For the last few days, King and Eli had remained indoors.

The mansion had become their fortress. A bubble of relative safety while the rest of the world scrambled to survive as the countdown timer ticking steadily toward zero.

King had used the time well.

His build was set. Level 10, balanced stat distribution, legendary gauntlet equipped. Basic Construct Spell learned. The equipped Grand Magus Oathcloak providing the boost he needed to stay mobile and lethal. He’d mapped out his next three major objectives, surviving the first woe and rescuing Vi, entering Ephelia’s Magi-Academy for the elemental spellbook, and then tackling the second woe.

Eli wasn’t far behind.

The older man had adapted quickly to the Ranger class, his Three-Eyed Eagle reconnaissance skill proving invaluable for scouting without risk, he’d taken routine checks around the buildings’ perimeter ensuring their safety. The Calamity Long-Shoulder sat propped against the wall near the study, cleaned and maintained.

They were ready.

Or as ready as anyone could be for a world that had been turned into a death game.

King sat at the dining table, tablet-sized interface hovering in front of him as he scrolled through the player count statistics. The numbers were staggering.

When the game first activated, Earth’s population had been roughly eight billion.

Now?

The active player count sat at just under seven billion.

Over a billion people had been removed.

"So it wasn’t a bluff, huh?"

The words came out quiet, almost to himself.

He’d seen the broadcasts. Watched Zorus obliterate a hundred thousand players in real time just to prove a point. But seeing the raw numbers laid out in front of him made it sink in differently.

A billion people.

Gone.

Not necessarily dead. The system didn’t say "killed" or "deceased." It said removed.

And King felt it meant more than how the emissary made it look.

Were they transported somewhere?, locked in some kind of stasis?

Or were they just gone, wiped from existence like save files deleted from a hard drive?

He didn’t know.

And the not knowing made it feel worse.

King leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes. He’d been staring at screens for too long. His head ached. His body felt restless despite the fact that he’d barely left the mansion in days.

He was about to close the interface when...

DING

The chime rang out sharp and clear, cutting through the silence of the mansion.

King straightened immediately.

From the kitchen, he heard Eli’s voice. "Master Abel?"

"Yeah, same here" King called back.

The interface in front of him shifted, expanding automatically as a new notification materialized.

[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT: THE WORLD TRADING CENTER IS NOW OPEN!]

[Players can now trade with each other. Buy, sell, auction, and bid without hidden fees. Once agreements are met, transactions will occur seamlessly.]

King read the message twice, processing.

A trading system.

Of course there was a trading system. Every RPG had one. But the timing was deliberate. The game had waited nine days before unlocking it. Long enough for players to accumulate starter gear and resources, but early enough that scarcity was still a factor.

Supply and demand.

The foundation of every player-driven economy.

King swiped open the World Chat.

The reaction was instant.

"FINALLY I CAN SELL THIS JUNK"

"yo I just listed a samurai katana for 1000 runes"

"1000? no one’s buying your grandpa’s dusty blade for that price lmao"

"what a pain i already spent all my runes"

"BUYING HEALTH POTIONS IN BULK MESSAGE ME"

"selling uncommon-grade boots 2000 runes firm price no lowballs"

"anyone got mage robes? will pay 1500"

The chat scrolled fast, players flooding the feed with listings, complaints, and negotiations.

King closed the World Chat and navigated to the new Trading Center tab that had appeared in his interface.

The menu loaded smoothly, displaying a clean, organized marketplace UI. Categories lined the left side of the screen: Weapons, Armor, Consumables, Materials, Miscellaneous. A search bar sat at the top. Real-time transaction notifications scrolled along the bottom.

[SOLD: Iron Shortsword – 500 Runes]

[SOLD: Basic Health Potion x5 – 1000 Runes]

[SOLD: Leather Chest Piece – 450 Runes]

King watched the feed for a moment, noting the prices. Most items were low-tier. Common and Uncommon-grade gear. Basic consumables. The kinds of things players had picked up during the first week but no longer needed.

Smart players were liquidating early, converting junk into runes before the market flooded.

Dumb players were holding onto trash, hoping the value would increase.

King had no intention of being either.

He scrolled through the listings, eyes scanning for anything unusual. Rare-grade armaments. High-tier spell books or umique consumables.

Nothing caught his attention.

