The massive red eye blinked. A thick, foul odor washed over Shaurya, smelling strongly of rotten eggs and dried blood. The Blood-Scale Beast slowly dragged its body out of the dark crack in the wall. It was the size of a small truck, covered in thick, dark-red armor plates that scraped against the rocks with a terrible screeching noise.
All the other miners had already vanished into the tunnels, leaving behind their tools and their dignity. Shaurya stood alone. His bare feet gripped the rough, dusty floor. He held the broken iron head of the pickaxe tightly in his hands.
Right at this life-and-death moment, his brain decided to play a stupid trick on him. As the terrifying beast opened its jaws, revealing rows of yellow, jagged teeth, Shaurya noticed a piece of glowing green moss stuck between its front fangs. For a split second, he didn't think about dying. He thought about the cheap green mints the tea vendor back on Earth used to hand him
when he didn't have spare change. *Why am I thinking about mints right now?* he wondered, almost letting out a dry laugh. It was completely absurd. The human mind really was a mess under pressure.
Then, the beast roared.
This was not a normal sound. In Neurentia, heavy sounds actually carried physical weight. The roar hit Shaurya like a solid wall of moving air. It shoved him backward. His feet slid across the dirt, leaving two long trails behind him. He fell hard onto his back, the air rushing out of his lungs.
[System Alert: Kinetic Force detected. Physical damage taken.]
[Endurance +0.5]
Shaurya ignored the blue text floating in his vision. He rolled to the side just as a massive, scaled tail smashed into the exact spot where his head had been a second ago. Sharp pieces of rock flew everywhere like bullets.
He didn't have a downloaded 'Neuro-Link' combat manual. He didn't know the proper stance or the elegant way to hold his weapon. What he did have was twenty years of dodging falling cement blocks, snapping crane cables, and reckless truck drivers. His body simply reacted.
The beast lunged forward, snapping its jaws at his waist. Shaurya dropped to his knees, sliding under the monster's chin. The rough ground tore the skin off his knees, but a strange numbness took over his mind. He saw the blood running down his leg, but he didn't feel the pain at all.
His brain completely shut the pain off, focusing entirely on the heavy iron spike in his hands.
He aimed for the soft, pale flesh right beneath the beast's thick neck plates. He didn't swing it like a sword. He thrust it upward exactly the way he used to drive a heavy iron rod into a stubborn slab of concrete. He put the strength of his legs, his waist, and his shoulders into that single upward push.
*Crunch.*
The iron spike sank deep into the beast's throat. Hot, thick blood sprayed out directly onto Shaurya's face and arms. The sudden heat of the blood made him flinch. It felt exactly like the time his mother accidentally dropped a bowl of hot dal on his hand in their tiny kitchen. She had cried for hours that night, holding his burnt hand, cursing her own clumsiness. That memory flashed in his mind—the warmth of her tears mixing with his pain.
The beast let out a choking, gurgling sound. It thrashed wildly. A stray claw caught Shaurya on his left shoulder, tossing him through the air like a broken ragdoll. He crashed into the stone wall, the impact knocking the breath out of him entirely.
He slid down to the floor, coughing violently. Every bone in his body felt like it was bent out of shape.
But the beast was not doing any better. It stumbled, choking on its own blood, before collapsing onto the mine floor. The ground shook one last time as the heavy monster stopped moving.
Shaurya sat there, leaning against the cold wall. His chest heaved up and down. His yellow, soft skin was now painted completely red.
Suddenly, a flurry of blue notifications blinded his vision.
[Target Eliminated: Blood-Scale Beast (Juvenile).]
[Calculating Experience... 100x Multiplier Active!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[System Alert: Massive energy transfer complete. Your physical cells have absorbed the beast's dissipated life force.]
[Strength +15]
[Agility +10]
[Stamina +20]
[New Skill Unlocked: 'Iron Skin' (Passive) - Minor cuts and blunt force trauma are reduced by 20%.]
A rush of cooling energy washed over Shaurya. The deep cut on his shoulder stopped bleeding. The torn skin on his knees began to knit itself together, leaving behind tough, slightly discolored scars. He felt a new, raw power sitting heavy in his muscles. When he pushed himself up from the ground, he didn't feel weak anymore. He felt rooted, heavy, and dangerous.
Before he could fully process his new strength, he heard the sound of slow, heavy footsteps.
He turned his head. The overseer stood at the entrance of the tunnel, holding a glowing energy rifle. The large man stared at the dead beast, his jaw hanging open. Then, his eyes shifted to Shaurya, who was standing there drenched in blood, holding nothing but empty hands.
The overseer's initial shock quickly turned into a greedy, calculating squint. He lowered his rifle slightly.
"You didn't kill that, trash," the overseer said, his voice shaking slightly, though he tried to hide it by puffing out his chest. "A Void like you couldn't even scratch a Blood-Scale. The beast must have hit its head on a falling rock. Yes, that makes sense."
Shaurya didn't say a word. He just watched the man. He noticed the sweat forming on the overseer's forehead. He saw the way the man's fingers twitched nervously around the trigger of the rifle.
"I will claim this kill," the overseer continued, taking a step forward. He pointed the barrel of the rifle right at Shaurya's chest. "A beast's energy core is worth thousands of silver coins. You are going to clean the blood off that carcass, drag the core out, and hand it to me. If you open your mouth to anyone, I will tell Lady Isabella you tried to escape, and I will shoot you right here. Understood?"
The psychological weight in the room changed. It wasn't the gravity of the mine anymore. It was the heavy, sickening weight of human greed.
Shaurya wiped the beast's blood from his eyes. He looked at the overseer, not with anger, but with a strange, calm pity. This man had downloaded all the mining and shooting skills in the world, yet he was nothing but a coward trying to steal a laborer's hard work.
"You know," Shaurya spoke, his voice completely steady, echoing slightly in the large cavern. "On my old construction site, there was a supervisor just like you. He used to sit in the shade, drink cold water, and steal our daily wages from the register."
The overseer frowned, confused by the sudden story. "What nonsense are you babbling about, Void? Get to work!"
Shaurya took a slow step forward. His new 'Iron Skin' passive skill hummed quietly beneath his flesh.
"I am just thinking," Shaurya said, taking another step, closing the distance. "I broke that supervisor's nose with a brick. I wonder what I'm going to break of yours."
The overseer's eyes widened. Panic finally broke through his greedy facade. He raised the rifle to his eye level and pulled the trigger. A bright blue bolt of energy shot out of the barrel, aimed right at Shaurya's heart.
But Shaurya wasn't standing there anymore. His Agility had jumped by ten points. To his new senses, the overseer's movements looked ridiculously slow, like a man trying to run through deep mud.
Shaurya ducked under the energy bolt. He stepped into the overseer's personal space, twisting his body, and drove his newly strengthened fist straight up into the man's stomach.
The sound of the impact echoed louder than the beast's roar. The plot had just taken a sharp turn, and the real fight for survival in this cursed family had finally begun.