Arin stared at the cracked jade scroll in his hands, the mission details glowing faintly in spiritual ink. He muttered under his breath, "This feels like one of those times where the mission is less about exploration and more about 'how creatively can you die today.'"
Yura leaned over his shoulder, casually biting into a peach she definitely stole from the sect's inner orchard. "You're going, right?"
"No," Arin said immediately.
Yue Lan walked by, dropped a clean set of robes into his lap, and said, "You're going."
"…Fine."
The mission wasn't posted publicly, not yet. It was sent directly by Elder Longyu to a small number of disciples—Arin, Yue Lan, Yura, and unfortunately, Jun Bai. The ruins they were meant to investigate had apparently emerged from the earth itself during a spiritual quake three days ago. The location? Somewhere between "cursed forbidden grounds" and "this place once killed a god."
When they reached the ancient site, even Arin had to pause. Massive stone steps jutted from the mountain like broken teeth. Runes crawled over them in languages that hadn't been spoken for at least four divine eras. Energy twisted in the air—thick, unstable, heavy.
Arin squinted at a glowing glyph. "Does that say 'Do Not Enter or Suffer Eternal Reflection'?"
Jun Bai, already walking ahead, called over his shoulder. "It says 'Only the worthy may ascend.' Try to keep up, peasant."
Arin whispered, "Why is every ancient ruin subtitled by a divine drama queen?"
He followed. Mist rolled in. Yue Lan was beside him in moments, sharp-eyed and silent. Yura didn't walk—she floated behind them in fox spirit form, giggling like she knew something the others didn't.
Then, with a loud click that echoed like a thunderclap—
The ruins swallowed them.
No light. No air. No warning.
When Arin opened his eyes, he was standing in a corridor of endless stairs. The walls flickered with reflections of him—hundreds of them. Some laughing. Some dying. Some... perfect.
"Great," he muttered. "It's a self-esteem trap."
A distorted voice echoed in the air like a broken instrument. "Trial of Reflection. Face your wasted potential."
A mirror formed ahead of him. Not glass. Not crystal. Just a smooth silver surface rippling like water. And then, he stepped out of it.
The other Arin looked the same, mostly. Except this one wore cleaner robes, his posture was straighter, his sword glowed with calm power. He even had better eyebrows.
"Sup," Mirror Arin said. "Ready to cry?"
"Please. I look like I sell overpriced spiritual supplements."
"You look like a protagonist who gave up halfway."
They charged each other.
Blades clashed. Light exploded. Spells flew. Mirror Arin fought with technique Arin didn't remember learning, didn't even think he could learn. But it wasn't perfect.
Mirror Arin didn't joke.
Didn't improvise.
Didn't cheat.
Real Arin, while being flung backwards into a collapsing illusion wall, shouted into his ring, "Fluffy Doom! Emergency Protocol #17: Random Beam Spam!"
A puff of smoke. A fox-shaped gremlin. Five beams of random elemental nonsense.
Mirror Arin screamed as he was blasted with lightning, fire, water, and raw sugar energy.
Arin climbed back to his feet, dusting off glass shards. "Moral of the story? Don't mess with the one who's not above cheating."
The world melted again. The stairs vanished. The voice muttered, "Trial complete… questionable methods…"
Then silence.
Elsewhere, Jun Bai stood before a massive door sealed with runes that pulsed to his heartbeat. When he touched the cold surface, visions overtook him. Power. Glory. Yue Lan at his side. Arin defeated, irrelevant, forgotten.
His hand trembled.
But he pulled back. Not from fear—shame.
"This isn't who I want to be," he muttered. "Not anymore."
The runes blinked once… then the door opened.
When the group reformed in the center of the ruins—Arin, Jun Bai, Yue Lan, Yura—the air shimmered with a strange tension. No one said what happened. No one needed to. Their eyes said enough.
At the center of the chamber floated a sealed orb, suspended by nothing. Inside, a girl.
White hair, lightly glowing skin, faint wings. Her presence was divine—but twisted, like a system AI that had been shattered and patched together by something older. Something wrong.
Arin stared.
Yue Lan moved to protect him. Jun Bai raised a hand, and his sword rattled in its sheath. Yura narrowed her eyes and whispered, "She's not sleeping. She's waiting."
Arin stepped forward, ignoring the screams from the system in his head.
> [WARNING: SYSTEM ALERT. DO NOT INTERACT. THIS ENTITY IS A FRAGMENTED ERROR. PROTOCOL BREACH WILL CAUSE CORRUPTION.]
He touched the orb anyway.
It cracked. A soft chime filled the air, like someone playing a harp out of tune.
The girl's eyes opened.
She blinked once. Twice. Then looked at all of them.
Her voice was soft but unnatural—echoing like code through a divine shell.
"Which one of you broke the system first?"
Everyone slowly turned toward Arin.
Arin pointed to Jun Bai.
"Definitely him."
The girl stared.
Then smiled.