The streets were silent now—eerily so. Cars flipped, smoke curling from their engines, buildings collapsed into crooked teeth of concrete. I moved quietly, careful not to step on glass or bones, and then I saw it:
a half-collapsed train station, the entrance dark as a throat.
The air reeked of burnt oil and iron. I tightened my grip on the rebar and stepped inside.
The lights flickered weakly, buzzing like dying flies. Every time the bulbs blinked, I caught glimpses—dozens of bodies sprawled across the platform. Human. Monster. Hard to tell which was which anymore.
The walls were splattered black. Claw marks gouged into the tiles. Benches torn apart. The ground was soaked with something dark that didn't reflect light anymore.
"This… wasn't a fight," I muttered. "It was a f*cking massacre."
There were traces of explosions, melted floor tiles, holes the size of cars. And yet—no living thing in sight. Not even rats. Just silence and that horrible flicker of dying light.
I crouched beside one of the monsters—a scaly humanoid thing, like a failed experiment between a gorilla and a Komodo dragon. Its chest was split open clean. Whoever killed it, wasn't normal.
And there it was again, that faint purple glow inside its ribcage.
A shard.
I grinned, muttering, "Hello, baby number two."
I pulled it out, and the light dimmed as the shard dissolved into dust.
[ +1 Aether Shard ]
"Nice. Real nice."
I moved to another corpse, and another, and another. By the time I finished, I had three shards—from three different monsters, all roughly the same D-rank type as the one earlier.
"Three shards from one stop? Man, this is easier than gacha luck."
The system didn't say anything, but my confidence sure did. I tucked the shards safely, my smile widening.
Ten shards didn't sound so bad anymore. Maybe I'd finish my first quest before nightfall.
Then the flickering lights went out completely.
I blinked into the darkness. "...Huh?"
Nothing.
Just the faint dripping of something in the distance.
The kind of silence that presses against your chest.
"Damn, I should've brought a flashlight." I exhaled, voice trembling slightly. "How the hell am I supposed to collect my babies now?"
Something creaked.
A sharp metal groan echoed from the far end of the platform.
Every muscle in my body locked up.
"...Shit."
The sound came again. Louder this time. Something was moving—slowly, deliberately—its claws scraping the tiled floor.
Sweat poured down my neck. My heartbeat pounded so hard it felt like my ribs were going to break. I wanted to move, but my legs refused.
"Please be the wind," I whispered. "Please be a f*cking rat—"
Then the light flickered once. Just once.
And in that split second of brightness, I saw it.
A silhouette.
Tall.
Hunched.
Breathing.
It was standing at the end of the platform, its glowing yellow eyes staring right at me.
"F*ck this!"
Without a second thought, I opened my portal. The air tore apart in front of me with a hiss, swirling like black smoke. I jumped through it so fast I didn't even remember landing.
I hit the grass of my realm face-first, gasping, trembling all over. My shirt was soaked with sweat. My hands shook so badly I almost dropped the rebar.
"Holy shit… holy shit holy shit holy shiiit—"
I lay there for a while, just breathing. The empty field around me was dead silent, as if mocking me.
I almost peed myself.
No, scratch that—I was this close.
I stared up at the purple-tinged sky of my realm, clutching the rebar like it was a security blanket.
"So much for being the f*cking protagonist," I muttered. "I'm just another idiot who got lucky once."
The system didn't reply, of course. It never did when I needed it to.
All I had now were four shards in total… and a reminder that I wasn't ready. Not yet.
I rolled onto my back and stared up at the faint bubbles floating across the realm's ceiling—tiny glimmers that looked like stars trapped in glass.
This world felt empty, cold, and endless. My world.
And I didn't know what the hell to do with it.
"What the hell am I even doing?" I said out loud, the words echoing faintly. "I've got a rebar, a broken knife, and four damn shards… How am I supposed to be a god with that?"
The silence mocked me.
I sat up and yelled, "System, open my Authorities!"
A faint blue panel blinked into existence.
[Authority Menu – Locked]
Access Denied. Insufficient Progress.
Please complete Tutorial Objective: Acquire 10 Aether Shards.
"...Are you f*cking kidding me?"
I scrolled through the menu anyway—locked, locked, locked, all locked. Titles, construction, summoning, even messaging. All gray. I couldn't even rename my own damn realm.
"Is this really a tutorial?" I muttered. "A tutorial with fcking death monsters outside? Fck, I'm gonna die before I even finish this."
I rubbed my face and sighed, trying to laugh it off, but it came out shaky.
The realm was so quiet it made my thoughts louder.
I thought of the city—burning, broken. The way that old man erased that monster like swatting a fly. The way everyone else had powers that could destroy buildings while mine was basically "manage your backyard."
But then I clenched my fists.
This realm might be useless now, but it was mine.
And I'd turn it into something they'd all remember.
"Ten shards," I whispered. "Just ten. I can do that. Easy."
The wind blew across the empty field, whispering through the grass.
I stared at the dark sky, the bubbles reflecting faint shades of blue and purple. They looked almost like windows to other realms. Other gods.
I wasn't sure if that made me excited or terrified. Probably both.
For now, though, I just laid there — exhausted, pissed off, and somehow more determined than ever.
If this was the tutorial…
Then the real game better be ready for me.