# Chapter 4 — The Node That Shouldn’t Exist
The Null?Pattern Fragment pulsed in my inventory like a heartbeat that didn’t belong to me.
The Foundation Node hummed beneath my feet, its glow steadier now but threaded with faint black veins—remnants of the shard I’d already integrated. The cracks from the Burrower’s attack had sealed, but the memory of them lingered like phantom pain.
The timer ticked down.
**24:58 Remaining**
Less than half an hour until the First Hour Event hit full force.
I opened the blueprint for the Null?Thread Anchor. The interface expanded, displaying a wireframe spike of woven energy designed to root itself into the Node’s architecture.
**[Null?Thread Anchor Requirements:]**
— 2× Metallic Debris
— 1× System Residue
— 1× Null?Pattern Fragment
I had everything.
“System,” I said quietly, “begin fabrication.”
**[Crafting: Null?Thread Anchor]**
Progress: 12%… 33%… 61%… 100%
**[Construct Complete]**
A slender, black?blue spike materialized in my hand—light as glass, sharp as a needle, humming with a faint resonance that made my teeth ache.
The Node pulsed beneath me, as if sensing what I held.
“Alright,” I whispered. “Let’s see if this works.”
I pressed the anchor into the Node.
The floor rippled like liquid. The anchor sank into the surface, dissolving into threads of dark energy that spread outward in branching patterns. The dome brightened, its glow deepening into a richer blue threaded with shifting black lines.
The System chimed.
**[Foundation Node Reinforced]**
Barrier Integrity: +35%
Subsurface Resistance: +40%
Construct Stability: +10%
New Function: **Null?Pulse Discharge (Tier 0+)**
Null?Pulse?
I tapped the new function.
**[Null?Pulse Discharge:]**
Emits a short?range shockwave that disrupts hostile entities.
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Warning: May attract higher?tier threats.
Of course it would.
The timer ticked again.
**23:41 Remaining**
The dome felt stronger now—denser, like the air itself had weight. The Node’s hum had shifted into a deeper, steadier rhythm. For the first time since waking up in this nightmare, I felt like I wasn’t one hit away from death.
But the First Hour wasn’t done.
A faint tremor rippled through the floor—subtle, but unmistakable. The Node’s subsurface detection map flickered to life, projecting a small grid in front of me.
Three red dots.
Moving.
Converging.
Not one Burrower.
Three.
The System pulsed sharply.
**[Warning: Subsurface Aberrants Approaching]**
**[Estimated Breach Attempt: 90 seconds]**
Ninety seconds.
I opened the Construct menu.
**[Construct Deployment Options:]**
— Scout Construct (Cooldown: 2:14)
— Primitive Construct (Explosive)
— Empty Slot
— Empty Slot
Not enough.
I needed more constructs.
More firepower.
More… something.
The System pulsed again.
**[New Blueprint Available: Node?Bound Sentinel (Tier 0+)]**
Function: Defensive construct tethered to the Node.
Behavior: Automatic targeting / barrier reinforcement
Materials Required:
— 2× Metallic Debris
— 1× Residual Core Shard
— 1× System Residue
I had just enough.
“Craft it.”
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**[Crafting: Node?Bound Sentinel]**
Progress: 18%… 47%… 79%… 100%
**[Construct Complete]**
A small, hovering construct materialized—spherical, with three rotating blades of light orbiting its core. Its single eye glowed a deep blue?black, matching the Node’s new coloration.
It hummed once, then drifted to the center of the dome, anchoring itself above the Node like a guardian spirit.
The System updated.
**[Node?Bound Sentinel Active]**
Status: Idle
Targeting: Automatic
Tether Strength: Stable
The subsurface map flickered.
The three red dots stopped.
Then surged upward.
**[Breach Attempt Imminent]**
The floor trembled violently. Cracks spiderwebbed across the surface—shallow this time, but spreading fast. The dome flickered, its glow pulsing in rapid bursts.
The Sentinel’s blades spun faster, humming with rising energy.
The first Burrower hit the underside of the dome.
A sharp crack echoed through the chamber.
The Sentinel fired.
A beam of blue?black energy lanced downward, piercing the floor. A muffled screech erupted from below. The red dot flickered, then vanished.
**[Enemy Eliminated]**
The second Burrower struck.
The dome rippled. The cracks widened.
The Sentinel fired again—two rapid pulses that shook the entire Node. Another screech. Another dot gone.
