beneath his skin as *[Chronostasis Veil]* held firm, feeding the hospital's security grid a completely falsified, unawakened E-Rank profile.He approached the reception counter, where a sleek, chrome-plated android re
Chapter 9 : The Gray Zone Exchange
The neon signature of the Lower East Sector didn't shine; it bled.Down here, miles away from the pristine, glass-shielded corporate plazas of Upper Manhattan, the smog was a physical presence. It rolled through the narrow, rain-slicked alleys like a toxic fog, carrying the scent of burning copper wire, heavy industrial grease, and the faint, unmistakable ozone sting of unstable dungeon mana. This was the Gray Zone. It was a sprawling, lawless labyrinth that existed right in the shadow of the New Horizon megastructures, a place where the Hunter's Association had zero jurisdiction, and the corporate syndicates only intervened when someone threatened their bottom line.Jaxen pulled the collar of his worn leather vest higher, his boots splashing through a puddle of water that glowed a faint, chemical green from a nearby leaking generator.Outwardly, he looked exactly like the desperate, exhausted E-Rank utility scout he had been for the last three years. His shoulders were slightly hunch
CHAPTER 10: The Corporate Shadow
The cool night air of the city streets was a welcome contrast to the stagnant, blood-scented humidity of the Gray Zone. Jaxen pulled his dark hoodie lower, blending seamlessly into the neon-lit throngs of pedestrians. To the average passerby, he was just another face in the crowd—a lean, inconspicuous young man with pitch-black hair and an unrevealing E-rank aura.Nobody looking at him now would guess that his bank account had just skyrocketed to 92,240 credits, or that the leader of the Skull Grinders was currently nursing a shattered jaw back in Old Man Vance's shop.He checked his wrist comm. The financial quest notification had officially cleared, leaving a satisfying green checkmark floating in his peripheral vision. But Jaxen didn't smile. In his world, solving one problem usually just meant unlocking the next difficulty tier.*"Now that the immediate debt is cleared, I need a sustainable way to access high-level dungeons without drawing the Association's eyes,"* Jaxen thought,