The stairwell of the Aris Tower smelled of floor wax and copper. The copper scent was fresh—blood, atomized in the air, drifting up from the lower floors.
Kaelen stood on the landing of the 41st floor, staring at the heavy fire door. Beside him, Jerry was hyperventilating, clutching a stapler like it was a holy relic.
"Okay," Jerry wheezed. "Okay. We go down. We go outside. We find the police. The National Guard. Someone has to be handling this."
"The National Guard is currently being liquidated," Kaelen said, his voice flat. He wasn't trying to be cruel; he was simply reading the scrolling ticker of death notifications in the corner of his peripheral vision.
[Regional Notice: Joint Base Lewis-McChord has been purchased by the 'Iron-Blood Syndicate'.] [Transaction Complete. 4,000 Units converted to biomass.]
"We aren't going to the police, Jerry. We are going to the only place that matters: The Tutorial Zone marker." Kaelen pointed a slim finger at the air, tracing a blue line only he could see. "But first, I need to audit my own books."
Kaelen focused on the skill scroll he had looted from the Void Scavenger. It was a roll of parchment that felt like human skin, cold and leathery.
[Item: Skill Scroll - Void Step] [Grade: E] [Effect: Allows the user to step into the sub-layer of reality for 0.5 seconds, bypassing physical matter and damage.] [Cost: 10 Mana per use.]
Kaelen frowned. "I have zero Mana."
He looked at his status again. [Mana Capacity: Null]
"System," Kaelen subvocalized. "Explain. How can I use a skill with no fuel?"
[Class Analysis: The Auditor] You do not possess Mana storage. You operate on a Credit Line.
You may spend Mana you do not have. This creates [Entropy Debt]. Current Credit Limit: 50 Mana. Interest Rate: 10% Health per minute until Debt is cleared.
Kaelen's lips curled into a dry smile. Of course. It was a credit card. He could cast spells on credit, but if he didn't pay it back by killing things (generating entropy) or liquidating assets (mana stones), the System would come for his health.
" predatory lending," Kaelen muttered. "I can work with this."
He crushed the scroll. It turned into black ash and seeped into his skin.
[Skill Learned: Void Step]
"Let's move," Kaelen said.
They descended.
Floor 40 was empty. Floor 39 was empty, but there was a scorched outline of a receptionist on the wall.
Floor 35 was a war zone.
As Kaelen pushed open the door to the landing, the sounds of chaotic fighting slammed into them. The open-plan office of the Marketing Department had been turned into an arena.
Six people—coworkers—were huddled behind a wall of overturned desks. They were throwing staplers, chairs, and panic-induced fireballs at a group of intruders.
The intruders weren't monsters. They were Goblins. But not the small, green fodder of fantasy novels. These were "Scrap-Goblins." Their skin was grey and studded with rusted metal bolts. They wore armor made from street signs and car tires.
[Entity: Scrap-Goblin Looter] [Grade: F+] [Value: 20 Mana Stones]
There were three of them. They were cackling, swinging jagged metal pipes. One of the marketing interns, a guy named Dave who usually stole Kaelen's yogurt, was holding his hand out. A small, sputtering flame hovered over his palm.
"Stay back!" Dave screamed. [Skill: Ember Bolt].
The fire flew, hitting a Goblin in the chest. The Goblin screeched, patting out the fire, but it didn't die. It looked annoyed.
Kaelen watched from the doorway. He activated [The Ledger's Eye].
The world shifted into a grid of blue and red numbers.
He looked at Dave. [Unit: Dave (Marketing)] [Class: Pyromancer (Common)] [Mana: 2/40] [Status: Panic Exhaustion]
Dave was broke. He had blown his mana budget on ineffective attacks.
He looked at the Goblin leader. [Entity: Scrap-Goblin Leader] [HP: 85%] [Stamina: 120/150] [Asset: Kinetic Shielding (Passive)]
"They're going to die," Kaelen stated.
Jerry grabbed Kaelen's arm. "We have to help them! That's Dave!"
"Dave is a liability. He has no mana left," Kaelen noted, pulling his arm away. "But... the Goblins are currently solvent. I can't Foreclose on them unless they overspend."
"What are you talking about?" Jerry shrieked.
"I need them to make a mistake," Kaelen said calmly. "Wait here."
Kaelen stepped out from the stairwell. He didn't run. He walked into the marketing department, his dress shoes clicking on the linoleum.
The Goblin Leader noticed him instantly. It snarled, banging its pipe against a desk.
"New meat!" the Goblin rasped in broken Common.
Dave looked up, hope in his eyes. "Kaelen! You're alive! Do you have a class? Hit them with something!"
"I'm afraid I'm in an administrative role," Kaelen said, stopping ten feet from the Goblin. He adjusted his glasses. "However, I would like to negotiate a settlement."
The Goblin blinked. Then it laughed—a wet, hacking sound. It charged.
Kaelen didn't move. He watched the numbers.
Distance: 8 feet. Speed: 12 m/s. Predicted Impact Force: Lethal.
The Goblin raised the pipe. Kaelen saw the energy spike.
[Enemy Skill Activation: Heavy Smash] [Cost: 15 Stamina]
The Goblin swung.
At the exact moment the pipe should have crushed Kaelen's skull, Kaelen whispered, "Charge it."
[Skill: Void Step] [Debt Incurred: 10 Mana]
Kaelen flickered. The pipe passed through his head like he was made of smoke.
The Goblin stumbled, its momentum carrying it forward, off-balance. It had expected resistance, bone and gristle to stop its swing. Meeting nothing threw its equilibrium into chaos.
Kaelen materialized behind the Goblin.
"You overextended," Kaelen said.
He placed a hand on the Goblin's exposed back.
