The forest had gone silent again.
Raiden could hear nothing but the sound of his own heartbeat and the rain whispering over the canopy. Every step he took sent tiny shocks up his legs — fatigue and focus clashing like rival storms. The corrupted forest stretched endlessly, veins of black energy pulsing across trees that should've been alive. The air itself smelled burnt, heavy with static.
Three days. Three days of battling through nests of beasts twisted by the Black Halo's experiments.
He'd grown stronger, faster — sharper. But it was never enough.
[ Status ]
[ Level: 9 (8,750 / 9,000 EXP) ]
[ Strength: 39 ]
[ Agility: 42 ]
[ Sturdiness: 38 ]
[ Stamina: 40 ]
[ Perception: 36 ]
[ Skills: Dash (Lvl 2), Lightning Slash (Lvl 2), Flow Step (Lvl 1) ]
[ Passive: Storm Pulse (Enhances lightning resistance and discharge efficiency) ]
[ Quest: Clear the corrupted zone — 82% complete ]
He exhaled, scanning the jagged treeline ahead. His energy flickered like a waning flame, but retreat wasn't an option. Somewhere in this scar of a forest, the source pulsed — the root of the corruption, the one thing tying all these creatures to the Black Halo's experiments.
His grip tightened around Aetherfang — the new sword humming softly at his hip, its faint blue lines shimmering like restrained lightning veins. He whispered to it under his breath, "Alright, partner… let's finish this."
A deep, guttural rumble answered him from the shadows.
The trees trembled. Soil split. And from the center of a crater ahead, a massive creature rose.
A Broodmother.
Its swollen body was draped in slick, pulsating veins that shimmered with corrupted energy. Its head — a grotesque hybrid of a wolf's skull and an insect's mandibles — screamed in frequencies that made the air distort.
[ Detected Entity: Corrupted Beast (Advanced Tier, Level 12) ]
[ Caution: Entity strength exceeds current host parameters. Extreme danger advised. ]
Raiden's jaw tensed. "Figures."
The beast lunged first, its entire bulk shaking the ground. Raiden moved before thought — Flow Step activated — his body flickering forward in a blur of blue. Claws the size of scythes ripped the air where he'd been a heartbeat before. He pivoted, slicing across the creature's hind limb. Sparks of lightning burst from his blade, sizzling through corrupted flesh.
[ -60 HP ]
The Broodmother's screech echoed like metal being torn apart.
"Come on!" Raiden shouted, slamming his sword into the ground as lightning built along its edge. "Lightning Slash!"
A storm burst from the blade, a crescent of raw energy cutting through the mist. It struck the creature's chest, searing through sinew and plating. The shockwave sent debris flying, but the Broodmother didn't fall — it adapted. The black corruption flared across its body like armor reforming itself.
Raiden ducked under a sweeping tail, countered with a thrust, then Flow Stepped again — closing in, only to meet a wall of sheer muscle and claws.
Every strike of his sword left streaks of blue across the creature's hide. Every impact shook his arms to the bone.
[ -130 HP ]
[ Warning: Vital levels at 43% ]
He was losing ground. Sweat poured down his face, the metallic scent of blood sharp in his nostrils. His breath came ragged, chest burning, but something in him refused to stop. The memory of Silva's laughter, of the night she'd died, flared in the back of his mind — a single, blinding spark of reason.
"Not again."
He raised his sword high, lightning curling around him like a tempest hungry for release. The forest wind screamed through the trees. His heartbeat synchronized with the hum of the blade — one pulse, one strike.
"LIGHTNING—"
The beast lunged.
"SLASH!"
The explosion lit the entire clearing.
The world turned into white-blue chaos. Electricity tore through the Broodmother's torso, shredding the corrupted energy that bound it. For a moment, both man and monster stood frozen in the storm's heart — and then the creature howled one final time before collapsing, its flesh dissolving into dust and shadow.
The silence that followed felt like the world had stopped breathing.
