(Earlier, Before Crimson Alpha's Fall)
In the heart of the forest, Bernardo stood amidst the carnage of a Gloomfang massacre. The air hung heavy with the coppery tang of blood. His dagger, slick with the dark crimson fluid, dripped onto the ground, staining the already blood-soaked earth. Blue fur, scattered like fallen confetti, littered the forest floor – testant to the brutal efficiency of Gary and Steven. But the fight wasn't over. The Alpha Gloomfang, a hulking behemoth of muscle and rage, still stood, its eyes burning with a predatory gleam.
Bernardo stole a glance at the two n before him. Steven, his chest heaving, his face pale, struggled to keep his sword upright, his body trembling with exhaustion. Sweat plastered his dark hair to his forehead. Gary, in contrast, seed almost amused, a smirk playing on his lips as he watched his brother's struggle. "What's wrong? Tired?" Gary's voice was a low chuckle, laced with a hint of mockery. Steven gasped, a ragged breath catching in his throat, his eyes squeezed shut for a mont before he opened them again, his gaze fixed on the Alpha. "No," he managed to croak out, the word barely audible above the pounding of his own heart.
Gary shifted his attention back to the Alpha. The massive blue wolf, its flanks torn and bleeding, growled, a low rumble that vibrated through the forest floor. It took a hesitant step back, its eyes flickering between Gary and Steven, assessing their strength, gauging their resolve. Then, its gaze fell upon Bernardo, who stood silently behind them, his own fear a palpable presence in the tense air. The Alpha's nostrils flared, picking up the scent of Bernardo's terror. Bernardo's mind raced, a frantic whirlwind of fear and desperation. *If that thing cos at , I'm dead. Should I run?*
Before he could even consider his options, the Alpha launched itself, a blur of blue fur and razor-sharp claws, aiming to strike between the two brothers. Bernardo's eyes widened, his body frozen in a mont of sheer terror. He couldn't react. Then, as quickly as it began, the attack ended. All four of the Alpha's legs were severed by Gary's sword in a single, impossible strike. The Alpha howled in agony, its massive body skidding across the ground in a chaotic tumble, stopping only when its back slamd against Bernardo's feet. Bernardo yelped, jumping back with a startled cry. He watched, his heart pounding in his chest, as Gary's sword, having seemingly moved on its own, returned to its owner's hand with a soft *thunk*. Steven and Gary stared, their mouths agape, at the impossible sight.
Gary turned to his little brother, a smirk playing on his lips. "Well, what are you waiting for? You said you wanted to grow stronger, right? Well, go and kill the damn thing before it dies."
Steven, jolted from his stupor, straightened, his grip tightening on his sword. He charged, his movents surprisingly swift and decisive despite his earlier exhaustion. Bernardo watched, his eyes wide, as Steven reached the fallen Alpha, plunging his sword deep into its ear with a swift, precise thrust. A small, choked howl escaped the Alpha's throat before it went still.
Steven, breathing heavily, pulled his sword free, taking a deep, shuddering breath as he closed his eyes. A mont later, he opened them, his expression transford. A new skill, a flood of information, washed over him. He had reached D-Rank.
Bernardo watched, his gaze shifting to Gary. "How did you do that? Was that another skill?" he asked, his voice filled with awe.
Gary grinned, a flash of white teeth against his tanned skin. "Yeah, obviously. It's called Sword Control. It allows to move my sword however I like, without even touching it." He demonstrated, letting his sword dangle in the air before it began to move on its own, levitating and spinning horizontally before he smoothly caught it by the hilt. "It's a very useful skill," he admitted, "but it has its disadvantages."
Steven, still catching his breath, turned to Gary. "Huh? That's funny. I got a skill that's just similar to yours just now."
Gary's eyebrows shot up. "Huh? So you got into D-Rank, huh?"
Steven nodded, a wide smile spreading across his face. "Yeah, I got into D-Rank."
Bernardo, his curiosity piqued, turned to Steven. "So, what is the skill that you got?"
"'It's called Retrieve'," Steven explained. "It lets summon anything I deem mine next to . Which ans..." He opened his palm, a faint green light emanating from his hand before a simple drinking cup materialized. He chuckled, looking down at the cup. "Would you look at that? It's my cup."
Gary's face fell. His disappointnt was palpable. "Are you fucking kidding right now? Are you telling you couldn't even get a combat skill? What the hell does Retrieve have to do with you getting stronger?"
Steven shrugged, a grin spreading across his face. "Well, it has a big advantage. I an, if I lose my weapon, I can just retrieve it imdiately, right? At this point, I'm always ard, even if I don't have anything on ."
Gary facepald, muttering, "Then how is this even similar to my skill?"
"Well," Steven continued, "if you deem anything yours – your sword, for example – then you can control it, right? That ans you could control two swords, or three, if I'm not mistaken. It's similar to mine because if I deem anything mine, then I can summon it."
