"Anything bee a . For some Voidlings, a simple box be enough. Yes, a like that would never bee a problem but remember that it is a possibility.

  , we have small caves, tunnels, or abandoned buildings. Those will be the kind of s that you will enter most often. This is also where the formation of a ing Gate is possible — but we will talk about those ter.

  And finally, there is what we call the 'Death '. This one enpass aire vilge, city, or in the worst possible sario, aire p. Here, you o only remember ohing. Run and never e back."

  ~ 14th Lecture in Tariem's Military Camp

  Just when Leo's foot stepped out of his hiding spot and into the hallway, he quickly withdrew the limb when a realization struck him. Right, I fot to check the new menu. Got a bit too excited there for a moment.

  Sighing, Leo took a few steps bad leaned against the wall beside the room's exit. A quick thought had his status windht in front of his face. Seve Ether. Leo nodded. Let's see what I do with it. You have kept me guessing long enough.

  Wele to the Ether Menu. With your newly improved e to the System, you might now enjoy the full bes of Ether. Please be remihat some funight be limited acc to your Job. At the same time, prices might fluctuate in the face of differes happening in the Universe.

  Spend your Ether:-Shop-Market-Honing-Additional Sustenance

  The System might have offered only four options, yet Leo perfectly uood their potential even without choosing any of them. Well, mostly, one could never be too sure about the System. Alright, Shop, what do you got for me?

  With a single and, a wide windoeared in Leo's mind's eye. However, even with its size, only about half of it was filled out, dispying a number of items that the Shop apparently offered. Not bad…

  Thanks to the short list of items, Leo quickly ran through them all. From a simple pack of clothes, tools, and some melee ons to items that modern and a Hunters might have used in their lives. It holy wasn't much, but still enough to be useful to any survivor.

  Still, those prices... A grimace spread across Leo's face at the numbers o the items. While aff those things wouldn't be much of a problem in the long run, spending tweher for a on hunting knife just wasn't optimal. Or smart.

  At least now I know the value of those fres. Teher for a single pieow Leo for sure wao find out what they did. The name alone indicated a oime-use item, so for it to cost that much... Well, it better be useful, or Leo's disappoi would be immeasurable.

  Shaking his head, Leo moved on to the option, which quickly proved even more useless tha one. What am I missing, he mused, sing the empty window from top to bottom and promptly ign the 'Sell' option. Wait, here it is.

  There itom left er, a few lines of text sat ily. 'Market's range is limited to the current safe zone or two hundred meters in each dire when a safe zone isn't avaible. This limitation might ge with some Jobs tered around trading.'

  Leo narrowed his eyes. Well, that's just fug fantastic. I still don't have a single clue on how to find a safe zone in this shitty world... Whatever, .

  With a single wave of Leo's hand, the s drifted away, leaving only the Ether menu in sight. Honing. This time, after making a choice, the System gave Leo only a simple prompt.

  Please choose ao hone. Remember that without a job directly reted to upgrading (Smith, Enter, Artificer, etc.), your ability to hone objects might be severely limited. Warning: Install-Type items ot be upgraded using this fun.

  Huh. Brow furrowed, Leo uhed the bowie knife.

  Bowie Knife (on) | Upgrades remaining: 3

  Honing Avaible:-General-Durability-Essence ductivity

  Okay, now this has some potential. While the amount of Ether necessary for even one upgrade was retively high, Leo didn't doubt that sometime iure, this fun would see a lot of use. Also, it definitely made Leo wonder about his job choice.

  Shrugging, the window faded away. Hunter had already proved valuable several times in the past, so for now, there was no real reason to ge it. Besides, even if honing could help, Leo didn't want to waste Ether before he evolved. For now, he might have enough, but danger lurked at each er, and Limit Break at full power wasn't cheap.

  "And for the final one," Leo muttered as the st option snapped into vision. Uhe previous ones, 'Additional Sustenance' offered two more choices, 'Artificial Food' and 'Boosters'.

  The first seemed pretty straightforward. A User could pay a bit of Ether for the System to take care of their ies. Hunger and thirst? Not a problem anymore if one had the necessary ge.

  As for boosters?

  Yeah, I'm not gonna touch those for a long, long time. A temporary pertage boost to a chosen attribute was ohing. Paying more Ether than Leo currently had for the weakest one was another... I will stiit Break for now. Thank you very much.

  Pushing his body off the wall, Leo took a deep breath as a well-known b of Essetled over his skin. Shadows slithered over his palms without hesitation, f the already familiar bde in one while c the other.

  With a small smile, Leo stepped into the dark corridor. The distant raging of monsters bounced off the walls in an endless symphony while the soft breathing of Vetilim pulled Leo's gaze in random dires. heless, his feet opped moving, never wavering. Oep after ahe darkness parted, slowly letting a small ray of sun past its curtain.

  Finally. Soon I will be back, but for now... Leo sighed as he stepped into the dimly lit reception room from st night. With no Shadow Tails in sight, he pushed past the mess on the floor and jumped over the fallen door.

