Evening in Green Veil Forest crept in like a tide, slow at first, then all at once. The daylight thinned until the trees became silhouettes, their trunks darker, their branches looping into each other like interlocking fingers. The air cooled, sharpening the scent of pine and damp earth.
Alexis felt it before he saw it.The forest changed with the light.
Predators became bolder.Prey became ghosts.And anything wandering without purpose simply became meat.
He and Lyra had come back to the woods after binding their respawn point, cleaning their gear, and buying a handful of supplies. Bandages, two stamina draughts, and a single health potion whose price made both of them wince. Lyra insisted on it. Alexis didn't argue.
"Better to have it and curse the cost," she had said, "than need it and remember the moment we put it back on the shelf."
Now, as they walked deeper into the western stretch of the woods—the part players were already whispering about—Alexis understood why she'd insisted.
The forest here was too quiet.
Even their footsteps felt absorbed, muted by the thick moss beneath their boots.
A faint crackle of leaves drew Alexis' attention upward. A small creature darted along a branch, its silhouette too small to matter. But Lyra's gaze tracked beyond it, into a stretch of shadow between two massive oaks.
"Something's watching," she murmured.
"Wolf?"
"No. Wolves don't hold still that long."
Alexis's grip tightened around the hilt of his training sword.The leather had softened slightly from use, his palm finding its contours by instinct now.
He exhaled slowly.
"Distance?"
She shook her head. "Not sure. Could be thirty meters. Could be ten."
"And we're walking toward it."
"That too."
A faint fluttered hiss sounded to their right. Alexis pivoted, blade angled low. Lyra shifted behind him, covering the blind spot.
Nothing. Only a clump of ferns trembling.
He stepped forward, but Lyra shot her arm out, barring his path.
"Too direct," she said. "If it's waiting, don't walk into its jaws."
"What do you suggest?"
Her eyes scanned the tree line, sharp and calculating.
"Circle left. Quiet. If it moves, we catch it between us."
He nodded.
They separated, keeping one another in peripheral view, shifting through the understory like hunters instead of players. Alexis placed each foot carefully, rolling from heel to toe, letting the sound bleed into the forest's own ambient noise. The neural aug adjusted his balance; the stimulus in his arms and back felt like the slight tension of tracking something alive.
His pulse picked up.
He found himself holding his breath, counting the beats between steps.
One.Two.Three—
A low growl rumbled ahead.
Alexis froze.
The sound vibrated through the soil, not loud, but deep enough that he felt it in his spine.
Lyra's icon on the shared compass flickered closer. She had stopped too.
Then—
A pair of eyes opened in the dark.
Amber. Unblinking.
A shape shifted, heavy, low to the ground, muscles rippling beneath a coat mottled with black and ash-grey. The creature stepped into a shaft of dying sunlight.
Alexis tightened both hands on his sword.
[Nightshade Wolf (C)]HP: 240 / 240Status: Hungry. Territorial.Behavior Note: Hunts in low-light conditions.
Lyra whispered from somewhere to his left, "That's not Floor One material."
"It's here."
The wolf padded forward, head level with its shoulders, its pupils dilating to adjust to the faint light. This wasn't a pack hunter. This wasn't a scavenger.
This was a predator built for dusk.
"Back up?" Alexis murmured.
Lyra's whisper barely carried. "No. If we turn, it charges. Hold ground."
The wolf's ears twitched.
It stepped closer.
Twenty meters.Fifteen.Ten.
Alexis flipped a soft toggle at the corner of his vision.
A combat grid shimmered faintly—an optional AR overlay that mapped spacing and angles. He had ignored it earlier, but now he wanted every edge he could get.
He adjusted his stance.
The wolf lunged.
It did not run.It launched, as if springing off the air itself.
Alexis barely had time to step aside, raising his sword in a defensive arc. The wolf's side grazed the blade, sending a shock through his arms. Pain feedback spiked—sharp, brief, maybe five percent—but enough to make his grip falter.
He gritted his teeth and stabilized.
The wolf hit the ground and spun faster than some players could track, claws carving a shallow furrow.
Lyra's knife flashed from behind the trunk of a tree. She struck at its flank, but the wolf twisted, taking only a shallow slice.
[HIT – Minor]Damage: 14Nightshade Wolf HP: 226 / 240
The wolf snarled, its lips curling back. Its attention flicked between them, trying to decide which was the easier kill.
Alexis exhaled once. "We take turns drawing aggro."
Lyra nodded. She circled wide, forcing the wolf to track her lateral movement.
Alexis stepped forward deliberately.
"Come on," he murmured. "Pick me."
The wolf lunged again—this time straight at him.
