Chapter 1: Monster Master System

"Damn, unemployed again." After graduating two years ago, this was Grayson Hawk's eighth time losing a job—averaging four times a year, once every three months.

It wasn't that Grayson Hawk was irresponsible. He simply had a small streak of chivalry in him, unable to tolerate certain workplace antics. This habit of offending people often gave his superiors an excuse to fire him.

For the same reason, his college girlfriend had broken up with him for good.

Standing outside the company building, he cursed a few times before taking a bus back to the Zion community.

The small apartment Grayson Hawk had rented wasn't big—only 40 square meters in the suburbs. Thankfully, Still City was a third-tier city, and the rent was only about 300 dollars, which he could still afford for now.

"These bastards, damn it," Grayson Hawk muttered as he opened his computer and logged into World of Mountains and Mouths to vent his frustrations.

"Damn General!! are you crazy today? You're killing everywhere. A few alliance guild leaders are already complaining to me."

"Let me vent a bit more. I just got laid off, and I'm in a bad mood." As Grayson Hawk typed, he noticed a sudden bright light from the corner of his eye. He quickly turned to look out the window.

The sight nearly scared him out of his wits.

Outside his window, a ghostly blue light streaked through the sky like a shooting star, piercing through his window without any deviation and heading straight for him.

The blue light was too fast. Before Grayson Hawk could react, it shot directly into his head.

"You've got to be kidding me. Am I really about to die from a meteor?" His last thought was swallowed by an endless darkness. Little did he know, at that same moment, the blue orb of light had begun to fuse rapidly with his brain.

There was no sound, but his mind seemed to transform into a giant biological display, showing lines of text continuously.

 "Language system integration complete..."

 "Self-check complete..."

 "No data-plane lifeforms detected... Secondary search initiated..."

 "Host lifeform identified as a low-level carbon-based organism. Minimum fusion criteria met. Full integration initiated..."

 "Nearby low-level network detected. Initiating invasion of this civilization's network..."

 "System generation complete... Monster Master System activated..."

The unconscious Grayson Hawk had no idea that what struck him wasn't a meteor but a fragment of a low-level law from a data-plane. For some unknown reason, this fragment had broken through dimensional barriers, entered this world, and successfully struck him.

At the moment, the fragment invaded the network, and every internet-connected computer worldwide went dark for five seconds before returning to normal.

This brief five-second blackout threw governments worldwide into panic. To them, this couldn't have been the work of any individual or group. The precision of the timing and the sheer scale of the blackout were far beyond what anyone could achieve.

Of course, these global concerns were beyond Grayson Hawk's comprehension. That night, when he regained consciousness, his head was full of questions.

"What the hell happened? Wasn't I hit by a meteor? How am I okay?" He touched his forehead, finding no blood or wounds. Turning around, he was even more startled—the window was completely intact, with no signs of damage.

"Looks like I've been too stressed and started hallucinating." Shaking his head, Grayson Hawk got up, sat in his computer chair, and glanced at the hunter character that had long since died in the game. Without hesitation, he switched accounts and logged in with a new human paladin character.

After picking up a quest, Grayson Hawk controlled his character and started hunting monsters.

However, something strange suddenly happened.

Out of nowhere, a voice echoed in his mind.

"Level 1 monster detected. Capture?"

"An illusion?" Grayson was startled, a chill running down his spine. The voice kept repeating the question in his mind.

Annoyed and unnerved, he slammed his mouse and shouted, "Damn it! It's just a little ghost. Do you think I'm scared of you? Capture… capture my ass!"

"Capture confirmed..."

To his shock, as soon as he blurted out the word "capture," the voice in his head responded. What happened next was even more terrifying—on his computer screen, the wolf monster in front of his paladin character began to fade away and eventually vanished completely.

At the same time, the voice in his mind reappeared.

"Successfully captured the monster 'Wolf.' Gained 1 experience point."

"Experience points?" Grayson, who had been terrified just moments ago, suddenly calmed down.

He realized that this might not be what he initially thought. If it really were some kind of ghost or supernatural entity, why would there be something like experience points? This sounded much more like a game.

Thinking of this, and for reasons he couldn't quite explain, he instinctively issued a mental command: "Status Panel."

To his surprise, a status panel actually appeared in his mind.

Monster Master System Owner: Grayson Hawk

System Level: 1

Experience Points: 1/20

Current Monster Capacity: 1/2

Stamina: 8

Strength: 12

Speed: 7

Intelligence: 5

On the other side of the panel were several buttons. Three were grayed out, but one, labeled "Fusion," was lit up.

When Grayson focused his thoughts on the Fusion button, an explanation immediately appeared.

Fusion: Combine monsters of the same type to improve their quality. If the fusion succeeds, the monster's level resets to zero. If it fails, the monster used as material is lost, and an equivalent amount of experience points is deducted. There is a small chance of creating a mutated monster during fusion.

He opened the Fusion function. It was just like a game, with two slots: one for the primary monster, which wouldn't disappear, and the other for the material monster, which would vanish regardless of the outcome.

Grayson also noticed that the "Monster Capacity: 1/2" indicator was flashing continuously.

Curious, he clicked on it and immediately entered the Monster Storage interface.

The storage had two slots. The second slot was empty, while the first contained a wolf, pacing around and sniffing at everything.

Grayson was sure this was the same wolf that had disappeared from the game earlier.

Excitement surged through him. Grayson was thrilled, pacing around his room while muttering to himself, "I can't believe it! Something straight out of a novel is happening to me. This is my chance to rise up and change my life!"

After reveling in excitement for a while, Grayson took a deep breath and mentally issued the command: "Summon."

Sure enough, just as he had imagined, the wolf appeared at his side as soon as the command was given.

"Awooo~~"

"Oh crap! Recall!" He panicked. This was an apartment building. If anyone heard a wolf howling, it would be fine if no one noticed, but if someone did, wouldn't they call the police?