The hammers stopped swinging at 4:00 AM.
Lecture Hall B looked less like a classroom and more like a bunker. The windows were boarded up with layers of dismantled particle board, wedged tight and sealed with duct tape from the janitor's closet. The door was a barricade of stacked tables and chairs, reinforced by Kaelen's skill every time the cooldown reset.
It was ugly. It was claustrophobic.
And it was freezing.
Kaelen sat on the floor near the podium, his breath pluming in the air like cigarette smoke. The System Interface hovered in his peripheral vision, a constant, glowing reminder of their reality.
[ Ambient Temperature: 32°F (0°C) ]
[ Global Sunlight Subscription: INACTIVE ]
[ Time to Critical Failure: 29 Days, 11 Hours ]
"It's not holding," Dr. Halloway whispered. The professor was wrapped in a curtain they had torn from the stage, shivering violently. "We sealed the drafts, Kaelen. Why is it still getting colder?"
Kaelen didn't look up from his notebook. He was sketching a map of the campus by memory, using a stub of charcoal.
"Radiative cooling," Kaelen said, his voice raspy. "The stone ceiling above us isn't just blocking the sun; it's a heat sink. The planet is bleeding thermal energy into the stone. Insulation helps, but we're fighting thermodynamics. Without an active heat source, this room will hit negative ten by tomorrow night."
He looked up. The nineteen other students were huddled together in a pile of coats and limbs in the center of the room, trying to share body heat. Mark was asleep, his face pale but stable thanks to the antidote.
"We can't stay here," Sarah said. She was rubbing her hands together, wearing fingerless gloves she'd made from socks. "We have no food. No water. And now we're freezing."
"We have water," Kaelen corrected. "The fountain outside. But it'll be ice by morning."
He stood up, his joints popping. He walked to the whiteboard. It was covered in frantic calculations he had made earlier: Mana Cost vs. Caloric Intake, Structure Integrity of Campus Buildings, monster Spawn Rates.
He erased a section and wrote one word: ECONOMY.
"Listen to me," Kaelen said. The huddle of students looked up. They looked exhausted, scared, and young.
"The System isn't a game," Kaelen began, tapping the marker against the board. "It's a resource exchange. We survived the first wave because we got lucky. We survived the infection because we had just enough Mana to buy a potion. But we are currently operating at a net loss."
He drew a circle. "Heat costs Mana. Food costs Mana. Sunlight costs Mana."
"We get it," a boy named David snapped. He was clutching a baseball bat. "We need to kill monsters. But going out there is suicide. You saw those things."
"Not just monsters," Kaelen said. "Me."
He pointed to the pile of broken desks in the corner. "I can convert matter into currency. Salvage. But I've stripped this room bare. The chairs, the desks—they're gone. We are sitting in a dead mine."
He turned back to his map. He circled two locations.
"Destination A: The Cafeteria," Kaelen said. "Food. Water bottles. High value."
"Destination B: The Boiler Room," he circled the Engineering basement. "Industrial heating units. If the gas lines are cut, they're useless. But if there are Mana Cores or magical heat sources... that's how we survive the month."
"The cafeteria is across the quad," Sarah pointed out. "The open ground."
"Which is why we don't go across the quad," Kaelen said. He drew a line connecting the buildings. "We go through the buildings. The Arts block connects to the Student Union via the glass skybridge. It keeps us off the ground level where the Imps spawn."
"The skybridge?" David scoffed. "That thing is all windows. If something sees us..."
"It's risky," Kaelen admitted. "But freezing to death isn't a risk; it's a certainty. The math says we die in 48 hours if we stay here."
He looked at Lena—no, Lena still wasn't here. He missed the idea of a tank. He looked at David.
"David, what's your class?"
"Brawler," David grunted. "Strength build."
"Good. You're point." Kaelen pointed to Sarah. "Sarah, you said you had a ranged spell?"
"Magic Missile," she nodded. "But I only have enough Mana for three shots."
"Keep them for emergencies."
Kaelen pulled on his backpack. It was heavier now, filled with scrap metal and wood he intended to use for reinforcements.
"We leave in ten minutes," Kaelen announced. "We hit the cafeteria first. We stock up. Then we decide on the Boiler Room."
"And Mark?" Halloway asked.
Kaelen looked at the unconscious athlete. "He stays. You stay with him, Professor. Barricade the door behind us. If we're not back in two hours..."
He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't have to.
Ten minutes later, the barricade was shifted just enough to let four people squeeze through.
Kaelen, David, Sarah, and a nervous freshman named Eric (Rogue class) stepped into the hallway.
