2026-02-19 20:17:26ONE MINUTE
Jack's point of View The gate opened wider. Not to welcome me. To give space. Players gathered quickly when they realized what was about to happen. Some leaned against the wooden fence. Others climbed onto barrels. A few looked bored. This wasn’t new for them. I stood in the dirt clearing. Across from me stood the red-haired player. Up close, he looked even more confident. His armor was clean. His sword polished. He didn’t look worried. Above his head floated the blue text: PLAYER – LEVEL 50 My eyes moved up to my own. PLAYER ZERO No level. Just that. Zero. He saw me looking. “Don’t worry,” he said calmly. “I won’t use everything.” The crowd laughed softly. A tall player near the gate raised his hand. “One minute,” he called. “Fight.” The red-haired guy didn’t rush wildly. He walked toward me. Slow. Controlled. Then suddenly— He disappeared from where he stood. My brain barely caught up before something slammed into my stomach. I folded instantly. Air gone. Pain everywhere. HP: 32/40 I hit the ground hard. The crowd reacted. “Too easy.” “Zero rank really is trash.” I forced myself up. He was already standing a few steps away, sword resting on his shoulder like this was practice. “Stand,” he said. I stood. My legs shook. He moved again. This time I saw the blur of his sword. I tried to block with my rusted knife. The impact threw me sideways. HP: 24/40 The difference between us was clear. He wasn’t struggling. He wasn’t even breathing hard. He struck again. Clean. Sharp. HP: 16/40 I tasted blood. I couldn’t keep up. He kicked my knee. I dropped to one leg. The crowd was laughing again. “This is why rank matters.” “Zero should’ve stayed in the forest.” He stepped closer. “You feel it now?” he asked quietly. “This world doesn’t care about weak people.” Another strike. HP: 8/40 Everything hurt. My vision blurred. I knew I couldn’t win. That wasn’t the goal. One minute. Just one minute. He thrust his sword forward. It pierced my shoulder. Pain exploded through me. HP: 2/40 The crowd grew quieter. I should’ve fallen. I didn’t. I was shaking. But I was still there. He pulled the sword out slowly. HP: 1/40 The number blinked. Red. Critical. He tilted his head. “Still up?” He slashed across my chest. HP: 1/40 It didn’t move. He frowned. He struck again. Harder. HP: 1/40 The red number flickered… but didn’t drop. The laughter stopped. He stepped back slightly. “What?” Someone in the crowd leaned forward. “Why isn’t it going down?” The red-haired player’s eyes narrowed. He attacked again, faster this time. Three clean hits. HP: 1/40 No change. My body felt like it was tearing apart. I felt every hit. But the number wouldn’t move. Above me, unseen by the others, faint text flickered: HIDDEN CONDITION ACTIVE DEATH ACCESS: DENIED The red-haired player grabbed my collar. “You’re supposed to be dead,” he said low enough that only I could hear. I didn’t have the strength to answer. The tall player near the gate shouted— “TIME!” Silence. The red-haired guy let go slowly. I dropped to my knees, gasping. HP: 1/40 Still blinking. The crowd wasn’t laughing anymore. They were staring. Confused. Uneasy. One of them whispered, “That’s not normal…” Another said, “Level Fifty damage should’ve finished him.” The red-haired player kept looking at me like I was something broken. Not weak. Broken. After a long second, he stepped aside. “…Let him in.” No one argued. As I forced myself to stand and walk toward the gate, every eye followed me. Not with mockery anymore. With suspicion. Because I hadn’t won. I hadn’t even fought well. But I should have died. And I didn’t. Above my head, the word still floated. PLAYER ZERO And for the first time… It didn’t feel like an insult.
