Ragnar stood in the middle of his living room. He was staring at a hole in the wall. It was a perfect, round hole, big enough for a person to walk through.
"Okay. Think, Ragnar, think," he said to himself. He pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped on the black app.
The [Demon King System] opened up. The screen showed his stats. They were still bad. All of his skills were ranked 'E', which was the lowest rank. He had 100 Domain Points, or DP. He had 50 Creation Points, or CP. And he had 20 Bonus Points, or BP.
He did not know what the Bonus Points were for, but they sounded like they might be very useful.
He needed a plan. The strange voice that sounded like a GPS in his head had been very clear. Heroes were coming to kill him. His small apartment, his Domain, was the only thing that was keeping him safe. He had to turn this messy, one-bedroom apartment into a castle. A deadly fortress.
A place where heroes who thought they were so good would come to meet a very bad end.
He was just about to look at the 'Creation' part of the app. He wanted to see what he could build. But before he could, a new screen popped up on his phone. It took over the whole screen. It had a shiny, golden line around the edge that glowed like the sun. The words on it were written in a fancy style that looked both important and a little scary.
[SPECIAL SERVICE]
Hello, new Demon King. To welcome you, we are giving you a one-time gift. You are allowed to ask the System one (1) question.
The System will give you the best answer it can. Think very hard about your question. You will not get to ask another one.
A single empty box was blinking at the bottom of the message. It was waiting for him to type his question.
Ragnar just stared at it. One question. This was his only chance. His only chance to get a piece of information that the system did not just give him.
The answer to this one question could be the thing that helped him live. Or, if he asked the wrong question, it could be the reason he ended up as a red stain on his own cheap rug.
His mind started to race, thinking of all the things he could ask.
His first thought was just about being rich. "What are the winning lottery numbers for this week?" He almost typed it in. But then he shook his head. What good was a lot of money if he was dead? And anyway, the lottery was probably not even happening anymore, since the whole world seemed to be empty. It was a useless question.
Okay, he had to think about staying alive. He had to think smart.
"How do I kill the Heroes?" He thought about it for a moment. No, that was too simple, too wide. The System was like a cold machine. It would probably give him a dumb and unhelpful answer.
It would say something like, "You kill them by making their bodies stop working." Thanks for nothing, he thought.
He had only one chance.
His mind was a storm of questions. He started walking back and forth in his small living room. His little monsters watched him walk. Their small heads turned to follow him, like he was doing some kind of important magic dance.
He thought about asking, "How do I become the most powerful Demon King in the world?" But the System would probably just show him a picture of a weight for lifting and a library card. That would not help him right now.
He needed to know something deep. Something about the rules of this new, scary game he was in. The answer had to be something that would help him make all his plans, from now until the very end. He stopped walking.
He looked at the big, round hole in his wall. He looked at the paint peeling off the walls, the cheap furniture, and the half-eaten bag of chips that the goblins were now protecting like it was treasure.
This was his Domain. This was his castle. But was it also his jail?
Everything he did from now on would depend on the answer to that one simple question. His whole plan for staying alive rested on it.
His fingers started typing on the phone's screen. He typed with a new kind of confidence that surprised him. He read the question two times. He read it a third time. He wanted to make sure there were no tricks in his words. He wanted to be so clear that the cold, logical System could not give him a twisted answer.
"Can a Demon King, or the monsters that a Demon King commands, leave the place called their Domain?"
He took a deep breath. His finger hovered over the 'Send' button. Then he pressed it.
The screen on his phone went black for a second. It felt like a very long second. Then, new words showed up. They were in the same formal, cold style as before.
[ANSWER: YES, BUT THERE ARE RULES.]
Ragnar's heart started beating fast and hard against his ribs. Yes. The answer was yes. It was possible. A huge feeling of hope washed over him. But then he saw the rest of the words. But there are rules. What were the rules?
[Rule 1:] A Demon King can only leave their Domain after they reach Level 10. They must also complete a special change to become a stronger type of being.
[Rule 2:] Normal monsters (like Goblins and Kobolds) can only leave the Domain if they are being led by a special 'Bloodkin' monster. Or, they can leave if they are with a Demon King who has met the first rule.
[Rule 3:] When a Demon King is outside of their Domain, their main System powers will not work. This includes the power of [Creation] and [Alchemy].
Ragnar read the answer three times, very slowly. A cold, clear understanding settled over him. He could not run.
Not now. And not for a very, very long time. Level 10 seemed as far away as the sun when he was stuck at Level 1 with such bad stats. He was trapped.
This apartment, which was his jail, was also his only chance to live. The rules of this world had now set his path for him.
He had to make his home stronger. He had to defend it. He had to survive.
Just as he was thinking about this hard new truth, another message popped up on his phone.
[Your question was a very good and smart question. It shows you understand how to think about long-term plans. You have earned a bonus of 10 Bonus Points (BP). They have been added to your account.]
Ragnar stared at the message. Then, a slow, dark smile spread across his face. He had done it.
He had played a game with the System, and he had won. He now had 30 Bonus Points to use. But more important than the points, he now had a clear plan. He knew what he had to do.
The fear was still inside him. It was a cold, hard knot in his stomach. But now, it was mixed with something else. It was a feeling of excitement. A feeling of having a purpose, something he had never felt in his old, gray life.
This was not just about staying alive anymore. This was a test. A game. And he was going to win it.
"Alright, you useless bunch of fur and teeth," he said. His voice was loud now, full of a new power that bounced off the walls of his broken apartment. "Forget about the chips. We have work to do. We are going to turn this apartment into the scariest, most trap-filled, monster-stuffed death house in all of Aethelburg Sector 7. The Heroes are coming to our home to play a game."
He looked at the big, gaping hole in the wall.
"And we are going to make sure they never, ever get to leave."