Capítulo 5: Turning Point
Ding!
[You have successfully killed a Dred]
[You have leveled up!] [Lv. 1 → Lv. 2] [Tap to view more ↆ]
Elion blinked at the messages floating before him, then laughed softly, his voice tinged with disbelief.
"I can level up now? That's… something. Feels like a reward."
He tapped the glowing notification, and a larger status screen unfolded before him, illuminating the ruins around him.
[Status Window]
Name: Elion Viro
Level: Lv. 1 → Lv. 2
Age: 14 years
HP: 200/200 (↑100)
IP: 200/200 (↑100)
Strength: 4 (↑2)
Intelligence: 50
Stamina: 5 (↑2)
Agility: 7 (↑2)
Skills: [Creation Lv. 1]
Elion stared at the screen in awe. His stats had increased significantly, and his health was completely restored.
"So, leveling up heals me completely… nice," he muttered, flexing his fingers and doing a small jump to test his body. The pain from his earlier wounds had vanished. He felt lighter, stronger, faster.
"System, does my body fully recover every time I level up?" he asked, curiosity sparking.
[Yes. Every time you level up, HP and IP increase by 100 and are fully restored.]
Elion frowned, tilting his head. "What about the stats that increased? Did I do something specific to make those go up?"
[Stats increase based on the aspects you used during the level-up process.]
[For example, during the fight with the Dred, you ran, dodged, and threw a knife using strength. As a result, stamina, agility, and strength increased upon leveling up.]
Elion nodded slowly, piecing it together. "So, the way I fight or act influences my growth. Interesting… a bit confusing, but I get it."
He paused, staring at the ruins around him. The system still felt like an enigma—a tool that had appeared out of nowhere, seemingly tied to the apocalypse that had erased humanity. He hadn't seen a single corpse since waking up in this broken world.
"This wasn't just some natural disaster," Elion whispered. "Everyone didn't just die… they vanished."
He let out a long sigh, staring up at the gray, smoke-filled sky. "Imagination System, huh? Looks like I still have to use my brain, after all."
[Of course, you have to use your brain to think. Can anyone imagine something without a brain?]
Elion froze. "What the—?" His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "System, can you… read my mind?"
[Well, duh.]
Elion's jaw dropped. The robotic tone of the system suddenly carried a playful, almost human quality, catching him completely off guard. Before he could bombard it with questions, the system interrupted.
[Instead of wasting time asking dumb questions, you should find water and build a shelter. Unless you want to die at the hands of hundreds of Dred.]
The mention of hundreds made Elion's blood run cold. He clenched his fists, his lips pressing into a thin line.
"Fine," he muttered, frustration boiling beneath the surface. "But we're not done, System. I have questions. Lots of them."
-----
Elion sprinted toward the outskirts of the city, the quieter areas closer to his home. Thanks to his perfect memory, it didn't take him long to find a supermarket. The building was in shambles—its roof collapsed, shards of glass glittering across the floor, shelves toppled like dominoes.
Elion carefully picked his way through the wreckage, his sharp eyes scanning for anything usable. He grinned when he spotted intact bottles of water and packets of instant food wedged beneath a fallen beam.
"This'll do," he murmured, stacking the items into his arms. "No more starving or dying of thirst."
[Are you really going to carry all that in your tiny arms? How inefficient. What happened to your 50 intelligence points?]
Elion froze, his irritation flaring. "Excuse me? Did you just… mock me?"
[Tch.]
Elion's eyes widened. "Did you just click your tongue at me?"
Before he could shout, a swirl of energy suddenly materialized before him. The vortex pulsed with shifting colors, casting flickering shadows across the ruined walls.
"What is that?" Elion whispered, his breath catching.
[That's your inventory.]
"Inven—" He stepped closer, reaching out a hand toward the swirling portal, but the intense cold radiating from it stung his skin. He yanked his hand back with a yelp.
"Why didn't you tell me it's freezing?!"
[Sigh. What are you doing? That's a sub-dimension where you can store items.]
Elion glared at the floating text. "You could've explained that before I nearly froze my hand off."
Grumbling, he placed the bottles and food packets into the inventory. The items vanished into the vortex with a faint shimmer.
Ding!
[Skill: [Inventory] Acquired!]
[Skill Description: Allows you to store any object in a sub-dimension. Time does not exist in the sub-dimension, so items remain in the same condition as when stored.]
Elion's annoyance gave way to amazement. "That's… actually pretty useful."
[Of course it's useful. You should be grateful. I'm only giving you this free skill as an exception.]
Elion rolled his eyes. "Yeah, thanks a lot, Your Majesty."
-----
After scouring the city for more supplies, Elion gathered enough materials to build a shelter. Stone, steel, wood, and glass—all of it was stored in the inventory. Satisfied, he made his way toward a nearby forest.
