Chapter 4: Rewards?
Okay, so starting from here, I will be using "the boy" because Ren is no longer Ren, but soone else...
For a mont, the clearing was frozen.
Not a sound, not a breath. Just the sight of Friel’s corpse crumpled on the ground, his lifeless eyes still wide in shock, Ren’s severed arm grotesquely embedded in his chest.
Then...
"He killed Friel..."
"With his own arm..."
"What is he...?"
The murmurs began to rise in volu, panic slowly blooming among the disciples. But the masters... they stood still, staring at Ren with eyes not of disdain, but fear.
True fear.
Master Caron’s face was pale beneath his dark hood. His lips trembled slightly as he whispered, "That boy... he’s no longer just a disciple."
"He’s sothing else now," Master Derek added, voice hardening. "Sothing we cannot allow to live."
Without another word, both masters raised their hands.
One crackled with cursed black lightning. The other shimred with golden force.
"Kill him!" Derek barked.
Magic surged forward, raw, rciless. A bolt of black lightning shot toward Ren’s chest, while a slicing arc of golden energy followed, ant to bisect him clean in two.
The boy’s instincts scread.
He dropped and rolled, his movents clumsy but fueled by desperation. The black bolt scorched the ground inches from him, exploding in a blast of dust and fla. The golden arc whistled overhead, shearing through the trunk of a tree like paper.
Pain flared again from his missing arm. His body scread at him to stop.
But he ran.
He turned, bolted into the trees, staggering, stumbling, his feet barely catching the earth.
"Don’t let him escape!" Caron growled, launching another spell.
The forest edge was ters away. Each step the boy took left streaks of blood behind, his vision blurring. Bark tore at his skin as he crashed through the underbrush, thorns digging into his flesh. Branches lashed at his face, roots tried to trip him.
But he didn’t stop.
He couldn’t stop.
Behind him, more explosions rang out—trees shattered by spells, ground scorched by fury. A beam of force missed him by inches, slamming into a boulder and reducing it to dust.
The boy didn’t look back.
He knew if he did, he’d die.
The forest swallowed him whole.
Darkness enveloped him; thick, humid, endless. The deeper he went, the quieter the world beca. The voices, the spells, the screams—they faded behind the trees.
And finally, when his legs could carry him no more, the boy collapsed.
Face down in the moss, surrounded by towering trees and the whisper of wind.
His body trembled violently. His severed shoulder throbbed with every beat of his heart. He was losing too much blood.
But he was alive.
Barely.
...
[Mission Completed!]
[Main Mission: Survive – SUCCESS]
[Side Quest Completed!]
[Side Quest: Kill Friel – SUCCESS]
[You Have Gained:]
Pain Resistance: Lv. 1
Super Reflexes: Lv. 1
Super Senses: Lv. 1
Regeneration: Lv. 1
[You Have Gained Titles:]
Psychopath – Your detachnt from pain and morality has manifested.
Ruthless Killer – You ended a life without rcy.
Unknown – You have beco sothing that defies current classification.
[Congratulations! You have unlocked the Status Window!]
The boy twitched slightly.
"Ahh... Just let
rest..." he mumbled faintly, and then the world went black once more.
...
Darkness.
Silence.
Then pain.
"Ugh... such an intense headache..." the boy muttered as he stirred. His eyes opened—still the sa dull grey, still blind.
Or rather, the body was blind.
And yet... he could see.
Floating in the darkness, shimring faintly in dark gold, were words.
Stats. Titles. Notifications.
Sothing familiar... yet utterly unreal.
As he read through them, a strange mory surfaced—a past life, one of many, but this one in particular stood out.
He’d once been a professional gar... and was murdered by a jealous rival.
With a spoon.
A damn spoon.
That mory should’ve made him laugh. But now?
Now, what floated before him... was better than anything he had seen back then.
"Was I being prepared for this?" he murmured, his voice drifting into the night.
The forest was silent. It was deep into the night—not that he could tell with normal sight. But the air had changed. He could feel it... sense it.
"Can I... see the Status Window?" he asked aloud.
And the gold text shifted.
| STATUS WINDOW |
Na: ....(Ren )
Age: 17
Titles: Psychopath, Ruthless Killer, Unknown
Race: Human (???)
Class: Unawakened / ???
HP: 14 / 127
MP: 30 / 30
Level: 3
EXP: 41 / 100
Attributes:
Strength: 11
Speed: 18
Agility: 19
Endurance: 10
Perception: 20
Willpower: 25
Luck: ???
Skills:
Pain Resistance (Lv. 1)
Super Reflexes (Lv. 1)
Super Senses (Lv. 1)
Regeneration (Lv. 1)
Death Intent (Passive – Locked)
Special Traits:
Fragnted Soul (Effect Unknown)
Past Lives mory (Dormant)
Madness Bloom (Dormant)
The boy stared at the screen in silence.
His lips curled into a small, tired smile.
"Heh... looks like this life’s going to be fun after all."
And then, once more, he let himself drift into unconsciousness—this ti not from pain or terror, but from possibility.
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