The walk to the City General Hospital took forty minutes.
My new body was different. I didn't sweat. My breath didn't shake. Every step felt like a machine moving in a straight line. The "Body Reconstruction" pill had washed away the "weak human" parts of me. My nerves were steady. My eyes were sharp.
The streets were turning into a war zone.
Shop windows were being smashed. People were stealing TVs and expensive jewelry. They were idiots. They were taking things that would be useless in a month. I walked past a mob breaking into a gold store. One man was screaming about how he was "rich now." I didn't even look at him. You can't kill a monster with a gold ring, and gold doesn't taste good when you're starving.
I reached the back door of the hospital.
In my past life, everyone remembered the "Gas Leak" at this hospital. It killed four hundred people in one night. The news called it a sad accident. In reality, a Level 5 'Void Hound' had slipped through a small tear in reality in the basement. It spent six hours eating the dead bodies in the morgue. By the time it finished, it was strong enough to kill everyone in the building.
[Ding! New Zone Found: The Weeping Basement (Hidden Dungeon).] [Time until First Monster: 04:12:01]
The gold text floated over a heavy steel door. It was locked with an electronic pad.
I didn't have a key. I didn't need one.
I reached out and grabbed the steel handle. I didn't pull; I twisted my wrist. With my new strength, the metal inside snapped like a dry twig. It sounded like a gunshot in the quiet alley. I stepped inside and closed the door. The world became quiet and damp.
The air here already tasted wrong. It was thin and bitter. It was the taste of the "Void"—the place the monsters come from. It felt like a cold tongue licking the back of my throat.
I walked down the stairs. My boots didn't make a sound on the floor. The basement was a maze of hot pipes and lights that flickered on and off. Buzz. Pop. Silence. Most people would be scared here. I felt like I was finally home.
I reached the center of the boiler room and stopped.
I held out my right hand. I didn't shout. I just thought about the weapon in my soul.
A handle appeared first. It was wrapped in dark, rough skin. Then, the blade grew out—three feet of black metal that seemed to suck the light out of the room.
The Sovereign's Shadow-Slaying Blade.
It was light. It felt like a part of my own arm. In my past life, I used a chipped iron sword I found in a trash heap. This weapon was a masterpiece. It vibrated against my palm, as if it were breathing. It was hungry.
[Current Mission: Prepare the Kill Zone.] [Task: Kill the Void Hound in less than 10 seconds.] [Reward: Hidden Title — 'The First Slayer'.]
I sat down on the cold floor and crossed my legs. I laid the black sword across my knees and closed my eyes.
In my past life, I lived because I was lucky. In this life, I would be a King because I was ready.
I started the 'Heaven-Devouring' exercise. My blood began to hum. The energy in the room—the small bits of power leaking from the air—started to move toward me. It went into my skin, making me feel stronger every second.
I wasn't just waiting for the monster.
The low sound of the hospital's power machines shook the floor, but I ignored it. I looked at a spot in the air three meters in front of me. The space there was getting thin. It was a tiny rip, invisible to normal people. But with my silver eyes, I could see a cold wind blowing through it.
Level 5, I thought.
In the first week of the apocalypse, a Level 5 monster could kill ten men easily. For me, in this new body, it was just a warm-up.
I looked up at the red numbers in the sky, even though there was a ceiling in the way. My mind could still see them.
[29:22:45:10]
Four hours. I had four hours of silence before the first drop of blood hit the floor.
I pulled a small silver coin from my pocket. It was a lucky coin from my past life. It was the only thing I had kept for ten years of war. It was scratched and bent, but it was real. I flipped it into the dark air.
Heads, I become a God. Tails, I burn the world down.
The coin landed on the concrete. Heads.
I closed my eyes again. My skin began to glow with a dark, cold light. Every second that passed, the weak office worker named Han Chen was disappearing.
A monster was being born in this basement.
The air around me started to get colder. I could feel the hunger of the Void Hound on the other side of the rip. It wanted to eat. It wanted to kill. It didn't know that on this side, something much scarier was waiting for it.
I wasn't just waiting for the harvest.
I was becoming the Reaper.
The shadows in the corner of the room seemed to stretch toward me. They didn't feel like a threat. They felt like they were bowing to their new master. I felt the SSS-Rank blade vibrate on my knees. It was hungry, too. It wanted to taste the blood of the Void.
"Soon," I whispered. My voice didn't sound human. It sounded like stone grinding against stone.
The countdown ticked. The world outside was busy being scared of red numbers. They were buying water and bread. They were calling their families and crying on the phone. They were wasting the last few hours of peace.
I was sitting in the dark, sharpening my soul.
Every breath I took pulled in more mana. The Heaven-Devouring technique was like a black hole in my chest. It took the darkness of the basement and turned it into fuel for my muscles.
I remembered my death. I remembered the Shadow Stalker's claw. I remembered the feeling of being "trash." That memory was a fire that kept me warm in this freezing basement.
When that monster stepped through the hole in reality, it wouldn't find a meal. It would find its end. And I would take its power for myself.
That is how you survive. That is how you win. You don't ask for permission. You just take.
[04:00:00]
The clock hit the four-hour mark. I stopped breathing, letting my heartbeat slow down until it was almost silent. One beat every thirty seconds.
The air in front of me began to crack. It sounded like ice breaking on a lake. A foul smell—like rotting meat and wet dog—began to fill the room. The Void Hound was close. It was scratching at the walls of reality.
I didn't move. I didn't even blink.
I was a statue of black glass and silver eyes.
[00:05:00]
Five minutes left.
I stood up slowly. My joints didn't make a sound. I gripped the hilt of the Shadow-Slaying Blade. The black metal felt warm now. It was ready.
"Ten seconds," I reminded myself.
If I killed it in under ten seconds, I would get the 'First Slayer' title. That title was the key to everything. It would give me a massive boost to my stats before the real war started.
The rip in the air was now the size of a man's head. Black smoke was pouring out of it. I could hear a low growl coming from the other side. A sound of pure, mindless hunger.
I raised the sword. My stance was perfect. I wasn't the office worker anymore. I was a weapon.
[00:00:10]
Ten seconds until the monster arrived.
[00:00:05]
Five.
[00:00:01]
The space exploded.
A massive, hairless beast with skin like wet leather and six glowing red eyes burst into the room. Its teeth were long and yellow, dripping with black slime. It let out a roar that would have paralyzed a normal man with fear.
I didn't flinch.
I moved.