The air was cooler here, quieter. The towering trees gave him a sense of protection, and he noticed no signs of Dred activity.
"This'll do," Elion muttered.
He summoned the materials from his inventory, watching as they floated out of the vortex and landed on the forest floor with soft thuds. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and began imagining the process of building a house.
In his mind, he envisioned every detail: the foundation, the walls, the roof, the placement of each piece of glass.
As if responding to his thoughts, the materials began to glow. They floated into the air, aligning themselves with precision. Stone stacked upon stone. Steel beams anchored into the earth. Wooden planks formed the roof, while glass slotted neatly into window frames.
When the glowing stopped, a small house stood before him.
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have successfully built a small house!]
[Skill: Creation Lv. 1 → Lv. 2]
The house was simple—a 3×3 structure with a single door, a window, and a wooden roof. But to Elion, it felt like a palace.
"This… isn't bad for my first try," he said, smiling proudly.
[Not bad. But I doubt it'll last a week.]
Elion sighed, shaking his head. "Of course you'd say that."
Elion stood in front of his newly built house, admiring the simple yet sturdy structure with a sense of pride. For the first time since the world fell apart, he felt a flicker of hope.
Maybe I can survive here, he thought. Maybe I can even start over.
The sun was setting beyond the forest canopy, streaking the sky with warm oranges and purples. A soft breeze rustled the leaves around him, bringing with it a strange, almost unnatural stillness.
It was too quiet.
Elion didn't notice it at first, too preoccupied with examining the sturdiness of the walls. But as he moved his hand across the cool stone, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. A chill slithered down his spine, and an instinct he couldn't explain screamed at him to turn around.
Something was wrong.
And then—
Ding!
[Warning! A Dred is—]
The system's voice was cut off by a deafening, metallic screech.
Elion spun around, his eyes widening in terror. From the edge of the forest, something moved—no, something charged.
It was fast. Too fast.
A dark blur shot toward him with inhuman speed, its long, jagged limbs slicing through the air like blades. The sound of it was horrifying—a mix of chittering clicks and deep, guttural growls that made Elion's stomach churn.
He barely had time to react.
"What the—"
Before he could finish his thought, searing pain erupted in his back.
It felt like fire had been ignited inside him. His legs buckled, and he fell forward, gasping as his vision blurred. He reached behind him instinctively, but his trembling fingers met something sharp and cold—a giant needle-like appendage embedded deep into his body.
"Ah… ah…" Elion's breaths came in shallow gasps. He stumbled forward, his feet dragging across the dirt as he tried to steady himself. But the pain was unbearable.
He looked down.
Blood.
It poured freely from a massive hole in his stomach, soaking his shirt and pooling at his feet. His trembling hands clutched at the wound as if he could somehow hold himself together, but the slick warmth of his own blood made him feel faint.
"W-What… the f-fuck…" he choked out, his voice barely audible.
His knees gave out, and he collapsed onto the ground, the world spinning around him. Every muscle in his body screamed in agony as his vision flickered between light and dark.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw it.
The Dred.
It was unlike any of the creatures he had seen before. This one was massive—its body a grotesque, pulsating mass of blackened flesh and jagged bone. Its elongated limbs were covered in spines that dripped with his blood. Its face—or what resembled a face—was twisted, its hollow sockets glowing faintly with a sickly green light.
The creature's needle-like appendage retracted with a sickening squelch, leaving behind the gaping wound in Elion's body. Blood splattered across the ground as it let out a deep, rumbling growl, the sound vibrating through the air like a low earthquake.
Elion's head slumped forward, his chin brushing against the blood-soaked dirt. His arms trembled as he tried to push himself up, but his strength was rapidly draining.
"I… I can't…"
He could feel his life slipping away with every passing second. The pain was dull now, replaced by a cold numbness that spread from his core outward.
Am I… dying?
The thought echoed in his mind, but it felt distant, as if it belonged to someone else. His body felt heavy, too heavy to move.
The Dred moved closer, its long limbs scraping against the ground as it loomed over him. Its twisted grin stretched unnaturally wide, revealing rows of jagged, yellow teeth.
Elion's breathing slowed. He couldn't keep his eyes open. His mind screamed at him to move, to fight, to do something—but his body refused to listen.
No. Not like this. Not after everything.
The world around him darkened, the edges of his vision collapsing inward like a black tunnel. The last thing he saw was the Dred's face hovering above him, its mouth opening impossibly wide.
Then came the voice.
Ding!
[You have died.]
Elion's fading consciousness barely registered the message. He was falling now, slipping into nothingness. The cold emptiness wrapped around him like a shroud, and his thoughts became scattered fragments.
[Returning host to the starting point.]
The system's voice echoed in the void, detached and unfeeling. But for Elion, there was nothing left.
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