There exists in this world a primordial energy that every living being senses without exception.
From humans to trees, even the most insignificant beasts…
It flows freely into every corner of the world.
Like the oxygen we breathe.
It is called Raw Essence.
Although everyone can perceive this supernatural energy, only the most sensitive beings have ever managed to manipulate it—even briefly.
The problem is that using it inevitably led to death.
But history has proven one thing: nothing stops intelligent creatures when power is involved.
So they experimented.
Again and again.
Until they came to understand something essential:
Raw Essence had to be reduced and tamed… into a more accessible form of power.
However, this new power was not free.
It obeyed strict laws of balance that the inhabitants of this world call
the Origin Law — or the Whirling Sphere.
As for me, I prefer to call it:
"The damn Administrator AI."
By understanding those rules, they eventually discovered reduced forms that complied with the system while remaining devastatingly effective.
Mana.
And aura.
Of course, it was theoretically possible to create other types of powers.
But under the constraints of balance, they were far inferior.
So, naturally…
Everyone chose the two optimized system options.
.
.
.
At least… until now.
Ugh!!! Damn… just a little more…
█████████████████████████████████████████████████
█ 01010000 01110010 01100101 01101101 01101001 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01000011 01101111 01110101 01100011 01101000 01100101 █
█ 00100000 01001000 01100001 01100011 01101011 01100101 01110010 █
█ 00101111 █
█ 00100000 01000100 01100101 01110101 01111000 01101001 01100101 01101101 01100101 00100000 01000011 01101111 01110101 01100011 01101000 01100101 █
█ 00100000 01001000 01100001 01100011 01101011 01100101 01110010 █
█████████████████████████████████████████████████
Even though I'd said earlier that this world was just a game to me, that didn't mean it worked like one.
Back on Earth, I hacked Versatile Mercenary by cracking gold.
I had infinite gold simply because it was the easiest way to reach the endgame arcs.
But here, of course, I had no way of adding even a single coin to the 500 I already had… let alone having it infinitely.
So that method was completely out of the equation if I wanted to hack this shitty reality.
So, like a philosopher in the midst of an existential crisis, I asked myself:
What now?
I was no longer a player, unfortunately, but a character in this universe.
So if I wanted to hack this reality, I had to do it from the perspective of someone who actually belonged to this world.
In other words, I had to go against nature.
And here, nature was defined by the Administrator.
So I had to oppose it.
And the only time a mortal can ever make contact with the Administrator…
is when they attempt to create energy from Raw Essence.
"Just a little more!! I'm going to do this, damn it!!!"
Varok Shaldryn, the character I inhabited, was a dark elf and, naturally, had chosen mana as his supernatural energy.
And it was naturally impossible for a single individual to possess multiple supernatural energies at once—even if they all originate from Raw Essence.
So, to make contact with the Administrator, I had to separate myself from the mana the dark elf had chosen and create a new one.
And there was only one method to do it…
Damn it!!! I clenched my bloodied teeth without realizing it.
…And that method was to destroy the mana circle that forms around the heart.
Which explains why I had to pierce my own heart.
An unbearable burning sensation seized all my senses, as if I were inhaling the smoke of a raging fire.
But at that moment, none of that mattered anymore, because I was now in contact with Raw Essence.
It's happening…
I could no longer tell whether this was reality or an illusion, but I found myself in a black void.
A massive orb slowly rotated in front of me.
Is this the Origin Law!?
According to history, those who had not yet obtained energy could see this sphere, and it was to this sphere that they made their wish for mana or aura.
Some even worship it as a god.
But if my hypothesis was correct…
My thoughts began to materialize as translucent elements that flowed around me.
And these thoughts consisted of only two digits.
0 and 1.
And I submitted them to the Whirling Orb:
█████████████████████████████
█ 01010011 01000011 01000001 01001110 █
█████████████████████████████
"I can only obtain information about a target
if I already have information about that target.
But if I already have it, then I don't need to obtain it."
[ ORIGIN LAW: PROCESSING… ]
[ ERROR: CIRCULAR PREREQUISITE ]
[ FORCED ACCEPTANCE: SCAN MODULE CREATED ]
Excitement surged as the same digits, 0 and 1, began appearing on the rotating orb.
I was nearly ready to jump for joy.
I was right, hahaha.
In fact, the inhabitants of this world weren't praying to the Origin Law to grant them mana or aura!!!
