Chapter 132: The First Guest of the New World
The portal to the Root Directory had been closed for three days, and the world was slowly settling into its new, unscripted rhythm. Von (Volt) was standing near the edge of a cliff, looking down at the village where people were learning to live without floating menus.
Suddenly, the air behind him shimmered. It wasn't a glitch, and it wasn't a monster. A man stepped out of the shadows, wearing high-tier armor that was cracked and dull. Above his head, a fading title read: [USER: KYLE_THE_SLAIER].
"You..." the man whispered, falling to his knees. "You're the one who broke the game, aren't you?"
Von turned, his twilight eyes narrowing. "I didn't break a game. I freed a world. Who are you? A player who forgot to log out?"
"I'm a prisoner," Kyle said, coughing up a puff of blue pixels. "When the server relocated, some of us... the ones who were in mid-combat... we got trapped. My logout button is gone. My inventory is locked. I'm starving, and I can't even remember the face of my real family."
Aki's 'Compassion'
Aki and Rena approached, hearing the commotion. Aki looked at the player with a mix of curiosity and pity. "Wait, so you're a real human from the 'Other Side'? Like, a person with a computer and a chair?"
"I was," Kyle groaned. "But now... I'm just a high-level character with zero utility. Please... if you really control the Root, send me home. My wife... she must think I'm dead."
Rena knelt beside him, her healing magic—now soft and warm—soothing his pixelated wounds. "Von, we can't just leave him. If he's a player, he's a piece of the old world that doesn't belong in the new one."
Aki leaned in, whispering to Von. "Hey, if we send him back, do you think we can ask him to leave his armor? It looks like it's made of pure 'Admin-Steel'. We could sell that for a fortune!"
The Hidden Danger
Von looked at the player, then at the sky. "It's not that simple, Aki. If a player stays here too long without a connection to their world, their data will start to rot. He'll become a 'Ghost-Glitch'—a creature that eats the reality around it just to stay alive."
Kyle's eyes flickered red for a split second. "I can... feel it. The hunger. It's not for bread... it's for... information."
"We need to find the 'Out-Gate'," Von said, drawing his sword. "But the Architects probably guarded it with the remnants of the old system's security. Kyle, if you want to go home, you're going to have to fight beside the 'NPCs' you used to hunt."
Kyle looked at his broken sword, then at the Demon King who was now his only hope. "I don't care what you call me. Just... help me see the sun again.