2026-04-19 22:00:12"Please, Captain... my leg. I think it’s snapped."
Lucian Thorne lay splayed on the freezing stone floor, his trembling fingers clawing at Captain Miller’s combat boots. Fresh, hot blood seeped from his crushed calf—the result of a Hobgoblin’s mace he had taken while shielding the team’s retreat.
Miller didn’t move to help. Instead, he looked down, his eyes filled with the kind of disgust one might reserve for a smear of filth on a luxury shoe.
"Don’t touch me with your filthy hands, Trash," Miller hissed. He flicked his foot, sending Lucian’s fingers slamming back onto the jagged stone.
"But Captain... I carried all your potions. I stayed awake every night to guard the camp..." Lucian coughed, a thick, metallic crimson staining his lips. "You can’t leave me here. This is a Rank-D Dungeon. I’m just a Rank-F!"
Behind Miller, the rest of the 'Blue Falcon' squad stood like statues. Sarah, the team’s Healer, clutched her staff, her eyes darting away. She looked guilty, but she didn’t take a single step forward.
"That’s the problem, Lucian," Miller chuckled, the sound echoing coldly through the dark corridor. "You’re Rank-F. Do you know what they call people like you in the Hunter world? Carry-on luggage. A bag. And right now, the bag is torn."
Miller leaned down, grabbing the massive cargo pack from Lucian’s back. He ripped it open with a violent tug, snatched the most valuable mana crystals inside, and then hurled the tattered remains back at Lucian’s face.
Thud!
"This is compensation for the time we wasted protecting you," Miller said flatly. "Oh, and one more thing."
Miller signaled the team’s Tanker, a hulking man named Borris. Borris stepped forward and, without a shred of hesitation, slammed his armored boot down onto Lucian’s broken leg.
"AAAGHHH!" Lucian’s scream tore through the silence of the dungeon, raw and agonized.
"Just so you don’t get any bright ideas about crawling after us," Miller smiled thinly. "You idiot. Did you really think we brought you because we liked you? We needed bait in case the Dungeon Boss woke up early. And look at you—you performed your duty perfectly."
"You... bastards..." Lucian groaned, tears of rage and pain carving tracks through the dirt on his face.
"Let’s move out," Miller commanded his team. "Leave the scavenger to die among the trash he loves so much."
Clang!
The massive iron doors were slammed shut and locked from the outside. The last sliver of light vanished, plunging Lucian into absolute darkness.
Silence followed. Then, the sound of soft, wet scuttling began to rise from the corners of the room.
Scritch. Scritch.
"Hahaha..." Lucian let out a hollow, broken laugh in the dark. "So this is it? Dying as bait after two years of slaving for them?"
He could feel the coldness of death creeping into his chest. His consciousness began to fray at the edges. But just as his eyes started to roll back, a cold, mechanical voice—sharp as a razor—vibrated inside his skull.
[Ding! Hostility levels detected: Critical.] [Will to survive: Absolute.] [Targeting the lowest existence in the dungeon...] [Initializing the God-Level Scavenger System...]
Lucian’s eyes snapped open. A golden holographic screen flickered to life, illuminating his battered face in a ghostly glow.
[Initialization Complete.] [Unique Passive Skill Unlocked: 'Eye of the Scavenger'.] [Rule: Everything discarded is your treasure. Everything dead is your strength.]
[Detected: 1x Broken Mana Bag (Trash Grade).] [Would you like to 'Recycle' this item? (Y/N)]
Lucian stared at the shredded bag Miller had thrown at him. "Recycle... everything," he croaked, his voice trembling with a newfound darkness. "Give me the power to tear them apart!"
[Recycle Successful!] [Gained: 10 Exp!] [Gained: 1x Basic Healing Essence (Consumed Automatically).]
A sudden surge of warmth flooded his shattered leg. His bones began to knit back together with a series of sickening cracks that felt like heaven.
[Detected: 10x Low-Tier Goblins approaching.] [Emergency Mission: Clean the Floor.] [Reward: First Evolution Core.]
Lucian dragged himself up. He reached into the pile of debris beside him and gripped a jagged, foot-long bone from a dead monster. To anyone else, it was garbage. To him, the system highlighted it in a vibrant green.
"Miller," Lucian whispered, his aura shifting from a dying prey to a cornered predator. "I hope you haven't made it to the exit yet."
As the first goblin lunged from the shadows, its yellow teeth bared, Lucian didn't flinch. He lunged forward, his hand glowing with a faint, predatory gold as it touched the goblin’s throat.
[Recycling Living Target (Failed)... Target must be suppressed or weakened!]
"Oh? So I have to break you first?" Lucian’s lips curled into a grin—an expression that had never belonged to the weak scavenger he used to be. "With pleasure."
The bone in his hand hissed through the air, buried deep into the goblin's chest.
