The job was simple on paper.
Escort a caravan from Elderfall to Duskridge's outer ruins. Three supply wagons. Six NPC guards. One route.
One ambush.
I'd known it would happen. This event always triggered when a player reached Reputation Level 2 with the Elderfall quartermaster and accepted the supply escort chain.
Most players ignored it. Too little gold, too much time.
But I remembered what the SYSTEM didn't advertise: a hidden side objective, buried deep in the code.
"Protect the caravan without losing a single NPC."
If successful, it triggered a rare encounter and unlocked a glyph-encoded reward normally gated behind Level 20 content.
I hadn't completed it in my last life.
But I would now.
Lyra joined me at the west gate, arms crossed, half-smirking.
"You're the escort lead?"
I nodded. "You're the one who accepted the co-slot."
She shrugged. "Was going to solo it. You just clicked faster."
"You could still back out."
Her grin widened. "Not a chance."
The caravan rolled out—horses groaning under loaded wagons, NPC guards stoic and doomed to fail unless managed precisely.
I took point. Lyra shadowed the rear.
Three ambushes came and went.
Wolves. Rogue mages. A fake roadblock designed to split the guard AI.
We handled them all.
I reworked Repulse Thread mid-combat to arc around friendly NPCs. Lyra discovered a stealth-dash combo that applied double bleed. Neither of us missed a beat.
The final obstacle—a snapped wagon wheel—was the scripted fail point. Most players would miss the timing window.
But I was ready.
I pulled a spell tag I'd been refining all morning.
[Utility Tag Used: Mender's Loop (Imperfect)]Effect: Patch damaged object for 60s using temporary glyph-thread.Ink Cost: 8
The wheel stabilized.
The bridge held.
[Optional Objective Complete: Zero NPC Casualties][Hidden Event Unlocked: Forgotten Survivor Encounter – Lexicon Compatible]
A hooded NPC stumbled out from the trees—scarred, half-blind, muttering about glyphs lost "in the first version of the world." He pressed a scroll into my hands and vanished in a flicker of corrupted light.
[Item Acquired: Ancient Binding Script]This scroll hums with unprocessed language. The Lexicon reacts to its presence.
The Lexicon stirred the moment I stepped back into Elderfall.
It wasn't audible—not really—but I felt it. Like the scratch of a quill against parchment at the back of my mind. Alive. Watching. Waiting.
Lyra walked beside me in silence. She hadn't asked any questions since the fight at the bridge. But I felt her curiosity sharpening.
Let her wonder.
We split at the fountain. She turned toward the healer's hall. I walked east—toward a structure most players thought was just scenery.
The Archive Tower.
The door didn't open unless two conditions were met:
You had a magic-class tag, and
You held an unregistered rune-scroll.
I had both.
The tower door creaked open with a soft shimmer, reacting to the Forgotten Lexicon like a master key.
Inside, dust thickened the air. Stacks of crumbling tomes lined the shelves. At the far end, a lone candle burned beside an immense desk—and behind it, a man in tattered robes, hunched over an unfinished manuscript.
[NPC: Archivist Halward]Reputation: Neutral (0) | Affiliation: Elderfall Archives (Tier D)
The old man didn't look up.
"If you're here to study, you're late. If you're here to waste my time, you're in the wrong tower."
I raised the Ancient Binding Script.
He paused. Lifted his head. His eyes locked onto the scroll, and for a heartbeat, something ancient passed through him.
"That… should not exist outside the vaults."
"It was meant to find me," I said.
He snorted. But he took the scroll with reverence.
[Quest Unlocked: Echoes of Ink – Path of the Scribe]Objective: Translate the Binding Script using the Lexicon.Reward: Enhanced Rune Comprehension + Bonus EXP
I cleared space at the desk and opened the Lexicon.
It reacted instantly—golden light threading between the floating pages and the scroll.
Runes shimmered. The parchment glowed. Glyphs rearranged themselves beneath my hands.
[New Rune Detected: Bind][Lexicon Interface Updated]Feature Added: Glyph Imbuement (Basic Tier)
[Spell Created: Binding Seal – Rank F+]Effect: Immobilizes a target under level 10 for 4 seconds. Weakened effect against elites. Can be used on enchanted objects.Ink Cost: 2
A real spell. Not just a combo. Not a copied tag.
Mine.
Outside, night had fallen. The lanterns of Elderfall flickered against the cobblestones. I tucked the Lexicon into my inventory and stepped into the cool air—
—and found Lyra leaning against the healer's porch, arms crossed.
She wasn't smiling.
"So… care to explain where you got a rune no one else in the starter zone even knows exists?"
I stopped. "Trade secret."
She narrowed her eyes. "You're weird. Like, exploit-weird."
I raised a brow. "But you won't report me."
"Not yet," she said, turning away. "But I'm going to find out what your deal is."
Later that night, I woke gasping.
My dorm room ceiling buzzed with failing fluorescence. The VR pod's shell was still cooling.
Three hours of sleep. A class in four. Rent due by the end of the week.
And all I could think about… was runes.
[SYSTEM NOTICE: USER CONTINUES TO EXHIBIT NON-LINEAR PATTERN BEHAVIOR.][DATA DIVERGENCE 0.0027% – EXPANDING.][Observation Escalated – AI Sector: ECHO]
Somewhere in the code behind the game's beautiful facade…
Something took notice.
And it wasn't just watching anymore.