Whisper of the Forgotten Realm
The battlefield was a ruin. Smoldering craters dotted the earth. Fractured buildings stood like skeletons of a once-great city. Smoke curled skyward as hunters dragged away the injured, many crying, some already dead. And at the epicenter of it all, Kai Ren lay unconscious, his body torn and burned, but still clutching the hilt of a weapon he had never trained with—the Heaven-Slaying Spear, an armament he hacked into existence moments before slaying the World Breaker.
Lyra kneeled beside him, her silver hair matted with blood and sweat. Her voice trembled. "You idiot..." She whispered, gently pulling him into her arms. Above them, clouds began to break. Sunlight spilled through like divine judgment, casting light on Kai's shattered figure.
But far above, in a realm untouched by time and space, an ancient being opened one golden eye.
"He's awakened it... the last system."
---
Three days later, Kai Ren awoke inside a pure white room, unfamiliar yet comforting. He was connected to a matrix of cables glowing with blue energy. It wasn't a hospital. It was a Stasis Chamber within the Moonlight Sect's forbidden sanctuary—The Veil of Secrets.
A voice greeted him. Mechanical. Calm.
> [Divine Hack System v3.0] Recovery Complete. System Functions Stabilized. Warning: Host has crossed dimensional law thresholds.
Kai sat up. His body felt... too light. As if he had lost something vital, yet gained something far heavier.
Lyra entered, accompanied by a tall, scarred man in white robes. His eyes were silver flames, his aura dense with age and experience.
"So," the man said, "you're the G-Rank anomaly who bent an SSS-tier monster to his knees."
Kai tried to stand. His knees buckled.
Lyra caught him. "Easy. Your soul was cracked. You burned through three lifetimes' worth of life energy when you bent space-time to kill that beast."
Kai chuckled weakly. "Worth it."
The old man introduced himself as Elder Wushen, one of the last remaining Dimension Walkers. He'd once transcended the realm Kai barely understood.
"You are no longer bound to the structure of this world, Kai Ren. The Hack System has become something far greater."
> [New Feature Unlocked: Parallel Hack] Ability: Copy powers from alternate realities. Limited to one use every 72 hours.
Kai stared, stunned. "Alternate... me?"
Elder Wushen nodded. "Versions of you who became villains, kings, gods... or corpses. You may borrow their powers. But beware... the cost is always balance."
---
Days passed. Kai trained beneath waterfalls carved from lunar essence. He sparred with Lyra under the crimson moons. He fought illusions of himself from timelines where he failed, where he became a monster, or never awakened at all.
He learned not just how to fight—but how to endure himself.
And then came the whisper. At midnight, the Divine Hack System buzzed in his mind:
> Incoming Request... Source: Realm of the Forgotten
> Will you accept connection?
Kai frowned. The name felt... familiar.
He accepted.
Suddenly, he stood in a grey void. Shadows swirled. Broken stars floated like dying fireflies. And before him stood a boy who looked exactly like him—except older, scarred, and filled with darkness.
"I'm you," the shadow said. "The you that lost."
> You have unlocked: Shadow Hack Skill: Reversal Surge When near death, you may reverse cause and effect once per battle.
Kai fell to his knees. The memory surged into his mind—a world where he failed to defeat the Dreadfire Cerberus. His family died. He was captured. Experimented on. Turned into a monster.
The system pulled him back.
> Warning: Parallel hack fatigue detected.
> Reboot in progress...
But Kai opened his eyes with fire. "No more running. If these versions of me are real... then I will become the one that saves them all."
---
: The Tower Above the Sky
The moon rose full and silent above the Silver Grove as Kai stood facing the edge of the world—literally. Before him hovered a dimensional rift, its edges swirling like ribbons of cosmic thread. Elder Wushen stood beside him, arms behind his back.
"Beyond that tear in space lies the gateway to the Realm Tower," the old man said. "Few have entered. Fewer survived. It tests not strength, but possibility."
Kai stared into the void. Fear tugged at him. But determination burned brighter.
He stepped forward.
And vanished.
---
He reappeared in a world of inverted skies and endless stairs—the base of the Realm Tower, a construct so vast its peak was said to touch the Divine Core of Existence.
> [System Detected: Realm Tower Permissions Verified]
Welcome, Glitched Entity. You are an Error in Reality. You may proceed.
The first floor was a battlefield.
Hundreds of spirits clashed endlessly—some looked human, others beast, others pure code. They were echoes of other system users who failed to ascend. Kai's first test had begun.
He activated Parallel Hack.
> Selected Timeline: Kai Ren, Monarch of Blades
Skill Copied: Infinite Sword Burial
With a scream, he released a thousand spectral blades into the swarm.
Each ghost faded. But the sky cracked. A glitch in the realm.
> WARNING: Unstable Data Detected. System Interference Increasing.
Kai collapsed again. Blood spilled from his ears.
But he laughed.
"Bring it on."
---
Far away, in the real world, Lyra and Elder Wushen watched the tower shimmer.
"The Tower... it glitched," Lyra said.
Wushen nodded grimly. "He's forcing his existence into a structure that denies him. This is no longer a trial. It's a war."
And far above them all, the First Hacker, hidden in the throne room between dimensions, finally stood from his eternal seat.
"Let the games begin."