I woke up before the alarm on the bunker wall even beeped. My body didn't need much sleep anymore. At Level 9, my cells felt like they were vibrating with energy. I looked over at the corner of the room. Nero was gnawing on a piece of the robot I destroyed yesterday. He looked like he had grown another inch overnight.
"Time to go, Nero. Breakfast is at the bank," I said.
The little dragon swallowed a piece of chrome and flew onto my shoulder. I put on the Cloak of the Nameless. My body vanished, and I felt the familiar cold grip of the shadows.
I used the bunker's secret exit. It led through a long tunnel that came out inside an old subway station two miles away. The city above was louder now, but not with the sounds of a working world. I heard screams, glass breaking, and the distant thump-thump-thump of military helicopters.
I walked toward the City Bank. It was a massive building made of white stone and gold glass. It was supposed to be the safest place in the city. Now, it was the most dangerous.
The air around the bank was purple. It was so thick I could taste it—it tasted like pennies and old dust. A Level 10 Rift had opened right in the middle of the lobby.
[Warning: High-Energy Zone.] [Target Spotted: Void Gargoyles (Level 8) x 6.]
On the roof of the bank, six stone monsters were sitting still. They looked like statues, but their eyes were glowing purple. They were waiting for someone to try and enter.
I didn't walk through the front door. That was for people who wanted to die. I looked at the shadow of a nearby tree.
"Shadow Blink," I whispered.
I vanished and appeared in the shadow of a chimney on the bank's roof. The gargoyles didn't even turn their heads. To them, I was just a ghost.
I crept up behind the first gargoyle. It was made of hard, grey stone, but I could see a pulsing vein of purple energy in its neck. I gripped the Shadow-Slaying Blade. The sword felt hot. It knew a big meal was close.
SHLICK.
I drove the blade through the stone neck. The gargoyle didn't even scream. It just crumbled into a pile of rocks.
[Exp +100]
The other five gargoyles turned instantly. They let out a high-pitched whistle and spread their stone wings.
"Nero, take the two on the left!"
Nero shot off my shoulder like a black bullet. He hit one gargoyle in the chest, his claws digging deep into the stone. He opened his mouth and fired a blast of black flame. The stone monster melted like wax.
I moved toward the other three. They lunged at me with claws that could rip through a car.
I didn't block. I danced.
I stepped left, swung my blade, and took off a wing. I stepped right and stabbed another one through its glowing eye. I moved so fast the air whistled around me. My Strength and Agility were so high that these Level 8 monsters felt like they were moving in slow motion.
Within two minutes, the roof was covered in broken stone.
[Exp +100, +100, +100, +100, +100]
[Ding! You have reached Level 10!] [The 'Sovereign System' is ready for Class Selection.]
A giant gold screen appeared in front of me, blocking my view of the city.
[Choose Your Path:]
Void Blade: You become the ultimate killer. Your speed doubles, and your sword can cut through reality itself.
Dragon Rider: You and Nero become one. You share health, mana, and power. You become a god of the sky.
Shadow Sovereign: You don't just kill. You rule. You can pull the shadows out of your enemies and force them to fight for you.
I didn't even have to think about it. In my past life, I saw a Shadow Sovereign take down an entire army alone. They didn't need a guild. They were the guild.
"I choose Shadow Sovereign," I said.
The gold screen exploded into a thousand black stars. The stars rushed into my body, hitting me with a force that made me drop to my knees. It felt like my blood was being replaced with liquid shadow. My shadow on the roof began to grow, stretching out and moving on its own.
[Class Change Successful!] [New Skill Acquired: 'Shadow Extraction'.] [New Skill Acquired: 'Domain of the Monarch'.]
I stood up. I felt different. I didn't just feel strong; I felt heavy. Like the world was leaning toward me.
I looked down at the pile of broken gargoyles.
"Arise," I whispered.
The shadows beneath the broken stones began to bubble like black ink. Slowly, five figures rose from the ground. They looked like the gargoyles, but they were made of pure, swirling black smoke. Their eyes glowed with a cold, blue fire.
[Shadow Gargoyles (Level 10) have been added to your army.]
Nero landed on my shoulder and chirped. He looked at the shadow monsters and wagged his tail. He liked having subordinates.
"Now," I said, looking down at the main lobby of the bank. "Let's see what's inside the vault."
I didn't walk down the stairs. I stepped off the roof, and my five new shadow soldiers flew down with me.
We crashed through the gold glass ceiling and landed in the lobby. The Level 10 Rift was right there, pulsing like a giant purple heart. Around it, dozens of ghouls were guarding a huge vault door.
They saw me. They roared.
I just smiled. I sat down on a velvet bench in the lobby and leaned my head back.
"Kill them all," I commanded.
My shadow gargoyles let out a blue scream and lunged. Nero joined them, breathing black fire. I didn't even have to lift my sword. I just watched as my army tore the room apart.
The ghouls were strong, but my shadows couldn't die. Every time a shadow gargoyle was hit, it just turned into smoke and put itself back together. It was a massacre.
[Exp +40, +40, +40...]
After ten minutes, the lobby was silent. The ghouls were gone. Only their shadows remained, waiting for me to call them.
I walked up to the bank vault. The steel was three feet thick.
"Nero, open it."
Nero ate the door in seconds. Inside, there wasn't money. The bank had been using the vault to store something else: a pile of hundreds of mana stones they had collected from the first few rifts in the city.
But in the center of the stones sat a chest. It was made of bone and wrapped in silver chains.
[Hidden Reward: The Monarch's First Treasure.]
I reached for the chest. The moment I touched the bone, the purple rift in the lobby started to turn black.
"Something is coming," I whispered.
The ground started to shake. The black rift began to grow, swallowing the walls and the floor. A hand—a hand bigger than a car—reached out from the dark.
I gripped my blade. My five shadows stood behind me, their blue eyes burning.
"Welcome to the world, big guy," I said. "I was looking for a new captain for my army."