Gary considered this, a thoughtful expression replacing his earlier frustration. "So that ans they have the sa disadvantages. I can't just *deem* anything mine; I have to truly *feel* that it's mine to control it. I can't just say it's mine and then control it; I have to actually think that it belongs to , a hundred percent."
Steven nodded, understanding dawning on his face.
Gary sighed, a hint of weariness in his voice. "Well, at least you got stronger."
"I an, what the hell would I expect from a D-Rank skill?" Gary muttered, more to himself than to Steven. He then turned to Bernardo. "Hey, Bernardo," Gary called out.
Bernardo, who had been watching them, responded, "What is it?"
"You haven't been doing much work while we were with you," Gary stated, his tone matter-of-fact. "And we promised we'd split the reward. So... it's only fair for you to remove the monster's hides, isn't it?"
Bernardo hesitated. "But I'm not even a hunter. I don't know how to remove an animal's hide."
Gary chuckled, a dismissive sound. "Oh, no, it's simple. I'll just show you." He unsheathed his dagger, approaching the fallen Alpha. With a practiced hand, he sunk the dagger into the Alpha's gut, then expertly slid the blade along the creature's underside, opening the skin. He looked back at Bernardo. "See? It's that easy. Since you already have a dagger, I don't think I need to give you this one. You just need to use yours."
Bernardo swallowed hard, his nervousness evident. "Fine."
He walked over to the Alpha, mimicking Gary's movents, his own dagger finding purchase in the sa spot. He crouched down, awkwardly beginning the task of skinning the Alpha.
Steven, impatient, called out, "Co on, man, make it quick. We need to head back."
anwhile, on the other side of the forest, Grone looked around at the crimson wolves. Their hides shimred blue, then vanished into Tyler's inventory, leaving behind only their skinless carcasses. Tyler sighed, a weary sound echoed by Grone. Suddenly, a system panel appeared before Tyler, interrupting the silence.
Achievent Unlocked: Kill 80 Monsters: 15 Str
Achievent Unlocked: Second Boss Monster Kill: 20 STM
Achievent Unlocked: Kill A Crimson Alpha: 20 AGL
The system panels appeared one after another, overlapping slightly, announcing Tyler's achievents. He was surprised, but also felt the imdiate effects – a surge of strength and agility coursing through his body.
Grone looked at Tyler, answering his earlier question. "My shoulder is still bleeding a bit, but I'll live."
Tyler nodded, a frown creasing his brow. "Right. I should have made more potions."
Grone waved a hand dismissively. "Not to worry about it." His gaze drifted towards the tal chamber Tyler had created earlier. "That thing over there... is that one of your skills?"
"Yeah," Tyler confird. "While we were fighting the Crimson Alpha, I managed to get into C-Rank, and I got that as my new skill. At first, I wasn't even sure how to use it, but when I read the description, I had no choice but to just use it and pray that whatever ca out was able to stop the Alpha from killing you. Looks like it worked."
Grone smiled, a genuine expression of relief. "Well, thank goodness it worked. I would have been wolf at if you hadn't used your skill."
Tyler's face remained serious, a shadow falling over his features as mories of Grone's wife and daughter flickered through his mind. "Yeah..." he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.
Grone looked at the Crimson Alpha's corpse and saw that it had no hide and also realized part of its head was missing, mainly the whole jaw was gone.
"The jaw is gone," Grone observed.
Tyler looked down at the Alpha's remains. "Huh, it must be a material to craft so items." As he spoke, watching Grone, he noticed sothing different about the chamber behind Grone, a few feet away. The floating text box above it, which had previously read "650 Defence," now read "541 Defence."
"So that's how it works," Grone mused. "You can use even the Alpha's jaw to make a weapon, huh? And I gotta admit, the jaw is probably one of the toughest bones on the Alpha, including its fangs."
"Yeah..." Tyler murmured, passing Grone to approach the chamber. He placed his hand on the cool, dark tal, similar to the material of his axe. He rubbed his hand across the smooth iron, a thoughtful expression on his face. *Can this thing's defense decrease?* he wondered, his gaze falling on the markings left by the Alpha's paw from its earlier attack. *That ans maybe if it didn't give up, it would have destroyed it.*
Stepping back slightly, Tyler clenched his fist. Then, using all his strength, he punched the chamber wall. A loud *ting* echoed through the clearing, surprising Grone.
"What are you doing?" Grone asked.
Tyler removed his fist, examining the chamber. "I was just checking sothing. It looks like the more you hit this thing, the weaker it gets."
Tyler saw that the defense on the chamber was now 351. Grone leaned closer, his curiosity piqued. "What do you an? I an, isn't it obvious?"
Tyler nodded, but his expression remained serious. "Yeah, it's obvious when you hit sothing it becos weaker, but, I an, it's kind of different here. I didn't think it would react *that* way, because the durability itself is decreasing. I want to see what happens if the durability falls to zero. I want to see if this thing is going to break. And if it breaks, I want to see if it will disappear."
