A heavy, absolute silence fell over the plaza, broken only by the crackle of burning mana radiating from my crimson eyes. Yoon Sul was still hyperventilating on the ground, staring up at me as if I were a ghost. Before he or Minsoo could utter a word, a sharp tear rippled through the fabric of the air.
A familiar figure stepped leisurely out of a shimmering spatial rift.
Kale.
The low-tier system guide casually adjusted his tailored suit, his sharp eyes instantly scanning the fractured asphalt, the shattered transit pillars, and finally, the colossal, dissolving corpse of the Chain-Bound Abomination. When his gaze slid over to me—and the lingering draconic crimson flaring within my irises—his usual smug grin briefly cracked.
For a fraction of a second, pure, unadulterated shock flitted across his face.
"Well, well, well," Kale murmured, recovering his composure with a sharp, dramatic clap of his hands. A mocking, slow applause echoed through the desolate plaza. "Color me absolutely fascinated. A C-Rank Regional Boss... dead? And on the third day of the tutorial? I must congratulate you. Truly, what a spectacular little anomaly we have here."
He stepped over the trembling Yoon Sul without a second glance, stopping a few paces away from me. His smile turned razor-sharp, dripping with condescending amusement.
"To be completely frank with you, I expected all of you to die here," Kale said, gesturing casually to the ruins around us. "Statistically speaking, the survival rate for Sector 4-B at this exact hour was projected at a clean zero percent. You humans usually spend the first three days crying for your mothers or trampling each other to death. Yet here you are, standing on top of a corpse that should have pulverized your fragile little bones."
A loud, resonant chime echoed directly
inside our minds, drowning out Kale's mockery.
[A system administrator has verified your achievement.]
[Calculating rewards for defeating Regional Boss: Chain-Bound Abomination...]
[Distributed Rewards: 5,000 System Points, 10 Unallocated Stat Points, and 1 High-Grade Skill Box.]
Before the notification could even fade, a massive, translucent golden screen materialized in the center of the plaza, casting a bright glow over our faces.
System Update: The Regional Item Shop is now permanently unlocked for Sector 4-B.]
[Current Account Balances are now tradeable.]
"Consider those rewards a small token of the system's amusement," Kale sneered, tapping the floating shop interface with a manicured finger. "The item shop is officially open for business. Buy your shiny new toys, patch up your little scratches, and enjoy the momentary rush of feeling powerful."
He leaned in closer, his golden eyes narrowing into twin slits of pure malice.
"But don't get comfortable. You managed to match the baseline requirements for a C-Rank brute through sheer luck and sequence-breaking antics. But the tutorial is barely warming up. Let's see if you can actually keep those heads attached to your shoulders, because the upcoming events? They won't just be harder. They will be an absolute, unmitigated bloodbath."
With a mocking tip of his hat, Kale stepped backward, his body dissolving into a swarm of digital pixels as he vanished back into the system's network, leaving us alone with a ticking clock and an open shop.
The golden glow of the menu interface illuminated the sweat and grime on our skin. Minsoo let out a long, shuddering breath, lowering her crowbar as she looked at me. "Oppa... we actually did it."
"Hey... wait..."
A weak, trembling voice came from the dirt. Yoon Sul was pushing himself up onto his knees, his hands shaking so violently he could barely keep his balance. He stared at the massive pile of monster ash, then at the floating system screens, and finally up at me. Through my Dragon's Eyes, the numeric values of his stats and his inactive 'Gamer' class code were still flashing faintly above his head.
"You... you killed that thing," Yoon sul
stammered, his eyes wide with a mix of terror and desperate realization. He crawled forward a few inches, clutching at the hem of my jacket like a stray dog begging for scraps. "Please. You saw what that guide guy just said. The next events are going to be a bloodbath. I-I have a special class. The system gave me something called a 'Gamer' class, but I can't... I can't move my legs when those things look at me! If you protect me, I can figure out the system's math for you! I can help you win!"
