The God-Level Scavenger

The Glitch in the Dark

The sharp teeth came straight for my face.

I rolled to the side, my tied hands scraping against the jagged stones of the cave floor. The monster missed my head by an inch. It slammed hard into the rock wall behind me, shaking loose a shower of small pebbles and gray dust.

I scrambled backward on my knees, my breath coming in ragged gasps. In the faint gray light filtering through the iron gate, I could finally see the creature. It was a Shadow Wolf, the size of a small car. Black liquid dripped from its jaws, smoking slightly where it hit the ground. It turned around slowly, its red eyes locking onto me again.

There was nowhere to run. The heavy iron gate behind me was locked tight. My hands were bound with thick rope that cut into my wrists every time I pulled. I was just an F-rank scavenger. My only skill was sorting pieces of metal and old bones from the trash. I had no weapon, no armor, and no magic power to fight a dungeon monster.

The wolf stepped forward, lowering its heavy head. It let out a deep sound that vibrated right through the stone floor.

"Come on," I spoke to myself, my teeth chattering from the cold air. "Move."

The wolf leaped.

I tried to turn, but my foot caught on a heavy object in the dirt. I fell flat on my back. A sharp pain shot through my shoulder as the wolf's long claw sliced through my white shirt, tearing into my skin. Hot blood soaked the clean fabric instantly. The force of the attack knocked me deeper into the dark corner of the cave, right into a huge pile of old rubbish and animal skeletons left behind by elite guilds.

The wolf landed a few feet away, turning fast to finish me off.

My vision went blurry from the sudden pain in my shoulder. My right hand, still tied behind my back, pressed deep into something wet and cold inside the pile of waste. It felt like a massive, dead heart belonging to some ancient creature that had been killed weeks ago and thrown away by high-level hunters.

I was going to die here. Tariq had won. Amina was gone, and my life was ending in the dark.

A deep feeling of unfairness rose in my chest. I worked twelve hours a day just to buy food. I never harmed anyone. I did not want to die like a piece of abandoned trash in a cold cave.

With my last bit of strength, I activated my completely useless F-rank skill. I targeted the massive dead object under my hand. I just wanted to know what it was before the wolf ripped my throat out.

Skill activated: Debris Sorting.

Suddenly, a loud ringing sound echoed inside my brain. The green outline that usually showed up around pieces of metal turned bright gold. Then, the gold light turned into a deep, flashing red.

A blue screen popped up right in front of my eyes. It did not look like the regular status screen. The edges were shaking, and lines of strange code ran down the sides like water.

[Warning: Target is not metallic waste. Target is an organic corpse: High-Tier Iron Dragon.]

[Error: F-Rank skill cannot process high-grade organic material.]

[Skill capacity overloaded. System database glitching...]

[Re-evaluating user skill parameters...]

The world seemed to slow down. The Shadow Wolf was mid-air, its jaws wide open, inches away from my chest. I could see the spit flying from its teeth.

[Glitch complete. F-Rank Debris Sorting has evolved.]

[Welcome to the SSS-Class Extraction System.]

[Notification: Extracted Dragon Health! Healing user body now!]

A sudden wave of intense heat shot from my hand straight into my chest. The terrible pain in my shoulder vanished in a single second. I heard the sound of my skin and flesh knitting back together under my wet shirt. My muscles grew larger, stretching the tight fabric until the buttons popped off. The heavy rope around my wrists felt like thin string. With a slight pull, the ropes snapped completely.

I felt a massive amount of physical power flooding every single part of my body. I stood up on both feet, feeling stronger than I ever had in my entire life.

The wolf's teeth slammed down where my head had been, but I was no longer there. I rolled forward, dodging the strike easily. My movements were three times faster than before.

The wolf crashed into the dirt, looking confused. It turned around, snarling loudly.

I stood up straight, wiping the blood from my chest. The blue screen remained in the air, floating quietly.

[User Status Updated.]

[Strength: 45 (Previously 5)]

[Agility: 42 (Previously 6)]

[Health: 100/100]

The wolf charged again, running at full speed. This time, I did not feel any fear. I reached down, grabbed a broken iron pipe from the trash pile, and stepped forward.

When the wolf jumped, I swung the iron pipe with all my new strength. The pipe hit the side of the wolf's head with a loud crack. The massive beast flew sideways across the cave, crashing into the stone wall so hard the entire ceiling shook. It dropped to the ground, its legs kicking twice before it went completely still.

Target deceased.

I stood there, gasping for air, looking at the dead monster. I did not use magic. I did not use a high-rank sword. I killed a dungeon beast with a piece of old pipe.

I walked over to the wolf and touched its coarse black fur.

[Notification: Dead organic matter detected. Activate Extraction?]

"Yes," I said aloud.

[Extracting Shadow Wolf Agility. Agility increased by 5 points.]

[Extracting Skill: Shadow Step (Rank F).]

A strange warmth entered my legs. I felt lighter, like I could jump over a building if I wanted to. I looked back toward the locked iron gate of the dungeon. Tariq thought he threw me here to die. He thought he was the master of the city.

But my useless skill had just given me a power that defied the rules of the world. I was going to climb out of this dark hole, and I was going to find out the truth about everything.

Before I could take a step toward the exit, a deep, heavy thud echoed from the tunnels deeper inside the cave. The ground beneath my boots began to split open, throwing up chunks of sharp rock.

A massive, white bone hand, larger than the truck that brought me here, broke through the stone floor, reaching straight for my leg.