Chapter 8 Debug Eye

The skill sat inside me like a file with no program to open it. But I could feel every part of it. I focused hard and it unfolded clearly in my vision.

"Lyra, I can see the skill I took," I said as we walked north. "Granite Strike. Raw version. Trigger is a physical hit. Base damage two hundred eighty plus strength times one point two. The class flag says only for Ashfield Sovereign. It is orphaned now. Stuck in my Null space."

Lyra slowed down. She held her bad arm tight against her body. Pain showed on her face. "You can see all that inside you right now?"

"Yes," I replied. I kept my hands loose. "I cannot use it yet. The class lock stops it. But I can read every number. Every single mechanic. It is like looking at the source code."

She glanced at me. Her face moved between doubt and wonder. "That should not be possible. Skills belong to classes. They live in the System. A person with no class cannot hold one. Let alone read inside it like that."

"And yet," I said. I shrugged. "Here I am doing it. What about your combat suppression? What exactly is being held back on you?"

Lyra went quiet. She rubbed her good hand over her bad shoulder. Her mouth pressed tight. She looked away at the rocks. "Not now. Drop it."

I nodded and did not push. "Fine. I noted it."

We kept walking. I started testing the new sight on everything. "That six-legged Alpha over there. Low aggro trigger. Strength around forty. I see the faint traces."

"You are reading creatures while we walk?" Lyra asked. She stepped over a crack carefully. "How?"

"Fragments only," I said. "The range is short. But every piece is data. The System does not give skills randomly. There is real architecture behind it. I can see parts of the structure."

Lyra shook her head slowly. "You talk like the System is something you can take apart with your hands. Most people just accept it as god and move on."

"I cannot accept it," I replied. Frustration rose in my chest. "It tried to kill me the second I woke up. I need to understand the rules so I can break them."

We walked further. The Ashfields started to thin. Lyra pointed ahead. "That watchtower. Old one. It fell out of use fifty years ago when they built the new northern gate. Still standing. Might be safe for the night."

"Good," I said. "We need rest. Your arm looks worse every hour."

She did not answer. Just kept walking with tight steps.

We found a dead body on the way. Fresh. Maybe two hours old. No wounds.

"Stay back a second," I said. I crouched down. "I am looking closer."

Lyra stood nearby. She shifted her weight. "What do you see, Kane?"

"System process," I told her. "It shut his heart down directly. No weapon. No creature. The System itself did it."

Lyra crouched beside me. Her face went pale. "They do not even need hunters for some. The System just reaches in and ends you."

I looked at my timer. "Purge timer at fifty-one hours. And a new note. Direct vital termination. System authorized."

"You think your Null status blocks it?" Lyra asked. She stood up slowly. Pain flashed across her face.

"Maybe," I said. "It tried to assign death before and got an error. It cannot reach what it cannot register."

"You are not telling me everything," Lyra said. She looked at me hard. "But I get it. Test it first before you share."

We kept moving north. The ground felt lighter. The watchtower got closer.

"Almost there," Lyra said. She pointed again. "One entrance at ground level. It looks defensible if we need it."

We reached the tower as the light faded. Empty inside. We set up in a corner. Lyra took first watch at the window. I sat against the wall and scratched notes in the ash on the floor.

"This helps me think," I said while writing. "Ghost Flag. Debug Eye. Null Absorption. My version of a character sheet."

Lyra glanced back from the window. "You really see the world like lines of code."

"Always have," I replied. "Makes the chaos feel manageable."

She stayed quiet for a while. Then her body went completely still. "Someone is coming."

I stood up fast and joined her. "Not the purge squad?"

"One person," she whispered. "Moving open. No stealth. Straight toward us like he knows we are here."

I looked down. The figure stopped below. He looked up at the window, straight at Lyra. Not at me. Then he raised both empty hands.

"I know there is a Null up there," the man called. His voice carried clear. "I could see the Ghost Flag anomaly from two kilometers away. I am not a hunter."

Lyra gripped her sword tighter. Her knuckles turned white. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"My name is Seran," he answered. He stood tall and calm. "I am Rank A. And I need to talk to whoever you are traveling with."

The words hung heavy. My stomach tightened. A Rank A this deep in the Ashfields. Walking alone. Asking for me.

"What do we do?" Lyra asked low. She looked at me. Worry filled her eyes. "He is Rank A. We cannot fight that."

Seran waited below. Hands still open. Patient. "I felt the absorption error ripple from kilometers away. The Sovereign Guardian. You took something that should not be taken. Talk to me. Before the Administrator sends more than hunters."

I stared down at him. My Debug Eye tried to pull fragments from his distant panel. Red warnings flashed again.

"Answer him, Kane," Lyra whispered urgently. "But be careful. Rank A means he can end us both if he wants."

Seran called up again. "I am not here to kill you. I want to understand what you are. The System is reacting in ways I have never seen. Show yourself and talk."

The air felt thick with tension. A Rank A Sovereign Knight standing there openly. Knowing exactly what I had done. Asking for a conversation with the ghost he should not even see.

This was about to change everything.