The final headshot exploded on Clark's monitor. "Victory Royale," he smirked, leaning back in his gaming chair. His character, a legendary warrior with deep red hair and piercing blue eyes, posed on the screen.
A new pop-up appeared, glitching violently.
[INVITATION DETECTED.]
[SOUL SIGNATURE: ACCEPTANCE.]
[INSTALLING SUPREME PROTOCOL… 100%.]
"What virus is this?" Clark clicked the 'X'. It didn't close.
The world dissolved into blinding white light. His chair vanished. The smell of cheap pizza and energy drinks was replaced by something metallic and ancient.
He hit solid stone. Hard.
[Welcome, Sovereign.]
Clark pushed himself up, his head pounding. He wasn't in his room. He was on a massive stone platform, cracked and etched with glowing symbols. Above, two violet moons hung in a star-streaked sky.
"What. The. Actual. Hell."
A system screen, crisp and blue, hovered in his vision. It wasn't his monitor. It was just there.
User: Clark
Title: Sovereign of the Seven Realms (Paralyzed)
Authority Level: 0
Primary Realm: Primordial Realm (Stability: 31%)
Current Objective: SURVIVE.
"You! Fiend!"
The shout came from below. Clark jerked his head. A dozen men in silken robes and polished armor stood at the base of the dais, swords drawn. Their leader, a sharp-faced man with cold eyes, pointed a gleaming blade at him.
"The Ascension Platform is sacred! Only the chosen may stand upon it! Your demonic red hair marks you! Your strange garments condemn you! Die, intruder!"
[New Quest: Tutorial - Baptism by Blood.]
Objective: Do not die for the next 60 seconds.
Reward: Unlock 'Sovereign's Gaze.' Activate Authority Level 1.
Failure: Permanent Death.
A timer appeared in the top right of Clark's vision: 00:59... 00:58...
Gamer instinct overrode panic. Tutorial. Timer. Don't die.
The sharp-faced man, a young master from the Liu clan named Feng, gestured. "Archers! Pierce this demon!"
Three archers nocked arrows, their tips glinting with a cruel, frosty light.
"Wait!" Clark yelled, his voice echoing. He had no weapons. No skills. Just a system screen and a title that meant nothing. He scrambled backwards on the platform. "I'm not a demon! I'm just… lost!"
"Lies!" Feng sneered. "Fire!"
The arrows screamed through the air.
Clark dove. He wasn't an athlete, but hours of dodging virtual projectiles paid off. He rolled, the arrows shattering on the stone where he'd just been. Ice crystals bloomed from the impact points.
00:42...
"He's agile! Surround the platform!" Feng barked.
Warriors began to climb. They were fast, inhumanly so. Like characters with maxed-out agility stats.
Clark's mind raced. They're NPCs. Aggro'd. Platform is high ground. Defensible, but they'll flank. He needed a weapon. Anything.
His eyes darted. The glowing symbols on the platform pulsed weakly. The system screen flickered.
Analysis: Ascension Platform. Low-grade Spirit Stone matrix. Damaged.
Spirit Stones? Matrix? It sounded like mana crystals from a game.
A warrior reached the top, sword swinging in a silver arc. Clark threw himself sideways. The blade grazed his arm. White-hot pain lanced through him. A red bar appeared in his vision—his Health—and dipped by 15%.
Health: 85/100
"He bleeds! He is mortal!" the warrior roared.
00:25...
Another warrior crested the edge. Clark was cornered. He could see the cruel excitement in their eyes. This was sport to them.
Think! The system! It's my only tool!
He focused on the flickering screen. Inventory? Skills? Anything!
A new prompt flashed.
Emergency Sovereign Command Available.
Command: [Halt] - Cost: 10 Authority Points.
Current Authority: 0.
Override? Using Realm Stability as collateral will cause permanent damage. [Y/N]
Permanent damage? To a whole universe? The timer hit 00:15.
Another sword thrust came. Clark barely avoided it, feeling the wind of the blade on his neck.
Health: 79/100
Screw it. If he died, it was all over anyway.
[Y]
The world stuttered.
The charging warriors froze mid-step. The swirling dust in the air hung motionless. The sneer on Feng's face locked in place. An eerie, absolute silence fell.
[Authority Debt Incurred. Primordial Realm Stability: 29%.]
The system voice was cold. A cost he didn't understand.
But the timer was frozen at 00:09.
