Chapter 1: The Defect of the New World (Part 1)
The sky didn't fall with a bang; it changed with a whisper.
It had been ten years since the "Great Awakening." On that day, the laws of physics had bowed down to the laws of magic. The world as humanity knew it had ended, replaced by a reality that felt more like a cruel, high-stakes video game. Blue translucent screens had appeared before every human being, flickering like ghosts in the air, announcing their classes, their mana capacities, and their ultimate worth in this new world order.
In this era, a person's level wasn't just a number—it was their social status, their salary, and their right to live.
"Next! Hanan Malik," the instructor's voice boomed, echoing off the high, metallic ceilings of the Grand Testing Hall.
Hanan stepped forward. His boots made a hollow, lonely sound against the polished marble floor. He felt small—not because of his height, but because of the immense pressure of the thousands of eyes watching him from the gallery. This was the National Awakening Ceremony. Every teenager who reached eighteen had to stand before the Obsidian Stone to have their soul measured.
His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird. Please, he prayed silently, just give me something. Even a D-rank Warrior class. Just enough to support my sister.
He reached the center of the podium where the Obsidian Stone sat. It was a jagged, midnight-black monolith that seemed to suck the very light out of the room. It pulsed with a rhythmic, purple glow—the heartbeat of the System.
"Place your hand on the stone and channel your intent," the instructor said, his voice devoid of any emotion. He had seen thousands of kids today. To him, Hanan was just another statistic.
Hanan took a deep breath, his palm trembling as it hovered inches away from the cold stone. He shut his eyes and pressed his hand down.
For a moment, there was nothing but the hum of the air conditioner. Then, a jolt of electricity surged through his arm, cold and sharp. It felt like a thousand needles pricking his skin. A bright, blinding light erupted from the stone, turning the entire hall a stark, clinical white.
The crowd leaned forward. The silence was heavy, expectant.
Slowly, the light faded, and a screen materialized in front of Hanan's face. But something was wrong. Usually, these screens were vibrant—gold for S-ranks, deep blue for A-ranks, or even a steady green for C-ranks.
Hanan's screen was a dull, sickly grey. It flickered and hissed like an old television set losing its signal.
[Status Window]
Name: Hanan Malik
Class: None (Incompatible)
Level: 0 (Defect)
Mana Capacity: 0.00
Potential: F-Rank (Absolute Zero)
The instructor blinked, leaning in to verify the reading. He tapped the stone, thinking it might have glitched. But the grey screen remained stubborn, mocking Hanan with its cold text.
"Level... Zero?" the instructor whispered, but in the silent hall, it sounded like a thunderclap.
A ripple of hushed murmurs started in the back and quickly grew into a roar of laughter.
"Is that a joke?" a boy from the front row shouted, clutching his stomach. "I've seen E-ranks with 5 mana, but a literal Zero?"
"The screen says 'Defect'!" a girl giggled, pointing at the podium. "He's not even a civilian; he's a bug in the system. A glitch!"
"Imagine being eighteen and having the power of a newborn baby," another voice jeered.
Hanan stood frozen. The blood had drained from his face, leaving him ghostly pale. He looked at his hand—the same hand that was supposed to hold a sword or cast a spell. It looked weak. Useless. The grey screen stayed there, hovering in his vision, a digital badge of shame.
"Step aside, Hanan," the instructor said, his pity now replaced by a cold dismissal. "The System has judged you. You have no mana, no skills, and no future in the Awakened society. You are technically an 'Outsider' now. You won't be allowed in the dungeons, and you won't receive government subsidies. Go home."
Hanan didn't move. "There must be a mistake... maybe if I try again?"
"The Stone never lies!" the instructor snapped, losing his patience. "Move! We have three thousand more candidates. Don't waste the heroes' time."
Hanan stumbled back, his legs feeling like lead. As he walked down the aisle, the students parted for him, not out of respect, but as if he were a leper. The whispers followed him, sharp and stinging. Defect. Zero. Trash.
Chapter 1: The Defect of the New World (Part 2)
The heavy iron doors of the Testing Hall slammed shut behind Hanan, the sound echoing like a coffin being sealed. Outside, the rain was pouring—a cold, relentless drizzle that matched the grey screen still burned into his retinas.
Hanan didn't open his umbrella. He let the water soak through his cheap cotton shirt, hoping the chill would numb the stinging heat in his chest.
Level 0.
Defect.
The words repeated in his mind like a broken record. In this world, an unawakened person could still live a normal life as a civilian. But a 'Defect'? That was someone the System had actively rejected. It meant he was weaker than a normal human, a biological error in a world of super-humans.
He walked past the neon-lit skyscrapers of the Inner City, where high-ranking Hunters lived in luxury. Their images were plastered on giant holographic billboards—smiling, powerful, and god-like. Hanan looked down at his trembling hands. To the people up there, he wasn't even a shadow. He was nothing.
"I can't go home," he whispered to the rain.
He thought of his younger sister, Sana. She was still in school, dreaming of the day her big brother would awaken a powerful class and pull them out of the slums. How could he tell her that he was a 'Defect'? How could he tell her that their only hope had been extinguished by a flickering grey screen?
