The dust in the subway station settled.
I stood over the crater, my chest heaving. The purple shard—the Administrator Key—had dissolved into my skin. It didn't leave a mark, but I could feel it. A cold, heavy knot right next to my heart.
"You're insane," Cipher whispered.
She was still on the floor, clutching her laptop. She stared at the empty space where the Debugger had been.
"You crashed a Tier 4 System Entity. That's impossible. The math doesn't work."
"I told you," I said, offering her a hand. "I don't do math. I do results."
She looked at my hand, then up at my face. She hesitated, then took it. I pulled her up. She was light, barely a hundred pounds soaking wet.
"Beta," I said.
The air shimmered next to Alpha. The "Undo" command had worked on the immediate area. The Crimson Shade materialized, looking confused. It flexed its glass-like claws, checking to see if it was real.
It chattered its teeth at me.
"We're good," I said.
I checked my status.
[Status Effect: Administrator Privilege (Tier 0)]
[Rights: Read/Write (Restricted)]
[Charge: 0%]
The key was dead. Using "Undo" had drained it completely. It would recharge, but slowly. I couldn't go around deleting enemies whenever I wanted. It was a trump card, not a primary weapon.
"What now?" Cipher asked. She adjusted her goggles, scanning the tunnel. "You realize what you did, right? You created a vacuum. The System hates vacuums. It's going to patch this."
"Let it try," I said. "You said you exploit the System. Does that mean you want in?"
Cipher paused. She looked at my army, the Abyssal Warrior, the Crimson Shade, and the squad of Stalkers waiting in the shadows.
"You're a target," she said. "The biggest target on the server. But you're also the only one who can protect me when the next Hunter shows up."
She tapped her laptop.
"I'm in. But I take 20% of the loot."
"10%," I said.
"15% and I handle your logistics. You're a brute force fighter. You need someone to manage the numbers."
I smiled. "Deal."
We walked out of the subway station at 2:00 AM.
The city had changed.
The sky wasn't black anymore. It was a static grey, like a television tuned to a dead channel. The clouds were pixelated blocks drifting sluggishly over the skyline.
"Server desync," Cipher muttered, looking up. "Killing the Debugger messed up the local time-space coordinates. The physics engine is lagging."
"Does that mean the monsters are slower?" I asked.
"No. It means the events are going to trigger early."
As if on cue, a massive chime rang through the city. It was louder than the Tutorial start. It shook the glass in the remaining windows.
[SYSTEM ALERT: CRITICAL UPDATE]
[Local Server Timeline Corrupted.]
[Skipping Tutorial Phase 2...]
[Skipping Tutorial Phase 3...]
[Accelerating to Phase 4: Global Integration.]
My eyes widened.
Phase 4.
That wasn't supposed to happen for a month. Phase 4 was when the real features unlocked. Guilds. Dungeons. And most importantly...
[The Inter-Dimensional Auction House is now OPEN.]
A new icon appeared in my vision. A golden gavel.
"No way," Cipher breathed. "The Auction House? That's global. That connects Earth to the other Integrated Planets."
I didn't listen to her. I mentally clicked the icon.
A holographic interface exploded into view. It was a marketplace. A scrolling list of millions of items.
[Seller: Iron_Lord (Planet #412)]
[Item: Dragon Scale Shield]
[Current Bid: 50,000 Gold]
[Seller: Void_Walker (Planet #88)]
[Item: Potion of Flight]
[Buyout: 500 Gold]
It was chaos. The economy of a thousand worlds, suddenly open to a bunch of Level 10 humans who didn't know the value of a single copper coin.
I scanned the "New Listings" filter, specifically set to "Earth Region."
Most humans were listing trash.
Baseball Bat (Signed by Babe Ruth) - Starting Bid: 1000 Gold. (Worthless).iPhone 14 (Broken) - Starting Bid: 500 Gold. (Garbage).
But then I saw it.
Buried under a pile of junk listings from panicked survivors.
[Seller: Farmer_John (Ohio)]
[Item: Rusty Iron Key]
[Description: Found this in a glowing chest in my barn. Looks old.]
[Current Bid: 10 Gold]
[Buyout: 1000 Gold]
My heart skipped a beat.
It wasn't just a rusty key.
In the future, that key was known as the Key of the Fallen King. It opened a specific treasury in the tutorial zone that contained a Unique Set Item.
In my last life, a guild bought it for 500,000 Gold three years into the apocalypse.
And Farmer John was selling it for 1000.
