Three years.
Three years since the monsters first tore through the dimensional walls and humanity's golden age came crashing down.
They had been a technological civilization at its peak. Floating cars glided through the cities. Connected watches monitored health and communication with thought alone. Plasma televisions as thin as paper adorned every surface. Quantum computers that could deduce new technologies, create revolutionary software, solve problems that would take human minds millennia.
All of it meant nothing against claws that could tear through steel and beings that regenerated from atoms.
Now, humans controlled only 10% of the planet's territories.
Ten percent.
Everyone outside those boundaries was dead. Cities that once housed millions were graveyards. Continents that had thrived with life were monster breeding grounds.
No one knew why they hadn't pushed further. Why humanity wasn't extinct yet.
Perhaps the monsters enjoyed the hunt. Perhaps they were farming humans like cattle. Perhaps something else held them back.
It didn't matter.
The last three years had passed in a blur of desperation. The most powerful awakened—those with multiple cores, those with abilities—stationed themselves at the borders. They stood as living walls against the endless tide, bleeding and dying so others could live another day.
But it wasn't enough.
Never enough.
Only 5% of the population had awakened.
Five percent.
Out of every hundred people, only five could fight back. The rest were prey. Some unawakened had tried eating monster meat, desperate for power. They exploded from the inside out, their bodies unable to process the corrupt energy.
Some had lost all hope, waiting for death in their homes.
Others braved everything for just a glimpse of hope. For a future where humanity wasn't at the bottom of the food chain anymore.
---
Rael walked through the city center, stopping among the crowd gathered in the plaza, all necks craned upward. The massive screen stretched across five floors of the building, displaying live footage from the border.
"Holy shit! Is that Silver Storm?"
"No, look at the hair—that's Frost Princess! Arya!"
On the screen, a woman with flowing silver hair moved like a dancer of death. Every gesture spectacular. Her hand swept sideways and a wave of crystalline ice erupted, freezing twenty monsters solid in an instant. The ice didn't just freeze—it created a garden of frozen sculptures, each monster captured mid-roar, mid-leap, transformed into deadly art.
"God, she's beautiful..."
"Beautiful? She's at Ninth Core! Almost Star level!"
"My daughter watches her broadcasts every day. Says she'll be like her when she awakens."
The woman beside her whispered, "If she awakens. Only five in a hundred—"
"Don't!"
A Ravager burst through the ice garden—a nightmare made flesh. Four meters tall, its body resembled a grotesque fusion of bear and insect. Thick black carapace covered its torso, pulsing with silver veins of corrupt energy. Six legs like tree trunks, each ending in claws that gouged meter-deep trenches in the ground. Its elongated skull housed dozens of eyes arranged in spirals, each one blazing with malevolent intelligence.
The monster's back split open, revealing wing-like appendages that weren't for flying but for spraying acid in wide arcs. Green liquid hissed where it touched the ground, melting stone instantly.
It roared, and the sound was spectacular—a dual-toned shriek that shattered windows kilometers away. Its Core Density had to be over 8000, maybe 9000. A single swipe of its claws could bisect a building.
Arya spun, her foot touching the ground.
CRACK!
Ice erupted upward in a spectacular spiral pillar, crystalline and perfect, piercing through the Ravager's chest like a divine spear. The beast's dozen eyes widened in shock before it shattered into a million frozen pieces.
"THAT'S what Ninth Core looks like!"
"She's almost at Star Core level and she's only twenty! Just two years of awakening!"
"That's insane! Most Star Core awakened have been fighting since the invasion started three years ago!"
"She awakened a full year after them and she's already catching up..."
"At this rate, she'll be the youngest to ever reach Star Core level."
A group of teenagers stood transfixed.
"Dude, did you see how she didn't even look worried?"
"That's the difference between us and them. We see monsters as death. They see them as practice."
"My brother awakened last month. No abilities though, just enhanced strength."
"Still lucky. Better than being prey."
Rael watched for another moment as Arya danced through another wave of monsters on the screen, each movement perfect, lethal.
*Ninth Core. Almost at 9000 Core Density.*
He looked down at his hands. He'd just awakened. First Core, 1% refinement. Core Density of 10.