  Instantly, Leo raised his hands, shielding his face from the bright light of the m sun. It definitely had been a while si shone shtly... Or I'm just unaced after all this time in the darkness.

  Blinking as his hand fell, Leo's mouth opened ever so slightly at the sight that greeted him. "What in the ever-loving fuck happened here..." He muttered even as True Stealth stopped the sound.

  Staring back at Leo was a ged world, one he could barely reize. No matter where his gaze nded, it was filled with shades of crimson, violet, and bck. Vetilim and what Leo now identified as Corcera spread everywhere.

  This living matter ed almost every part of fallen buildings that oood tall and proud. Barely anything ared as the Void cimed Earth's surface. Hell, even the flora had evolved during Leo's absence.

  Small pnts that once barely poked through the gaps in sidewalks now spread over most of the ground. They paihe world in the colors of the Void while growing high enough to reach Leo's knees.

  Then there were the trees and bushes, rown and taller than any remaining building. All of them grew toward the sky, soaking every bit of light even as Vetilim and Corcera hung off their branches like vines. Some parts of the living matter even spread to the sides, growing like a spiderweb that ected every siree and half-colpsed building.

  It was like a jungle had ed Wolford — no, the world — in a matter of a few days. How... Leo gaped, still frozen in his spot. I was only gone for a few days. What happened? System?!

  Bag off until his back hit the warehouse's wall, Leo waited for an answer, for anything really that would make sense of his surroundings. Answer me, for fuck sake! He screamed to the heavens as his body slid into the tall crimson grass.

  Leo's mind raced a hundred miles per hour, trying to find an expnation for the world surrounding him. He searched and searched until a thought struck him like a sledgehammer.

  Cataclysm.

  As the word circled through Leo's mind, he took a few calming breaths, f the pulsing crystal in his chest to slow down just a bit. But how and why? Yeah, the System gave me a few warnings about a possible Cataclysm, but is it capable of such ge?

  Yet, the longer Leo thought about it, the answer became obvious.

  Yes, it is.

  Outbreak, they might call it, but it was the First Cataclysm that had begun it all. The entire popution and a part of Earth's surface ged in some way by a single event. If the first event did all that, why couldn't the sed one finish the job?

  Does it mean that more survivot ged? Are there any humans eve? Leo gritted his teeth as he slowly stood up and trudged towards the remains of this courtyard's fence.

  Breaking through the mist of depressing thoughts, a voice echoed in Leo's mind. 'Those who survived the first should live through the sed.' The familiar musical t in his ears, now louder than ever before.

  You! Leo stiffened just as his hand touched the Vetilim fence. Are you sure? How you know? Yet no voiswered his questions; only the soft breeze and screeg of distant monsters remained.

  Growling, Leo puhe living matter, quickly leaning away as a tiny tendril of dark mass tried to grab his limb. With a muttered curse, Leo sshed at the offender, cutting it away from the rest of the fence.

  The fuck?

  As Identify refused to work at the tiny bit of Vetilim, Leo poked the fence several times, getting ion in response. Weird. He frowned. Anything about this, Nikra? No? Leo scowled. You better at least be right about the Cataclysm.

  No, no, no. Leo repeated, taking another deep breath. You must be right. They survived, and even if the world ged, they are fihey are fine...

  Fists ched, Leo pushed those thoughts away for a moment. They didn't really matter; even in the face of the entire world ging, his pns didn't ge.

  Alright, let's get going. Steeling his nerves, Leo took a peak at the road — or rather what was left of it — and frowned as various Voidliered his sight.

  I don't see any new variants, but those fuckers definitely leveled up. Eyes narrowed, Identify went into overdrive, jumping from oarget to another. Yet with each Voidling sed, it became evident that they all gai least two levels when Leo was gone.

  So level five on average, with six and seven probably being more on than I would like... Still, shouldn't be much of a problem if I don’t make too many mistakes.

  Nodding, Leo dashed out of his cover and spriowards the Cursed Human. A single jump cleared the distaweewo, and Leo slid a Kiss-enhanced ko the monster's skull.

  Before the dead body fell to the ground, Leo was already flying toward the beast. Just like its predecessor, this one didn't even have time to screech before it died, its head almost torn off by Leo's cws.

  All of this happened in a matter of seds, and Leo couldn't hide the slight grin that cimed his face.

  Now for the part.

  Just when the earth cimed the two dead beasts, Leo slid behind a car ed by the Void and rowth. Another moment passed, and the musi Voidlings walking along the street filled the air. Hook, line, and sinker.

  Essence surged through Leo's body, sliding over his limbs and ons as the Kiss of Death answered the call. His muscles strained, waiting for the and, for the order to strike. And then, when a group of clueless Cursed Humans passed the car, they got their wish.

  The world might have ged again, but your fate? Leo chuckled internally as he surged toward the Voidling. Your fate will never ge.

  ...

  …

  'Kill and groill meet soon.'