That evening, Rex lay sprawled across his narrow bed, already deep in sleep. Exhaustion from the Den had knocked him out the moment his head touched the pillow. Which was why, when the sudden banging on his door shook the walls, he jolted awake with a sharp gasp.
His hand moved purely on instinct—straight into his inventory, closing around the familiar grip of a stone spear.
One of the few weapons he could craft quickly. One of the few he trusted.
He pushed himself off the bed, blinked the sleep from his eyes, and opened the door.
Genya stood there, practically vibrating with excitement. Beside him was another engineer from the Den—a tall man with messy white hair streaked with bright, bloody red. Alexis. The name felt more like something out of a fashion magazine than a battlefield report, but Rex had learned not to judge. People in this world had… preferences. Or curses. Or trauma.
Besides, Alexis wore sunglasses indoors, in a hallway that was already too dark. Weird didn't even begin to cover it.
"…Hey! Genya, Alexis—w-what are you guys doing here?" Rex stammered, quickly slipping the spear back into his inventory so they wouldn't think he planned to stab them.
"Hey?" Alexis stepped inside without asking. "What are you doing here? This place looks like a tomb. Gloomy. Dead. Zero life."
Rex stared. "I live here… and I sleep here. And since it's night, I intended on—shocker—sleeping."
He had absolutely no idea why they were in his room.
"You've only been here what—five, six days?" Alexis continued, hands buried in his pockets as he scanned the depressing room. "So Genya thought we should invite you to a party down at the bar. A little welcome party."
Genya nodded vigorously. "Yep!"
"Problem is," Alexis added, "Genya didn't know where you lived. So I came along."
"And how do you know where I stay?" Rex asked.
"I was the one who suggested to Garron that you stay here," Alexis replied casually. "And I'm your neighbor. I live right across the hall."
That… would've been nice to know earlier.
Genya leaned forward, hopeful. "So… you coming or what?"
Rex glanced around his room—the cluttered desk, the lifeless walls, the suffocating stillness.
They were right. His room was gloomy as f*ck.
"…Sure," he said finally.
Genya pumped a fist, cheering like they had won a tournament. Alexis grabbed the door keys instinctively, tossing them to Rex as they left.
A few minutes later, they reached the bar. It sat east of the dorms, tucked between two large pipes that belched steam like angry dragons. Even outside, Rex could hear the roaring noise—shouts, laughter, the thump of music vibrating through the wooden walls.
"After a day in the Den," Genya said dramatically, "this is where everyone ends up! Welcome to Riverna's Bar!"
Rex and Alexis chuckled as they pushed open the door—and the sound inside hit them like a physical force.
Heat, sweat, stale alcohol. The raucous din of system users packed shoulder-to-shoulder. Mana lamps cast a warm glow over the room, reflecting off half-finished drinks and oil-stained uniforms. A guy on stage was singing so off-key it should've been classified as violence, yet a group clapped along anyway.
Rex blinked at the sensory overload. The room felt alive—loud, chaotic, messy—but alive in a way he hadn't felt in… years, maybe.
Genya was already waving. "That's the guy who runs the energy conduits! And that's the guy who blew up the water heater last week!"
Rex raised a brow. "Remind me not to sit near that one."
Alexis leaned toward him. "First time here?"
"Yeah. Been holed up since I got here. This feels… different."
"You'll get used to it," Alexis said, slipping his sunglasses into his pocket at last. His exposed eyes gleamed gold in the dim lighting—predatory, sharp, aware. "People here work themselves to death. They need this."
Rex scanned the crowd again. The laughter, the loud stories, the clinking mugs. It was chaotic, imperfect, and strangely warm—like a fire he didn't know he'd been cold without.
"…Maybe I do too," he murmured.
"What was that?" Genya asked.
"Nothing."
They found a table near the corner, away from the louder drunks. Genya flagged a waitress and ordered three mugs of whatever was strong enough to burn their souls clean.
"To Rex!" Genya shouted once they were served. "The newest headache of the Den!"