"Cipher," I said. "How much gold do you have?"
"Me?" She checked her inventory. "Zero. I spent it all on C4 components."
I checked my balance. 300 Gold.
I was 700 short.
The timer on the auction was 24 hours, but someone else would spot it. There were other veterans. Other people with high 'Appraisal' skills. If I didn't buy it now, it would be gone.
"I need money," I said. "Fast."
"Sell the Bloodletter," Cipher suggested, pointing at Alpha's sword. "That's a Rank C weapon. It would go for 2000 easy."
"No," I said. "Alpha needs that to farm. Never sell your primary asset."
I looked at the Auction House interface.
What did I have?
I had knowledge.
I looked at the "Information" tab of the Auction House. It was empty. Nobody on Earth was selling info yet because nobody knew anything.
But I did.
I opened a new listing.
[Create Listing]
[Item Type: Information / Guide]
I started typing.
[Title: The Ultimate Guide to the Level 10 Boss (The Butcher)]
[Content: Weakness points, attack patterns, safe spots, and the glitch to skip his rage phase.]
[Price: 50 Gold per download.]
Cipher looked over my shoulder. "You're selling a strategy guide?"
"The Butcher spawns in two hours," I said. "It's the first Regional Boss. It wipes 90% of parties that try to fight it. People are desperate. They have gold from the night event, but they don't have the skill to survive."
I hit [Post].
The listing went live.
[Seller: Abyssal Sovereign]
"Now," I said. "We wait."
Ten minutes passed.
We sat on a bus stop bench. The static clouds churned above us.
[Notification: User 'DragonSlayer99' purchased your guide.]
[+50 Gold.]
[Notification: User 'Guild_Leader_Steve' purchased your guide.]
[+50 Gold.]
[Notification: User 'xX_Sephiroth_Xx' purchased your guide.]
The notifications started to ping. Slowly at first. Then faster.
People saw the name. Abyssal Sovereign. The guy at the top of the leaderboard.
They weren't buying the guide. They were buying the secret to my power.
50 Gold. 100 Gold. 500 Gold.
"It's viral," Cipher said, staring at the ticker. "You're trending on the main page."
[Total Earnings: 1200 Gold.]
"Enough," I said.
I opened the auction for the Rusty Iron Key.
I didn't bid. I hit [Buyout].
[Transaction Complete.]
[Item Transferred to Inventory.]
A heavy, corroded iron key appeared in my hand. It felt cold and buzzed with latent energy.
I grinned.
"Farmer John," I whispered. "Thank you for your business."
"You just spent a fortune on a piece of scrap metal," Cipher said skeptically.
"This isn't scrap," I said, pocketing the key. "This is a ticket to the God Tier."
I stood up.
"Cipher, can you track energy signatures?"
"Yes. Why?"
"There's a hidden door under the University Library. It requires this key. And inside is the Armor of the Mourning Prince."
Cipher froze. "Set items? In the Tutorial?"
"The Tutorial is broken," I said. "The System is glitching. We need to loot the house before the landlords fix the lock."
I looked down the street.
"But first, we have to deal with the squatters."
"Squatters?"
"Blake," I said. "He's sitting on top of the entrance. And I bet he's spent the last twelve hours buying gear with his daddy's money."
I checked the Auction House one last time.
The price of Iron Swords had skyrocketed to 200 Gold. Someone was buying everything.
"Blake is arming up," I said. "He's building a private army."
"And you have ten skeletons and a nerd with a laptop," Cipher said.
I looked at my Gold balance. It was still climbing. 500 Gold... 600 Gold...
"I have something better," I said.
I clicked on the [Mercenary] tab of the Inter-Dimensional Auction House.
Usually, you couldn't hire off-world mercenaries until Phase 5. But everything was unlocked.
[Mercenary Contract: Orc Berserker (Planet #66)]
[Level: 20]
[Cost: 1000 Gold / Hour]
"I have a credit card," I said.
I hit [Hire].
A portal swirled open in the middle of the street. It smelled of sulfur and blood.
A massive green foot stepped out. It was followed by a seven-foot-tall Orc holding two battle axes. He looked around at the modern city, confused, then looked at me.
[Mercenary: Gor-rok has accepted your contract.]
I pointed toward the University.
"Gor-rok," I said. "Do you like smashing things?"
The Orc grinned, revealing yellow tusks. "Gor-rok likes smash."
"Good," I said. "I know a guy named Blake who needs a hug."