The portal lights up in an unknown place then Soren steps out of it. The wind in the new area was different the first tutorial air. Everything felt new and different here it smelled real he missed this type of scent even though it was for a day but to him it felt like forever.
Soren stood at the edge of the town but "town" was no longer the right word for the way everything looked. The scenery before him was a vertical neon towers, massive LED signs and sky-bridges crisscrossing above narrow alleyways. The city was alive smoke rising from hover ramen stands, bullet trains slicing through the skyline and crowds of both human and non-humans pushing past each other because of how many there are in the city.
A glowing sign overhead blinked in multiple languages
WELCOME TO LUXNIR
Soren is stunned by the city his eyes are popped wide open, while having the city take his glances something disturbs him. The system pops up again
[SYSTEM INITALIZING]
TUTORIAL COMPLETE
Congratulations Soren Arata. You have escaped your first trial.
Soren froze from the information.
SYSTEM:
"You are the 37th soul ever to clear the Tutorial."
"You are now worthy enough to begin the ascent."
"Welcome to the game Solemn."
Soren blinked. "Ascent?"
???? SYSTEM RESPONSE:
"The Tutorial is a space to hold those who would attempt to grasp slavery, comfort, peace, or obedience. It is a cycle of equilibrium."
"By escaping, you rejected the falsehood."
"Now begins the true path — one of danger, blood, liberty… and legacy."
A pause.
Soren looked about the buzzing town again. It was alive — far more alive than anything he'd ever known in either life.
He took a deep breath. "Show my profile."
The computer rippled, condensing an empty digital screen before him like a holographic display. The air shifted.
[NEUTRAL HOST DATA — UNSEALED]
Name: Soren Arata
Alias: Zero
Judgment Rank: C+
Threat Level: Unknown
Emotional Profile: Suppressed Guilt/Deep Moral Conflict
Assigned Trait:[Core Skill Generation]/[Echo Frame]
Sentence Score: 34%
Soren read it twice then a third time." I don't get the alias part why is it zero maybe it means I'm starting from nothing does make sense." He still looks at the name he never remembered giving himself that name or the family from the tutorial, maybe the system gave it to him but he brushes it off.
Then he sees something not familiar. "Core Skill Generation?" he muttered. He does not understand he only remembered the system giving him the echo frame skill so he asks the system what is that new skill and when did he gain it.
???System:
"Your soul is capable of creating skills based on your decisions, near death experiences, and moral deviations."
Soren nodded with understanding. It was not a class, necromancy, swordsmanship or magic. It was potential. Raw, dangerous, shapeless potential.
Then he gave the city he is currently in a glance again to him it looked like a combination of Manhattan and Shibuya with some spice on top. Robotic vendors screamed discounts, augumented bounty hunters tracked criminals with drones and holograms of celebrities danced on the sides of buildings. Street samurai sharpened blades in the open. Artificial skies above flickered, sometimes showing stars, sometimes ads for mana drinks or gene mods.
He then remembers that Maeve said to check for something in the system so he looks for the money and his eyes burst with the amount that was given to him. 500 000 Aon only have a million this was too much even for the both of them, he clarifies that she was pretty rich was she also from the original world and maybe the moneyfrom her past life got sent here with her.
While trying to think the system pops up again and the first quest for him is shown
"Earn a name within 72 hours or risk being tagged as deadweight, climbers who fall to establish purpose are eligible for cleansing. He did not need to ask what that meant. This world moved fast and the weak behind.
As he walked through the city, Soren began to notice three things:
Climbers wore rank bands around their necks or wrists color-coded. His was blank.
Drones scanned passersby constantly not law enforcement, but by private guilds, corporations, or even betting syndicates.
And most importantly: No one cared that he was new. Not really.
Everyone here had crawled up from somewhere. Or died trying.
He walked into an alleyway.
The walls were covered with
graffiti, glowing in old languages. Teenage climbers watched a battle on a street projector two men fighting in mid-air in another Realm.
"Bet you he pulls out a Tier-4 blast. Look at the stance."
"Nah. Guy's gonna glitch and crash. Probably lagged."
Soren passed by them in silence. He required information. A map. A guild. An assignment. Something to prove himself before the 72-hour clock ran out.
Then —
A message flickered before his eyes:
[NEW SYSTEM OFFER — CORE TRIAL #01: UNKNOWN QUEST]
"A bounty was recently posted: an unregistered climber with no credits was seen entering Luxnir."
"Reward: 10 000,000 Aon."
"Target: You."
Soren froze.
Someone already had a bounty on his head.
And three men at the end of the alley turned to him.
Smiling.
Drawing guns.
They said nothing right away. One of them snapped his neck and muttered something to the others in a language Soren didn't understand — maybe code. The three of them started walking towards him at the same time, spread out as if stalking prey trapped in an alley.
roatSoren's breath stuck in his th.
This was not a misunderstanding.
They came here for him.
Run.
He didn't hesitate. He turned on his heel and ran down the alley, legs already screaming with pain after the last couple of days of test deprivation and beatings.