The cold in the corridor was biting. It smelled of ozone and dust. The emergency lights had finally died, plunging the hallway into absolute darkness.
"Lights," Kaelen whispered.
Three cell phone flashlights clicked on. The beams cut through the gloom, illuminating the debris of the panicked stampede from yesterday. Backpacks, shoes, and papers littered the floor.
"Quiet," Kaelen commanded. "Walk on the balls of your feet."
He activated [Structural Analysis].
The hallway lit up in his vision with a ghostly blue wireframe. He could see the walls, the ceiling supports, and the floor.
He could also see the damage.
The walls were riddled with claw marks. The plaster was gouged deep, revealing the brick beneath.
They were hunting here, Kaelen thought.
"Which way?" David whispered, gripping his bat so tight his knuckles were white.
"Left," Kaelen said. " toward the Arts atrium. The skybridge entrance is on the second floor."
They moved slowly. Every creak of a floorboard sounded like a gunshot. Kaelen scanned every shadow, his heart rate steady but elevated.
They reached the stairwell. Kaelen held up a hand.
"Wait."
He stared at the stairs. To the others, it looked like a normal concrete staircase going up.
To Kaelen, the wireframe was screaming red.
[ Structural Anomaly Detected ]
[ Object: Staircase (Flight 1-2) ]
[ Integrity: 95% ]
[ STATUS: TRAPPED ]
"Don't step on the third step," Kaelen hissed.
"Why?" Eric asked, foot hovering over it.
"Because the rebar has been bent," Kaelen whispered. "Someone—or something—manipulated the concrete from underneath. It's a pressure plate."
He looked closer. The concrete on that step was slightly discolored.
"Trap?" David asked, eyes wide.
"Dungeon generation," Kaelen realized. "The System isn't just spawning monsters. It's rewriting the architecture. It's turning the school into a dungeon."
He pointed to the railing. "Climb over. Skip the step."
They moved awkwardly, pulling themselves over the banister to avoid the trigger. Kaelen went last. He paused, looking at the trap.
If I trigger it...
No. Waste of resources.
He climbed over.
They reached the second floor. The Atrium was a wide, open space with a balcony overlooking the entrance. The glass doors to the Skybridge were directly ahead.
"There it is," Sarah breathed. "We made it."
She started to walk forward.
"Stop!" Kaelen lunged, grabbing her backpack and yanking her back.
CRASH.
Something massive slammed into the glass skylight above them. Shards of glass rained down, tinkling like wind chimes on the marble floor.
A creature dropped from the ceiling. It landed on all fours, silent as a shadow.
It wasn't an Imp.
It was sleek, covered in black fur that seemed to absorb the flashlight beams. It had the body of a panther but the head of a bat, with oversized ears that twitched independently. Its claws clicked against the floor tiles.
[ ENEMY IDENTIFIED: Shadow Stalker (Lvl 4) ]
It hissed, a sound like escaping steam.
"Back," Kaelen said, his voice level. "Slowly."
"It's huge," David whimpered. "My bat won't do anything against that."
The Stalker tensed its haunches. It was preparing to pounce.
Kaelen scanned the room. Marble floor. Steel railings. Glass skylight (broken).
He had 40 Mana.
Minor Reinforce cost 20.
Salvage was touch-range only.
He needed an environment kill.
His eyes locked onto the chandelier hanging directly above the creature. It was a heavy, modern art piece—steel and glass.
[ Object: Chandelier ]
[ Support Cable: Steel ]
[ Stress Level: High ]
"Sarah," Kaelen said. "Can you hit the cable holding that light?"
"The... what?"
"The cable! Above the monster! Magic Missile! Now!"
The Stalker leaped.
"Ignis!" Sarah screamed (wrong spell name, but the System understood the intent). A bolt of purple force shot from her palm.
It missed the monster. It hit the cable.
PING.
The steel cable snapped.
Gravity took over. Five hundred pounds of steel and glass plummeted.
The Stalker, mid-leap, tried to twist in the air. It was fast. But gravity was faster.
CRUNCH.
The chandelier smashed the creature into the floor. The impact shook the balcony. Black blood pooled instantly around the twisted metal.
[ THREAT ELIMINATED ]
[ XP GAINED: 45 ]
[ MANA SIPHONED: +10 ]
Kaelen exhaled, his knees shaking slightly.
"See?" he said, adjusting his backpack. "Physics."
"You're crazy," David breathed, staring at the crushed monster. "You're actually crazy."
"We're alive," Kaelen said. he stepped over the wreckage. "The bridge is ahead. Let's move before its mate shows up."