Refused The System

Forced Meridian Restructuring

"What an interesting body... Are you merely prey, or are you the 'master' who was promised?"

The woman's laughter was cold. It echoed not from within the Vesper System, but directly from the new vortex of energy that had only just been forced to settle inside Gerry's abdomen. The voice sounded so close, so real, as if she were whispering beside his ear.

But Gerry had no time to question who she was.

The Ghoul King's massive rusted sword split the air, carrying enough pressure to crush bone before the blade even touched flesh. Vesper continued issuing warnings inside his mind, trying to shut down his consciousness to preserve its critically depleted energy reserves.

"I told you, don't you dare sedate me, Vesper!" Gerry roared inwardly.

He refused to surrender. He refused to die without fighting back.

Using the last remnants of his chaotic energy circulation, Gerry forced his newly healed legs to leap in the opposite direction. The massive blade slammed into the ground where he had been standing only a second earlier, unleashing a shockwave that hurled his body into the rocky cliff wall.

"Ugh!" Gerry spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. The five-meter-tall monster with blue flames burning in its eyes truly intended to crush him.

The Ghoul King let out a deep growl and swung its enormous body around with terrifying speed. The stench of rust and ancient sulfur thickened around them.

Gerry glanced at his hand. He had no sword, no clan weapon. All he had was a sharp river stone stained with the black blood of the Shadow Wolf, the same stone he had just picked up again. It was reckless, but his survival instincts demanded a source of power.

"Come on, you bastard!" Gerry shouted, ignoring the agony in his waist and calf.

As the monster swung its sword horizontally to cleave him in two, Gerry threw himself to the ground and crawled beneath its legs. His fighting style no longer resembled the disciplined techniques of the Sterling Clan. It had become pure madness, stripped of all fear of death.

The moment he reached the creature's rear, Gerry sprang upward with every ounce of strength he had left. He grabbed the rusted chains hanging from the monster's back and climbed with desperate speed.

The Ghoul King roared in fury and violently shook its body, trying to fling him away. But Gerry's determination had locked his fingers onto the creature's stone-like hide.

"Die!"

With his right hand, Gerry drove the river stone again and again into the cracked joint at the monster's neck. He struck relentlessly, fueled entirely by adrenaline. Thick streams of putrid fluid sprayed across his face, but he paid them no attention.

After several grueling minutes, Gerry finally punched through the creature's weak point. Before the Ghoul King could seize him with its massive hand, Gerry plunged the stone deep into the wound, twisted it violently, and tore out a deep violet Energy Core with his bare hand.

The Ghoul King released one final earth-shaking howl. Its colossal body suddenly froze before collapsing onto the ground. Gerry fell with it, rolling across the freezing earth, gasping for breath beside the corpse as it slowly crumbled into dust.

He had slain a monster far beyond his current level.

But victory came at a terrible cost.

Silence once again consumed the bottom of the abyss, and the brutal cold began piercing his body.

[Warning: Host body temperature has fallen below 32 degrees Celsius.]

[Advanced hypothermia risk: 87%.]

Vesper's emotionless voice echoed through Gerry's mind once more. A dim blue status window flickered before his half-closed eyes.

[Environmental Analysis: The miasma in this area is becoming increasingly concentrated. Without internal energy circulation (Qi) to protect the vital organs, the Host's cells will begin undergoing necrosis within the next 120 minutes.]

Gerry forced out a hoarse laugh.

"So... I defeated two wolves with my bare hands, killed this Ghoul King, and I'm still going to freeze to death? How ironic."

He tried to move his arm, but every inch of muscle felt unbearably heavy. The meridians throughout his body, the energy channels that should have carried power, felt hopelessly clogged and shattered.

"Give me a solution, Vesper," Gerry hissed through chattering teeth. "You said you could restructure these meridians."

[Calculating recovery options...]

[Option 1: Passive Meditation.]

[Success Rate: 12%. Estimated completion time: 30 days under safe conditions. Risk: Host will freeze to death before completing the first cycle.]

[Option 2: Forced Meridian Restructuring (Forbidden Protocol Method).]

[Success Rate: 0.03%. The procedure involves forcing Abyssal energy through the destroyed channels, shattering all blockages and reinforcing the meridian walls with synthetic energy.]

Vesper paused, allowing Gerry time to process the information.

[Note: The pain level of Option 2 exceeds the limits of human consciousness by 400%. Probability of nervous system failure: Extremely High. The Host is advised to seek...]

"Do Option Two," Gerry cut in sharply, with no intention of listening to another warning.

[Host logic is inconsistent. A 0.03% success rate is, statistically, a death sentence.]

Gerry opened his eyes.

For a brief moment, the cold golden light within them pierced the darkness.

"Your statistics have never accounted for one thing, Vesper. Hatred doesn't need probability to win. If I have to burn alive at the bottom of this abyss just so I can drag my family down here with me, then do it now!"

[Host command accepted. Safety protocols overridden...]

[Initiating Forced Meridian Restructuring.]

Suddenly, Gerry's entire body locked rigid.

He no longer felt cold.

Instead, an unimaginable inferno erupted inside his veins.

The status screen before him filled with thousands of cascading lines of crimson code. Gerry tried to scream, but the sound died in his throat as the first wave struck. The dark, razor-sharp Abyssal energy saturating the air was forcibly driven into every pore of his body by Vesper.

"ARGHHHH...!"

Gerry's scream echoed against the stone walls.

He collapsed onto the damp earth, clawing at the ground until his fingernails split and bled.

Inside his body, a brutal process had begun.

The Abyssal energy surged inward, tearing apart the remnants of his damaged meridians. It obliterated the crystalline blockages that had sealed his energy pathways since birth.

[Phase One: Complete Destruction of Damaged Meridians in progress.]

[Warning! Host heart rate has reached 190 BPM. Cardiac arrest risk: Critical!]

Let it all be destroyed! Gerry roared silently through the agony.

Through Vesper's interface, he could see the interior of his own body. His meridians appeared blackened, twisted, and riddled with cracks. Now, waves of dark blue Abyssal energy flooded through them, pulverizing those fragile channels into dust without leaving a trace.

The pain pushed Gerry to the edge of total unconsciousness.

Yet in that very moment, his memories burst wide open.

Dandy's satisfied smile as he took Gerry's kidney.

His father's eyes, looking at him as though he were nothing more than garbage.

Helena's face, turning away without the slightest trace of regret.

I can't die...

I haven't destroyed the Sterling Clan yet!

[Destruction Complete.]

[Initiating Phase Two: Construction of the 'Broken Flow' Pathway.]

[Vesper will now direct energy to reconstruct the Host's meridians according to System Protocol standards...]

Suddenly, Gerry felt a new pattern of energy taking shape inside his chest.

Vesper was rebuilding his meridians into orderly, perfectly controlled pathways, designed to make him the ideal vessel for the System.

"Wait..." Gerry muttered with great difficulty, his jaw trembling violently. "Why are you rebuilding them like that?"