Whoosh-

The flames that had been blazing all over Ha Gangwoo’s body subsided.

The horns that had risen from his forehead vanished, crumbling away like smoke.

Ding-

[You have released Demonization.]

“Hoo…”

Ha Gangwoo steadied his breathing, then stared straight ahead.

[The effect of the Golden Altar activates.]

[You have acquired the upper job of the Destroyer:Ruin.]

[You have changed jobs to the Lord of Ruin.]

‘Lord of Ruin?’

Ha Gangwoo looked at the system window, a satisfied smile spreading across his lips.

‘That’s insane.’

The Book of Job Change: Ruin. An S-Rank class, and the one and only item to have ever appeared in the DLC Shop.

Its sheer power had been driven home ruthlessly during his fight with the Boss, Ruin.

The darkness of Ruin had filled him with a chilling terror throughout the battle, and the skills and patterns Ruin had shown were nothing short of insane, one and all.

So his anticipation surged.

An upper job of an already brokenly overpowered class like Ruin?

Thump— Thump—

‘Let’s check it out.’

Ha Gangwoo listened to the pounding of his racing heart as he checked his status window.

Ding-

[Ha Gangwoo]

Level: 98

HP: 3260/3260

MP: 229/229

Strength: 196(+128)

Agility: 130(+41)

Vitality: 130(+65)

Mana: 130(+81)

Sense: 130

Luck: 130

Unallocated: 56

He was sure his level had been 76 when the dungeon started.

But now it was 98—an insane, breakneck power-leveling spree.

Normally, he’d be thrilled, but right now, Gangwoo’s eyes barely registered the numbers.

[Lord of Ruin]

Grade: L

Description: The apex of the Destroyers, the most powerful force in the Land of Chaos. You inherit the power of the Lord of Ruin.

The only thing he saw was this new job window.

“L-Grade?”

Gangwoo rubbed his eyes as he stared at the job description.

An L-Grade job—a rank he’d never even heard of before.

Thump-thump—

A one-of-a-kind class, and it was L-Grade. Curiosity surged through him.

What kind of skills did it come with?

Without hesitation, he opened the job skill window.

Ding—

[Job Skills]

– Core of Ruin

– Ruin Construct Summon

– Login

Three skills in total.

Abilities that would follow him for life—the very core of his power.

Gulp.

Nervous, he checked the first skill.

[Core of Ruin]

Grade: ???

Storage Amount: 2,140

Description: A Core of Ruin is created within your body. The Core of Ruin is the origin of the Destroyer and the only power that can overcome Chaos.

Effects

– Absorbs monsters, converting them into ruin power and storing it.

‘Core of Ruin?’

Gangwoo immediately scanned his body.

Filthy with blood and dust, but outwardly, nothing had changed.

So it was inside him?

He shut his eyes and focused on the flow of mana.

And then, he felt it.

‘Right around the solar plexus.’

That alien energy Ruin had radiated—the same aura as the darkness of ruin was pulsing from his chest.

Gangwoo opened his eyes slowly, frowning.

‘This is a letdown…’

An L-Grade job, and its first skill was just creating a core? At first glance, it looked like trash.

But it was too soon to judge.

After all, it seemed tied to that strange darkness Ruin had wielded.

Plus, there was the storage mechanic and the monster absorption—plenty left to figure out.

He moved on to the second skill.

[Ruin Construct Summon]

Grade: L

Type: Active

Effect: Uses the Core of Ruin to summon a Ruin Construct.

(The grade of the Ruin Construct varies according to the storage amount of the Core of Ruin.)

‘Ruin Construct?’

This second skill was a summoning ability, like Lee Ayeon’s Skeleton summon.

‘Hmm…’

The second skill was just as disappointing.

He’d rather have gotten something like the Dark Curtain Ruin had shown, or the Blade of Darkness.

‘A shame.’

Ha Gangwoo licked his lips and opened his palm.

A shame, sure, but it was still an L-Grade skill.

Only by using it would he know if it was any good or not.

Whir—

Thick mana began to coalesce into Ha Gangwoo’s grasp.

Then, abruptly, it stopped.

(The grade of the Ruin Construct changes based on the Core of Ruin’s Storage amount.)

‘…’

It was because of that line in the description.

