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Not far from Landen, Orio was still locked in combat with his own bristleback when the ground began to tremble. Heavy, rhythmic thuds echoed from the edge of the treeline.
"Get out of there," Landen shouted.
Orio glanced over his shoulder, throwing back his head with a mocking laugh. "You think I'm just going to hand this kill over to you? Not a chance!"
Landen's gaze flicked between Orio and the direction where Ember had gone. He pulled up his map to check her position, but she was out of range. Based on the map's 200-meter detection limit, Ember had to be beyond that boundary. The Rare beast, however, registered at 150 meters out, slowly drifting away toward her.
If I take this one down fast, Landen calculated, I can rush over and cover Ember before the second beast reaches her.
He glanced back at Orio, watching the man struggle with the uncommon bristleback. There's no way he survives the rare beast alone.
Before Landen could step in, a chime echoed in his mind as the system panel flashed in his field of vision:
[ Quest: Defeat the Rare Bristleback. ]
[ Reward: 50 Bonus Exp. ]
His eyes lit up. Fifty bonus experience points on top of whatever the base kill gave could be a hefty amount—more than enough to trigger a level-up.
Curious, Landen opened his interface to check his progress. He was currently sitting at 80 / 100 experience points. At the corner of his vision, however, a flashing red icon caught his attention: 4 Unread Notifications.
He opened the first one.
[ MATCH VICTORY: +50 EXP ]
'Match victory?' he thought. 'This must have been from the one vs. one match the other day. Talk about good timing—'
Before the thought could even finish, a pillar of golden light erupted from beneath his feet, into the sky. An ascending ethereal chime sounded in his ears as the thrill of a Level-Up Burst washed over him.
SHIIIIIIING!!!
The experience points he just received pushed him to the next level.
[ System Level-Up: Essence Level 2 ]
[ 30 / 200 Experience Points ]
[ ABILITIES (+1) ]
[ Bonus Attributes (+10) ]
"Well, look who finally decided to check their notifications!"
'System, why didn't you say something?'
"I did. Several times. You were too busy celebrating with your friends to bother listening to me."
'Do I sense a bit of jealousy?'
"Hardly — mildly offended, perhaps."
'I'll make sure to give you a mental hug later.'
"Looking forward to it."
Landen shook his head, grinning, and turned his attention back to what actually mattered. It was his first time reaching a new level entirely on his own, and the sheer rush of energy was intoxicating—pure, unfiltered ecstasy.
He was just about to dive into his upgraded stat menu when a voice crackled through his comm-link, breaking his concentration.
"Captain Landen, Elle reporting." Her voice was overly formal. "Mission success. Ready for the next assignment."
Landen paused. "Everyone — the second wave has arrived."
"Second wave?" Jareth said flatly.
"Two Rare Bristlebacks. One is 70 meters out at 4 o'clock, and the other is 200 meters out at 11 o'clock "
"11 o'clock... that's where Ember is!" Veya said, panic creeping into her tone.
"Right. You three head over and reinforce Ember immediately. I'll take care of the one in front of me."
"You sure?" Jareth asked.
"Can you really handle it alone?" Elle added.
"Shouldn't we stick together?" Veya pressed.
Landen lowered his voice, dropping it into a stern, commanding tone. "What did I tell you earlier?"
A collective, defeated silence filled the line before the three spoke in unison, sounding like scolded children: "Don't question orders."
"Then move out and destroy that beast. That's an order."
"Yes, Captain!"
As the three sped off toward Ember's location, Landen turned his attention back to the massive shape lumbering through the trees. The giant creature was approaching slowly, giving him just enough time to clear the remaining three notifications blinking on his HUD.
[ FIRST BLOOD BONUS: +20 EXP]
[ FIRST TIME ABILITY ACTIVATION, (CRITICAL HIT) : +10 EXP ]
[ FIRST TIME ABILITY ACTIVATION, (CULTIVATION) : +10 EXP ]
[ CURRENT EXP: 70 / 200 ]
Just like that, he was nearly halfway to Level 3.
With all base stats naturally increased from the level-up, he turned his attention to his +10 free attribute points. Without hesitation, he allocated 5 to Strength, 3 to Agility, and 2 to Vitality. Brute force alone wouldn't win this fight; speed and defense were going to be just as critical if he planned on surviving the monster ahead.
|| Attributes: ||
|| Strength: 4 (+15 points) ||
|| Agility: 4 (+3) ||
|| Intelligence: 4 ||
|| Vitality: 4 (+2) ||
(Note: Full stat breakdown available in the Author's Note)
Landen clenched his fists, flexing his arms before testing his weight on his back foot. A surge of raw power coiled through his muscles; the increase in strength and speed wasn't just numbers on a screen—it was real, and he felt it.
Now, only one thing remained.
He opened the skill tree menu and smiled. It was time to pick a new ability.
— — —
A short while earlier, at the start of the first wave...
While Landen and the others held the line, Orio had already set his own plan into motion — and it started with Mira Ellowyn.
Mira was the classic brainy beauty who didn't seem to notice she was one: round, long, dark chestnut hair tied in a loose side ponytail, tucked behind silver-rimmed glasses that constantly slid down the bridge of her nose. Socially awkward, endlessly distractible, and an absolute genius with her hands. She practically lived in the lab, and it showed — her white lab coat fit close to her slim frame, the sleeves permanently smudged with graphite and scorch marks.
Her robotic birds carried her and Ember away from the others at the start of the wave, banking low before setting them down in a clearing walled in by a jagged mountain.
