The Awakening Error - The system's Greatest Error

The world around them twisted. The serene courtyard they had woken up in warped into something else entirely—an arena that stretched into the horizon, its very foundation shifting like a living organism. The sky turned dark, crackling with an unseen force. Ethan and Ronan tensed.

Veyrn stood before them, hands clasped behind his back, his piercing gaze scanning them with an unreadable expression.

"You want to learn under me?" His voice was calm, yet it carried a weight that sent a shiver down Ethan's spine. "Then prove to me that you are worth my time. I have never taken disciples. You will be the first… if you survive."

A flick of his fingers.

The ground beneath them shattered.

The Test Begins

Instantly, the battlefield changed. What was once solid terrain broke apart into hundreds of floating platforms, each shifting erratically. Some moved in patterns, others teleported unpredictably. Gravity twisted; one step too far in the wrong direction, and they could plummet into an abyss.

Then came the constructs.

Towering behemoths of obsidian and metal emerged from the chaos. Their bodies pulsed—mass itself rippling within them like a controlled storm. Ethan and Ronan immediately understood: these weren't simple opponents.

Veyrn wasn't just testing their strength. He was testing their adaptation.

Ethan's instincts flared as one of the massive constructs swung down, the sheer weight of the strike distorting the very air. He dodged just in time—but something was wrong. The attack was faster than it should've been.

Ronan reacted too late. One of his clones barely managed to shove him aside before being obliterated.

"What the hell—?!" Ronan gasped.

Ethan narrowed his eyes. Then it clicked.

Mass wasn't static.

Veyrn was shifting the weight of the constructs at will.

A strike that should've been slow due to its size had its mass reduced—allowing it to move with unnatural speed—only for it to instantly regain its full weight the moment it connected.

"This is insane," Ronan muttered.

Ethan gritted his teeth. They weren't fighting mere enemies. They were fighting a battlefield that was actively evolving against them.

Adapt or Die

Ronan's clones spread out, each one with a different trait: Super Speed, Enhanced Senses, and Aura Creation. He had figured out his ability during their last battle, but now he needed to push it further.

One of his clones vanished—moving at speeds impossible to track—before appearing behind a construct and striking. The hit connected, but the damage was negligible. Worse, the construct absorbed the kinetic force and reflected it back, sending shockwaves through the air.

Another clone attempted to disrupt its movements with an aura blast—but the mass around the construct simply warped, nullifying the force.

"They're countering everything!" Ronan shouted.

Ethan exhaled sharply. Think. Think. He couldn't overpower these constructs. He had to resonate.

Closing his eyes for a split second, he reached out—not towards the constructs, but towards the force itself. The shifting weight, the momentum, the way mass bent to invisible rules…

Then he moved.

The next attack came—an earth-shaking slam aimed directly at him. Instead of dodging, Ethan matched the shift in mass, allowing the impact to pass through him as if he were weightless. Then, just as quickly, he reversed it, amplifying his own density and delivering a devastating counter-blow.

The construct cracked.

Ronan saw it and immediately adapted. His clones no longer attacked randomly. Instead, they targeted the exact moments when the constructs shifted weight, striking at their weakest points.

One by one, the constructs began to fall.

The Final Trial

The last construct loomed before them. Unlike the others, it did not attack. Instead, the arena collapsed, leaving only a single narrow bridge beneath their feet.

Veyrn's voice rang out.

"You've adapted well."

A shadow fell over them. The construct's body expanded—not in size, but in mass. The very air became dense. Ethan and Ronan struggled to move. Their own bodies felt crushed by invisible pressure.

"Let's see if you can endure."

The construct descended.

Ronan's clones couldn't even manifest—the sheer weight in the air disrupted his ability. Ethan's resonance flickered, his connection strained under the overwhelming force.

"Move—!" Ethan shouted.

Ronan gritted his teeth. "We can't! Our bodies—!"

Ethan's mind raced. Veyrn's test was not about power. It was about understanding.

Resonance wasn't just about adapting to external forces—it was about controlling the connection. If mass could shift, then so could he.

With a final breath, Ethan forced his resonance to sync—not with the enemy, but with himself. He tuned his own mass—not to resist, but to become one with the force.

And then—he moved.

The world blurred. The crushing weight vanished. Ethan surged forward, weaving through the collapsing battlefield, his body flowing like an extension of the shifting mass itself.

Ronan's eyes widened. "How—?"

"Sync with it!" Ethan shouted.

Ronan growled. If Ethan could do it, then so could he. Summoning the last of his strength, he forced his clones into a single synchronized state. Their traits overlapped, fusing for just a moment—enhanced senses guiding his speed, his aura bending the force away from him.

Together, they broke through.

Ethan's final strike resonated through the battlefield. The last construct shattered into nothingness.

Silence fell.

Then, Veyrn clapped.

Acknowledgment

"You learned faster than I expected," Veyrn said.

Ethan collapsed to his knees, gasping for air. Ronan was barely standing, his body trembling from exhaustion.

Veyrn stepped forward, his expression unreadable. "You grasped it. Not fully, but enough." His gaze flickered between them. "Your potential is real."

Ethan forced himself to look up. "Then… you'll train us?"

For a long moment, Veyrn was silent.

Then—he smiled.

"Your real training begins now."