The clouds didn’t move right. The sun flickered. And for a split second, the world paused, as if someone hit the universal lag switch. Then came the light. Not blinding, but deep. Like a neon pulse embedded straight into reality.
Noct Veyne stood at the edge of a crumbling overpass, city ruins stretching below him. Towering skyscrapers lay half-devoured by time, vines and roots tangled around broken glass and steel. What used to be civilization now looked like the aftermath of a game someone rage-quit halfway through.
And above it all… the System floated.
[EXO: GLOBAL SYSTEM ONLINE – ACTIVATING]
Welcome, User.
Syncing vital data…
Creating status profile…
Noct’s heartbeat didn’t spike. No panic. No awe. Everyone knew this was coming.
Two weeks ago, the world had been normal. Jobs, bills, streaming shows that ended on cliffhangers. Now? That was ancient history.
Everyone got the same message. Everyone received a countdown, ticking down to this exact moment. The moment where life itself would be rewritten by a program no one created, no one understood, and no one could escape.
Name: Noct Veyne
Age: 19
Starting Level: 1
Trait: —
Title: —
Credits: 0
EXP: 0/100
[Please choose your starting weapon.]
Noct blinked.
“...That's it?” he muttered, staring at the transparent interface floating in front of him.
Most people got traits. Cool ones, too. One guy streamed his Awakening on EXONet and got “Iron Titan” a passive Trait that gave him +50 Strength and made his skin bulletproof. Another girl in New Kyro unlocked something called "Reality Stitcher." Whatever that meant, she was already Level 37 and climbing the global leaderboard like it was a damn escalator.
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Noct?
Nothing.
No Trait. No bonus. No flashy lightshow. Just… default settings.
“…Sick.” He swiped the weapon selection open. A grid of starter options appeared, rusted daggers, worn swords, cracked staffs, and basic sidearms. All Common. All trash.
He picked a black, jagged dagger, not because it was good, but because it looked less stupid than the others. It vanished into his inventory with a small pulse of blue light.
[Starter Weapon Equipped: Common – Rustfang Dagger]
A distant howl echoed through the city ruins.
Noct didn’t flinch.
The tutorial quests were already live. He knew how this worked. The moment the system finished onboarding, the world wouldn’t just change, it would hunt. The EXO System thrived on chaos, and Noct was already late to the race.
He tapped his screen. His Status panel expanded.
“Looks like I really pulled the free trial version,” he muttered dryly.
Then, something flickered at the edge of his vision, a glint of gold near a wrecked vending machine below. A floating credit chip.
His eyes narrowed.
[Credits can be collected from the environment. The amount scales with your level.]
[Current Value: 2 Credits]
He dropped down three floors, boots hitting steel beams with precise landings. Picked up the credit with one hand.
[Credits +2]
It wasn’t much. But it was something.
Noct stood slowly, scanning the area. The overgrown streets of Zone 3X, also called The Lost Grid were marked as a beginner-friendly zone. Which meant: low-tier mobs, easy quests, and players trying to farm XP and materials for gear upgrades.
A sharp beeping interrupted his thoughts.
[Special Quest Activated: “Purge the Infestation”]
Type: Timed
Objective: Eliminate 15 Hollowspawn in Zone 3X
Time Limit: 00:10:00
Reward: 40 EXP, 10 Credits, Basic Gear Chest
Failure Penalty: Temporary Debuff – “Slow System Response” (15 mins)
Noct raised an eyebrow. “Timed quest already?”
He swiped to accept.
[Quest Accepted.]
Hollowspawn detected 80 meters east.
A low clicking sound rose in the wind, multiple footsteps. Glitching shadows began forming behind broken cars, leaking from alleys like black smoke with teeth.
Noct pulled his dagger from the inventory UI and stepped forward, posture loose but ready.
This was it. His first fight. His first step.
No trait. No blessings. No cheats.
Just him… and the system.
Welcome to EXO.
End of Chapter 1...