But survival was only the beginning.
After discovering that the dungeon is connected to his family, Kael has finally found his sister, Elara. Together, they have become something the System was never designed to handle: a System Anomaly.
Now the path to Floor Ten has opened.
The deepest known level of the dungeon holds the Original Core—the place where the first System was created, where humanity's greatest experiment went wrong, and where the secrets surrounding Kael's family have been buried for years.
Kael, Elara, and the father they believed was lost must descend together.
But Floor Ten is unlike anything they have faced before.
There are no ordinary rules.
No guaranteed rewards.
And no certainty that Kael's father is telling them the truth.
As they uncover memories from the past, Kael learns that his mother did not simply die. Her consciousness became trapped within the System, and her connection to the Core may be the reason Kael and Elara were chosen.
Then the truth becomes even more dangerous.
The System isn't the ultimate power controlling the dungeon.
Something older is imprisoned beneath it.
Something even the System fears.
And when the Original Core begins to fail, Kael discovers that the dungeon may have been protecting humanity from something far beyond its walls.
The question is no longer whether Kael can survive the dungeon.
It's whether the world can survive what happens when the dungeon finally opens.
The Core is awakening.
The System has been lying.
And Kael's greatest descent has only just begun.