CHAPTER 3: THE REAPER’S TOLL

The simulation was a cruel, mocking joke.

Michael stood panting in the infinite white space, his virtual sword feeling as heavy as his own sense of failure.

Across from him, the Sim-Bear – a Level 5 monstrosity of pixelated fur and rage – roared, a sound file on a loop.

Bad RNG, Michael thought, his mind retreating into the familiar, cynical comfort of gamer-speak.

"This boss is completely unbalanced."

"Devs need to patch this."

The Warden’s voice, ancient and laced with a weary amusement that was starting to get on his nerves, echoed in his head.

"Synchronization Threshold reached. Your physical body cannot process the combat data necessary to defeat this opponent. Further attempts are statistically futile."

"Oh, shut up," Michael grunted, spitting a glob of virtual blood that dissolved before it hit the grid floor.

"Don’t you have some unskippable lore text to be reading somewhere?"

He was tired of the System’s cold logic.

He was tired of being weak.

His father’s words were a ghost haunting the edges of the simulation: Stay away. Don’t get involved.

But the quest log burned in his vision, a constant, taunting reminder.

[MAIN QUEST: THE EVER-GATE’S ECHO]

Objective 1: Reach D-Rank.

How am I supposed to reach D-Rank if I can’t even get past the tutorial boss? he raged internally.

How am I supposed to find my mother if I’m stuck at Level 1 forever!!!?

"Is this what you wanted for me, Dad?" Michael whispered to the empty, white void.

"To be so afraid of the family business that I can’t even beat a fake bear?"

He glared at his own reflection in the shimmering, data-flecked air.

He saw a weak, scared kid playing a game he was destined to lose.

The same helpless fury he felt when he looked at his father – a legend who chose to become a ghost in his own home – bubbled up inside him.

"System!" he shouted, his voice cracking with a frustration that went deeper than the simulation.

"Is this it?"

"Is this all I am?"

"My mother’s echo?"

"My father’s disappointment?"

"Just another garbage-tier NPC?"

He didn’t expect an answer.

The System gave him one anyway.

[EMOTIONAL VOLATILITY DETECTED]

[USER’S DEFIANCE EXCEEDS SAFE PARAMETERS]

[INITIATING SEALED PROTOCOL...]

Michael froze.

The air in the simulation grew cold, the infinite white grid flickering as if reality itself had just stubbed its toe.

A new screen appeared, bordered in a venomous, glitching black.

[WARNING: ANCIENT BLOODLINE SEAL IS UNSTABLE]

A pain unlike anything he had ever imagined shot through his chest.

It wasn’t a burn or a cut.

It was a cold fire, a thousand glass needles scraping against his very soul.

He gasped, clutching his shirt, his body convulsing even though he was just standing in his bedroom.

This wasn’t virtual.

This was real.

He tore open his Status screen, his thoughts trembling.

The text was glitching, flickering between the System’s cool blue and a terrifying crimson.

He saw a new line item, a status effect he’d never seen before.

[BLOODLINE SEAL (DIVINE-TIER): 99.9% INTEGRITY]

As he watched in horror, a tiny crack appeared in the words.

The number ticked down.

[99.8%]

An agony that transcended physical pain ripped through him.

It felt like something deep inside, something that had been sleeping for years, was being violently torn awake.

[FORCED AWAKENING DETECTED]

[DIVERTING SYSTEM POWER TO CONTAIN... CONTAINMENT FAILED]

[CLASS AWAKENING... VOID REAPER]

[Your Mana Core has been bypassed and overwritten.]

[New Energy Source Unlocked: Void Energy (VE)]

[Your base stats have been amplified by your new connection to the Void!]

The words echoed in the screaming silence of his mind.

Void Reaper.

It didn’t sound like a hero’s class.

It sounded like something you’d fight at the end of a horror game.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, the pain was gone.

It was replaced by a profound, chilling emptiness.

A wave of black, cold energy washed through him, alien and yet intimately, terrifyingly familiar.

He felt... complete.

