Dex lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling as the glow from his eyes painted the dark room in faint, electric blue. The system screen still hung in his vision, the words "THEY WILL TEST YOU" lingering like a challenge he wasn't sure he could meet.
'Level 120. Level 70.'
And then there was him.
He exhaled, rubbing his face. 'Tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'll log back in and find them.'
Assuming they weren't enemies.
Assuming they didn't kill him on sight.
Assuming Valentina didn't gut him first.
'Focus. One thing at a time.'
He sat up, flexing his fingers. The new skills hummed under his skin—Cyber Hack, now sharper, deadlier, and Phantom Jump, the unknown variable.
'Time to test the waters.'
The house was silent, save for the low hum of the refrigerator and the occasional creak of settling wood. His mom's door was shut, her soft snores barely audible through the thin walls.
Dex crept downstairs, each step deliberate. The living room was bathed in the faint glow of standby lights—the TV, the cable box, the smart bulb in the lamp. All connected. All potential doors.
He crouched in front of the TV, pressing a palm against the warm screen. The moment his skin made contact, his HUD flickered to life.
[PHANTOM JUMP READY]
[LINKED DEVICES DETECTED: 4]
- Living Room TV (0m)
- Kitchen Smart Fridge (8m)
- Mom's Phone (12m – Bedroom)
'Start small.'
He selected the smart fridge.
[TARGET LOCKED: KITCHEN]
[RANGE: 8m – WITHIN LIMIT]
[WARNING: FIRST JUMP DETECTED. STABILIZATION MAY BE UNSTABLE.]
Dex swallowed. 'Here goes nothing.'
He activated the skill.
The world bent.
His body dissolved into a thousand strands of blue light, particles unraveling like frayed wire. For a heartbeat, he was nowhere—a void of rushing data, of whispers that weren't quite voices, of something vast and aware brushing against his consciousness.
Then—
Reform.
He stumbled forward, his knees hitting cold tile. The fridge door loomed in front of him, its digital display cheerfully blinking the temperature: 4°C.
He'd moved. Without walking. Without breathing.
'Holy shit.'
A notification popped up:
[PHANTOM JUMP SUCCESSFUL]
[COOLDOWN: 5 SEC]
[SIDE EFFECT: TEMPORARY STATIC VISION (CLEARING IN 3… 2… 1…)]
The fuzziness in his eyes faded. Dex let out a shaky laugh.
'Okay. That was… cool.'
Then the fridge beeped. Loudly.
"DEX?" His mom's voice, groggy but alert, echoed from upstairs. "¿Qué estás haciendo?"
'Shit.'
He lunged for the fridge's power button, slapping it silent just as footsteps creaked on the stairs.
[PHANTOM JUMP COOLDOWN: 2 SEC]
'Come on, come on—'
The kitchen light flicked on.
Dex jumped back into the TV.
Dex rematerialised halfway inside the television, his elbow phasing through the screen before he yanked himself free. The TV hissed static, the image distorting wildly.
His mom rounded the corner, squinting at him. "Mijo…?"
Dex froze, one arm still elbow-deep in digital noise. Well. This is awkward.
"Uh." He slowly pulled his arm out, the TV spitting out a last burst of interference. "Late-night… movie?"
She stared at him. At the TV. At his glowing eyes.
Then she sighed, rubbing her temple. "Mañana, voy a comprar más café." Tomorrow, I'm buying more coffee.
She turned and trudged back upstairs.
Dex exhaled.
'Note to self: Jumps are louder than expected.'
Cyber Hack Test
With his mom (hopefully) going back to sleep, Dex turned his attention to his other new toy. He focused on the streetlamp outside the window, reaching out with Cyber Hack.
The skill activated instantly.
[DEVICE DETECTED: PUBLIC LIGHTING GRID]
[ACCESS: GRANTED]
With a thought, the streetlamp flickered, then died. The entire block plunged into darkness.
A second thought—and it roared back to life, brighter than before, casting sharp shadows across the walls.
'Okay. That's terrifying.'
He could feel the grid now, the pulse of electricity running through the neighborhood like veins. Phones in pockets. Smart cars parked along the curb. Security cameras.
All of it—his.
