The mountain air was a different kind of cold. It didn't just chill the skin; it felt like it was trying to freeze the mana right out of my marrow. I moved off the main trail, stepping softly over frozen pine needles. Each breath was a small puff of white vapor, but thanks to the Iron Core, my lungs didn't burn. My internal temperature was steady, the silver lines on my ribs acting like a heater.
I stayed about fifty yards behind the mercenaries. There were four of them. They weren't "Players" yet—nobody was—but they were professionals. They wore tactical black gear, carried suppressed submachine guns, and moved in a tight diamond formation.
"They're searching for the 'Ancient Artifact,'" I whispered to myself, crouching behind a lichen-covered rock.
In my old life, the news said these men were part of the "Black Mamba" security firm. They had been hired by a billionaire who collected occult items. They thought they were on a simple retrieval mission. They had no idea they were walking into a high-density mana zone that would tear their minds apart before the first monster even showed up.
[ SYNC RATE: 11.7% ] [ WARNING: HOSTILE INTENT DETECTED IN AREA ] [ TARGETS: 4 HUMANS ]
"Hold up," the leader of the mercs barked. He raised a gloved hand, and the group froze. He looked at a high-tech GPS device in his palm. "The signal is spiking. The shrine should be just past this ridge. But the compass is spinning like crazy."
"Sir, the air... it feels weird," one of the younger mercs muttered, rubbing his arms. "I feel like someone is walking over my grave."
"Shut up and keep your eyes moving," the leader snapped. "We get the 'Star-Fall' steel, we get paid, and we get off this rock. Move."
I followed them as they crested the ridge. Below us sat a hidden valley that wasn't on any map. In the center was a small, stone building that looked thousands of years old. It wasn't a temple; it was a tomb.
The air in the valley was shimmering, like heat waves on a highway, but it was freezing. This was the "Star-Fall" energy. It was raw, unrefined mana leaking from the Unbreakable Blade.
As the mercenaries approached the stone doors, the ground began to tremble.
"Boss! Look!"
The shadows under the trees began to stretch and detach themselves from the ground. They weren't monsters yet—they were Wraiths, echoes of the Ancient Woman's guards. They looked like flickering silhouettes of soldiers made of smoke.
The mercenaries panicked. "Open fire!"
Pah-pah-pah-pah!
The suppressed gunfire hissed through the air, but the bullets passed right through the smoke soldiers. The mercs were fighting ghosts with lead. It was a slaughter waiting to happen.
I stood up, clenching my fists. The Iron Core in my chest hummed in response to the Wraiths. They were Level 1 entities, just like the needle-wolf, but there were six of them.
"I could wait," I thought. "I could let the ghosts kill them and just walk over their bodies."
But the Cold Blood skill wasn't just about survival. It was about growth. If I let the ghosts have the kills, I got nothing. If I took them, my Sync Rate would climb.
I reached into my bag and pulled out a heavy construction hammer I'd grabbed from the site earlier. It wasn't the Unbreakable Blade, but with 11% Sync strength behind it, it would hit like a wrecking ball.
"Hey!" I shouted, my voice echoing through the valley.
The mercenaries spun around, their guns swiveling toward me. The Wraiths paused, their empty heads tilting toward the new sound.
"Who the hell is that?" the leader yelled. "A kid? What are you doing here?"
"I'm the guy who's going to save your lives," I said, breaking into a sprint. "But only if you stay out of my way."
I didn't run like a human. I moved with a heavy, metallic thud every time my boots hit the ground. I slammed into the first Wraith before it could react. My hammer, coated in the silver light of the Relic, passed through the smoke and hit the "Core" at the center.
SHATTER.
The Wraith exploded into a cloud of cold ash.
[ WRAITH DEFEATED ] [ EXPERIENCE GAINED ] [ SYNC RATE: 11.9% ]
I didn't stop. I spun, the weight of the hammer carrying me into the next one. The mercenaries stood frozen, watching a teenager in a torn school uniform destroy the ghosts that their bullets couldn't touch.
"Don't just stand there!" I barked as I ducked under a smoky blade. "The doors! Get the doors open or more will come!"
I wasn't saving them because I was a hero. I was saving them because the stone doors of the shrine required four people to push them open, and I didn't want to waste my mana trying to break the granite by myself.
I was a scavenger. I used everything. Even my enemies.