The table erupted into cheers. Even Alexis lifted his mug in approval.
Rex shook his head with a quiet laugh. "You guys are idiots."
"Maybe," Alexis said, "but we're fun idiots."
They drank. They talked. Genya nearly spit his drink telling the story of a forge explosion that had singed his eyebrows off. Alexis told him about a guy who genuinely believed mana could brew better coffee.
And then Rex noticed her.
Nyra.
She sat on a tall bar stool, legs crossed, silver hair falling over her shoulder. Beside her was a tall, rusty-looking man with two assault pistols holstered at his hip and thigh. The two of them were laughing. Flirting.
Genya followed Rex's gaze.
"That's Aguero De'Lacux," he whispered. "Gunslinger. Fastest hands in all of Caldrath. You know Nyra already—Alexis' little sister."
He lowered his voice.
"Rumors say the two of them killed over twenty guys… when they were kids. That's why Garron keeps them close."
Rex's chest tightened—not in fear, but in recognition.
Everyone here had lost something.
That was why they lived together. Why they worked together. Why they stayed.
The Den wasn't a workplace.
It was a refuge.
A family built out of broken pieces.
The night drifted on in a blur of laughter and stories. Around one a.m., the party finally petered out. Rex and Alexis had to carry a completely wasted Genya back to his room, dropping him gently onto his mattress before heading toward their dorm.
The walk back was quiet—but not awkward. Comfortably silent.
Halfway through, Alexis spoke.
"Genya told you about the rumors, right?"
"Ah… yeah. But it doesn't change—"
"They're true," Alexis cut in. "But not completely."
He stared up at the starless sky, a shadow crossing his face.
Rex didn't interrupt.
"When we were younger," Alexis began, "our dad—my dad—was a drunk. Worked as a miner in Sector R-98. Hard job, bad pay, worse conditions. He hated his life. And he took it out on us. My mother. Me. Even Ny."
Rex swallowed.
Alexis continued, voice steady but hollow.
"Fridays were the worst. Payday. He'd hit the brothels, harass anyone in a skirt. One day he messed with the wrong girl. She was with Gas Tucker—a psycho tied to a crew called the Brookies. She lied. Said my father tried to rape her."
A muscle in Alexis' jaw twitched.
"That same night, they stormed our home. Killed my father in front of me. Kidnapped my mom and Ny. Beat me so badly I couldn't open my eyes for days. I was seven."
Rex felt his stomach twist.
"Then they sold me," Alexis said quietly. "To a pervert who bought little boys."
Rex froze.
"I lived there for nine years. Couldn't run. Couldn't fight. Couldn't scream. They tried to break me, mind and body. But I lived. Somehow."
He exhaled shakily.
"When I was fifteen, I awakened my system. I escaped that same night."
His pace slowed as they neared the dorm.
"It took a year to find Ny and my mother. By then… I wasn't a child anymore. I hunted every last one of them. And I enjoyed killing them. Every one."
Rex's eyes burned.
"My mother was already dying," Alexis whispered. "Ny was… empty. Hollow. She begged me to kill her. To end her pain. And I was going to. Kill her. Then myself."
Silence. Heavy. Crushing.
"It was Garron who stopped us," Alexis said. "He saved us. Said he was building a family of the broken. And if he saved my life, then my life—and Nyra's—belonged to him."
They reached their doors.
"I'm sorry," Rex said quietly. "I don't know how I would've survived that."
"We survive because we have to," Alexis said. "This world doesn't let kids grow up sane. That's why I'll fix it. That's my purpose."
He placed a hand on Rex's shoulder.
"I told you all this for a reason. This world won't give you the life you want. So you have to fight for the life you need. That's the only way people like us survive."
Rex nodded slowly. "Got it."
"Good. Tomorrow, you're with me. Garron has something planned."
Alexis entered his room.
Rex stood before his own door, staring at the key in his hand.
A family of the broken.
He finally understood.
He'd been alone his entire life.
Not anymore.
And now that he finally had something worth protecting…
He'd burn the rest of the world to ash before he let it be taken.