Kai stood outside the Riverside F-rank dungeon at 2:47 AM, his heart pounding in his chest.
The dungeon entrance resembled a tear in reality—a shimmering vertical pool of darkness that pulsed with a faint purple light. A chain-link fence surrounded it, topped with barbed wire and warning signs.
[ AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY ]
[ MINIMUM LEVEL 3 RECOMMENDED ]
[ ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK ]
Kai had cut through the fence with bolt cutters he had stolen from a construction site. The security guard in the booth nearby was asleep, a half-empty bottle of whiskey sitting on his desk. Riverside was one of the oldest F-rank dungeons in the city—stable, predictable, and largely overlooked by serious hunters.
Perfect for a Level 1 Scavenger with something to prove.
He checked his equipment one last time: a rusty iron knife he had bought at a pawn shop for fifteen dollars, a backpack containing water, a flashlight, and basic first aid supplies, all while wearing his school uniform—because he didn't own anything else.
Not exactly hero material.
His hands trembled as he approached the dungeon entrance. Every instinct told him to turn back. F-rank dungeons were generally considered safe for trained awakeners, but people still died in them.
Goblins, while weak, were vicious creatures that hunted in packs and wielded crude weapons.
And Kai had never fought anything in his life.
But the Metamorphosis System had instructed him to enter a dungeon. To begin his evolution.
He had to determine if it was real.
Taking a deep breath, Kai stepped through the portal.
The world twisted around him.
He stumbled forward, feeling his stomach lurch. When his vision finally cleared, he found himself standing in a damp stone corridor illuminated by glowing moss. The air was thick with the smell of mold and something else—something rotten.
Behind him, the portal shimmered, his escape route.
A notification appeared:
[ DUNGEON ENTERED ]
[ Location: Riverside Goblin Warren ]
[ Rank: F ]
[ Recommended Level: 3-5 ]
[ Monsters: Goblins, Dire Rats ]
[ Boss: Goblin Chief (Level 8) ]
Kai dismissed the notification and drew his knife. The blade felt heavy in his hand. Awkward.
He moved forward slowly, his footsteps echoing off stone walls. The corridor branched ahead—left or right. He chose left arbitrarily.
The tunnel opened into a small cavern. Three goblins squatted around a crude fire, roasting something that might have been a rat. They were small—maybe four feet tall—with green-gray skin, pointed ears, and yellow eyes that gleamed in the firelight.
They hadn't noticed him yet.
Kai's breath caught. His first monsters. His first real fight.
He could still leave. Turn around, walk out, pretend none of this had happened.
But then what? Stay a Scavenger forever? Live as a joke?
No.
Kai gripped his knife tighter and stepped into the cavern.
One of the goblins' heads snapped up. It shrieked—a high-pitched, grating sound—and the other two scrambled to their feet, grabbing crude clubs and rusty daggers.
They charged.
Kai's mind went blank with panic. He raised his knife as the first goblin swung its club at his head. He ducked—barely—and the club whistled past his ear.
The goblin overextended. Kai saw an opening and thrust his knife forward on pure instinct.
The blade sank into the goblin's throat.
Hot blood sprayed across Kai's hand. The goblin made a wet gurgling sound and collapsed.
Time seemed to freeze.
Then the world exploded with notifications.
[ METAMORPHOSIS SYSTEM ]
[ FIRST KILL REGISTERED ]
[ COMBAT MODE: ACTIVATED ]
[ MULTIPLIER: ACTIVE ]
[ Analyzing combat performance... ]
[ Calculating rewards... ]
[ ENEMY DEFEATED ]
[ Goblin Scout (Level 2) ]
[ STANDARD REWARDS: ]
[ XP: 10 ]
[ Copper Coins: 5 ]
[ Item Drop: Goblin Ear (Common) ]
[ METAMORPHOSIS MULTIPLIER: 100x ]
[ ACTUAL REWARDS: ]
[ XP: 1,000 ]
[ Copper Coins: 500 ]
[ Item Drop: Goblin Fang Dagger ]
[ (Uncommon) ]
[ LEVEL UP! ]
[ Level 1 → Level 4 ]
[ All stats increased!
[ +9 Strength ]
[ +9 Agility ]
[ +9 Vitality ]
[ +9 Intelligence ]
[ +9 Wisdom ]
[ +3 Luck ]
Kai stared at the screens in shock.
One thousand XP. From a single Level 2 goblin.
He had jumped from Level 1 to Level 4 with just one kill.