The Storage amount in the Core of Ruin right now was 2,140.

He couldn’t tell if that was high or low, but it seemed wise to raise it as much as possible before summoning.

Lucky for him, there was a monster right here he’d just killed to build that gauge.

Gangwoo approached Ruin’s brutally crushed remains.

The overwhelming stature it had shown at first was gone — now it just rolled across the floor like a crumpled scrap of metal.

‘How do I use this?’

Gangwoo knelt beside Ruin’s corpse and laid his palm on it.

A single system window appeared.

Ding—

[Absorbing the aura of the Destroyer: Ruin.]

[Acquired 1,400 Storage.]

A foreign darkness seeped from Ruin’s armor, then streamed into Gangwoo’s solar plexus.

[Storage: 3,540]

“So about three thousand is the limit for now, huh.”

His heart wanted to hunt more, stockpile the Gate as full as possible — but there was no need to rush.

‘Let’s try it.’

Gangwoo spread his palm again and brought the Activation word to mind.

Ding—

[Used Ruin Construct Summon.]

[3,540 Storage consumed.]

[Generating D-Grade Ruin Construct: Child of Ruin.]

Fshhh—

A dense darkness bled from Gangwoo’s hand, laying thick across the floor.

That darkness coiled, condensed, and formed a single shape.

‘…’

Gangwoo narrowed his eyes at the form.

A humanoid silhouette. The rippling darkness across its whole body looked pretty cool, but the overall frame was pitiful.

‘A kid…’

Its arms and legs were thin as a child’s with no muscle; its height hovered around 160 — a middle schooler’s build.

But it didn’t matter.

No matter how it looked, as long as its abilities were outstanding, that was enough.

Gangwoo immediately checked the newly spawned Ruin Construct’s Status window.

[Child of Ruin] — You may change the name.

Grade: D

Type: Ruin Construct

Level: 1

HP: 100/100

MP: 10/10

Strength: 10

Agility: 10

Vitality: 10

Mana: 10

Sense: 10

Luck: 10

Unallocated: 0

‘What the hell.’

Gangwoo looked at the Child of Ruin’s Status window and raised the corner of his mouth.

Level 1. Total stat sum: a measly 60. Garbage of garbage.

But Gangwoo studied the window, intrigued.

‘That’s insane.’

The reason: a single system window.

[TIP — Ruin Constructs are treated as Players.]

Ruin Constructs are treated as Players. At first glance, that might sound underwhelming.

Look at Mik — she’s been enjoying full System access just like any Player from the start.

But Mimic was a special case, one born from Fragments of Evolution.

A summoned entity from a simple skill being classified as a Player, though — that opened up endless applications.

Take the Status Window alone.

It had a level, and the stat count matched Ha Gangwoo’s own, after the Jumping Character had been applied.

What did that mean?

It meant the Ruin Construct shared everything with Ha Gangwoo.

The only downside was that its level was just 1.

‘At least there’s room to grow.’

But Ha Gangwoo saw it as a positive.

Mimic shared stats with Ha Gangwoo too, which made her feel like a downgraded version of him.

This Ruin Construct was different.

He could dump everything into Luck and use it for Enhancement, or pour all points into Agility and turn it into a scout.

Wasn’t this a summoned entity with truly infinite potential?

Thump-thump.

Ha Gangwoo couldn’t hide his excitement as he plotted how to use the Ruin Construct.

He wanted to raise its level right away.

But there was one more thing he needed to check first.

The third and final job skill: Login.

‘First, let me change its name.’

Before checking that last skill, Ha Gangwoo changed the Ruin Construct’s name.

Ding-

[You have changed the name of the Child of Ruin.]

[Child of Ruin → Ru]

He gave it a name similar to Mik’s in feel, then lowered himself to meet the Ruin Construct’s eyes.

‘Why isn’t it moving?’

Mimic, for instance, had acted like a living child right from the start.

But this summoned entity felt off.

From the moment it was summoned until now.

It just stared blankly into space with unfocused eyes, making no movement at all.

‘Does it have no self-awareness?’

Ha Gangwoo frowned at the thought and ran a few tests.

“Come here. Sit.”

Simple commands. But Ru showed no reaction whatsoever.