Instead of turning left toward the slums, Hanan turned right.
The buildings began to change. The neon lights faded, replaced by flickering streetlamps and crumbling brick walls. The air grew heavy with the smell of rust and stagnant water. This was the edge of the 'Gray Zone'—a lawless territory where the city's magical barrier was at its weakest.
Monsters occasionally slipped through the cracks here. Most were low-level vermin, but for a 'Level 0' like Hanan, even a mutated rat was a death sentence.
"Hey, kid! You lost?" a gravelly voice called out.
Hanan stopped. Three men were leaning against a rusted dumpster, their eyes gleaming with predatory hunger. They were 'Scavengers'—failed Hunters who preyed on those weaker than them. The leader, a scarred man with a flickering E-rank aura, stepped forward.
"You look like you've had a bad day," the scavenger sneered, noticing Hanan's uniform from the Testing Hall. "Let me guess... F-rank? Don't worry, give us your wallet and that fancy watch, and we'll make sure you don't 'accidentally' trip into a monster's nest."
Hanan didn't move. He didn't feel fear. The humiliation from the hall had left him so empty that there was no room for terror.
"I don't have anything," Hanan said, his voice cold and flat.
"Wrong answer," the scavenger growled, pulling a jagged dagger from his belt. The blade glowed with a faint, sickly green light—poison. "In the Gray Zone, everything has a price. If you don't have money, we'll just take your organs. The black market always needs fresh 'Defect' parts."
The two other men moved to flank him. Hanan backed away, his heart starting to race again. He turned and bolted into a narrow, lightless alleyway.
"Run all you want, Zero!" the leader laughed, his heavy boots thumping on the wet pavement behind Hanan. "There's no exit that way!"
Hanan ran until his lungs burned. He reached the end of the alley, only to find a massive, ten-foot-tall brick wall topped with jagged glass. A dead end.
He turned around, gasping for air. The three scavengers slowly entered the alley, blocking the only way out. They were playing with him, savoring the hunt.
"End of the line, glitch," the leader said, raising his poisoned dagger.
Hanan slumped against the wall, his vision blurring. Was this it? Rejected by the world, only to die in a trash-filled alley at the hands of common thugs?
No.
A surge of pure, unadulterated rage boiled up from the depths of his soul. It wasn't just rage at the thugs; it was rage at the Stone, the System, and the world that had labeled him 'Zero'.
If I'm going to die here, Hanan thought, his eyes turning bloodshot, I'll take at least one of these bastards with me.
At that exact moment, as his willpower hit its absolute peak, a sharp, agonizing pain exploded inside his skull. It felt like his brain was being rewritten line by line.
[Ding!]
A sound, like a crystal bell, shattered the silence in his head. The grey screen in his vision didn't just flicker this time—it shattered like glass, and from the shards, a new interface emerged. It wasn't blue, gold, or grey.
It was a deep, menacing Crimson.
Chapter 1: The Defect of the New World (Part 3)
The crimson light from the screen was so intense it felt like it was burning Hanan's retinas. The three scavengers stopped in their tracks, squinting. To them, it looked like Hanan was glowing with a strange, bloody aura.
"What the hell is that?" one of the thugs stammered, his hand trembling on his club. "I thought the stone said he had zero mana!"
The leader spat on the ground, though his eyes betrayed his nervousness. "It's a trick! Some cheap light-stone he's hiding. Kill him and grab the loot!"
But Hanan couldn't hear them anymore. His entire world had been replaced by the rhythmic pulse of the crimson screen and a voice that sounded like grinding metal and ancient whispers.
[Initialization Complete.]
[Welcome, Host, to the Infinite Evolution System.]
[Current Status: Mortal (Defect)]
[Condition Detected: Life-Threatening Crisis.]
[System Directive: Survival is the first step of Evolution.]
Suddenly, time seemed to slow down. Hanan could see every raindrop suspended in the air like a crystal bead. He could see the twitch in the leader's muscle as he prepared to lung.
[Ding!]
[First Mission Triggered: First Blood.]
[Objective: Eliminate the three threats.]
[Reward: Random Attribute Evolution & 10 Evolution Points.]
[Failure: Death.]
"Die, you glitch!" the leader roared, lunging forward with his poisoned dagger aimed straight for Hanan's throat.
In any other situation, Hanan would have been too slow to react. But as the blade approached, a red notification flashed in his peripheral vision.
[Warning: Incoming Attack detected at 0.5m. Recommended Action: Counter-step Left.]
It was as if his body moved on its own. Hanan tilted his body an inch to the left. The poisoned blade whistled past his ear, cutting only a few strands of hair. Before the leader could recover his balance, Hanan felt a surge of heat in his right fist.
[System Note: Host's current strength is 1.0. To ensure victory, diverting 50% of Willpower to Physical Output.]
Hanan didn't know what that meant, but he felt a sudden, explosive power in his arm. He slammed his fist into the leader's exposed ribs.
CRACK.
The sound of snapping bone echoed in the narrow alley. The leader let out a choked gasp, his eyes bulging as he was sent flying backward, crashing into the rusted dumpster with a heavy thud. He didn't get back up.
