The Ravager's belly was a pale, sickly grey, protected only by thick, leathery skin—not the obsidian armor that covered its back. As Kaelen slid beneath the beast, the world seemed to slow down. He could hear the hiss of the creature's breath and the mechanical whine of his own gauntlet as it hit maximum charge.
[System: Target Weak Point Identified. Structural Integrity: 40%.]
[Executing Skill: Internal Rupture.]
Kaelen slammed his glowing blue fist upward. Instead of a physical punch, he released a concentrated pulse of mana directly into the creature's chest cavity.
BOOM.
The sound wasn't an explosion, but a wet, muffled thud. The Ravager shrieked, its entire body jerking upward as the shockwave scrambled its internal organs. Blue light leaked from its mouth and nostrils for a split second before it crashed back to the ground, pinning Kaelen's legs under its massive weight.
[Warning: Mana Exhaustion at 15%. System entering Low-Power Mode.]
"Not... yet," Kaelen wheezed, his lungs burning from the effort. He gripped the creature's obsidian scales, his fingers bleeding as he fought to pull himself out.
The Ravager wasn't dead. It was a Tier-2 Boss for a reason. It thrashed, its long, bladed tail whipping around and slicing through a nearby steel pillar like it was butter. The pillar groaned and began to tilt, threatening to crush both Kaelen and the beast.
Kaelen looked up at the falling ton of steel. In his past life, he had seen men crushed by falling debris during the first Rift. He had seen the fear in their eyes. But today, he only felt a cold, sharp focus.
"System, override safety protocols," Kaelen commanded, his voice raspy. "Access the Warehouse Mana-Core remotely. Use the Void-Cloak as a conductor."
[System: Warning! Remote connection will drain the Warehouse defenses. Proceed?]
"Do it!"
A faint, invisible line of energy snapped between the warehouse three miles away and Kaelen's gauntlet. The air around him began to spark with static electricity. The falling steel pillar suddenly slowed, caught in a localized gravity field generated by the gauntlet.
With a roar of effort, Kaelen shoved the pillar sideways, sending it crashing into a stack of empty containers instead. He scrambled to his feet, standing over the wounded Ravager. The beast looked at him with its four glowing eyes, finally realizing it wasn't the apex predator in this shipyard.
Kaelen didn't hesitate. He grabbed a jagged piece of the fallen pillar, infused it with the last of his mana, and drove it straight through the Ravager's skull.
[System: Tier-2 Boss Slain!]
[Experience Gained: +500 XP.]
[Level Up: Level 10 -> Level 12.]
[Loot Identified: Ravager's Obsidian Heart (Rare Grade Material).]
Kaelen stood in the silence of the shipyard, his chest heaving. His clothes were shredded, and his skin was covered in black ichor, but he felt more alive than he ever had as a billionaire CEO.
He walked over to the center of the yard, where a small, glowing blue sphere sat inside a reinforced titanium crate. It was the Mana-Generator. It looked like a miniature sun, trapped in a cage of glass.
"The first piece of the puzzle," Kaelen whispered, reaching out to touch the glass.
Suddenly, his gauntlet pulsed red.
[System Warning: High-Level Signature Detected within the Shipyard Perimeter.]
[Signature Analysis: Human. Mana-Sensitivity: High.]
Kaelen froze. He wasn't the only one who had survived the first hour with their senses intact. He turned toward the shadows of the warehouse entrance.
A tall figure stepped into the moonlight. She was dressed in tactical gear, a long, elegant bow made of white bone slung across her back. Her eyes weren't blue like Kaelen's; they were a piercing, emerald green.
"That generator doesn't belong to you, Architect," the woman said, her voice like cold honey.
Kaelen's heart skipped a beat. He knew that voice. It was Seraphina, the woman who would become the leader of the Resistance in his past life—the only person who had ever come close to defeating him in a fair fight.
"And it certainly doesn't belong to the government," Kaelen replied, his gauntlet beginning to glow again. "So I guess we have a problem."