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Chapter 9: The Billion-Credit Scavenger
The silence in Sector 7 was absolute. The choking purple haze had been sucked dry, leaving behind an impossible sight: a three-kilometer radius that had once been littered with the remains of the Abyssal Behemoth was now spotlessly clean. Not a single bone, drop of blood, or shard of crystal remained.Lucian Thorne stood in the center of the crater, his cloak fluttering softly. In his mind, the System notifications chimed relentlessly, sounding like a slot machine hitting the jackpot.[Ding! 'The Great Harvest' has concluded.] [Total Mana Shards Recycled: 2,500,000!] [Gained: 1x Heart of the Behemoth (S-Rank Material).] [Gained: 1x Skill Book: 'Void Step' (Rank S).] [Gained: Permanent Stat Boost: +40 Strength, +45 Agility, +50 Intelligence.][Level Up! Level 28 -> Level 45!]Lucian closed his eyes. The heat rushing through his veins wasn't just energy anymore—it was raw, unadulterated power capable of crushing steel with a mere squeeze. His vision could now pierce through concrete, an
Chapter 8: Picking the Bones of Gods
The sky above Sector 7 wasn’t purple anymore. It was screaming.A colossal shockwave tore through the air, shattering the windows of every ruin within three miles. Lucian slammed his obsidian dirk into a concrete pillar to anchor himself as the wind threatened to peel his new armor right off his body.BOOM!In the distance, the "Calamity-Class" World Boss stood—a mountain of shifting, translucent flesh and jagged bone known as the Abyssal Behemoth. Every time it roared, the ground liquefied.And fighting it was the "Ice Queen," Elena Vance.She looked like a tiny blue star dancing around a nightmare. Every swing of her rapier created glaciers that climbed the Behemoth’s legs, only to be crushed seconds later.[Warning: Ambient mana pressure is exceeding Host's tolerance.] [Initiating 'Void Shield' (Passive)... 100% Load.]"I'm not here to fight that thing," Lucian gritted his teeth, his eyes scanning the periphery of the battle through his Eye of the Scavenger. "I'm here for the lefto
Chapter 7: The Void Smith
"Let... go... of... me!"The Black Viper Mage thrashed, his purple lightning flickering like a dying candle. But Lucian’s grip on his skull was like an iron vice. The dark energy of the 'Scavenger’s Domain' flowed through Lucian’s arm, acting as a parasitic siphon that bypassed the Mage’s magical defenses.[Extraction in progress: 45%... 70%... 95%...]"Stop! Please!" the Mage shrieked. He could feel his very soul being pulled through a straw. His memories, his hard-earned mana, even his basic motor functions were being stripped away and converted into raw, digital data."You called these people trash," Lucian whispered, leaning in so close that the Mage could see the swirling void in his golden eyes. "But at least trash can be recycled. You? You’re just... pollution."[Extraction Complete!] [Gained: 4,000 Exp!] [Gained: Permanent Stat Boost: +20 Intelligence, +15 Mana.] [Gained: Rare Skill: 'Chain Lightning (Corrupted)'.]The Mage’s body didn't dissolve. Instead, it slumped to the fl
Chapter 6: The Graveyard of Gods
Sector 7 didn’t look like a city. It looked like a corpse that had been picked clean by vultures, then left to rot under a poisoned sky.The "Exclusion Zone" was a jagged landscape of collapsed skyscrapers and rusted skeletons of military tanks. Ten years ago, during the Great Convergence, this was where the heaviest fighting took place. Now, the air was thick with "Corrupted Mana"—a purple haze that could suffocate an ordinary Hunter’s mana circuits within minutes.Lucian stood at the rusted perimeter fence, his new Rank-C silver badge glinting against the tattered fabric of his Scavenger’s Cloak."Hey! You can't be here, kid!" A guard in a hazmat suit yelled from a watchtower, his rifle leveled at Lucian. "This area is quarantined. Even Rank-B teams only go in with respirators."Lucian didn't stop walking. He simply raised his hand, showing the digital clearance Director Han had authorized.The guard squinted at his tablet, his eyes widening. "Solo clearance? For a scavenger? You’re
Chapter 5: The Shattered Scale
The Hunter Association Headquarters was a monolith of glass and reinforced steel that pierced the smog of Sector 1. It was a place of prestige, where the air smelled of expensive cologne and high-grade mana.Lucian stood in the lobby, his tattered Scavenger’s Cloak draped over his shoulders. He looked like a smudge of grease on a silk sheet. Every Hunter walking by—clad in shining chrome armor or silk mage robes—gave him a wide berth, their faces twisted in instinctive disgust."Next," a receptionist sighed, not even looking up from her holographic terminal.Lucian stepped forward. "I’m here for a Rank Re-evaluation."The receptionist paused, her gaze traveling slowly from Lucian’s muddy boots to his calm, dark eyes. She let out a short, mocking puff of air. "Re-evaluation? The Scavenger’s Guild is in Sector 4, kid. This is for active combatants.""I have my temporary license," Lucian said, placing a cracked plastic card on the counter. "I survived a Rank-D dungeon collapse. My mana h
Chapter 4: The Ghost of the Abyss
The air outside the dungeon was sickeningly sweet. It was the smell of fresh rain and city smog, a stark contrast to the scent of ozone and rotting flesh that had filled Lucian’s lungs for the last three hours.Thud.Lucian dropped Miller’s limp body onto the pavement of the empty alleyway. Behind him, Sarah collapsed to her knees, her breath coming in jagged, hysterical hitches. They had emerged through a secondary exit, miles away from the main dungeon entrance where the press and the Association guards were likely waiting."You... you’re really going to let us live?" Sarah whispered, her eyes wide with a mixture of terror and disbelief.Lucian didn't look back. He was staring at his own hands. They were clean—not a speck of monster blood remained. The System had processed every drop of "waste" into pure energy."Living is a generous word for what Miller has left," Lucian said, his voice flat. "He’s a Rank-D Swordsman who can’t hold a spoon anymore. His mana circuits are fried. To t
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