The battlefield had become unrecognizable.
The ruined highway, once clogged with abandoned vehicles and broken concrete, was now a wasteland of smoking craters and melted slime.
Burned oozer corpses coated the ground like green tar.
The storm clouds that Sam had summoned days earlier still hung overhead, rumbling faintly.
Because the fight had not ended quickly.
It had taken days.
Days of running.
Days of fighting.
Days of lightning tearing through endless waves of oozer mutants pouring from subway tunnels, sewer pipes, and underground fissures.
The horde had seemed endless.
But eventually…
Everything ends.
Final Kill
Sam staggered forward.
His body ached.
His clothes were nearly gone, shredded by acid burns and claw strikes.
A final oozer crawled toward him across the broken asphalt.
Barely alive.
Sam lifted his hand weakly.
A faint spark formed.
"Lightning…"
The bolt fired.
The oozer burst apart.
Silence followed.
The system chimed.
SYSTEM
Horde Event Completed
All hostile oozer mutants eliminated.
Total Kills Recorded: 9,864
Then the notifications began flooding his vision.
+120 EXP
+115 EXP
+130 EXP
+125 EXP
Thousands of them.
The experience bar surged forward again and again.
LEVEL UP
Level 15 Reached
Stat Gain Per Level DOUBLED
+12 Stat Points
Sam collapsed onto the cracked asphalt beside the wreckage of his mobile base.
The vehicle had been crushed during the first night of the horde attack.
Half buried beneath oozer remains.
His breathing was shallow.
HP dangerously low.
But the system continued its calculations.
CURRENT STATUS
Name: Sam Carter
Level: 15
HP: 19 / 180
Mana: 42 / 380
Stats
Strength
26
Agility
28
Endurance
27
Intelligence
33
Magic Control
31
Perception
25
Then another window appeared.
Sam blinked slowly.
"…Wait."
Unallocated Stat Points
1,200 Available
Sam stared at the number.
He laughed weakly.
"Okay… that's insane."
Each point could permanently increase one of his attributes.
Which meant if he used them all…
He could become something far beyond human.
The system ran a quick calculation.
Combat Capability Estimate
Compared to Average Human:
Strength → 6–7x stronger
Agility → 8x faster reflexes
Endurance → 7x stamina
Magic Output → High Tier Mage
Potential Combat Rank → Small Army Level
Sam slowly sat up.
The world spun for a moment.
But something else caught his attention.
A new system message appeared.
MAIN QUEST UNLOCKED
Relics of the New Age
With the rise of magic after the comet impact, powerful artifacts will begin appearing across the world.
Many will eventually shape the future of the land that will become Ooo.
Objective:
Travel inland and locate emerging magical artifacts before others claim them.
Examples Detected in Timeline:
Ancient enchanted swords
Arcane relics
Dimensional artifacts
Time Window:
Several months
Reward:
Rare abilities
Legendary weapons
Unique magical traits
Sam stared at the notification quietly.
He already knew some of the artifacts that would appear in history.
The swords alone were legendary.
Weapons like the ones used centuries later by heroes of the land.
If he could find them now…
Before anyone else…
His future strength would grow even faster.
Sam slowly stood up.
His legs trembled slightly.
But his eyes burned with excitement.
"Guess it's time for a road trip."
Months Later
The world continued to change.
Magic spread slowly across the planet.
Strange creatures began appearing.
Forests mutated.
Mountains shifted.
Reality itself felt softer… more flexible.
Sam traveled through ruined cities, empty deserts, and overgrown highways.
He fought monsters.
Discovered abandoned military bunkers.
Explored ancient ruins that had begun leaking magical energy.
Every battle made him stronger.
Every week his understanding of magic improved.
He practiced storm magic constantly.
Lightning became easier to control.
He learned to shape bolts into spears.
Chains.
Explosive bursts.
Sometimes entire storms followed him across the sky.
And during those long months of travel…
Far to the north…
A lonely scholar slowly lost his sanity while wearing an ancient crown.
The tragic fate of Simon Petrikov had begun.
And somewhere deep in the ruins of the world…
An evil older than civilization slowly gathered power.
The entity that would one day become The Lich.
But Sam did not know that yet.
Right now he stood on a cliff overlooking a massive valley deep inland.
His system map glowed brightly.
Three powerful artifact signals pulsed in the distance.
Buried beneath ancient ruins.
Sam smiled.
Lightning flickered around his fingers.
"Alright…"
"Let's go treasure hunting."
___
The wind had a strange sound here.
Not loud.
Not violent.
Just… endless.
Sam stood at the edge of the cliff and watched the valley below. The land stretched far into the distance, rolling hills of cracked earth slowly being reclaimed by wild vegetation that had begun growing far too fast since the comet's arrival.
Months had passed since the oozer horde.
Months of walking.
Running.
Fighting.
Learning.
The world was quieter inland, but the quiet felt unnatural, like something deep beneath the earth was waiting for the right moment to wake up.
