I sat there in the dim light of my cramped apartment staring straight at the glowing red numbers on my neural implant display that kept flashing the same brutal message over and over telling me exactly how much debt I owed the clinic for the failing piece of tech buried in my skull and how little time I had left before they cut me off completely from any kind of medical support which meant I was basically one missed payment away from turning into a vegetable so I took a deep breath ignored the heavy pounding on the thin metal door where the collectors were shouting my name and threatening to kick the whole thing down if I didn't open up right that second and instead I closed my eyes focused hard on the log-in command that floated in my vision like a lifeline and hit confirm without even hesitating because staying out here meant death by inches while going in there at least gave me a shot at earning enough credits to shut them up for another week.
The transition hit fast the way it always did pulling my consciousness straight out of my body and dropping me into the bright clean startup lobby of EIDOLON where everything looked polished and welcoming with soft blue lights floating around and gentle music playing in the background that was supposed to make new players feel excited instead of terrified which was exactly how I felt right then because I knew this wasn't going to be easy and I knew my body back in the real world was already starting to sweat from the stress and the cheap implant was probably overheating again but none of that mattered once the spawn point loaded fully and I found myself standing inside a noisy beginner tavern packed with other players laughing talking trading gear and bragging about their latest kills while I just stood there in my default starter clothes feeling like the biggest loser in the entire server.
A tall guy wearing shiny bronze armor that looked way too good for this zone bumped into my shoulder on purpose and looked down at me with a smirk that said he already knew I was trash before I even opened my mouth and he said hey noob you actually planning to do something useful in here or are you just gonna stand around looking lost like every other dropout who logs in thinking this game will fix their shitty life and I looked up at him keeping my face blank even though I wanted to punch him and I said back off man I'm just here to grind some quick credits so leave me alone and do whatever you came here to do.
He laughed loud enough that a few people nearby turned to watch and he said quick credits in the starter zones yeah good luck with that dropout because the goblins out there hit harder than you think and most people like you die five times before they even make it to the first reward chest so maybe stick to picking flowers or something safe and I didn't answer him I just pushed past his shoulder and walked straight to the big wooden quest board on the far wall where glowing parchment notices floated in neat rows and I scanned them fast looking for anything that paid decent without requiring a full party because I didn't trust randoms and I didn't have time to build friendships.
I tapped the one that said clear the goblin den outside the east gate reward fifty credits plus basic gear upgrade and the system accepted it immediately popping up a small map marker in my vision that pointed me right out of the tavern and into the forest path so I equipped the rusty iron sword that came with my starter kit checked that it was still sharp enough to do damage and headed out without looking back at the guy in bronze armor who was still laughing with his friends about how fast I was going to die.
The forest started off peaceful enough with sunlight filtering through the leaves and birds chirping like this was some kind of relaxing nature walk but I knew better because I had run low-level zones before back when I still had hope that this game could actually change things for me and sure enough about halfway down the path three goblins burst out from behind a cluster of bushes screeching and waving crude clubs and short blades that glinted in the light and I didn't waste time thinking I just raised my sword and met the first one head-on swinging hard enough to catch it across the chest and send it staggering back while green blood sprayed across my arms and the pain feedback from the hit registered in my real shoulder like someone had actually sliced me which made me curse under my breath because the implant wasn't supposed to let pain transfer that strongly unless something was seriously wrong.
The second goblin came at me from the side swinging low trying to take out my legs so I jumped back dodged the club by maybe an inch and countered with a thrust straight into its throat watching it gurgle and drop while the third one roared and charged full speed slamming its blade into my forearm before I could pull away completely and the cut burned hot and deep dropping my health bar down to sixty percent in one hit and I yelled what the hell is this supposed to feel like real pain because that's not how the game is designed and right then a bright red error window flashed across my vision bigger than any notification I had ever seen saying Class Unlocked Anomaly ERROR-TYPE You do not belong to the System and underneath it my stats appeared Strength five Reflex seven Cognition six Will four Stability ninety-five and I stared at that last number wondering why it even existed.
