Liri stared at the corpse of Rek like it might rise again.
Chris had watched the flame glyphs fade from Rek's skin the moment he died, the power sputtering out like candles in rain. The crowd was still stunned. No one clapped. No one cheered. They only stared at him—at the stranger who had challenged a mage-lord and lived.
He didn't want worship.
He wanted order.
"You're bleeding," Liri said, hopping down from the rooftop. "That last sigil clipped your shoulder."
Chris barely felt it. "He wasn't careful with his power."
"He was reckless, you mean. That's what made him dangerous."
Liri stepped over Rek's body and gestured toward the cracked plaza. "You realize what this means, right?"
Chris met her eyes. "Ashridge is mine."
The takeover wasn't smooth.
Some of Rek's thugs tried to flee. Others fought. Chris made examples of a few. The rest bent the knee—afraid, not loyal. That would change.
He gathered the remaining civilians—women, children, old workers, the desperate and the sick—and addressed them under the tattered flagpole.
"I didn't come here to play tyrant," he said. "I came to rebuild."
Eyes watched him. Mistrust. Hope. Mostly fear.
"But I was a king," he added, voice low. "I know what it takes to rule. If you follow my law, I'll feed you. Defend you. Restore order."
Liri stood beside him, arms crossed.
"And if they don't?" she asked.
"I won't kill the weak," Chris said. "But I'll bury anyone who preys on them."
Two days passed.
Chris worked tirelessly.
He found old aqueducts and had them cleared. Liri burned out nests of sewer-beasts using heat magic. They re-opened an abandoned well, repurposed three storage crates into food banks, and repelled a small group of looters.
It wasn't victory. But it was foundation.
Still, something had changed in him since Rek's death.
It began with a hum behind his eyes.
A pressure. A feeling like something ancient trying to wake up.
He knelt in meditation near the fountain plaza when it finally happened.
[System Notification: Sync Detected.]
[Source Code: INFECTION TYPE 01 - Primary System Interface initializing…]
A pale white interface flickered into view. Not the fragmentary light of the Invading System he'd seen before—but a mirror of it. Cleaner. Colder.
Welcome, user. You have inherited a modified instance of the Invading System.
Your soul signature matches Source Code Z-001. Deviation: Morality. Sync: 61%.
Would you like to enable full system functions?
Y/N
Chris's jaw clenched.
Zaire's system. The same cursed web of power he used to murder innocents, level up through horror, and wear Chris's legacy like armor.
Now, it was in him.
Liri looked up from where she was scribbling glyphs. "You okay?"
"No."
But he clicked Y.
The world didn't explode.
Instead, information flooded him like rain through shattered glass.
[New System Functions Unlocked:]
— Status Screen
— Quest Log
— Skills & Perks
— Soul Leveling (Manual Activation)
— Territory Management
— Memory Vault (Restricted)
[System Analysis: You are a Deviant Player. You earn experience through rebuilding, commanding, protecting, or defeating chaos-aligned enemies. You have rejected the Villainous Path. Bonuses adjusted accordingly.]
Chris almost laughed. Of course he rejected the Villainous Path.
He opened the Status tab:
[Status – Chris (True Name Hidden)]
• Class: Magic Swordsman (Provisional)
• Level: 5
• Alignment: Neutral-Lawful
• HP: 89/160
• Mana: 42/110
• Traits: Iron Will, Battle-Forged, King's Instinct (Dormant)
• Skills:
— Mana Threading (Lv.2)
— Swordplay [Fragmented Mastery]
— Domain Control (Lv.1 – Inactive)
Passive Buff: "Grey Flame" – your presence inspires fear in enemies and calm in allies. Weakens illusions and emotional control effects.
He stared at the screen for a long time.
Liri peeked over his shoulder. "Uh… did you just go blind for ten seconds?"
Chris looked at her, slow and serious.
"I have access now."
"Access to what?"
"To the system Zaire uses. The one that turned him into a monster."
She didn't flinch. "And it won't turn you?"
"I'll use it differently."
"Good," she said. "Because I've met a dozen system-bearers. None of them were kings."
That night, a strange quest appeared.
[Zone Quest: Ashridge Rebirth]
Objective: Restore law and function to the Ashridge District.
Bonus Goal: Gain 100 trust points from civilians.
Reward: Ashridge Upgrade, +2 Skill Points, Unlock "Knight Order" Feature
Progress: 22/100 Trust
Chris smiled.
Rebuilding is a quest now. Let's see how Zaire levels from that.
Later, Liri taught him to fuse mana with his strikes. She lit small fires with whispered words, then made him copy them with raw energy alone.
"You think like a sword," she told him. "You need to think like a storm. A flowing weapon. Let the magic shape the blade."
Chris trained until his hands bled.
Finally, he managed it—a single arc of mana flaring along the iron rod. It wasn't a blade. But it was his.
[Skill Gained: Mana-Infused Slash (Lv.1)]
On the fifth night, a group of Rek's former enforcers tried to assassinate him in the plaza.
They were swift, clever, and had glyphs that suppressed mana.
It didn't matter.
Chris moved like a shadow of his old self. He took the first one down with a palm to the throat. The second with a sweep of mana-threaded steel. The last tried to flee—Chris caught him with a thrown arc of blue energy, slicing his ankle mid-air.
He stood in the blood-soaked moonlight, chest heaving.
The people of Ashridge saw it.
They started whispering a name.
The Grey Flame.
[Zone Quest Update: Trust +15. Progress: 37/100]
[Level Up: Lv.6 → Lv.7]
[New Trait Unlocked: Mana Pulse Awareness]
Chris sat by the fire, silent.
Liri leaned against the ruined wall beside him. "So what's next?"
"We stabilize. Train. Expand."
"And after that?"
Chris didn't hesitate.
"We take the next zone."