It started in Hanami on November 18, 2025, exactly one week after they cleared the Goblin Burrow.
Kai woke to the sound of helicopters.
Not the usual news chopper that sometimes flew over the rice fields.
Military.
Black, unmarked, thundering low enough to rattle the roof tiles.
He stumbled outside in nothing but sweatpants, Sayuri and Mika right behind him, Haru still asleep inside with Keiko.
The sky was wrong.
Across the valley, on the ridge where only forest had been yesterday, a massive obsidian tower now stabbed into the clouds: easily five hundred meters tall, windows glowing red, lightning crackling around its spire.
Farther out, near the prefectural capital, a colossal dome of blue energy shimmered on the horizon: a dungeon barrier.
Every phone in the house started blaring the emergency broadcast tone at once.
They turned on the TV.
Every channel. Every country. The same images.
- The Eiffel Tower now had a floating crystal labyrinth orbiting it.
- Central Park in New York was bisected by a mile-wide chasm filled with undead.
- Tokyo had a 200-floor raid tower in the middle of Shibuya crossing.
- Seoul, London, Cairo, São Paulo: dungeons, towers, gates, rifts. Thousands of them. Overnight.
The anchor's voice shook as she read the government statement:
"Structures designated 'Dungeons,' 'Towers,' and 'Rifts' have appeared globally. Monsters within are confirmed hostile. However, individuals who enter and defeat these monsters experience rapid physical and metaphysical enhancement. No monster has yet exited a structure unprovoked. Civilians are advised to avoid all anomalous zones until further notice."
The screen cut to shaky phone footage: a salaryman in Osaka walking out of a subway dungeon with glowing eyes and muscles that ripped his suit apart.
A high-school girl in Seoul one-shotting a minotaur with a glowing arrow.
A Brazilian favela kid selling "Level 3" wolf fangs for millions of reais.
The world had awakened.
And the old rules were already crumbling.
By noon the internet exploded.
Clips of "Awakened" people bench-pressing cars.
Black-market sites selling monster parts for prices that made Bitcoin look stable.
Governments trying to claim dungeons as national assets: and failing when lone hunters cleared F-rank gates in minutes and walked away untouchable.
The phrase appeared everywhere:
Might makes right.
Kai muted the TV and looked at his women.
Say Новиниuri was pale, one hand on her belly, the other clutching the Ring of Eternal Spring like a lifeline.
Mika's fists were clenched so tight her knuckles were white.
"This is what happened to us," Sayuri whispered. "But… everywhere. All at once."
Kai felt the system pulse in his veins like a second heartbeat.
He opened his status window.
‹ Global System Synchronization Complete ›
‹ Earth now designated Sub-Realm E-77 ›
‹ Connection to Elysara Pocket Realm confirmed ›
‹ All hidden gates now active ›
‹ First Awakened bonus doubled retroactively ›
Kai → Level 8 Warrior
+20 to all stats
New Title: Precursor (All EXP gain +50 % permanently)
He staggered.
Mika and Sayuri's eyes went distant as their own hidden levels updated.
Sayuri → Level 6 Supporter (new class unlocked via Elixir: Sacred Mother)
Mika → Level 7 Berserker
The TV cut to a live press conference.
A Japanese general, face grim:
"We are classifying all Awakened individuals above Level 10 as strategic national resources. Registration is mandatory. Refusal will be considered—"
The feed cut to static.
Then a new broadcast: some kid in a hoodie, face blurred, livestreaming from the top of the Shibuya Tower.
"Fuck your registration. The age of governments is over. The age of the strong has begun."
The chat scrolled with millions of agreements.
Kai turned off the TV.
He looked at the obsidian tower on the ridge: silent, waiting.
Then at the cave portal behind their farmhouse: their private world, now part of something infinitely bigger.
Sayuri took his hand. Mika took the other.
"We were first," Sayuri said quietly. "We have the ring. The bed. The bond. An entire hidden realm no one else knows about."
Mika's voice was steel. "Let the world burn and rebuild itself on levels and loot. We protect what's ours."
Kai pulled them close, feeling the hum of power in all three of them.
Outside, society was fracturing.
Inside their little valley, a new kind of family had already written the rules.
Might makes right?
Fine.
