Charging for access to a Secret Realm was nothing unusual.
In fact, it was one of the most common methods used by Underground Cities to recover Contribution Points and maintain economic circulation.
Only when Contribution Points retained value would Adventurers willingly exchange the Spirit Essences and rare resources they worked so hard to obtain.
Contribution Points themselves were merely numbers.
Their worth came from scarcity and the services that supported them.
When a Lord's recovery rate became too low—or when inflation threatened to devalue the currency—the Lord would implement economic countermeasures.
For example:
Launching limited-time Secret Realm events.
By offering high drop rates, guaranteed rewards, or exclusive items obtainable only through entry fees, large quantities of Contribution Points could be reclaimed quickly, restoring economic balance.
Paid Secret Realms were common elsewhere.
But this was the first time one had appeared in Miracle City.
---
A Costly Challenge
What puzzled the Adventurers was simple:
Miracle City's existing Secret Realms were already top-tier.
So what kind of content required payment to access?
Most Adventurers were short on Contribution Points. Each challenge of Blacklight Descends cost 30 points—and the chapter contained more than a dozen segments.
Completing it once could cost several hundred Contribution Points.
At the current stage, that was extremely expensive.
Miracle City had around two thousand Adventurers, and at least eighty percent of them couldn't afford that cost even if they spent everything they had.
And who could guarantee success on the first attempt?
If the difficulty matched the Ashina Chapter—where players died repeatedly before clearing stages—even the wealthiest players wouldn't sustain such expenses.
Fortunately, the Prologue could be experienced for free.
No mandatory payment.
Try first, decide later.
A very fair system.
"Everyone, hold on!" shouted Hammer King.
"I'll test it first!"
---
Entering the Prologue
Hammer King selected Blacklight Descends — Prologue.
Darkness filled his vision.
Two seconds later, the story began.
Like other role-playing Secret Realms, the chapter opened with a cinematic cutscene.
A ruined city street appeared.
It was silent and abandoned.
Bloodstains covered buildings and pavement. Strange organic growths resembling fungal mats spread across the ground, suggesting a catastrophic outbreak had occurred.
The Adventurers nodded.
Classic apocalypse atmosphere.
But if that were all, why charge for this chapter?
Then the camera shifted.
A yellow taxi stood abandoned.
From beneath it, vein-like biological matter surged upward like living vines, rapidly engulfing the vehicle and creating an unsettling scene.
Moments later, a heavily armed four-man tactical squad approached, fully equipped with combat armor, tactical masks, and M16 rifles.
After a brief search, the captain reported:
"Crisis averted."
The camera rose into an aerial view.
The Adventurers gasped.
This city dwarfed both the level-mode city and Raccoon City from earlier storylines. Skyscrapers stretched hundreds of meters into the sky—a true megacity.
Yet it was empty.
Cold.
Silent.
Like a blockbuster movie scene.
Then—
A hooded man stood atop a skyscraper, hands in his pockets, overlooking the city like the ultimate predator.
A deep voice narrated:
"My name is Alex Mercer."
"I am the reason all of this happened."
"They call me a killer. A monster. A terrorist."
"And honestly… they're all right."
He stepped forward—
And walked off the building.
---
The Apex Predator
The Adventurers nearly shouted in shock.
Was he committing suicide?
He fell nearly a hundred meters.
BOOM.
The concrete shattered upon impact, forming a massive crater.
Cars nearby exploded from the shockwave.
Alex stood up unharmed.
He leapt seven meters effortlessly, sprinted faster than human limits allowed, and crushed a car beneath a single stomp.
Then he jumped again—
Straight onto a bridge.
The Adventurers were stunned.
He vaulted onto a skyscraper and ran vertically up its ninety-degree glass wall as if gravity didn't exist.
The narration continued:
"Three weeks ago, someone released a deadly virus in Manhattan."
"I woke up in a morgue."
"Now I search. I kill. I destroy."
"I will find who did this… and make them pay."
The cutscene faded to black.
Players erupted in excitement.
"Is he the final boss?"
"That strength has to be Tier Four!"
"This is insane!"
---
The Massacre
Night fell.
Another tactical squad searched the streets.
A wounded blonde woman ran toward them, chased by zombies.
The soldiers eliminated the infected instantly.
"She might be infected," one soldier warned.
Bang.
The captain executed her without hesitation.
Then—
Alex appeared silently before them.
"Target found!"
His arms mutated into massive bio-claws.
Before the soldiers could react—
Slash.
One was impaled.
Another was torn in half.
Gunfire erupted.
Grenades exploded.
Alex transformed his arm into a massive blade, cleaving through the attacks effortlessly.
Within seconds, the squad was annihilated.
Then reinforcements arrived:
Dozens of soldiers
Two tanks
One attack helicopter
The Adventurers stared in disbelief.
Alex slammed his claws into the ground.
Black bone spikes erupted like a forest, instantly impaling multiple soldiers.
Tank shells fired.
His arms morphed into shields, deflecting the explosions.
Next transformation—
Gigantic hammer arms.
Three strikes.
One tank destroyed.
Three more strikes.
Second tank obliterated.
The helicopter opened fire.
Alex grabbed a nearby taxi and hurled it nearly a hundred meters, destroying the aircraft midair.
Finally, his body erupted into thousands of tendrils.
Every remaining soldier was pierced, dragged forward, and absorbed.
Silence fell.
An entire military ambush had been erased.
---
The True Horror
A surviving soldier fired a rocket launcher from behind.
Explosion.
Smoke cleared.
Alex vanished.
Moments later, the wounded captain stood up.
"Where is the commander?" he asked calmly.
As the soldier approached—
The captain's arm transformed into a blade, killing him instantly.
His appearance shifted.
He became Alex again.
The implication was terrifying.
He could absorb others.
And perfectly impersonate them.
Alex leapt into the night, disappearing across the skyline.
The cutscene ended.
---
Shock and Realization
The Adventurers were speechless.
"That's completely broken!"
"He wiped out an army alone!"
"How do we fight something like that?!"
Even elite players—Bianca, Trinity, and White Crane—were shaken.
Bianca said quietly,
"He has Tier Four strength… regeneration, weapon transformation, adaptive combat. He's basically a living arsenal."
White Crane added gravely:
"He possesses two terrifying abilities—absorption and transformation."
Alex Mercer was not merely strong.
He was evolution perfected.
The ultimate organism of the apocalypse.
If he truly was the final enemy of the Blacklight chapter…
Even the strongest Adventurers couldn't imagine defeating him.
Yet instead of fear—
Excitement spread.
The sudden update proved one thing:
The power ceiling of Miracle City was far higher than anyone imagined.
And Lord Ethan still had plenty of surprises left.
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