Most of it was exactly what he expected. Early-game clutter.

"Eli," King called without looking up.

The older man stepped into the dining room from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a cloth. "Yes, Master King?"

"Check out the Trading Center. See if there’s anything you need."

Eli nodded, pulling up his own interface.

King stood, stretching his back as he walked toward the arsenal wardrobe they’d set up in the corner of the study. Eli followed closely, his interface still open as he navigated the marketplace.

King opened the wardrobe, surveying the stockpile of guns they had. Most of it was excess now. Still functional, but redundant.

Eli had his Calamity Long-Shoulder. That was all he needed.

The rest could be converted into runes.

"Eli, why don’t you list most of these guns? See if anyone wants them. Keep the Long-Shoulder and one revolver. Sell the rest."

Eli nodded, adjusting his interface. "Understood."

He tapped the Sell option in the Trading Center menu. Two options appeared: Upload from Inventory and Scan.

Eli tapped the information icon next to Scan.

[Scan items directly to upload details to the Trading Center. Items scanned will be evaluated to determine if sale is possible.]

[Items rejected cannot be sold.]

Eli read the description aloud.

King nodded. "Test it on one of the shotguns first."

Eli picked up a simple pump-action shotgun from the wardrobe, holding it steady as he activated the scan function. A blue light swept over the weapon, top to bottom, analyzing it in seconds.

[SCANNED SUCCESSFULLY]

[VERIFYING ITEM...]

A loading bar filled quickly.

[VERIFICATION COMPLETE]

The interface displayed the weapon’s stats. Common-grade. Moderate damage. No special properties.

A section appeared at the bottom: [Set Price].

Eli typed in 500 Runes and tapped List Item.

[ITEM LISTED SUCCESSFULLY]

The shotgun vanished from his hands, transferred into the Trading Center’s holding inventory.

Eli repeated the process for the remaining guns, setting prices based on grade and condition. A hunting rifle went for 800 runes. A revolver for 400. A scuffed pistol for 250.

Within minutes, several items had already sold.

[SOLD: Hunting Rifle – 800 Runes] 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

[SOLD: Pump-Action Shotgun – 500 Runes]

Eli’s rune count climbed steadily.

While Eli handled the sales, King browsed the Consumables section. He purchased a stack of Basic Health Potions, a few Antidote Vials, and a set of Mana Potions. Practical things that could mean the difference between life and death in a drawn-out fight.

He stored everything in his inventory and closed the Trading Center.

For a moment, he just stood there, arms crossed, staring at the interface in front of him.

Then he remembered.

Pantheon!.

The message from the World Chat.

"King, I have a proposal for you."

King hadn’t responded, he hadn’t even acknowledged it.

But the message had been sitting in the back of his mind for days now, nagging at him like an unfinished quest marker.

Pantheon was Rank 2 in the Power Rankings. sitting comfortably with 1,100 power points. Yet having no presence on the Popular Rankings. Zero public activity except for that one message.

He was a proper ghost player.

And ghosts were either dangerous or irrelevant, but in this case, the former was more likely.

King needed to know who Pantheon was.

He swiped back to the World Chat and opened the search function.

[Search: Pantheon]

[Results: 1/1]

Only one message. The same one from days ago.

King tapped the name.

A profile preview appeared. Showing nothing but his name.

At the bottom of the preview, a single option glowed faintly.

[SEND MESSAGE REQUEST]

King hesitated for a moment.

Reaching out to Pantheon meant opening a line of communication. But ignoring it meant staying in the dark.

And King hated the dark.

He tapped the option.

[MESSAGE REQUEST SENT]

The interface confirmed the action, then closed.

King lowered his hand, exhaling slowly.

Now all he could do was wait.

Behind him, Eli finished listing the last of the guns and closed his own interface.

"All set, Master King. We’ve made a decent profit."

King nodded absently. "Good. Stock up on whatever you’re missing. Rope, flint, rations. Anything we might need if we’re stuck outside the mansion for more than a day."

"Understood."

Eli moved back to his interface, navigating the Trading Center quietly.

King walked to the window, staring out at the overgrown yard beyond the mansion walls.

The countdown timer hovered faintly in the corner of his vision.

9D: 03H: 47M: 12S

Nine days until the First Penance.

And somewhere out there, Pantheon was waiting.