Lucen exhaled. Once. Short.
’Of course this wasn’t going to be a lesson in punching rocks.’
Varik turned.
"I brought you here because this place doesn’t play by city rules. And because if you survive this zone, you’ll hit Level Nine. Maybe Ten."
Lucen raised a brow. "That easy?"
Varik’s expression didn’t change. "No. That hard."
Lucen glanced once at the tear.
It pulsed slightly. Like it was breathing.
He stepped forward again, until he stood directly beneath it.
It still didn’t pull.
Didn’t yank or force.
It waited.
Lucen tapped his system once, just to check.
[Mana: 112/112]
[Spell Archive: Loaded]
Everything ready.
He looked at Varik.
"You coming in with ?"
Varik’s smile was thin. "Eventually. But I want to see how far you get alone."
Lucen didn’t blink.
Just turned back to the tear.
And stepped in.
—
Lucen stepped through the rift and landed on cracked stone. Reality shimred around him. Fog. Mana residue.
He checked his status.
[Mana: 112/112]
[Spells Loaded: 7/7]
[Recovery Rate: 2.3/sec]
No lag. Just focus.
He exhaled.
’Let’s make this count.’
A plated monster appeared, jawless, heavy-limbed, hung low to the ground.
"Frost Spire," he intoned. An icy lance erupted, nailing it through the torso. Stone crunch.
Two more surged in, one wiry and fast, one crawling on all fours, limbs twisted.
He pivoted, fingers flicking.
[Shockweave Bolt.]
Electricity arced across the fast one’s back. It barked in pain.
The beast lunged. He let it co.
[Ignition Burst.]
A firebolt tore through the chest. It staggered, fire burning bright.
Fog pressed in. The crawler charged.
[Soundlash.]
The air snapped. The creature twisted mid-charge, stunned.
Bloodlights leaked from its sides.
Mana dropped.
[76/112]
He circled, retaking ground behind broken pillars.
[Piercing Flare.]
The beam struck the plated one center-face. It dropped.
Mana burned lower.
[45/112]
Two left. One hurt. One angry.
He stepped up.
[Crater Bloom.]
The earth under the hulking corpse erupted, beca a pit. The creature crashed in. Quiet for a mont.
Last one advanced, bile and fog in its throat.
Lucen drew deep.
[Cataclysm Vector.]
A pulse built. Mana cried and then erupted, fire, ice, electricity in one wave. The zone shook. Dust fell. Silence after noise.
The system pinged quickly.
[EXP Gained: 94]
[Drift Bonus: 1.2]
[New EXP: 0/ 600]
[LEVEL UP: 7 → 8]
[Stat Points: 4]
[Spell Slot Unlocked]
Lucen stood. Chest heaving. Coat swirling in the aftershock.
He didn’t smile. He processed.
’Level 8. Four points. One slot. Not shallow.’
He wiped soot from his palm on his coat’s hem.
Steps sounded in the fog. Lights glowed overhead. The rift shrank behind him, threads pulsing faintly then sealing shut.
Lucen turned back onto the corridor then adjusted his coat.
’Ga’s changing. Ti to see what I can do.’
—
Lucen’s breath was steady now. Not calm, just practiced. The kind of stillness you slip into after your fingers stop shaking but before your nerves catch up.
His system ticked.
[Level Up Achieved: 8]
[EXP: 0 / 600]
[Stat Points Available: 4]
[Spell Archive: 7 / 7]
[Mana: 29 / 112]
[Recovery: 2.3/sec]
He opened the stat nu with a flick of thought, barely glancing at it before dumping all four points into Intelligence.
4.
Imdiate shift. The mana pool stretched. Breathing got lighter. The hum behind his ribs sharpened.
[Mana Pool: 112 → 120]
[Recovery: 2.3 → 2.6/sec]
’Good. I’m going to need it.’
He stepped over a lted claw. The rift fog swirled like it had opinions.
Ahead, the terrain narrowed, tunnel, half-ford. The air reeked of copper and burnt resin. Stone cracked underfoot. His boots left faint glyph trails in the dust.
He raised one hand as he walked, drawing low, slow shapes through the haze. Dummy glyphs. Just to keep his aim sharp.
Behind him, the blast crater from Cataclysm Vector still hissed quietly.
Lucen didn’t look back.
’That was just wave one.’
Another tremor buzzed through the stone. A sound like distant grinding. The tunnel groaned.
He tapped his system once, quiet.
[Auto-Recovery Enabled]
[Mana: 38 / 120]
He rolled his shoulders. Cracked his fingers.
Then kept walking into the dark.
—
The system’s glow faded from his vision, level-up confirmation sliding into background hum. His hand flexed once, slow.
The silence hit next.
No footfalls.
No hissing.
Just the sound of mana cooling in the air.
’That’s never good.’
He stepped forward, boots brushing past the smoldered rim of the Cataclysm impact.
Dust still floated. Ash specks. Fog dragging like it wanted to hide sothing.
The ground underfoot pulsed.
Not visually. Not even in mana.
Just pressure.
Like sothing massive had just breathed in through the dirt.
Lucen’s shoulders tensed.
He didn’t turn around.
Didn’t blink.
Then ca the sound.
A low hiss. Sharp. Cutting like steel being dragged across tile.
Followed by a thud. And another.
He pivoted sideways.
Fog parted.
Wave two.
Four this ti. Larger. Spread out.
The one in front had horns, small, twisted jaw unhinged with a low rattle. Its arms dragged at the ground like it was bored.
The one behind it shimred faintly, cloaked in so kind of light-warp. Caster type, maybe.
Lucen rolled his shoulders.
’Not repeating the last sequence. Let’s test the recovery timing.’
He flicked his left hand.
[Frost Spire.]
The spike launched, narrow, clean.
It hit the lead monster dead-center.
Didn’t pierce.
Just cracked.
Lucen tilted his head.
’Armor buff. Great.’
The second creature, low to the ground, six limbs, sothing like a serrated jaw, sprinted forward.
Lucen waited until it was three ters.
[Shockweave Bolt]
[Mana: 104 / 120]
The pulse cracked sideways. The monster flipped midair, limbs convulsing.
Lucen caught a shimr from the side.
’Cloaked caster’s charging.’
He dropped to one knee, scrawled fast.
[Soundlash.]
The pulse burst across the space.
The shimr flickered, rippled, then broke.
The caster let out a distorted hiss. Fumbled its spell. A glyph burst and dissolved.
Lucen stood again.
Two monsters closing. Horned one leading.
He opened his palm.
[Crater Bloom.]
The earth shattered under the horned creature. It dropped, hard, legs cracking against its own weight.
One left standing: a thin, tall one with eyes that spun like augers.
Lucen turned toward it.
Didn’t cast yet.
’Feels like a trap.’
He edged to the side.
It followed.
’Too slow to be real.’
He reached into the archive and tapped Spell 7.
[Cataclysm Vector.]
The glow burst wide.
He drew a tight glyph and funneled the force down.
The beam didn’t explode. It tore.
Straight through the fake monster, and the one hiding behind it, now suddenly visible, mouth open in mid-lunge.
Both shapes vaporized in the blast line.
Silence again.
Lucen didn’t lower his hand yet.
[Mana: 24 / 120]
[Recovery: 2.6/sec]
He backed up two steps and breathed in shallow.
’Wave two down. They’re adapting.’
No sign of Varik.
No external ping.
Just Lucen.
And more fog.
Sothing in the haze growled low, twice. Then vanished.
’Wave three. Incoming.’
He cracked his knuckles.
’Let’s make it expensive.’
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