A notification blinked:
[CYBER HACK MASTERY INCREASED]
[RANGE: 50m → 55m]
[NEW APPLICATION UNLOCKED: "PING"]
Ping: Send a detectable signal to nearby electronics (useful for distractions—or taunts).
Dex grinned.
'Valentina has no idea what's coming.'
Morning – The Bathroom
Dex stared at his reflection, gripping the edges of the sink until his knuckles turned white.
'Control it.'
The glow in his eyes pulsed stubbornly, casting flickering blue light across the bathroom tiles. He exhaled slowly, focusing on the hum of the overhead light, the quiet buzz of the neighbor's Wi-Fi, the electric current running through the pipes—too much. It was all too loud, too present, like his brain had been rewired to hear the heartbeat of every machine around him.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
'Shut it off. Shut it all off.'
A click—like a switch flipping in his skull—and the glow dimmed, fading back to his normal hazel. The connection to the tech around him dulled, the sensations retreating to a faint whisper.
'So the glow's a boost. A direct tap into the Cyber Lord shit.'
"Good to know. Also terrifying"
He splashed water on his face. 'Only for fights. Only when I have no choice.'
.....
The scent of chorizo and eggs hit him the moment he stepped downstairs. His mom stood at the stove, her back to him, but he didn't need to see her face to know she was pissed.
"Sit," she said, not turning around.
Dex sat.
She slid a plate in front of him—huevos rancheros, his favorite—then took the chair across from him, arms crossed.
"Your eyes," she said.
Dex stabbed a fork into his eggs. "Contacts. Like I said."
"Mentiroso." She leaned forward. "I changed your diapers. I know your ojos. That was no contact."
Dex chewed slowly, buying time. His mom's phone lay on the table beside her. The neighbor's landline was right there, just beyond the wall, buzzing with idle connection.
"Mijo." Her voice softened, just a fraction. "If something is wrong… you can tell me."
'Damn it.'
He couldn't lie to her. Not really. But telling her the truth? That would paint a target on her back bigger than anything the Lucianos could manage.
So he reached out—not with his hands, but with his mind—and tapped into her contacts.
[CYBER HACK: ACTIVATED]
[DEVICES DETECTED: 2]
Mom's Phone (0m)
Neighbor's Landline (12m)
A thought. A command.
The neighbor's phone rang.
His mom's phone blared an incoming call a second later, the screen flashing "MRS. GARCIA – NEXT DOOR".
His mom scowled, snatching it up. "¿Qué quieres a esta hora?" What do you want this early?
Dex didn't hear the response—mostly because there wasn't one. The call was just dead air, a glitched loop he'd forced into existence.
His mom huffed, standing. "Esa vieja loca…" That crazy old woman… She stomped toward the front door, already yelling. "¡María! ¿Por qué me llamas si no hablas?" Maria! Why are you calling me if you don't talk?
Dex exhaled, shoveling eggs into his mouth.
Bought myself a few minutes.
Dex shoveled the last of the eggs into his mouth, wiped the plate clean with a tortilla, and bolted upstairs before his mom could return from her fake call. He needed to log in, needed to figure out how to complete his new quest.
His bedroom door creaked open.
And there, sprawled across his bed like he owned it, was a kid.
Asian, maybe fourteen, with messy blond hair that looked like it had never met a comb. A Shibuya Academy uniform—real uniform, not some Dreamscape cosmetic—hung loose on his frame. He lounged against Dex's pillows, flipping through a weathered One Piece volume, humming a tune that made the air itself vibrate oddly.
Dex's Rocket Fist primed on instinct, the mechanism in his arm whirring—
—and then the boy flickered.
Not like a glitch. Like a film reel skipping frames.
One second, he was on the bed.
The next, he was right in Dex's face, arms wrapping around him in a hug so tight it crushed the air from his lungs.
"Finally!" The boy's voice was all bright edges and mischief, his breath smelling faintly of caramel. "You're the Cyber Lord? Cute! A little scrawny, but we'll fix that." He leaned back, grinning. "What took you so long? The meeting's in five minutes."
Dex's brain short-circuited.
"What meeting?"
The boy's grin widened.
"Ours."