The industrial district was a graveyard of the old economy. Rusted cranes loomed over the skyline like skeletal fingers. The air tasted of copper and stagnant water. It was desolate. Dark. Seemingly abandoned.
Rain had started to fall again. A greasy, black rain that sizzled when it hit the hot hood of the SUV.
Sebastian slowed the vehicle as they approached a chain-link fence topped with razor wire. A faded sign read: Warehouse 4 - Property of Vane Logistics. It was a shell company he'd set up days ago using the last of his credit.
He rammed the gate. The chain-link tore open with a screech of metal. They rolled into the cracked concrete lot.
The warehouse itself was a massive, corrugated metal structure. It looked decrepit. Rust streaked the walls. Several windows were broken.
"This?" Valerie asked. Looking out the window with open skepticism. "This is your fortress? Sebastian, a strong wind would knock this over. It has zero magical insulation. The walls are thin sheet metal. If a Horde comes..."
"It's a canvas," Sebastian interrupted. Killing the engine. "Get out. Bring the gold."
They stepped out into the rain. The silence here was heavy. Broken only by the distant wail of sirens from the city center miles away.
Sebastian walked to the center of the warehouse floor. It was empty. Save for piles of construction materials he'd ordered: steel beams, bags of concrete, pallets of rebar.
"Put the gold here," he pointed to the floor.
Valerie placed the heavy briefcase down. "What are you going to do? Bribe the monsters?"
Sebastian ignored the sarcasm. He opened his stats panel.
In the game, [Engineering] was a crafting skill. It allowed players to build siege engines. Repair armor. Construct guild halls. When combined with [Infinite Skill Points] though, it broke the fundamental laws of construction.
He placed both hands on the concrete floor. He closed his eyes.
"System. Access Skill Tree: Engineering."
[Engineering (Tier 0) -> Unlocked.]
"Upgrade."
[Ding! Engineering Level 10... Level 50... Level 100 (Master).]
[Skill Evolution Available.]
"Evolve. Path: Defensive Architecture."
[Ding! New Skill: Structural Reinforcement (Tier 2).]
"Keep going," Sebastian whispered. Sweat beading on his forehead. The mental strain of processing the knowledge was immense. He was downloading the architectural history of a thousand civilizations in seconds.
[Ding! Structural Reinforcement evolved to... Fortress Construction.]
[Ding! Fortress Construction evolved to... Arcane Bastion Architecture (Tier 4).]
He stopped there. His brain felt like it was melting. Tier 4 was the limit his current mind could handle without stroking out.
[Arcane Bastion Architecture (Tier 4)]
[Effect: Allows the user to infuse mana and materials into existing structures to alter their physical properties, density, and magical resistance. Can reshape matter within a defined territory.]
Sebastian opened his eyes. They were glowing with a geometric blue light.
"Step back," he warned Valerie.
He placed his hands on the gold bars inside the briefcase.
"Consume," he ordered.
The gold didn't melt. It evaporated. It turned into a swirling mist of golden particles that flowed into Sebastian's hands. Then down into the floor.
"Reinforce."
GROOOOAAAAN.
The sound was deep. Tectonic. The entire warehouse shuddered.
Valerie watched in horror and awe as the building began to change. The rusted corrugated metal walls didn't just get repaired. They shifted. The rust flaked off. Revealing a dark, gleaming metal underneath that looked like polished gunmetal. The walls thickened. Expanding inward and outward. Growing from thin sheets into two-foot-thick bulwarks of magically reinforced alloy.
The broken windows shattered. The shards were pulled into the walls. Replaced by narrow, reinforced firing slits.
The cracked concrete floor rippled like water. The steel beams and rebar Sebastian had ordered dissolved. Were pulled into the foundation. Fusing with the stone to create a base harder than diamond.
The roof groaned as it reshaped itself. Becoming a vaulted dome capable of deflecting mortar fire.
It took ten seconds.
In ten seconds, the dilapidated shack had transformed into a brutalist bunker that radiated a faint, blue mana aura.
Sebastian pulled his hands back. He stumbled. Catching himself on a newly formed pillar. He was panting. His face grey. The mana cost was astronomical. Even with the gold acting as a catalyst.
"Welcome..." he wheezed. Gesturing to the gleaming, seamless walls. "To the Sanctuary."
Valerie walked up to the wall. She touched it. It was cold. Hummed with energy. She tried to scratch it with her diamond ring. The ring chipped. The wall didn't even scratch.
"You..." She turned to him. Her eyes wide. "You just terraformed a building. That's... that's Admin privileges."
"It's Engineering," Sebastian corrected. Standing up straight. "Now we have walls. Walls are just a coffin if we can't defend them though. We need weapons. We need to log in."
"Log in?" Valerie asked. "Now? With the world ending?"
"The world is stabilizing for the next few hours," Sebastian explained. "The initial wave is done. The next wave—the Tier 1 monsters—won't spawn in mass numbers until dawn. We have a window."
He walked over to a corner where he'd set up a generator and his VR rig.
"We need to conquer territory in the game," Sebastian said. His voice hard. "To increase the Synchronization Rate. To bring more power out. If we want to survive what comes next, I need to be able to use [Solar Flare] in the real world."
He looked at Valerie.
"We founded the Sanctuary here. Now we need to found it in the Ethereal Plane. I have the Token. We need to go to the Valley of Cinders."
Valerie looked at the transformed bunker. Then at the VR helmet. She understood. The game wasn't an escape anymore. It was the ammo factory.
"Okay," she said. Her expression hardening. "Let's go."
Sebastian put on the helmet.
"Link Start."