A sharp pain pulsed through Yun Jin’s body as he stirred awake, his mind sluggish yet aware. The first thing he noticed was the system notification lingering in his vision.

[You have unlocked a skill: Soul Link (Rank B+)]

His vision refocused, and he found himself lying on something firm yet oddly warm. He blinked.

“A brick…” he muttered under his breath.

A scoff followed. "Sorry for being well-trained," Reva huffed, her voice carrying its usual sharpness, but the way she turned her head slightly betrayed the faintest hint of embarrassment.

Despite the soreness in his muscles, Yun Jin pushed himself up. Whatever lingering pain he had was already fading, his body's natural resilience kicking in. He steadied himself and glanced around, taking in his surroundings.

Suspended in the air not far from them, the baby Void Orga remained in deep slumber. Its form barely stirred, weightless as it floated.

Reva eyed it warily. "I’m not touching that thing," she muttered. "If it wakes up and decides to kill us, I wouldn’t be able to stop it."

But Reva wasn’t pointing at the Void Orga. Instead, she gestured to something else.

"That’s not what you should be worried about."

Yun Jin followed her gaze—and his expression darkened.

Lying on Seraphine’s lap was Merlin. His small frame looked far too still, his usually bright blue eyes shut tight. Seraphine’s hands hovered over him, a soft golden glow emanating from her fingertips as she poured her magic into him.

But Yun Jin could feel it.

Or rather—he could feel its absence.

Merlin wasn’t breathing.

Without hesitation, Yun Jin rushed to his side, pressing a hand to Merlin’s chest as he expanded his qi. His senses dove deep, scanning every part of the boy’s body.

And what he found made his stomach drop.

Merlin’s insides were shattered.

His mana circuits, forcibly severed, were now hemorrhaging unstable energy, leaking dangerously into his body. Worse—this excess mana was dampening Seraphine’s healing magic, forcing her to use even more energy just to keep his condition from worsening.

His ears and eyes had ruptured from the sound-based attack. He was blind. Deaf.

His heart, brain, and lungs had all sustained severe damage. Under normal circumstances, even the greatest warriors of Yun Jin’s world would have already died.

Yet Seraphine had managed to seal the wounds, keeping him from immediate death.

But with this kind of injury, Merlin was still dying.

Seraphine’s voice was strained. "I’ve done everything I could, but my mana is running low. If I stop—his body will start decaying. His brain will die. And that will be the end."

Yun Jin didn’t respond immediately.

Instead, he activated [Mana Eyes], his vision sharpening as he examined Merlin’s circuits with absolute precision.

And what he saw made the situation even worse than Seraphine had thought.

His circuits weren’t just damaged—they were on the verge of collapse. If he made even a single mistake while treating them, the backlash would be catastrophic.

Compared to Yun Jin’s own qi circulation, which was as simple as drawing water from a well, Merlin’s mana circuits were a vast and intricate network—more akin to a colossal dam that nourished an entire civilization.

One wrong move, and that dam would burst.

Time slowed.

Yun Jin’s body trembled as blood began dripping from his eyes, but he kept going.

Step by step, he guided the overflowing mana out of Merlin’s circuits, carefully integrating it with his own qi, redirecting it into safer channels.

Seraphine’s expression remained tense, but as soon as Merlin’s mana flow stabilized, she let out a small breath of relief.

"His mana isn’t fighting back anymore. I can sustain him now."

Yun Jin wiped the blood from his face, but his hands remained steady. They needed to do more.

So, he did something that even Seraphine, a trained healer, had never seen before.

He forced his qi into Merlin’s chest—and manually restarted his heart.

Seraphine gasped. "Impossible…!"

A warrior, controlling his energy with such delicate precision? Even for mages specializing in healing, this level of mana manipulation was unheard of.

And yet, Yun Jin did it.

Merlin’s chest rose. His pale face regained color. His breathing returned.

He was still unconscious, but he was alive.

Yun Jin exhaled, exhausted but satisfied. "This is as far as I can take him."

Seraphine placed a hand over Merlin, nodding firmly. "If it’s just supplying mana to keep his body going, I can do it for as long as necessary."

What Yun Jin had done reduced the amount of mana she needed to keep Merlin stable—bringing it down to a point where her natural regeneration could sustain him indefinitely.

Reva had been silent for a while, watching everything unfold.