The other two goblins shrieked and charged at him, but something was different now. Kai's body felt lighter, faster, and stronger. His Level 4 stats were already kicking in.
He sidestepped the first goblin's dagger thrust—his movement smooth and almost effortless. His knife flashed out, cutting the goblin across the chest. It stumbled back, bleeding.
The third goblin swung its club at him. Kai blocked with his forearm and felt the impact; it hurt, but not as much as it should have. His increased Vitality was making a noticeable difference.
He kicked the goblin in the chest, sending it sprawling, and then finished off the wounded one with a quick stab.
[ ENEMY DEFEATED ]
[ Goblin Warrior (Level 3) ]
[ STANDARD REWARDS: ]
[ XP: 15 ]
[ Copper Coins: 8 ]
[ METAMORPHOSIS MULTIPLIER: 100x ]
ACTUAL REWARDS: ]
[ XP: 1,500 ]
[ Copper Coins: 800 ]
[ Item Drop: Leather Bracers ]
[ (Uncommon) ]
[ LEVEL UP! ]
[ Level 4 → Level 7 ]
[ All stats increased! ]
[ +9 Strength ]
[ +9 Agility ]
[ +9 Vitality ]
[ +9 Intelligence ]
[ +9 Wisdom ]
[ +3 Luck
Level 7.
Kai's hands had stopped shaking, and his breathing was steady. The fear that had gripped him just moments ago was fading, replaced by something else:
excitement.
The last goblin scrambled to its feet and dashed for a side tunnel, shrieking in terror.
Kai chased it down. His Level 7 Agility made him fast—faster than any normal Level 1 should be.
He caught up to the goblin in three strides and drove his knife into its back.
[ ENEMY DEFEATED ]
[ Goblin Scout (Level 2) ]
[ METAMORPHOSIS MULTIPLIER: 100x ]
[ ACTUAL REWARDS: ]
[ XP: 1,000 ]
[ Copper Coins: 500 ]
[ LEVEL UP! ]
[ Level 7 → Level 9 ]
Kai stood over the goblin's corpse, breathing heavily, not from exhaustion, but from exhilaration.
His stats had quadrupled. His Strength was 32, higher than most Level 15 awakeners. And he had 1,800 copper coins, which was... a lot. Most F-rank hunters made maybe 50-100 copper per dungeon run.
A new notification appeared:
[ NEW SKILL UNLOCKED ]
[ TREASURE SENSE (Active) ]
[ Rank: Rare ]
[ Description: Detect hidden treasures, secret rooms, and valuable items within 50 meters. Higher Luck increases detection range and quality.]
[ Cost: 10 MP per activation ]
[ Duration: 5 minutes ]
[ Note: This skill synergizes with your Scavenger class abilities. ]
Kai blinked in disbelief. A Rare skill? At Level 9?
Most awakeners didn't acquire Rare skills until they reached Level 30 or higher. Treasure Sense was perfect for a Scavenger—especially since it was genuinely useful, unlike the useless Salvage passive.
He activated the skill.
His vision shifted. Golden outlines emerged around the goblin corpses—indicating loot he hadn't collected yet. But there was something else; a faint golden glow emanated from the wall at the far end of the cavern.
Kai walked over and examined the wall. It appeared solid, but his Treasure Sense insisted otherwise. He pressed against the stone, and a section swung inward—revealing a hidden door.
On the other side was a small chamber.
Inside, resting on a stone pedestal, was a chest.
Kai's heart raced. Hidden treasure rooms were rare in F-rank dungeons. Most hunters never found them.
He opened the chest.
[ TREASURE CHEST OPENED ]
[ STANDARD CONTENTS: ]
[ Silver Coins: 5 ]
[ Health Potion (Minor): 2 ]
[ Iron Shortsword (Common) ]
[ METAMORPHOSIS MULTIPLIER: 100x ]
[ ACTUAL CONTENTS: ]
[ Silver Coins: 500 ]
[ Health Potion (Greater): 200 ]
[ Shadowsteel Blade (Rare) ]
[ Cloak of Shadows (Rare) ]
[ Ring of Vitality (Uncommon) ]
Kai stared at the loot in disbelief.
"Is this for real?"
Five hundred silver coins. In the real world, that amounted to fifty thousand dollars. A single silver coin was worth one hundred copper coins, and copper coins exchanged at roughly one dollar each.
He had just found more money than his mom made in a year.
And the equipment—rare items from an F-rank dungeon? That shouldn't be possible. Rare items were typically dropped by C-rank or B-rank bosses.
Kai equipped everything immediately.
