> Area: MetaCore Eastern Border – Magnetic Ravines and Disconnected Fields
Class: Technomancer (Prototype)
Level: 10
Objective: Reach Erasthia – Estimated Time: 2h IG
Mode: Solo – Tournament Status: Registered
The path to Erasthia was anything but a simple transition corridor.
It was a minefield, disguised as an advance path.
Half-buried wrecks of mechas, unstable plates that exploded at the slightest energy overload, and a sky perpetually streaked with electric arcs.
Z3RO had already activated his Forward Scan mode 20 minutes ago.
> "If I advance in a straight line, I'll get lit up by the automatic turrets. If I go through the jamming field, I'll lose ORIAS's compass."
He sighed, opened his interface, and manually entered a command into his B.I.T. module.
> "Directive: locate an unstable magnetic field that could mask my thermal signature."
> [Analysis in progress...]
[Zone marked: Debris 045D — 42% coverage possible]
[Risks: Overload / Mild neurological interference]
— "I'll take it."
He dove behind a deactivated mech, his heart pounding in his chest. The ambient noise was distorted, each step on the black earth causing crackling in his headset.
A laser beam skittered past his leg a few centimeters. He rolled to the ground and activated a thermal illusion grenade, projecting a blurry silhouette twenty meters away.
> PEE-PEE-PEE!
The turret focused on the bait.
Z3RO sprinted.
—
📌 Narrative Jump — 30 minutes later
> "Semi-secure area reached — Observation Ridge No. 3"
He collapsed behind the carcass of an armored robot, gasping for breath, his Mental Focus bar in the red.
> "B.I.T., secondary battery energy level?"
[37% remaining — recharging impossible in this area]
> "I still have two small electromagnetic traps. A dagger. Half a magazine… And a tournament in less than 72 hours."
He slowly stood up.
It was at that moment that he felt a presence.
Not a player. Not an NPC. A creeping, silent, almost inhuman shadow form.
> "Scan. Now."
> [Anomaly Detected — Forgotten Recovery Unit — Type: Rogue Hunter Drone MK0]
Estimated Level: 12
Mode: Auto-Combat
Trigger: Movement / Abnormal Heat Source
He closed his eyes for a second. Then whispered,
— "Okay… don't panic."
He threw an overload mine around the perimeter and cautiously backed away.
But the mechanical beast wasn't fooled.
It leaped out of the rubble, its spinning blades whistling through the air.
> "F***!"
Z3RO found himself backing away, firing one plasma blast after another, while B.I.T. tried to fool the machine.
> -32 HP
-17 HP
-11 HP (digital bleed active)
— "Not now… NOT NOW!"
He activated his Prototype Skill: Unstable Resonance, a circular pulse wave that threw the machine against a wall.
It got up… but twisted, disoriented.
He then plunged his plasma dagger directly into its optic eye.
> ⚡ SHHHHRK!
> [Entity Neutralized — +240 EXP]
[Loot: Rare Stabilization Battery + Old-Model Adaptive Circuit]
He fell on his butt. Sweating. On fire.
But alive.
—
🎯 Objective updated
> [Materials obtained for secondary upgrade of main weapon]
[Estimated time to Erasthia: 1h IG remaining]
[Build progress update: 71%]
Z3RO resumed his walk.
> — "I will enter this arena... not as a player. But as a problem to be solved."
On the Road to Erasthia (Part 2: Hakaijin)
> Area: Murim — Forgotten Crescent Path
Class: Warrior — Broken Blade
Level: 11
Tournament Status: Registered
Objective: Reach Erasthia – 2 hours IG travel from the Sanctuary Ruins
Remaining Resources: 1 Spirit Elixir | 2 Quick Bandages | Standard Sword + Shinjitsu no Yoru Fragment (2/3)
The virtual sun barely filtered through the wind-bent treetops.
Hakaijin progressed along the Forgotten Crescent Path, an ancient, forgotten pilgrim's route, engraved with prayers erased by the centuries.
Under his feet, withered leaves whispered memories.
He walked alone, silent, focused.
But not at peace.
> [ORIAS System: No presence detected — Unstable spiritual fluctuations]
> Area sensitive to residual memory entities
His gaze skimmed the sky.
He didn't feel observed… he felt questioned.
— "This world... expects something from me. But I don't know what yet."
He tightened his grip on his sword scabbard. His style relied on precision, responsiveness, and intention.
But since the incomplete ordeal at the sanctuary, he felt a flaw in his posture.
Not physical.
Mental.
> "Why am I really fighting?"
Flash-interruption — ritual ambush
Silhouettes then emerged from the trees.
Not players.
But remnants of ancient swordsmen, summoned by the memories of veterans. Intermediate entities, somewhere between mobs and spirits.
> [Appearance: Memory Disciples of the Broken Lotus – x3 – Level 9]
> Type: Custom Duel – Objective: Purification by sword
He stopped dead in his tracks.
> "Another test…?"
One of the specters bowed… then lunged at him.
Hakaijin pivoted, unsheathing his sword in a single, clean strike. The first enemy collapsed silently.
The second attempted to flank him. He ducked, countered with a Cross Strike, then used a sidestep to follow up with a Wave of Release, his area-of-effect skill.
> -30 HP
-18 HP
> Successful counterattack: +10 EXP (Spirit Absorbed)
The three bodies dissipated like incense smoke.
He continued walking.
Thoughts and Direction
Along the path, he noticed a small ruined altar.
On its base: a half-erased engraving.
> "Freedom without purpose becomes another prison."
He stood frozen for a moment.
— "I don't want to live locked up anymore. But I don't want to wander either."
He closed his eyes.
The image of Z3RO came back to him.
His gadgets, his thinking, his resourcefulness.
> "He's dangerous… but incomplete.
Me… I'm solid. But I can't see the horizon yet."
He placed his hand on the spectral fragment hanging from his belt.
The voice of the sanctuary echoed briefly:
> "Come back when your mind has stopped fleeing the future."
He straightened up.
The gates of Erasthia, according to the map, were less than two hours' actual walking away.
But the last section of the path was marked with a red warning.
> [Warning: Unstable transition zone — Unscripted PvE combat possible]
[Access to Erasthia subject to validation by ORIAS — progression behavior analyzed]
He smiled.
— "Even entering the city is a test? … Interesting."