The adrenaline of the escape was fading, replaced by the crushing exhaustion of the day. The small apartment in District 9 was quiet, save for the hum of the refrigerator.
Eidon sat on the worn couch; Moira sat opposite him on the floor, her legs tucked beneath her, looking up at him with an intensity that unsettled the air.
"Explain it to me," she said softly. "The Shop. You said you bought the world."
Eidon leaned back, rubbing his temples. "The world runs on Credits and Mana Cores. But the System... the System runs on SP. Until today, that currency was invisible. I just made it the global standard."
He waved his hand, though only he could see the interface. "Every monster killed generates value. Before, 90% went to the System maintenance, and 10% vanished. Now? That 10% goes to the killer as SP. But the real trick, Moira, is the transaction fee."
"You tax them?"
"I am the platform," Eidon corrected. "Every potion bought, every sword sold—I get a cut. And since I'm the only one who can generate SP without killing... I control the inflation."
Moira nodded slowly. She didn't care about the economy. She didn't care about inflation or taxes. She just watched the way his eyes lit up when he strategized. It was the look of survival—the same look he had when they were children, standing over their parents' graves, promising her that they wouldn't starve.
"We need to sleep," Eidon said, standing up. "Tomorrow is going to be loud."
He walked toward his bedroom. Moira stood up abruptly.
"Eidon," she called out.
He stopped, hand on the doorknob. "Yeah?"
"I..." She hesitated, her fingers twisting the hem of her oversized t-shirt. Her face flushed slightly. "Can I... stay in there? With you?"
Eidon looked at her.
The golden ring in his iris pulsed.
[ TARGET: Moira Nyx ][ EMOTIONAL STATE: Vulnerable / Nostalgic ][ SURFACE THOUGHT: "The silence is too loud. It reminds me of the funeral. The house was so big and empty after they died. We used to sleep huddled together on the floor just to stop shivering. I want that safety back. I want to know he's still here." ]
There was no tactical assessment about assassins. Just a shared trauma that went deeper than any System class. They were the only family each other had left.
Eidon felt a tightness in his chest. He knew he should say no. He was a grown man, and she was... well, she was Moira. But looking at the stats floating above her head—Strength 140, Vitality 150—he realized that to the rest of the world, she was a weapon. Here, she was just the girl who had cried into his shoulder when the coffins were lowered.
"Okay," Eidon said softly. "Like the old days. But you take the wall side."
Moira's face lit up, a genuine, soft smile breaking through the tension. "I always take the wall side."
They lay in the darkness. It was innocent, chaste, and painfully familiar. Moira fell asleep almost instantly, her breathing syncing with his, her hand loosely gripping his sleeve. Eidon lay awake for a long time, staring at the ceiling, listening to the hum of the city outside, knowing that by morning, everything would change.
Sunlight hit the cheap blinds at a sharp angle, burning Eidon's eyes as he snapped awake. He had dozed off around 4 AM.
Moira was still asleep, looking peaceful for the first time in weeks. Eidon quietly slipped out of bed and walked to the living room.
He rubbed his face and summoned the interface.
[ TALENT: THE UNIVERSAL SHOP (EX-RANK) ][ TIME ELAPSED: 9 HOURS ][ GLOBAL TRANSACTIONS: 14,302 ][ CURRENT SP: 1,240,500 ]
Eidon stared at the number.
One point two million.
In a single night.
He turned on the holographic TV mounted on the wall. The news anchor looked disheveled, as if she hadn't slept either.
"—chaotic scenes at every Dungeon entrance in the capital! The 'Dungeon Rush' began shortly after midnight..."
Eidon ignored the noise and focused on himself. He opened the [ STATS ] category.
He spent the next ten minutes burning through a chunk of his new fortune. He bought 100 points in every available attribute—Strength, Agility, Vitality, Intelligence, Dexterity, Willpower, and Luck.
[ STATUS UPDATED ][ ALL ATTRIBUTES: 105 ][ COST: 70,000 SP ]
He stood up and flexed his hand. The air popped audibly.
He ran the calculations. An average Level 1 Awakener had ~10-20 stats. A standard B-Rank Hunter gained about 10 stats per level. To reach 105 stats, a normal B-Rank Hunter would need to be Level 10.
"I just skipped the first ten levels of grinding," Eidon murmured, feeling the dense power in his muscles. He was physically superior to any rookie in the Academy, and likely stronger than most second-year students. And he was still technically Level 1.
