[Welcome back, Champion.]

  The next moment, the sensation of his physical body dissolved, replaced by a weightless suspension.

  His consciousness floated in pitch darkness for a heartbeat before reality reasserted itself.

  Light flooded his vision. The smell of damp moss and old stone filled his nose. He stood in a dimly lit, cavernous room lined with green torches.

  ...Floor 1.

  He recognized it instantly. This was the Goblin Dungeon, the starting point of his journey years ago. However, before he could take a step, the world blurred.

  His vision zoomed out, pulling him into a high-speed kaleidoscope of his own memories.

  He watched his entire three-year journey play out in a matter of seconds. He saw himself cutting down the Orc Warlords of Floor 10, trudging through the blinding blizzards of Floor 40, and dodging the magma geysers of Floor 75. Every boss kill, every desperate strategy, and every level-up flashed before his eyes.

  It rushed past even Floor 100.

  Then, the vision cut to black.

  The sensation of speed vanished instantly. Weight returned to his limbs, and the cold texture of stone pressed against his back.

  "..."

  Ryn slowly opened his eyes.

  He sat on a massive, obsidian chair atop a high dais. The air here was thin, smelling of ozone and ancient dust. He looked down at his hands, seeing them clad in the shifting void-metal of the Abyssal Mantle, his endgame gear.

  He was sitting on the Throne of the End.

  A few meters away, amidst a field of shattered tiles, lay the colossal remains of the final hidden boss.

  The Master of the Tower lay motionless, its eight wings broken and its halo shattered, slowly dissolving into purple particles.

  Ryn gripped the armrests, his brow furrowing.

  'Why am I back in the Tower of Trials?'

  He was sitting exactly where he had logged out six months ago.

  This was the secret 101st Floor.

  He vividly remembered the System instructing him to 'Claim the Throne' to trigger the ending sequence after the brutal twelve-hour raid.

  '...Could this be an error?'

  He dismissed the thought immediately. Mirage Corp had sent him a custom pod and identified him by a specific legacy ID. Then, this must be intentional.

  '...Could it be?'

  A realization struck him, sending a thrill through his gamer instincts.

  'Is TOT connected to The Convergence?'

  The implications were massive. It meant the previous game wasn't just a standalone test; it was the prologue to this new universe. His achievements were canonical history.

  He looked around the silent, desolate throne room, waiting for a prompt or a menu to appear. However, only the cold stillness of the dead room greeted him back.

  "Then..." Ryn whispered, his voice echoing in the vast hall. "What should I do now?"

  He stood up from the obsidian seat, the metallic clink of his greaves echoing sharply against the silence. He paced around the corpse of the Master of the Tower, kicking a piece of debris to test the physics engine. It tumbled away with a realistic clatter.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  'System,' he called out internally.

  No response.

  'Main Menu. Character Profile. Settings....'

  He used every command he knew.

  Yet still nothing.

  The air remained dead and still.

  He frowned. '...Logout.'

  The command, usually absolute, dissolved into the void without effect.

  His brows furrowed beneath his cowl. This wasn't a loading error. The developers had intentionally trapped him here.

  "Just what is going on?" he muttered, looking up at the grey ceiling. "What do you want from me?"

  He stared at the empty throne. Panicking would solve nothing. He had once waited three days in a single ambush spot just to kill a wandering boss. He had patience.

  He sat back down, resting his chin on his armored fist. He closed his eyes and waited.

  Ten minutes passed.

  Twenty.

  An hour.

  The silence was deafening, heavy enough to break a lesser will. Most players would have started screaming or spamming skills by now. But for him, the silence brought clarity.

  A faint smile appeared on his face.

  '...I see.'

  ______ ___ _

  Meanwhile, back in the show.

  "We are down to the final stretch," Jinx announced, glancing at the countdown timer hovering in the corner of the studio. "Since the launch hour is almost upon us, let's wrap up this segment."

  He turned to his guest, offering a respectful nod.

  "Maya, before we send these millions of restless souls into the new world, do you have any final words for the competition? Or perhaps for your fans?"

  Maya nodded, shifting her gaze directly into the camera lens. She smoothed her jersey, her expression radiating a calm, regal confidence.

  "Our world is about to change," she said softly. "Everything we know about rank and potential ends today. So, to everyone watching... don't let your past define you in there. I will see you all on the other side."