Alexis raised his sword diagonally and braced.
The wolf collided hard. Teeth snapped inches from his face. The weight drove him backward, boots skidding through the dirt. His arms trembled from the force of the block.
[IMPACT]Damage: 18HP: 216 / 300Status: Stamina Load: High
"Move!" Lyra called.
He twisted his hips and let the wolf slip off the edge of his blade. As it reset its stance, Lyra darted in low. Knife sank into its side—this time deeper.
[HIT – Body]Damage: 33HP: 193 / 240
The wolf whirled, claws swiping. Lyra ducked, the paw scraping across her shoulder. She hissed.
[HIT – Graze]Damage: 9HP: 257 / 280
Alexis didn't hesitate. He stepped in and slashed down across the wolf's spine. Not deep. Not perfect. But enough.
[HIT]Damage: 21HP: 172 / 240
The wolf snarled and leapt backward, reassessing.
Lyra's breathing was controlled. Alexis's was not. His arms ached. His shoulders burned.
This fight felt different.Less predictable.More real.
The wolf circled, muscles tense and ready.
Lyra whispered, "On my signal, step right. Force it toward the fallen log."
Alexis followed her gaze. A thick log lay half-buried in the dirt a few meters away. If the wolf leapt over it—
"Now!"
They moved together.
Lyra darted left, throwing a knife sheathed in pale blue system light. It arced toward the wolf, not to hit, but to startle.
The wolf dodged instinctively—straight toward Alexis.
He was ready.
He stepped right, blocking its path to circle behind them. The wolf hesitated, claws digging into the soil as it recalculated.
For a predator, hesitation was death.
Alexis lunged.
His blade sank across its jawline. Bone resisted. The wolf convulsed, recoiling—a perfect opening.
Lyra sprinted forward, feet barely disturbing the leaves.
Her short sword drove into the wolf's throat with clean, lethal precision.
The creature collapsed.
[SYSTEM]: MONSTER DEFEATED – Nightshade Wolf (C)Rewards:• x1 Shadow-Tinged Pelt (C)• x1 Nightfang Tooth (C)• 47 Silver• 1x Material Pack (C)
[EXP +44]
Alexis dropped to one knee, panting hard.
Lyra wiped her blade on the grass, chest rising and falling with controlled breaths.
"Harder than the pack hunters," Alexis said.
"It's dusk-born," she replied. "Stronger senses. Meaner. And hungry."
He ran a hand through his hair, feeling the dampness of sweat. "We need better gear."
"We need levels first," Lyra said simply.
A faint breeze rustled the canopy overhead. The forest exhaled, as if acknowledging their victory but withholding approval.
Then—
A soft chime.
[SYSTEM WARNING]:Nightfall approaching.Increased monster aggression in 10 minutes.
Alexis' stomach tensed.
Lyra sheathed her weapons.
"We leave. Now."
He didn't argue.
They retraced their steps through the trees, moving at a near-jog. The forest's personality shifted even more rapidly than before. Shadows pooled. Calls of birds vanished. A distant howl rose—low and far too long.
More notifications:
[New spawn detected: Dusk Prowler (C)][Pack activity increasing near North Ridge][Respawns for Forest Wolf (D) accelerated]
"What's happening?" Alexis asked quietly.
"Spawn ramp," Lyra said. "Happens in the first week of new floors. The system adjusts spawn rates to match player density. Floor One must be overloaded right now."
They reached the main trail. More players were emerging from the underbrush, tense and panting, some dragging injured companions.
"You see that?" one shouted. "Three wolves, no warning!"
"Everything's hyper-aggressive," another yelled. "Nightfall events are massacring solos!"
Lyra quickened her pace.
"Stay alert."
They passed two players helping a third who was groaning, a deep gash bleeding through his shirt. Alexis recognized the pain feedback expression. He'd made it himself a few times already.
They reached the edge of the clearing near the city gate.
Just as the sun dipped fully behind the treeline.
[SYSTEM]: NIGHTFALL EVENT – FLOOR 1Difficulty rising.Monster hostility rising.Visibility reduced.
A collective murmur rippled through the crowd.
And from beyond the trees, dozens of glowing amber eyes opened.
Not wolves.Not just wolves.
Shapes shifted in the dark.Silent. Watching.
Lyra's hand went to her sword.
Alexis felt the weight of the moment press against his chest.
They had survived their first day.But night in the Tower was a different world.
"Let's not be heroes," Lyra said.
"Agreed."
They stepped through the city gate as the guards slammed it shut behind them, the heavy wood echoing with finality.
Outside, the forest exhaled again—this time with hunger.
Inside, the city braced.
And the Tower watched both sides.