The air in the Forbidden Library grew cold as the 'Log Book' began to scream. It wasn't a sound, but a direct attack on Caelum's mind. The System was trying to 'Patch' him—to fix the glitch that he had become.
[CRITICAL ALERT!]
[FORCED SYSTEM UPDATE INITIATED: 'FIX_GLITCH_KING.EXE']
[PROGRESS: 1%... 5%...]
"You think you can update me?" Caelum laughed, blood trickling from his nose as he fought the mental pressure. "I'm not a bug in your system. I'm the one who wrote the language you use!"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the [WORLD_KEY_FRAGMENT] he had taken from the Merchant. He slammed it onto the glowing book.
[ACTION: INJECT WORLD_KEY_FRAGMENT INTO SYSTEM LOGS]
[OVERRIDE: INITIATED]
The world around him blurred. The library, the Academy, and even the air itself began to dissolve into raw code. For a second, Caelum saw the truth: the world was just a massive simulation, a cage for souls.
[SYSTEM ERROR: UPDATE FAILED]
[RESULT: USER 'CAELUM' HAS GAINED 'ADMIN_READ_ONLY' PERMISSIONS]
The screaming stopped. The library returned to normal, but the glowing book was now black. Caelum felt a new power surging through him. He couldn't just change numbers anymore; he could see the future paths of the System.
He saw the Overseers gathering an army. He saw High Mage Elara's doubt. And most importantly, he saw a hidden door at the edge of the world.
"Level 100 is just the beginning," Caelum whispered, his reflection in the black book showing eyes that were no longer human. "I'm going to break the sky itself."