Meanwhile, on the west side of Darkland City...

  A young man in a fedora stepped off a carriage and trudged through the snow towards the House Vester mansion.

  Keene Vester sat at his desk, a finely crafted pipe clenched between his teeth. He was poring over several yellowed pages under the glow of a gas lamp.

  Ever since the inventor William Murdoch discovered that the spark of gas extracted from coal could be used for illumination, gas had gradually replaced whale oil as the primary fuel for heating and lighting in the Kingdom of Bryston.

  At first, people feared the bright light of gas lamps. Ladies of high society turned up their noses at them, worried that the harsh light would reveal too much about their complexions. But just as the arrival of the supernatural era was irreversible, gas lamps gradually spread from shops, theaters, and streetlights until they became a fixture in every home.

  A knock came at the door. Keene looked up. "Sherlock? Come in."

  "It's me. I've finished the investigation, as you ordered," the young man announced, stepping briskly into the room and tipping his hat in greeting.

  "Have a seat." Keene gestured to a bottle on the table. "Fancy a glass of Ice Dew wine? With aphid juice."

  "No, thank you."

  His offer rejected again, Keene sighed and shook his head. "What's the situation at the scene?"

  "This sacrifice was indeed carried out at the Jasonath Haunted Mansion. We found the bodies of seven cultists from the Curse Cult at the ritual site. Five of them died from bladed weapons while unconscious, as there were no signs of struggle. The other two died from gunshot wounds, each with a single, fatal bullet hole."

  "There's clear evidence that a supernatural creature was present and killed at the ritual site. Several large pools of corrosive blood were found on the floor. Based on the trajectory and shell casings found at the scene, there was definitely an intense gunfight. The shell casings came from two different guns: one a small-caliber revolver, the other likely a high-powered rifle. Here's the analysis report on the ritual." The young man handed a stack of papers to Keene.

  If Julian Thorne were to see this report, he would be shocked. The young man had almost completely reconstructed the entire sequence of events just by analyzing the bullet marks, the positions of the shell casings, and the distribution of blood.

  "Hmm." Keene took the report and flipped through a few pages, nodding thoughtfully. "What about The Book of Ithanway? Was it found?"

  "No, just like before. It disappeared after the ritual," the young man shrugged.

  "Alright, maybe it really did grow legs and run away," Keene chuckled wryly.

  After seeing the young man out, Keene sat back down at his desk and picked up the report again.

  "To take down a supernatural creature with just firearms... that's one hell of a skilled kid. As for his weapons..." He took a deep drag from his pipe, his brow furrowed in thought.

  With the ever-expanding uses of gas and its increasing popularity among civilians, the Kingdom had begun to recognize coal as a precious resource.

  King Charles V had poured the nation's resources into modifying an ancient alchemical warship dating back a thousand years. Powered by a steam engine and alchemical arrays, equipped with 24 Vulcan cannons and 18 Invincible cannons, the vessel could reach a speed of 21 knots. This steel behemoth, the largest of its kind in human history, was currently docked at the city's western military port.

  Its purpose: to conquer the walrus-men of the north and seize their abundant coal resources.

  Meanwhile, elemental tides were becoming more frequent, and rumors were circulating about elemental creatures attacking humans within the Kingdom.

  Two years ago, the court's Chief Mage, Elam, had made a prophecy: "The gods are about to awaken. The supernatural will fully revive. The world will be flooded with countless fearless and undying Chosen Ones. Their arrival will be both a disaster and an opportunity."

  At the time, no one believed this prophecy. But now, with supernatural power becoming increasingly active, the bottleneck that had long hindered his progress had vanished. Perhaps soon, he would successfully advance to become a Sky Knight.

  At the same time, throughout Darkland and the entire Kingdom of Bryston, more and more supernatural incidents were occurring.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Thinking back to Elam's prophecy...

  Keene turned to look out at the heavy snow falling outside, a mix of anticipation and apprehension in his voice as he murmured, "A new era has begun..."

  ...

  The next day, Julian Thorne awoke to bright daylight streaming into his room.

  He fished his pocket watch out from under a pile of clothes and flipped it open. The hands pointed to exactly 7:00 AM.

  "Nice, good habits!" Julian congratulated himself.

  He got dressed and hopped out of bed, noticing that his roommate, John, still wasn't back. The idiot dog, Bobby, who had been occupying John's bed, was now awake and running around the room, tail wagging furiously.

  According to the lore of the game Apocalypse, this breed of dog was unique to the world. They were hyperactive, highly sensitive to light element, and also known as Sun Dogs. They were born with the ability to accurately tell time. After training, a very small number of these time-telling dogs could even predict the weather.

  But this dog, Bobby, looked pretty dumb. He definitely didn't seem like the weather-predicting type.

  After running around for a while, Bobby, seemingly tired, walked over to the wall with a swagger, lifted his leg, and proceeded to leave a steaming pile of dog shit on the wall, as if determined to make his presence known.

