Chương 5: The Source Code

The road out of Sky Reach stretched into wilderness faster than Ivan expected. He didn't notice when he passed the last farmsteads clinging to the city's protective wards. By the time he looked around, the forest had swallowed the road, branches tangling overhead. Even the well-maintained stone beneath his feet had given way to mud and then to a barely visible game trail. Ivan kept walking. His throat still burned from Victor's telekinetic grip.

Every breath reminded him of how close he'd come to dying in that throne room, strangled by invisible hands while a crowd of powerful bastards watched without lifting a finger. Ten years of my life are gone. All of it, thrown out like trash. He clenched his jaw and kept moving. Ivan wasn't someone who got angry easily, but who wouldn't be? He'd never had much. Now even that little was gone. The sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and red. Shadows stretched long across the forest floor.

Only when the light started failing did Ivan take stock. He had no tent, bedroll, or food. Beyond the clothes on his back, his inventory held only a couple of mana potions and health potions. He was basically a… beggar. Well, let's not insult myself like that. Let's go with Vagabond. The empty inventory scared him more than he wanted to admit. Victor could also change his mind and send someone after him. Ivan was a Level 1 in a monster-infested forest. Most people would have panicked.

Ivan had seen that during the first days after Integration, when the Tutorial dumped everyone into a world crawling with monsters. Half the population died in the first week because they couldn't adapt. He'd survived then. He'd survive now. Ivan scanned the treeline, looking for shelter. His Perception was E-, which meant he could barely see ten feet ahead in the gathering gloom, but it was better than nothing. Ahead, Ivan made out a rocky outcropping with a shallow cave beneath it. It would do.

He approached carefully, picking up a thick branch along the way. The cave was empty except for some old leaves and the faint smell of animal musk. Whatever had lived here before was long gone. Ivan dropped the branch near the entrance and sat with his back against the stone wall. His legs ached, his throat still burned, and the rest of his body felt too tight around the bones. He wasn't sure why. Had Victor's aura done this? Could it still be affecting him? But he was alive. That counted for something.

Ivan let himself relax. He wanted as much distance from Sky Reach as his legs could manage, but before he moved again, he needed to understand what had happened to him. He pulled up his Status screen and focused on the new Class name. [Inscriber of Principles] - Level 1 The description expanded. ▣▣▣▣▣ [Inscriber of Principles] (Unique) You do not copy spells. You inscribe the universal principles that govern them.

Where others rely on skill scrolls and System-granted abilities, you write the equations directly into reality. Traditional Scribes etch magic onto parchment and let others activate it. High-ranking Scribes can draw runes in the air using specialized inks or enchanted tools. You need neither. Your understanding of magical geometry allows you to manifest spells through pure comprehension. The System recognizes your work as valid, but you are not bound by its typical restrictions.

Note: This Class was created through direct interaction with corrupted System code. There are no known predecessors. There is no guaranteed evolution path. ▣▣▣▣▣ Ivan read it twice. Then a third time. I can cast spells without skills. Just by drawing the patterns in the air. That's… insane. He thought back to his basement office. The moment he'd traced [Lightning Bolt] in empty space and felt it activate. He'd assumed it was a fluke, some interaction between [Pattern Recognition] and his decade of experience.

So it hadn't been a fluke. [Pattern Recognition]'s evolution had given him the abilities of a high-ranking Scribe. Maybe that alone could have turned his life around if everything else hadn't happened. No. What's done is done. And this Class is better. I don't need the System to give me spells. I already know hundreds of them. I've copied them for ten years. Most combat Classes came with five or six skills at Level 1. A Pyromancer got [Fireball], [Flame Shield], maybe [Burning Hands]. That was it.

They had to level up to unlock more, or buy skill books from merchants. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Ivan didn't have that limitation. He knew [Lightning Bolt]. [Fireball]. [Ice Spike]. [Minor Shield]. [Swift Step]. And dozens more. He'd etched every single one of them onto scrolls over the years. He knew their geometry by heart. If I can cast them all… I'm not a Level 1 nobody. I'm a walking arsenal. Then he remembered the mana cost.

He focused on his mana pool. [Mana: 440/440] Four hundred and forty. That was… fine for a typical Level 1 [Mage], but for him? Hah, when he was Level 1 ten years ago, his Mana was barely in the double digits! Look at it now... His E+ Intelligence gave him a larger pool than most starting mages. Most of the Mana stat followed Intelligence, not the number beside his Class or Race. The System didn't hand out points he could place himself either.

Levels pushed attributes forward according to what someone actually did, and the pool only changed when Intelligence had grown enough. The forced evolution had pushed his Intelligence from E to E+, which was why he still had four hundred and forty Mana with both Level counters at one. But [Lightning Bolt] had drained nearly everything he had left back in the basement, and that had only been a weak, sputtering version of the spell. I can cast maybe three or four spells before I'm tapped out.

