The dust from the "Gangnam Tremor" hadn't even settled before the screaming started. But the screams weren't just from the earthquake victims anymore. They were higher, sharper—the sounds of people seeing something that shouldn't exist.
A hundred yards away, a crack in the air—black and jagged like broken glass—had opened in the middle of a busy intersection. From it, creatures that looked like hairless, bipedal wolves began to crawl out.
[Warning: Class-E Rift 'The Howling Gap' has opened.]
[System Notice: The Tutorial of Blood has begun.]
Kang-Jin watched as a "Wolf-Kin" lunged at a businessman. The man's expensive briefcase did nothing to stop the beast's claws. This was the moment the world changed. This was the moment the "Great Reset" began, where gold became paper and mana became the only currency that mattered.
"Unit-01," Kang-Jin commanded, his voice steady. "Status."
The rusted metal sphere hovered by his shoulder, its blue optical lens flickering.
"Master, local mana saturation is at 400% and rising. Structural integrity of surrounding civilian buildings: 12%. Probability of imminent collapse: Absolute."
"And our territory?"
"The 'Cursed Triangle' is currently a Grade-1 Sanctuary," the drone chirped. "The chimney you constructed has converted the kinetic shock into a localized static field. As long as you stay within these 200 square feet, the monsters cannot perceive you. You are... 'invisible' to the Rift."
Kang-Jin nodded. This was the "Sanctuary Logic." To the monsters, his land was a void—a piece of the world that simply didn't exist on their sensory map.
"Start the reconstruction," Kang-Jin ordered. "Use the mana we siphoned from the Rift. I want a reinforced perimeter. Three meters high. Material: Mana-Infused Concrete."
"Awaiting resources, Master. I require raw materials."
Kang-Jin looked at the chaos around him. A luxury sedan had crashed into a nearby wall. A pile of debris from a collapsed café sat just across the street.
"There's your resource," Kang-Jin said, pointing to the ruins. "The System says 'Incorporate,' doesn't it? Well, incorporate it all."
The drone's eye turned red.
[Skill: 'Sovereign's Salvage' Activated.]
Tiny, microscopic nanites began to swarm from the drone. They hit the crashed car, the fallen bricks, and the shattered glass. Like a swarm of silver locusts, they deconstructed the matter at a molecular level and dragged it back to Kang-Jin's lot.
In the middle of a warzone, a miracle began to take shape.
The grey, dusty ground of the "Cursed Triangle" began to rise. Walls grew out of the dirt like living teeth. They weren't the flimsy drywall and wood of the surrounding shops. These were matte-black, etched with glowing blue runes that hummed with a low, protective frequency.
[Ding! Building Progress: 15%...]
[Ding! Building Progress: 40%...]
"Help! Please! Open the door!"
A woman carrying a small child was sprinting toward him. Behind her, three Wolf-Kin were loping across the asphalt, their tongues lolling out, eyes fixed on her heels.
She saw Kang-Jin standing behind his half-finished, black wall. To her, it looked like a bunker. A hope.
Kang-Jin didn't move. In his past life, he had been a "Hero." He had spent his mana saving people for free, only to be betrayed by the very guilds those people formed.
Rule Number One of the New World, Kang-Jin thought, his heart cold. Nothing is free. Especially safety.
"Stop right there!" Kang-Jin shouted.
The woman skidded to a halt at the edge of his property line. The wolves were ten meters away. "Please! Let us in!"
"This is private property," Kang-Jin said, his voice amplified by the System. "Entry fee is one 'Token of Value'. Give me your jewelry, your watch, or any mana-conductive material."
"What? Are you crazy? They're going to kill us!"
"Then you have no use for a watch," Kang-Jin countered.
The woman looked at the snarling beasts, then desperately ripped a heavy gold necklace from her neck and threw it toward him. It landed inside the blue-rimmed boundary of his lot.
[Ding! 'Raw Gold' accepted as tribute.]
[Temporary Access Granted.]
"Unit-01, Bridge," Kang-Jin commanded.
A section of the black wall liquefied, allowing the woman and child to stumble through. The moment they crossed the line, the wall solidified into a seamless slab of black stone.
The three Wolf-Kin slammed into the barrier a second later.
CLANG.
It was the sound of a hammer hitting an anvil. The monsters recoiled, their claws sparking against the mana-reinforced surface. They growled, biting at the air, but they couldn't see what was inside. To them, the woman had simply vanished into a solid rock.
The woman collapsed on the dirt, sobbing, clutching her child. "You... you're a monster," she hissed, looking up at Kang-Jin.
Kang-Jin didn't look at her. He was watching his level bar.
[Tribute Processed: 500 Mana Points gained.]
[Level Up! Level 4 -> Level 5]
[Unallocated Stat Points: 5]
"No," Kang-Jin said, looking at the black walls that were now six feet high. "I'm an Architect. And you just paid the first night's rent at the only safe hotel in Seoul."
Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked the street. A bus had been flipped by a larger monster—a Class-D "Alpha."
The Alpha stood seven feet tall, covered in matted black fur and bone armor. It sniffed the air, its eyes landing on the strange, black structure growing in the middle of the ruins. Unlike the lesser wolves, the Alpha had enough mana-sensitivity to realize something was wrong.
It let out a roar that shattered the remaining windows in the block. It began to charge.
"Master," Unit-01 buzzed. "Structural integrity of the current gate is insufficient for a Class-D impact. We require a 'Keystone'."
Kang-Jin looked at his hand. He had 5 stat points. He dumped them all into [Authority].
[Authority: 15]
[Skill Unlocked: 'Architect's Pressure'.]
As the Alpha lunged, its massive claws raised to shred the black wall, Kang-Jin stepped forward. He didn't use a sword. He didn't use magic.
He slammed his hand against the inner surface of his wall.
"This is my foundation," he roared.
[Skill: Architect's Pressure Activated!]
The blue runes on the wall flared into a blinding white. A wave of pure gravitational force erupted from the building, radiating outward in a perfect circle.
The Alpha Wolf was caught mid-air. It didn't just hit the wall; it hit a wall of force that felt like a mountain falling on it. Its bones snapped instantly. The beast was flattened into the asphalt, crushed by the weight of Kang-Jin's "Authority" over his own space.
[Ding! You have defeated a Class-D Alpha Wolf-Kin!]
[Experience Gained!]
[Loot: 'Alpha's Heart-Core' acquired.]
Kang-Jin breathed out, the steam rising from his skin.
Across the street, more survivors were emerging from the wreckage, seeing the black fortress and the crushed monster in front of it. They began to crawl, limp, and run toward the "Cursed Triangle."
Kang-Jin looked at the Alpha's heart-core glowing in his hand. This was the Keystone he needed.
"Unit-01," he said, a cold smile playing on his lips. "Upgrade the sign. We aren't just a workshop anymore."
He looked at the crowd of desperate, wealthy survivors.
"Welcome to 'The Abyss Shelter'," Kang-Jin announced, his voice echoing through the ruined streets. "Current rate: One Mana-Core per hour. No refunds."