The sun had truly set. The world was no longer purple; it was now pitch black, illuminated only by the pathetic bonfire in the center of the plaza and the eternal flames of the buildings destroyed by the Golem in the distance.
The tremors from the Golem's steps had stopped. It was probably on cooldown or digesting an apartment block. That was a problem for later.
The problem right now was in front of me.
A pile of carcasses.
There were about thirty mutated rats, five Goblins, and two wild dogs on that blue tarp. To the people in this Safe Zone, it was terrifying biological waste.
To me, it was Liquidity.
I sat on a plastic crate meant for drinks, the Grimoire open in my lap.
Miri lay to my left. It was chewing on the remains of an iron shopping cart it had found overturned. The crunch-crunch sound of metal being chewed made the people around us keep a safe five-meter distance.
Good. Free privacy zone.
"Can... can you make me one too?"
A man approached. He wore an office shirt with rolled-up sleeves, his tie loose. In his hand, he held a pathetic box cutter.
I stared at him.
[Office Worker - Lvl 1]
"Line starts over there," I said flatly, pointing toward the security guard who was now acting as my unofficial assistant. The guard—his nametag read Hank—stood tall with a [Bone Spike] in hand, feeling important for being the first one "armed."
"I have money," the shirt guy insisted. He pulled out a wallet, taking out five hundred-thousand-rupiah bills. "Five hundred thousand. Enough for one of those bone weapons, right?"
I stared at the banknotes. Then stared at his eyes.
He was serious.
He really thought that paper with pictures of heroes still had exchange value. This was a classic example of mental inertia. The world had ended, but his brain was still stuck in yesterday afternoon's office hours.
"That paper is good for starting a bonfire," I replied. "But it's not accepted in my shop."
The man was confused. "This is money! Real money! Are you crazy? Later when the army comes and fixes all this, you'll regret refusing cash!"
I sighed.
"Listen," I said, lowering my tone to sound like professional advice. "The System doesn't accept Rupiah. The System accepts Mana and Materials. You want a weapon? Find something useful. Batteries, iron, medicine, or monster corpses."
"I don't have those! I ran from the office!" he shouted in frustration. He tried to grab my shoulder.
GRRRR.
Miri stopped chewing the shopping cart. It raised its head. Its single purple eye stared at the man. Hot steam hissed from between its teeth.
The man scrambled back, falling on his butt.
"Miri, stay," I ordered.
I picked up a rat carcass from the pile.
[Forge].
A [Bone Spike] card appeared.
"You want this?" I asked the man. "Bring me your work boots. Your boots have steel plates in the toes. That's useful for my pet's dinner. Those expensive leather shoes are useless for running anyway."
The man looked at his shoes, then looked at the monsters in the dark streets.
Survival logic finally defeated prestige.
He took off his expensive leather boots with trembling hands, then handed them to me. He stood in just his socks on the cold asphalt.
I threw the shoes to Miri. Miri pounced on them, chewing the steel toe caps happily.
I threw the [Bone Spike] card to the man.
"Transaction complete. Next."
One hour passed.
I had turned a pile of trash into a pile of assets.
My Grimoire was full.
[Inventory Update]
Bone Spike (Common): 25x
Rat Claw (Common): 15x
Goblin Skin (Common): 5x
But what was more interesting was watching how these people used my merchandise.
It was... painful to watch.
A housewife held a [Rat Claw]—a claw dagger—with two shaking hands, eyes closed as she swung it at empty air.
"Ma'am," I scolded from afar. "That's a Passive item, +1 Agility stat. You don't need to swing it. Just hold it, and you can run faster. If you want to kill, use the pointy end, not the dull side."
She nodded in panic, but still held it wrong.
They didn't read item descriptions. They only saw "weapon" and their assumptions took over.
Information was the biggest divide right now. They were illiterate in the language of the System.
Suddenly, a commotion occurred near the bonfire.
A young man—the gym student type—was holding two [Bone Spike] cards at once. One in the right hand, one in the left.
His face was flushed red. His nose was bleeding. He was swaying.
"Why... why does my head hurt?" he groaned.
His friends panicked. "Is he poisoned? Is the weapon toxic?"
I shook my head slowly.
"Idiot," I muttered.
I walked over to them. Miri followed, making the crowd part automatically like the Red Sea.
"Drop one," I ordered the young man.
"What?" his eyes were swimming.
