Chapter 12: Predator’s Respite
Current penalty Hold – 2 (Starts in 00:57)
The numbers blinked at the bottom of the Daily Quest window like a countdown taped to a bomb.
00:57.
00:56.
’Wait— wait, what the hell?’ Hide’s thoughts turned frantic. ’Penalty? What kind of penalty?’
No answer.
The System window didn’t elaborate. The line just kept ticking.
00:52.
His mouth went dry. Sweat pricked at the back of his neck.
He tried tapping the text, then swiping it aside. Nothing. The tir shifted slightly when his finger passed through it, like disturbed smoke, then reford.
"Hey." He glared at the blue pane. "You can hear my thoughts, you creepy bastard. Explain what this is before it hits zero."
Another window unfolded, but it wasn’t the one he wanted.
[Adaptive Override — Adaptation Complete]
Analysis: Complete.
Counter-Skill Generated:
[Predator’s Respite — Rank B (Passive)]
– On enemy kill, restore 50% of missing stamina.
– Chain kills within a brief window grant reduced additional restoration.
He scanned it quickly, words sinking in.
"Stamina... fifty percent..." he murmured. Every corpse as a breath.
On the street, that would have kept him standing a lot longer. Maybe long enough that he wouldn’t have blacked out next to Kai and Risa in a pool of blood.
The countdown in the corner did not care.
00:39.
He snapped his attention back to the Daily quest panel.
The penalty line pulsed once, as if amused.
"I can’t even move my legs," he hissed under his breath. "How am I supposed to finish any of this? Push-ups? Kicks? Running?"
No response. Just the soft, relentless change of numbers.
00:34.
"Fine," he muttered. "Do as your sorry ass pleases... damn it!"
He closed the Daily quest window and reopened his main status, pulling the panel wider with a thought.
--
[Universal Adaptation System]
Host: Hide Volter
Age: 18
Level: 2
Exp: 100 / 700
Class: ∞
Class Rank: F
Evolve – Level 1 / 20
Physical Attributes
Strength: 6
Agility: 5
Endurance: 10
Vitality: 8
ntal Attributes
Perception: 7
Willpower: 12
Non-Allocated Points: 5
Active Skills – Abyssal Scale Carapace (A)
Passive Skills – Dermal Reinforcent (F), Predator’s Respite (B)
[Inventory]
[Daily Quests]
System ssages:
[0 Unread Notifications]
--
He had five non allocated points, that ant he could put them anywhere he wanted them to.
He didn’t have much ti so he thought about each one of them briefly. The first thing he rembered was the car, it hadn’t moved, no matter how much he’d pushed.
If he have had a little more strength, maybe he could have turned it over.
And then the main thing, that was stamina. He had blacked out because he ran out of stamina and if the response team hadn’t arrived on ti he would be dead by now.
He exhaled through his nose.
"Four into Strength," he thought.
The stat flickered.
Strength: 6 → 10
Non-Allocated Points: 5 → 1
He felt a little warmth spread through his body before settling down like it was his own. He felt... like he could feel his muscles better.
"Last one..." He looked over the list.
Agility ant speed, reflex and evasion.
Endurance ant stamina. How long he could keep moving before his body started shutting down.
"Endurance," he decided.
Endurance: 10 → 11
Non-Allocated Points: 1 → 0
The penalty tir was still running, stubbornly unimpressed.
00:18.
"You’re really going to do this," he whispered. "Even now."
He dragged his attention back to the bottom of the Daily Quest window.
Failure to complete daily quests would result in penalty.
Current penalty Hold – 2 (Starts in 00:17)
’What happens when it hits zero?’ he demanded. ’Do I lose stats? Exp? Do you send a lightning bolt through my brain?’
These were the paneities he had read about in the old books.
The room remained quietly, perfectly indifferent. But he heard sothing.
Sowhere beyond the door, faint and distant, he heard the soft rhythm of footsteps approaching. More than one pair. They were still far, but drawing nearer.
"Great timing," Hide cursed inwards. ’Perfect’
His body went tense without his say-so. It felt like sitting in class waiting for the teacher to call his na and knowing there was nothing left on the test to lie about.
00:08.
00:07.
A small new line popped up under the penalty text, after it hit 3 seconds.
Penalty Holds: 2
Transfer preparation in progress...
His stomach dropped.
"Transfer where?" he snapped. "Hey. No. Absolutely not. There are people coming. If they walk in and I’m just—"
Penalty Hold – 2
Initiating transfer in: 01...
His eyes widened.
"No, don’t—"
He swung his fist at the panel on instinct. It passed through the blue like through smoke. The last thing he saw before the number hit zero was his own hand ghosting through the glowing text.
00.
One second he was sitting upright in a hospital bed with dead legs and caras in the corners; the next he was standing.
His feet were on sothing that looked like a floor—dark, reflective, stretching out in all directions.
Hide spun around.
The "room" was... wrong.
There were no walls, not in any way his eyes understood. Shapes hung in the air at impossible distances, geotric planes and lines of light stacked on each other, sliding past and through.
It felt like standing inside the guts of so enormous, four-dinsional machine.
Above him—or below, or sideways depending on how you let your brain tilt there were only line and lines and lines that stretched to infinity and he was trapped inside a small box inside the Infinity dinsion.
It was utterly absurd.
"...What the fuck," he breathed. "Its like those cyber ga lobby."
A window slid into place directly in front of him.
[Penalty Space]
Total Penalty Holds: 2
Duration per Penalty: 15 minutes
Total Session Ti: 30 minutes
Skill and Stat Enhancents: Temporarily Suppressed during Penalty
His heart lurched.
"Suppressed?" he repeated. "What do you—"
Another line etched itself under the others, each word appearing with delicate, infuriating calm.
Note: External ti compression factor – 1000×
30 minutes here = 1.8 seconds in Host’s external environnt.
He stared at that for a mont.
"One point eight..." He repeated in disbelief. "So out there, nobody even notices I’m gone."
The realization hit in two directions at once.
Relief, that the people coming would not find an empty bed.
Dread, that whatever happened in here was going to happen only to him.
"Why?" he demanded. "I only missed the quests because I was unconscious in a hospital, you maniac. You know that."
The pane ignored the complaint.
A final line faded into view.
[Good Luck Surviving]
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