A Trash Novel's Only Reader-Chapter 26: Expansion

Shu stood in the middle of his bedroom, stretching his arms above his head until his shoulders gave a loud, satisfying crack.

"Haaa," he let out a long breath, rolling his neck. "I really wish I had another one of those Full Recovery rewards right about now."

Every muscle in his body still ached from the core integration last night. Even after standing under a hot shower for twenty minutes, his eyes were barely staying open. This was fatigue no amount of normal sleep could instantly fix.

He sat down heavily on the edge of his bed, rubbing his damp hair with a towel, and pulled up his system screen.

"Complaining won’t fix anything," he muttered, tossing the towel aside. "I have other things to do first."

He looked at the rewards he had gotten from completing the mission yesterday.

[Inventory:]

[ - Skill Upgrade Token x1]

[ - Domain Expansion Scroll x1]

"Time to see what this does," he thought, selecting the Domain Expansion Scroll.

[Would you like to use the Domain Expansion Scroll?]

[Yes / No]

He pressed [Yes] without hesitating.

The scroll vanished from his inventory, and a second later, a massive blue wave erupted from his chest. It didn’t just pass through the walls of his apartment this time, it surged outward, flooding the streets, swallowing the neighboring buildings, and stretching far across the ruined blocks.

[Domain has been expanded.]

[Current Territory Size: 1 City Block]

[Domain has leveled up: Lv.2 -> Lv.3] 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Before he could celebrate, a sharp wave of dizziness hit him so hard he had to grab the edge of the mattress to keep from falling over. His vision spun, and a massive flood of new sensory information crashed into his brain all at once.

"Ugh, fuck..." he groaned, pressing a hand to his forehead while his head pounded. "What is this?"

[New Domain Function Unlocked: Absolute Surveillance]

[Absolute Surveillance: The owner can instantly perceive, monitor, and inspect any location within the Domain’s borders.]

He closed his eyes, and suddenly, he could see it.

It wasn’t like looking through a camera, this felt like he was physically standing in every room, alleyway, and rooftop within the expanded territory all at the same time.

’This is insane,’ he thought, his headache slowly fading as his mind adapted to the influx of information. ’I can see everything in the neighborhood. It’s basically a map hack.’

While he was marveling at the sheer scale of his new territory, the system screen suddenly flashed a bright, aggressive red.

[Alert: Unauthorized entities detected within Domain borders.]

He frowned, zooming his awareness into those areas. Down the street, a pack of mutated dogs was scavenging near a dumpster. Inside a neighboring building, a group of goblins had set up a small camp on the second floor, and further out, a couple of feral pigs were wandering through an alley.

Before he could even think of grabbing his bat to deal with them, the system took over.

[Intruder Protocol Initiated.]

[Lethal force authorized against non-registered hostile entities.]

[Purging...]

Inside his mind’s eye, he watched as the invisible barrier of his Domain suddenly compressed around the monsters. The stray dogs didn’t even have time to bark before the space around them crushed inward with a sickening crunch. Up in the apartment, the goblins were flattened against the floor by an invisible gravity well, their bodies dissolving into smoke a second later.

He sat on his bed, completely stunned.

’Wait, it just kills them automatically?’ he thought, his jaw dropping. ’I don’t even have to lift a finger?’

The system screen began scrolling wildly, confirming his shock.

[Kill Registered: Stray Hound x6]

[Kill Registered: Goblin x12]

[Kill Registered: Feral Pig x2]

[Base EXP: +2,100]

[Credits: +3,800]

[Total EXP Gained: +2,100]

[Level Up! Lv.11 -> Lv.12]

[Free Stat Points: +3]

He stared at the notifications, blinking slowly as the familiar rush of leveling up washed over him, soothing some of his lingering soreness and clearing the last bit of sleep from his eyes.

"You have got to be kidding me," he muttered, a slow, disbelieving laugh escaping his lips. "I get EXP for that too?"

He fell back onto his mattress, staring up at the ceiling with a wide grin. If his Domain could automatically kill anything that was inside and feed him the EXP, then he had just created the most broken safe zone in the history of Zoxhia.

’Any monster that gets caught in my expansion is basically free food,’ he thought, covering his face with one hand as he kept laughing.

"This system is a massive scam," he said aloud, completely satisfied. "But I absolutely love it."

He sat back up and wiped a tear from his eye, feeling much better than he had five minutes ago.

"Alright," he said, reaching out to tap the air. "Let’s see what the Skill Upgrade Token can do-"

[Alert: Unauthorized entry attempt detected at Domain boundary.]

[Location: Southern Edge.]

His hand stopped midair.

’Someone is trying to get in?’ he thought, his smile disappearing instantly. ’Usually I would have to walk and check, but...’

He closed his eyes and activated [Absolute Surveillance], shifting his awareness to the southern edge of his newly expanded block. The transition was seamless, his perspective dropping into the empty street just behind the invisible barrier of his Domain.

Standing just outside the boundary was a figure draped in a thick, dark hoodie. The hood was pulled low over their face, completely obscuring their features.

He watched through his mind’s eye as the figure lifted a gloved hand, pressing its fingers against the invisible wall. Dark, wispy energy leaked from the figure’s fingertips, testing the barrier, trying to find a crack or a weakness.

’What is that?’ he thought, a cold chill running down his back. ’That energy feels... weird. It’s like that fake core.’

The Domain flared slightly where the figure touched it, a faint blue light rippling outward to reject the dark energy.

The figure paused, tilting their head as if observing the reaction. They stood there for another long, silent minute before finally pulling their hand back. Without looking up, the hooded intruder turned and walked away, melting into the shadows of the street until they were completely gone.

Shu opened his eyes back in his bedroom, his heart beating a little faster than before.

’That was not a normal hunter,’ he thought, his jaw tightening. ’That energy felt exactly like the demon core I pulled out of the snake queen.’

He looked down at his own hands, the lingering satisfaction of his free level-up completely erased.

Whoever that was, they gave him seriously bad vibes. The fact that they were already sniffing around his territory meant his quiet, safe little life was likely on a timer.

"I need to get stronger," he muttered, opening his system menu again with a newfound sense of urgency. "A lot stronger."