Jera Murphy now had a new name: Cain Walker. He was a secret multi-millionaire, but he still dressed in his old miner clothes. He was the strongest man in New York, but he was trying very hard to look weak. His new goal was not just to get power, but to understand it.
His new, expensive apartment was a good base. But he could not train there. The apartment building would fall down if he used his full power.
Jera needed a private, secret place.
He found the solution in his Unlimited Inventory.
In the last chapter, he had stored rocks and monster parts. He learned his Inventory was not just a bag. It was its own separate space, like a small, empty world.
He went to the basement of his apartment building. He found an old, forgotten service tunnel. It was deep underground and no one used it. It was the perfect spot.
First, he made the tunnel strong. He used his S-Rank skill, [Aetheric Shield]. He used it not as a shield, but as a tool. He "painted" the walls with layers of pure mana.
[Action: Mana Weaving. Multiplier Roll: $\times 91$.]
[Result: Wall Strength $\times 91$. Mana Stat +91.]
The walls became harder than steel.
Next, Jera reached into his Unlimited Inventory. He pulled out the tons of rock, dirt, and crystal he had saved from the Monolith Dungeon. He used his power to build a large, thick, sound-proof room at the end of the tunnel.
He called it his "Infinite Fortress." It was a place where he could use his full power without anyone knowing.
Inside his new fortress, Jera began his tests.
He looked at his Status window. His Strength was over 800. His Agility was over 700. These were already high-level numbers. But this was just his base power. The Multiplier System made it much stronger.
He stood in front of a thick wall he had built for testing.
He focused his mind. Maximum Strength.
[Action: Unarmed Strike. Strength Multiplier Roll: $\times 1000$.]
Jera's arm moved. It was so fast it made a CRACK sound in the air, like thunder.
His fist hit the wall.
The wall did not break. It did not crack. It vaporized. It turned instantly into dust.
Jera stared at his fist, then at the empty space where the wall was. He felt a cold chill. This power was too big. It was the power of an Ascended, the strongest humans in the world. He had done it with one simple punch.
"I must always hold back," Jera whispered to himself. If he ever used $\times 1000$ Strength in the real world, he would not just kill a monster. He would destroy a whole city block by accident.
Next, he tested his speed.
[Action: Movement Test. Agility Multiplier Roll: $\times 891$.]
Jera did not run. He simply moved. To him, it felt fast. To any camera, it would look like he had teleported from one side of the room to the other.
He was too fast. He ran into the far wall, but his [Aetheric Shield] turned on by itself, protecting him.
Finally, he tested his Unlimited Inventory. This was his most secret and powerful tool.
He knew he could store items. But what else?
He threw a sharp piece of crystal at his hand. Just before it hit his skin, he thought: Store.
The crystal vanished.
He tried again, faster. He threw it at his chest. Store. It vanished.
Jera realized the truth. This Inventory was the perfect defense. A bullet, a knife, a magic spell—it did not matter. As long as he could think Store fast enough, he could "catch" any attack. The attack would just disappear into his inventory.
It was a power that broke the rules of the world.
Jera was now very rich. He had 350 million credits from The Vault. But he knew this money would run out if he bought S-Rank items.
He looked at the 999 Sentinel Cores he still had in his Inventory. He could sell them all. But that was too suspicious. How could one man find 999 C-Rank artifacts?
He needed a better way to make money. A way that used his System.
He thought of a new plan. He called it the "Loot Loop."
Buy: He would buy one very expensive, rare item. Multiply: He would use his System to copy that item. Profit: He would sell the copies slowly, so no one would get suspicious.
He had to test it. He used his new "Cain Walker" ID to buy one (1) grain of "Luminous Dust." It was a rare S-Rank crafting item. It cost him 10 million credits.
He went to his Infinite Fortress. He placed the single, glowing grain of dust on a stone table.
He focused all his mana. He tried to "craft" a copy. This was a very hard action. It should be impossible.
[Action: Luminous Dust Replication. Crafting Attempt.]
[Multiplier Roll: $\times 997$.]
[Result: Success! Luminous Dust $\times 997$ created.]
Jera's eyes went wide. The single grain of dust glowed. Beside it, a new, large pile of glowing dust appeared.
He had turned 10 million credits into almost 10 billion credits. He did it in five seconds.
Jera felt that cold, powerful feeling again. He did not need to hunt for treasure. The world was his treasure chest. He just needed to buy one of anything, and he could have a thousand of them.
Now Jera had unlimited power and unlimited money. But he was still "Jera Murphy," a dead miner. He needed to make "Cain Walker" real.
He needed a cover. A job.
He went back to the one thing he knew: mining.
He used his new ID to get a mining contract at "The Ironworks." This was a huge, famous dungeon run by the powerful Iron Hand Guild. It was also the same guild that his old boss, Markos, and his ex-wife, Sarah, now worked for.
Jera smiled. It was the perfect place to hide.
He put on his new, expensive DM-100 Mining Rig. He looked like a normal, serious miner with good gear.
He entered The Ironworks. The low-level tunnels were filled with D-Rank monsters called Iron-Husks. They looked like giant metal bugs. Hunters hated them because their armor was thick and their loot was worthless.
To Jera, they were perfect.
An Iron-Husk charged him. Jera did not even use a multiplier. His base strength was already too high. He punched the monster once. The monster's hard shell cracked, and it died.
[Monster Kill: Iron-Husk. Experience Multiplier Roll: $\times 1000$.]
[Result: Experience +10,000.]
[Level Up! Jera Murphy is now Level 63!]
[Level Up! Jera Murphy is now Level 64!]
[Level Up! Jera Murphy is now Level 65!]
He gained three levels from one trash monster.
[Loot Roll: $\times 966$.]
[Loot: Iron-Husk Hide (D-Grade) $\times 966$. Now entering Unlimited Inventory.]
In less than a minute, Jera had gained three levels and stored almost a thousand pieces of "worthless" loot. This was his new life. He would get strong by clearing the trash that no one else wanted.
Jera's work was too good.
In the Hunter Bureau, a red light started blinking on a computer screen. A new miner, "Cain Walker," had just signed in at The Ironworks. In one hour, he had cleared a mining zone that should take a full team two days.
This was not just fast. It was impossible.
An A-Rank Hunter, Captain Elara Kane, was sent to investigate. She was a tough, smart woman who did not believe in "miracles."
She and her team went into The Ironworks. They followed Cain Walker's path. The tunnels were perfectly clear. The walls were stable. Everything was clean.
"Look at this," Kane said, pointing to a dead Iron-Husk. The monster was killed with a single, perfect hole through its head. "No energy blasts. No sword marks. Just... a hole. What B-Rank miner can do this?"
"Maybe he has a new weapon, Captain?" her partner asked.
"No," Kane said. "This is not a weapon. This is... wrong."
They got to the end of the zone. The miner, Cain Walker, was gone. He had vanished. But he had left something behind.
In the middle of the tunnel was a giant cube of Ferrum-E ore. It was ten feet tall and weighed many tons. It was cut from the wall in one perfect, smooth block.
Kane touched the smooth, cold metal. "No machine did this," she whispered. "This is a message. He is telling us he can do whatever he wants."
Far away, in another part of the dungeon, Jera watched them on a small screen. He had placed tiny cameras everywhere. He saw the look on Captain Kane's face.
He smiled. His plan was working. They would hunt for the "Miracle Miner," but they would never find him.
He was a ghost. He was an anomaly. He was Cain Walker. And he was just getting started.