They would just have to become the mightiest.
November 25, 2025 – one week after "Awakening Day"
Tokyo – Shibuya Crossing
The scramble that once moved 3,000 people every 90 seconds is now a warzone.
A Level 42 "Raid Boss" – a thirty-meter-tall oni with burning chains – has just torn through the 109 building because a guild of rich kids in designer tactical gear tried to "solo" the Shibuya Tower for clout and wiped on floor 87. The boss is now aggro'd to the entire ward.
The JSDF's Type 10 tanks fire 120 mm rounds that bounce off its hide like raindrops.
A news chopper gets swatted out of the sky and crashes into the QFRONT screen, turning the iconic dog ads into burning wreckage.
Below, the strong feast.
A Level 19 swordswoman in a blood-soaked school uniform carves through fleeing salarymen, laughing as she loots their wallets and phones.
A former pro wrestler turned Berserker punches straight through a police riot shield, grabs the officer by the vest, and head-butts him into unconsciousness before stripping his gear.
A group of Awakened salarymen in torn Armani suits form a human pyramid to reach the second-floor balcony of a luxury store, smashing the glass to get to the Rolexes inside.
The weak are already learning the new rule:
If you are below Level 10, you are food, property, or collateral damage.
Osaka – Dotonbori Canal
The canal runs red.
A Level 27 gangster guild has declared the entire district their territory. They string up anyone under Level 15 from the bridge railings as "tax."
Women are dragged screaming into love hotels that have become slave pens.
Children are collared and sold to high-level crafters as "mana batteries."
Los Angeles – Downtown
The 110 freeway is a graveyard of burning Teslas and abandoned Lambos.
A Level 55 "Paladin" in golden armor (once a famous streamer) stands on an overpass preaching the "New Covenant": the strong are chosen by God, the weak exist to serve.
His followers execute "unbelievers" with glowing holy swords while streaming it live to 40 million viewers.
Paris – Louvre
The Mona Lisa is gone.
A French Awakened thief guild cleared the hidden F-rank dungeon beneath the museum and looted the entire Egyptian wing in the chaos.
The French army tries to stop them; tanks are flipped by a single Level 38 Monk who used to be a pastry chef.
Seoul – Gangnam
Plastic surgery clinics have become black-market augmentation labs.
High-level Alchemists inject monster blood directly into patients for permanent stat boosts.
The failure rate is 70 %.
The streets are littered with beautiful corpses whose eyes melted out of perfect faces.
New York – Wall Street
The stock exchange is a coliseum now.
Traders who Awakened as Mages hurl fireballs at each other over cryptocurrency keys that can buy entire city blocks of real estate.
Goldman Sachs' private security (now a Level 60 raid party) openly executes anyone who tries to leave Lower Manhattan without paying "exit tax" in cores or bodies.
Global internet is fragmenting.
Governments that tried to enforce registration are being hunted.
Politicians are dragged from bunkers and publicly executed by Awakened who livestream the kills.
The phrase "Might Makes Right" trends worldwide in every language.
Safe zones shrink by the hour.
Rural areas fare better… for now.
Low-level monsters roam the countryside, but the real danger is human.
Roads are ruled by Awakened warlords in armored convoys, taking whatever (and whoever) they want.
Gas stations are fortresses.
Supermarkets are tombs.
And in Hanami Village, population 312, the outside world finally knocks.
A convoy of five blacked-out SUVs with Tokyo plates rolls in at dusk, flying a crimson flag with a stylized fist.
The leader steps out: Level 31 "Tyrant" class, former yakuza enforcer turned Awakened warlord.
Flanked by twenty men and women ranging from Level 15–28, all armed with glowing weapons.
He smiles at the quiet rice fields, the traditional houses, the complete lack of defenses.
"Quaint," he says. "We'll take the women, the food, and any cores you've got. Resist and we level the place."
Old men clutch pitchforks.
Women hide children.
Then three figures step out of the farmhouse at the end of the lane.
Kai – Level 14 Warrior (hidden by Precursor title)
Mika – Level 12 Berserker
Sayuri – Level 10 Sacred Mother, glowing faintly with protective auras
The warlord laughs.
"Three lowbies and a pregnant bitch? This'll be quick."