"You're Level 1. Your Mental Capacity (Soul Capacity) is probably only 5 or 6. One [Bone Spike] card has a weight of 3. Two cards mean 6. You're overloaded."
I tapped his cheek lightly. "Your brain is trying to lift a weight heavier than your muscles. Drop it, or you'll have a stroke."
The young man dropped one card.
Instantly, his breathing eased. The red color in his face receded.
"Oh... it feels light again."
The crowd looked at me with newfound respect. Not just as a merchant, but as a Teacher.
They thought I was a genius. Even though I was just reading the status panel right in front of their own eyes.
"Listen everyone," I said, raising my voice. This was a public relations moment.
"You are all Level 1. Don't be greedy. Use one card. Keep the rest in your pocket. The System is fair, but it is intolerant of stupidity."
"Mr. Rax," called Guard Hank. He was the only one whose name I asked. "Corpse stock is empty. What's the next plan?"
I looked around the plaza.
Dark.
The bonfire in the center burned bright. Too bright.
They were burning books and plastic chairs, creating a pillar of smoke and light visible from a one-kilometer radius.
To them, the fire was hope. Warmth.
To the monsters in the dark, the fire was a neon sign reading: "FREE BUFFET HERE."
"The next plan," I said, checking my cracked watch. "Is surviving your stupidity."
"What do you mean?"
"You built a giant bonfire in the middle of a city full of nocturnal predators," I explained coldly. "You just rang the dinner bell."
Hank's face went pale. "Should we put it out?"
"Too late. They already smell smoke and humans."
I pointed toward the darkness beyond the firelight limit.
There was a pair of red eyes.
Then two pairs.
Ten pairs.
Not rats. Rats are beginner pests.
These were wild dogs. Scavenger Hounds. Level 3. They hunted in packs. And they were hungry.
Panic began to set in. People screamed, retreating closer to the fire.
"Calm down!" I shouted. Not to soothe them, but so my voice could be heard. "You have the weapons I gave you. Form a circle formation! Strong ones in front, injured in the middle!"
They obeyed, not out of bravery, but because I was the only one who sounded like I knew what to do.
They formed a messy defensive circle.
Me? I didn't join that circle.
I retreated to the back, near a sturdy concrete mall pillar. Strategic position. Back protected, wide field of view.
Miri stood in front of me, growling low.
I opened the Grimoire.
I had 25 [Bone Spike] cards.
Thrown weapons. Disposable. Cheap.
"Fusion," I whispered.
I didn't combine them all into one strong weapon. That wasn't efficient for Crowd Control.
I combined 5 cards into 1.
Five processes.
Flash.
Five [Spike Trap] cards appeared. Rank: Uncommon.
This wasn't a weapon to hold. It was a weapon to place.
I threw all five cards onto the concrete floor in front of me, forming a protective semi-circle.
"Activate."
Bone spikes shot up from the concrete floor, sharp and dense, like a picket fence from hell.
"They're coming!" Hank shouted.
From the darkness, dozens of mutant dogs leaped out. Their skin ulcerated, jaws foaming.
They crashed into the human line.
Screams erupted. Blood sprayed.
People holding [Rat Claws] swung them in panic. Some managed to injure the dogs, but most missed because their eyes were closed.
Total chaos.
One large dog—the Alpha of the small pack—saw a gap. It saw me standing apart from the group.
It thought I was an easy target because I was alone.
It leaped over the human line, running straight at me.
I didn't move. I didn't raise a weapon.
I just crossed my arms over my chest.
The dog jumped, ready to tear out my throat.
It landed right on top of the [Spike Trap] card I had scattered.
SPLAT.
Three bone spikes pierced its stomach, holding it in place. It howled, suspended in the air like a satay.
Miri didn't waste the chance.
It leaped, biting the trapped dog's neck, and jerked it until it snapped.
I watched the crowd fighting for their lives.
They were learning the hard way.
The price of a mistake in this world is paid in blood.
While the price of preparation is paid in Intelligence.
I saw my EXP bar move up slightly from Miri's kill.
"The market is bullish," I muttered.
But my eyes caught something else.
In the distance, behind the pack of dogs... there was a shadow moving on the roof of the opposite building.
Humanoid shape. Holding a bow.
Goblin Archer? No, the posture was too upright.
[Entity Detected]
That wasn't a monster.
It was another human.
And he wasn't helping. He was watching us get slaughtered, waiting for the right moment to pick up the leftovers (Looting).
I smiled thinly.
Finally. A competitor.