The violet light died down, leaving the air humming with static.
Kael opened his eyes and blinked. The endless grey wasteland of the Sanctum was gone—or at least, blocked from view.
Standing before him was a structure of pure, matte-black stone. It wasn't a house. It was a bunker. The walls were thick, jagged, and seamless, as if the entire building had been carved from a single block of obsidian. There were no windows, only a heavy iron blast door that looked strong enough to stop a tank.
[ Construction Complete: Personal Sector (Tier 1). ] [ Durability: Indestructible within Sanctum. ]
Kael walked up to the door. It recognized his bio-signature and hissed open, sliding into the wall with a heavy mechanical thud.
Inside, the air was cool and filtered. The floor was polished black stone. The "furniture" was sparse—a simple bed with white sheets, a massive storage chest made of iron, and a desk with a glowing blue terminal built into the surface.
It was cold. It was barren. It was perfect.
"Finally," Kael exhaled, stepping inside. For the first time in weeks, his shoulders dropped. Here, no drone could scan him. No assassin could track him. He was a ghost in his own machine.
He sat on the edge of the bed. It was firm, but compared to the lumpy mattress in his apartment, it felt like a cloud.
"Okay, System," Kael said, rubbing his face. "I'm E-Rank. I have a base. Now I need to plan. Show me my gear status."
A holographic window popped up.
[ EQUIPMENT STATUS ]
Chest: Scavenger's Leather Vest (Status: RUINED).
Durability: 0/50.
Weapon: Iron Dagger (Status: DESTROYED).
Durability: 0/40.
Boots: Worn Combat Boots.
Durability: 12/30.
Kael frowned. "Open inventory."
He reached into the void-pocket and pulled out his weapon. Or what was left of it.
The dagger he had used to kill the Void Stalker was no longer a dagger. It was a twisted lump of slag. The blade had melted, fused to the hilt, and warped into a unrecognizable shape. The heat of the Void Sever had liquefied the steel in seconds.
He threw the useless metal onto the floor. It clattered loudly in the empty room.
"Great," Kael muttered. "I have a god-tier skill that melts my own weapon."
"Correction," the Codex's voice echoed from the walls. "You have a god-tier skill that melts trash weapons."
The shadow figure materialized near the desk.
"You are an E-Rank entity wielding S-Rank concepts. Did you expect store-bought cutlery to hold the Eternal Ashfire? You might as well try to hold lava in a paper cup."
Kael glared at the shadow. "So what do I do? I can't afford high-end gear. Even with the tournament money, a D-Rank sword costs thousands of gold."
"And a D-Rank sword would shatter in three swings," the Codex countered. "You do not need a sharper blade, Kael. You need a vessel. You need a Soul Weapon."
The terminal on the desk flickered to life. A blueprint rotated on the screen—a sword, but it looked jagged, organic, as if grown from crystal rather than forged.
"To wield the Ashfire, the metal must be conductive to Void Energy. Standard steel resists the void. You need ore that has already been broken."
[ Quest Generated: The Blacksmith's Burden ] [ Objective: Acquire "Abyssal Ore" (3kg). ] [ Location: The Weeping Mines (D-Rank Dungeon). ] [ Reward: Unlock "Soul Forge" feature. ]
"The Weeping Mines," Kael read the location. "That's a restricted zone. The Protectors closed it down two years ago because the ambient toxicity was too high for standard hunters."
"Toxicity is just spicy air," the Codex dismissed. "But deep in those mines, beneath the acid pools, lies ore that has absorbed mana for centuries. That is what we need."
Kael stood up, walking over to the storage chest. He opened it—it was empty, a dark void waiting to be filled.
He realized his predicament. To get the weapon he needed, he had to clear a D-Rank dungeon. But to clear a D-Rank dungeon, he needed a weapon.
"I can't go in there bare-handed," Kael said. "I need a temporary fix."
"The Sanctum can synthesize a temporary blade," the Codex said. "Using the leftover scrap from your melted dagger and the residual energy of the Void Stalker."
[ Crafting: Shadow-Shard (Fragile) ] [ Cost: 100 System Points. ]
Kael checked his balance. He had exactly 110 points left from the tournament rewards.
"Do it," Kael ordered.
The terminal buzzed. A panel slid open on the desk, and a mechanical arm whirred to life, laser-etching a shape from raw mana and the scrap metal Kael had thrown on the floor.
Seconds later, a weapon sat on the desk.
It wasn't a sword. It was a shiv—a jagged, ugly piece of dark grey metal, about eight inches long. It looked crude, but it vibrated with a faint violet hum.
[ Item: Shadow-Shard ] [ Rank: E ] [ Durability: 10/10 (Will break after extended combat). ]
Kael picked it up. It was light. It felt brittle. But it was sharp enough to cut skin.
"One dungeon," Kael whispered, turning the shard in his hand. "I have to clear the mines before this thing snaps."
He walked to the mirror hanging on the back of the blast door. He looked at himself—bruised ribs, torn clothes, holding a piece of scrap metal. He didn't look like a hero. He looked like a desperate survivor.
"Perfect," Kael grinned.
He turned to the Codex. "Set the coordinates for the Weeping Mines. I need a weapon that hates the world as much as I do."
[ Destination Locked. ] [ Prepare for Departure. ]