The Shadowsteel Blade was a sleek black shortsword that felt perfectly balanced in his hand.
The Cloak of Shadows was a dark gray cloak that seemed to absorb light. The Ring of Vitality was a simple silver band that pulsed with warmth when he slipped it on.
New notifications appeared:
[ EQUIPMENT BONUSES ]
[ Shadowsteel Blade (Rare) ]
[ +15 Strength ]
[ +10 Agility ]
[ Special: Attacks ignore 20% of the enemy's defense ]
[ Cloak of Shadows (Rare) ]
[ +20 Agility ]
[ Special: Blend into shadows, reducing detection by 50% ]
[ Ring of Vitality (Uncommon) ]
[ +10 Vitality ]
[ Special: Regenerate 1% HP ]
[ per minute ]
Kai checked his updated stats:
[.....]
He was stronger than most Level 20 awakeners now. And he'd been in the dungeon for less than thirty minutes.
Kai laughed—a slightly manic sound that echoed off the stone walls.
This was insane.
This was impossible.
This was everything.
He spent the next two hours systematically clearing the dungeon.
With his boosted stats and Rare equipment, the goblins were trivial. He cut through them like paper. Each kill brought massive XP rewards. Each treasure chest he found—and he found seven more with Treasure Sense—multiplied its contents by 100.
By the time he reached the boss room, he was Level 18.
The Goblin Chief was a hulking brute, seven feet tall with scarred green skin and a massive spiked club. It roared when Kai entered, spittle flying from its tusked mouth.
[ BOSS ENCOUNTER ]
[ Goblin Chief ]
[ Level: 8 ]
[ HP: 800/800 ]
[ Warning: Boss monsters are significantly stronger than normal enemies. ]
Level 8. Ten levels below Kai.
The fight lasted thirty seconds.
Kai's agility allowed him to maneuver effortlessly around the Chief's clumsy swings. His Shadowsteel Blade sliced through the boss's thick hide with ease, bypassing 20% of its defense.
When the Chief finally connected with a hit, Kai's vitality and his Ring of Vitality ensured it barely caused him any pain.
The final blow cleanly severed the Chief's head from its body.
[ BOSS DEFEATED ]
[ Goblin Chief (Level 8) ]
[ STANDARD REWARDS: XP: 500, Silver Coins: 10, Boss Drop: Chief's Club ║
[ (Uncommon) ]
[ METAMORPHOSIS MULTIPLIER: 100x ]
[ ACTUAL REWARDS: XP: 50,000 Silver Coins: 1,000 Boss Drop: Warlord's Crusher (Epic)]
[ Bonus: Skill Book - Power Strike (Rare) ]
[ LEVEL UP! ]
[ Level 18 → Level 22 ]
[ All stats increased! ]
[ +12 Strength ]
[ +12 Agility ]
[ +12 Vitality ]
[ +12 Intelligence ]
[ +12 Wisdom ]
[ +4 Luck ]
[ DUNGEON CLEARED ]
[ Riverside Goblin Warren ]
[ Completion Time: 2h 17m ]
[ Clear Rating: SSS ]
[ Bonus Rewards: ]
[ Title: "Dungeon Conqueror." ]
[ +5 to all stats ]
Kai stood in the boss room, surrounded by loot, his entire body thrumming with power.
Level 22.
In just one night.
Most awakeners took months to achieve Level 22, and some even took years.
He pulled up his final status screen:
[.....]
Two hundred eighty-four thousand seven hundred dollars in silver alone, plus another fourteen thousand in copper.
Nearly three hundred thousand dollars.
All from one F-rank dungeon.
Kai's hands started shaking again—but not from fear this time.
It was from the sheer magnitude of what he had discovered.
The Metamorphosis System wasn't just powerful; it was reality-breaking, world-changing. If anyone found out about this, they would hunt him down. Governments would want to study him.
Guilds would want to control him. Enemies would want to kill him before he became unstoppable.
He had to keep this a secret.
He had to be smart.
Kai took a deep breath and began to plan. He would sell most of the loot through anonymous channels, keeping the best equipment hidden. He would level up in secret, pretending to still be a weak Scavenger.
And when the time was right—when he was strong enough that no one could touch him—then he would reveal to the world who he truly was.
He stepped through the dungeon exit portal and back into the cool night air.
The security guard was still asleep.
Kai walked past him, his Cloak of Shadows making him nearly invisible in the darkness.
By the time the sun rose, he was home, his equipment hidden, his money stashed, and his secret safe.
Level 22.
And this was only the beginning.