Sam exhaled slowly.
His breath fogged faintly in the cool morning air.
The system map floated beside him.
Three faint blue signals pulsed somewhere inside the valley.
Three artifacts.
Three unknowns.
The system didn't give names yet.
Only possibilities.
Sam stretched his arms, feeling the faint hum of lightning magic running through his veins.
He still hadn't spent his 1,200 stat points.
Not yet.
Something about the system made him cautious.
Too much power too quickly could backfire.
And besides…
He wanted to understand the world first.
Power meant more when you knew how to use it.
The grass below shifted slightly in the wind.
Tall plants had grown across the old highway that once cut through the valley floor. The road was barely visible anymore, swallowed by nature that
seemed far more aggressive than before.
Sam slid down the rocky slope and began walking.
The air smelled different here.
Not rotten like the oozer tunnels.
Not dusty like the ruined cities.
This place smelled…
Alive.
Birds chirped somewhere far away.
Which was strange.
Animals had mostly disappeared during the war.
Their return meant something was stabilizing.
Or mutating.
Sam followed the cracked remains of the highway deeper into the valley.
The morning sun climbed slowly behind the distant mountains.
His system map pulsed again.
One artifact signal brightened slightly.
Closer now.
Sam slowed his pace.
The road eventually led him to something unexpected.
A town.
Or what used to be one.
Half the buildings had collapsed, but several still stood crookedly against time.
Rusted cars sat in front yards. Street signs lay bent on the ground.
Plants grew through the windows.
It looked abandoned.
But something about the place felt… watched.
Sam stepped onto the cracked street.
His boots echoed softly.
The wind pushed an old door open somewhere nearby.
CREEEEEAK.
He paused.
Listening.
Nothing.
No mutants.
No oozer smell.
No vampire presence.
Just the wind again.
Sam walked deeper into the town.
The system map pointed toward the center.
The artifact signal pulsed stronger now.
But something else caught his attention.
Footprints.
Fresh ones.
Sam crouched beside them.
Small.
Barefoot.
Children maybe.
But there were others too.
Adult prints.
Which meant one thing.
Survivors.
He followed the tracks cautiously.
The prints led toward an old church at the edge of town.
The building leaned slightly, its wooden structure barely holding together. Vines climbed the walls and wrapped around the broken bell tower.
Sam approached slowly.
The door creaked open as he pushed it.
Inside, the air was dusty but calm.
Sunlight filtered through cracked stained-glass windows, painting faint colors across the floor.
And sitting in the corner…
Three people froze.
A woman.
Two children.
They stared at Sam with wide eyes.
The woman grabbed a rusted knife from the floor.
"Don't come closer!"
Sam raised his hands calmly.
"Relax. I'm not here to hurt you."
They looked thin.
Hungry.
Tired.
Survivors who had been hiding for a long time.
The little boy peeked from behind the woman's arm.
"Are you… a monster?"
Sam smiled slightly.
"Nah."
He reached into his backpack and tossed them a small food pack.
The woman hesitated.
Then slowly caught it.
The children immediately grabbed it.
Sam walked to the window and leaned against the wall.
"You're lucky," he said quietly.
"This valley is pretty calm compared to the cities."
The woman studied him.
"You travel alone?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
Sam shrugged.
"Looking for stuff."
He glanced at the system map again.
The artifact signal was almost directly beneath the church.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
The ground trembled faintly.
Sam frowned.
The tremor was subtle.
But his Perception stat caught it easily.
Something moved underground.
Slow.
Heavy.
Ancient.
The children didn't notice.
The woman didn't notice.
But Sam did.
The system map pulsed again.
The artifact signal suddenly flared bright blue.
Then another message appeared.
SYSTEM ALERT
Artifact Awakening Detected
Unknown Magical Weapon
Depth: 12 meters below surface
Location: Beneath current structure.
Sam looked down at the wooden floorboards.
Then back at the frightened family.
Then down again.
"Uh…"
He scratched his head.
"Well this is awkward."
The tremor came again.
Stronger this time.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
The little girl gasped.
"What was that?"
Sam slowly stood up.
Lightning flickered faintly around his fingers.
"Probably the thing guarding the sword."
The woman blinked.
"…The what?"
CRACK.
The floor beneath the church split open.
Wood shattered.
Earth collapsed inward.
And something huge began
pushing its way up from the darkness below.
A massive stone hand burst through the ground.
Ancient runes glowed faintly along its surface.
Sam stared.
"…Oh."
"Oh that's not good."
The ground continued breaking apart as the rest of the creature rose from beneath the church ruins.
A giant.
Stone.
Ancient.
Its eyes slowly ignited with pale blue light.
And buried in the center of its chest…
A glowing sword.
Waiting.
Sam cracked his neck slowly.
"Alright."
"Guess this artifact has a boss."
Lightning sparked around him as the stone guardian fully awakened.
The mysterious valley had finally revealed its secret.