Kai smiles, slow and terrible.
"You're in our territory now."
The massacre lasts forty-seven seconds.
When it's over, the crimson flag burns in the dirt.
The convoy becomes their convoy.
And word begins to spread through the Awakened underground:
There's a hidden valley in the countryside ruled by a trio who kill warlords for sport.
They call themselves the Harvest Family.
Cross them at your peril.
Because in the new world, might makes right.
And no one has harvested more might than them.
December 1, 2025 – thirteen days after Awakening Day
The yen is already a joke.
The dollar is on life support.
Gold? People laugh when you offer it now.
This is how an economy dies when strength literally becomes wealth.
Day 1–3: The First Cracks
- Tokyo Stock Exchange halts trading after Awakened traders (now Level 20+ Mages) literally teleport into the server rooms and delete short positions against their own portfolios.
- Supermarkets empty in hours. A single Level 12 housewife in Osaka walks out with twelve carts of food because the Level 3 security guard knows he'll lose an arm if he tries to stop her.
- Cash becomes toilet paper overnight. A Level 28 "Merchant" class Awakened in Akihabara sets up a stall: 1 lesser wolf core = 100 kg of rice. Cash offers are laughed at.
Day 4–7: Hyperinflation on Steroids
- The Bank of Japan tries to print more money.
A Level 45 Pyromancer burns the entire printing facility in Takasaki to the ground "because paper is meaningless now."
- Convenience stores (Sayuri's old workplace) become fortresses or graves. 7-Eleven Japan loses 40 % of its locations in 72 hours to raiding parties.
- A single F-rank dungeon core now trades for what used to be a brand-new Lexus.
- Salarymen who didn't Awaken fast enough are selling their wives and daughters for a single health potion.
Day 8–12: The New Currency
Three things have value now:
1. Monster cores / materials
2. Levels
3. Protection from people with higher levels
Everything else is negotiable with violence.
- Luxury brands are looted for the leather and rare metals, not the labels. A Louis Vuitton bag is worth exactly the amount of mana-infused thread a Level 30 Enchanter can pull out of it.
- Real estate crashes to zero in cities. Who needs a condo when a Level 50 can build a fortress out of dungeon stone in a day?
- Rural land (like Hanami) skyrockets, but only if you can defend it. Unprotected farms are stripped bare in hours.
- Food is power. A single rice field guarded by a Level 15 party is worth more than the entire Mitsubishi corporation was a month ago.
Day 13 – The Final Collapse
- The Nikkei opens and immediately crashes 97 %.
- Electricity flickers as Awakened with lightning magic start selling power by the bolt. Tokyo Electric Power Company is now just three guys with Mana Batteries and AR-15s.
- Hospitals turn into auction houses. A Level 1 healer can name any price for a cure spell. A cancer patient's family offers their 16-year-old daughter for a single cast.
- The yen hits 1 USD = ¥1,000,000… then trading stops entirely because dollars are also worthless.
- BlackRock's Tokyo office is stormed by a guild of former bankers turned Necromancers. They raise the security guards as undead and declare "capital is dead; only levels compound now."
### The New Economic Order (Might Makes Money)
1. Level 1–9: Serfs. Farm, scavenge, or serve.
2. Level 10–19: Freelancers. Can clear F and E-rank dungeons solo. Paid in cores or protection.
3. Level 20–29: Guild core members. Own territory. Tax the weak.
4. Level 30+: Warlords. Own cities or entire dungeon zones. Currency is obedience.
Gold, crypto, stocks, bonds: museum pieces.
A single D-rank dungeon core can buy a city block.
A C-rank core can buy a city.
And in Hanami, the Harvest Family sits on:
- An unclaimed, infinite hidden realm (Elysara pocket) full of untouched dungeons.
- The only known Bed of Endless Night (guaranteed twins + pleasure buff).
- The Ring of Eternal Spring (perfect pregnancies, super-children).
- Three Awakened who were grinding in secret for weeks before the world even knew the system existed.
While Tokyo burns and billionaires beg for scraps of mana, Kai, Sayuri, and Mika count cores by the hundreds and laugh.
Because in the new economy, they aren't just rich.
They are gods.
And the old world's collapse?
It's just the fertilizer for their empire