"Do not go gentle into that good night, / Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
***
SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE
ANALYZING INPUT DATA... FINISHED
ANALYZING TEST RESULTS... FINISHED
YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY AWAKENED AS A PLAYER. ALLOCATE YOUR POINTS TO YOUR ATTRIBUTES.
DEPENDING ON YOUR ALLOCATION, YOU WILL BE OFFERED A CLASS.
The familiar interface materialized. Exactly as I’d seen it described in the novel.
ATTRIBUTE POINTS RESULTS:
ALIVE: 100 AP
S TIER BLOODLINE 100%: 15000 AP / AWAKENING 0%: 0 AP
VIRGIN: 5000 AP
YOUNG: 2000 AP
MARTIAL ARTS POTENTIAL F: 70 AP
MAGIC POTENTIAL D: 3200 AP
DESTINY POTENTIAL E: 200 AP
YOUR TOTAL: 25870 POINTS
The allocation screen appeared.
AUTHORITY: 00 | Price: 100000 AP
WARNING: 0 Authority Will result in ACCOUNT TERMINATION
WARNING: Need 02 AUTHORITY to get a CLASS and gain LEVEL and EXP.
STRENGTH: F-70 | Price: 10 AP
DEXTERITY: F-130 | Price: 10 AP
AGILITY: F-90 | Price: 10 AP
ENDURANCE: F-130 | Price: 10 AP
MAGIC: F-60 | Price: 30 AP | Max: 100 Per Level
The System expects to put two points in Authority to unlock a basic class, then distribute the rest across normal stats like a good little extra.
But I’m not going to be a good little extra.
I focused on the Authority stat. Poured every ounce of will into forcing my points where they weren’t supposed to go.
ERROR: INSUFFICIENT AUTHORITY TO MODIFY AUTHORITY
Pain lanced through my skull like soone had driven a red-hot nail between my eyes. Blood began to drip from my nose, spattering the crystal’s surface with crimson drops that hissed and stead on contact.
Co on. I carved a piece of myself away for this. I turned a traumatized girl into a weapon. I’ve sacrificed everything for this mont. Let have this one thing.
The cathedral floor around the Awakening Stone began to glow. Ancient runes carved into the marble pulsed with malevolent red light. Patterns I’d never seen before spread outward like cracks in ice.
ERROR: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS ATTEMPT
ERROR: SECURITY BREACH DETECTED
ERROR: INITIATING COUNTERASURES
"System... error... code seven-seven-four-alpha..." The words tumbled from my lips as blood continued to flow. To anyone listening, it would sound like panicked prayers. Desperate mumbling from soone overwheld by the awakening process.
Behind , I could hear the whispered conversations.
"Look at him shaking. Poor boy can’t even handle a basic awakening."
"Is that blood? rciful heavens, what a ss."
"The Leone bloodline grows weaker with each generation."
Lucius’s nervous laughter ca next. "My dear brother always did have a flair for the dramatic."
Leo’s voice carried that insufferable tone of noble pity. "Perhaps we should assist him. This seems beyond his capabilities."
Shut up. All of you, just shut up.
I gritted my teeth and pushed harder. The Rune of Diminishnt felt like molten tal against my skin, but its power was working. The System’s defenses were cracking. Just slightly.
CRITICAL ERROR: REALITY ANCHOR COMPROMISED
ERROR: NARRATIVE STABILITY AT 67% AND FALLING
ERGENCY PROTOCOL ENGAGED
The red light from the floor runes intensified, shifting from a steady glow to a pulsating crimson that seed to match the frantic rhythm of my hamring heart. Across the polished marble, the ancient patterns began to writhe and twist, serpentine tendrils of light crawling outward in chaotic patterns never seen during a normal awakening. Several nobles gasped audibly and stepped back in alarm, their jeweled finery catching the ominous crimson glow as they retreated.
"Young Leone." Archbishop Valdris’s voice echoed through the chamber, carrying a tremor of genuine concern I’d never heard from the old man before. His wizened hands tightened around his ceremonial staff, knuckles turning white.
"Perhaps you should step away from the stone. Sotis the awakening process can be... overwhelming. Particularly for those who are..." He hesitated, searching for a diplomatic way to say ’pathetically weak.’
No. Not when I’m this close. Not when I can feel the System’s architecture yielding beneath my assault.
The System is fighting like a living thing, its defenses both rigid and adaptive. It knows I’m violating its fundantal protocols, but the rune is creating just enough interference to make my exact thod undetectable.
Like trying to find a specific fish in murky water. I just need to push a little harder, dig a little deeper into the code beneath reality itself.
I could feel my father’s sha radiating from the Leone section like heat from a forge. Without looking, I knew exactly what I would see: Lord Aldric, head of our once-great house, had closed his eyes in a grimace of pure mortification. Probably praying to whatever gods might still listen that his worthless third son would stop embarrassing the family na with this pathetic display.
Lady Vivienne’s whispered voice carried clearly in the cathedral’s acoustics. "Aldric, you must stop this. He’s making a spectacle of himself."
A spectacle. If they only knew.
I’m not just making a spectacle. I’m trying to break the fundantal laws of reality while maintaining a cover identity as an incompetent coward. The fact that I’m still conscious is a minor miracle.
The System’s resistance suddenly intensified. Like trying to swim upstream in a river of molten lead. Error ssages cascaded across my vision faster than I could read them.
FATAL ERROR: USER ATTEMPTING UNAUTHORIZED PRIVILEGE ESCALATION
FATAL ERROR: SECURITY VIOLATION
FATAL ERROR: UNKNOWN ENTITY DETECTED
Blood was flowing freely from my nose now. The pain in my head felt like soone was trying to crack my skull open with a hamr made of pure agony.
INITIATING ERGENCY SHUTDOWN
PREPARING TO TERMINATE USER ACCOUNT
COUNTDOWN: 10... 9... 8...
No. Not like this.
I didn’t sacrifice everything to die here on the cathedral floor like so defective product being recalled by its manufacturer.
I reached deeper. Past the Rune of Diminishnt. Past the pain. Past the System’s defenses. I touched sothing fundantal. Sothing that existed before the rules and restrictions.
The authority wasn’t just a statistic. It was the right to exist. The permission to matter in a world that wanted to erase .
7... 6... 5...
The carved spiral on my chest erupted with silver light, visible even through my shirt. The Rune of Diminishnt wasn’t just hiding anymore. It was actively fighting the System’s attempts to delete from existence.
4... 3...
I am Kaelen Leone. I am Alex Chen. An extra who refuses to die for soone else’s story.
I claim the right to matter. The authority to simply exist.
2...
1...
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