Chapter 2: The Hidden Powers of the System

Aiden stared at the phone in his hand, Mira's words still ringing in his ears.

"In my dream, you died. Is… is that going to happen?"

He hadn't expected this. Mira, his best friend from childhood, had never been involved this early in the previous timeline. She hadn't seen visions. She hadn't known anything about the monsters until it was too late. This time, something was different. His second chance had already thrown him into unknown territory.

"Not this time," he had whispered into the phone. But even as he said it, doubt gnawed at him.

The System had brought him back, but the rules weren't the same.

[New Objective: Protect Mira from Her Premonitions.]

[Failure Penalty: Mira's Death.]

A new quest notification blinked in his vision. His breath caught. This was a questline that didn't exist before.

Aiden stood up from his chair, the dorm room suddenly feeling too small. He shoved his phone into his pocket and grabbed a worn leather jacket from the back of his desk chair. He needed to meet her—now. If Mira was having premonitions, that meant the System had marked her in some way. But why? What had changed?

He swung open the door of his dorm and started down the hall, his mind racing. I need to think carefully. This wasn't just about Mira anymore. This meant the timeline was no longer predictable. He couldn't rely on his knowledge from the past to navigate this world.

Seven days. In seven days, the first portal would open, releasing monsters into the city. He had planned to spend those days training, finding the hidden dungeon locations, and preparing. But if Mira was already involved… priorities had to shift.

Twenty minutes later, Aiden arrived at the café where he and Mira had agreed to meet. It was the same place they'd used as a refuge during college, before everything had collapsed. The sight of it—the faded yellow awning, the scratched wooden sign that read "The Brewmaster's Lounge"—made him pause. So much had changed, but here it stood, untouched by the horrors he remembered.

Aiden pushed open the door, a bell chiming as he stepped inside. Mira sat at a small table by the window, her hands wrapped tightly around a steaming mug of coffee. Her eyes were distant, and she barely noticed when Aiden slid into the seat across from her.

"Mira," he said quietly.

She looked up at him, her expression guarded, haunted by something deeper than mere sleep deprivation.

"Aiden, something's wrong. It's like… like I've been living in someone else's nightmare." Her voice was shaky, but there was a determination behind her eyes that hadn't been there before. "I see things. Monsters, death, fire. And every time, I see you. You're always there, and then… you're gone. And when I wake up, I can still feel the heat, smell the blood. It's too real."

Aiden swallowed hard. This wasn't just some lingering trauma from a bad dream. Mira had been given visions. But why?

"You're not imagining it," he said, keeping his voice low. "I can't explain everything right now, but something's coming. Something terrible, and those dreams of yours… they're not just dreams."

Her eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"In seven days, something will happen. Something that will change the world forever. But this time…" He met her gaze, his voice steady. "This time, I'm going to stop it."

Mira stared at him, her face a mix of confusion and concern. "Aiden, are you…? What do you know that I don't?"

Before he could answer, the System Interface blinked again in his peripheral vision.

[Side Quest Unlocked: Mira's Awakening.]

Objective: Discover the Source of Mira's Visions.

Reward: 500 EXP.

Failure Penalty: Mira's Death.

Aiden clenched his fists under the table. The System was pushing me into this. There was no avoiding it.

"Listen," Aiden said, leaning forward, his voice urgent but soft. "I've been through this before—what's coming. The world, as we know it, is about to change. Monsters, demons, things you can't even imagine will come pouring out of portals across the globe. This isn't a bad dream. It's a warning. And I need you to trust me."

Mira blinked, clearly struggling to make sense of it all. "This… this sounds insane."

"It is," Aiden said with a faint, humorless smile. "But that doesn't make it any less real."

Her hands trembled slightly, but she kept her gaze steady. "So what do we do?"

Aiden sat back, his mind calculating, strategizing. Mira was at the center of something bigger, and if he could unlock her potential, she could become a crucial ally in the coming war.

"For now," Aiden said, "you need to stay close. Don't go anywhere alone, and don't talk about your visions to anyone else. There are people out there who might not be so understanding."

Mira nodded, though uncertainty still lingered in her eyes. "Okay… but what about you? What's your part in all of this?"

Aiden glanced out the window, his jaw tight. "I'm going to make sure we survive the next seven days."

That night, after parting ways with Mira, Aiden found himself back in his dorm room, sitting cross-legged on the floor. His body thrummed with energy, the adrenaline of the day refusing to let him sleep. His mind kept replaying the conversation with Mira. There were too many unknowns now, and the System had added layers of danger he hadn't anticipated. The stakes were higher than before, and Mira's involvement complicated everything.

But one thing was clear: he couldn't afford to fail. Not again.

He opened his System Interface and reviewed his status.

[User: Aiden Hoshino]

Level: 1

EXP: 0/50

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 4

Intelligence: 7

Skills: None

Special Quests: Mira's Awakening (In Progress)

His stats were embarrassingly low, a stark reminder of how weak he was now compared to the warrior he had become in the previous timeline. He needed to level up—and fast. The monsters that would appear in seven days were too strong for him to handle as he was now.

But there was a solution. Dungeons—hidden, powerful locations that would start appearing in secret throughout the city. If he could find one, he could farm low-level monsters and gather items to accelerate his growth before the Cataclysm began.

Aiden stood up, determination hardening his features. I need to be stronger.

[New Objective: Locate a Dungeon Before Day Four.]

Time Remaining: 72 hours.

Reward: 200 EXP.

The next morning, Aiden made his way through the streets of Tokyo. The city was still buzzing with life, completely unaware of the looming catastrophe. People went about their daily routines, laughing, commuting, living ordinary lives. It all felt like a dream to him—a dream about to shatter into a nightmare.

He followed the path in his mind, a memory from his past life. The first hidden dungeon would appear in an abandoned subway station on the outskirts of the city. No one knew it was there, not in this timeline. But Aiden did.

The System chimed as he arrived at the crumbling entrance to the old subway line.

[Dungeon Detected: Sub-Level 0 – Shadow Lurkers' Nest.]

Recommended Level: 1-3.

Perfect.

Aiden descended into the darkness, his heart pounding with the thrill of what was to come. This was where it started—where he would reclaim his power. The creatures lurking inside would be weak, but they'd give him the experience and loot he needed to begin leveling up again. And with each battle, he'd get stronger, inching closer to the man he needed to be.

He unsheathed a rusty dagger he had picked up from a pawn shop earlier that morning. It wasn't much, but it would do for now.

The air in the subway was thick with dust and decay. The flickering lights barely illuminated the narrow passage ahead, but his vision adjusted quickly. Aiden could feel the presence of monsters, lurking in the shadows just beyond his sight. Shadow Lurkers—small, fast, and dangerous in groups, but nothing he couldn't handle.

[Objective: Clear the Shadow Lurkers' Nest.]

Reward: 300 EXP.

Aiden took a deep breath, his grip tightening on the dagger. This is it. Time to fight his way back to power.

He stepped forward, deeper into the dungeon.