Sunlight filtered through the bullet holes in the shipping container's wall, hitting Elian squarely in the face.
He groaned, rolling over on his thin mattress. His body felt like it had been put through a meat grinder. His muscles ached from the unaccustomed sprinting, and his mana channels felt bruised—a lingering side effect of channeling so much energy into the Mana Thread.
But as he blinked his eyes open, the headache wasn't there.
The constant, throbbing pressure of Kaelen's memories—the "Mental Load"—had receded to a dull hum. It was manageable.
"Status," Elian croaked.
A new interface unfolded before his eyes. It wasn't the standard flat blue box of the System anymore. It was a complex, wireframe overlay that mapped the room in 3D grid lines.
[Name: Elian Vance]
[Class: Dungeon Architect (Unique)]
[Level: 3]
[Credits: 50,450]
[Mana: 45/45 (Regenerated)]
[Current Location: Sector 4 Residential Block (Unregistered)]
[Structure Integrity: 14% (Critical)]
[Security Rating: F-]
Elian sat up, staring at the walls of his home. Through his [Blueprint Sight], the rusted metal of the shipping container wasn't just a wall; it was a mesh of data. He could see the stress fractures in the ceiling where the rain was leaking in. He could see the weakness in the door hinges where a pry-bar could easily pop them open.
"I live in a cardboard box," Elian realized. "Anyone could break in here in three seconds."
With fifty thousand credits in his account, he was a walking loot drop living in a paper house.
Correction, the Ghost interjected. Kaelen's voice was clearer now, less static. You live in a potential fortress. You just lack the vision.
"Vision doesn't stop bullets, hero," Elian muttered, swinging his legs out of bed.
He walked over to the door. The lock was a cheap padlock he'd scavenged from a dead guard years ago.
"Test run," Elian whispered.
He placed his hand on the doorframe.
[Target: Steel Door Frame]
[Material: Rusted Iron / Low-Grade Steel]
[Edit Mode: Active]
A holographic menu popped up. It looked like a CAD software interface, floating in the air.
Reinforce
Reshape
Fuse
Create Trap Slot (Empty)
Elian selected [Fuse].
He imagined the door frame merging with the door itself, turning the two separate pieces of metal into a single, solid slab.
Mana Cost: 15.
A ripple of grey energy flowed from his palm. The metal groaned. The rust flaked away as the molecules realigned. The gap between the door and the frame vanished. The metal flowed together like wax, then hardened instantly.
The door was now sealed shut. It wasn't locked; it was literally a solid wall of steel. No lockpick could open this. You would need a plasma cutter.
Okay, Elian grinned, looking at his hand. That is useful.
To leave, he simply selected [Reshape] and created a new seam, opening the door.
He had total control over his environment. As long as he had mana, he could make doors where there were walls and walls where there were doors.
He stepped out onto the metal walkway of the Docks, pulling his hood up.
The News
The mood in Sector 4 was electric. Usually, the slums were a place of misery and quiet desperation, but today, people were gathered around the public holoscreens that hung from the upper levels of the Sector Wall.
Elian paused by a noodle stall to listen.
"...repeat, the Third Gate opening has been stalled," the news anchor announced, her voice breathless. "The Global System announced a 'Crisis Averted' achievement early this morning. The Mana destabilization that was predicted to level New York has been neutralized."
The screen cut to a clip of the Guild Master of 'Azure Abyss', a man in shining blue plate armor named Sterling.
"We believe this was the work of a Covert Ops team from the European Alliance," Sterling lied smoothly to the cameras. "But rest assured, Azure Abyss was prepared to handle the threat regardless."
The crowd in the slums jeered.
"Liars!" a beggar shouted. "They didn't do jack! The System said it was an 'Anomaly'!"
Elian bought a bowl of synthetic pork noodles (5 credits) and slurped them quietly, watching the chaos he had caused.
He checked the Global Rankings.
[Global Ranking (Crisis Contribution)]
1. Anonymous (Hidden) - 100%
2. Azure Abyss Guild - 0%
3. Crimson Dawn Guild - 0%
He chuckled. The Guilds must be losing their minds. They monitored every high-level player. For an "Anonymous" solo player to steal a Server-First achievement right under their noses was a humiliation they wouldn't forgive.
Sera knows, the memory reminded him. She knows someone was there. She knows you hacked the terminal.
"She doesn't know my name," Elian thought back. "She saw a silhouette in a trench coat. I'm just a ghost story to her."
But he knew he couldn't stay in the shadows forever. He needed to get stronger before she found him.
________________________________________
The Builder's Market
Elian didn't go to the Black Market this time. He went to "The Yard."
The Yard was a massive open-air market in the industrial district of Sector 4. It was where the Crafters hung out—Blacksmiths, Alchemists, and Trap-Makers. It smelled of sawdust, molten iron, and flux.
Elian walked with a purpose. He wasn't scavenging today. He was investing.
He stopped at a stall run by a Dwarf (a distinct race that had integrated into Earth society after the Second Wave). The sign read: IRONBEARD'S CONSTRUCTION SUPPLIES.
"I need mana-conductive mortar," Elian said, leaning on a stack of timber. "And steel plating. Reinforced grade."
The Dwarf, Ironbeard, looked Elian up and down. Elian still looked like a bum, but the confident set of his shoulders made the merchant pause.
"Mortar is expensive, lad. Ten credits a bucket. Steel is fifty a sheet."