Grone frowned. "But aren't you hurting yourself hitting that thing?"
Tyler glanced at the knuckles of his fist. "Oh no, I'm totally fine. In fact, I'm not feeling any pain at all from hitting it. Weird. Maybe it's because I just got a whole lot stronger."
Tyler tightened the palms of his fists. Then, with astonishing speed, he unleashed a flurry of punches – right, left, right, left – in what seed to Grone like the blink of an eye. The speed of his fists was blurring. In less than a minute, the system panel appeared before Tyler:
Chamber has received too much damage. Durability has fallen to zero. Chamber cannot hold.
The chamber, with a series of loud cracks, shattered into countless shards of shining tal, collapsing into a heap of scrap iron. On top of the pile, the word *EXTRACT* shimred into existence.
"So that's what happens," Tyler murmured, his gaze fixed on the shimring word.
"Extract," Tyler murmured, watching the heap of iron tal vanish. A slow smile spread across his face. *This is aweso. That ans I can just use this thing to copy any material I want. Just make the chamber, have lots of material in the process...*
A groan escaped Grone's lips as he shifted his injured shoulder. "Those tal scraps that just disappeared... they are now materials that you can use to craft, am I right?"
Tyler nodded. "Yeah, oh, I almost forgot about this, but can you give so more of that holy water? There's so left, right?"
"Yes, of course," Grone replied, reaching into his bag and producing the water pouch.
Tyler received it, opened his palm, and a vial materialized. He poured the holy water into the vial. "Craft healing potion," he commanded.
A blue system panel appeared, reading: Crafting... The circular loading bar filled instantly. Another panel followed: Crafting successful.
A potion materialized in Tyler's open palm. "Here," he said, offering it to Grone. "I'm sure this one will do the job."
Grone accepted the potion and drank it. As soon as he finished drinking the potion, Grone's skin glowed a faint green.
Grone felt the warmth of the potion spread through him. The pain in his body, the aches in his joints from the brutal fight, began to recede. The bleeding from his shoulder wound, inflicted by the Alpha's bite, stopped, the edges of the wound drawing together. A little bit of energy flowed back into him; it was as if the exertion of battle had never happened. No lingering pain, no scar—nothing. He was utterly astonished.
"I've been fully healed," Grone said, his voice filled with wonder.
Tyler nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Yes, it heals 30% of your injuries. Seems like I got it all wrong when I said it doesn't heal fatal injuries. But it seems like 30% doesn't an fatal. It just ans... well, I guess 30%."
"Well, anyway, thank you," Grone said, extending his hand to return the vial.
"All right, I guess we have to go now—" Tyler began, but his words were cut short by a sudden, sharp *whoosh* that sliced through the air. The sound was followed by the *shink* of tal against glass. A katana-like sword, impossibly fast, had grazed Grone's palm, slicing through the vial before vanishing as quickly as it appeared. Glass shards rained down as Grone instinctively recoiled, his hand stinging.
The katana, seemingly moving of its own accord, spun end over end a few feet away, its polished surface glinting in the dappled sunlight. It then arced through the air, a deadly crescent of steel, before returning to the point from which it had co.
The unexpected attack left both n montarily speechless. Then, with practiced efficiency, Tyler's axe materialized in his hand, its polished head gleaming nacingly. Grone, mirroring Tyler's action, swiftly unsheathed his own sword, the polished steel singing a silent song of readiness.
From the undergrowth, where the katana had vanished, Grone’s eyes widened and Tyler’s brow shot up in confusion. Three figures erged from the trees, walking towards them across the clearing: Gary, Bernardo, and Steven. Gary, in the center, held the katana, a predatory grin splitting his face.
"Old man," Gary drawled, his voice laced with amusent. "I didn't think I'd see you here."
Steven nodded, his gaze fixed on Tyler, a predatory gleam in his eyes. "Yeah, it really is him. That's the guy I was talking about."
Bernardo simply stared at Tyler, his expression openly hostile.
Tyler's mind raced. *Wait, isn't that—isn't he supposed to be in prison right now? What is he even doing here? And him…* His attention shifted to Steven. *He once tried to attack when I ca from that quest that ti… Do they all know each other?*
Grone’s voice was sharp, laced with concern. "Gary, what are you doing?"
Gary's grin widened, revealing a flash of teeth. "Well, isn't it obvious? Rember that promise I once made to you, before you beca a C-Rank? I promised you that if I t you in the Monster Zones, it might be the last ti people saw you alive. And I wasn't kidding—"
"Brother," Steven interrupted, his voice tight with urgency.
Gary snapped at him, his tone sharp. "What? Can't you see I'm talking here?"
"That guy's a D-Rank now," Steven insisted, ignoring Gary's outburst.
Bernardo, having witnessed this exchange, felt his heart pound in his chest. But then, his gaze fell upon Tyler's armor and axe, and a different kind of excitent surged through him. *Those things are going to bring a whole lot of gold,* he thought, a calculating glint entering his eyes.
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