​Yuki continued his long, grueling trek through the cold, silent forests of the Silent Mountains.

​He made his way through the desolate wilderness, resting only when he absolutely needed to eat. He had no idea if any more monsters like the ones that destroyed the forward camp or ambushed the elite knights were lurking in the haze, but he knew one thing for certain—if he encountered another one, he stood zero chance of survival.

​Minutes bled into hours, and before long, the first day came to an end.

​When the sun rose again into the sky, its pale rays barely managed to pierce through the thick, suffocating clouds and frozen haze of the mountains. Yuki carefully planned out his route, cross-referencing his system map with the frozen map the old researcher had given him to find the safest and quickest path around the mountain range toward the second forward camp.

​The journey was nothing short of a nightmare.

​Day after day dragged on. The weather would turn violently extreme and deadly without warning, only to clear up for a few brief hours before plunging right back into a frozen hellscape the next day.

​It had now been a full week since he arrived at the trial. He had made substantial progress across the region, yet he still had no idea how far away the capital was or where Nyquella had ended up.

​"Yuki..." a soft voice suddenly called out through the wind.

​Yuki stopped dead in his tracks and turned his head in surprise. "Administrator?"

​[Yes, it’s me. I’m glad to see you’re still alive.]

​"Thanks," Yuki responded cheerfully, trying to bury the horrific memories of the camp massacre deep in his mind. "Is everything okay? Why are you back?"

​[Well... no,] the Administrator said, their voice trembling slightly. [Due to the number of player deaths exceeding 2,000 within just the first week—and so many players spawning in hyper-dangerous, remote regions like you—High Command has decided to grant everyone 150,000 System Shop points and restore access to your familiars. The official announcement will arrive in two days.]

​"Why did they decide to throw so many points at us all of a sudden?" Yuki asked, raising an eyebrow.

​[...Umm, sigh. They aren’t going to teleport any of you out. They’d rather just pay you off. Honestly, I expected you to be among that 2,000+ body count... I’m glad I was wrong.]

​"So, the System AI that originally spawned us out in these dead zones... what happened to it?"

​[It was stripped of its administrative status, turned into a normal player, and dropped into the desert’s most remote region.]

​"Well, I’m not shocked," Yuki chuckled bitterly. "These High Administrators and High Command love watching people suffer and die for their own entertainment."

​[I’m sorry...]

​"Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault," Yuki said, brushing it off with a faint smile. "Besides, 150k points is a massive haul. I’ll finally be able to set up my pocket dimension properly."

​[Customizing your pocket dimension is going to be absurdly expensive. And do you even know how to construct buildings?]

​"No... and yes," Yuki replied.

​[...Elaborate?]

​"I can buy a temporary knowledge-injection skill to stream all the expertise of a master tradesman straight into my brain. Plus, I can manipulate the time dilation inside the dimension so it runs way slower than the real world... though doing that tends to melt my sanity a bit."

​[Um... I really don’t think that’s a good idea...]

​"I’ll be fine," Yuki chuckled, waving off the Administrator’s concern.

​He opened the portal to his spatial pocket dimension and stepped inside, instantly opening the System interface to spend his new windfall. Within minutes, he maxed out all his available system shop tiers, bought back his personal clothing store upgrade, and maxed that out as well.

​With his injected trade knowledge active, he began constructing all the facilities he would need for long-term survival: a hybrid workshop and lumber mill, a self-sustaining greenhouse and farm, and a main living shelter fully furnished with every comfort he required.

​He also constructed an isolated power room and a massive warehouse to store his excess loot, materials, and food supplies.

​The most expensive installation by far was the power room. He initially set up four massive Industrial Essence Converters and two huge industrial solar-powered generators—more than enough energy to power a small town, provided he had enough light and essence to feed them.

​Yuki pulled up the primary power diagnostic panel:

​[Power Room Status: Operational]

​Solar Array Peak Output: 3.5 Megawatts (3,500,000 W)

​Essence Conversion Capacity (x4): Up to 50 Megawatts (50,000,000 W)

​Note: Output capable of sustaining a Tier-2 Settlement or High-Density Barrier Grid.

​The initial battery bank was a heavy-duty unit called the Hadron Nova R1, capable of storing up to 40,000,000 watts of power.

