The MIT Great Dome, once a symbol of human engineering and the pinnacle of the old world's logic, was now the epicenter of its nightmare. The stone structure was weeping. Black, oily fluid leaked from the masonry, and the air around the entrance shimmered like a heat haze, smelling of sulfur and burnt copper.
Cole stepped over the threshold.
The moment he crossed the "Event Horizon" of the dungeon, the city's distant sirens vanished. The silence was absolute, heavy enough to make his ears pop. His modified Iris flickered red before being forcibly overridden by the gold of the new world.
---
[ZONE ENTERED: THE IVY GRAVEYARD (RANK F)]
[DANGER LEVEL: LOW]
[OBJECTIVE: CLEAR THE NEST]
---
Cole looked at the prompt and scoffed. "Low? For who? The cattle outside or me?"
His Dissection Analysis immediately flared to life. The hallway ahead wasn't just a hallway; it was a throat. The walls were covered in a pulsating, bio-organic moss that reacted to his body heat.
Thrum.
He felt his Qi—now at 14.2%—revolving in his chest like a miniature turbine. It was cold, sharp, and impatient. He gripped the hilt of his alloy cleaver, noticing that the blue stains from the Void Crawlers were being absorbed into the metal, giving the dull gray slab a faint, ethereal sheen.
A rustle came from the ceiling.
Three creatures dropped. They weren't Crawlers. They were smaller, humanoid in shape but with elongated limbs and skin the texture of wet parchment. Their faces were featureless except for a single, vertical slit that opened to reveal rows of needle-like teeth.
[MONSTER IDENTIFIED: PALE LURKER (RANK F-)]
"Scavengers," Cole whispered. He didn't feel fear; he felt a clinical need to test his limits.
The Lurkers moved with a jerky, stop-motion speed. One lunged, aiming for Cole's hamstrings.
Instead of retreating, Cole channeled his Qi. He focused the energy into his legs, feeling the muscle fibers hum. He moved, not with the practiced grace of a martial artist, but with the explosive pragmatism of a machine.
He sidestepped the first Lurker and brought the flat of his blade down on its skull.
THUD.
The creature's head didn't just break; it imploded.
The other two hissed, circling him. Cole's arrogance flared. He was a Turner, the firstborn, the SSS-potential. These things were nothing more than data points.
"Is this it?" he taunted, his voice echoing in the fleshy hall. "The great threat to humanity? You're just unoptimized biology."
He swung the cleaver in a wide, horizontal arc. This time, he didn't just rely on physical strength. He pushed a pulse of Qi into the blade's edge. For a split second, the air itself seemed to sharpen.
The blade passed through both Lurkers simultaneously, severing them at the waist. Their parchment-like skin offered as much resistance as wet paper.
---
[SKILL PROFICIENCY INCREASED: DISSECTION ANALYSIS LV.2]
[NEW INSIGHT GAINED: QI-ENHANCED STRIKE]
* Your strikes now bypass 10% of physical armor.
---
Cole didn't stop to celebrate. He knelt and began to work. He didn't just take the cores; he began to dissect the Lurkers' muscular structure. He used a smaller, shard-like fragment of the statue he'd kept to peel back the layers of the monster's hide.
"Fascinating," he muttered, his eyes darting as the System fed him information. "The nervous system is decentralized. They don't feel pain; they only feel hunger."
He found a small, translucent gland near the Lurker's throat. His Analysis pulsed green.
[ITEM: VIVID GLAND (RANK F-)]
* Effect: When consumed, increases reaction speed by 5% for 10 minutes.
Cole looked at the slimy, dripping organ. A normal person would have recoiled in disgust. Cole simply saw a temporary buff. He popped it into his mouth and swallowed.
It tasted like iron and bile. Almost immediately, his perception of the world slowed. The dripping fluid on the walls seemed to hang in mid-air. The "Veil" became even more transparent.
"Data is power," Cole said, standing up and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "And I am the only one collecting it."
He looked deeper into the dungeon. Somewhere in the center of the MIT Dome, something much larger was waiting. Something that held the key to his next Rank.
He adjusted his grip on the heavy steel slab. He was a pragmatist, but he was also a Turner. And Turners always finished what they started.
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[Character Status Update]
[Qi Level: 14.2% -> 15.1% (Refining)]
[Active Buffs: Vivid Reflexes (9:45 remaining)]
[Current Rank: F]
[Next Step: The Boss Chamber]