The other two scavengers stood frozen, their mouths agape. "Boss? Boss, get up!"
Hanan looked at his hand. It was bruised and bleeding, but the pain felt... good. It felt like proof that he was finally alive.
[Evolution Progress: 2%]
[Note: Host's adrenaline is peaking. Physical limits temporarily unlocked.]
"You... you monster!" the second thug screamed, swinging his heavy wooden club at Hanan's head.
This time, Hanan didn't wait for a warning. He ducked under the swing, feeling the wind of the club brush his neck. He grabbed the thug's wrist and twisted. With a sickening pop, the man's arm dislocated. As the thug screamed, Hanan snatched the club from his hand and swung it with all his might against the man's temple.
The scavenger collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Two down. One to go.
The third scavenger, the youngest of the group, dropped his knife. His knees knocked together as he looked at Hanan. In the red light of the system screen, Hanan didn't look like a 'Level 0' defect anymore. He looked like a demon rising from the slums.
"P-please! I was just following them! I didn't want to—"
Hanan stepped forward, his eyes cold and void of mercy. These men would have sold his organs without a second thought. The world had shown him no kindness, and now, he had none left to give.
"The System called me a 'Defect'," Hanan whispered, his voice sounding hollow and strange. "Maybe it was right. Maybe I'm the defect that's going to break this world."
He swung the club.
Chapter 1: The Defect of the New World (Part 4)
The alley fell into a deathly silence, broken only by the sound of rain hitting the metal dumpster. Hanan stood there, his chest heaving, his knuckles raw and bleeding. The three men who had tried to hunt him were now nothing more than broken heaps on the wet pavement.
Suddenly, the crimson screen in front of his eyes began to pulse violently, and a series of notifications flooded his vision.
[Ding!]
[First Mission: 'First Blood' — Completed!]
[Calculating Performance...]
[Grade: S (Flawless Execution against superior numbers)]
[Rewards are being distributed:]
10 Evolution Points (EP) granted.
Random Attribute Evolution: 'Peripheral Vision' has evolved into 'God's Eye (Fragmented)'.
Host Level: Level 0 -> Level 1 (The Evolution has begun).
As the words "God's Eye" flashed, Hanan felt a sharp, searing heat in his eyeballs. He gasped, clutching his face as his vision turned pitch black for a second. When he opened his eyes again, the world looked different.
Even in the pitch-black alley, he could see everything. He could see the flow of mana in the air like thin, silver threads. He looked at the fallen leader of the scavengers and saw a faint, flickering red light inside his chest—his heart rate, his remaining life force, and his weaknesses.
[Ding! Evolution Points (10) detected. Would you like to spend them on Strength, Agility, or Mana?]
"Strength," Hanan rasped. He never wanted to feel weak again.
[Allocating 10 EP to Strength...]
[Strength: 1.0 -> 2.0 (Twice the power of an average adult male)]
A surge of warmth flowed through his muscles, knitting the torn fibers back together and making his frame feel denser, harder. The bruises on his knuckles faded instantly. He felt lighter, faster, and more dangerous.
Hanan looked at the grey screen that had humiliated him earlier. It was still there, but it was being suppressed, flickering underneath the crimson interface of the Infinite Evolution System. To the rest of the world, he would still appear as a "Level 0 Defect." But he knew the truth.
"Let them keep laughing," he whispered, a dark shadow crossing his face. "The longer they think I'm a zero, the less they'll see me coming."
He turned away from the bodies and began the long walk back to the slums. He had to be careful. If the city guards found him here, they wouldn't care that he acted in self-defense. To them, a 'Defect' killing an 'E-rank' was a crime against the natural order.
An hour later, he reached a crumbling apartment complex that looked like it was held together by nothing but rust and hope. He climbed the creaky stairs to the third floor and stopped in front of Room 302.
He took a deep breath, wiped the blood off his face with his wet shirt, and put on the best fake smile he could muster. He pushed the door open.
"Hanan? Is that you?" A small, thin girl with bright eyes ran toward him. It was Sana, his younger sister. She stopped, looking at his soaked clothes. "You're late! And you're all wet! What did the Stone say? Did you get a Warrior class? Or maybe a Healer?"
Her eyes were full of hope—the kind of hope that could break a man's heart.
Hanan felt a lump in his throat. He couldn't tell her the truth yet. He couldn't tell her that the world had rejected him, or that he had just killed three men in a dark alley.
"The Stone..." Hanan paused, ruffling her hair. "The Stone was a bit confused, Sana. It's going to take some time to process my results. But don't worry. Your big brother is going to take care of everything. I promise."
As Sana went back to the small stove to heat up their meager dinner, Hanan looked out the cracked window toward the glowing skyscrapers of the Inner City.
The crimson screen flickered one last time before fading into the back of his mind.
[Next Evolution Milestone: Reach Level 5.]
[New Skill Unlockable: 'Devourer's Touch'.]
The world thought he was a defect. The world thought he was a zero. But as Hanan watched the distant lights of the heroes, he knew one thing for sure.
This world wasn't ready for what he was becoming.