Wrong, but complete.

The glitching on his screen stopped.

His Status stabilized, but it was different now, the cool blue text tinged with faint, dark purple highlights.

STATUS

Name: Michael Arcana

Level: 1

Class: Void Reaper (Awakened)

Title: Last Scion

HP (Health Points): 100/100

VE (Void Energy): 50/50

STATS:

Strength: 7 - 12

Agility: 9 - 15

Stamina: 8 - 12

Intelligence: 14

Sense: 11

Mana: 0

[Note: Mana Core has been bypassed. All abilities are now powered by Void Energy.]

[BLOODLINE SEAL (DIVINE-TIER): 99.8% INTEGRITY (DAMAGED)]

Well then, he thought, a grim smirk touching his lips.

Someone just got a major class-specific buff.

His stats had jumped.

He felt the change in every fiber of his being, a thrumming, dangerous energy where the ache had been.

He scrolled down.

The [Skills] tab was no longer a graveyard of grayed-out icons.

SKILLS

[Void Reaper: Bloodline Class (Passive)]

Description: A forbidden class specializing in soul-based energy, stealth, and lethality. Grants access to Void Energy and an exclusive, sealed skill tree.

[Shadow Step (Lv. 1)]

Description: Instantly traverse short distances through the void. A short-range teleport. Basically a blink dagger.

Cost: 5 VE

[Void Slash (Lv. 1)]

Description: Imbue a weapon with Void Energy, dealing extra damage that bypasses most physical defenses. An armor-piercing debuff. Nice.

His heart hammered in his chest.

This was power.

Real, tangible power.

A new notification pinged.

[CLASS AWAKENING REWARD ADDED TO INVENTORY]

He opened his inventory tab.

A new item sat there, its icon a sliver of pure darkness.

[REAPER’S FANG (F-RANK DAGGER)]

Description: A blade condensed from pure void. Silent, sharp, and hungry. A fitting tool for a new Reaper.

He focused his will on the item.

A nine-inch dagger materialized in his hand with a soft, soundless pop.

It was matte black, absorbing the light from his desk lamp.

It felt cold to the touch, unnaturally so, and weighed almost nothing.

He was no longer just Michael, the student with the broken-legend father.

He was Michael, the Void Reaper.

And he had a weapon.

The Warden’s voice returned, but this time it wasn’t amused.

It was laced with a gravity that sounded like genuine shock.

"Child... what have you done?"

"I woke up," Michael said, the words feeling truer than anything he’d said in years.

"You have broken a seal that was not meant to be broken," the Warden said, its tone a funeral dirge.

"You have awakened a power your ancestors went to great lengths to bury for a very, very good reason."

"My ancestors aren’t here," Michael countered, his voice steady.

"I am."

There was a long silence, pregnant with disapproval.

"The corruption in the Legacy Archive... it has shifted," the Warden finally said.

"The damage to your Bloodline Seal has created a resonance."

"A new data packet has been partially decrypted."

A new window appeared.

It was still mostly static, but a few words burned through the noise, clear and ominous.

[FRAGMENTED DATA: THE... ALCHEMIST...]

[LOCATION TAG: THE UNDERCROFT... SECTOR 7...]

[STATUS: ACTIVE]

"The Undercroft?" Michael asked.

Sounds like a black-market starter zone.

"A festering wound beneath the city," the Warden replied with weary disgust.

"A den of thieves, rogue Hunters, and information brokers."

"It operates in the abandoned subway tunnels."

"A place the DGC pretends doesn’t exist because it is easier than trying to cleanse it."

Michael looked at the Reaper’s Fang in his hand.

He thought of the bear in the simulation.

He thought of the new, cold power humming in his veins.

To find his mother, he needed to get stronger.

To get stronger, he needed to break the seal.

And to do that... he needed to find this Alchemist.

His path was clear.

It was a dark, terrifying path his father would forbid.

But for the first time since the Gate opened in Times Square, he didn’t feel scared.

He felt like he’d just been given the first real quest of the game.