Jae-Hyun stood amidst the ruins, his breath ragged, his body aching in ways he had never felt before. The last embers of the Judicator of Chains faded into the void, leaving nothing but silence.

  Then, the system’s notifications erupted before him.

  System Notification: Level Up!

  System Notification: Level Up!

  System Notification: Level Up!

  The words flashed repeatedly, each one marking another significant jump in his power. But Jae-Hyun barely reacted. His body still felt heavy, his mind fogged by exhaustion.

  Then, a new notification appeared.

  System Notification: Punishment Completed.

  Jae-Hyun exhaled, dragging a hand down his face. "Finally..."

  His legs almost buckled beneath him, forcing him to brace himself against a slab of broken stone. Even as the system notifications flooded his vision, his hands trembled—not from excitement, but from sheer exhaustion.

  His body swayed slightly, the full weight of the past seven days threatening to pull him down. He forced himself to focus, shaking off the creeping exhaustion.

  Out of habit, he opened his system status—and something caught his eye.

  XP Multiplier: 3.12x.

  A thought immediately formed in his mind. Does this... stay forever?

  He asked the system. "Will this always remain like this?"

  The system chuckled.

  “You wish. It’s only for this punishment.”

  Jae-Hyun sighed, rolling his shoulders. "Figures. Would've been nice to have this earlier..."

  Still, it wasn’t like he could complain. He had gained more in these seven days than most hunters did in months.

  He was about to prepare himself to leave—when he noticed something.

  The timer was still running.

  His heart skipped a beat.

  Wait... if I finished the punishment, then why is the system still counting down?

  A creeping suspicion formed in his mind. He turned his attention back to the system.

  "Do I need to leave?"

  For the first time, the system did not mock him. Its response was simple.

  “No, you can stay for as long as you want. However, be warned—rest times will now be reduced to 5 minutes. There will be no more bosses, but enemy difficulty will escalate even faster.”

  Another pause.

  “You may leave at any moment by stating that you wish to leave.”

  Jae-Hyun’s exhaustion faded slightly, replaced by curiosity.

  He could stay.

  He had survived the impossible. He had endured seven days of punishment, each day worse than the last. But now, the challenge was over. There were no more bosses to fight. Just endless, escalating waves of monsters.

  Every part of him screamed at him to leave. His body had endured too much, his mind was fraying at the edges. But...

  Could he really afford to waste this opportunity?

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  He clenched his fists. "If I stay longer, I can break through even more." His mind raced. The XP multiplier would still be in effect. Two more days. Just two more.

  Then, a thought hit him.

  Ahri.

  She had told him, "You better come back." And he had promised her to do so.

  She would be checking in on him. If he didn’t return when expected, she’d worry. The longer he stayed here, the worse it would be.

  His jaw tightened. I’ll explain everything to her later. She’ll understand.

  Jae-Hyun took a deep breath and made his decision.

  "I won’t stay longer than two more days. That’s my limit."

  He had defied the system’s expectations before.

  Now, he would defy its limits again.

  Seven hours had passed.

  Ahri stood in front of Jae-Hyun’s hotel room, arms crossed, her foot tapping against the carpeted floor. The city outside was quiet—it was late, the usual bustle of hunters and travelers dying down as the night settled in.

  She knocked on the door again. No answer.

  Her fingers curled into her palm. She didn’t like this. Not one bit. She checked the time on her system interface—seven hours had passed. That was too long.

  She frowned. He should’ve been out of that Fracture by now.

  For a while, she had assumed she was just being impatient. But as the minutes stretched into an hour, she couldn’t ignore the sinking feeling in her gut.

  Her mind raced through possibilities. Did something go wrong? Did he get caught in something? No, that didn’t make sense. Could he have died in there? The thought crept into her mind, uninvited and unwelcome.

  She let out a slow breath, reminding herself of his words.

  “I always do.”

  She wanted to believe him. She did believe him.

  But that didn’t make waiting any easier.

  She sighed, leaning against the wall, arms still crossed. If he wasn’t back soon, she was going to find out exactly what the hell was going on.

  Jae-Hyun exhaled sharply, rolling his shoulders as he checked the system timer. Two more days.

  He had already pushed beyond anything he thought was possible, yet he was about to push even further. His entire body screamed for rest, but he couldn’t afford to stop. Not now.

  He quickly went over his supplies, managing what little he had left. His potions were dangerously low—he had burned through them at a ridiculous pace just to stay standing. Buying more was going to cost him heavily.

  Survive, adapt, endure.

  His gaze flickered to his system status.

  XP Multiplier: 3.12x

  He clenched his fists. This was the reason he had to keep going. He couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste.

  With five-minute rest periods, the next two days would be worse than everything he had endured so far. There would be no more bosses, just endless waves of escalating enemies.

  He had to push past the limit.

  The first wave of the extra grind arrived.

  Jae-Hyun inhaled, his grip tightening around his sword.

  Then, he moved.

  He had underestimated the difficulty.

  By the 36-hour mark, his body was on the verge of total shutdown.

  The monsters had gotten exponentially stronger. Even with his level-ups, the sheer endurance battle was breaking him apart. He had stopped counting kills long ago. At some point, it became a blur—

  Attack. Dodge. Drink potion. Move.

  Again and again. His movements had slowed, his swings had weakened, but he refused to stop.

  The XP multiplier had skyrocketed.

  XP Multiplier: 28.12x.

  He glanced at his system interface, his fingers twitching slightly against the screen. Was this real? His breathing slowed as he stared at the numbers. This wasn’t just a power boost—this was unnatural. No climber, no hunter, had ever grown this fast. He had forced the system to acknowledge him, and this was the result.

  Level 59.

  Borderline Level 60.

  Jae-Hyun let out a ragged breath. He had climbed nearly fifteen levels in a single punishment. His mind barely processed it—he was too numb with exhaustion.

  What rank does that even put me at?

  But before he could think about it further, his vision swam.

  He was standing at the top of a ruined building, barely able to move.

  His entire body burned, his hands refused to tighten around his sword, and his legs wobbled beneath him.

  This was it. This was the longest he could stand.

  He had promised himself two days—but his body had given up before his mind could.

  Jae-Hyun exhaled deeply.

  His hands trembled, his body barely able to support itself. He knew he had hit the absolute limit.

  He tried to take another step forward—

  His vision blurred. His breath came in ragged bursts. He had felt exhaustion before, but this—this was different. His body no longer listened to him, his legs no longer obeyed. Even as he tried to push forward, he could feel his strength slipping, his mind screaming at him to stop.

  His knee buckled.

  He caught himself at the last second, gripping onto a broken pillar for support.

  He looked down at himself—covered in blood, his coat shredded, his body a mess of wounds and bruises.

  If he stayed any longer, he wouldn’t make it.

  The system chimed in.

  “You have reached your limit.”

  Jae-Hyun sighed, shaking his head weakly. For the first time, the system wasn’t mocking him.

  He smirked faintly. So even you acknowledge it, huh?

  Then, something surprising.

  “You have endured beyond expectation. Acknowledged.”

  A pause. Then, as if considering something else, the system added—

  “Observation logged.”

  Not a taunt. Not a sarcastic remark. Acknowledgment.

  Jae-Hyun let out a low chuckle. It felt ridiculous to be recognized by the same system that had spent days trying to break him.

  His fingers flexed slightly, barely gripping the hilt of his sword.

  “Do you wish to leave?”

  He took another slow breath, letting his gaze drift across the shattered cityscape one last time.

  Then, he nodded.

  "Yeah. I’m done."

  System Notification: Exiting the Fracture.