Started At Zero Novels & Stories

Once Aiden makes up his mind, the rest of us just have to listen. “Fine. What is it?” I asked. He looked me dead in the eye. “If you’re going to bend the rules, do it right. We start from scratch and now we make it 90 days.” I blinked, assuming I had misheard him. “90 days? What do you even mean, start from scratch?” “You changed the deal, so the timeline resets. None of the past days count anymore. We start counting from today and it’s 90 days now.”

"The Sovereign is waking up, Seraphina. The Auditor is realizing that the 'True Zero' didn't work. They’re going to try to Reallocate you. They’re going to try to move you to a sector where I can’t find you." "Let them try," I said, a sudden, sharp spark of the old Seraphina Vance flickering in my soul. I looked at the blank gold coin in my hand. "If I don't have a history, then I don't have a limit. If I'm a True Zero, then I’m the only person in this city who doesn't owe the system a thing." The Resurgence began not with a bang, but with a Default. A siren blared from the Audit Tier—a high-pitched, digital shriek that caused the workers in the street to drop to their knees, their hands ove

"CATEGORY ZERO APPLIES ONLY TO THE FOUNDATIONAL SUBSTRATE." "I am the foundational silence. Without me, the choir is just noise." The Auditor paused. Its spectacles cycled through seventeen calculation modes. "CATEGORY ZERO-POINT-FIVE. DESIGNATION: FOUNDATIONAL INTERVAL. CLASSIFICATION: ESSENTIAL BUT EASILY OVERLOOKED." "Story of my life," the Hollowsmith murmured. The compass settled into true north with the absolute, final, complete warmth of a device that had found the last piece of a puzzle it had been solving since the moment of its creation.

Six months since Zane had stepped out of the tree line and said: there you are. I counted it on a Tuesday morning sitting at the thinking rock with tea, not as ceremony, just as the honest acknowledgment of a significant number. Six months. The founding ground had one hundred and ninety-seven people. Taya updated the calendar with the specific satisfaction she brought to significant numbers. I looked at the founding ground. I thought: six months ago this was a great hall floor and a rejection and silver coming up through my skin. I thought: look at what six months built. The Keeper network at six months:

"You're doing this on purpose! You're getting back at me!" I looked at him through the screen, speaking word by word, "Charles, from the moment you kicked me out, whatever we had was over. I swore that I'd get back at you." Charles went into a frenzy, chucking his phone at the floor. At first, his voice was loud and frantic, but after so long without food and wasting so much energy on screaming and shouting, his voice faded away as well. Through the surveillance, I saw that he'd been completely frozen over like an ice sculpture, and I curled my lips in satisfaction.

He didn’t deserve my forgiveness, not anymore. “Are we ready?” Justin asked, his voice bright with energy. A chorus of cheers and echoes rang through the room, everyone eager, motivated, ready to take on the morning. “Good,” he continued, “now let’s start counting those steps.” He led us out of the building and onto the open road, where the cool morning air carried a faint freshness. The group surged forward, feet hitting the pavement in rhythm.

: 1 HP. :40 Exp. :(60/200) Stats Strength :7 Agility. :5 Endurance. :7 Stamina. :5 Mutation control level : 1 Mutation energy. :(100/100) Mod energy. :(100/100) Family No. : 0 Credits : 1,00,400 Condition. : poor eyesight Build. : thin Combat Strength :24 Skills learned. : None

Marcus “20…” My hand quaked. I don’t know why, but I seemed to have lost my ability to interact as an intelligent being, being a human as I am. The small joints of my fingers seemed to trembled endlessly, like I obtained Parkinson’s disease right after my eyes laid upon the amount in my bank account. If we were to ignore that six hundred dollars balance in my bank account, how many zeroes am I seeing? “One, two, three…” I began to remunerate the zeroes again. I was pretty sure I’ve counted the zeroes like more than a couple times already, but my common senses seemed to be unable to make sense of the amount I’m seeing.

The countdown in the sky was not a light; it was an "Absence." Every time a second ticked away, a small patch of the stars above Neo-Tokyo simply vanished, replaced by a flat, matte black that felt like a physical weight on the chest of every living Alpha. 00:59:42. The "Hard-Reset" had begun, and the Architects were no longer interested in a "Clean Render." They were burning the canvas to kill the painting.

she continues, crossing her long legs. "Housing, food, training equipment, even the oxygen in the premium training rooms—everything costs Points. As a purebred 100% Single Bloodline Awakener, you, Rea, are awarded a starting balance of five hundred Points. Arlo, as a split bloodline, you receive two hundred." I tap my phone, linking my new Academy badge to my bank account. I check the exchange rate and immediately scowl. One Academy Point equals roughly eighteen outside credits. The school is practically robbing us.