[Day 102 — The Dawn of Sanctum]
It began with a whisper from the System.
[Main Quest Unlocked: "The Ten Seeds of the World Tree"]
[Objective: Locate and awaken the Seed dormant within the Korean Peninsula.]
[Warning: Mission difficulty — Divine Class.]
[Failure Penalty: Collapse of local ecosystem within 1000 km radius.]
Evelyn stared at the panel, her breath held. The words shimmered in gold — the kind of color that no ordinary quest had ever used before.
Around her, Sanctum was finally coming to life.
Dozens of tents circled an old gas station — their safe zone marker glowed faint green, stronger than others because Evelyn herself had expanded it. Children laughed again. Healers tended to the injured. There was soup boiling over a makeshift fire.
And at the heart of it all stood Min Jae, now wearing reinforced leather armor, sleeves rolled up, his Berserker aura faint but stable. He was barking orders, laughing, carrying planks, helping everyone.
He had grown.
For the first time since the apocalypse began, it looked like hope.
The Night Before the Departure
When night fell, Evelyn found Min Jae sitting on the roof of the convenience store, staring at the flickering System sky — where digital constellations replaced stars.
He didn't look at her, but he knew she was there."You've been quiet," he said softly.
"I have a new mission."
He stiffened. "System again?"
She nodded. "Something big. Something… connected to everything that's happening."
He turned to face her fully then. "What kind of mission?"
Her fingers brushed over her satchel, where the faint glow of her interface shimmered.
"To find the World Tree Seed."
He blinked. "World Tree? Like— from myths?"
"It's real," she whispered. "Ten exist across the globe. Each one anchors a continent's balance. If one dies, the world decays faster. And one of them… is here, in Korea."
Min Jae exhaled slowly, realization dawning."And the System chose you."
"Because I'm the only one who can sense its pulse."She smiled faintly, but her eyes looked distant. "Maybe this is why I awakened first."
Silence stretched between them. The firelight below flickered up, painting her face gold.
Then Min Jae said, "You're leaving, aren't you?"
Evelyn looked at him — and that was enough of an answer.
The Promise of Sanctum
The next morning, Sanctum gathered. Survivors lined the camp, uncertain and anxious.Evelyn stood before them, wind tugging her long coat, hair streaked with dirt and sunlight.
"I'm leaving for a while," she said. "There's something the world needs that only I can find. But this—" she gestured to the tents, the people, "—this is where life begins again. This is home. Protect it."
The murmurs turned to whispers. Some wept, others bowed their heads.
Min Jae stepped forward, voice steady. "Then I'll take command in your absence. Sanctum will stand."
She smiled. "That's why I'm leaving it to you."
Min Jae clenched his fists, trying to hide the tremor in them. "Evelyn—"
But she had already turned. The wind carried her voice back like an echo.
"Make this place a sanctuary for all unaffiliated awakeners. No gold, no ranks. Just survival."
And with that, she walked away from the safety of her creation — into the ruins beyond the horizon.
The Road North
For weeks, Evelyn traveled through shattered cities and frozen plains.The monsters grew stronger, wilder, drawn to her mana.She used every ounce of her skills — Life Craft, Herbal Mastery, Barrier Forging, even Beast Whispering — to stay alive.
Her once-soft hands had turned calloused and scarred.Her mana veins glowed faintly under her skin, burning brighter each time she healed another wounded traveler.
The world was shifting. Everywhere she went, she saw new guild flags flying — symbols of hunger, not unity.
Golden Chain Guild, hoarding gold like kings.
Ivory Dominion, enslaving weaker awakeners to build mage towers.
Crimson Banner, a group of assassins who sold monster cores for power.
They all sought the same thing: control.
Meanwhile, at Sanctum
Min Jae stood atop the gas station roof, watching the sunrise. Sanctum had doubled in size — more survivors, more children, more awakeners who refused to bend to guild tyranny.
They called him "The Berserker Guardian."
But inside, he still felt her absence like a wound that wouldn't close.
Every night, he'd open the same message Evelyn left for him before she left.
"If the day comes when the world turns on you — don't fight to win. Fight to protect. That's how you stay human."
He swore to honor that.
But the world outside wasn't waiting.New guilds had started sending emissaries. Some came with gold, others with threats.
And the whispers had begun:
"Who really leads Sanctum?""Isn't Evelyn Park gone?""What if she never comes back?"
Min Jae's hands trembled, the Berserker power burning faintly under his skin. But he held it down.Not yet, he told himself. Not until I must.
The Hidden Mission
Somewhere in the snow-laden mountains of Gangwon Province, Evelyn found what she was looking for — not the seed, but a clue.
Inside a collapsed temple, buried beneath the frozen earth, she uncovered a mural.
It showed a giant tree rooted in the heart of the continent, its branches wrapping around the skies. Beneath it, ten glowing seeds — each guarded by a figure cloaked in light and shadow.
At the center of the mural was a symbol she recognized immediately:the same mark that glowed faintly behind her system panel every time she completed a Divine mission.
The mark of Origin.
Then, her panel flickered.
[Sub-Quest Activated: "Trial of the First Root"]
[Objective: Awaken the dormant guardian beneath Mt. Seorak.]
[Warning: Unknown Entities Approaching.]
She raised her head — and from the storm above, she saw dark silhouettes descending.
Dozens of them. Awakeners bearing the Ivory Dominion insignia.
The hunt had begun.
The Divided Paths
In the months that followed, two names began to dominate the whispers of a dying world:
Min Jae, the Berserker Guardian — protector of the unaffiliated, builder of a sanctuary where none starved and none knelt.
Evelyn Park, the Hidden Prophet — wanderer who healed where armies fell, who faced beasts that no guild dared to confront.
Their paths stretched further apart, yet every action echoed the other.
And in the silent space between them, the System watched — calculating, evolving, rewriting the laws of survival.
[Countdown to Third Wave: 612 Days]
[Main Quest Progress: 1% — The World Tree Seed not yet found.]
In the cold wind of the northern mountains, Evelyn looked up at the aurora-like skies.Her wound from the last battle still pulsed faintly, but her eyes burned with purpose.
"Ten seeds, ten trials," she whispered. "Then maybe… the world can breathe again."
The snow around her glowed faintly green — life energy responding to her voice.
Far away, in the heart of Seoul, Min Jae looked up at the same sky and murmured,"Come back alive, Evelyn."
The world moved on.And legends began to take root.