'Still not going to tell me what the question mark is about?'
Vio's sense of accomplishment faded every time his eyes landed on the strange symbol next to the title.
Already asked the system, but the answer remained the same:
[The system refuses to explain something obvious to the protagonist.]
The response only made things more confusing.
'Damn you! What's the logic behind showing something and hiding it at the same time?' Vio muttered, ignoring the system. He crouched down and touched one of the frozen corpses, which instantly crumbled as if it had been waiting for an excuse to fall apart.
The wrath of the Furious Night was unbelievable. It hadn't just frozen them—but turned them into ice itself. Bones, flesh, everything had become solid ice. Even the blood transformed into something resembling mucus.
Amid the frozen remains of flesh, bones, and congealed blood, Vio buried his hands, searching for a tent, hoping its value hadn't diminished despite the destruction.
A single tent was worth ten million, far more than he could afford to ignore.
After much effort, he finally found one, but it was torn apart as if a wild beast had ripped through it. Naturally, when he tried to convert it, the system rejected it.
With a sigh, he pressed on, refusing to give up. He moved from corpse to corpse, hoping to find an intact one, all while continuing his conversation with the system:
'Now that the Core has evolved, how long will it take you to analyze the foreign substance in the cyborg's blood?'
[Estimated time: 1 hour.]
Vio froze.
'An hour? From twelve hours to just one?'
Amazed by the system's analytical capabilities made his eyes sparkle, he opened the shop to look for an additional one.
Cores:
Version: Sigma-β
Purchase cost: 30,000,000
Though the price hadn't increased from the previous version, it was still a small amount. More importantly, he didn't urgently need it at the moment, so he decided to hold off.
After another round of searching, he came up empty-handed. His attention then shifted to the 'Grand Feast'—the strongest opponent he'd faced so far.
A bear. A young one, yet massive in size.
He still couldn't grasp why the giant bears had simply left him behind.
'Could it be that they didn't expect me to survive the Furious Night?'
A possibility.
Standing before the enormous bear's corpse, he placed a hand on it, and with a single touch, the layers of ice encasing it shattered. Unlike the other bodies, the bear's remained intact.
A quick inspection revealed why—its thick fur protected it.
That raised an obvious question: Why didn't the Baniaasif make their clothes out of bear fur instead of relying on those useless fabric and feather garments?
They only used the fur to make tents, which was suspicious in itself. Even stranger, Vio had yet to encounter any birds that matched the massive feathers they used.
The only birds he'd seen were owls—tiny ones, no bigger than the palm of a hand.
'Well, it's not like I want to run into one.'
He was about to dismiss the bear's corpse when suddenly recalled how the Baniaasif had been so keen on skinning them.
That made him pause.
If they went to such lengths, maybe the fur was even more valuable than he initially thought. The system assessed items based on their market value in this world, so it was worth a try.
Summoning the dagger, a wide grin spread across his face.
The way objects appeared and disappeared from the inventory to his hand gave a flood of ideas—especially on how to catch his enemies off guard.
Plunging the dagger into the bear's hide, he attempted to mimic what the Baniaasif had done earlier.
Naturally, it was a complete disaster.
He had cut, burned, and even melted bodies before—but skinning one? There had never been a reason for that.
To make matters worse, the bear's sheer weight made the process even more difficult, and the dagger itself wasn't exactly suited for the task.
He was seriously considering giving up when something strange caught his eye.
Whenever the dagger's blade touched the bear's blood, a grayish substance began to seep out.
Yanking the dagger back, he inspected it closely.
Thin vein-like patterns had started forming along the blade's surface, spreading like roots—as if the blade had limits and was nearing them.
The bizarre reaction reminded him of how both the bear and the wolf had responded whenever he used the dagger on them.
Recalled the strange reaction of both the bear and the wolves when the dagger was used on them. Opened his forearm and was about to let it touch the cyborg blood when his movement suddenly stopped.
'System, what if the substance is toxic? Wouldn't that just kill me?'
[Cyborg blood is considered a separate entity from any of the hero's organic or mechanical components.]
'So, even if the substance is harmful to my organs, the cyborg blood can contain it and keep it away from me?'
[Correct.]
'What if the substance itself is harmful to the cyborg blood?'
[Cyborg blood, like organic blood, is not a singular entity. It consists of a flow and specialized cells. If a harmful substance is introduced, only the affected cells will be damaged. The hero will have ample time to purge it.]