  "Beautifully said," Jinx smiled, listening intently while keeping one eye on the chat stream to gauge the audience's reaction.

  The feed flowed with a river of hearts, tearful emojis, and promises to join her guild. The sentiment remained overwhelmingly positive, with viewers reluctant to let the interview end.

  Jinx prepared to look away and cue the outro music.

  However, a sudden irregularity in the text flow caught his attention.

  Frowning inwardly, he focused on the stream. The wave of heart emojis had vanished, replaced by a frantic, synchronized wall of text.

  ────────

  [Chat]: CHECK MIRAGE!

  [Chat]: JINX OPEN THE OFFICIAL CHANNEL!

  [Chat]: THEY ARE LIVE!

  [Chat]: MIRAGE CORP IS STREAMING!

  [Chat]: ???

  [Chat]: EMERGENCY BROADCAST?!

  [Chat]: ...

  ────────

  "!" Jinx stopped breathing for a second. The professional smile froze on his face.

  Maya sensed the sudden shift in the atmosphere. She looked at Jinx, noticing the color draining slightly from his face.

  "Jinx?" she asked, her voice low. "Is something wrong?"

  "Wait a moment," Jinx muttered, abandoning his host persona. "The chat is exploding. They are saying... Mirage Corp is live."

  "Live?" Maya blinked. "That's impossible. They have never streamed before. They only communicate through text and post videos."

  "That's what I thought."

  Jinx tapped his desk rapidly, his fingers flying across the holographic interface.

  "Pulling up the official Mirage Corp channel now."

  A massive new screen materialized in the air between Jinx and Maya, overriding the studio graphics.

  As the feed stabilized, both of their eyes widened in genuine shock.

  Mirage Corp was indeed live-streaming.

  The stream title hovered in stark white letters against a pitch-black background.

  [ An End For A New Beginning ]

  Intrigued, Jinx tapped the holographic icon to expand the window.

  "Let's see what they are hiding," he murmured.

  The feed stabilized, filling the space between them with high-definition footage.

  Instantly, their eyes widened.

  They saw a scene that felt hauntingly familiar yet completely alien. It was a desolate, grey hall that smelled of ancient dust even through the screen.

  In the center sat a massive throne of jagged obsidian.

  And sitting upon it was a man, wearing a strange black mask, hiding the top of his face.

  He wore armor forged from shifting void-metal, and a mask covered his face. He leaned his chin on his armored fist, his eyes closed in silent, terrifying meditation.

  Not far away, scattered across the broken tiles, lay the colossal, decaying remains of a six-winged entity.

  "This..." Jinx exclaimed, his voice cracking in genuine shock. "What is happening?"

  This clearly wasn't a trailer. It looked more like raw in-game footage.

  "Who is this?" Maya added, her voice dropping to a whisper. She leaned forward, her sapphire eyes locked deeply onto the menacing figure on the throne.

  The aura radiating from him, even through the screen, felt heavy, suffocating.

  Jinx immediately turned to the chat stream, looking for answers.

  The viewers, who had evidently opened the Mirage stream seconds before him, were already screaming the answer.

  ────────

  [Chat]: IT'S HIM!

  [Chat]: ZERO!

  [Chat]: THAT'S THE BOSS ROOM OF FLOOR 100!

  [Chat]: HE'S ZERO!

  [Chat]: JINX, YOU IDIOT! START FROM THE BEGINNING!

  [Chat]: REWIND IT!

  [Chat]: ...

  ────────

  "Zero?"

  Jinx muttered the name in surprise, turning back to the figure.

  'Gulp.' He swallowed hard, his heart suddenly hammering against his ribs.

  He couldn't help it; beneath the host persona, he was one of Zero's biggest fans.

  Seeing the legend sitting there, alive and tangible, sent a shiver down his spine.

  "He's... Zero?"

  Maya's eyes widened again, her composure cracking.

  "Y-Yeah, it seems so."

  Jinx recovered quickly, his professional instincts kicking in despite the adrenaline.

  "Chat is saying we missed the start," he added, his fingers trembling slightly as he reached for the control bar. "Let's find out."

  Jinx dragged the timeline slider back to the 00:00 mark.

  "Here we go..."