The campus alarms finally died out in a long, mechanical wheeze, replaced by a strange, digital wind that whistled through the ventilation shafts. The air in the lobby was thick—pressurized and heavy with the metallic scent of ozone and the lingering trace of cold, expensive cologne.
I stood in the center of the Science Building's lobby, my shadow stretching long against the marble floors. The "Initialization" had turned the world into a gold-tinted war zone where every piece of architecture felt like a rendered asset. Behind me, Elara was hunched over her tablet, her face pale. The screen reflected a terrifying global map: thousands of pulsing dots on the campus alone, each one a "User" caught in a frantic struggle for survival before the system's logic deleted them.
"Leo," Seraphina's voice was dark now, stripped of its playful edge. It dripped with a predatory hunger. "Don't just stand there like a tourist. The Initialization didn't just give people ranks for show; it ripped open the Legacy Vaults. There are people on this campus who were 'Pre-Ordered,' Leo. They aren't Scrubs who lucked into a system. They have high-tier systems funded by the old world's elite."
The sound of slow, rhythmic clapping echoed off the high marble walls—deliberate, mocking, and perfectly timed.
"Beautifully said, for a piece of hardware that's clearly out of its depth," a voice drawled from the shadows.
A guy stepped out from the darkness of the main lecture hall. He looked like he'd walked off a high-fashion runway, wearing a tailored silk suit that shimmered like oil on water. Above his head, a box didn't just flicker; it shimmered with a rotating, ancient-looking seal made of interlocking green patterns.
[USER #4,002 | RANK: 1,200 (ELITE)]
[SYSTEM: THE MODERN IMMORTAL (XIANXIA-TYPE)]
[AURA: JADE ESSENCE (98.4% PURITY)]
"My name is Zhang Wei," he said, his voice carrying a vibrating frequency that made the glass display cases rattle. "My family has been preparing for the Update for generations. We hold the Legacy of the Jade Throne. And you... you're the Anomaly that messed up the global sync. The bug that dared to think he was a player."
"Zhang Wei," I muttered. My Sovereign Presence flared instinctively as I felt his pressure bear down on me. The blue and gold light around my feet began to hiss against the heavy, sickly-sweet 'Jade' energy he was emitting. "Let me guess. You're going to tell me to kowtow and break my own legs as an apology for breathing your air?"
"I was going to suggest you just hand over your Core and die quickly," Zhang Wei said, his eyes glowing with a cold, piercing green light. "The Pantheon doesn't need Glitches. It needs Order. My system is optimized for ten thousand years of virtual cultivation. Yours is... what exactly? A glorified dating app?"
A high-pitched shing—the digital sound of a sword being drawn—cut through the air.
"Leo, watch out! He's using Spirit Pressure!" Seraphina shouted. "He's trying to crush your internal servers from the inside out!"
[QUEST TRIGGERED: THE HARVEST OF JADE]
Task: Defeat the 'Modern Immortal.'
Reward: System Harvest (Unlocked).
Penalty: Permanent Rank Reset / Deletion.
Zhang Wei moved like a blur, his hand outspread like a claw, his fingers glowing with toxic green light. "Jade Palm: Server Wipe!"
I didn't dodge. I didn't even flinch. I activated Neural Dominance at 100%, feeling the heat of the system roar through my veins. The violet light didn't just push back; it became a vacuum, swallowing his green energy whole. I reached out and caught his wrist mid-strike. The high-voltage sparks from my system began to eat through his expensive silk sleeve like acid.
"Your Immortal system is old, Zhang," I growled, my voice vibrating through his very bones. "In the new world, 'Ancient' just means 'Obsolete.' You're running a legacy OS on a world that just updated."
A distorted, digital scream erupted as the two systems clashed, blue and green sparks raining down on the floor.
"What?! My Jade Essence is being... drained?!" Zhang Wei's face went from arrogant to pure, unmasked terror. "Impossible! This is a Top-Tier Legacy! You're just a Scrub!"
"I'm a Glitch," I whispered, leaning in until our foreheads touched. The air between us screamed with static. "And a Glitch doesn't play by your family's rules."
[SKILL ACTIVATED: ]
[THE ARCHITECT'S HARVEST]
A sickening, grinding noise filled the room, like a hard drive being ripped out of a running computer. A blinding flash of gold and green light followed.
Zhang Wei let out a strangled cry as the Jade Seal above his head shattered into a thousand digital shards. The green light didn't vanish; it turned into liquid data and flowed directly into my chest, merging with my core. My blue 'Rizz' transformed into a deep, oceanic teal—heavy, dense, and terrifyingly powerful.
[SYSTEM ALERT: FIRST HARVEST COMPLETE!]
[ACQUIRED TRAIT: 'SOVEREIGN CULTIVATION' (PASSIVE)]
[EFFECT: REGENERATION SPEED +50% | AURA DENSITY +20%]
Zhang Wei hit the floor like a sack of stones, his suit tattered, his Rank box flickering and fading down to 10,000. He wasn't a "Young Master" anymore. He was just another low-level NPC.
"Leo..." Elara stepped forward, her voice trembling. "You just... you took his system. You absorbed his very code. You're harvesting them."
"It's not just about being the best anymore, Elara," I said, looking at my hands as the teal energy settled into my palms. The power felt like a drug—cleaner, sharper, and infinitely more lethal. "It's about who has the best code. And I'm going to collect every high-tier system on this campus."
A sudden, sharp ping—the sonar sound from the campus Cafe—signaled a distress call.
"Leo," Seraphina's voice was back to its seductive, predatory purr. "The Executioner has reached the Cafe. He's tagged Tiffany and Mika as collateral. He says he wants his 'Jade' back, or he'll start archiving the witnesses."
"Then he's going to be disappointed," I said, my eyes flashing with a new, jade-tinted fire. "Because the King is hungry, and I haven't had my dessert yet."