"I need twenty buckets," Elian said, pulling out a handful of credit chips. "And ten sheets. Delivered to Block 9, Unit 404."
The Dwarf's eyebrows shot up. "Block 9? The Docks? You reinforcing a shipping container, lad? A bit overkill for a rat trap."
"I value my privacy," Elian said flatly. "Do you have Mana-Sensors? The kind used for perimeter alarms?"
"Aye. I got Trip-Wire crystals. Break the beam, it sends a pulse to a linked receiver. 200 credits a pop."
"I'll take four."
Elian spent the next hour moving from stall to stall. He bought:
Copper wiring (for mana transmission).
Chalk of Binding (for drawing rune circles).
A Portable Mana Generator (Civilian Grade).
A Tool Belt with enchanted durability.
By the time he was done, he had spent nearly 5,000 credits. It was a fortune. But he wasn't just buying materials. He was buying ammunition for his Class.
As he was leaving The Yard, his [Blueprint Sight] flared.
[Warning: Structural Instability Detected Above.]
Elian stopped. He looked up.
Suspended above the market was a heavy cargo net filled with steel beams, being moved by a crane. The wireframe overlay in Elian's vision turned red around the crane's cable.
[Cable Stress: 99%. Snapping in 3... 2...]
Directly underneath the net was a family—a mother and two kids—arguing with a fruit vendor.
Elian didn't think. Kaelen's instincts kicked in, but Elian's brain processed the solution.
He couldn't run fast enough to push them.
He couldn't catch the beams.
Edit the environment.
Elian dropped his bags and slapped his hands onto the muddy ground.
[Target: Ground (Compacted Earth)]
[Edit Mode: Reshape]
[Action: Create Ramp/Incline]
Mana Cost: 30.
The ground beneath the family suddenly heaved. It didn't crack; it flowed upward, forming a steep, slick slide of mud.
"Whoa!" The mother screamed as she and her children lost their footing and slid rapidly backward, away from the stall, tumbling ten feet away into a pile of hay.
SNAP.
The crane cable gave way. Two tons of steel beams crashed down exactly where they had been standing a second ago, obliterating the fruit cart and shattering the pavement.
Dust billowed up. Silence fell over the market.
Elian stood up, wiping mud from his hands. His mana was low again, leaving him dizzy.
"You..." The fruit vendor, who had jumped back just in time, stared at the crushed remains of his cart, then at the family safe in the hay, then at Elian. "You... you're an Earth Mage?"
"Just a guy with bad luck," Elian muttered. He grabbed his bags.
That was reckless, the Ghost chided. You revealed your ability.
I revealed I can move mud, Elian thought. Plenty of low-level mages can do that. Nobody associates mud-slide with Dungeon Architect.
He disappeared into the crowd before anyone could ask questions. But as he walked away, he felt a strange warmth in his chest.
It wasn't the loot. It wasn't the credits.
He had saved them.
And he hadn't needed a sword to do it.
Home Base: The Bunker
Back at the shipping container, Elian got to work.
He stripped the room bare. He used [Edit Mode] to fuse the steel plating he had bought to the interior walls, creating a double-layered hull.
[Structure Integrity: 14% -> 45%]
He mixed the mana-conductive mortar and used it to fill the gaps, creating a sealed circuit around the room.
He set up the Mana Generator in the corner. It hummed to life.
"Now for the fun part," Elian said.
He activated his class skill: [Blueprint Sight].
He looked at the floor in front of the door.
[Select Trap Type]
Spike Pit (Requires: Metal/Wood)
Snare (Requires: Rope/Wire)
Mana Mine (Requires: Crystal)
Elian placed one of the Trip-Wire crystals above the door. He used the copper wire to connect it to the Generator.
Then, he focused on the floor mat.
[Action: Create False Floor]
[Trigger: Weight > 40kg]
[Consequence: Drop into Sub-Space (1 meter depth)]
It wasn't a lethal trap. It was a holding cell. If someone stepped on the mat, the floor would vanish, dropping them into a steel box fused to the underside of the container.
[Home Security Rating: F- -> D+]
It wasn't much, but it was a start.
Elian sat on his bed, exhausted but satisfied. He opened a can of real peaches he had bought—a luxury he hadn't tasted in years.
He ate a slice, savoring the sweetness.
"Okay, Ghost," Elian said, staring at his fortified door. "We have a base. We have money. We have a Class. What's the next catastrophe?"
The Hunter Exam, Kaelen replied instantly.
Elian choked on a peach. "The what?"
To enter high-level dungeons legally, and to access the materials required to upgrade your Class, you need a Guild License. The bi-annual Hunter Exam is in three weeks.
"I'm not joining a Guild," Elian protested. "I'm a solo player."
You don't need to join. You need the license. And to get the license, you have to pass the exam.
However, the memory darkened. In the original timeline, the upcoming exam was the site of the 'Rookie Massacre'. A Demon Cultist infiltrated the examiners. Forty-two applicants died.
Elian put the can down. The sweetness turned to ash in his mouth.
"Let me guess," Elian sighed. "I have to stop that too?"
No, the Ghost said. You have to survive it. And loot the Cultist. He carries the 'Shadow-Step' boots.
Elian smiled. It was a tired, cynical smile.
Save the rookies, loot the bad guy. Fine. Just another Tuesday.
He laid back, closing his eyes.
For the first time in ten years, Elian Vance didn't sleep with one eye open. The trap at the door would watch for him.