The morning in the Techno-hive began not with coffee, but with a metallic taste in his mouth—a side effect of the "Stone Skin" continuing to rebuild his body. Sebastian got out of bed, feeling every fiber of his ten points of Strength. It was no longer just a feeling of being refreshed; now he felt like a tightly wound ball of wires and muscles.
Ariana had already gone on shift. A note lay on the table: "Be careful. Bought some bread". The money he left yesterday was gone — she probably decided to pay part of the debt after all. It lifted part of the burden from his heart, but added another: now he was the sole provider, and the price of his mistake had tripled.
Before heading to the collector, he stopped by Bruno's.
"Done," the old man grunted, throwing two massive guards on the counter.
They were made from the chitinous claws of a fourth-level Fang, reinforced with steel plates and lined with soft leather. Sebastian tightened the straps on his forearms. The weight was noticeable, but with his stats, it only added confidence. Now he could block strikes without fearing that his bones would shatter at the first collision.
—
Collector C-4 greeted him with silence. The pump station, where yesterday's slaughter took place, was now empty — even the smell of blood had begun to fade, replaced by a thick, sweet aroma of pure mana. The purple light ahead was no longer just flickering; it was pulsing, illuminating a tunnel that was marked as a dead end on the maps.
Sebastian activated Resonance. The world around him exploded with violet threads. The mana here was so concentrated that it began to crystallize right on the walls, forming needle-sharp growths.
[You have entered the zone: Anomalous Sector C-4 (Distortion)]
A strange squelching sound came from ahead. A creature Sebastian had never seen before crawled from around the corner. It was a Swamp Crawler, but its shell was not grey, but translucent, and a purple liquid shimmered inside it.
[Target: Corrupted Crawler (Level 5)]
A level-five monster. This was the limit for a novice hunter. Sebastian gripped the handle of the C-12. The Crawler didn't wait — it shot a stream of acrid liquid. Sebastian held out his arm in the new guard. The liquid hissed, corroding the chitin, but didn't reach his skin.
[Skill 'Stone Skin' absorbed 16% of magical damage]
He lunged forward. The fight was quick and brutal. The Crawler tried to pierce his defense with its claws, but Sebastian had become much faster. His Luck of 24 allowed him to notice the enemy's micro-movement in time and strike with the knife directly into the translucent gap in the shell.
[Target neutralized: Corrupted Crawler (Level 5)]
[Experience gained: 154 XP]
[Experience: 351 / 800]
Sebastian breathed heavily. One hundred and fifty-four units. This was a colossal jump. If he found three more like this, he would level up to five in one day. He began to cut open the carcass, but instead of a regular mana crystal, he found something else — a shard glowing with bright purple.
"This isn't just mana," he whispered, hiding the find.
He felt he was on the verge of something big. But Luck began to send alarm signals. A low hum rolled through the tunnel passages, making his teeth vibrate. Something much larger than a Crawler was waking up in the very heart of the Anomalous Sector.