[The Ledger's Eye] analyzed the creature instantly. The stumble had cost it balance. It was flailing, trying to correct itself, burning Stamina rapidly to stop its fall.
Stamina Reserve: 90... 85... 80...
It wasn't enough. The Goblin wasn't in debt yet. It still had resources.
I need to increase its burn rate, Kaelen thought.
"Jerry!" Kaelen shouted without looking back. "Throw the stapler!"
Jerry, bless his panicked heart, obeyed blindly. He hurled the heavy metal stapler from the doorway. It sailed through the air and beaned the Goblin Leader right in the ear.
-1 HP.
It was a pathetic amount of damage. But it made the Goblin furious.
The Goblin roared, its skin turning a flushed red.
[Enemy Status Effect: Berserk Rage] [Effect: Strength +50%, Stamina Consumption +200%]
"There it is," Kaelen whispered.
The Goblin spun around, swinging wildly at Kaelen, screaming in a frenzy. Swing. Miss. Swing. Miss. Swing. Miss.
Kaelen dodged backward, just using simple footwork now. The Goblin was burning 30 Stamina a second in its rage.
Stamina: 40... 10... 0...
The Goblin swung one last time. It had no stamina left. But the [Berserk] status forced the body to move anyway. It was borrowing from its Life Force to fuel the movement.
[System Alert: Entity borrowing against HP to sustain action.] [Technical Insolvency Detected.]
A red 'X' appeared over the Goblin's chest.
"Your credit is no good here," Kaelen said.
[Skill: Foreclosure]
Kaelen snapped his fingers.
The Goblin froze mid-swing. The red flush on its skin turned instantly necrotic grey. The "loan" it had taken from its own biology was called in instantly, with interest.
Its heart stopped. Its muscles liquefied.
The Goblin collapsed into a pile of grey sludge and armor.
[Audit Successful.] [Liability Seized.] [Gained: 20 EV.] [Gained: 5 Mana Stones.] [Debt Cleared: Your personal Mana Debt is reset.]
The other two Goblins stopped looting the desks. They stared at their leader, who was now a puddle. They looked at Kaelen, who was wiping a speck of sludge off his tie.
They dropped their pipes and ran. They scrambled toward the window, diving out into the void rather than face the man in the suit.
Kaelen exhaled, feeling the cold sweat on his back. That had been close. If the Goblin hadn't entered the Berserk state, Kaelen would have had to whittle it down physically, and he had the muscle mass of a spreadsheet.
The office was silent.
Dave crawled out from behind the desk. He looked at the sludge. He looked at Kaelen.
"What class is that?" Dave whispered. "Necromancer? Warlock?"
"Accountant," Kaelen said.
He walked over to the sludge and picked up the Mana Stones. They were small, glowing blue crystals.
[Current EV: 170] [Global Rank: 1 (Falling)]
Kaelen looked at the survivors. Six people. Low potential. F-Grade classes. But... they were resources.
"Listen to me," Kaelen addressed the room. His voice carried the authority of a boardroom meeting. "The lobby is a kill zone. The elevators are traps. If you stay here, you will be liquidated."
"What do we do?" a woman from HR asked, trembling.
"You work for me," Kaelen said. "I need porters to carry Mana Stones. In exchange, I ensure you don't go bankrupt."
Dave stood up. "You just one-shot a boss monster, Kaelen. I'm with you."
"Good." Kaelen checked his watch. "We have 15 minutes before the next wave of integration. Grab anything sharp. Let's go."
As they moved toward the stairs, a new notification chimed. This one was different. It wasn't blue (System) or red (Audit). It was Gold.
It filled Kaelen's entire vision, blocking out the hallway.
[THE GREAT AUCTION: LOT #492-EARTH] [BIDDING HAS COMMENCED]
Bidder 1: The Myriad beast Sect bids 1,000,000 Cosmic Credits for the continent of "Africa." (Intent: Hunting Grounds). Bidder 2: The Gearwork Orthodoxy bids 500,000 Cosmic Credits for the "Silicon Valley" infrastructure. (Intent: Scavenging).
Kaelen stopped. They were parting out the planet.
Then, a specific notification flashed for him alone.
[ALERT: HIGH-VALUE ASSET DETECTED]
Interested Party: Lord Vex of the Ninth Citadel. Observation: Lord Vex has noticed the unique anomaly [The Auditor]. Bid: Lord Vex offers Exclusive Sponsorship to Unit: Kaelen Vance. Terms: Surrender your free will. Become the Treasurer of the Ninth Citadel. Sign-on Bonus: Ascend to D-Grade instantly.
A "Yes/No" prompt hovered in the air.
Jerry bumped into Kaelen's back. "Kaelen? Why did you stop? What's that gold light?"
Kaelen looked at the offer. D-Grade. That was godlike power compared to what he had now. He could survive. He could live in luxury while Earth burned. All he had to do was become a slave to a high-tier warlord.
He looked at the "Yes" button.
He looked at the "No" button.
He looked at the third option that his [Auditor] class revealed—a hidden clause in the contract text that only he could see.
Clause 4a: Upon signing, the Unit's soul becomes collateral for Lord Vex's outstanding debts to the Void Bank.
"He wants a scapegoat," Kaelen realized. "He wants to dump his bad assets onto me."
Kaelen smiled. It was a vicious, predatory smile.
He pressed No.
[Offer Rejected.] [Lord Vex is displeased. Bounty posted on Unit: Kaelen Vance.] [Bounty Value: 5,000 EV.]
"Kaelen?" Dave asked nervously.
"Change of plans," Kaelen said, stepping into the stairwell. "We're moving faster. I just made us very popular."
"How popular?"
"About five thousand points worth." Kaelen checked his Credit Line. "Let's go find some more Goblins. I need to raise my credit limit."