It just kept staring vacantly into the air.

‘What the hell…’

Ha Gangwoo scratched his cheek, unsettled.

In this state, it couldn’t even pick up items, let alone hunt properly.

Then, it struck him — the last skill.

‘Are they connected?’

Even the first skill, Core of Ruin, was tied to the Ruin Construct Summon, wasn’t it?

So Ha Gangwoo checked the last skill.

[Login]

Grade: ???

Description: The Ruin Construct is your power — and your very self. Use Login to grow your Ruin Construct.

Effects:

-Transfers your consciousness into the selected Ruin Construct.

(Caution! If the Ruin Construct is destroyed during Login, you will return to your original body.)

‘…’

After reading the last skill, Ha Gangwoo clenched his fist.

‘Good.’

Why the Ruin Construct had no self-awareness. Why it was treated as a Player. The answer was in that last skill.

Your power — and your very self.

The Ruin Constructs weren’t mere summons — they were extensions of himself, living avatars.

Ha Gangwoo clenched his fist and curled the corner of his mouth.

‘This is broken.’

A Ruin Construct without a will of its own, needing direct control — in its current state, it was mediocre at best.

But Gangwoo was certain.

The class he’d just obtained was outright broken.

The reason was simple.

‘I wonder what the next skill will be.’

Because he already had a guess about the next job skill.

Job skills couldn’t be learned from Catalogs. They could only be acquired through enlightenment or level-up rewards.

The next skill’s unlock level was 100.

The moment Gangwoo saw the skill called Login, he knew it.

There had to be a skill waiting — one that would grant the Ruin Constructs their own will.

He wanted to hit level 100 right this instant.

‘Let’s check first.’

But before that, he needed to test Login.

Having finished organizing his thoughts, Gangwoo dismissed all the system windows. Then he activated the final skill.

‘Login.’

Ding-

[Please select a Ruin Construct to connect to.]

– Ru

Gangwoo chose Ru without hesitation, and in that moment —

Szzzz-

— a sensation like his mind being severed washed over him.

Ding-

[You have connected to Ruin Construct: Ru.]

Phat-

His vision shifted.

Instantly, everything looked like a monochrome screen tinted with blue.

“Ugh!”

His body staggered under a crushing wave of fatigue.

Gangwoo wiped his forehead with an arm that rippled with a sense of wrongness, then stared straight ahead.

‘What the hell.’

There stood his own body — unfocused, hollow-eyed.

Seeing himself through another’s eyes. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

Forcing his gaze away, Gangwoo began checking things over.

He rolled his shoulders first, testing the physical capabilities. From arm thickness to legs, the body was as thin as a stick of lumber, but movement felt seamless — no sense of wrongness.

It was as precise as moving his original body, and the reaction speed was just as fast.

‘No way.’

But the most interesting part was the system.

Inventory (0/13)

[-]

[-]

[-]

[-]

[-]

……..

…..

….

.

From the Inventory to Skills, the Auction House, and PvP — everything was functional.

The only drawback was that Inventory and Skills weren’t linked; it was a completely blank slate.

In this changed body, Gangwoo clenched his fist tight.

‘Good thing I held onto it.’

Once he’d confirmed everything, his mind spun at full speed.

How to apply this newly acquired class — how to use it going forward.

‘Alright, let’s move.’

Gangwoo returned to his original body, then began preparing to head out.

***

Hwoong-

A crisp breeze swept beneath a clear blue sky.

This was the entrance to the Tower of Job Change.

A windblown leaf skittered across the canvas of the Association tent, brushing past the bored-looking staff inside.

“Nnngh!”

One of the male staffers stretched, his spine crackling as he arched his back with a groan.

“Survival rate’s pretty high this batch.”

“I know, right? And the scores were insane — not a single E-rank or below.”

“Seriously. They say it’s because of that Book of Job Change thing. Changed the whole quest structure.”

The Association employee found himself genuinely intrigued by the upheaval inside the Tower of Job Change this time around.

“Word is, some brand-new class and a Legend job popped out too. Lucky bastards.”

“They say life’s all about timing — and yeah, I’m jealous. Meanwhile, some of us are stuck here grinding our asses off.”

The update had buffed and normalized classes across the board. He resented it, sure, but he was jealous too.

