Chapter 2 Developer Item
Axel faced his first truly shocking experience.
"Haaah… okay, let me summarize this. First, I got thrown into the game Aetherion Fall, an MMORPG. Second, I was summoned near a raid boss area where even the weakest mobs are already high-level. Third, I'm level 1."
Axel let out a long sigh. "Amazing. Truly amazing."
He opened his system inventory again.
"So the unused items are two Black Hole Bombs. As far as I know, Black Hole Bombs are overpowered items. But when activated, you're supposed to have a skill or spell that lets you teleport a long distance away. So why would Fuji give this to a beginner player?"
Axel paused, thinking carefully.
"Wait. First, let me check the item description. Maybe Fuji had another intention when he gave me this bomb."
Black Hole Bomb
A bomb that pulls all entities within a 1 km radius toward a single point, sucking them in and killing them instantly.
(Fuji Special: After activating the bomb, you will automatically be teleported 1.5 km away from the activation point.)
Axel let out a breath of relief.
"Phew… that's good. Fuji, it looks like I owe you my life."
He looked around at the biome filled with rivers of lava and erupting flames, then opened his map once more.
"If this is the raid boss Calamity Fire Dragon, then does that mean I'm in the territory of Xaldrith Emberland? And if I remember correctly, every raid boss has a level that exceeds the maximum player level, since they're meant to be defeated together."
Axel then opened his status window and checked his list of titles.
"Is there really no one else in this world besides me? And this title, Irregular Existent… it allows me to surpass the maximum level cap. That's an incredibly powerful title. But neither I nor my previous teams ever created a title like this."
His gaze shifted to the second effect listed under the title.
"And then there's this second effect that caught my attention Presence Blur. It says I'm not bound by the fate of this world, and that higher entities will sense my abnormality. Is it because I come from another world that I obtained this title?"
Axel let out a breath and coughed as the scorching air burned his lungs.
"But first, I need to find shelter. This heat is seriously "
A system notification suddenly appeared before him.
Congratulations! You have obtained a passive skill: Low Fire Resistance (1/10).
Axel's eyes lit up.
"Oh? I unlocked a passive skill? That's good. Maybe it's because I've been enduring the heat of this region."
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, his expression turning serious.
"But if I get any closer to the raid boss, my HP might start dropping rapidly just from being near it. And right now, my HP has only decreased by "
He glanced at his status window.
HP: 100 → 80
"Wow!!! I didn't even notice my health dropping. I was too lost in my thoughts."
He clenched his fists.
"I need to get out of this place. Every 30 seconds I spend in this region costs me one HP. But since I just obtained Fire Resistance, maybe now it's only one HP per minute?"
Axel quickly left the area, doing everything he could to put as much distance between himself and the raid zone.
"Ugh… the terrain here is really difficult. There's lava everywhere, and these rocks are hard to climb over."
The ground trembled faintly beneath his feet. Then, from the distance, he heard it
A dragon's roar.
His heart nearly stopped.
Without wasting another second, Axel dashed behind a massive boulder and crouched low.
"Mmff "
He covered his mouth tightly with his hand, trying to suppress even the sound of his breathing so he wouldn't be detected.
But Axel had miscalculated.
The dragon possessed an incredibly sharp sense of smell. And compared to a level 80 creature, a mere level 1 existence like Axel was practically glowing like a beacon in the dark.
To the dragon, detecting him was effortless.
"DAMN IT!!! I have to run huff… huff…!"
Axel's boots slammed against the cracked volcanic ground as he sprinted, nearly slipping on loose gravel. His lungs burned with every ragged breath, hot air searing his throat like he was inhaling flames. Sweat poured down his face, stinging his eyes, but he didn't dare slow down.
Behind him, the dragon's wings beat once just once and the force alone sent a shockwave through the air. The ground trembled violently under its weight. To the creature, Axel wasn't an enemy he was prey.
"If I get hit by even one bite or a single blast of its fire, I'm dead huff… huff…!" Axel gasped, his voice breaking between breaths. "Maybe… maybe this is the time to use that item!"
He gritted his teeth and the translucent system window flashed open in front of him, nearly blocking his vision as he leapt over a stream of bubbling lava. His shaking finger slammed against the inventory slot.
Black Hole Bomb.
In an instant, the heavy metallic sphere materialized in his palm. Axel tightened his grip around it
"This is insane… but I don't have a choice!"
He twisted his body mid-run, boots skidding across stone as he forced himself to turn and face the monster. The dragon's enormous shadow swallowed him whole. Its molten eyes locked onto his trembling figure.
He raised the bomb, thumb hovering over the activation seal
But it was too late. The dragon's jaws snapped shut around him.
"UAAGGHHHHH!!!!! IT HURTS IT HURTS SO MUCH!!!"