  Julian stared, speechless.

  A weird thought crossed his mind. This Apocalypse world was hardcore. Even a dog had to learn a technical skill like time-telling and still put in the effort to make a statement, even if it was just a shitty one.

  If even dogs were hustling this hard, how could he justify slacking off?

  Charge!

  Wait a minute, that's my wall! You're dead meat! Julian grabbed a nearby broom.

  The dumb dog, perhaps sensing his anger or feeling guilty, turned around, stuck out its tongue, and promptly swallowed the evidence in one gulp. With the crime scene cleaned up, he bounded towards Julian, tail wagging even more vigorously.

  Julian: ...

  Get lost!

  After giving the mutt a good scolding by the ear, Julian quickly washed up and opened his wardrobe to pick out his clothes. In this world, there were strict rules about clothing. Non-nobles weren't allowed to wear colored clothes, so his wardrobe was filled with nothing but black and white garments.

  He finally settled on a white shirt and a black vest. After putting them on and topping it off with a soft felt hat, he checked himself out in the mirror and gave a thumbs-up: Perfect.

  His predecessor had a very regular schedule. The first thing he did every morning was jog around the campus, followed by breakfast at a diner called "The Pig and Whistle." Afterward, he'd head back to his dorm, change, and go to the Alchemy building. As an outstanding fourth-year student with excellent grades in Alchemy, Wayne Stilwell had long been Professor Wesley's Assistant Instructor, helping him prepare lesson plans and alchemical materials, and occasionally even teaching classes for him.

  In return, his predecessor had limited access to the school's alchemical materials and equipment, plus a monthly stipend of 5 Victors, equivalent to 50 Rosens.

  To celebrate his first day in this new world, he decided to skip the workout. But he'd keep the Assistant Instructor job for now. For one, he was broke, seriously broke. He had a grand total of 15 Victors in savings, seven of which he'd scrounged up yesterday. But he couldn't touch most of it because he had to pay 10 Rosens in tuition fees every week after school started. One wrong move and he'd be a penniless dropout.

  And then there was the Transmigration Simulator, which also needed funding. After his transmigration yesterday, Julian had 11 Transmigration Coins left, enough for two more transmigrations. He'd asked the system, and apparently, topping up one Transmigration Coin cost a whopping 10 Victors, equivalent to two months' daily stipend. And each transmigration cost a mind-blowing 50 Victors!

  The thought made Julian's heart ache. That goddamn Tony Stark! He ripped me off for ten months' salary! And he still had the nerve to show off in front of me in the game! I'll make him pay for this in Apocalypse when I have the chance! If he thinks he can get away with scamming me in a fully immersive online game just because he's rich in real life, he's got another thing coming. I'll show him what a max-level Player can do to an NPC, even if he is based on Iron Man.

  Besides easing his financial strain, the other reason to keep the job was to mooch off the school's alchemical materials and equipment, just like his predecessor.

  According to the official setting, main class skills and most secondary class skills could be learned through skill books or from NPCs. But life skills and their associated skills were much harder to acquire. Not only were the skill books rare, but they also required a ton of practice to master.

  Take Enchanting, for example. Or Alchemy.

  There was a saying in Apocalypse: "Want to be broke? Pick up Alchemy. Want to be broke and have no life? Pick up Enchanting." That's where it came from.

  Although Julian didn't have a combat-related main class yet, free access to the school's alchemical materials and equipment would not only allow him to quickly accumulate experience but also raise his skill level, killing two birds with one stone.

  Properly dressed, Julian left the dorm.

  Unlike his previous world, the student dorms at Vickers University were co-ed. Even though it was cold, there were still plenty of scantily clad young women walking around. They didn't shy away from Julian, instead greeting him with smiles:

  "Morning, Senior Wayne."

  "Senior Wayne, skipping your workout today?"

  This body's popularity with the ladies was surprisingly high. With the boost from his Expert-level "Flirting" skill, Julian felt a bit like a tiger among sheep as he made his way to the dorm entrance, returning greetings along the way.

  Ah, this feels good...

  Facing the morning sun, he practiced a few rounds of the Ripple Breathing Technique. To his surprise, he noticed a small green plus sign next to both his Strength and Dexterity stats, indicating that they were slowly increasing. Maybe in a few days, he might see some significant growth from this. The Growth Modifier must be insane.

  This skill is seriously OP, Julian mused.

  The dorm was across from a small artificial forest, usually a prime spot for "field battles." Right now, a crowd had gathered outside the forest, suggesting that something had happened inside.

  Curiosity piqued, Julian walked over and overheard two guys talking:

  "Heard there was a murder in the woods last night."

  "Yeah, it's true. I heard the victim was a sophomore girl."

  "Apparently, it was pretty gruesome. Her organs were all ripped out."

  Hearing that last sentence, Julian frowned.

  He instinctively started walking towards the woods.