'Speaking of…'
Kairo blinked. Something flickered at the edge of his vision—a faint, glowing icon, almost trying to stay hidden. It pulsed softly, floating like a tiny hologram in the air. A blue ring spun around an open book, its pages turning on their own.
'What is that?'
He squinted at it.
[New Notification: Tutorial Unlocked]
It hovered silently. Waiting.
Kairo glanced around. The street was mostly empty. A pair of kids kicked a flat ball near a shuttered shop, and a delivery truck groaned past on cracked asphalt. The scent of fried plantain hung in the air, coming from some street vendor behind a rusted gate.
He adjusted his backpack strap and stared at the icon again.
He could tap it right now.
But instead, he sighed and turned toward home.
'Better not start tweaking out in public. Not after the whole claw thing.'
He kept walking.
District Nine didn't have much to offer. Crumbling walls, mismatched rooftops, and posters peeling off every other pole. "Vote Maku for Reform" was the latest, plastered right over someone else's face. The same alley dogs barked at him like always. The same arguments echoed from the second-floor balcony next door.
By the time Kairo reached the rusted gate of their apartment block, the sun had dipped behind the smokestacks. The faint hum of a dying generator buzzed somewhere upstairs.
Their building leaned slightly. Like it had given up years ago.
He let himself in, stepping over a broken tile at the front entrance. The corridor was dim, only one bulb working, and the scent of burnt kerosene clung to the walls.
Inside their flat, it was quiet. Their aunt wasn't back yet. The fan in the corner clicked as it spun lazily, and the small gas burner in the kitchen area still smelled faintly of whatever Mina had made earlier. The fridge door was held shut with string.
He gave Mina a quick nod as she sat curled up on the couch with a blanket and a cartoon on pause.
Kairo ducked into their shared bedroom.
There wasn't much to the room. Just a broken wardrobe they didn't open anymore, stacks of his old books against the wall, and the two floor mattresses squeezed shoulder to shoulder—his and Mina's.
He collapsed onto his own, letting the ceiling take his gaze.
'Alright. Let's see what this is about.'
He summoned the system.
[Tutorial Available. Tap to Begin.]
He tapped.
---
The air shimmered.
A screen stretched open in front of him, growing quietly like mist turning solid. It hovered in the centre of the room, wide and crisp.
Then it started.
A man appeared on screen.
He stood in a room made entirely of metal. Not like a factory—cleaner. Colder. The floor was polished steel, the walls seamless. No rust, no dust, no signs of life. Just a vast, closed space, like a vault. Or a machine's insides.
The man himself looked nothing like a soldier or instructor.
His hair was dark and loose, falling just past his shoulders. His shirt was plain grey, buttoned neatly to the collar, tucked into black trousers. No weapons. No logo. But he moved like someone dangerous. Calm. Measured. Heavy, even when standing still.
"Congratulations," he said, voice smooth and quiet. "You've awakened a system."
Kairo swallowed.
'Well… okay then.'
"Let's walk through the basics."
[Status]
[A snapshot of your current physical capability and mutation data. This screen tracks your four base attributes and mutation progress.]
[Name: Kairo Darnel]
[Level: 1 (0 / 100 EXP)]
[Strength: 9]
[Speed: 8]
[Stamina: 10]
[Endurance: 9]
[Mutation Type: Unknown Hybrid]
'Still no info under Mutation Type…'
"Stats are your foundation," the man continued, now walking slowly through the metal room. "They increase through effort, training, and experience. They can also decrease. This isn't a game. Numbers here mean survival."
[Skills]
[Lists all active and passive abilities acquired through effort, mutation triggers, and system quests.]
[Current Skills: None]
[Skills are rare at the start. Some come through training. Others require specific events or breakthroughs.]
"You'll earn them," he said. "If you're smart."
[Quests]
[Objectives designed to guide progression. Some are system-assigned. Others are unlocked through user action.]
[Current Quests: None]
"They'll appear when needed. Or when trouble's coming."
[System Growth and Leveling]
[Earn EXP through tasks, combat, and mutation development. Upon levelling up, you gain Stat Points.]
[Stat Points can be manually assigned to any base attribute.]
[Mutation growth happens separately—triggered by usage, stress, and environmental conditions.]
"Growth won't be fast. Nothing worth having ever is."
[Inventory]
[Currently Locked. Inventory unlocks at Level 5.]
[Additional Tabs: Mutant Pathways, Trait Logs, Titles — Locked]
[These unlock as you engage further.]
[This system adapts to you. The more you use it, the more it reveals.]
The man stopped walking.
He turned toward the screen. Toward Kairo.
"You're not the only one with a system," he said, voice a little quieter now. "And you won't be the last to see this tutorial."
He nodded once—final, almost bored.
Then the screen vanished.
---
Kairo blinked.
The glow was gone, but his brain still felt like it was ringing. He stared at the cracked ceiling. The sound of the fan returned, along with the faint murmur of Mina's cartoon in the other room.
'That… was intense.'
The door creaked.
Mina leaned in, holding a bowl of instant noodles with too much pepper and not enough water.
"You've been lying there like a frozen idiot for five minutes."
Kairo sat up slightly. "Huh?"
"You good?"
"Yeah. Just tired."
She narrowed her eyes. Then handed him the bowl.
"Eat. And don't fall asleep like that again. You looked dead."
She left without waiting for a reply.
Kairo held the noodles, staring at them for a second, then set them down.
He exhaled slowly.
'Okay. So that was real.'
No more guessing. No more thinking it was just a dream.
The system was real.
And whatever it meant… this was just the beginning.