**[Enemy Eliminated]**
The third Burrower paused.
Then began circling.
The System pulsed.
**[Warning: Aberrant attempting lateral breach]**
It was trying to come in from the side.
The Node hummed sharply, its glow intensifying. The Sentinel rotated, tracking the red dot as it moved beneath the dome.
The floor bulged—hard.
A jagged mound of stone and blackened obsidian pushed upward, cracking the Node’s surface like an egg under pressure. The dome flickered, its glow stuttering in sharp pulses.
The System flashed.
**[Warning: Lateral Breach Attempt Accelerating]**
**[Barrier Integrity: 82% → 77% → 73%]**
The Node?Bound Sentinel spun toward the distortion, its blades humming with rising energy. Its single eye flared a deep blue?black.
The mound split open.
A Burrower erupted sideways through the floor—larger than the others, its mask?face cracked in a spiderweb pattern, mandibles twitching in jagged spasms. Its limbs scraped against the barrier, sending sparks of blue?white light scattering across the dome.
The Sentinel fired instantly.
A beam of concentrated energy slammed into the Burrower’s shoulder joint, carving a molten line through its carapace. The creature shrieked, its voice glitching like corrupted audio.
**[Enemy Health: 68%]**
Not enough.
The Burrower lunged.
It slammed its full weight into the dome’s interior, claws raking across the barrier. The dome rippled violently, its glow dimming under the impact.
**[Barrier Integrity: 73% → 61%]**
“System—Null?Pulse, now!”
**[Null?Pulse Discharge Activating]**
The Node detonated with a shockwave of black?blue energy.
The blast rippled outward, passing through the dome like a ripple through water. The Burrower convulsed mid?lunge, its limbs spasming as the pulse disrupted its glyph?patterns.
**[Enemy Stunned: 2.4 seconds]**
The Sentinel didn’t waste a millisecond.
It fired again—three rapid pulses that hammered into the Burrower’s exposed joints. Chitin cracked. Glyphs flickered. The creature’s mask split further, revealing twitching mandibles beneath.
**[Enemy Health: 68% → 49% → 37%]**
The stun ended.
The Burrower screeched and slammed its remaining limbs into the dome, forcing its body halfway inside. The barrier bent inward like stretched glass.
**[Barrier Integrity: 61% → 48%]**
Too close.
I grabbed the last scraps of debris and residue from my inventory—barely enough for anything—and slammed them into the Emergency Construct option.
“Deploy it! Anything!”
**[Emergency Construct Deployment: Success]**
A tiny, unstable Guardian Construct materialized—barely holding together, its frame flickering like a dying spark.
It didn’t hesitate.
It hurled itself at the Burrower’s exposed mandibles, claws scraping across the creature’s face. The Burrower recoiled, snapping at the construct with jagged, glitching jaws.
The Sentinel fired again.
**[Enemy Health: 37% → 22%]**
The Guardian Construct latched onto the Burrower’s mask, its eye flickering wildly.
Then it detonated.
The explosion tore through the Burrower’s head, ripping off half its mask and sending shards of porcelain?like material skittering across the dome.
The creature staggered, limbs flailing.
**[Enemy Health: 22% → 9%]**
“Finish it!” I shouted.
The Sentinel’s blades spun faster, humming with lethal resonance. Its eye flared bright—
—and it fired a final, concentrated beam straight through the Burrower’s skull.
The creature convulsed once.
Twice.
Then dissolved into a cloud of blue?white particles that drifted upward like dying embers.
The System chimed.
**[Enemy Eliminated]**
**[Foundation Node Stabilizing]**
**[Barrier Integrity: 48% → 72%]**
I collapsed to my knees, breath shaking.
The dome dimmed back to its steady glow. The cracks sealed. The Node’s hum settled into a calmer rhythm.
The subsurface map cleared—no red dots, no movement, no immediate threats.
The timer ticked again.
**19:02 Remaining**
Still twenty minutes left in the First Hour.
Still twenty minutes for the world to try to kill me.
The System pulsed softly.
**[New Objective: Expand the Node before the First Hour Event]**
**[Hint: Dormant System structures detected within 150 meters.]**
Dormant structures.
Outside the dome.
I stared through the barrier at the warped ruins beyond—the obsidian streets glowing brighter, the glyphs in the sky pulsing faster, the air trembling with something rising beneath the surface.
The First Hour wasn’t just a survival test.
It was a beginning.
And whatever came next…
I needed to be ready.
