Awakening a 10,000x Skill Proficiency Multiplier in the Apocalypse

[Item Analyzed: The Master Key (Mythic)]

[Status: Active.]

[Notice: This item holds the localized root directory for the Tartarus containment grid. Inserting it into the primary control spire will grant full override permissions.]

Sebastian swiped the notification away. He turned his attention to the massive, 8-bit wireframe giant lying on the shattered glass a few yards away.

Prometheus was slowly pushing himself up into a sitting position. The First Admin looked completely out of place in the hyper-realistic, high-definition hellscape of Tartarus. His glowing green pixels shifted awkwardly as he rubbed his massive, blocky wrists where the unbreakable golden cuffs used to be.

”You actually killed it,” Prometheus rumbled. His voice vibrated through the floorboards like a heavily compressed, retro audio file. ”You beat a Level 100 apex defense program to death with your bare hands. Without your administrator privileges.”

”I told you, granddad,” Sebastian smirked behind his cracked porcelain mask. ”I’m a very hands-on manager. Now, I have the key. Where is the lock?”

Prometheus slowly raised a massive, pixelated finger. He pointed toward the far edge of the black glass plateau.

”The central control spire,” the giant explained. ”It overlooks the bridge of light that leads directly to the Core OS. That is the main breaker box for this entire prison dimension. But be warned, Anomaly. Inserting that key will trigger a massive systemic shockwave. The Architects will know exactly what you are doing.”

”They already know what I’m doing,” Sebastian said flatly, shifting the heavy, glowing Master Key under his left arm like a football. ”They tried to lobotomize me ten minutes ago. We are way past the point of subtlety.”

Sebastian gestured with his head. ”Come on, Valerie. Let’s go cause a little property damage.”

They began the walk across the ruined summit.

The plateau was a complete disaster zone. Massive craters dotted the landscape, surrounded by jagged chunks of black glass the size of small houses. The headless, pulverized remains of the three automated metal vultures lay scattered across the floor, still smoking and sparking in the dead air.

”This place is a safety hazard,” Sebastian complained, kicking a piece of curved, depleted uranium armor plate out of his way. *CLANG.* ”OSHA would have an absolute field day in here. Tripping hazards everywhere.”

”I think the literal rivers of boiling magma are a bigger compliance issue, Sebastian,” Valerie retorted. She floated alongside him, her blue light casting long, eerie shadows across the dark glass. She offered a strained, tired smile. ”But sure. Write them up for the messy floor.”

”I’m going to write them up for everything,” Sebastian grunted.

They reached the edge of the plateau.

The view from the summit was absolutely breathtaking in the worst possible way. They were miles above the floor of Tartarus. The sky above was a churning, violent ocean of blood-red fire.

Down below, the prison riot was in full swing.

Sebastian’s [True Sight] easily pierced the hazy, smog-filled distance. Trillions of naked, heavily scarred souls were swarming the landscape like a massive colony of angry ants. They were using the billion iron swords, kinetic rifles, and spiked maces Sebastian had generated to absolutely dismantle the remaining Tartarus Daemons.

*BOOM! RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!*

The faint, distant echoes of gunfire and clashing steel drifted up the side of the mountain. It was pure, unadulterated chaos. The prisoners were dragging the massive, twelve-foot-tall magma brutes to the ground, hacking them into puddles of cooling black slag with sheer, overwhelming numbers.

”Look at them,” Valerie whispered, her glowing blue eyes wide as she stared down at the carnage. ”They’re actually winning.”

”They’re pissed off,” Sebastian corrected, his silver-tinged eyes tracking the movement of the horde. ”When you torture someone for a thousand years and then hand them a shotgun, they tend to get a little aggressive. The system guards don’t stand a chance.”

”It’s a distraction,” Prometheus said. The massive 8-bit giant had lumbered over to join them at the edge of the cliff. He stood tall, his glowing green wireframe body casting a massive shadow. ”The Core OS is currently dedicating fifty percent of its localized processing power just to render the combat logs of that riot. You have blinded their automated defenses.”

”That was the plan,” Sebastian muttered.

He turned his attention away from the riot below and looked to his right.

Sitting at the very edge of the cliff, overlooking an endless, lightless abyss, was the control spire.

It was a sleek, jagged monolith of solid obsidian, standing roughly ten feet tall. It pulsed with thick, bruised-purple data streams that traveled up from the base of the mountain. It was the nerve center of the entire automated torture grid.

