Hacking the Altar

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

— Albert Camus

———

The marble steps beneath my boots felt cold even through the leather as I approached the Awakening Stone.

Twenty-two thousand five hundred and eighty points. That's what the forum post said. That's what PlotHoleFinder69 calculated based on the original Kaelen's stats. If he was right about the rune, maybe he was right about this too.

The Awakening Stone was taller than two men and pulsing with inner light that made my eyes water. Up close, I could see veins of silver and gold threading through the crystal, forming patterns that seemed to shift when I wasn't looking directly at them. The mana emanating from it pressed against my chest where the Rune of Diminishment lay hidden beneath my shirt, the carved spiral throbbing in response.

"Place your hand upon the stone, young Leone." Archbishop Valdris's voice carried the weight of centuries of tradition. "Open your heart to the magic that flows through all things."

I pressed my palm against the crystal's surface. The stone was warm—no, hot—like touching the side of a forge. The moment skin met crystal, the world exploded into light and sensation.

SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE

The text appeared in my vision like words carved from fire, burning themselves into my retinas. Behind them, a cascade of information flooded my awareness:

ANALYZING INPUT DATA... FINISHED

ANALYZING TEST RESULTS... FINISHED

YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY AWAKENED AS A PLAYER. YOU ARE REQUIRED TO 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 in the novel.

ATTRIBUTE POINTS RESULTS:

ALIVE: +100 AP

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

HUMAN: +300 AP

VIRGIN: +5000 AP

YOUNG: +2000 AP

MARTIAL ARTS POTENTIAL F: +70 AP

MAGIC POTENTIAL D: +3200 AP

DESTINY POTENTIAL E: +200 AP

YOUR TOTAL: 25870 POINTS

The allocation screen appeared, showing the familiar stats:

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, pouring 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 spreading 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 from my nose. To anyone listening, it would sound like panicked prayers, desperate mumbling from someone overwhelmed by the awakening process.

More. I need to push harder. The rune is supposed to hide me from the System's detection, but maybe it needs more power. Maybe I need to bleed more.

I pressed harder against the crystal, feeling the carved spiral in my chest tear open slightly. Fresh blood seeped through my shirt, and the rune's power surged in response. For a moment, the System's resistance wavered.

WARNING: ANOMALOUS ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED

WARNING: UNKNOWN INTERFERENCE PATTERN

ATTEMPTING COMPENSATION...

Behind me, I could hear the whispered conversations of the assembled nobles.

"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, focusing every fiber of my being on the Authority stat. 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, spreading across the entire cathedral. Several nobles stepped back in alarm as the ancient patterns began to pulse in rhythm with my heartbeat. The floating candles above flickered and dimmed, their light becoming wan and sickly.

"Young Leone." Archbishop Valdris's voice held a note of concern I'd never heard before. "Perhaps you should step away from the stone. Sometimes the awakening process can be... overwhelming."

No. Not when I'm this close. The System is fighting me, but it's also adapting. It knows something is wrong, but the rune is making it impossible to pinpoint exactly what. I just need to push a little harder.

I could feel my father's shame radiating from the Leone section like heat from a forge. Lord Aldric had closed his eyes, probably praying to whatever gods might listen that his worthless third son would stop embarrassing the family name in front of the entire noble hierarchy.

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, dripping onto the crystal and creating small explosions of light where it landed. 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 kind of 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. I am the extra who refuses to die for someone else's story. I claim the right to matter. I claim the authority to exist.

2...

1...