The basement was silent, save for the low, rhythmic thrumming of the High-Grade Ether Core.
Ethan had placed the glowing violet crystal in the center of the room, anchoring it with four spatial folds. It looked like a miniature star trapped in a cage of distorted air.
[Ether Core Integrated.]
[Dead Zone Stability: 98%.]
[Cloaking Field: Active.]
Ethan slumped against the stone wall, his eyes fixed on the core. His nose had stopped bleeding, but the mental fatigue was still there, a dull ache behind his eyes.
"Ethan, look at me," Krishara said.
She was kneeling in front of him, her hands glowing with that familiar, soothing emerald light. As she pressed her palms to his temples, Ethan felt the "Static" in his brain begin to clear.
"You're overextending, Ethan," she whispered. "The System is scaling, but you're trying to outrun it all by yourself. We're a family. Remember?"
Ethan looked at her, really looked at her.
With his intelligence of 40, he could see things he hadn't noticed before. He could see the way the Ether flowed through her body, not in a straight line like his, but in a complex, beautiful web.
It's time to see the full picture, Ethan thought.
"System Scan: Family Link."
Because of his SSS-Rank Glitch, Ethan was able to pull up the status windows of his wife and son.
[STATUS WINDOW: KRISHARA PARK]
Level: 5
Talent: Adaptive Vital Weave (S-Rank)
Attributes:
STR: 6
AGI: 8
VIT: 12
INT: 15
Specialty: Life-Force Manipulation. Can "weave" Ether into biological structures to accelerate healing or disrupt enemy vitals.
S-Rank, Ethan noted, his eyes widening slightly. Her intuition wasn't just a personality trait. It was a high-tier talent waiting to be awakened.
He turned his gaze to Nethan, who was sitting by the core, fascinated by the floating violet light.
[STATUS WINDOW: NETHAN PARK]
Level: 5
Talent: Iron Guard (S-Rank)
Attributes:
STR: 10
AGI: 5
VIT: 20
INT: 8
Specialty: Absolute Defense. His physical density increases with every level. Can project "Absolute Layers" that negate Stage 1 and Stage 2 kinetic energy.
Twenty points in Vitality at Level 5,
Ethan calculated. He's a natural-born fortress. If I'm the sword and the mind, Nethan is the shield that can never be broken.
"What are you doing, Appachchi?" Nethan asked, looking up with wide, innocent eyes.
"I'm looking at how strong you've become, Nethan," Ethan said, reaching out to ruffle the boy's hair. His hand felt a slight resistance. The Iron Guard talent was always active, even in rest.
"We're not just survivors anymore," Ethan said, turning back to Krishara. "The three of us… We're a balanced unit. An SSS-Rank Mind, an S-Rank Weaver, and an S-Rank Shield. The System didn't just create an anomaly in me. It created a God-Tier Party."
Krishara looked at her own hands, the emerald light flickering. "S-Rank? Is that why I can feel the 'breath' of the city? I can feel the monsters moving, Ethan. It's like a thousand tiny heartbeats, all of them hungry."
"That's your Vital Sense," Ethan explained. "And we're going to need it. The Overseer is still up there. It's scanning for high-energy signatures. If we move normally, it'll find us in seconds."
He stood up, his mind already spinning with a new plan.
"We need to mask ourselves. I can fold the space around us, but that uses too much Ether. Krishara, I need you to 'weave' a layer of dead life-force around our energy signatures. Make us look like 'Static' to the System's sensors.
"Krishara nodded, her expression turning serious. "I can try. But I'll need a focus. Something to anchor the weave."
Ethan looked at the Ether Core.
"We'll use the core. We're going to turn this Dead Zone into a mobile cloak. We're leaving Nawala tonight."
"Leaving?" Krishara asked. "Where to?"
"Kandy," Ethan said, his eyes glowing with a cold, violet light. "There's an old research facility near the university. Before the integration, they were working on 'Quantum Computing.' If I can find their servers, I can use them to boost my Universal Logic Engine to Stage 2.
"He looked up at the ceiling, toward the invisible winged eye in the sky.
"The Overseer thinks it's the judge of this world," Ethan whispered. "But it's about to find out that some glitches can't be erased."
[New Objective: Reach the Kandy Research Node.]
[Difficulty: High.]
[Reward: Unlock Stage 2 Logic.]
As they began to pack their gear, the violet panel flickered with a new message.
[...Anomaly Party Detected. Recalculating World Difficulty...]
Ethan didn't flinch. He just smiled.
"Go ahead," he thought. "Recalculate all you want. You'll still get the wrong answer."