I didn't wait for the Professor to dismiss the class. I grabbed my bag and bolted.
My eyes were fixed on the door where the man in the black suit had been standing just seconds ago. I shouldered past a group of freshmen, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
When I hit the hallway, the space was empty. No footsteps. No retreating figure. Just a faint, lingering scent of ozone and expensive, cold cologne left behind in the draft of the closing fire door.
"He's gone, Leo," Seraphina whispered. Her voice was unusually sharp, stripped of its usual playful lilt. "And he didn't just watch you. He took a 'Neural Snapshot' of your frequency. You aren't a ghost in the machine anymore, honey. You're a beacon in a dark room, and he just flipped the switch."
"Who was he?" I muttered.
I shoved through the crowded hallway, feeling the heat of a hundred bodies pressing in on me.
"A predator. A scout for the higher tiers," Seraphina replied. Her words manifested as scrolling white text in the corner of my vision. "There are other 'Systems' out there, Leo. Not all of them are as helpful as I am. Some of them... they harvest anomalies like you just to see how your code tastes. They call it 'Refining the Source.'"
Suddenly, a sharp digital alert chimed inside my skull.
I stopped dead in front of the student union. A massive, velvet-heavy crimson banner was being unrolled over the grand entrance. Gold fringe caught the afternoon sun:
THE KING OF HEARTS COMPETITION.
"Not a chance," I said, backing away from the crowd. "That's for guys like Chad Miller. I'm a coder. I belong in a dark room with an energy drink, not under a spotlight."
"Oh, but you do," Seraphina giggled. Her voice returned to its mischievous purr. "Because the System doesn't reward introverts who hide. It rewards the players who dominate the map. And besides... look who's manning the registration desk."
I looked. It was Hana. My only real friend since middle school. She had a smudge of graphite on her cheek and her hair was a mess of tangles from another all-nighter in the robotics lab.
[HUD OVERLAY: HANA]
Connection: 45% [Stable/Warm]
Current Mood: Overworked/Caffeinated
"Hey, Leo!" Hana waved. Her smile was bright enough to cut through my panic. "You look... different today. Did you finally find a comb, or did you get a firmware update?"
"Something like that," I said, rubbing the back of my neck.
But as I stepped toward her, the sunlight was cut off. A mountain of muscle in a leather varsity jacket shoved past me, nearly knocking me off my feet.
Chad Miller. The campus god.
"Out of the way, Glitch," Chad sneered. He grabbed the registration pen from Hana's hand with an arrogant flick. He signed his name in huge, jagged letters. "Hana, why are you wasting your time talking to this background character? He's just taking up RAM. Tell him to go find an NPC quest to finish."
Hana's face went cold. "His name is Leo, Chad. And he's got more brain cells than you have protein shakes."
Chad just laughed. He leaned into my space, his breath smelling like menthol and pure ego. "Brains don't win the Crown, nerd. Dominance does. Real Rizz is about gravity—making people fall for you because they have no choice. Stay in the library before you get trampled."
A low, dangerous hum filled my brain. It was the sound of a high-performance engine redlining.
"Leo," Seraphina's voice was suddenly like a shard of ice. "He just insulted my pilot. Are we letting that stand? Are we going to let a Rank-Zero meathead overwrite your permissions?"
"No," I thought. My fingers curled into a fist.
"Then use those 5 Aura Points you banked. Spend them now. Burn the points, Leo. Show him the sun."
"Do it," I commanded.
[SYSTEM: AURA POINTS SPENT]
[SKILL ACTIVE: THE RIZZ GLARE]
Suddenly, the world went quiet. The colors sharpened into high-definition.
I reached out and caught Chad's shoulder. My grip wasn't just firm; it was like an iron vise. I felt a surge of heat—the 'Rizz' energy passing through the contact like a static shock.
"Chad," I said. My voice had the edge of a fresh razor blade.
The athlete stopped, blinking in confusion. He tried to pull away, but he couldn't move. He was rooted to the spot by the sheer pressure of my gaze.
"You forgot your manners," I said, looking him dead in the eyes. The System calibrated my posture, pulling my shoulders back. I loomed over him. "The lane just got a whole lot wider, Chad. Get used to seeing my back. It's going to be the only view you have for the rest of the year."
I reached past him, took the pen from his paralyzed fingers, and signed my name directly under his in a clean, sharp script.
[QUEST COMPLETE!]
[REWARD: +50 XP | +5 AURA POINTS]
[CURRENT STATUS: LEVEL 1 (95/100 XP)]
"Leo?" Hana whispered as Chad finally stumbled back, looking at his own hand as if it had betrayed him. "What was that? You sounded... powerful."
"I'm just tired of being a ghost, Hana," I said, handing her back the pen.
I turned to walk away, but my phone buzzed violently. A message from an encrypted number popped onto the screen.
[MESSAGE: I saw what you did at the podium. I saw the frequency shift. Meet me behind the gym in ten minutes. Come alone, or I'll tell the Dean exactly what kind of 'Neural-Link' you're running. Don't be late, Hero.]
"Is that him?" I thought. "The man in the suit?"
"No," Seraphina purred. "That's a female signal. And she sounds... famished. Better move, Leo. You're only 5 XP away from Level 2, and I think you just found your next mission objective."
I looked back one last time at Chad. The game was accelerating. If I didn't hit Level 2 soon, I was going to be the one who got 'Patched' out of existence.