A sickening crunch echoed in his ears. Fangs pierced through his side, tearing flesh effortlessly. The sensation was overwhelming white-hot pain exploding through his nerves, stealing the air from his lungs. He could feel the pressure of each tooth, the heat of the dragon's breath, the coppery taste of blood filling his mouth.
This wasn't like a game no dulled sensation no safety filter this was real.
A translucent red notification flickered through his blurring vision.
Warning: You are afflicted with the Bleeding effect.
Warm blood streamed down his body, dripping from the dragon's fangs. His HP plummeted rapidly in the corner of his sight. His hands felt numb. His consciousness wavered.
"So this… is what dying feels like…?"
For a split second, fear clawed at his heart but then his eyes sharpened.
"No… I'm not dying here."
With trembling, blood-soaked fingers, Axel forced his arm to move. Every motion sent another wave of agony through him, but he bit down on a scream and endured it. Slowly painfully he slid his thumb under the bomb's safety latch.
Click.
Using the last of his remaining strength, Axel twisted his body despite the dragon's crushing bite and shoved the activated bomb straight toward its open maw.
His face twisted with fury and desperation.
"EAT THIS!!!"
In an instant, the bomb emitted a deafening, metallic hum so loud it felt like the air itself was vibrating. A tiny black point appeared above it, no bigger than a marble at first.
Then it expanded.
The space around it distorted, twisting unnaturally as if reality itself were being pulled inward. A dark sphere formed in the sky, swallowing light. The wind began to spiral violently, dust, rocks, and even chunks of lava slowly lifting from the ground.
Everything was being dragged toward that single black point.
"W-When do I get teleported ?!" Axel forced out through clenched teeth.
Before he could finish his sentence, a brilliant light enveloped his entire body. It wrapped around him like a protective veil. His blood-soaked figure began to shimmer, the edges of his form flickering like a broken signal.
Little by little, his body started to fade.
His legs disappeared first. Then his torso. Then his outstretched arm.
And in the next second
He vanished.
Axel reappeared 1.5 kilometers away from the black sphere.
He collapsed to one knee the moment his feet touched the ground.
His entire body was drenched in blood. A deep, horrifying wound gaped across his abdomen where the dragon's fangs had pierced him. His breathing was shallow and uneven, each inhale sending a stabbing pain through his chest.
He could barely remain standing.
His vision swayed as he forced his trembling hand to open his status window.
HP: 10 → 7 → 5
The numbers dropped before his eyes.
"Damn it… am I… going to die again…?"
His voice was barely a whisper.
The pain overwhelmed him. His legs finally gave out, and his body hit the ground with a dull thud. The world around him blurred into darkness as his consciousness slowly slipped away.
He didn't know whether he would survive this.
But one thing was certain
The Black Hole Bomb was still active.
The black point in the sky continued to expand larger and larger until it became a massive sphere of darkness that devoured even the surrounding light. The air roared as everything within a 1-kilometer radius was violently dragged toward its center.
The terrain was torn apart.
Rivers of lava bent unnaturally, spiraling upward as if gravity itself had been reversed. Massive boulders cracked, shattered, and were ripped from the ground. The very land of Xaldrith Emberland collapsed inward.
Countless dragons were pulled into the void, their roars of fury turning into distorted screams as their enormous bodies were crushed and erased within the black sphere.
And not even the raid boss was spared.
The Calamity Fire Dragon level 2500 struggled fiercely, its colossal wings beating with enough force to flatten mountains. Flames erupted from its body in a desperate attempt to resist the pull.
But it was useless.
The black hole did not discriminate.
With one final, earth-shaking roar, the legendary raid boss was dragged into the darkness and instantly annihilated.
Silence fell over the ruined land.
In truth, a black hole was classified as extremely high-tier magic far beyond what ordinary players could ever wield.
But the Black Hole Bomb Axel possessed was something entirely different.
Fuji, the creator of the item, had added a feature so absurdly broken that it completely bypassed the system's logic and level restrictions. It ignored balance, ignored scaling, and even ignored the fundamental rules of the world itself.
It was not an item meant for players.
It was something that existed on the level of a developer.
A so-called Developer Item a tool capable of breaking the game's system itself.
Axel had already lost consciousness, completely unaware of the catastrophe he had just unleashed.
His body lay motionless on the scorched ground, blood slowly drying against the volcanic dust. His breathing was faint, barely noticeable.
Meanwhile
The system went insane.
Notifications began flooding in endlessly, ringing out over and over inside his mind like a broken alarm that refused to stop.
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Again.
And again.
And again.
Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up!
Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up!
Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up!
Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up! Level Up!
The notifications flooded his system relentlessly, stacking faster than they could even be processed. Experience points from countless high-level dragons and a level 2500 raid boss poured entirely into a single level 1 player.
If Axel had been awake, the overwhelming barrage of alerts would have driven him mad. The constant flashing windows, the deafening system chimes, the rapid stat increases it would have been unbearable.
Ironically, he was lucky.
Because he was unconscious.
And the notifications… still hadn't stopped.