Life went on.

  Almost like nothing had happened.

  Almost.

  I went back to the platform.

  Joined the others. Even cracked a few jokes.

  Everything looked the same… except for one thing.

  I wasn’t.

  Ever since the system awakened, my mornings have followed a pattern.

  I think about the window. It appears.

  It greets me. It waits.

  Sometimes, I close it without doing anything.

  Other times, I let it float there a while—just to remind myself that it wasn’t a dream.

  I haven’t told anyone.

  Not my mother.

  Not my sister.

  And definitely not the other divers.

  Today’s assignment was simple:

  Survey and recover usable scrap from the southern edge of Sector 7.

  Shallow zone. No anomalies reported.

  A beginner’s mission.

  An E-rank mission.

  And that was fine by me.

  They gave me an old tow drone and a slightly oversized dive suit.

  I went down alone.

  No timer this time.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Actually… no timer at all.

  I didn’t want to know how long I could hold my breath.

  I just wanted to dive… and observe.

  The water here was clearer.

  Almost green. Long strands of algae danced like tentacles around me.

  I moved through the ruins of a submerged hangar.

  The walls were coated in coral and rusted moss.

  Broken machinery. Melted tools. Panels with markings in forgotten languages.

  Nothing special.

  And yet—something triggered.

  A low beep echoed in my head.

  Then the window appeared again—

  Even though I hadn’t called it.

  This time, it looked different.

  Reddish tint. Flashing softly.

  [ New Quest Available ]

  Title: First Expedition

  Description: Leave the authorized perimeter and find the Sirenium Core.

  Risk: Low

  Reward: +150 XP | +1 stat point

  Accept? [YES] / [NO]

  A Sirenium Core?

  I froze midwater, staring.

  I’d never heard of it.

  Sirenium… it sounded like a legend. Or some old tech jargon.

  The kind of word you only find in classified reports or drunk diver stories.

  And why was the system asking for this now?

  I didn’t think too long.

  [YES]

  The interface blinked once—

  Then disappeared.

  Nothing happened for a few seconds.

  Then a glowing arrow appeared in front of me, suspended in the water.

  It pointed toward a crevice in the structure.

  A dark hole, just wide enough to squeeze through.

  I wasn’t ordered to go down there.

  But I was alone.

  And I’d accepted.

  So I went.