The translucent blue panel hovered steadily in the humid, smog-heavy air, casting a cold digital glow over Deku Kwanoh’s soot-stained face.
He didn’t panic.
Panic was for the weak, for those who lacked the mental fortitude to assess a crisis and turn it to their advantage.
In his old life at Shinseong High, Deku had ruled through absolute control, meticulous planning, and an unyielding will.
A futuristic wasteland swarming with garbage and mutated livestock wasn’t going to change that.
If anything, it felt liberating.
There were no school boards here, no principals to appease with perfect attendance records, and no parents to lecture him about his future.
Ten minutes.
That was the time limit flashing in the corner of his retina.
The penalty—a fifty percent reduction in physical stats—sounded catastrophic, especially in a world that clearly smelled and looked dangerous.
Deku pushed himself up from the sludge, wincing slightly as his muscles protested.
The heavy mud squelched beneath his ruined leather shoes.
He ignored the colossal pigs rooting around a rusted-out chassis nearby and stepped out of the open garbage pit, moving into the narrow, labyrinthine alleyway that branched off into the dystopian slums.
The architecture here was an apocalyptic blend of high-tech decay.
Overhead, rusted copper pipes leaked a neon-pink chemical fluid that hissed when it hit the pavement.
Faintly, through the rhythmic thrum of distant industrial generators, the sounds of shouting, clinking metal, and distorted electronic music echoed from the main streets.
Footsteps.
Two sets of heavy boots crunched on the gravel ahead.
Deku stopped, pressing his back flat against a damp concrete wall.
His sharp eyes narrowed as two figures rounded the corner.
They wore heavy-duty scavenger gear patched together with hardened leather and scrap metal.
One of them, a burly man with a jagged cybernetic eye glowing a faint crimson, was casually tossing a heavy wrench from hand to hand.
The other was a scrawny, twitchy kid wearing a rat-skin cloak, carrying a sack full of scavenged copper wires.
”I’m telling you, boss, Sector 12 is too hot right now.
The enforcers are cracking down on unauthorized scrap-diving,” the scrawny one whined.
”Shut it, Pip,” the big one grunted, spitting a glob of dark phlegm onto the ground.
“We hit our quota or we don’t eat. Simple as—”
The big man stopped dead in his tracks.
Standing right in the middle of the narrow alley, blocking their path, was a teenager covered head-to-toe in foul garbage slime, wearing a tattered high school uniform with a tie still knotted neatly around his collar.
Deku tilted his head.
A cold, pristine smile spread across his lips—the exact same smile that used to make entire classrooms hold their breath back on Earth.
”Excuse me,” Deku said, his voice smooth, calm, and dripping with absolute condescension.
“You’re walking in my way.”
The cybernetic-eyed scavenger blinked, staring at the lunatic teenager standing in a garbage dump uniform.
Then, a harsh, roaring laugh tore out of his throat.
”What the hell is this stray rat?” The big man grinned, stepping forward and cracking his knuckles, his cybernetic eye zooming in on Deku with a mechanical whir.
“Lost your mind, kid? This is Sector 9. You want to play tough, you picked the wrong—”
BAM.
Before the scavenger could finish his sentence, Deku moved with terrifying, blinding acceleration.
The human body limits of his old life were gone; the moment the system had initialized, a surge of raw, alien energy had flooded his veins, fusing with his muscle memory.
He didn’t punch the man’s jaw.
Instead, Deku drove his knee upward with brutal, surgical precision, striking the scavenger right in the solar plexus.
The impact sounded like a wet sack of flour hitting a brick wall.
The big man’s eyes bulged out of his head, all the air exploding from his lungs in a sickening wheeze.
Before he could even double over, Deku grabbed him by the stiff collar of his scrap-armor, spun him around with effortless leverage, and slammed his head directly into the rusted iron wall.
Clang!
The scavenger went limp instantly, sliding down the concrete like a wet noodle, unconscious before he even hit the filthy ground.
Pip, the scrawny kid carrying the sack of copper, dropped his loot.
His jaw hit the pavement, his eyes darting between his fallen partner and the slime-covered high schooler standing over him with pristine posture.
”M-Monster…” Pip stammered, scrambling backward on his hands and knees.
“D-Don’t touch me! Please!”
Deku calmly adjusted his ruined tie, stepping over the unconscious scavenger’s legs.
He looked down at the terrified kid, his dark eyes devoid of any human warmth.
”Next time,” Deku whispered, his voice cutting through the damp air like a razor, “you bow your head when a superior passes by.”
Ding.
A glowing notification burst into existence right before Deku’s eyes, washing away the tension of the moment.
[Quest completed: Establish local dominance]
Objective achieved: asserted physical superiority over local scavengers
Rewards unlocked :
Basic spatial resistance (tier 1) acquired
Stat point *5 awarded
[System note : host evolution path initiated. Welcome to the food chain.]
Deku looked at the glowing words, a low, dark chuckle rumbling in his chest.
The future was vast, terrifying, and full of monsters.
But as he clenched his fist, feeling the strange, thrumming power of space-time and mutation tingling beneath his skin, he knew one thing for certain.
He was going to rule it all.