In reality… they were feeding it codes.
The thing is, until now, they had always spoken to it in their own language.
So it had never really been an issue.
But now, someone who actually knew that language had appeared.
I'm going to hack a god!!
I wonder how my guys would react if they knew…
Ah, now is not the time to get excited.
There are only two minutes left before I die in reality.
I need to move to the next step.
Do pure fuzzing.
Crash this thing with fucking paradoxes.
█████████████████████████████
█ 01001000 01000001 01000011 01001011 █
█████████████████████████████
"I can exploit a flaw only if the system recognizes that there is a flaw.
But if the system recognizes it, it's no longer a flaw."
[ ORIGIN LAW: PROCESSING… ]
[ ERROR: CONTRADICTORY DEFINITION ]
[ FORCED ACCEPTANCE: HACK MODULE CREATED ]
█████████████████████████████
█ 01010001 01010101 01000101 01010010 01011001 █
█████████████████████████████
"I can store an object only if it no longer exists in reality.
But if it no longer exists, I cannot store it."
[ ORIGIN LAW: PROCESSING… ]
[ ERROR: MATTER CONSERVATION VIOLATION ]
[ FORCED ACCEPTANCE: CONVERT MODULE CREATED ]
.
.
.
I kept sending requests like this for a full minute…
but it already felt like an eternity.
No… I can't die before I hack this thing!
Come on, it's time to drive the point home!
█████████████████████████████
█ 01000001 01000100 01001101 01001001 01001110 █
█████████████████████████████
"I am an administrator only if I can create rules.
But to create rules, I must already be an administrator."
[ ORIGIN LAW: PROCESSING… ]
[ CRITICAL ERROR: BOOTSTRAP IMPOSSIBLE ]
[ FORCED ACCEPTANCE: CO-ADMIN STATUS GRANTED ]
Did I do it?
There were clearly lines of code displayed on the orb confirming that I was now a Co-Admin,
but I felt like I had made a mistake.
Where?
As if answering my question, a disturbing binary sequence appeared on the orb.
█████████████████████████████
█ 01010100 01110010 01100001 01101110 █
█████████████████████████████
[ AUTHORITY TRANSFER: 10% TO CO-ADMINISTRATOR ]
…
What—?
Boom.
Boom.
Ahhhhhhhhh!!!
My limbs began exploding one by one in reality.
A searing pain, probably worse than death, tore through me.
Ahhhhh shit!!! Stop!!!
Memories flashed simultaneously before my eyes.
These are… the elf's memories!?
Every part of my body was shattering, my heart already pierced—
even with an elf's vitality, I wouldn't survive.
I'm going to die in less than fifteen seconds!!
What the hell did I do wrong?!
Where did I screw up?!
I'm just going to die like this…
after completing a hack at only 10%??
I used every ounce of strength I had left to keep my consciousness alive.
Shit! Never. Even if I die, I'm going to hack you, you motherfucker.
Maybe because I was close to death, my thoughts accelerated to an inhuman speed, all in binary code—0s and 1s.
Okay. In my current state, I probably couldn't even handle 10% of the authority of the entity controlling this universe.
That was my mistake.
So what do I need?
A moderator.
For that moderator to truly materialize, I had to… yes… base it on everything I've learned from manhwa, web novels, and computing.
Create a power system.
Perhaps because I already possessed 10% of a divine power, I managed to create an entire system that respected the balance, while still keeping my Co-Admin rights.
Come on.
I submitted it to the orb.
This has to work, damn it. This power is perfectly logical, so please… approve it.
…shit, the vision… not now… if I close my eyes now, I'm screwed.
Ah…
I realized too late that, in reality, it was a trap set by the orb to eliminate the variable that I was—while still maintaining the balance.
Damn it! You haven't won yet, asshole—this isn't over!
…
In one final act of rebellion, I forced my eyes to lock onto the spinning orb.
???
And faintly, I saw codes forming:
█████████████████████████████
█ 01101001 1100001110101001 01110010 01100101 01110011 █
█████████████████████████████
[ Interesting ]
What the…
My eyes had almost completely lost their light, and triangular and square shapes appeared before me.
I'm hallucinating… before death…
With that final thought, my vision went dark.
---
Autumn Session — Year 27 of the Central System.
The academic year had just been announced across the entire continent of Atalante,
for students… and for professors alike…