Adrian didn't answer.
Not because he didn't want to, but because something inside him refused to follow old rules.
The man who used to click "Yes" on protocols without reading them... hesitated.
The system interface floated gently in front of him, like a question he'd never asked himself out loud.
[Ready to begin?]
For the first time in his life, a choice felt like his.
He swallowed.
"Yes," he whispered.
The interface pulsed once—like a heartbeat.
[Acknowledged.]
[Calibrating Core Metrics…]
The air shimmered. Four glowing rings circled around him, each inscribed with strange, breathing script. One by one, they solidified into labels:
Compassion: 2%
Resilience: 14%
Wisdom: 6%
Simplicity: 0.3%
Adrian frowned.
This wasn't a game. These weren't power stats. These were... insults.
[Warning: Baseline Human Emotional Health Critically Low.]
[Preliminary Status: Emotionally Atrophied.]
[Cause: Long-term exposure to dehumanizing structures.]
The words didn't sting.
They hurt.
Not because they were false—because they were true. More accurate than any government audit, more personal than any therapy script he'd ever half-scanned.
[You will not survive the new world as you are.]
[Initiating Emotional Recovery Protocol.]
[Tutorial Mission Available: "Feel Something."]
Objective: Experience a genuine emotion for longer than 4 seconds.
Reward: Unlock First Passive Skill.
Penalty: System lockout for 72 hours.
Difficulty: Impossible (for current version of you).
[Begin Tutorial Mission?]
Adrian nodded. The interface dissolved.
And the world around him bloomed into form.
It wasn't Lorya.
It wasn't the sterile metallic jungle of his old life.
He stood at the edge of a small village. No smog. No quotas. No Ministry towers. Just misty hills, crooked fences, wind-chimes, and a field of wild marigolds stretching toward the sunrise.
The scent of something clean—real—hit him like a punch to the chest.
He stumbled.
For a second, he couldn't breathe.
And in that moment, he realized: he was afraid. Not of the village. Not of the system. Not of the unknown.
He was afraid of feeling.
Because once he let himself feel—he might break.
A child's voice snapped him back.
"Are you okay, mister?"
He turned. A girl stood there. Barefoot, dirt on her knees, two missing teeth, holding a wilted flower in both hands like it was treasure. She couldn't have been more than seven.
She looked at him not like he was a threat or an asset… but like he mattered. Like he was seen.
Adrian tried to speak. His throat locked.
The girl reached up and placed the flower in his palm.
"It's okay to cry," she said simply. Then skipped away.
[Tutorial Triggered: EMOTIONAL RESPONSE DETECTED]
[Measuring…]
[Duration: 9.2 seconds]
[Emotion: Awe / Sadness / Wonder / Grief]
[Tutorial Mission Complete.]
Reward Unlocked: Passive Skill — "Empathy Sense (Lv.1)"
"You may now perceive surface-level emotional states of nearby humans."
Achievement Earned: "You Felt Something."
This... is new for you.
Adrian sat down in the field. He didn't know whether to laugh or scream.
So he did neither.
He just... sat.
For the first time in years, without calculating how long he should sit or what value it would produce.
And as the sun touched the edge of the hills, painting the sky with orange and quiet, he felt something loosen inside his chest. A bolt, a screw, a spreadsheet cell in his soul.
He didn't feel free yet. But he felt something.
And that was more than he'd ever had.
[System Alert: New Mission Available]
Mission: "Make One Person Smile (Without Lying)"
Type: Karma Quest
Reward: Skill Upgrade – Empathy Sense (Lv.2)
Bonus: Unlock Happiness Journal Feature
Smiles are seeds. You just need to plant one.
End of Chapter 2