The Awakener's Association - The Round Table Room
The air in the room was cold, conditioned to perfection. Three people sat around the massive table—the Guild Masters of the S-Rank Guilds.
"It makes no sense," Lady Seraphina, Guild Master of the Arcane Lotus, said, her brow furrowed as she looked at a holographic projection of the Shop interface. "My mages have scanned the interface. It's pure System code. It's seamless. It looks like a natural evolution of the world laws."
"Who cares where it came from?" Valerius Ironblood, the Iron Titan of Steel Vanguard, leaned back, picking his teeth with a dagger. "It sells power, Seraphina. Tangible, non-RNG power. Do you see the S-Rank weapons? If I grind enough SP, I can outfit my entire vanguard with Dragon-Tooth Greatswords."
"And the price?" whispered The Silent Walker, the master of the Obsidian Hand. He was barely a silhouette in the corner. "Fifty million SP for a sword. It's efficient, Valerius, but it's cruel. The System has never been this... transactional."
"It's a resource sink," Seraphina muttered. "It's designed to drain us. But why? The System usually encourages growth, not commerce. This feels... directed."
"You're overthinking it," Valerius scoffed. "It's a feature. We use it. We win."
"Is it?" Seraphina narrowed her eyes. "Look at the 'Weekly Special' tab. It's empty. Why would a System update have an empty slot? It implies a choice hasn't been made yet."
District 9 Apartment
Eidon turned off the TV.
"They're confused," he noted, watching the map overlay. "They think it's a System update. They think it's a mindless algorithm."
Moira walked into the living room, dressed in her academy uniform. It was tight in the shoulders—her muscles had grown denser overnight, and Eidon noted with satisfaction that his own uniform was also straining against his new physique.
"Are we correcting them?" Moira asked.
"We need them to know there's an intellect behind this," Eidon said. "If they think it's just a machine, they'll try to exploit it. If they know it's an Admin, they'll try to negotiate. And I want them negotiating."
He opened the [ ADMIN PANEL ].
[ WEEKLY SPECIAL: EMPTY ]
He navigated to the [ ACCESSORIES ] category. He selected a generic container item.
[ ITEM: Random Accessory Box ][ RANK: A ][ CONTENTS: Contains one random Accessory ranging from C-Rank to A-Rank. ]
He set the parameters.
[ PRICE: 25,000 SP ][ QUANTITY: 10 ]
"Now for the message," Eidon murmured.
He tapped on the description box. Usually, this was auto-filled by the System. But as the Admin, he could edit the text.
He typed a single line at the bottom.
[ ADMINISTRATOR NOTE: Supply is limited. Hesitation is expensive. ]
He looked at Moira. "This changes everything. The moment they read that note, they'll know they aren't dealing with a computer."
He pressed [ PUBLISH ].
The Awakener's Association
"We should form a committee to analyze the—" Seraphina began.
DING.
A golden notification flashed in the center of the room, appearing in all three of their visions simultaneously.
[ WEEKLY SPECIAL HAS ARRIVED! ]
[ ITEM: Random Accessory Box (Rank A) ][ PRICE: 25,000 SP ][ QUANTITY: 10 LEFT ]
"A gamble box?" Valerius snorted. "Classic."
"Read the bottom," The Silent Walker hissed, his voice suddenly sharp.
Valerius squinted at the text.
[ ADMINISTRATOR NOTE: Supply is limited. Hesitation is expensive. ]
The room went dead silent.
"Administrator Note?" Seraphina whispered, her face paling. "The System doesn't leave notes. It doesn't use sarcasm. It doesn't warn us about 'hesitation'."
"Someone wrote that," The Silent Walker said, standing up. "A person."
"A person controls the economy?" Valerius stared at the screen. The implications hit him like a hammer. If a person controlled the prices, the stock, the bans... "Who the hell is it?"
While they froze, the counter ticked.
[ QUANTITY: 9 LEFT ]
"Someone bought one!" Valerius roared. "Dammit! I don't care who runs it, I want those rings!"
He frantically mentally mashed the purchase button.
District 9 Apartment
[ QUANTITY: 0 LEFT ][ SOLD OUT ]
[ REVENUE GENERATED: 250,000 SP ]
Eidon closed the interface with a satisfied smirk.
"They know," he said. "And they bought it anyway."
He grabbed his bag, checking his reflection. He looked stronger, sharper. He wasn't the frail boy who walked into the Awakening Hall yesterday.
"Let's go," Eidon said to Moira. "We have school. And I suspect the Academy Director will be very interested in the new world order."