Level Zero God

2. The First Rule of the System

The silence after the kill did not feel like peace. Instead, It felt like waiting. Dorian Vale stood over the broken remains of the Corrupted Husk, his breathing uneven, his grip still tight around the stone shard. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking, even though the fight was already over.

The creature’s body flickered once… twice… then dissolved into faint grey particles that scattered into the air like ash.

As if it had never existed. Dorian took a slow step back. “…So it disappears,” he muttered. “Of course it does.”

A chime echoed in his mind: > +12 EXP GAINED

Another pause. Then....

> LEVEL UP CONFIRMED

PLAYER: DORIAN VALE → LEVEL 1

A faint pressure built in his body, like something adjusting itself inside him. His muscles tightened slightly. His breathing steadied by a fraction. It wasn't dramatic but real.

Dorian looked down at himself. “So it’s actually doing something to me…”

Another interface appeared in front of his vision, hovering like glass in the air.

> STAT DISTRIBUTION AVAILABLE; UNALLOCATED POINTS: 1

Below it, four categories appeared: Strength, Agility, Endurance and Intelligence

Dorian frowned. “This is ridiculous.” He waved a hand through the interface. But It didn’t move.

“It’s not even physical…”

The system chimed again, as if responding to his frustration. > TIP: STAT ALLOCATION CANNOT BE REVERSED

Dorian exhaled sharply. “Of course it can’t.”

He stared at the options again. Strength meant power. Agility meant speed. Endurance meant survival. Intelligence....

His gaze paused there. There was something about it felt. It felt different. Not safer. Not stronger.Just different.

Behind him, the ruined landscape stretched endlessly, broken stone structures, fractured terrain, and silence that felt too intentional. Whatever this place was, it didn’t care if he survived it. That much was clear.

Dorian closed his eyes briefly. “If I guess wrong… I die.”

He opened them again. Then selected: > +1 ENDURANCE

A pulse surged through his body. Pain. Not sharp. Deep! Like his bones were being rewritten from the inside. Dorian dropped to one knee, teeth clenched. “What the—”

The sensation lasted only a few seconds. Then it stopped. He inhaled slowly. And realized something unsettling. The air didn’t feel as heavy. His lungs… weren’t struggling anymore. Dorian stood up slowly, testing his body. “…That actually worked.”

A new notification appeared. > HP INCREASED; PHYSICAL RESILIENCE ENHANCED

He stared at it. “This system is insane,” he muttered. “But it’s consistent.”

A sound interrupted him. Not the system. Something real. A rustle in the distance. Dorian turned sharply. Between the fractured ruins, movement again.

His stomach tightened. “Don’t tell me there are more of those things…”

A second figure emerged. Then another. And another. This time, there were three.

Above each of them hovered faint text: > LVL 1 – CORRUPTED HUSK

Dorian took a slow step backward. “…You’ve got to be joking.”

The middle one tilted its head. Then all three moved at once.

Dorian ran. This time, there was no confusion. No hesitation. Only survival. The ground blurred beneath him as he sprinted across uneven stone. The system interface flickered in and out of his vision. > MOVEMENT SPEED: ABOVE BASE HUMAN AVERAGE

“Not helpful!” he shouted. Behind him, the Huskes pursued with unnatural speed, their bodies jerking and flickering as if reality itself struggled to render them properly.

Dorian darted left, then right, barely avoiding a pillar of broken stone. His lungs burned but not as quickly as before. He noticed it. “I’m not getting tired as fast…”

A strange realization settled in. The system wasn’t just giving him numbers. It was changing him.

A Corrupted Husk lunged. Dorian ducked instinctively. The creature slammed into a stone wall and shattered part of it.

Dorian’s eyes widened. “Okay… okay, that one is stronger.”

Another one closed in from the side. Dorian grabbed a loose rock mid-run and threw it. It hit the creature’s face. The Husk barely reacted.

“Yeah, that did nothing,” he said under his breath.

Then he saw it. A narrow corridor between two collapsed structures. A choke point. His only chance. Dorian sprinted toward it.

The system chimed again. > TACTICAL POSITION DETECTED

“Finally, something useful.” He slid into the narrow passage just as the first Husk lunged after him.

It got stuck. Half its body jammed between the stone walls. Dorian didn’t hesitate. He raised the shard in his hand. And drove it down. The creature screamed, an unnatural, broken sound. Its body flickered violently.

Then disintegrated. > +14 EXP

Dorian barely had time to breathe. The second Husk entered the corridor. He swung again. This one dodged.

Fast. Too fast. It struck him across the chest. Dorian flew backward, hitting the ground hard. Pain exploded through him. “Ah—damn it!”

He rolled just in time as the creature slammed where his head had been. The third Husk was approaching behind it.. He was cornered.

Dorian’s mind raced. Think. Think. Think—

Then the system chimed again. > SKILL AVAILABLE: [SYSTEM INTERFACE ACCESS]

Dorian blinked. “What does that even—”

A new overlay appeared. Smaller. More detailed. > SYSTEM INTERFACE ACCESS: BASIC FUNCTION ENABLED

Scan. Analyze. Weak Point Detection (Limited)

Dorian exhaled sharply. “Okay. That helps.”

He focused. > SCAN TARGET: CORRUPTED HUSK

The creature froze in his vision. Then data appeared: > WEAK POINT DETECTED: CORE NODE (CHEST REGION)

DEFENSE LAYER: FRAGMENTED

Dorian’s eyes narrowed. “Chest.” The Husk lunged again. This time, he didn’t retreat.

He moved forward. The creature swung. Dorian ducked under it, sliding in close. Too close. He could smell it now. Something metallic. Wrong.

But he didn’t stop. “I said—”

He drove the shard upward. “—fall!”

The impact landed directly in the chest. A flash of light. The Husk screamed. Then broke apart into particles. > +16 EXP

Silence returned again. Dorian stood there, chest rising and falling heavily.The last Husk stopped moving. Then slowly backed away. For the first time, it hesitated. Dorian noticed.

“…You understand fear too.” The creature turned and fled. Dorian didn’t chase.

He simply watched it disappear into the ruin. Then he collapsed to one knee. Not from injury. From realization.

“This world… has rules.”

A system message appeared. > TUTORIAL PHASE PROGRESS: 12%

Dorian laughed once. It wasn’t humor. It was disbelief. “Twelve percent… and I almost died three times.”

He looked up at the broken sky. Two suns still hung there, unmoving.

Somewhere in this place beyond the ruins, beyond the system prompts, beyond whatever reality this was....

Something was watching him. And Dorian Vale was no longer just surviving. He was being measured. Far away, in a space that did not obey distance or direction, a voice echoed.

Cold. Patient. Interested.

> “Another anomaly has stabilized.”

And somewhere deeper inside the system. Dorian Vale’s name remained highlighted. As if it had not yet decided what he truly was.