The stench of sulfur and rotting flesh in the "Silent Hollow" was thick enough to coat the back of Alex Kane's throat like a layer of grease. It was a cloying, heavy smell—the kind that stuck to your clothes and seeped into your pores, a permanent reminder of the underworld. Alex dragged the heavy alloy collection crate through the black mire, each step a battle against the suction of the mud. The screech of metal against jagged stone echoed through the oppressive silence of the D-Rank dungeon, a lonely, grating sound that seemed to mock his very existence.
At eighteen, the age when most youths were heralded as the vanguards of humanity or celebrated for awakening powerful combat classes, Alex was a "Cleaner." In the rigid hierarchy of the awakened, he was the lowest caste—a carrion eater who followed in the wake of real warriors to pick up the scraps they deemed beneath them.
"Faster, trash king! My boots aren't going to polish themselves with the blood of these wolves. You're lagging behind, and my patience is as thin as your pathetic mana pool."
A heavy, steel-plated sabaton slammed down without warning, pinning Alex's hand into the freezing mud. The pressure was immense, the metal edges digging into his skin, but Alex didn't cry out. He had long ago learned that screaming only fed the ego of bullies. Instead, he remained motionless, staring at the silver-armored figure looming over him like a vengeful god.
Victor Drake, an A-Rank Warrior and the golden-boy heir to the Drake Syndicate, sneered down at him. His polished breastplate reflected the flickering mana-lights of the cavern, and in that reflection, Alex saw his own hollowed, dirt-streaked face. He looked like a ghost haunting his own life.
"SSS-Rank Scavenger," Victor chuckled, the sound rich with a dark, melodic malice. "The System gave you the highest rank in history, the first SSS-tier ever recorded on the Blue Star, and for what? To be a god-tier parasite? To pick up the teeth and fur of monsters we've already slaughtered? You're a cosmic joke, Alex. A mistake in the System's code."
Victor ground his heel into Alex's knuckles, twisting it with a slow, deliberate cruelty before kicking him aside like a piece of refuse. Behind Victor, the elite student team erupted into laughter. These were the "chosen ones," their high-end mana-infused weapons glowing with a shimmering mockery of the sun, illuminating a world Alex was never meant to belong to.
Alex remained silent, his breath ragged and hot in the frigid air. He pulled his hand from the muck, his fingers trembling—not from the biting cold or the pain, but from the searing heat of a countdown burning in his retinas. It was a digital ghost, a flicker of light that only he could see.
[System Synchronization: 98%... 99%...]
It had been stuck near completion for three years, a constant itch in his brain that promised everything and delivered nothing. Until today.
"Victor! Look out! The ceiling!" a mage screamed, her voice cracking with sudden terror.
The cavern floor didn't just shake; it groaned as if the earth itself were being torn asunder. From the jagged, stalactite-studded ceiling, a mountain of shadow and bone descended with the weight of a falling star. The Iron-Hoofed Behemoth, a C-Rank mutated elite that should never have appeared in a D-Rank zone, crashed into the center of the chamber.
The impact sent a shockwave of dust and gore through the air. The beast stood three meters tall, its hide a patchwork of rusted iron plates and pulsating muscle. Its breath was a cloud of corrosive steam that hissed as it touched the wet stone, and its eyes—four orbs of burning orange—glowed with a frenzied, murderous hunger.
"Dammit! It's a mutation! How is a C-Rank Elite here?" Victor's face went pale, his arrogant smirk vanishing in an instant. "Regroup! Defensive formation! Tanks to the front!"
But the Behemoth was a force of nature, not a training dummy. A single, casual swing of its iron-clad hoof sent the front-line shielders flying like broken dolls, their heavy rectangular shields snapping like toothpicks. Panic, sharp and cold, replaced Victor's arrogance. He looked at the heavy reinforced gates of the inner sanctum—the only exit—and then his eyes darted to Alex, who was struggling to stand less than ten meters away.
A cruel, desperate light flickered in Victor's eyes. He didn't need to be faster than the monster; he just needed someone else to be the distraction.
"Alex, do something useful for once in your miserable life," Victor spat. He lunged forward, his palm glowing with a concentrated golden light. [Force Thrust].
The impact hit Alex like a runaway freight train, the kinetic energy slamming into his chest and hurling his fragile body directly into the path of the charging Behemoth.
"Close the gates! Now! Secure the perimeter!" Victor bellowed, not looking back as he dove through the heavy stone doors just as they began to grind shut with a deafening roar.
CLANG.
The seal was absolute. The silence that followed was even heavier than the noise. Alex was alone in the dark, trapped in a stone tomb with a monster that could pulverize granite with a single sneeze. The Behemoth lowered its massive head, its gore-stained horn—longer than a man's torso—aimed directly at Alex's heart. He could feel the heat radiating from the beast, the smell of death closing in.
In the absolute darkness of the cavern, the countdown in his vision finally hit the end of its long journey.
[Synchronization 100%.][Welcome, Host. The Scavenger of the Stars has awakened.][SSS-Rank Talent: Divine Sight — Activated.][SSS-Rank Passive: The Void Hand — Activated.]
The world didn't just brighten; it shattered into a million pieces of glowing data. The gray, suffocating dungeon was suddenly replaced by a kaleidoscope of vibrant, pulsing energy. The corpses of the Iron-Hided Wolves, which Victor had dismissed as worthless offal, began to glow with blinding white orbs of pure potential. To Alex's new eyes, the world was no longer made of rock and flesh; it was made of loot.
[Detected: Strength Attribute Sphere (+5). Pick up?][Detected: Agility Attribute Sphere (+3). Pick up?]
Alex's gaze shifted to a broken longsword discarded in the mud—the weapon Victor had snapped in half during the opening seconds of the raid. It was vibrating with a sharp, metallic violet hue that made Alex's teeth ache.
[Detected: Sharpness Essence (+10). Pick up?]
But the most breathtaking, terrifying sight was the Behemoth itself. At the center of its forehead, amidst the chaotic swirl of its murderous red aura, floated a blood-red sun—a sphere of energy so dense it seemed to warp the very air around it.
[Detected: SSS-Rank Talent Fragment: Unstoppable Force. Pick up?]
The Behemoth roared, a sound that shook the stalactites from the ceiling, and lunged. The massive, jagged horn was inches from Alex's chest, the tip already cold against his skin.
Alex didn't flinch. He didn't cower. Instead, a cold, predatory smile—the first true smile of his life—broke across his face. He reached out his hand, his fingers splayed, not to defend himself, but to grasp the very fabric of the monster's power.
"Mine," he whispered, his voice like grinding stones. "Everything in this room... belongs to me."
The air screamed as the first attribute sphere vanished into his palm, and the hunt began.