The day started normally for Kayn, but it ended far differently. That night, his father showed up carrying a strange leather book in his hands.
He handed it to Kayn and said, "You have to keep this. Come, let's hide in the bunker."
They had money—so, of course, they had a bunker stocked with supplies in case of disaster. That was standard for the rich.
Kayn had no idea why his father was so desperate.
"What happened?" he asked.
Yuri, his father, grabbed him by the arm and led him toward the bunker. As they hurried, he explained.
"I told you I'd find a way for you to get stronger," Yuri said. "This is a legendary book found in one of the dimensional gates. It probably contains a powerful ability for you."
Kayn's face lit up. This was great news. While his friends had awakened their mana and gained extraordinary abilities, he remained a 'normal' human. The only thing he had over them was his money.
"That's amazing! But why are we running and hiding?"
"I stole this," Yuri admitted. "And now, people are after us. You need to hide."
The situation was far more complicated than Kayn had realized. His father led him to the hidden bunker. Kayn stepped inside, but Yuri did not follow.
"I need to make sure they don't track you here," his father said. "Stay put for a few days. Don't use the internet, or they might find you."
"B-But—"
Before Kayn could finish his sentence, his father locked the bunker door and left.
Kayn stood there, at a loss.
He had enough supplies to last a long time and a few DVDs to keep him from dying of boredom.
"At least I finished school. Otherwise, people would've gotten suspicious if I suddenly stopped going," he thought.
His eyes fell on the book in his hands. He tried to open it, but nothing happened. It was as if magic protected it.
Even after using all his strength, the book refused to budge. Eventually, he gave up and placed it on one of the many tables inside the bunker.
Days passed. Kayn expected his father to return with good news, but he never came.
Worry started creeping in.
"Could something have happened to him?" he wondered.
With nothing else to do—he'd already watched enough DVDs to last a lifetime—Kayn picked up the book again.
This time, something changed.
The moment he touched it, a powerful force surged through his body. Suddenly, his vision shifted. Things once invisible to him came into focus—strings of blue energy flowing in the air around him.
"I-I can see mana!" he gasped.
And then, a voice echoed in his head.
[Mana Awakened]
[Analyzing user to determine the most suitable system...]
[Crypto System Unlocked]
Kayn had been trading Crypto for years—his father had taught him everything. It was one of the reasons he had so much money.
"A system suited to me? A Crypto System? What the hell does this do?" he thought.
He was eager to test it out. Anyone would be.
But the world changed forever before he got the chance.
Most people didn't know what happened, but he did. The system told him.
[An ice dragon, bigger than Earth, is attacking. All humans will be frozen to death. Some may survive.]
A massive dragon, larger than the planet itself, had appeared. For some reason, it had decided to freeze all of humanity with its breath.
Why? Was there a reason for its arrival? Or was this all just some cruel coincidence?
Kayn sat on the couch and waited. He knew there was nothing he could do.
Seconds later, a freezing gust blasted through his bunker, shattering the door. The icy wind hit him, and his body turned to stone-like ice.
The same fate befell all humans across the globe.
It only affected humans. 99% died instantly. The remaining 1% survived, but were frozen solid.
Kayn's consciousness faded. It felt like he was dreaming.
And so, 15,000 years passed…
For some reason, the ice around Kayn's body shattered.
He was back.
Blinking multiple times, he struggled to process what had happened. His mind felt sluggish, as if waking from a deep, endless dream.
Minutes passed before he finally moved.
"I-I'm back!" he gasped. "How long has it been?"
Deep down, he had believed he was dead. The system had gone silent, never speaking to him again. That silence had terrified him—it felt like the end.
But now, as he took a shaky breath and felt air fill his lungs, he knew he was alive.
Looking around, he was met with ruin. The bunker was in shambles. His once-stocked supplies had long since spoiled, the air thick with decay. Rats and insects scurried in the corners, having made this place their home.
They must have found a way in over time. Kayn shuddered at the thought—if he hadn't been frozen, they might have eaten him alive.
Vines and moss clung to the bunker walls, nature reclaiming what was once his shelter. Seeing the overgrowth, the sheer state of decay, he knew an immense amount of time had passed.
How long? He had no idea.
Only time would give him that answer.
Pushing himself to his feet, Kayn made his way toward the exit. The path was blocked—overgrown with vegetation and layers of earth. It took him nearly half an hour to force his way out.
And then, finally, he emerged.
The world was completely different.
Kayn couldn't even spot his old house—it was gone, replaced by a dense forest stretching endlessly in every direction.
Everything had changed. It felt as if he had stepped into an untamed continent, a world untouched by civilization, waiting to be explored.
A wave of helplessness washed over him. His father… gone.
Kayn sank to the ground, leaning against a tree. He cried. For a long time.
The thought of finding his father felt like a distant dream, an impossibility. He knew, deep down, that the chances of Yuri still being alive were close to zero. The weight of that realization crushed him.
"But there's a chance he's still alive, right? I mean, I survived—so maybe he did too!"
That thought gave him a sliver of hope, and he clung to it. Maybe he was lying to himself, but it was better than drowning in despair.
Taking a deep breath, Kayn wiped his tears and stood up. He needed to check the system he had received.
The moment he opened it, he was stunned.
There were two main features unlocked:
The first was a status screen, where he could see his current spells, summons, and equipped items.
The second was the shop.
And the shop had everything. Spells, weapons, rare items—all of it available for purchase. Most were in the form of loot boxes, and one immediately caught his eye:
[SSS-Rank Summon Loot Box]
He remembered how one of his friends had awakened an A-rank summon and wouldn't stop bragging about it. But an SSS-rank summon? That was on an entirely different level.
Not only that, but he could also buy spells and unique items that granted special abilities. The system had even more functions, but many were still locked.
And then, he saw how he could earn Crypto—through missions.
His first quest had actually been completed without him even realizing it.
[Stand still for 1 day = 1 Crypto]
[Stand still for 1 week = 4 Crypto]
[Stand still for 1 month = 10 Crypto]
[…]
Kayn had been frozen for 15,000 years.
The system rewarded him 500 Crypto coins just like that.
And that was more than enough to buy a loot box containing only SSS-ranked summons.
On the very first day of his return, he would obtain an SSS-ranked summon.