I woke up to a floating window in my face.
System: Black Lotus welcomes you, lesser being.
Lesser being? That's a hell of a way to start a conversation.
I got out of bed, pacing the room like that would somehow shake the damn thing off. Even tried waving my hands through it—nope. Still there, glaring at me like an unpaid debt.
What the hell is going on?
Then it changed:
Press YES to enter mission.
I stared at it. I didn't know what "mission" meant, but one thing was clear—this wasn't going away on its own. My gut told me this could end badly. But bad and I… we go way back.
I pressed YES.
Mission: Bloom 1st Petal
Black Essence: 0/1000
Note: Complete within five days.
A small warning icon pulsed at the bottom. I touched it.
Warning: If mission fails, forced blooming will occur at the cost of… lesser being possession.
"...What?"
Then I noticed a little profile icon in the upper corner. I tapped it. A new screen appeared.
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PROFILE – Michael (Lesser Being)
Core Combat Stats
Physical Strength: 0
Agility: 0
Endurance: 0
Vitality: 0
Essence Capacity: 0
Petal Stage: 0/24
----
Offensive Power
Base Attack Power: 0
Ability Amplification: 0%
Elemental Affinity (Black Essence): 0%
Critical Force: 0
----
Defensive Power
Damage Resistance: 0%
Corruption Resistance: 0%
Mental Fortitude: 0%
Regeneration Rate: 0
----
Essence & Ability Growth
Essence Absorption Rate: 0/sec
Lotus Synchronization: 0%
Ability Tier: None
I stared at the pitiful numbers.
"Wow. A walking god of nothing."
If this system wanted me to be its chosen one, it had picked the lowest bid. And somehow… I had a feeling that was exactly the point.
I'm still staring at the profile screen, everything at zero like some cruel joke, when—
Thud!
A sharp kick catches me from the side. I stumble, nearly hitting the wall. The pain feels… familiar.
I look up, and there she is.
Lily.
An outcast like me. My age. The most beautiful woman in this rotten slum. And right now, she's standing tall, eyes blazing with the kind of fury that could burn a house down.
She doesn't even give me a chance to breathe before snapping,
"Where the hell did you run to?"
I blink, still trying to process the sudden ambush.
"When I searched for you the whole damn night, I found you lying in the middle of the road—in a crater, Michael. For a second I thought a meteor struck!"
I stay silent. Not because I'm ignoring her, but because I genuinely don't have an answer. Even I don't know what happened.
Then—Smack!—her palm cracks across my face.
"What the hell was that for?!" I snap.
"For leaving the boss worried sick!"
I scoff, rubbing my jaw.
"No need to worry about petty things. I can take care of myse—"
Another slap.
"Oh, come on!" I growl.
She just stares at me. And in those eyes… yeah, there's anger. Enough to make a sane man keep his mouth shut. But behind it, there's something else—worry. Deep, gnawing worry.
She exhales sharply, then says,
"Let's meet the boss."
I grin faintly.
"Yes, of course. That's what I planned to do anyway."
Lily and I walk through the cramped, rust-choked streets of the outcast slum.
Eyes follow me. Not friendly ones—cold, judging.
I don't blame them, not really. They're the type who work with their heads down, clinging to scraps of dignity. I'm the type who scavenges, loots… survives by any means. In their eyes, that makes me filth.
Doesn't matter. In mine, they're just pig shits dressed in rags.
The murmurs start as soon as we pass. Little whispers, half-hidden sneers. Some of it is loud enough for Lily to catch.
She stops mid-step, turns to the crowd, and lets her glare do the talking.
"What? Do you have a problem?"
She cracks her knuckles slow, deliberate. The air shifts. Those whispers dry up fast. People look away.
We keep walking until the streets open up to the base of the Tower—a squat, iron-spined structure jutting into the grey sky like a watchtower for a prison that's long forgotten.
Inside, the air feels colder. Cleaner.
"Ele," Lily says.
A smooth synthetic voice answers,
"Yes. Voice recognition activated."
From the side wall, panels hiss open, revealing a retinal scanner and fingerprint pad.
"Please provide both retinal and fingerprint verification," Ele says.
Lily leans in, letting the scanner flash across her eye, then presses her fingers to the pad.
"Recognition successful," Ele intones.
As Lily put her fingerprint and retinal imprint, the platform we were standing on began to sink. Down, down, down—until it stopped with a low thud. The doors slid open.
For me, it was nothing new. I'd seen this a thousand times.
But for you? You'd probably think this was something out of a parallel universe theory—a secret society operating deep beneath the surface.
Lily and I stepped out. The air was thick with the bustle of a hundred voices—shouting, bargaining, haggling over stolen goods. Weapons. Tech. Trinkets worth fortunes up above, traded here for scraps of credit. This was my world: scavenging, looting, and selling to whoever had the guts—and the coin.
Up in the slums, the outcasts glare at me like I'm dirt. Here, it's the opposite.
"Yo, Mike! Where've you been all these days?"
"I'm waiting for your next loot—don't just sell to the boss, man!"
I didn't answer. They could cheer all they wanted, but I knew the truth—most of them were just waiting for the day I slipped and fell. That's the thing about my kind: we clap for each other's victories, but we live for the downfall.
We made our way to our designated spot—easy to find among the chaos. While the rest of the market looked like a pile of garbage lit on fire, our place stood out… though not by much. It was still noisy, cramped, and full of shouting—buyers scrambling for weapons and high-tech gadgets, most of them looted from the C.O.S.M.O.S. And, yeah… most of those jobs were mine.
The first one to greet me wasn't Lily, or some customer. It was Raju. Twelve years old. Mouth like a sewer.
"Fucking bastards, keep in line—or shut your damn ass and get out!" he yelled at the customers, then spotted me. "Yo, Mike! Still alive, huh? Go see the boss. Pray you don't get a burn mark this time."
I shot back, "Go drown, brat."
He turned to Lily, smirking. "Hey, fatass! What took you so long? Making excuses to skip your job?"
That was the last mistake he'd make today.
The moment those words left his mouth, I knew the brat's screams were coming. And sure enough—seconds later—his wails echoed behind me as Lily went to work on him. Poor kid.
I stepped into the back room.
As Victor sat at his desk, his fingers rested lightly on the old, worn frame of that group photo—soldiers frozen in a moment of happiness I couldn't relate to. They looked like they belonged somewhere… like they fought for something real.
I didn't know a single face in it, except for his. Boss Victor.
He didn't even need to turn to know I was there. But when he finally did, that stare—cold, sharp, like it could skin me alive—locked onto me. It was the kind of look that made the air feel heavier.
Then it happened.
From thin air, right in my vision, a glowing, black-edged window appeared. Letters sharp as knives:
Mission: Defeat Victor.
Reward: Black Essence + 20,000
Bonus: +50% Core Combat Status
Proceed? [Yes] / [No]
I froze.
My heart didn't beat faster—it stopped.
Was this System messing with me? Was it trying to bait me into fighting him—Victor—the man who could probably snap my neck before I blinked?
And worse… why did it feel like it was smiling at me from inside my head?
And I was like," What the fuck!"