Finally, she lowered her head. "I was useless, wasn’t I?"

Yun Jin glanced at her. "Did you kill the fused Mutated Abyssal Mermaid?"

She nodded hesitantly.

A small smile tugged at his lips as he reached out, patting her head gently.

"Then you did enough."

Reva’s face immediately turned red, her usual confidence vanishing in an instant. She pulled back with a flustered scoff. "Tch. It was part of the job! We just had bad luck!"

But Yun Jin wasn’t smiling anymore.

His gaze shifted downward, bitterness creeping into his expression.

If only he had been stronger, Merlin wouldn’t have ended up like this.

Reva noticed his change in demeanor. "Where are you going? That Orga is too dangerous—"

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"The goal of a Rift is to destroy the core, isn’t it?" Yun Jin interrupted. His voice was calm, but his eyes were firm. "If the Orga is asleep, let it be."

Then, without another word, he turned and jumped into the depths that had once been the Abyssal Mermaids' ritual well.

The darkness swallowed him.

Using his qi, Yun Jin slowed his descent, landing gracefully at the bottom of the abyss.

And as expected, there it was.

The Dungeon Core.

Last time, when he fought the Dryad, it had been destroyed by Merlin's fireball, leaving him without a chance to see it. But now, for the first time, he stood before one.

Supercharged with mana, its red glow pulsed ominously, casting eerie shadows across the chamber. Around it, the corpses of Abyssal Mermaids lay strewn across the ground—once both sustenance and a tool to corrupt the orca's mind.

Without hesitation, Yun Jin stepped forward. He conjured an ice-forged sword and slashed straight through the core.

It shattered instantly.

[System Alert: The dungeon core has been destroyed.]

[Dungeon cleared.]

A glowing panel appeared in front of him, listing contribution points from the battle.

* [Yun Jin: 43%]

* [Merlin: 27%]

* [Reva: 20]

* [Seraphine Lysval: 10%]

[A very large amount of residual energy remains in the dungeon.]

[As the highest contributor, you have the right to decide its fate.]

[Option 1: Convert the remaining energy into material rewards.]

[Option 2: Absorb the energy to strengthen you only]

[Option 3: Distribute the energy among surviving contributors.]

Yun Jin chose to share the rewards.

[Level Up: Level 14 → Level 19]

[Aura Blade: rank up! D → D+]

[Sword Wave: rank up! D- → D]

[Mana Eyes: rank up! D → D+]

[Reward Distribution Completed]

[Obtained: tear of void orca (Rank S)]

When he returned to the group, Seraphine blinked in surprise. "You’re sharing the loot? Even when the contribution levels were so different?"

The common rule among adventurer parties was that if one person contributed more than 50%, they would receive the entire system reward, as it was considered carrying the party. Only external loot would be shared among the group.

Seraphine was even more shocked when she noticed her level had shot up by two!

Not to mention the loot she received—it was far too much considering how little she had contributed.

Yun Jin nodded. "Everyone played their part. Without any of you, I wouldn’t have survived this. Thank you."

He bowed deeply.

Reva immediately recoiled, waving her hands. "Ugh—don’t do that! It was just the job! We just got unlucky, that’s all!"

Seraphine shook her head, a soft smile forming on her lips. "It’s not equal to my life that you saved. I don’t need this. Just gaining levels is more than enough."

Without hesitation, both of them returned their rewards to Yun Jin.

Seraphine handed back the Dimension Shard (Rank B), while Reva placed the Soul Stone (Empty) (Rank A) in his palm.

Yun Jin hesitated, his fingers tightening around the rewards. He wasn’t the type to take what wasn’t his, especially after making a decision to split everything.

But both Seraphine and Reva were adamant, their expressions leaving no room for argument.

"Just take it," Reva huffed, crossing her arms. "You earned it more than we did."

Seraphine simply smiled, her tone gentle but firm. "It’s better this way."

Seeing no way to refuse, Yun Jin let out a small sigh and reluctantly accepted their decision.

And then, the baby Void Orga stirred.

Reva and Seraphine tensed.

But Yun Jin simply raised a hand.

The creature floated toward him, nudging its head against his palm.

He stroked it gently. Then he turned to the others.

"Let’s go."

The gate shimmered, its once-bloodred glow fading into a serene blue—the universal sign of a cleared Rift.

