The Deep Rust – Safehouse Delta
The air in the abandoned warehouse was thick with the scent of ozone and copper. Chronos leaned against a crate, his body trembling. The "Void-Shock" from overcharging his mana felt like a thousand needles pricking his soul, but the grin on his face was unmistakable.
In front of him, the Void-Drake Wyrmling was prowling. Its obsidian scales didn't just reflect light; they seemed to consume it. Every step the creature took left a faint, singed mark on the concrete.
"It's beautiful," Elara whispered, standing a safe ten feet back. "But it's terrifying. It feels like... a hole in the world."
"That's because it is," Chronos replied, his voice raspy. "It's a fragment of my dimension given flesh."
[Ding! World Milestone Reached: 'The First Predator'.] [Reward: +10 Stat Points, +1 Unique Title.] [Title Acquired: 'Planetary Governor']
Effect: All lifeforms created within the Void gain 10% increased growth speed and 5% Loyalty.
Chronos didn't hesitate. He poured 6 points into Intelligence and 4 into Endurance. The mental fog cleared instantly. His physicist's brain began calculating the mass of the Blue Rock fragments he had just harvested.
[Total Essence Harvested: 4,800 Units.] [Processing... 100% Complete.] [Tier 1: 'Biological Life' – Fully Unlocked!]
"System," Chronos thought, sinking his mind into the Void. "Show me the evolution tree."
A massive, translucent holographic map appeared in his mind. It looked like a constellation of stars, each star representing a different lifeform.
Path A: The Path of Nature (Forests, Beasts, Harmony)
Path B: The Path of Industry (Golems, Machines, Metal)
Path C: The Path of the Void (Abyssal Horrors, Gravity-Beings, Chaos)
"I don't need harmony," Chronos muttered. "And I don't need more metal. I need Soldiers."
He tapped the Path of the Void.
[Warning! Path of the Void requires 'Soul Sparks' to create sentient life.] [Current Soul Sparks: 0.] [Current Alternative: 'Void-Fungi' – A parasitic lifeform that feeds on ambient mana and can be molded into semi-sentient guardians.]
"Build it," Chronos commanded. "And use the leftover metal from the Chimera to reinforce their structure."
Inside the Void, the ground began to ripple. Thick, purple-veined stalks erupted from the glass-like soil. They didn't look like mushrooms; they looked like obsidian hands reaching for the sky. They began to absorb the "Void-Shock" mana leaking from Chronos's body, purifying it.
[Creation Successful: Void-Watchers (Tier 1 - Rank E).] [Quantity: 12.]
Back in the real world, Chronos opened his eyes. He felt lighter. The pain was gone. He looked at Elara, who was currently staring at a handheld scanner she'd scavenged.
"Chronos," she said, her face turning pale. "The news... it's all over the dark-web. Hunter K survived the vault. He told the Council that an 'A-Rank Summoner' destroyed the facility. They've raised your bounty to 50 million Credits."
"A-Rank?" Chronos chuckled. "I'm barely Level 5."
"They don't know that. They think you're a terrorist from the Abyssal Colonies. They've authorized the use of 'The Reaper'—the city's orbital mana-cannon—to track your signature."
Chronos stood up. He wasn't afraid. For the first time, he felt a strange sense of belonging. The world wanted him dead? Good. That meant he was finally a threat.
"Let them point their cannons at the sky," Chronos said, his eyes glowing a fierce gold. "They're looking for a person. But by tomorrow... they'll be looking for a world."
He reached into the air, and for a second, the space between his fingers tore open. One of the Void-Watchers peeked through—a single, massive eye floating in a cloud of purple gas.
"Elara, we're moving. We aren't hiding in the Rust anymore. We're going to the one place the mana-cannon can't track us."
"Where?"
"The Dead Zone," Chronos said. "The center of the original asteroid crash. The mana interference there will mask my Void's growth. And more importantly... it's where the largest Blue Rock in history is buried."
[New Quest: The Heart of the World] [Objective: Reach the Dead Zone and 'Devour' the Great Shard.] [Reward: Unlock 'Tier 2: Sentient Life' and +1 'Planet Core'.]
"If I get that shard," Chronos whispered to himself, "I won't just be an Awakened. I'll be an Empire."