The "Deep Rust" was a graveyard of the old world. Skeleton-frames of skyscrapers were draped in heavy, smog-stained tarps, creating a makeshift city beneath the ruins.
Elara led Chronos into the basement of a collapsed library. Inside, a dozen orphans and elders huddled around a flickering heater. When they saw the glowing Mana Bead in Elara's hand, the air in the room changed from despair to reverence.
"Stay here," Elara whispered. "They won't talk to outsiders, but they'll die for me. You're safe."
Chronos nodded, but he didn't sit. He found a quiet corner and closed his eyes, sinking his consciousness back into the First Void.
[Mana: 45/110 (Regenerating...)]
[Apostle Link: Elara (Active)]
[Shared Mana Flowing: +0.5 per minute]
"System," Chronos thought. "Elara is a C-Rank now, but she has no training and no weapon. If we're hitting the Iron Vault, she can't just throw static sparks."
[Creator, you have 5 unspent Attribute Points. Would you like to assign them?]
"Put 3 into Intelligence and 2 into Willpower."
[Ding! Intelligence: 18 -> 21]
[Willpower: 12 -> 14]
[Calculation Speed Increased by 15%.]
[New Passive Unlocked: 'Architect's Eye' – You can now see the structural weaknesses of any object.]
Chronos opened his eyes. The basement changed. He no longer saw just "rubble." He saw the stress points in the ceiling, the flow of mana in Elara's body, and the impurities in the rusted knife she had dropped.
"Elara, come here," he commanded.
The girl approached, her new C-Rank mana making her movements fluid and predatory. "What is it?"
"Your power is Lightning-based, but your body isn't tempered to handle the voltage. You're leaking energy through your skin. It's inefficient."
He reached out and touched her forehead.
[Initiating 'Apostle Modification'.]
[Cost: 20 Mana.]
Inside the Void, the [Black-Hole Needle] vibrated. Chronos channeled a sliver of its gravitational density through the soul-link and into Elara.
"Don't fight it," he warned. "I'm creating a 'Conductive Circuit' within your mana veins."
Elara gasped as her veins began to glow with a faint, blue light. The gravity-infused mana acted as a "containment field," forcing her wild electricity to compress into her core.
[Ding! Apostle Elara has learned Skill: 'Static Overload'.]
[Apostle Elara has learned Skill: 'Bolt-Flash Dash'.]
"I... I feel like I can run through walls," she whispered, her hair standing on end from the sheer amount of contained voltage.
"You'll need that speed," Chronos said. He then turned his attention to the pile of scrap metal he had deconstructed in the warehouse.
[Creation Menu: Basic Weaponry]
[Synthesizing: Twin 'Void-Steel' Daggers.]
[Cost: 20 Mana + 100 Metal Essence.]
Two daggers materialized in the air—pitch black, absorbing the light around them. They were forged from the same Star Dust as his planetary core.
"These are linked to my Void," Chronos explained, handing them to her. "They don't have edges. They have Gravity. Anything they touch will be pulled toward the blade, making every swing hit like a mace."
Elara took the daggers. The moment her fingers touched the hilts, she vanished.
CRACK!
She appeared ten feet away, her daggers buried deep in a concrete pillar. The stone around the blades didn't just crack; it was pulled inward, collapsing into dust.
"Gods..." she breathed. "With these... the Iron Vault guards won't even see me coming."
[Warning! Detection Pulse detected!]
[An A-Rank 'Searcher' has been deployed by the City Guard.]
[Location: 2km and closing.]
Chronos stiffened. The Captain from the Awakening Center hadn't given up. An A-Rank Searcher was a professional hunter.
"They're faster than I thought," Chronos muttered. "Elara, we can't wait for tomorrow. We hit the Vault tonight. If we get those fragments, I can reach Level 10 and unlock the first 'Life-Form'. Only then will we have the numbers to fight back."
Elara looked at the shivering orphans in the corner, then back at Chronos. She saw not a boy, but a shadow of something ancient and terrifyingly powerful.
"The Vault has a secondary entrance through the sewers," she said, her eyes flashing with blue sparks. "But it's guarded by a Mechanical Chimera. It's a Rank-D beast made of steel and mana."
Chronos gripped his fist. "A creature made of metal? To a Creator, that's not a monster. That's just raw material waiting to be recycled."
[New Quest: The Chimera's Toll]
[Objective: Slay the Mechanical Chimera without alerting the guards.]
[Reward: +500 Metal Essence, +1 'Ancient Gear' (Rare).]