Yun Jin exhaled slowly. "Alright, you all go ahead first. I need to check something."

Reva frowned. "The hell you do. We should all just get out of here."

Seraphine, more composed but equally concerned, hesitated. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Just go. I’ll be right behind you."

Still reluctant, Reva and Seraphine exchanged glances before stepping through the gate. The moment they touched its surface, they vanished in a ripple of energy.

Then, Yun Jin turned to the Void Orga.

The creature floated silently, watching him.

Slowly, it drifted toward the gate—only for an invisible force to slam it backward.

It let out a distressed clicking noise, its massive eyes filled with confusion.

Yun Jin’s expression remained unreadable.

"As expected."

His worry had been confirmed.

If dungeon creatures could simply walk out of a Rift, it would throw the entire world into chaos. Whatever higher laws governed the existence of dungeons, they did not permit something like the Void Orga to leave.

The young creature gave another soft, mournful click before swimming behind Yun Jin, nudging his back as if gently trying to push him toward the exit.

He sighed. "Stop that. I'm not leaving you behind."

The Orga stilled, watching him intently.

Yun Jin lifted his hand, opening the System Shop.

His gaze flicked through the options until he found it—the item that might just be the solution.

[Fragment of the Fallen World (Rank S – 100 Points): A fragment of a destroyed world core, capable of creating a personal dimensional space tied to the user’s soul.]

A shard of pure enigma, pulsing with a condensed, unfathomable amount of spatial energy—so intense that it even surpassed the Rift’s own dimensional laws.

The moment Yun Jin purchased it, the fragment materialized in his grasp.

It was a strange, obsidian-like stone, yet the longer he stared at it, the more it seemed to shift between states of existence, flickering between solid, liquid, and something wholly unrecognizable.

The system prompt appeared.

[Would you like to consume the fragment?]

[Benefits: Grants the user Spatial Affinity (Rank E) and binds the power to the user’s soul.]

Yun Jin didn’t hesitate. "Consume."

The shard dissolved into pure energy, flowing into his chest as if pulled into a black hole.

For a brief moment, his entire body shuddered, a foreign force seeping into his being. Then—understanding followed.

[Spatial Affinity (Rank E) Acquired]

[You have unlocked a skill: Inner World (Rank S).]

A new ability. And one that felt… natural.

Yun Jin didn’t need instructions. He already knew how to use it.

Turning toward the Void Orga, he reached out his hand.

The creature hesitated for only a moment before closing its eyes, accepting whatever Yun Jin was about to do.

A faint, silver light surrounded them both—before the Orga’s massive form began to fade.

It dispersed into particles of light, flowing into Yun Jin’s palm as if being absorbed into something beyond the physical world.

And just like that—it was gone.

But Yun Jin could still feel it.

It was no longer bound to the Rift.

It was within him.

He clenched his fist slightly, feeling the new connection settle before exhaling.

"Now, the moment of truth."

He turned and walked through the gate.

The instant Yun Jin stepped out of the Rift, his senses were assaulted by a flurry of activity.

He emerged into a fully prepared battlefield.

Shadow demons lurked at the edges of the light, their amorphous forms flickering like living darkness, poised to strike at a moment’s notice. Battle-ready personnel stood in rigid formation, clad in full combat gear, weapons primed for an attack that had never come.

Near the center, a group of medics worked swiftly, tending to Reva, Seraphine, and Merlin. Their hurried movements and whispered exchanges made it clear—Merlin’s condition was critical.

And standing among them, overseeing everything with a sharp gaze, was Ardent Altheron.

For a brief moment, Yun Jin caught something unexpected in the older man’s expression—concern. Genuine relief flickered across his face when Yun Jin stepped through the portal, alive and whole.

He actually cares? Yun Jin was surprised.

Their eyes met.

Ardent’s calculating gaze swept over him, as if assessing his condition, taking in every detail. There was curiosity there, a flicker of intrigue behind his otherwise composed features.

Then, with an air of practiced ease, Ardent spoke.

"You may rest now. I’ve got this covered."

Yun Jin smirked slightly, rolling his shoulders as the tension finally bled from his body. He had fought, endured, and survived.

Now, for the first time since entering the rift—he could rest.

[Encounter Complete]

[Completion Level: Great]

[You have been awarded 15 Completion Points.]

[Completion Points: 60]