Ting.

[Skill: Luminous Blade has been activated.]

The azure katana didn’t just glow—it erupted.

A brilliant blue flame ignited along the sharp edge of the blade, casting wild, flickering shadows across the hex-plated walls of the bunker. But as Soobin braced himself for the intense heat, he realized there was none. Instead of burning, the flames felt... refreshing. It was pure, highly concentrated spirit energy, washing over him like a cool breeze on a hot day.

"Holy..." Soobin muttered, his eyes wide. He tightened his grip with both hands as the sheer power of the weapon hummed against his palms. "This is crazy. Let's see what you can actually do."

He stepped forward and slashed the air once, then twice.

Swoosh. Swoosh.

The blade left small, lingering trails of blue fire in the air along the exact path of his swings, crackling quietly before fading.

"Is it only for short-range combat, then?" he wondered aloud. He looked at the blade, feeling the ambient energy still cycling through his veins. "What if I try to push the spirit energy out while slashing?"

He adjusted his stance, gripping the hilt tightly. He took a breath, pulled the katana back, and swung with all his might, forcefully pushing the absorbed spirit energy directly into the blade at the exact moment of the slash.

BOOM!

A massive, roaring crescent blast of blue fire detached from the sword. It tore across the room like a comet, trailing blue sparks in its wake, and slammed directly into one of the training dummies stationed near the wall.

CRACK-BOOM!

The impact sent a shockwave through the bunker. Soobin lowered his arms, blinking through the clearing blue smoke. He hurried over to check the damage.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

The dummy wasn't just broken; it was completely obliterated. The top half was sheared off and charred with blue frost. He glanced down at the metallic base plate.

[DEFENSE DUMMY - RANK: B]

"Huh?" Soobin whispered, leaning in closer. "A B-Rank dummy? Did I just blast through a B-Rank dummy?"

He stood back, looking at the glowing katana in his hand. The reality of the power scaling in this world hit him.

Hero and Artifact ranks ranged from F to S. F-Ranks were baseline Awakeners—public servants, reinforced police officers, people who made a living doing everyday heroic work but were essentially just enhanced humans. E, D, and C were the standard ranks for Academy students and rookies. Most Awakeners graduated the Academy and hit a permanent wall at C-Rank. B and A-Ranks were seasoned, elite professionals who had ground their way up through years of life-or-death hero work. S-Ranks were national treasures.

Since Soobin had literally just awakened, his base power level should be E-Rank at best. Even factoring in the sheer potential of a Platinum spirit, maybe he could push a D-Rank output. But the fact that he just effortlessly destroyed a B-Rank defense dummy...

"So this is the power of an S-Rank artifact," he breathed.

The multipliers were insane. There were only a handful of S-Rank artifact users in all of Korea, and their weapons were so legendary they had unique, recognizable names. If anyone found out a rookie was walking around with one, it would cause an international incident.

"I really need to be careful with this," Soobin muttered, looking at the blue flames still roaring wildly around the blade. He reached his free hand forward, taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart. "Phew..."

Following his intent, the raging blue flames instantly subsided, shrinking back into the pure, crystallized blue metal of the katana.

"Wow. It seems I can completely control the flames, too," he said, sheathing the weapon into his system inventory with a swift thought. "This is good, but I better not use this too much in public. I can't exactly claim I crafted it myself—the Academy's Crafting Department would never leave me alone. "

He stretched his aching shoulders. He still didn't fully understand how he was channeling all this spirit energy without a formed internal core, but that was a problem for later. He packed up his bag, wiped the sweat from his face, and headed for the elevator.

Upstairs, he waved goodbye to Jane at the reception desk and walked out into the city.

A few minutes later, Jane blew a bright pink bubble with her gum, grabbed her keycard, and took the elevator down to Sub-Level B.

"Let's see how much of a mess the kid made," she hummed to herself. "Probably just knocked a few weapons off the racks. I’ll just wipe down the mats and lock up."

The elevator doors slid open.

Jane stepped out and immediately stopped. Her jaw dropped, and the pink bubblegum slipped right out of her mouth, landing on the pristine floor.

The heavy, shock-absorbent hex-plating on the floor was carved with deep, scorched trenches. And at the far end of the room, the reinforced B-Rank titanium training dummy was completely cut in half, the metal edges melted and frozen over with a bizarre blue frost.

Jane slowly turned her head, looking at the empty elevator doors where a 16-year-old kid who had awakened his core yesterday had just left.

"What... in the actual hell?" she whispered to the empty room.

The city of Seoul was bathed in the vibrant, neon glow of evening. Floating billboards projected massive holographic advertisements across the sky, and sleek, hover-tech cars zipped silently through the air lanes.

Soobin pulled a black mask up over his nose and tugged the hood of his casual jacket over his head. After yesterday’s broadcast, the internet was in an absolute uproar over the new Platinum-Rank phenomenon. If he walked around bare-faced, he’d be mobbed in seconds.

He made his way into one of the city's premier shopping megamalls. The scale of the place was staggering. Glass walkways crisscrossed over a massive central atrium, and floating orbs of spirit energy provided a soft, ambient glow to the entire complex.

