Chapter 18: The Dungeon That Sleeps No More
> [TIME REMAINING UNTIL WORLD CONFLICT EVENT: 13 Days, 04 Hours, 17 Minutes]
[WARNING: UNKNOWN ADMINISTRATOR ACCESS DETECTED]
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Scene 1 – Jay's Dream
Jay stood alone in a familiar hallway—his childhood home. Everything was soft, static, and slightly wrong.
The lights flickered with system code.
At the end of the hall stood a mirror.
But when Jay looked in…
…he didn't see himself.
He saw a version of him with crimson eyes and a smirk too sharp to be natural.
> "You rewrote the rules," the reflection said. "But did you read the fine print?"
Suddenly, everything shattered.
Jay jolted awake in his dorm bed—cold sweat clinging to him, the HUD flashing red.
> [CODE BREACH DETECTED]
[DUNGEON: "SILRA ROOT CORE" HAS AWAKENED]
[ANOMALY SIGNATURE: MATCH – FORMER ADMIN CLASS]
"…I'm going to need stronger coffee."
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Scene 2 – The Council Briefing
Jay, still half-awake and hugging a pillow, sat in a tense war room surrounded by nobles, professors, and Alicia—who looked way too serious for 6 a.m.
Professor Aldrin pointed to a map.
"Something inside the ruins of Silra has activated a First System beacon. We believe it's a dungeon tied to the original root protocol."
Cipher, present via projection, added, "This isn't just an awakening. It's a summon. Something is calling out to every failed system user ever sealed."
Jay yawned. "Cool. I'll send a clone."
Alicia elbowed him. "You don't have a clone."
He lazily opened his HUD.
> [NEW SYSTEM SKILL: SLEEP-SPLIT – Create a semi-autonomous copy that operates while you nap.]
Jay smirked. "Now I do."
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Scene 3 – Descent into the Silra Dungeon
Jay, Alicia, Echo, and a special ops team from the academy descended into the dungeon ruins—spiraling stairs lit by long-dead glyphs reactivating.
The walls whispered.
Literally.
Fragments of old systems—some screaming, some begging, some still processing thousands of failed user inputs—rattled the party's minds.
> [Warning: Emotional Stability Hazard – 86%]
Alicia shivered. "It's like the system is… remembering pain."
Jay muttered, "So this is what happens when you don't clear your recycle bin."
Deeper down, they reached a black crystal core—suspended in antimagic.
And at its base stood a girl.
White hair. Red eyes. Tattered administrator uniform with a cracked system badge.
She smiled. "You must be Subject Z-100. I've waited a long time."
Jay blinked.
"…Cool. Do you have a name?"
> "I am Zero-One.
I am the first Admin.
And I'm here to reboot the world you just patched."
The moment Jay stepped forward, the air changed.
His system flared.
> [WARNING: ROOT AUTHORITY CONFLICT DETECTED]
[SYSTEM MODE: LAZY ARCHITECT] vs [SYSTEM MODE: PRIMAL ADMIN]
Zero-One raised a hand, and dozens of phantom users—ghosts of failed hosts—manifested behind her.
"I gave the world order," she said. "You gave it freedom. Chaos."
Jay scratched his head. "I gave it nap time. People like naps."
Lightning crackled.
> [SYSTEM BATTLE MODE: ACTIVE]
[Time Limit: 66 seconds. Winner retains root access.]
Jay sighed. "Fine. But I'm not running.
Let's debug this mess."
As the battle ignited, Cipher watched from afar.
He turned to Echo.
"If Jay loses, she'll rewrite everything. Back to version zero. Before heroes. Before kingdoms. Before free will."
Echo frowned. "And if he wins?"
Cipher looked distant.
"…Then we'll have to face the one above her."
> [Warning: Second Signal Detected.]
[Administrator Level: UNKNOWN]