The remaining goblin didn't give me time to think it lunged again blade aimed right at my chest so I panicked and triggered the new skill that had just appeared in my hotbar labeled Rollback Minor and everything froze for a split second then snapped backward three full seconds putting me right back to the moment before the last hit landed and I sidestepped smoothly this time driving my sword into its side instead watching it collapse in a heap while the whispers started soft at first but clear enough to make my skin crawl saying you shouldn't be here over and over like a broken recording inside my skull.
I stood there breathing hard checking my arm where the cut had been and finding the wound already fading like the rewind had undone the damage too but my head still buzzed and Stability had dropped to ninety-two according to the floating numbers and I muttered to myself this is messed up this is really messed up but I kept moving because stopping meant thinking about the debt and the collectors and the fact that my body back home was probably shaking from adrenaline and low blood sugar so I pushed deeper into the forest toward the den entrance where smoke rose from hidden campfires and more goblin voices echoed off the stone walls.
A small group of new players caught up to me just as I reached the cave mouth three of them two guys and a girl all wearing matching green cloaks that screamed they had bought a starter pack and the leader a stocky dude with a shield strapped to his back said hey that was some nice moves back there with those goblins you want to team up for the den because soloing it is suicide even for people who know what they're doing and I looked at them sizing them up fast and decided extra bodies meant better chance of surviving so I said fine but don't slow me down and don't expect me to carry you if things go bad.
The girl smiled and said deal my name's Kira I'm the healer so stay close if you start bleeding too much and the other guy the quiet one just nodded and said let's go before more spawn and we stepped into the darkness together torches flaring to life in our hands as the tunnel sloped downward and the air grew thick with the smell of damp stone and rotting meat.
Goblins hit us almost immediately pouring out from side passages in groups of four and five swinging wildly and screaming in that guttural language that always sounded like they were cursing us personally and we fought back to back the leader bashing with his shield while Kira threw green healing pulses that stitched our cuts closed almost as fast as they opened and I slashed and dodged using Rollback twice more to undo bad hits each time feeling the buzz in my head grow louder and Stability slipping down to eighty-eight then eighty-five while the whispers got more insistent telling me I was breaking something important.
We cleared room after room piles of goblin bodies stacking up and credits ticking into our accounts slowly but surely until we reached the final chamber where the boss waited a massive goblin chief twice my size wearing crude iron plates and holding a jagged two-handed axe that looked like it could split me in half with one swing and it roared the second it saw us shaking the walls and saying intruders you die here today and the fight exploded into pure chaos with the chief swinging wide arcs that forced us to scatter while smaller goblins swarmed from the shadows trying to flank us.
The leader took a direct hit from the axe went flying across the room health bar zero in an instant and vanished with a pop that left the rest of us staring and Kira shouted oh crap he's out we're down a tank and the chief turned its ugly red eyes straight on me raising the axe high ready to bring it down and split my skull open so I activated Overwrite fast changing the glowing tag above its head from Boss to Weak and the system accepted it with a glitchy flicker and suddenly the chief stumbled like its strength had been sapped its movements slower its roar weaker and I charged straight in swinging my sword with everything I had carving deep gashes across its chest while Kira healed me from behind and the quiet guy threw fireballs that actually did decent damage for once.
We brought it down together the chief collapsing in a heap of green blood and broken armor and the completion notification flashed across my vision quest complete fifty credits awarded plus bonus loot and I felt a rush of relief because that money would buy me at least another week maybe two if I stretched it but then the whispers came back louder than ever right inside my ears saying anomaly contained initiating purge protocol and my Stability dropped hard to seventy-two in one brutal hit and I froze because something cold and wrong was watching me from inside the game now something that knew exactly what I was and didn't like it one bit.
Kira turned to me breathing heavy and said that was insane you just rewrote the boss like it was nothing what kind of class even lets you do that and before I could answer a new system message appeared private and blood red only I could see it saying welcome anomaly the real test begins now and my vision blurred for a second the cave walls flickering like bad code and when it cleared I saw something in the shadows behind Kira a pair of glowing eyes that definitely didn't belong to any goblin staring straight at me waiting for my next move.