And stretching out from the base of the monolith, extending directly over the terrifying abyss, was a bridge made of solid, blinding white light. It was the only pathway forward. At the far end of the bridge, miles into the dark, stood an infinite, seamless white wall.

The firewall of the Core OS.

”That’s our exit,” Sebastian said, his voice dropping into a cold, serious hum. He walked toward the obsidian monolith.

The control spire hummed with a heavy, oppressive magical frequency. As Sebastian approached, the bruised-purple data streams flared aggressively, trying to repel his corrupted, malware-laced avatar. The air grew incredibly dense, feeling like static electricity dragging across his skin.

”System,” Sebastian commanded, tightening his grip on the Master Key. ”Analyze the terminal.”

*BING!*

[Asset Identified: Primary Tartarus Control Spire.]

[Status: Locked.]

[Notice: Requires Master Key authorization to execute realm-wide commands.]

Sebastian stood directly in front of the monolith. At the very center of the smooth black glass was a perfectly spherical, glowing depression. It was exactly the size of the bowling-ball-shaped key in his hand.

”Valerie,” Sebastian said softly, not looking away from the terminal. ”This is going to send a massive shockwave through the local grid. It might disrupt your tether. Brace yourself.”

”I’m braced, Seattle,” Valerie replied firmly. She floated a few feet back, gripping her carved oak staff with both hands. The blue light of her Earth-mana flared brightly, forming a tight, protective halo around her glitching astral form. ”Do it. Pull the plug on this nightmare.”

Sebastian cracked his neck. He felt the phantom pain in his pulverised knuckles throb for a split second, a sharp reminder of the brutal, muddy brawl he had just survived.

He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t offer a dramatic speech to the heavens. He was just a highly optimized IT guy fixing a terrible piece of software.

He raised the glowing white and gold Master Key with both hands. He aligned it perfectly with the spherical depression in the center of the obsidian monolith.

”Let’s see what happens when we hit ’Select All’,” Sebastian whispered.

He slammed the Master Key directly into the slot.

*CLUNK.*

The heavy, physical sound of the key locking into place echoed across the dead summit of the black glass mountain.

——-

*CLUNK.*

The moment the Master Key locked into the spherical depression of the obsidian monolith, the entire dimension of Tartarus seemed to hold its breath.

For one agonizingly long second, absolutely nothing happened. The heavy, oppressive hum of the bruised-purple data streams running through the black glass mountain completely ceased. The fiery, blood-red sky above them stopped churning.

Then, the terminal woke up.

*WHRRRRRRR!*

A deafening, high-pitched mechanical whine erupted from the monolith. It sounded like a massive jet turbine spinning up to maximum velocity. Blinding, pure white light exploded from the seams of the terminal, completely overriding the sickly purple corruption of the prison’s code.

*BING! BING! BING!*

Sebastian’s green Administrator UI flooded his vision with a rapid, cascading series of massive holographic windows.

[Master Key Authenticated.]

[Welcome, System Administrator.]

[Accessing Tartarus Containment Grid... 100%]

[Displaying Active Prisoner Logs: 3,405,812,094,112 Entities Found.]

Sebastian stared at the number. Over three trillion souls. Three trillion deleted players, discarded NPCs, and rogue files currently chained to jagged iron spires, powering the utopia of the Core OS with their infinite, automated agony.

”You guys really are the absolute worst,” Sebastian muttered, his silver-tinged eyes narrowing in pure disgust.

A new prompt hovered in the center of his vision.

[Select Action:]

[1. Purge All Data (Permanent Deletion)]

[2. Increase Harvesting Efficiency (Overclock)]

[3. System Override: Unlock All Restraints]

”You’d think the creators of the universe would have better UI design,” Sebastian complained dryly, waving a black-gloved hand through the holographic menu. ”It took me three menus just to find the release button. Lazy programming.”

He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t weigh the cosmic consequences of dumping three trillion highly traumatized, heavily armed entities into the Ethereal Plane’s server architecture. He just wanted to break the factory.

Sebastian forcefully tapped the third option.

[Command Accepted: Unlock All Restraints.]

[Warning: This action will catastrophically destabilize the Core OS power grid. Proceed?]

”Execute,” Sebastian commanded, his voice a cold, terrifying hum of absolute sovereign authority. ”And tell the Architects to go fuck themselves.”

*BZZZZZT!*

Sebastian ripped his hand away from the console as a massive, violent surge of energy erupted from the monolith.