[11 Minutes to Physical Anchor Compromise...]
In the center of the First Void, Chronos was sweating.
Ninety mana had vanished instantly. In exchange, the grey fog around him surged. Chunks of glowing, metallic rock—Star Dust—began to coalesce in front of him. It wasn't a planet yet; it was a chaotic swirl of debris, spinning with violent centrifugal force.
[Warning! Gravitational instability detected.]
[Planetary Core is collapsing into a 'Dead Mass'.]
"No, you don't!" Chronos roared.
He reached into the swirling mass. In the real world, his body would have been crushed, but here, he was the Architect. He grabbed the spinning debris with his will, forcing the jagged rocks to compress.
'Density creates gravity,' he recited, his physicist mind working at overclocked speeds. 'Gravity creates order.'
He slammed his hands together. The Star Dust shrieked, compressing into a molten ball the size of a basketball. It glowed with a fierce, angry orange light.
[Ding! Achievement Unlocked: Miniature Core.]
[You have created the heart of a world.]
[Passive Skill Learned: 'World Pressure' (Level 1).]
[World Pressure: You can project a fraction of your dimension's gravity onto the physical world.]
Chronos panted, his mana bar sitting at a measly 10/100. But he felt it—a tether. He was connected to this molten ball. It was small, but it was dense. It had weight.
"System, return to the physical anchor. It's time to greet the neighbors."
[Executing Dimensional Shift...]
The Awakening Center – Real World
"Break the door! He's an Anomaly, he might be a spy from the Abyssal Factions!"
Captain Vane of the City Guard slammed his armored fist against the air where Chronos had vanished. Beside him, a Mage in silver robes was tracing glowing runes in the air.
"I have a lock on his spatial signature," the Mage hissed. "He didn't teleport far. He's folded himself into a pocket of space right... HERE!"
The Mage thrust his staff forward. A crack appeared in reality—the 'Anchor.'
With a sound like shattering glass, the air tore open. A figure stumbled out, landing lightly on the cold tile floor.
It was Chronos. He looked different. His eyes, once a dull brown, now held a faint, swirling gold light, like distant nebulae.
"Capture him! Don't let him blink again!" Vane commanded.
Two guards rushed forward, their Level 15 [Mana Shackles] glowing blue. These chains were designed to suppressed anyone below C-Rank. To them, Chronos was just an F-Rank orphan.
Chronos didn't run. He didn't even flinch. He just looked at the guards and thought about the molten core spinning in his Void. He thought about its density.
"Kneel," Chronos said softly.
[Skill Activated: World Pressure.]
BAM!
The floor tiles beneath the guards shattered. It was as if an invisible giant had slammed its palm down on the room. The two guards were crushed instantly into the floor, their armor groaning under a weight that shouldn't exist. They couldn't even scream; the air was being squeezed out of their lungs.
Captain Vane staggered, his knees buckling. "This... this pressure... it's at least B-Rank! How?!"
"I told you," Chronos said, stepping over the pinned guards. His voice was calm, but his heart was hammering. Each second of using World Pressure was draining his remaining 10 mana. "The rock didn't break because I'm a dud. It broke because it couldn't measure what's inside me."
The silver-robed Mage raised his staff, a ball of fire forming at the tip. "Bastard! I don't care what you are!"
Chronos pointed a finger. He didn't have mana for another World Pressure burst, but he had something else.
"System," he whispered. "Deploy 0.1% of the 'Atmospheric Gas' from the Void. Target: The Mage's lungs."
[Processing...]
The Mage suddenly choked. His fireball flickered and died. He clawed at his throat, his face turning purple. He wasn't being strangled; there simply wasn't any oxygen left in a three-inch radius around his face. Chronos had replaced it with the toxic, inert gases of his newborn world.
"I'm leaving," Chronos announced to the room of paralyzed soldiers. "If you follow me, I'll stop being gentle. I have a world to build, and I'm already behind schedule."
He turned and walked toward the exit.
[Mana: 0/100] [Warning: Host is entering a 'Mana Famine' state.]
'Just a little further,' Chronos thought, his legs starting to shake. 'I just need to disappear into the slums. Once I recover... once I grow that core into a planet... no one will ever put me in a line again.'
As he reached the doors, a new notification flashed, one that made his blood run cold.
[Alert! A 'Blue Rock' fragment in your vicinity is reacting to your presence.]
[The Fragment is attempting to 'Seed' your Void.]
[Warning: If successful, a Monster Breach will occur inside your Pocket Dimension!]