The lake steamed under the afternoon sun. Blood clouded the shallows, drifting in long crimson ribbons.
James lay still on the shore, chest heaving, every breath a small miracle.
Then—
Flap. Flap.
Nysilus drifted down from above like a lazy leaf, settling beside him with a loud yawn.
"You look like shit," the fairy said, eyeing James's battered frame. "Was it that hard to fill up a few bottles?"
James didn't answer. He didn't have the words—or maybe they were buried under the dull roar in his skull.
Nysilus poked a floating knife with his foot. "Well? Don't just lie there. There's still work to be done, hero. Open your system window. You've got loot to collect."
James sighed, blinking up the interface.
[REWARD SUMMARY – LEVEL 16]
Coins: +2,750Stat Gains: +6 Strength, +5 Agility, +3 Endurance, +2 ManaShop Access: Tier 2 Items UnlockedSkill Upgrades:
[New Materials Acquired]– Mana Core (x3 – Tier E)– Beast Core (x4 – Dull)– Waterlogged Scales (x12 – Reinforced)– Aquatic Tendril (x2 – Semi-flexible)– Serrated Fin Blade (x1 – Organic Weapon)– Pressure-Gland Bladder (x1 – Rare)– Abyssal Eye Cluster (x1 – Mutated Optic)– Blood Sample: "The Drowned Crown" (Unstable)
James scrolled slowly, eyebrows lifting higher with each item.
"Tendril. Gland. Eye cluster…" he muttered.
He reached into his inventory and held up one of the faintly pulsing mana cores. It vibrated in his palm like a tiny heartbeat, glowing faint blue-green.
"Whatever these things are made of," he said under his breath, "it's not just meat and bone."
Nysilus floated upside-down beside him, peering at the screen. "Careful with that blood sample. Crown's essence lingers. Might explode. Or whisper to you in your dreams."
James raised an eyebrow.
"…Cool."
He looked at the twisted fin blade, already considering how it might attach to a chain.
Upgrade
Sprint → Phantom Dash– Movement speed doubled during activation– Grants a brief moment of intangibility (0.75s) when triggered– Cooldown increased to 70s
Fast Recovery → Vital Spark– Passive healing increased– Activating a Pulse Heal now briefly buffs Strength and Focus for 10 seconds– Cooldown: 60s
[NEW UNIQUE SKILL UNLOCKED]
Consumer's CostType: Active / Rare / MutationDescription: What you kill, you may consume. What you consume, you may become.– Fully draining an enemy (via blood or core) allows James to claim one of the following: • A Skill • A Stat Boost • A Physical Feature (limb, hide, sensory organ, etc.)– User can store up to 3 borrowed features at a time– Features can be toggled, combined, or replaced– Drawback: Stealing too much too quickly corrodes identityCooldown: Varies by target strength
Another window blinked into view, listing available options:
Eligible Traits Acquired from E-Class Lake Terror:– Underwater Breathing (Passive)– Water Jet (Active)– Piercing Teeth (Passive)– Current Barrage (Active)– Conqueror's Roar (Active – AoE Debuff/Stun)
James sat up slowly, groaning. His body felt like a single massive bruise wrapped in skin. But his mind was sharp again. Present.
He scrolled through the features and paused. "Hey… what does it mean I can steal their appearance?"
Nysilus didn't miss a beat. "Exactly what it says. You want gills? Take 'em. Scales? Go nuts. Teeth like a bear trap, limbs like a kraken? Sure. You could even make yourself a bit uglier than you already are." He winked. "Mix and match. You're your own canvas now."
James let out a low breath.
Then he looked down—and saw it.
Where his right arm had been… was nothing.
No blood. No bandage. Just absence. A healed-over stump.
He stared for a long, cold second.
"…Huh."
Nysilus tilted his head. "That's it? Just 'huh'?"
James leaned back, sun warming the wet in his hair. Then he laughed—dry and hoarse, but real.
"I'm not happy about it," he said, voice raw. "But I'm alive. And after the shit I just swam through, that's enough for me."
System Notice: [Major Trauma Detected – Right Arm Severed]
Skill Tree Adjusted. Future abilities may adapt to single-arm combat.
Could also unlock rare paths, e.g.:
Hidden Trait Acquired: "Survivor of Ruin" – You endure what others perish from.
He raised his one good hand to the sky. "I'll figure the rest out later."
Nysilus smirked, folding his arms.
"Well, damn," he said. "Maybe you do have what it takes."
The lake gurgled quietly behind them.
But something had changed.
Not just the water.
James.
As they made their way back to camp, James noticed something.
Scavenger creatures—rat-sized, furless, their skin a translucent webbing of muscle and vein—were tugging at the dried meat left behind. They bared rows of too-many teeth but scattered at James' presence, still clutching food in their mouths.
Nysilus let out a lazy sigh, arms folded behind his head as he hovered an inch above the ground.
"Well, just our luck," he yawned. "Looks like there's going to be a change in dinner plans. Our next course is fattening itself up for us."
James said nothing. Instead, he opened his inventory window with a flicker of thought and produced more food—preserved rations, bland and dense. He knelt, tossed the pieces toward the woods. The animals paused. Then snatched the offerings and vanished into the brush with hungry squeals.
Nysilus stared.
"...Why would you help them?"