Clark gasped, clutching his bleeding arm. "Okay. Okay. Breathe." He looked at the frozen archers. He walked over to the nearest one and carefully pulled an arrow from the quiver. It was heavy, real. The frost on its tip bit into his skin.
He needed a better weapon. He approached a frozen warrior and tried to pry the sword from his grip. It was like trying to bend steel. The man's fingers were locked iron-tight by the temporal freeze.
The system couldn't give him free loot. Fine.
00:09...
The freeze was going to break. He had one arrow. Nine seconds.
He scrambled to the highest point of the platform. He was no archer. But in games, you just had to line up the shot.
The timer blinked.
00:03...
00:02...
00:01...
[Tutorial Complete.]
Time snapped back.
"—fter him!" Feng's shout completed.
The warriors stumbled, disoriented by the missing fragment of time. Their eyes found Clark, standing tall above them.
"There! Shoot him down!"
Clark didn't aim for a warrior. They were too armored, too fast. He aimed for the leader.
He drew the bowstring back, his muscles protesting. He let the arrow fly.
It wasn't a perfect shot. It wasn't even good. But Feng was arrogant, standing still, expecting no retaliation.
The frost-tipped arrow slammed into Feng's shoulder, not his heart. But it was enough.
"AGH! MY MERIDIAN!" Feng screamed, collapsing as icy tendrils spiderwebbed from the wound.
The warriors hesitated, shock on their faces. Their young master was down!
[Quest Completed: Tutorial - Baptism by Blood.]
Reward Granted.
A surge of power, foreign and immense, flooded Clark's veins. It felt like lightning and fire. His vision shifted.
[Sovereign's Gaze Activated.]
Over every person below, a tag appeared.
Liu Feng: Nascent Soul Cultivator (Stage 1). Status: Wounded, Enraged, Meridian Fracture.
Liu Guard: Core Formation Cultivator (Stage 3). Status: Conflicted, Loyalty: 65%.
He could see their power levels. He could see their status.
More screens exploded in his vision.
Authority Level: 1
New Perk Unlocked: Decree - Minor Edict. Impose a basic law within your immediate territory. Cost: Varies.
New Function Unlocked: Realm Management (Basic).
Warning: Realm Stability for 'Primordial Realm' is critical (29%). Catastrophic collapse possible.
"He… he used a hidden art! A temporal technique!" one guard stammered, looking from his writhing master to Clark, whose eyes now glowed with an faint, ethereal blue light under his fiery red hair.
Clark's heart hammered, but he forced his voice not to shake. He stood straight, channeling every powerful NPC he'd ever seen.
"I am Clark," his voice boomed, amplified by some trick of the platform or his new Authority. "I am where I am meant to be. You have attacked your Sovereign. Your punishment is his wound."
He pointed at the moaning Feng. "Let that be the only lesson written in blood today. Leave. Now."
He activated Sovereign's Gaze on the most senior guard.
Liu Kang: Core Formation Cultivator (Stage 5). Status: Terribly Uncertain, Loyalty to Clan: 80%, Fear of Unknown: 70%.
The guard, Kang, met his glowing gaze. He saw no cultivation base in this strange red-haired boy, only an infinite, terrifying depth in those blue eyes. He swallowed hard, weighing the shame of retreat against the mystery of an enemy who could stop time and shatter meridians with a glance.
Clan Elder Liu Kang made a decision.
"We… we retreat! Tend to the Young Master!"
The guards scrambled, lifting the whimpering Feng. They shot one last terrified look at the figure on the platform, then fled into the jagged, spirit-rich forests below.
Silence returned.
Clark's bravado vanished. His legs gave out and he sat hard on the cold stone, trembling. The adrenaline crash was brutal.
[New Primary Quest Generated: Stabilize the Throne.]
Objective 1: Secure your territory. The 'Ascension Platform' is now your Stronghold. Defend it.
Objective 2: Repair Primordial Realm Stability (Current: 29%).
Hint: Stability increases with your Influence, Power, and Order. Prevent chaos.
Reward: Unlock 'Inventory System.' Unlock 'Multi-Realm Observation.'
Clark looked at the mystical, hostile world around him, then at the glowing system screen only he could see. A slow, manic grin spread across his face, cutting through the fear and pain.
It was the hardest, most terrifying game he'd ever booted up.
And he had just finished the tutorial.
He cracked his knuckles, wincing at the pain in his arm.
"Time to play," he whispered to the uncaring moons.