​At first, Yuki felt a surge of pride—until the spatial time dilation and the knowledge injection completely fried his brain. His mind went into a trance-like state of manic hyper-fixation, endlessly screaming at him to optimize, upgrade, and maximize output efficiency.

​By the time Yuki finally snapped out of his trance and regained his sanity, his original power station and battery bank were completely gone—and his system account was in a crushing 2.9 million point debt.

​Standing in the center of his power room was no longer a basic generator setup. Suspended in mid-air before him was the Hadron Hypernova V20. A miniature, artificial star violently swirling inside a set of rapidly spinning, magnetic metallic rings.

​"Is that a god damn Dyson Sphere?!" Yuki shrieked, clutching his head.

​BEEP.

​[All Systems Online. Output set at 10% Efficiency.]

[Current Generation: 10,000,000 Watts.]

[Ten Hyper-Essence Cores Loaded.]

​"...What the fuck does that even mean?!" Yuki yelled at the console. "Why is there a literal nuclear-capable power plant inside my personal closet space?!"

​[Warning: Power grid saturated. Please connect a compatible High-Density Battery Array to prevent energy overflow.]

​"Whaaat?! No! Reduce power to the absolute lowest setting!" Yuki screamed at the mechanism.

​[Lowering power output to 1%...]

​Yuki ran around the room in absolute panic, pulling up holographic menus to figure out what the hell had just happened and why his debt counter was still ticking upward by the second.

​[Yuki?! What on earth did you just do?!] the Administrator’s voice panicked as they reconnected to his feed.

​"I don’t know!" Yuki cried out in sheer horror. "What happened to me?!"

​[You went completely insane! You were muttering random scientific mumbo-jumbo about ’thermodynamic efficiency’ and screaming about ’unlimited power’ for hours!]

​"How the hell am I going to pay off nearly three million points?!" Yuki wailed, hyperventilating.

​[Do system missions and pray they give you fat point rewards...] the Administrator offered nervously, trying their best to console him.

​Yuki watched in utter despair as a few extra automated installation charges processed, pushing his total debt to a staggering 20,000,000 points.

​"I’m so fucked..." Yuki whimpered, dropping flat onto his back and curling into a tight fetal position on the floor.

​[Look on the bright side...] the Administrator offered weakly. [You have over 1,000 days of continuous 1-Megawatt power reserves! ...You also have a mountain of debt and a literal nuclear hazard in your basement, so please try not to blow yourself up. Also, because of the spatial time dilation, you’ve been in here for months—it’s been six days on the outside. We’re officially entering the second week of the trial and going on to the third. Please summon your familiars and get moving!]

​"Uuughhh..." Yuki groaned miserably, refusing to uncurl from the floor.

Yuki rolled over on the cold floor and pulled up his system panel.

​He scrolled down through the menus until he found the familiar summoning option and pressed it.

​He watched as the air in front of him began to ripple and distort, a faint silhouette slowly materializing within the light. As the figure took shape, Yuki noted that she wasn’t Vee; she was noticeably taller—by at least two inches.

​So this must be my system AI in her familiar form, he thought. Huh... I wonder what species and appearance she chose for herself. ...Oh, right. I need to give her a name.

​"Kasumi," Yuki muttered to himself. "Yeah, that sounds nice. I just hope the name actually fits her look and aesthetic, or I’m going to cry."

​"Why do you look so depressed, Femboy?" a voice chimed in. Her tone was smooth, rich, and playfully teasing, like that of an older woman.

​Yuki’s eyes snapped open wide in sheer surprise as the light faded, revealing her full appearance.

​"...Did you choose this form yourself?" he managed to ask, staring up at her.

​"Yes, I did. What, do you not like it?" she smirked, stepping closer and leaning down over him while he remained sprawled out on the floor.

​"I tailored it to be exactly your type," she purred, her smile stretching from ear to ear. "Tall, curvy, and generously blessed in the chest... Or perhaps you’d like to perform a full, hands-on inspection to be sure?"

​"You literally made yourself the complete opposite of Vee," Yuki noted, adjusting his posture. "Your color palette is entirely inverted, and you chose to be a fox-kin while Vee is a rabbit-kin... By the way, where is Vee?"

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