James exhaled sharply through his nose, not looking up.
"Listen. You might not get this—because you don't come from my world—but where I'm from, not everything has to end in a goddamn fight."
He turned, shadows pooling across his face from the flickering firelight.
"I'm tired. Today's been a living hell. I lost an arm. Probably lost most of my sanity. So you'd better hold your tongue before you become my next target."
For a heartbeat, the air thickened. Something stirred beneath the surface of James' skin. The pressure around the campfire grew unbearable—like a coming storm. His aura, raw and violent, poured out like coiled flame.
Nysilus blinked. A single bead of sweat ran down his temple.
"So this is the fire the master saw in him..." he thought. "Impressive. For a human... or should I say, former human."
The fairy gave a flippant shrug.
"Fine, fine. I'll let you get your beauty rest. But just know—come sunrise, you're going hunting."
James ignored him, already pulling string and netting from his menu. He began setting up makeshift traps, movements quick and silent. As he tightened the final knot, his voice broke the silence:
"How long will it take?"
Nysilus raised an eyebrow.
"For what?"
"For me to go back."
The fairy smirked, floating upside-down now, eyes gleaming.
"That all depends on you, sweetheart."
James stared.
"Is there a way to speed it up?"
Nysilus spun once in the air, then stopped mid-twirl with a grin that was all teeth and threat.
"Oh, sure. Just overthrow four of the Five Great Kingdoms and we'll put your ticket in the mail."
James froze, brows tightening.
"You want me to do what?"
"Explain," James yelled, throwing his arm stump in the air in frustration. "Goddamn, explain!"
Nysilus didn't even turn around.
He just floated lazily over the camp, arms crossed behind his head, haloed by the fading moonlight.
"You could barely beat a D-rank monster," he said, voice light but biting. "You're in no shape to go castle-storming. Now get some rest—I'll make you into a worthy weapon."
James scoffed, hammering the final spike into the ground to secure a trap line.
"Fine. I'll play your little games. But the moment I think you're lying…"
He looked up, eyes cold and glowing faintly under the dark.
"I won't hesitate to kill you."
Nysilus slowly turned in the air, clutching his chest in mock offense.
"Wow, wow, wow. Settle down. We're on the same side, remember?"
James stirred from uneasy sleep, a dull hum in the back of his mind like static. He stretched what remained of his arm—and paused.
Nothing.
No pain. No phantom twitching. No pins and needles.
Just... emptiness.
His gaze dropped to the stump wrapped in cloth and cloth-soaked bandages.
It doesn't even hurt. That's the strange part.
Adjusting to this is going to be a bitch.
He sighed and opened his inventory, pulling out a bit of dried herb meat and synthetic rootbread. A simple meal—but warm.
"Smells good," Nysilus yawned, hovering upside-down from a tree branch. "Let me have a bite."
"Get your own."
The fairy pouted, floating down to eye the meal more closely.
"How rude. Do things like you even need food or sleep?" James asked, biting into his own portion.
Nysilus crossed his arms.
"We do need sleep. About five minutes a day is plenty. As for food..."
His grin widened into something vaguely unsettling.
"I'm starving."
James rolled his eyes.
"Too bad. I guess you'll just have to starve."
The fairy chuckled darkly.
"Oh, but James… you'll be giving me a feast later."
James froze mid-chew.
"The hell's that supposed to mean?"
"You see," Nysilus said, spinning a conjured spoon like a baton, "I feed off of life energy. Every dog, demon, and dragon you kill within 100 millimeters of me? Straight to my belly. That lake monster? Mmm. Chewy, but satisfying."
James scowled.
"You're the devil."
Nysilus leaned in, whispering with a wicked smile.
"And you're the devil's lapdog. Now fetch my food."
James shot him a side-eyed glare, but didn't rise to the bait. Instead, he pulled open his crafting interface. A pulsing blue glow formed from the lake monster's core.
🛠️ [CRAFTING COMPLETE] – Equipment: "Scaled Shroud of the Abyss Nest"Visual Description:Armor woven from the white-blue plated scales of the E-rank lake monster.Sleeveless with a long torn coattail in back, high collar, and thick plating along the shoulders, ribs, and thighs.Gleams faintly with iridescent shine like oil over ice.Jagged patterns run along the trim—etched as if alive.A single shoulder pauldron fashioned from the beast's open jaw, fangs still intact.Passive Bonuses:+30% Max Health – "Thick-Blooded Shell": The armor feeds subtle regeneration through internal vein channels.+20% Damage Resistance – "Scale Memory": The plating hardens against repeated strikes in the same location.Active Skill Unlocked – [Hair Pins]:James can grow bone-like teeth from beneath the armor's scales—sharp, crystalline, and nearly indestructible.Can launch them like darts or rapidly regrow them for close-quarters armor spikes.Cooldown: 10 seconds for regrowth, 30 seconds for full-body launch burst.
What he lost in stealth, he gained in health, defense, and psychological warfare.
The armor made him look less like a man and more like something halfway between a knight and a nightmare.
James flexed his remaining hand, feeling the cold pressure of the new armor as it molded itself to his body. He looked at his reflection in a puddle.
"This'll do."
Behind him, Nysilus licked his lips.
"Dressing like a monster now, are we? Mmm. Fits."