"Should I buy some stuff to get ready for the Academy?" he thought, adjusting his mask as he blended into the bustling crowd.

He browsed through a few high-end clothing boutiques. When he checked the price tags on some of the spirit-infused fabrics, he almost choked. But then he remembered his watch-phone's digital wallet balance. His parents were respected B-Rank Guildmasters; he was actually quite well off now.

He bought several high-quality casual outfits, subconsciously gravitating toward dark jackets with striking blue and white accents.

Since my spirit color is blue, should I make this my brand? he thought, holding up a sleek white and blue windbreaker. Heh. I never thought I’d care about useless stuff like this, but this is actually kind of fun.

After picking up a few small, utility artifacts and everyday trinkets, he took the escalator up to the top level.

He stepped off and immediately felt a shift in the air.

THE ESREAL MARKET EXCHANGE

The ESREAL conglomerate was one of the wealthiest and most powerful brands in the world, and it showed They also owned the biggest social network ESN. They hadn't just rented the top floor of the mall—they had used high-tier Space Magic to physically expand the interior dimensions. What should have been a standard mall floor looked like an endless, sprawling night market.

Neon signs in dozens of languages hung over packed stalls. The air smelled of roasted street food and ozone from raw spirit cores. Crowds of Awakeners, Crafters, and mercenaries haggled over rare beast parts, potions, and smuggled artifacts under glowing lanterns.

Soobin walked through the bustling aisles, mesmerized by the sheer scale of the worldbuilding around him.

He reached into his pocket, his fingers brushing against the cold, dark orb of the Shadowfang Wolf core he had extracted in the Dreadwood Expanse.

"Should I try to exchange this?" he wondered. "It's probably not worth much, but it's a start."

As he navigated the packed market, a loud commotion caught his attention.

"...are you blind?! These are pristine high quality cores! They should be at least double that price!" an angry, burly man shouted, slamming his fist on a glass counter.

Soobin paused, blending into the small crowd that had formed around a large, brightly lit corner stall. Two rough-looking mercenaries were aggressively leaning over the counter, trying to intimidate the stall owner.

The stall owner, however, looked completely unfazed.

He was a young guy, maybe a few years older than Soobin, with long, jet-black hair tied back into a loose knot. He wore a dark eye patch over his  right eye, but his visible left eye had a strange, mischievous, slightly glowing quality to it. His face was sharp, handsome, and entirely too relaxed for a guy getting yelled at by two bulky Awakeners.

Why does this guy look so familiar? Soobin thought, squinting. Ugh, I can't remember.

The stall owner picked up one of the glowing cores with two fingers, holding it up to the light. He gave a sharp, mocking smile.

"Pristine?" the young man chuckled, his voice smooth and dripping with sarcasm. "Buddy, I can literally see the shadow contamination from here. Look at the micro-fractures along the meridian line. You pulled this from a beast that was already decaying. If a Crafter tries to refine this, it’ll blow up in their face. These aren't pristine ; these are ticking time bombs."

The mercenary's face flushed red, his bluster instantly deflating as he realized the stall owner was an absolute expert.

"Twenty thousand won for each of the five," the stall owner offered lazily, tossing the core back onto the glass. "Take it, or take your trash to a pawn shop that doesn't know any better."

Grumbling in defeat, the mercenaries snatched the digital credits and stormed off into the crowd.

The stall owner sighed, sweeping the cores off the counter. As he looked up, his glowing eye swept across the crowd and locked directly onto Soobin.

He paused. Then, a wide, pretty smile broke across his face.

Soobin stiffened. It was too awkward to just turn around and walk away now, so he cautiously stepped up to the counter.

Up close, the guy's striking features were even more apparent. He rested his chin in his hand, looking Soobin up and down.

"Hello!" the guy chirped cheerfully. "My name is Soohyuk. Welcome! Do you have anything you want to sell, or are you just here to admire the view?"

Soobin cleared his throat, feeling a bit star-struck and awkward. "Uh... hi. Yeah, do you guys buy raw nuclei cores?"

"Of course we do," Soohyuk said, his smile widening. "Whatcha got?"

Soobin reached into his pocket and placed the Shadowfang Wolf core onto the glass counter.

Soohyuk picked it up, rolling the dark, corrupted orb between his fingers. His visible eye narrowed slightly as he inspected the weight and purity.

"Hmm," Soohyuk hummed. "It's a low-tier beast, but the extraction was surprisingly clean. The quality is solid. Market price for this is exactly 80,000 won."

Soobin nodded, ready to accept the baseline price.

But Soohyuk suddenly tossed the core into the air, caught it, and leaned over the glass counter. He winked his visible eye.

"But I'll give you 100,000 won for it," Soohyuk said, his voice dropping into a playful whisper. "After all... it’s not every day I get to do business with our country's shiny new superstar."

Soobin’s blood ran cold. His head snapped up, his eyes widening as he looked into Soohyuk’s face.

He was wearing a hoodie, his hair was messy, and a thick black mask covered half his face. There was absolutely no way anyone should have recognized him.

But Soohyuk was just leaning there, grinning mischievously.