"This is the place," Mira said, hopping off as her bird folded its wings and perched.
Ember landed beside her, immediately dropping into a low stance to scan the surrounding area. Nothing moved. No beast calls, no rustling brush.
"I need space to operate," Mira said, dusting off her coat. "And I'm sure you do, too."
Ember straightened up, her brows furrowing. "Space for what? There's nothing out here."
Mira wasn't really listening. She'd already wandered off, arranging scattered debris into makeshift targets, muttering measurements to herself. That was Mira — her mind ran three steps ahead of her mouth, and her mouth ran two steps ahead of whoever she was talking to.
The truth was simpler than Ember realized: Mira didn't have friends. She spent so much time alone with her machines that when she did try to connect with people, it came out too eager, too strange, and it usually pushed them further away. And privately, she'd always admired Ember — the confidence, the sharp edges, the way people went quiet when she walked into a room. Everyone wanted to talk to her. Mira included. So when this assignment landed in her lap, she'd told herself it was a chance to finally make a friend.
"Come look at this," Mira said, waving her over.
Curiosity got the better of her. Ember stepped closer. "Look at what, exactly?"
Mira reached into her coat and drew out two metallic, multicolored spheres. They unfolded in her palms — plates lifting, tiny gears rotating — until a swarm of tiny mechanical figures stood across her hands, climbed her arms, and settled along her shoulders and hair. Hundreds of them, no bigger than a finger.
"What are those?" Ember asked, leaning in.
"Sprites!" Mira's whole face lit up. "I built them myself!"
One of the sprites leapt from her sleeve onto Ember's shoulder. She flinched — then softened as it carefully picked its way down her arm before looking up at her with glowing blue eyes.
A smile escaped before she realized it. "It's... cute, actually," she admitted, flat but sincere. She poked gently at the little humanoid's chest. "You powered them on the same core design as the combat weapons?"
Mira blinked, surprised. "You know your essence tech."
"I know enough."
"I reverse-engineered the core, then shrank it down until it worked at this scale." Mira pulled her coat open to show an essence synthesizer strapped over her chest, similar to the one Veya wore. "They're tethered directly to my own essence. "
She held a few Sprites near her chest, and in unison, both Mira's synthesizer and the tiny cores pulsed brightly as streams of energy flowed into them.
"That's… incredible," Ember said, genuinely impressed.
Mira smiled. "So — want to see what they can do?"
"Definitely."
"Sprites — Grenade Formation!"
Three of the tiny figures clasped hands, spun together, and folded into each other until a single grenade sat in her palm, a thin ring of light blinking around its casing.
"Get Down!" Mira grabbed Ember's wrist and yanked her behind a boulder as she lobbed it toward the target she'd built.
*BOOM!*
The blast tore the target apart. Before the dust settled, a handful of sprites were already scrambling over the wreckage, gathering fragments while Mira scribbled notes in a pad that seemed to appear from nowhere.
"They're rebuilding themselves," Ember said, watching two sprites drag pieces into a pile.
"Mm-hmm — looks like the recovery rate's only about thirty-three percent, unfortunately." Mira didn't look up from her notes. "But it doesn't take much — three sprites' worth of material is enough to grow a new one."
Sure enough, the two sprites finished shaping the salvaged parts into a rough new form and carried it back to Mira like an offering. She lifted it to her synthesizer, and light poured into the small body until it twitched, stood, and scampered off to rejoin the others.
Ember let out a short laugh, more surprised than she meant to be. "I'm genuinely impressed," she said. "You're like a mad scientist."
"Thank you." Mira finally looked up and smiled. She pushed her glasses up her nose. "You know, you're a lot nicer than people say you are. Everyone acts like you're impossible to talk to. I don't think it's hard at all."
Ember glanced away. Is that really what people think of me?
"But I'll bet you know what is hard," Mira went on, oblivious to the shift in Ember's posture. "Being teammates with the guy who rejected you."
Ember's head snapped up. "Excuse me?"
"You know — what happened in the cafeteria. When Landen Knight rejected you. It was just so heartbreaking to watch—"
"He didn't reject me," Ember cut in, her voice flat and cold.
"Well, everyone knows you've been pursuing him. You've been chasing him since orientation!"
"That's—" Ember's pulse spiked before she could stop it. "That's ridiculous. Who told you that—"
She never finished the sentence. Something felt wrong. She slowly turned towards the dead end at the far corner of the mountain — not a beast. It was something else.
A cold, sick feeling settled in her stomach. Ember turned back to Mira, her voice dropping an octave. "Why did you bring me all the way out here?"
Mira blinked, confused by the sudden shift in atmosphere. "What? What's wrong—"
"Why did you bring me here, Mira?" Ember demanded, stepping into her space. "
"It… it was an order from my captain."
Ember froze. "Your… captain."
Her mind raced back to the first time she saw Orio. Details of his image formed, and then she saw it. "He was wearing the same red wristband."
Ember turned on Mira, her expression darkening. "Are you in on this, too?"
Mira's brow furrowed, genuinely lost. "In on what?"
Before Ember could answer, six hooded figures stepped out from the brush, blocking the exit and closing the circle around them.
Ember immediately dropped into a battle stance. Mira scrambled to her feet, backing up until her back found Ember's back.
"Ember?" Mira whispered as her sprites gathered nervously around her boots. "Are we being attacked?"
"I believe so." Ember readied herself. I hope you're as tough as your little friends."
Mira swallowed hard, pushing her glasses back up her nose. "You can count on me."
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