After that, I'm defenseless. He needed to be smart about this. Efficient. Ivan pulled up the second skill. [Principle Interference] (MAX) The description unfolded. ▣▣▣▣▣ [Principle Interference] (MAX) You perceive the foundational logic of System functions that target you. Inspections, status effects, curses, blessings, all reveal their internal mechanisms to you. At MAX rank, you may edit how these functions interact with you within certain limits.

You cannot break core System rules, but you can rewrite how information is presented and how some effects manifest. Example Uses: Edit what others see when they Inspect you Modify how debuffs affect you (cannot remove, only alter presentation) Perceive hidden System triggers in items or locations Warning: Attempting to violate fundamental System architecture will result in immediate backlash. The System does not tolerate reality-breaking exploits. ▣▣▣▣▣ Ivan leaned back against the cave wall.

So I can lie to Inspections and I can also see hidden System mechanics. But I can't actually cheat… It was powerful, but limited. The System had given him a scalpel, not a sledgehammer. The skill was limited, but Ivan could work with that. He dismissed the screen and stared out at the darkening forest. Somewhere in the distance, something howled. It sounded large and hungry. Tomorrow, I need to test these skills properly. Figure out what I can actually do. Ivan yawned.

"But first, I need to survive the night." He closed his eyes. Sleep came badly, but eventually it came.

Dawn broke with the sound of something sniffing outside the cave. Ivan's eyes snapped open. He grabbed the branch he'd left by the entrance and pressed himself against the wall, barely breathing. The sniffing continued. Whatever it was had caught his scent. A shadow moved across the cave mouth, large and quadrupedal. Armored scales glinted in the early light. That looked strong… His Perception suggested something above Level 10, at the very least. [Perception Check Met!] The System responded at once.

[Humans (G) have survived for thousands of years by judging what they can hunt and what will hunt them. You have successfully used Perception to estimate a creature's danger level.] [Skill Unlocked: Inspect - Level 1] Finally, something was going his way. Ivan could probably have unlocked [Inspect] inside the city, but he'd never had a reason, or the freedom, to go hunting. Text formed across his vision. [Razorclaw Prowler - Level 12] His [Mana Sense] caught the creature too. Level was only part of the picture.

Two creatures at the same Level could still be completely different threats. Level 12. Against my Level 1. The Prowler's head poked into the cave. Yellow eyes. Fangs like daggers. Scales that looked thick enough to stop a sword. Ivan didn't move. He technically had the stats of a Level 40, but… those were the Stats of a Scribe Class. The creature sniffed again. Its gaze swept the cave interior, passing right over Ivan in the shadows. For a moment, he thought it would leave. Then it stepped inside. Shit.

Ivan's grip tightened on the branch. His mind raced through options. I can't fight it hand-to-hand. My stats are garbage for melee. But I know spells… [Lightning Bolt] had worked before. Should he try that here too? As he considered his options, the Prowler took another step closer. Its claws clicked against the stone floor. Ivan raised his free hand, closed his eyes, and visualized the spell structure. The curves, the angles, and the junction points where mana needed to flow. His [Architecture of Mana] activated.

The spell hung in his mind as a structure he could inspect from any angle, every node and pathway clear. He traced the pattern with his finger. Mana drained from his core. The pull was immediate but controlled this time. He'd learned from the basement incident. He kept the power low, just enough to form the spell. A crackling arc of blue-white electricity shot from his fingertip. It struck the Prowler in the shoulder. The beast screamed as lightning burned through its scales and sent it stumbling backward.

Smoke rose from the wound, carrying the smell of charred meat through the cave. No kill notification appeared. Ivan drew the pattern again, faster this time. [Lightning Bolt]! The second arc hit it in the head. The Prowler convulsed, then collapsed. [You have slain Razorclaw Prowler - Level 12] [You've gained EXP!] [Human (F) has leveled up!] [Human (F) has reached Level 2.] [Inscriber of Principles has leveled up!] [Inscriber of Principles has reached Level 2.] Ivan stared at the smoking corpse, then at his hand. He'd once fought tooth and nail against weaker monsters just to survive. Now he'd killed a Level 12 creature with two spells drawn from memory. His heart was still pounding. He looked from the corpse to his hand, and a grin pulled at his mouth.

"That was so fun," he muttered. He'd done it without a scroll, expensive gear, or a System-granted spell. [Architecture of Mana] was technically a System Skill, but the lightning itself had come from his knowledge and his new Class. He checked his mana. [Mana: 440/440] The level-up had refilled his Mana, but each [Lightning Bolt] had cost a hundred points. He'd checked during casting. That was… expensive, especially at Level 1. The cost should fall as his Intelligence rose.

Ivan stepped over the Prowler's corpse and walked to the cave entrance. The forest was still dangerous and full of monsters, but the Prowler had changed the calculation. Every creature out there could kill him. Every one could also give him levels. I will survive this. He started walking again.