I looked down at his pathetic, shivering form. In the past timeline, this man had looked down on everyone from a throne of unearned glory. But right now, his broken, rule-bending class was a resource too valuable to simply leave rotting in the dirt. If I left him here, he would die, and a legendary tool would go to waste. If I took him, I could control him, mold him, and use his broken game-mechanic logic to completely dismantle the future constraints of the system.
Your math doesn't mean anything if you're dead before you can cast a spell, Yoon Sul," I said coldly, though my hand moved to tap the air before me. "But I don't plan on carrying dead weight. If you want to survive, you obey my every command. No exceptions."
Yoon Sul nodded frantically, his face pale but a desperate glint of hope returning to his eyes. "Yes! Anything! I'll do whatever you say!"
With a flick of my wrist, I summoned the system's group mechanics.
[Would you like to form a Party?]
[Inviting Entity: Yoon Sul...]
[Party Formation Complete. Current Members: 3]
Stand up, Yoon Sul," I commanded, pulling my jacket out of his weak grip as I turned my attention back to the glowing rewards hovering in my personal inventory. Ten unallocated stat points were already resting safely in my bank, but my focus was drawn entirely to the ornate, purple-hued chest sitting in my mental queue.
[Would you like to open the 'High-Grade Skill Box'?]
Open it, I commanded.
The box shattered into a brilliant burst of violet light, revealing a single, ancient-looking skill book bound in weathered leather.
Congratulations! You have acquired the Active Skill: 'Mana Circuit Overdrive' (Rank B).]
[Skill Description: For 30 seconds, forcefully overclock your physical mana paths to double the effectiveness of your highest attribute. Current cooldown: 10 minutes.]
[Warning: Continuous usage causes temporary muscle strain.]
A grim smile slowly spread across my face. Double my highest attribute. Right now, my Agility was at 30. Activating this skill would temporarily push my speed to a staggering 60—a tier of movement speed that shouldn't even exist until the mid-stages of the apocalypse. Combined with the predictive sight of my Dragon's Eyes, my combat lethality had just skyrocketed.
I closed the prompt and opened the freshly unlocked Regional Item Shop. A cascading wall of weapons, armor, and potions filled my vision. I bypassed the flashy, locked high-tier tabs and zeroed in on the melee weapons section.
My steel crowbar had done its job, but against harder armor, it was going to deform. I needed an edged weapon.
My eyes locked onto a sleek, silver-alloyed blade pulsing with a faint blue aura.
[Item: Reinforced Steel Infantry Blade (Rank D)]
[Description: A military-grade standard weapon infused with minor kinetic stability runes. Sharper and infinitely more durable than standard earth metals.]
[Cost: 1,500 System Points]
1,500 points. It was an astronomical price tag for this stage of the apocalypse, considering a standard zombie only yielded a meager 10 to 20 points. Most survivors wouldn't be able to afford a simple bandage, let alone a real weapon, for weeks. But with the 5,000-point bounty from the boss sitting in my wallet, I didn't hesitate.
Purchase.
A heavy weight materialized in my right hand. The blade was perfectly balanced, the hilt wrapped in a high-friction dark grip that felt like an extension of my arm. I gave it a swift, quiet test swing, the wind whistling sharply against the edge. Through my Dragon's Eyes, I could see the kinetic runes humming softly, ready to bite through flesh and bone.
I looked back at the golden menu screen, the harsh reality of the apocalypse settling into my chest. System points were no longer just a digital score. They were the new global currency. Food, water, weapons, safety—everything was locked behind a paywall dictated by cosmic entities.
Soon, paper money would be worthless kindling. When humanity finally realized that points were the literal line between life and death, the remaining fabric of civilization would tear completely. People wouldn't just hunt monsters anymore. They would do whatever it took to harvest points. They would betray their friends, sell out their families, and actively hunt down other humans just to claim their balances.
The true bloodbath wasn't just about surviving the monsters Kale was sending. It was about surviving the monsters humanity was about to become.
"Minsoo, Yoon Sul," I said, my voice echoing with a new level of quiet authority as I sheathed the blade at my waist. "Get ready. We're going to use the rest of the shop to stock up on consumables. Kale wasn't lying about what comes next, and I