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10
THE SYSTEM WATCHESThe sky wasn’t supposed to flicker.But it did.Jack noticed it first at dawn.He was alone near the outer gate, leaning against the repaired barricade, pretending to watch the horizon.The sky above the wasteland shimmered for half a second.Not lightning.Not weather.A distortion.Like a reflection on broken glass.Then it was gone.Jack stared upward.“…You saw that too, right?” he muttered.No one answered.Because no one else reacted.The guards beside him didn’t move. Didn’t look up.The sky returned to normal blue.Clean.Empty.Jack swallowed.Maybe he imagined it.A faint chime echoed in his ears.SYSTEM UPDATE…The words appeared in the corner of his vision.Then froze.The text glitched.Pixelated.Then vanished.Jack stiffened.“What?”Nothing else happened.He opened his status panel.Level: 0HP: Stable.No notifications.No alerts.He closed it slowly.Behind him, the morning bell rang -training hour.He turned and walked back toward the yard.But so
9
HOW LEVELS WORKThe village felt different during the day.Less afraid.More structured.Jack hadn’t noticed it before, but everything ran on quiet efficiency. Teams were assigned to wall repairs. Scouting parties rotated shifts. Resource gathering had fixed routes. Even combat drills happened at the same hour every afternoon.It wasn’t random survival.It was organized progression.Jack stood near the training yard, watching two mid-level players spar. Their movements were sharp, deliberate. Not flashy efficient.Every strike calculated.Every dodge precise.“Do you see it?”The voice came from behind him.Jack didn’t turn immediately.“I see two people fighting,” he said.Level 24 stepped beside him, hands folded loosely behind his back. His expression was as calm as always. Measured. Observing everything.“No,” the Level 24 said quietly. “You see levels.”Jack frowned slightly.The sparring players clashed again. One moved faster. Cleaner. Stronger.The other yielded ground almost
8
AFTERMATHThe smell of burnt wood lingered long after the monsters were gone.Morning light bled slowly over the village walls, revealing what the night had taken. Splintered barricades. Cracked stone. Blood darkening the dirt pathways. A collapsed watchtower still smoldered near the northern gate.Players moved like ghosts through the damage.No one spoke loudly.No one laughed.This wasn’t like the smaller raids.This one had hurt.Jack stood near the outer wall, staring at the deep claw marks carved into the wood. They were higher than his head. Deeper than he thought possible.He could still hear it.The sound of bone snapping beneath his blade.The moment his body moved faster than it ever had.The moment everything sharpened.He swallowed.He didn’t understand what had happened.And that scared him more than the monsters did.Behind him, whispers drifted through the air.“That’s him.”“Player Zero.”“He killed a Level 29 alone.”“No party support.”“I checked the combat log. It
8
THE FIRST NIGHT RAIDJack's point of View The alarms started as a low hum.I was sitting alone near the back of the village, close to a stack of empty crates. No one had offered me a place to stay. No one told me to leave either.Just space.Then the hum became a sharp metallic ringing.LOUD.Over and over.Players froze mid-step.Then someone shouted—“Raid!”Everything moved at once.Lanterns were lifted. Weapons drawn. Boots hitting dirt fast.The air changed.Fear.Real fear.I stood up slowly.“What kind?” someone yelled.“Outer field breach!”“Multiple signatures!”The red-haired player was already running toward the wooden walls. His sword drawn. Calm. Focused.Level 50.This was his world.Torches along the fence burst brighter as players climbed the guard platforms.I hesitated.I could stay behind the houses.Hide.No one would blame Player Zero for not fighting.No one expected anything from me.Another scream cut through the air.Not human.Something deeper.Something wro
7
THE GLITCH Jack's point of View No one spoke as I walked through the gate. The wood creaked behind me when it closed. The village didn’t look like much up close. Rough wooden houses. Stone paths. Smoke rising from chimneys. A few lanterns hanging from posts even though the sky never changed. It should’ve felt safe. It didn’t. Every step I took, I could feel eyes on me. Not mocking anymore. Watching. The red-haired player walked a few steps behind me. Not close enough to touch. Close enough to stop me if I tried something. His voice cut through the silence. “Check him.” Two players stepped forward immediately. One was Level 14. The other Level 11. They focused on me. Their eyes shifted slightly the way players do when reading status windows. The Level 14 frowned. “…That’s weird.” “What?” someone asked. “I can see his name. Player Zero. But the level isn’t stable.” The Level 11 squinted. “It keeps flickering.” My chest tightened. Above me, I saw it too. PLAYER Z
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ONE MINUTEJack's point of View The gate opened wider.Not to welcome me.To give space.Players gathered quickly when they realized what was about to happen. Some leaned against the wooden fence. Others climbed onto barrels. A few looked bored.This wasn’t new for them.I stood in the dirt clearing.Across from me stood the red-haired player.Up close, he looked even more confident. His armor was clean. His sword polished. He didn’t look worried.Above his head floated the blue text:PLAYER – LEVEL 50My eyes moved up to my own.PLAYER ZERONo level.Just that.Zero.He saw me looking.“Don’t worry,” he said calmly. “I won’t use everything.”The crowd laughed softly.A tall player near the gate raised his hand.“One minute,” he called. “Fight.”The red-haired guy didn’t rush wildly.He walked toward me.Slow.Controlled.Then suddenly—He disappeared from where he stood.My brain barely caught up before something slammed into my stomach.I folded instantly.Air gone.Pain everywhere
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