[ Quest Complete: Purge the Corrupted Zone ]
[ +2,400 EXP ]
[ Level Up! Level 9 → Level 10 ]
[ +2 Stat Points to all stats ]
[ +5 Unassigned Stat Points ]
[ Rewards: Skill Evolution Threshold unlocked ]
[ Hidden Condition Met: Initiating System Evolution… ]
"Wait… what?" Raiden blinked. His screen was flickering.
[ Warning: Host has reached Primary Evolution Threshold ]
[ Preparing host reconstruction—race synchronization required ]
"Race—what?"
[ Current Race: Human ]
[ Evolution Path Detected: ??? ]
[ Commencing Evolution in 5… 4… ]
"Hold on, hold on—what the hell does that mean?!"
He didn't get an answer.
Pain hit him like lightning striking through bone.
He fell to his knees, the sword clattering beside him. His skin glowed with blue cracks as energy ripped through his veins. It wasn't the wildness of a storm — it was precise, deliberate, cruel. His bones began to break, reforming with a sound like dry thunder. He could feel every shift — marrow burning, sinew tightening, nerves screaming.
"GAAAAAHHH!"
He clawed at the ground, every muscle convulsing as arcs of electricity shot from his body and scorched the soil around him. His vision blurred between blue and white; symbols from the system spiraled across his mind, unreadable but alive. His back arched — something behind his ribs moved, like wings unfurling beneath skin.
Then, as suddenly as it began, the storm stopped.
He collapsed forward, chest heaving, every breath a tremor. The rain above had turned to steam where it touched him. His skin shimmered faintly — faint golden tracings pulsing beneath it, like veins of molten light.
[ System Evolution Complete ]
[ Race: Human → Unknown (Evolving) ]
[ Title Unlocked: The Awakened Spark ]
[ Passive Skill: Phoenix Vein (Dormant) — Regeneration rate +50%, resistance to corruption +25% ]
[ Note: Full integration pending future evolution stages. ]
Raiden stayed still for a long time. His heartbeat echoed like distant thunder. The rain had stopped — or maybe it hadn't; he couldn't tell anymore. He raised a trembling hand, watching faint arcs of electricity crawl between his fingers.
"Race…" he murmured. "What does that even mean? There aren't… other races. Not anymore."
He stared at the message for what felt like hours. The forest smelled cleaner now — purged of corruption — but inside him, a storm still lingered.
Whatever this "evolution" was, it wasn't a blessing. It was a fra
cture between who he'd been and what he was becoming.
And he had no idea what awaited on the other side.
The rain had begun to fall by the time Raiden reached the edge of the forest.
The once-corrupted trees now stood still, their dark energy fading into harmless ash. Water dripped through the leaves in steady rhythm, each drop tapping softly against his armor — a quiet applause after the storm.
His body still ached from the evolution. The faint burn under his skin had dulled to a pulse, like hidden embers refusing to die. Every step felt lighter, more balanced; his breathing sharper. The world itself seemed different — the sound of rain clearer, the scent of ozone richer, and the faint whisper of his own heartbeat steady as a drum.
> [SYSTEM NOTE]
Body restructuring complete.
New physiological baseline established.
He flexed his hand, watching small arcs of warmth flicker across his knuckles before fading. Nothing visible to the untrained eye — yet he felt it. A hum beneath the surface.
And there, on his interface, one line blinked faintly:
> Race: Unknown (In Transition)
Raiden stared at it for a long moment, brows furrowing.
"Race?" he muttered under his breath. "What the hell does that even mean…?"
The rain fell harder, washing away the last traces of blood from his blade. He sheathed it slowly and began his walk back toward the city lights glimmering through the mist — the Hub, Alya, the fragile calm waiting beyond the storm.
No one would notice the subtle shift in his eyes, the faint golden shimmer that flared whenever lightning crossed the sky. No one would see the predator sleeping just beneath his skin.
But Raiden felt it — the quiet before something vast awakened.
And somewhere, deep inside the system, the emb
er of the phoenix stirred.
---