The interface blinked before me, unstable but alive.

  [SYSTEM: UNSTABLE BUILD 0.1a]

  User: —]ERROR[—

  Ability Unlocked: Data Leech (Passive)

  Status: Corrupted | Effect: Absorbs fragmented traits from defeated enemies. Side effects: Unknown.

  I stood there, shaking, the ash swirling around me like a burial shroud. The monster was dead, its rib-blade now cooling beside its corpse. Its blood smoked where it touched the earth — black, oily, and wrong.

  But I felt stronger.

  Not like I’d leveled up or anything. There were no dinging notifications or stat screens yet. Just… clarity. My mind was sharper. My skin didn’t feel as fragile. Something inside me had shifted.

  [Data Fragment Extracted: Primitive Instinct (Tier 0)]

  Effect: Slight boost to reaction speed and danger sense.

  I crouched beside the creature. It was still twitching in places, like its system was trying to restart but couldn’t. Whatever Data Leech had done, it had erased the last of it.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  I picked up the rib-blade. It was crude but sharp. And right now, it was better than nothing.

  I didn’t even get two steps before the ground beneath me rumbled.

  [Environmental Hazard Detected: Unstable Rift Activity Nearby]

  The sky cracked open with a sound like glass shearing against bone. A split — thin and purple — ran across the sky like a scar. Lightning forked through it, and something screamed. Not an animal. Not a beast.

  A system.

  [System Beacon Activated: Tier 1 Predator Approaching]

  Estimated Arrival: 00:03:24

  “Oh hell no.”

  I didn’t even know what a Tier 1 Predator was, but if the last thing I killed was Tier 0.5 and nearly turned me inside out, then whatever was coming could probably rip my spine out and use it as a toothbrush.

  I ran.

  The terrain was unforgiving. Razor-grass tore at my ankles. Smoke stung my eyes. And behind me, I could feel the world bending — like something was warping through reality to reach me.

  [You are being tracked.]

  [Would you like to initiate System Cloaking Attempt? Y/N]

  Cloaking? That sounded useful.

  “Do it!”

  [Cloak Engaged. Success Chance: 17%…]

  [Warning: Glitch Detected—Cloaking Function Crosswired With Combat Aggression Protocol.]

  [You are now… bait.]

  “What?!”

  Suddenly, the air around me shimmered, and I went still — not invisible, but unreadable. At least to normal creatures.

  But this wasn’t a normal creature.

  It arrived like a shadow falling over the world. Towering. Hulking. Metal bones laced with muscle and fire. It walked like a dying god — broken, but terrifying.

  And it sniffed the air, confused.

  The cloak worked… kind of.

  It didn’t see me.

  But it felt me.

  [New Option: Engage or Evade?]

  [Note: Evade = 2% Survival. Engage = 5% (plus unknown modifier from corrupted ability).]

  I gritted my teeth.

  “Alright. Let’s test this glitch.”

  I gripped the bone-blade tight.

  “Come on, you ugly bastard. Let’s dance.”