"Do not go gentle into that good night, / Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

***

SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE

ANALYZING INPUT DATA... FINISHED

ANALYZING TEST RESULTS... FINISHED

YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY AWAKENED AS A PLAYER. ALLOCATE YOUR POINTS TO YOUR ATTRIBUTES.

DEPENDING ON YOUR ALLOCATION, YOU WILL BE OFFERED A CLASS.

The familiar interface materialized. Exactly as I’d seen it described in the novel.

ATTRIBUTE POINTS RESULTS:

ALIVE: +100 AP

S TIER BLOODLINE 100%: +15000 AP / AWAKENING 0%: 0 AP

VIRGIN: +5000 AP

YOUNG: +2000 AP

MARTIAL ARTS POTENTIAL

MAGIC POTENTIAL D: +3200 AP

DESTINY POTENTIAL E: +200 AP

YOUR TOTAL: 25870 POINTS

The allocation screen appeared.

AUTHORITY: 00 | Price: 100000 AP

WARNING: 0 Authority Will result in ACCOUNT TERMINATION

WARNING: Need 02 AUTHORITY to get a CLASS and gain LEVEL and EXP.

STRENGTH: F-70 | Price: 10 AP

DEXTERITY: F-130 | Price: 10 AP

AGILITY: F-90 | Price: 10 AP

ENDURANCE: F-130 | Price: 10 AP

MAGIC: F-60 | Price: 30 AP | Max: 100 Per Level

The System expects me to put two points in Authority to unlock a basic class, then distribute the rest across normal stats like a good little extra.

But I’m not going to be a good little extra.

I focused on the Authority stat. Poured every ounce of will into forcing my points where they weren’t supposed to go.

ERROR: INSUFFICIENT AUTHORITY TO MODIFY AUTHORITY

Pain lanced through my skull like someone had driven a red-hot nail between my eyes. Blood began to drip from my nose, spattering the crystal’s surface with crimson drops that hissed and steamed on contact.

Come on. I carved a piece of myself away for this. I turned a traumatized girl into a weapon. I’ve sacrificed everything for this moment. Let me have this one thing.

The cathedral floor around the Awakening Stone began to glow. Ancient runes carved into the marble pulsed with malevolent red light. Patterns I’d never seen before spread outward like cracks in ice.

ERROR: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS ATTEMPT

ERROR: SECURITY BREACH DETECTED

ERROR: INITIATING COUNTERMEASURES

"System... error... code seven-seven-four-alpha..." The words tumbled from my lips as blood continued to flow. To anyone listening, it would sound like panicked prayers. Desperate mumbling from someone overwhelmed by the awakening process.

Behind me, I could hear the whispered conversations.

"Look at him shaking. Poor boy can’t even handle a basic awakening."

"Is that blood? Merciful heavens, what a mess."

"The Leone bloodline grows weaker with each generation."

Lucius’s nervous laughter came next. "My dear brother always did have a flair for the dramatic."

Leo’s voice carried that insufferable tone of noble pity. "Perhaps we should assist him. This seems beyond his capabilities."

Shut up. All of you, just shut up.

I gritted my teeth and pushed harder. The Rune of Diminishment felt like molten metal against my skin, but its power was working. The System’s defenses were cracking. Just slightly.

CRITICAL ERROR: REALITY ANCHOR COMPROMISED

ERROR: NARRATIVE STABILITY AT 67% AND FALLING

EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ENGAGED

The red light from the floor runes intensified, shifting from a steady glow to a pulsating crimson that seemed to match the frantic rhythm of my hammering heart. Across the polished marble, the ancient patterns began to writhe and twist, serpentine tendrils of light crawling outward in chaotic patterns never seen during a normal awakening. Several nobles gasped audibly and stepped back in alarm, their jeweled finery catching the ominous crimson glow as they retreated.

"Young Leone." Archbishop Valdris’s voice echoed through the chamber, carrying a tremor of genuine concern I’d never heard from the old man before. His wizened hands tightened around his ceremonial staff, knuckles turning white.

"Perhaps you should step away from the stone. Sometimes the awakening process can be... overwhelming. Particularly for those who are..." He hesitated, searching for a diplomatic way to say ’pathetically weak.’

No. Not when I’m this close. Not when I can feel the System’s architecture yielding beneath my assault.

The System is fighting me like a living thing, its defenses both rigid and adaptive. It knows I’m violating its fundamental protocols, but the rune is creating just enough interference to make my exact method undetectable.

Like trying to find a specific fish in murky water. I just need to push a little harder, dig a little deeper into the code beneath reality itself.

I could feel my father’s shame radiating from the Leone section like heat from a forge. Without looking, I knew exactly what I would see: Lord Aldric, head of our once-great house, had closed his eyes in a grimace of pure mortification. Probably praying to whatever gods might still listen that his worthless third son would stop embarrassing the family name with this pathetic display.

Lady Vivienne’s whispered voice carried clearly in the cathedral’s acoustics. "Aldric, you must stop this. He’s making a spectacle of himself."

A spectacle. If they only knew.

I’m not just making a spectacle. I’m trying to break the fundamental laws of reality while maintaining a cover identity as an incompetent coward. The fact that I’m still conscious is a minor miracle.

The System’s resistance suddenly intensified. Like trying to swim upstream in a river of molten lead. Error messages cascaded across my vision faster than I could read them.

FATAL ERROR: USER ATTEMPTING UNAUTHORIZED PRIVILEGE ESCALATION

FATAL ERROR: SECURITY VIOLATION

FATAL ERROR: UNKNOWN ENTITY DETECTED

Blood was flowing freely from my nose now. The pain in my head felt like someone was trying to crack my skull open with a hammer made of pure agony.

INITIATING EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN

PREPARING TO TERMINATE USER ACCOUNT

COUNTDOWN: 10... 9... 8...

No. Not like this.

I didn’t sacrifice everything to die here on the cathedral floor like some defective product being recalled by its manufacturer.

I reached deeper. Past the Rune of Diminishment. Past the pain. Past the System’s defenses. I touched something fundamental. Something that existed before the rules and restrictions.

The authority wasn’t just a statistic. It was the right to exist. The permission to matter in a world that wanted to erase me.

7... 6... 5...

The carved spiral on my chest erupted with silver light, visible even through my shirt. The Rune of Diminishment wasn’t just hiding me anymore. It was actively fighting the System’s attempts to delete me from existence.

4... 3...

I am Kaelen Leone. I am Alex Chen. An extra who refuses to die for someone else’s story.

I claim the right to matter. The authority to simply exist.

2...

1...