*How long would it take to catch up? Years? Decades?*
But then he remembered the purple energy crackling around his fists. Reality Bending. Something even Arya, for all her spectacular ice manipulation, couldn't do.
*Maybe not as long as others would need.*
The crowd erupted in cheers as Arya finished off another wave, but Rael turned away. Watching wouldn't make him stronger. Action would.
He moved through the city streets with purpose now, toward the one place that could accelerate his growth. The Awakened Training Center stood three blocks away, its reinforced walls a promise of controlled danger and rapid advancement.
The safest way to grow stronger—if you could afford it.
The lobby buzzed with activity. A group of newly awakened huddled together near the entrance.
"I heard someone died in Room 23 yesterday. A Dreg tore his throat out."
"That's why I'm starting slow. One Dreg, see how it goes."
"Smart. Even the weakest monsters are still monsters."
Rael approached the counter where a young woman sat, her fingers dancing across a holographic keyboard. She looked up and smiled professionally. Auburn hair tied in a professional bun, green eyes that seemed to catalog everything. Young face—just eighteen from the looks of it. Black hair messily falling over dark eyes. Lean build, nothing physically imposing. But something in how he stood...
Her nameplate read 'Maya.'
"New awakened?"
"Tonight," Rael confirmed, placing his hand on the scanner.
His basic information appeared—no ability listed. Normal. Most kept abilities secret, and most didn't have one anyway.
"Brave of you to come so soon. Most wait weeks before their first fight." Maya's fingers flew across her keyboard. "First-time package is 100,000 credits. Includes room rental, safety equipment, and access to our training app. Each Low-Tier beast—we call them Dregs—is an additional 10,000 credits. How many?"
Behind Rael, two men were discussing loudly.
"My nephew just hit Second Core. Only took him six months!"
"Six months? Must be nice having money for daily training."
"Worth every credit. Better than being at One Core forever."
Rael checked his watch. 1,043,000 credits. Years of Arya's allowances saved for this moment.
"Five beasts."
Maya's eyebrows rose. "Five? Most start with one or two."
"I need to grow quickly."
Something in his tone made her nod. "Room 47. The app I'm sending has the basic breathing and absorption techniques. Master them before fighting—it's the difference between growth and death."
His watch pinged with the download.
"Michael will escort you."
A man appeared from a side door. Butler's uniform, but Rael could feel it—that pulse of energy that separated awakened from normal humans. Much stronger than his own.
*Third or Fourth Core at least.*
"This way, sir."
They walked through corridors lined with reinforced doors. From behind one, a triumphant scream.
"SECOND CORE! FINALLY!"
From another, frustrated cursing and the sound of impact.
"Fucking Dreg! How is something this weak so hard to kill?"
Michael's lips twitched. "Everyone starts as a rookie, sir. Even current Stars once struggled with their first Dreg."
Room 47's door opened with Michael's energy signature.
The room was large, thirty meters square. White walls lined with energy dampeners. Medical station in one corner. In the center, a raised platform with a metal box embedded in the floor.
"Containment unit," Michael explained, handing Rael a small device with a red button. "Emergency stop if needed. The AI releases beasts on command. The boxes are lined with purple crystal—useless in the old world, invaluable now for restraining monsters."
He looked at Rael seriously.
"Don't hesitate to use the emergency button. Pride kills more rookies than monsters do."
Then he left.
Alone, Rael pulled up the app, studying the breathing technique. Basic but essential—circulating energy through the body, preparing it for absorption.
After five minutes of practice, he stepped onto the platform. But before calling for the beast, he raised his hands, studying them.
*Reality Bending. But how to use it in combat?*
He'd changed an apple to a banana. But that took time, focus. In a fight, he'd need something instant. Something simple.
*What if I don't try to change anything? What if I just... bend the reality around my fists? Make the space there wrong. Unstable.*
Purple energy flickered around his fingers experimentally. The air shimmered, distorted. Not changing into something else, just... breaking the rules of what should be.
*This might work.*
"AI, release one Dreg."
*"Confirmed. Releasing Low-Tier Beast: Dreg. Threat Level: Minimal."*
The metal box opened with a pneumatic hiss. Purple crystals flickered as something emerged.
