The silence following the Sentinel's disintegration was heavier than the scream that preceded it. Ethan stood in the center of the crater, his hand still tingling with the residue of white light. Around him, the S-Rank dungeon—once a terrifying labyrinth of shifting geometry—now looked like a half-rendered video game.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Current Level: 3]
A holographic interface flickered before his eyes, pulsing with a soft, rhythmic hum.
> [NOTIFICATION]
> You have acquired 'Source Materials' from the Void Sentinel.
> - 1x Compressed Gravity Core
> - 4x Abyssal Chitin Shards
> - 200g Void Essence
>
"Materials?" Ethan whispered, his voice rasping. "I didn't just kill it... I recycled it."
He looked at his palm. Small, crystalline sparks danced across his skin. This was the power of Deconstruct. It wasn't magic; it was the ability to strip reality down to its raw data.
Suddenly, the ground groaned. Without the Sentinel acting as the dungeon's anchor, the mutated S-Rank zone began to collapse. The violet walls cracked, revealing a terrifying, endless vacuum behind them.
[ALERT: Stability of 'Corrupted Zone' is at 14%]
[Warning: Structural collapse imminent. Please exit the Blueprint.]
Ethan turned toward the exit, but his path was blocked by a wall of jagged obsidian. The way he had entered was gone. Any other E-Rank would have panicked, but Ethan's new vision saw something different. He saw the 'seams' in the wall—the mathematical points where the energy was weakest.
He stepped forward and placed both hands on the obsidian barrier.
"I am the Architect," he reminded himself, closing his eyes. "And this wall is just a bad design."
[Skill Activated: Deconstruct (Rank: F)]
A surge of mana drained from his chest, nearly making him collapse. But as his energy hit the wall, the obsidian didn't break; it dissolved into glowing blue cubes that flew into his chest, being stored in a hidden sub-dimension.
[You have gained: 15x Obsidian Fragments]
The path was clear. Ethan ran through the dissolving corridor, the world behind him vanishing into nothingness. He reached the glowing portal of the Gate just as the entire dimension shattered like glass.
He tumbled out onto the cold pavement of the Seoul alleyway, gasping for air. The neon signs overhead felt blinding. Behind him, the jagged tear in reality shrunk and vanished with a quiet 'pop.'
Ethan looked at his hands. They were no longer shaking. For the first time in his life, the world didn't feel like a place he was forced to endure. It was a place he was going to rebuild.
[New Quest Available: The First Blueprint]
[Reward: Class-Specific Weapon]
Ethan leaned against the brick wall and let out a dry, jagged laugh. "Level 3. Just 97 more to go."