And why wouldn’t he be? He was a low-grade Player stuck with an F-rank class.

“Haah… Let’s just hit my quota quick so I can get back to being a carry driver.”

“Same here. Let’s go together — I hear Scenario 1’s update has made the pay pretty sweet.”

And so the employee went on meeting his Association quota for another day.

That was when a man and a little kid approached them.

“Hello. You’ve been working hard.”

“Hello!”

The man looked like he’d been through hell in that tower — not a single piece of him was intact.

His whole body was caked in blood and gore, and the gear he was wearing was in shambles.

But the staffers’ eyes didn’t linger on him.

“What the…? A kid?”

“This area is restricted to people who’ve come out of the tower — what’s going on?”

Their gazes were fixed solely on the small child beside the man.

The spot the Association staff guarded was the exit of the Tower of Job Change — the choke point every clearing Player had to pass through.

It was a place no outsider could ever get into, so a kid standing there raised nothing but questions.

“This child is also a Player who took the trials with me. Please proceed. I want to rest.”

While the staff fumbled and stammered, the man pressed them.

“Ah, yes, sir… Just scan your Player Certificate and show us your class rank in the system window.”

The employee started going through the standard procedure on autopilot.

‘As long as he’s got a Player Certificate, it doesn’t matter anyway.’

A kid went into the Tower of Job Change and took the trials?

That didn’t fit any part of the employee’s common sense.

After all, even the Tower of Tutorial had an age restriction — no one under sixteen allowed in.

But exceptions happened. No need to jump the gun.

As long as his Player Certificate proved his identity, there’d be no problem.

So the employee stared at the kid, waiting with rapt attention for him to pull out his certificate.

But the kid just beamed a wide, innocent smile, showing no sign of producing any Player Certificate.

The employee’s expression cooled into ice.

The whole reason Association staff were stationed here was to prevent unidentified Players from slipping through and growing unchecked.

‘Should I detain him?’

Suspicious individuals were subject to arrest.

The employee had his hand halfway into his Inventory, murderous intent starting to radiate from him, when—

“What are you doing? Please just input it already.”

The man beside the little girl scanned his Player Certificate on the terminal, then displayed his System window.

‘Filthy rich.’

The employee grimaced.

This man with the girl was also on the arrest list.

But since he’d scanned his Player Certificate, it didn’t seem too late to confirm his identity before arresting him.

The employee scratched the back of his head and looked at the System window the man had pulled up.

Name: Jo Seunghyun

Job: ???

Rank: S

Description: ???

Effects

-????

-????

“S-Rank?!”

The employee jolted in surprise, leaping to his feet from the chair.

S-Rank was a high-tier job, no less than a Hidden job. Not a rank some riffraff could get.

If that was the case, then the little girl he was dragging around—it wasn’t impossible.

With enough high-society clout, the Tutorial’s age limit wouldn’t be a problem.

Gulp—

‘Good thing I kept my mouth shut.’

The employee, relieved at his own caution, curled the corners of his mouth.

“Ahahaha, an S-Rank, that’s amazing. You’ve worked hard.”

The employee bowed his head in congratulations, but Jo Seunghyun lowered his gaze to the Mimic instead.

“Mik, don’t you have a Player Certificate?”

“Huh? A Player Certificate?”

“Hmm… you don’t. Then let’s just show the rank first.”

With that, Jo Seunghyun carefully explained to the Mimic how to show her System window to others.

‘What do I do? Just let them go?’

The employee fidgeted, watching the Mimic and Jo Seunghyun.

No matter how he looked at it, that man seemed like a powerful person’s child.

Right there on the monitor, his Player rank was A. And his job rank was S.

Just from the numbers, wasn’t he part of the upper 0.1%—a noble?

After all, if he was a powerful person’s kid, he was in a position to open doors with a single phone call.

‘I’ll play it by ear.’

The employee seemed to make a decision and was about to speak, just at that moment.

“Got it!”

The little girl bared her teeth and showed her System window to the employee, who gawked in shock at the Mimic’s window.

Name: Mik

Job: ???

Rank: H

Description: ???

Effects

-????

-????

“H-H-Hidden!!!”

The Mimic’s rank was a staggering H. A Hidden rank.