The Dreg was wolf-sized but wrong in every way. Four legs with too many joints that bent in impossible directions. Gray fur that seemed to absorb light. And the eyes—seventeen of them, scattered across its skull like drops of malevolent green fire, each one moving independently, tracking different angles.
It saw him and snarled, revealing three rows of teeth.
*Core Density: 15. Stronger than my 10.*
But Rael had something spectacular.
He raised his fists. Purple energy erupted around them—not coating, but surrounding them in miniature storms. The air began to crack. Literally crack, like glass under divine pressure. Spider web fractures spread through reality itself, visible distortions that shouldn't exist.
The Dreg's seventeen eyes widened, sensing wrongness.
It lunged, all four multi-jointed legs propelling it forward at impossible angles.
Rael stepped into the attack, fist driving forward.
The impact was extraordinary.
Where his fist met the beast's shoulder, reality didn't just bend—it shattered. A perfect hole appeared in the Dreg's flesh, edges so clean they seemed carved by the universe itself. The sound was incredible—like a symphony of breaking glass played in reverse.
*Holy shit!*
He'd expected damage, maybe burns or tears. Not this. Not perfect holes punched through flesh like his fists were made of antimatter.
"RAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!"
The beast's howl shook the entire room. Not just pain—rage and disbelief mixed into one terrifying sound. Black blood erupted from the wound, spraying in patterns that defied physics.
The Dreg stumbled, its left front leg useless. Seventeen eyes blazed with hatred. How dare this weakling wound it!
It attacked again, moving in that disturbing multi-jointed way, coming from three angles at once.
Rael dodged left, but the beast anticipated. Claws raked his shoulder, tearing through cloth and skin.
Pain flared, but he spun, driving his other fist into the creature's flank.
CRACK!
Another hole. Another impossible wound. Reality screamed as it was forced to break, the purple energy making the air itself weep.
The Dreg went mad with fury. It attacked in a frenzy—biting, clawing, its body contorting in ways that hurt to watch. But rage made it predictable.
Rael's energy was almost gone. One strike left.
The beast overextended, all seventeen eyes focused on killing.
His fist drove forward, purple energy flaring one last spectacular time. Reality shattered around his knuckles as they pierced directly through the creature's heart.
The Dreg froze. Seventeen eyes blinked in sequence, each one dimming. It took one step, then collapsed, black blood pooling in impossible patterns.
Rael fell to one knee, gasping. His entire body shook from exhaustion. The purple energy dissipated, reality healing itself with sounds like tinkling wind chimes.
*The essence!*
Silver mist rose from the corpse—the creature's life force dissipating. He forced himself to focus, using the breathing technique.
The moment he inhaled, the silver essence rushed toward him like iron filings to a magnet. It entered through his nose, his mouth, even his pores. The corrupt energy hit his core like liquid metal—heavy, foreign, wrong.
[Energy Purity: 97%]
His core convulsed. The silver energy was wild, chaotic, trying to corrode him from within. But his own energy responded, wrapping around the foreign essence like a python, squeezing, crushing, refining.
The burning was incredible.
He could feel it happening at a microscopic level. Each particle of corrupt energy being broken down, purified, compressed. The refined energy merged with his own, and his core began to stretch. Not painfully, but like a muscle being worked for the first time.
The particles in his body vibrated faster. Condensed. What were once loose, scattered motes of energy began pulling together, forming denser configurations. He could literally feel himself becoming more—more solid, more real, more powerful.
[Core Density: 12
Particle Refinement: First Core - 3%]
The sensation was addictive. Like every cell in his body was waking up, evolving, transcending human limitations. His muscles felt denser, his bones harder, his senses sharper.
*This is what growth feels like.*
He sat for five minutes, letting his energy regenerate, staring at the Dreg's corpse. Black blood pooled around it, but the body remained intact—valuable meat that could be sold or consumed by awaken people.
Then he stood, blood on his shoulder already clotting thanks to his enhanced body.
His voice was steady, eager.
"Next one!"
The purple energy flickered around his fingers again, reality already beginning to crack.
*Four more beasts. Four more steps toward power!.*
In his core, the fragment pulsed once, as if agreeing..