The spider went down hard.
Lucas yanked Whisperfang free, stepped back from the twitching legs, and just stood there for a second with his hands on his knees breathing.
The fight had gone longer than he wanted. The thing was fast for its size- eight eyes tracking him from every angle, web catching his ankles twice, claws coming from directions he hadn't accounted for. He'd taken a hit on the shoulder that was still burning.
But it was down.
He straightened up and wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his wrist.
___________________
[SYSTEM INFORMATION]
___________________
[Congratulations — C-rank beast defeated.]
[Level: 11]
[Health: 100]
[Mana: 60]
[Strength: 32]
[Agility: 27]
[Defense: 29]
[Stamina: 36]
[Unallocated Stat: 6]
[Magic: Not awakened yet]
[Skills: Mana Perception]
[Weapon: Whisperfang]
____________________
He leaned back against a tree and looked at the numbers.
Level eleven. Months of this, months of slipping out after lights out, moving through the surrounding forest alone while everyone else was asleep, finding things to fight and fighting them until he either won or had to run and then came back and tried again. Night after night. The shoulder he'd taken hits on. The mornings he'd dragged himself to class running on three hours of sleep and willpower.
Because the classroom wasn't doing it. He'd figured that out fast. Lectures, theory, shaping exercises, all of it mattered, all of it was real knowledge, but none of it moved his stats. Only this did. Only actual combat, actual pressure, actually putting himself in front of something that wanted to hurt him and coming out the other side.
So this was his routine now. Everyone else rested. Lucas hunted.
He was still catching his breath when a new notification appeared, different from the usual ones, brighter somehow, the text holding itself in the air with more weight than normal.
_______________
[System Alert]
_______________
Level 10 milestone reached.]
[Weapon Upgrade Unlocked.]
[Equipped weapons can now be enhanced — increased damage, stats, and latent abilities.]
[Access via System Menu.]
_______________
Lucas stared at it. "Upgrade?"
Another window opened before he finished saying the word.
_______________
[Weapon: Whisperfang]
[Type: Dagger — Rarity: Uncommon]
[Base Damage: 5]
[Agility Bonus: +2]
[Upgrade Cost: 5 Stat Points]
_______________
He looked at his unallocated stats. Six points sitting there. Five to upgrade. That would leave him one.
He started pacing without deciding to, small circles in the grass under the trees, turning it over. Five points was a lot. Five points in agility was real, tangible, something he could feel in a fight. He'd earned every one of those points the hard way, bleeding for them, losing sleep for them, pushing past the point of sense for them.
But Whisperfang had carried him through everything. The goblin. The fox. Every night out here. It had been the one constant since day one on that bench, the first real thing the system had ever given him.
He crouched down and ran his thumb along the blade slowly. The familiar weight of it. The claw handle worn into the shape of his grip after months of use.
'What could it become?'
He stood up.
"Fine," he said quietly, to himself, to the system, to whatever was listening. "Let's see it." He tightened his hand around the hilt. "Upgrade."
The word barely left his mouth before Whisperfang dissolved — not dramatically, just gone, a soft pulse of light and then the weight leaving his hand like a held breath releasing.
______________
[Upgrading…]
[Complete.]
______________
Something settled into both his hands simultaneously.
He looked down.
Two daggers. Twin blades curving like crescent moons, paired and balanced, one in each hand. Along the edges faint green runes pulsed softly with his own heartbeat almost, and when he shifted his grip, the blades caught the moonlight and threw it back in thin cold lines. The hilts curved into claw grips that fit his hands like they'd been made for them specifically. He flexed his fingers. Then slowly, carefully, he moved one blade in a short arc.
A trail of faint green smoke followed the swing and hung in the air for a second before dissolving.
He stopped moving.
Stared at it.
Moved the blade again. The trail followed- smooth, clean, shimmering faintly like heat off stone.
_______________
[Weapon Upgrade: Shadowfang]
[Type: Dual Daggers — Rarity: Rare]
[Base Damage: 20 per dagger]
[Agility Bonus: +15]
[Special Effects:]
[— Mana Resonance II: Doubles mana synergy when dual-wielding.]
[— Shadow Dance: Executes a rapid double strike, highly unpredictable.]
[Visual: Faint green smoke trails follow each swing.]
_______________
He read that number three times and it said the same thing all three times.
'Twenty. Per dagger. Each.'
He did the math quickly and quietly and then stood there in the forest at whatever hour this was with two rare-class daggers in his hands and a grin spreading across his face that he couldn't do anything about.
"This is insane," he said to nobody. "This is completely insane." He moved both blades together this time, crossing them in a slow X, and the green trails overlapped and swirled and faded. "I need to try this on something. Right now. I need to find something to—"
"Who's there?"
He spun.
The lantern light hit him before he could react, catching his face, his hands, the twin blades still trailing faint green smoke. He shoved them behind his back immediately on pure instinct, heart jumping into his throat. 'Guards. If it's the patrol I'm done. Sneaking out after hours, hunting in the restricted forest zone, I'm done.. I'm so don—'
The voice came again. Quieter. Different.
"Lucas?"
He knew that voice.
He turned slowly. The lantern light shifted as the figure stepped forward, and the face that came into view from the dark made his stomach do something complicated.
Sylvia stood at the treeline, lantern in one hand, her red hair loose around her shoulders, just her, in the middle of the night, in the same forest he'd been sneaking into for months.
Looking exactly as surprised to see him as he was to see her.
He exhaled. "Sylvia?"