[Warning: This applies only if the hero introduces the substance intentionally. If a large quantity enters at once, the blood may not be able to expel it quickly enough.]
As always, there were too many things to consider.
With extreme caution, he pressed the dagger's tip into the blood.
[Foreign substance detected.]
[Would the hero like to analyze it?]
[Estimated time: 347 years, 23 days, and 34 minutes.]
Vio blinked several times, convinced his eyes were playing tricks on him.
'System, I think there's a problem with your electrical particles.'
[The system does not possess particles.]
'Whatever. You made a mistake, didn't you? You meant an hour, right?'
[The system does not make mistakes.]
[Estimated time: 347 years, 23 days, and 34 minutes.]
[Note: This is a preliminary estimate. The time may increase or decrease.]
[Note: Please provide additional samples periodically to prevent depletion.]
'No, no, damn it. Just analyze the other substance instead. Wait, didn't you say an hour?'
[Estimated time: 1 hour.]
Vio's trust in the system was next to zero.
'Start.'
[Analysis in progress…]
Irritation flickered across Vio's face as he continued skinning the bear. This time, he threw precision out the window and hacked away carelessly, letting his irritation guide the blade.
When finished, he looked at the fur. It looked less like it had been skinned and more like it had been tortured, converted anyway.
[obtained: 3,000,000]
Clicking his tongue, moved on, hacking at the carcass to extract the bones.
As dug deeper, a sudden glow pulsed from within the bear's chest.
His hands froze.
Without hesitation, he dropped the dagger and pried the chest open, allowing the light to shine even brighter. His eyes widened.
'A glowing stone!'
He could hardly believe his eyes, so he grabbed it with his hand, only to discover that they hadn't betrayed him—he had wronged them recently.
At last, discovered the source of the glowing stones—the very stones that provided pure energy.
"Fuck!" he hissed through clenched teeth.
He had burned through sixteen of these stones just to gain 20EP, only to realize now that an entire bear had to be killed to obtain a single stone.
'You've got to be kidding me! I spent 40EP to take it down, and in the end, I only get one stone?!'
HP drained and refilled twice during the fight, and barely remained standing by the end of it. Not to mention the resources spent repairing his body.
A total loss.
He absorbed the stone and converted the rest of the damned bear.
[obtained: 7,000,000]
'Whatever.'
Activated 'Boy, Life is Tough in Alam', restoring the synthetic skin that covered the entire body. It always deactivated whenever Vio lost consciousness.
Summoned the map, only for the inventory screen—which he hadn't requested—to appear instead.
'What's your problem now?'
A compass, shaped like an old-fashioned pocket watch, floated out—the Treasure Detector.
It hovered in front of him, its needle trembling.
Vio glanced toward the area where the giant bears had retreated.
'Is there treasure over there?'
The detector answered by vibrating its needle more intensely, then glowing, then vanishing.
Vio lifted his head in frustration.
He'd had a malicious plan: once the needle began vibrating, he'd stash the detector back into the inventory and track the treasure's path alone. If he found it, the system wouldn't credit the discovery to the treasure detector, so it wouldn't disappear. That way, he could exploit it endlessly. But it seemed the system's creator was sneakier than him.
His facial nerves twitched—it felt like today was the global day of frustration or something.
Vio reviewed the map again; he wasn't crazy enough to walk straight into the bear's territory.
Only two paths remained:
The long route which was now out of the question.
And the short, narrow path, which seemed like the obvious choice—though Vio still suspected it was a trap.
At any rate, the location wasn't far. He made his way toward it.
While walking, he decided to browse the shop, specifically checking out the Bear Claws—the item he would be rewarded with if he hunted 100 bears.
Not that he could, but he wanted to get an idea of what it was.
[Frost Claws]
A metal claw weapon imbued with frost energy, capable of slicing through the toughest metals.
Damage: +170
Durability: 200
Required Energy: Pure Energy
Energy Consumption: 5 per hour
Purchase Cost: 500,000,000
Vio waved the store screen away like a buzzing fly and kept walking.
His subconscious already made the decision not to count the zeros—for the sake of Vio's mental health.
Nearby, very nearby, Hamim sat on the snowy ground with his eyes closed. They snapped open suddenly, accompanied by a grin.
"Finally… my little rat has arrived," said Hamim, rising to his feet and drawing the sword, ready for the battle of his life.