A chiming sound broke the stillness of the Granite Tunnel. It wasn't the screech of a bug or the rumble of the earth. It was a cheerful, synthetic ding that seemed utterly out of place in the soot-stained bunker.
Ji Han froze, his chopstick—a sharpened splinter of Isopod shell—hovering halfway to his mouth.
A holographic window expanded in the air, glowing with a soft, friendly blue light that cut through the gloom of the Long Night.
[Global System Announcement] [Tutorial Progress: 12 Hours Complete!]
Ji Han stared at the text. He lowered his chopstick slowly.
"Twelve hours," he whispered. The words felt foreign in his mouth.
[Global Status Report] [Surviving Lords: 99.8%] [Average Cultivation: Mortal (Level 0)] [Highest Cultivation: Mortal (Level 0)] [Top Achievement: "First Fire" (Claimed by Lord 8824)]
"First Fire?" Lin Qinghe asked, leaning forward. She squinted at the floating text. "What does that mean?"
"It means someone outside managed to rub two sticks together," Ji Han said, his voice flat. "It means they are celebrating lighting a campfire."
He looked around his own domain. The walls were lined with tons of charcoal harvested from a dead world. The floor was paved with the crushed shells of monsters. He was wearing a suit of heavy plate armor made from a tank-sized insect. He had survived a nuclear summer and was currently surviving an arctic winter. He had killed hundreds of beasts.
And the System was celebrating 12 hours.
"They are sleeping," Ji Han realized, a dark, hysterical laugh bubbling in his chest. "Right now, billions of them are sleeping in the grass, safe inside their barriers. The sun is setting for the first time for them. They think this is a game."
He looked at his own hands—scarred, calloused, stained with blue blood and soot.
"I have lived half a year while they finished breakfast."
[System Note: You are currently ranked #1 in "Combat Experience" (Hidden).] [System Note: You are currently ranked #1 in "Suffering" (Hidden).]
Ji Han swiped the notification away. It didn't matter. The comparison was meaningless. They were playing on "Easy Mode." He was in the "Eternal Domain."
RUMBLE.
The ground beneath them shuddered. It wasn't the door this time. It wasn't the walls.
It was the floor.
"The Yin Pool," Lin Qinghe hissed, her eyes snapping to the sealed hatch that led down to the limestone hollow.
"They aren't at the door," Ji Han grabbed his War Pick. "They're coming up from the basement."
The granite slab sealing the vertical shaft jumped. A blast of freezing air shot up, instantly condensing the moisture in the warm tunnel into a cloud of fog.
"The seal!" Ji Han roared. "They broke the lower seal!"
The Hive Mind had learned. It realized the upper door was reinforced with Isopod armor. So it had gone back down, swarmed the Yin Pool, and battered the floor from below.
A black, wet shape shot out of the fog.
It wasn't a beetle. It wasn't an Isopod.
It was long, segmented, and moved with a terrifying, fluid grace. It had hundreds of legs, but unlike the Frost-Bone Centipede, this one was sleek, dark, and covered in mucus.
[System Notification: Enemy Detected.] [Shadow-Swimmer Myriapod (Level 2).] [Ability: Amphibious / Stealth.]
"Level 2!" Ji Han shouted. "Same rank as me!"
The Myriapod didn't screech. It hissed, a sound like water hitting hot oil. It coiled around the central pillar of the spiral ramp, its dark scales absorbing the firelight.
It wasn't mindless infantry. It was an assassin.
It lunged for Lin Qinghe.
"No!"
Ji Han didn't swing his pick. He tackled the beast.
CRASH.
Two hundred kilograms of armored human slammed into the monster. They rolled across the floor, crashing into the pile of dried roots. The Myriapod thrashed, its legs raking against Ji Han's Bastion Plate.
SCREECH-SCRAPE.
The armor held, but the force was crushing. The beast coiled around Ji Han, squeezing.
"Constriction!" Ji Han gasped. The pressure on his ribs was immense. His Bone Density +0.5 groaned under the strain.
He couldn't swing his weapon. His arms were pinned.
The Myriapod's head loomed over him. Its mandibles were needle-thin, designed to pierce soft tissue. It aimed for his neck—the only gap in his armor.
"Use the Fire!" Lin Qinghe screamed.
She grabbed a burning log from the fire pit. She didn't throw it. She ran forward and jammed the burning wood into the creature's exposed underbelly.
HISSSSSS.
The mucus on the beast's skin boiled. It shrieked, thrashing wildly. Its grip loosened for a split second.
That was all Ji Han needed.
He ripped his right arm free. He didn't have his pick. He had his gauntlet—the one reinforced with Isopod Claws.
"Get. Off."
He punched.
THUD.
He punched the creature in the side of the head. The heavy impact cracked its chitin.
THUD.
He punched again. Blue blood sprayed.
THUD.
He didn't stop. He channeled all his Qi into his fist. Earth Qi for weight. Centipede Qi for cold.
He pummeled the Level 2 beast until its head was a pulp of black meat and blue shell.
The coiling stopped. The legs twitched and went still.
Ji Han shoved the carcass off him. He rolled onto his back, gasping for air. His armor was dented. His ribs ached.
"Level 2," Ji Han wheezed. "They have elites now."
He looked at the hole in the floor. More shapes were moving in the fog below.
"They aren't just sending soldiers anymore," Ji Han said, standing up unsteadily. "They are sending the Royal Guard."
He looked at the cheerful blue system notification that was still floating in the corner of his vision.
[Tutorial Progress: 12 Hours Complete!]
Ji Han picked up his War Pick. He smashed the holographic window, shattering the light into pixels.
"Tutorial's over," Ji Han growled. "Seal the hole."