The hunters moved at once.
"TARGET IS FLEEING! MOVE!"
Their boots pounded behind him.
Soren zigzagged around crates and broken signs, crouching through an archway into a twisting, curving passage lit by strobing neon signs. All blurred faces, smells, manufactured light until his lungs hurt as if filled with knives.
One of the hunters was too fast. He overtook in a block, grasping for Soren's coat. Soren rolled his body, and the coat slipped off, and he kept going. His shirt stuck to his back with sweat.
Move. Just move. Don't think. Keep going.
He charged down a crowded street. A street vendor cursed as Soren crashed into his cart, noodles and scalding broth going everywhere. People behind him shouted, running as the bounty hunters shoved forward, guns drawn.
Sirens shrieked somewhere in the distance but no one stopped to help.
No one cared.
[20 minutes into the chase]
Soren ran into construction site skeletons of buildings to be shrouded in tarps. He weaved between steel beams, crawled through mud, and finally hid under a concrete slab, pinning himself to the soggy ground, chest heaving.
Bootsteps went by.
Then quiet.
Maybe they lost me—
The beam above him creaked.
He looked up.
One of the hunters was squatting there with a grin.
"Found you."
WHAM.
The beam went down, taking the wind away from Soren's breath. He rolled to the side just in time as a dagger hit the concrete, inches from his leg.
He got up and kept running, eyes already hazy now.
[30 minutes into the chase]
His knees buckled as he crawled into a drainage pipe, icy water drenching him to the core. His heart pounded like a war drum. He crawled forward in total blackness, every breath too audible. His rawed hands. His eye all but swollen shut.
But he kept going.
No powers. No help. No hope. Just keep going.
He emerged from the other end of the tunnel into the other section of the town. Flashing lights. Deserted street. No traces of the hunters.
Soren stumbled towards a trash heap, collapsed behind it, and struggled to stay awake.
You can't die here.
You didn't even start yet.
The rhythm of the city slowed down.
The metallic and blood and sewage smell clung to his clothes as Soren remained motionless behind a cluster of rusty vents on the top of an old building, watching the alleyway below. His body ached. The welts on his palms stung from catching himself as he hit the ground. His breaths were shallow, cold air biting at his lungs.
They're gone.
He had outwitted them—barely. The final hour was a whirl of back alleys, train terminals, abandoned warehouses, and a leap of terror across a collapsing sky bridge. He didn't escape due to being clever or muscular. He escaped because the city was too anarchic, and the bounty hunters made one mistake: they lost him.
Still shaking, Soren sat in stunned quiet, the cold night wind rattling against his soggy shirt.
Then ding.
SYSTEM MESSAGE
ALERT: BOUNTY ASSIGNMENT – CORRECTION
Subject: "Soren Arata"
Classification: NEUTRAL HOST – NON-TARGET
Previous Bounty: 10 Million Aon
Status: REVOKED
Cause: False Identity Match – Assigned bounty was for "Sorren Arathis,"
Apologies for the inconvenience.
Soren blinked.
His face gradually contorted—not with relief, but with horrified incredulity.
It wasn't even for me?
The blood, the suffering, the relentless search—for naught?
As compensation for bureaucratic error, you have received a [Temporary Stealth Field – Lv. 1]. Duration: 8 hours.Cooldown: 7 days.
A faint radiance glowed upon his skin for a moment and vanished.
Reward? You nearly got me executed!
He yearned to scream. Yearned to punch the metal wall beside him. But there was no energy left. Only the icy pit in his stomach where fear had been huddled for hours.
Soren closed his eyes and leaned back against the vent, trembling with adrenaline and suppressed fury.
This facility… this "Realm"… what kind of crackpot regime is running it?
The wind howled again.
He opened his eyes to the horizon. There were great spires alight with artificial light. Skyscrapers thrust into the clouds, their iron tips higher than the clouds could pursue. Somewhere far below, the rest of Solemn never slept.
And now.
neither did he.
SYSTEM REMINDER
Current location: Realm 01 — "Solemn"
Status: Tutorial Cleared
Clearance to start official climb: GRANTED.
Recommended Action: Find Shelter / Access Starter Quests / Determine Local Currency Exchange
PERSONAL STATS
Name: Soren Arata
Alias: Zero
Rank: C+
Threat Level:Unknown
Emotional Profile:Hidden Guilt / Profound Moral Conflict
Assigned Trait:
\[Core Skill Generation – Blocked] [Echo Frame]
Sentence Score:34%
Threat Level:Moderate
Soren slowly got up, flinching as he did.
He wasn't out of it yet.
The bounty was removed, but his name remained in the system. Someone, somewhere, still could get him mixed up againor worse, regard him as an anomaly. If the system could make one error… what other bugs lay in wait?
No more hiding. Time to move. Time to think.
He limped off the rooftop ledge, stepping into the next district with shadows hanging from him like a second skin.
For now, his sole objective: survive.
And discover why he was chosen in the first place.